It was an eventful ride for being Crystal Ridge. Scott got a pinch flat on the new single track. Word to the wise, there is a dip-down with some rocks as a bridge where the first rock you hit has a tube eating-rim-bending sharp front edge. We tried to buffer it with a few logs but the next lap they were already gone. Well, Scott didn't bring anything and I forgot my pump, so Scott had the long walk--at least it was nice out. I continued onward.
After popping out of the new section I started up a longish climb. No leg buster, but steep and long enough to get your attention. That is when I heard a horrible grinding pop and click sound. When I looked up to see what it was, I saw the tallest tree in the area was very dead and a burst of high wind was making it groan. I simultaneously had thoughts of the stories of people being killed by tree-fall in storms and sprinted as hard as I could up the hill (as the dead tree was already slightly downhill). I could feel that part, if not all of that dead tree, was coming down.
It was, I glanced back as the groaning got worse and saw a huge branch break off from the trunk. I mashed the pedals again, which doesn't do much in 2:1 uphill from a basic standstill. Thankfully, nothing fell my way, because it sounds pretty absurd to answer the question "What happened to you?" with "Oh, I was hit by a tree."
The rest of the ride was plagued by an annoying brake pad on the front, which fell completely out at some point on the car ride home. I have about 12 rides on these brakes and I am going from happy to not sure about them pretty quick.
No comments:
Post a Comment