surprise epic

got a decent road ride in on saturday, wasn't into it, but knew it was best way to get the "right" effort - spent 3hrs dreaming of the woods...

sunday. at andy's by 715a. managed to bring a busted-up bike, left the new IF at home, didn't want to "beat it up" on a 6hr technical ride. fast forward to 930a (made a trip home for the IF) wheels finally rolling, andy staying relatively calm throughout my boneheaded delay (caused by a lack of bike maintenance, this crap has to end, i think if it doesn't andy's gonna start riding alone). right as we get into a flow, (around 10a) my "new-to-me" carbon railed saddle snaps off. i'm kinda mad, but more relieved that it didn't happen in a race! we call-in the big guns. BARRY RUGO! why the caps and exclamation? well, he's BARRY RUGO! we drop him a line and he meets us a mile or two up the trail w/an "extra" saddle. saved the day! after that, the ride was incredible. tons of sun and what i could only describe as "superb confidence" for the IF. it's by far the easiest handling bike i've ever ridden - crazy responsive - rode a ton of lines i hadn't cleaned before, the new 2.2 super-sticky kenda cortez's certainly helped. i'd just toss the bike against the steep rocky climbs and it'd stick like glue. i have no idea why i thought riding a "trail bike" is better than the steel deluxe! leaning, pulling, hopping, totally keyed-into the terrain, just great riding.

BARRY meets back up with us at 130p, brought sandwiches, water, fruit, we get rolling with him up into Bruce and Tom's in Gloucester. it's a mtb "fun-park" of sorts - all these bridges and rolling "video-game" like lines. pretty wild stuff. right as i'm commenting on how burly this 5' drop is, BARRY skies off it - which for him is no biggie, what's insane is that the guy broke a rib a few wks back. you could see the pain on his face when climbing but not a word. i'd be @ home getting fat, maybe riding the trainer, BARRY's jumpin' off shit. i guess once you've summitted Everest, it's all gravy.

as usual andy had a superb ride. i don't mention how easy he makes it look too often anymore, i figure it's a given by now.

finished-up with a 45min hammer on the road back to hamilton, just ran-out of time to double all the way back on technical singletrack. ended-up being a great way to finish-up the ride, really spin the legs out. rides like today's are what make it all come together, rejuvenate the riding spirit - the entire spirit. good stuff. spent a lot of time grinning foolishly. andy's got some photage action on his blog, only stole the one above from him! nothing worse than a picture-stealing blog thief... but look at that! i love these trails. the climbs aren't very tall, maybe 100-200' per hill, but you just keep going up and down these wicked technical goat climbs, each climb getting you closer to the ocean... you feel so isolated in the low-lands, then break-free onto the rock blasted tops and catch these fantastic views of the water. new england kicks some serious ass on days like these.