The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

Someone recently congratulated Grumpy J on somehow managing to get me back on a mountain bike.  While it wasn't really his doing, it has been a hell of a lot of fun riding with him.  That is the "GOOD" portion of this posting. 

 

Grumpy J was equally happy riding with me (or so he said).  He did forget one of the "BAD" parts about having me as a riding partner.  I tend to look at inclimate weather as an opportunity to do something silly instead of a reason to stay indoors.  J was looking at the post on the MORE web site announcing the cancellation of the annual Catherine Furnace ride because it was supposed to be 40 degrees and raining.  That is when the "BAD" set in.... the dread that I was going to drag his ass out on a ride.  (Okay, that's a bit of a dramatization...  He wasn't dreading it.  He loves that sort of thing... it makes for good blog entries.  He might not go out on his own for that kind of ride though). 

 

The "UGLY" comes in the form of the actual ride.  When I say that it was ugly, I don't by any means intend to say that it was bad.  The ride FREAKING ROCKED!  We stomped up the first climb to get ourselves warmed up.  I think we were all hot and steaming by the top of the first long climb.  It had just been drizzling a little as we dropped into the valley and started the rocky portion of the climb.  Once we hit the open doubletrack leading to the hike-a-bike section, the heavens opened up.  We were moving pretty well... enough to keep us warm and keep the rain from soaking in.   The rain eased up as we hiked/rode the steep, rocky climb to the top of the ridge.  Once we got there, the rain started again... really hard this time.  Our clothes kept us dry until about half way down when the ugly really began.  The rain stepped up a notch and we were all soaked through.  I finally told the guys to go ahead and get to the car so they could get dry.  My arms were really tired since I don't use a suspension fork.  I took my time down the last bit because I really didn't want to bail in the rocks. 

 

All in all, it was a great ride.  Grumpy J took us to lunch.  David was kind enough to drive.  The three of us started the new year right.  The good, bad and ugly made for a ride worth writing about. :D

 

Love,

 

Pete