MSFTF in review

Well, just coming off of one heck of a weekend. My but is sore and I have random bruises all over. Doesn't sound too good when I describe my outcome that way. The Monte Sano Fat Tire Fest went off this weekend. The guys that did 25-30 miles each day are studs. I put in about 20 miles each day and I am feeling it today. I do think that the weekend was good for adding to my fitness level. I was also happy to find that my legs weren't giving me any problems with the miles. Guess even 2 days a week will eventually start to bring you back to riding condition.



I was able to ride and meet a lot of good people. I also put some faces to the names over on MTBR. It is kind of funny how you end up talking to people online and sometimes never actually meet them. Online personality is hardly ever the same as real life.

Saturday I ran sweep for the Intermediate ride. We put in about 16mi. Headed down McKay Hollow, Arrowhead, into the Land Trust, up Bankhead, and half of the observatory loop. Good loop. I hadn't been over into the Land Trust before. It was nice and of course similar trails to Monte Sano. I was amused by how many over the bars experiences went on going down McKay Hollow. I knew it was a tough trail, but I was seeing a lot of bikes flying up in the air without riders. Kind of a reality check to see people a bit less used to the aggressive trails and how they fare. Once we got back I grabbed a couple of beers and hung out. Then came the games. I helped some of the other club members put on the games. I received my only injury of the weekend in the Huffy toss. Stupid bike had a sharp edge that took some of me with it when I hurled it. Then came the poker run. I needed to put in an extra 5-6mi right. My hand sucked. I ended up with a pair of 2s.

Sunday was more of the same. We headed out family trail. Then the group split as I lead a few guys down Warpath ridge (remember that white knuckle trail I mentioned last week). Well, I cleaned the gnarly section of the trail only to be foiled by my xc wheels/tires. A couple of bad bounces off of loose rocks and I was shot right off the trail. I go over the bars and hug a tree as my exit strategy. Worked pretty good, but I had enough momentum to swing around the tree like Tarzan. No harm no foul. I remount and carry on. Down to Flat Rock trail. I was feeling the miles from Saturday as we weaved through the woods, but was feeling better at the top of the climb out of the bottom. So a few of us headed off to grab a few more miles on dirt instead of heading pavement back to the event center. We rode Mountain Mist and Family trail. By the time we got back people had already been clearing out. I grabbed a couple of beers and kicked back. Ended up helping clean up with the club before packing it in for the day.

On a positive note I did end up clearing out my pile of 26in tires. Granted I didn't get as much money as sending them off to the 4 corners of the earth through e-bay, but I also didn't have to ship them. So I think it works out about even and I walked with some cash to offset any of the expense of the weekend.

Other than the fest I put in about 16 hours of work on my report for the MSL project. I think I am done. I am feeling pretty burned out this morning. Basically they would have to offer me a lot of money to motivate me to give up any more of my free time. Just feels like I have been scrambling between rides, work, more work, eating, and lastly a little bit of sleep. I'm pooped.