TALES: True satisfaction & bad golf

PROLOGUE
If you scream as the water hits your legs in the shower, then you know it’s been a good run. Better yet is the next day, after wearing boot socks for 12 hours, when chunks of dried blood and other “stuff” come off your leg with the socks. What exactly is that strange sense of satisfaction and pride that completely overwhelms the pain when you kiss sweet Mother Earth? Maybe it’s that two seconds of airtime before impact, when you're truly free; or maybe it’s looking up from the carnage to see all of your friends stifling their laughter (if you're lucky) until they at least see you moving.

Keep in mind, though, that crotching the top bar and/or headset on your way over does not bring the same sense of satisfaction – not even on subsequent occurrences.

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THE RIDE
Great ride Sunday after (believe it or not) four dry days in a row, and a couple of new riders made it even better. It's always a pleasure getting riders on our trails who are new to the sport or just new to the area. Clint and Garron joined Lance I for the weekend ride, so we decided to illustrate exactly what NOT to do when hauling the mail downhill.

I think the ride was more of a warm up for Clint, typically a triathlete, who didn’t learn much technique from my endo down The Mother. However, he did learn a bit about proper technique during his freefall off the rope climb at the bottom.

Garron did remarkably well unclipped on a borrowed hardtail with the one-sided, plastic Shimano platforms snapped onto SPDs – can’t imagine how difficult it was just keeping his feet on the pedals. Apparently, riding interfered with Garron’s steady hands on the golf course the same afternoon, so now his competition is begging to get him back on the trail regularly before he hits the green. He said his butt hurt this morning, but none of us are talking!

I’m definitely reconsidering the knee and shin protection for future rides. From the divots under both of Lance’s knees, I’d imagine he’s also entertaining the thought. I guess if that happens, we’ll actually have to stay on the bikes to have fun!

A few hours after we wrapped it up, a flash storm kicked the wind instantly from 0 to 30 mph and threw in some driving rain. It kicked us off a nearby beach, but it was a great excuse to warm up with a huge bowl of Soba soup -- timing is everything!