Creaky

Back in the saddle this morning – a little creaky after the crash but had to bang one out before an extended and bikeless vacation that starts tomorrow. Thanks to Jim and Mike for pushing a good pace around the bonus loop. Interesting banter ranged from trail maintenance to blood doping to the no spandex rule (which may be challenged before summer is out).

I am returning August 8th (expecting punishment on Thursday 9th ride) – Jim will crack the email whip in my absence – but a couple of business items before I head out:

Tuesday August 14th is a Chelsey’s birthday ride (catch-ups for Calvaresi and Riley, August birthday for McLaughlin) so mark you calendars.

Need to see if there is interest in an August roadie – maybe something local like French Creek, Brandywine, or Wissahickon. Let Jim know your interest/ability to make it on the 19th or the 26th, and he’ll coordinate (Jim hope you don’t mind).

Chris

Chelsy's

Great Chelsey's ride last night. A quick recap:

- Confirmed that Bob is a sucker for a bike ride - he rode from Downingtown to Lyndenwood so as not to miss the 1st leg. That is dedication!

- Picked up a 9th rider coming out of the park. He seemed impressed by our numbers and we invited him to hop on, which he did for the ride down the Sole trail. One of our riders was chatting extensively with this fellow, and learned that (a) he is one of the architects of the Sole trail and (b) babbling excessively while crossing that bridge is a bad idea (ouch!).

- Some anxiety over a pickup truck with a (bulky bald) guy behind the wheel watching us head toward the dam where chipmunks have vandalized fences erected by an (angry bulky bald) guy. We fully expected to meet this fellow again at Dorlan Mill road but instead we encountered the aftermath of a very angry chainsaw that had felled a bunch of old-growth oak trees over the struble.

- We set a new land speed record for our customary sprint down the Champs-Elysees into Downingtown, and set up camp at Chelsey's to see how much beer and sluts we could buy for $70 (quite a bit it turns out).

- As expected the pitchers and sluts made for plenty of merriment on the ride home, including a soapbox derby style race (no pedaling) down the dam road, and a slow-race across the top of dam. Then it was back to the 'hood - I believe everyone was tucked in by midnight.

This weekend is game on for Sunday ride - 10am departure from Lower Lyndenwood! Weather looks fantastic.

Also give me your thoughts on a Sunday roadie sometime in August - probably to French Creek or Wiss. For some of the new guys, these are generally early departures (7-8am), carpool to the destination, ride 'till you drop, then back home by mid-afternoon.

Don't forget to keep the rubber side down, Chris

Fair Hill First Timers

A proper recap of yesterday's ride has to include footnotes from the night before, both involving Irishmen:

Spontaneous beer drop due to failure of the opposing digit to grasp a beer. Accompanying slurred speech and balance issues suggest that keg beer may have been a contributing factor.

Last man standing entertaining the ladies into the wee hours of Sunday (they we duly impressed). Included late night departure and then unexpected return on the lawn tractor, to continue hydration and entertainment for the ladies benefit.

Both individuals overcame long odds and showed up for the early morning departure on Sunday, a little green around the gills but still game for a ride. True Irishmen!

Sunday departure went better than expected - only 12 minutes of "dorking around" - which is a record for a group of this size (10). For the one hour drive we ignored GPS and were treated to another "Sebastian back road special" which got us to Fair Hill in a little over an hour. Unfortunately the back roads also got one rider carsick, and he spent 5 minutes in the WaWa bathroom getting himself straightened out before the ride.

The ride commenced with a jaunt over to the orange trail to see what the trail guide meant by "rolling terrain with ocasional steep climbs." It was apparently a typo and should have read the opposite. We got a nice view of the practice track (made us tired just looking at it - it's huge) and eventually worked our way over to the east side of the park on some really sweet single track which included a pretty hairy and rocky descent (so much fun that we did it again later in the day). We had lunch by the river and were treated to the arrival of about 20 horseback riders complete with rider in chaps and another alledgedly displaying signs of a long day in the saddle (or excess saddle soap, still unresolved).

We experienced the normal course of mechanical failures and crashes. Notables:

• Crash resulting in turf being embedded into the sidewall of a tire. We are still puzzling over the physics of that one.
• Family jewels embedded into toptube of a bike. The physics of that one are readily understood by anyone with jewels.
• Jim wins the pink polka dots for this ride. For those of you familiar with the Tour de France, the pink polka dot jersey goes to the best hill climber in the mountains. Jim had no equal on the hills yesterday.

Overall a great day in the saddle even with all the navigational challenges (resulted in some dead ends and open field crossings). See the attached satelite image to view our track.

I think that covers the highlights.

Weekday ride schedule:

• Tuesday night (8:30pm) UL
• Thursday morning (6:30am) LL

Chris

Two NOOBs and a Curfew

Add Andy Sokol and Steve McLaughlin to the Sunday roadie to Fair Hill! This brings us to 9 which is capacity for our 2 vehicles. Calvaresi is possible which would put us in 3 vehicles - this would be good because we'd have Dave along for log hop/somersault type of stuff and also would not have to shoe-horn 5 guys into Riley's truck. Also not too late for others guys on the chain to jump in on this. Kirk can you be on driver standby in case we go to 3 vehicles?

Andy don't forget we need to load bikes on Saturday. We have a neighborhood block party Saturday at 3pm so if possible can you drop your bike off at Mike Riley's (119 Kaiser) sometime Saturday morning? Mike runs a (drunken) bike shop out of his garage so is used to bikes being dropped off.

Kirk there are no Starbucks on the way to this place but if you (or anybody on the ride) needs a jolt I will be brewing fresh espresso shots/coffee between 6:30am and 7:00am so stop by.

Passengers - Fair Hill may have a nominal trail use fee (per vehicle) so bring a couple of Washingtons in addition to the Lincoln you are brining for the driver. Also walkie talkies so we don't have to send a search party for ...someone... like we did at Blue Marsh.

Everyone - remember the 48 hour curfew before roadies. No funny business and steer clear of Jim at the block party. Chris

Mountain Biking

Sunday ride included a special guest (Rob) who introduced us to yet more new trails on the lower east side. One rider attempted to singlehandedly move the huge logpile at the bottom of the sole trail - bike and rider seem to be doing fine but I'm sure the impact registered on a seismometer somewhere. Also we had the customary mechanical breakdowns (broken chain, busted crank arm) but recovered without our drunken bike mechanic who was busy sipping champagne and eating quiche at the family brunch.

"The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated"-- KO

Game on for Chelsey's ride on Thursday!!! Chelsey's doesn't have daycare, so Kirk is lining up a baby sitter. This means we will flip-flop the weekday rides this week:

• Tuesday 6:30am (morning) meet at Lower Lyndenwood
• Thursday 8:30pm (night) depart via Upper Lyndenwood.

For Thursday ride don't forget bike locks, some cash (birthday boy needs only a bike), and a hall pass to stay out past 9:30. Weather this week looks perfect.

Finally I have collected photos from Savage. Goto http://picasaweb.google.com to browse, select, and download whatever you want.

Chris

This is Why We Ride

Perfect chemistry for today's ride - sun, cool temperature, and eight guys riding for pure fun (no "training" on anyone's mind). Even the baggage some were carrying from Saturday night did not slow us down. In fact one rider proved that it takes less than 8 hours to rise from the ashes (or the living rom floor) and jump big into a Sunday ride.

Highlights: SF made his presence known on the way to the dam when he blasted through the middle of the Sunday formation like a Corzine motorcade. A tumble over the side of the Sole Trail bridge (not Sebastian) reminded us all that no stream crossing can be taken for granted. A stop at Mike's drunken bike shop to do "something" to Matt's noisy bike proved fruitless. The action soon picked up when Riley led half the group over a really huge log drop and DC, always a gamer, followed suit and demonstrated a classic clipped-in-somersault over the drop and down the hill. Standing ovation and a trip to the chiropracter for that one! Not to be outdone, Mike Young planted a shoulder, hard, on the Eddie Trail to finally finish the downhill section of the ride. We ended with a mad dash down the Struble and grind to the clubhouse for the debrief. All in all a great ride and reminder why we like to do this stuff so much.

Regarding the customary monthly roadtrip, it is time to nail down a date for the first of '07. Mother's day is next weekend, and at least 5 of us have an Indian Princess event the beginning of June, so May might be a challenge. Anyway let me know what Sundays in MAY and JUNE would work for you - I will reconcile and reply with the date. We usually make these an early day so we can salvage some of Sunday for the family. Depending on destination, we leave around 7AM and get back by early afternoon.

Send me your dates and get back to work. Oh and don't forget rides this week:
* Tuesday 830PM from LL
* Thursday 630AM (note morning) from UL

Chris

Six Savages

We now have six bonafied Savages among us - tested by the crucible of grueling competition (20 miles of it). The real headline is that we served notice to over 100 visiting teams not to mess with Marsh Creek (OUR house), as we took home #1 and #2 finishes! Now we drop some Advil and contemplate next year's defense of our title.

As you can imagine there are numerous stories to recount but as is tradition you must jump one of this week's rides to get the details. Also it is time to switch to summer hours, so for this week:

• Tuesday night (8:30pm) depart LL
• Thursday morning (6:30am) depart UL

Also I think we have some spring babies on the team (Kirk?, others?), be sure and let us know your preference for Chelsey's ride.

Chris