A long one

The morning started out with A1, JJ and I meeting up at 5am for a spin. We had a bit of fun getting lost out near Conway Lake, eventually ending up on Stark Road. From there we hit 302 and jumped on the Rec path and came out by the new school. We then hit the trails that wind around in Redstone for a bit before heading down the power line to climb the Peaked loop. On the descent we heard a loud sharp bang, JJ thought someone was shooting at us, I thought JJ had flatted, the only one who knew what had happend was A1 as he had a flat rear tire. It was more then just a pinched tube, he had a blown sidewall, his ride came to a close.

JJ and I continued on with the idea being we'd ride the access road and connector to Red Tail and the hook back up with A1 after he got all squared away. But it wasn't to be and we got a call from A1 letting us know his bike was out of commission for the day. JJ and I ripped around in Whitaker for a bit before hitting the big apple for a reload. After about four trips into the store (that last one for a staple to fix my glasses) we headed out for Echo Lake where we rode those trails as a way to get over to Cedar Creek. JJ lead the charge and we climbed for quite awhile before dropping down a long switch back filled rip of a trail that I don't think I'd ever ridden before. At the bottem JJ and I had a discussion about the remaining portion of the ride- we did another loop in CC, bumping into the Red Jersey group (looked like they had great turnout!), we then hustled back into town to ride Sticks and Stones and the powerlines back to Redstone. From there it was a road ride in the big ring until we got back to Center Conway. There the pace became a bit more humane and we did the trek up Davis Hill. There waved Dennis goodbye and cruised home.

All told- 50ish miles and 7 hours of saddle time. Two big Gatorades, 3/4 of a gallon of water, 1 red bull, three cliff bars, two powerbars, and a bag of salted peanuts. Good times. Can't wait to see the garmin report from JJ!

DEA