happy birthday margo!

i had a nice weekend. despite the cancelled race, it turned out to be all sorts of fun. our plans to salvage the weekend were going good, starting with a with a nice big group ride at sugar: yerke, pemberton, chris, and me...but...it got vetoed by that fickle broad, mother nature. she decided it would be a nice change of pace to dump a stupid heavy rainfall right over sugar, even a bit of hail, and leave the rest of the area bone dry. so, she foiled out sugar plans. saddened but not beaten, we commenced our grilling plans, had us a nice old night. we even learned a thing or two...namely, japanese beer = ridiculously strong cans

someone had a sudden stroke of genius, and proposed we go ride the washington trail on sunday, in case sugar was closed in the morning. and so it was. we argued john out of waking at some ridiculous hour like 6 am, in favor of meeting at the cottage at 9 (a much more sensible hour for a sunday).

sunday morning rolled around, we ate, and were off. the drive went well, until we encountered "rolling-golf-death-hill" as it shall hence forth be known. we saw an access road which looked like it would take us into sockum ridge. the sad part was, as the golf rolled along we came to several speed-bump-esque things of colossal proportions. the first snuck up on me, and immediately after cresting the first monstrous thing...developed the as-of-yet-undeterminded-rhythmic-grinding-metal-on-metal noise from under the left front wheelwell. not good. a few chuckles later at my bum luck, and the golf's inadequate off-roading abilities, a near death incident involving yerke's bike coming partially unattached from my rack (thank goodness for the safety string we applied earlier!), and we were at the top. the road ended. we pulled off the bikes. got geared up, and headed out into the sweltering heat. it was stupid hot there. it seemed like the greenery of the forest was adding to the already blindingly-hot temperatures. there was very little, if any, relief when we rolled into the shade even.

the trails were great. it promises to be a fun race. a real maze in there. we were riding circles the whole time. would like to explore it a bit more sometime, as we didn't even hit it all. the heat got us down, and we elected to head northward once again. first we pulled off the golf tires, just to see if anything was visibly awry...to no avail. the noise got worse after re-attaching the tires, then by the time we were home, was no longer noticeable. (it's got an appointment next tuesday...hang on little buddy...)

had some lunch here at the apt, and decided it was time to hit some sugar. faster trails, and noticeably cooler temps in the shade made sugar great. don't get me wrong...we were sweaty boys...but it was still great riding.

then homeward to join up with margo and mom for some huhot.

happy birthday little sister!