TALES: Friendly faces from SoCal & Hawaii

The riders
I get this e-mail about a week ago from a woman who wants to hook her visiting son up with our group for a ride, so Nick showed up yesterday to ride with us; definitely not the 16-year-old I was expecting. Instead, this NORBA-experienced, 20-something dude from Southern California shows up on his hardtail, singlespeed Bontrager and really impresses us by negotiating some pretty decent uphill switchbacks on the High Road. Gotta say I was hurtin’ with gears! Also on the ride was Chris and old friend, Steve, from Hawaii.

The ride
It was hands down the best ride down the Mother of all Downhills that I’ve experienced since the trail was bone dry for the first time I can remember. It’s a perfect time for riders to take advantage of the conditions. Nick tried to get the upper hand by eating some fence and bloodying his knee about 10 minutes into the ride, took the lead to eat a few spiders and lent a much appreciated hand in clearing the trail. I tried to top him in the wreckage department at the bottom of the Mother by flying over Steve, but have to submit to defeat since a bush on the other side broke my fall, leaving me only with a small scuff.

12 hours on the trail?
There are still a few surprises left over from Typhoon Ewiniar, but we’re pretty close to rideable on most of the major Yomitan and Chibana trails at this point (until the next typhoon, that is). We plan on gleaning some of Nick’s experience to plan a low-key 12-hour race later this year.

Healing (again)
Ran into Tom going for a hike while we headed home, still nursing a broken hand from the last group ride. Good to see him out on the trail, even if he was sans wheels.