Kenosha, Georgia, Gears, Brakes and Lightening
Rode Kenosha to Georgia Pass on Sunday with Ted and crew. 
Kenosha is one of my all time favorite rides so I was really looking forward to riding. ~25miles of singletrack - amazing scenery - good company was in order.
I decided to take the gears and fully squishy on this one as there is a ton of climbing on this and i was looking forward to doing the descent with suspension. :) However, after I got my bike out of my car I realized I had Zero front brake. crap! Of course I didn't let the little fact of having no front brake stop me - i just figured I'd keep my speed in check with the rear brake and descend cautiously. there's nothing crazy technical on the course - so surely i'd be fine.
Ted and Brandon are good climbers - I was keeping up with them on the climbs but realized i was working pretty hard . It's a longish ride so I backed off the pace and luckily they didn't have to wait too long for me. Ted got a new camera since our last ride. I opened the gate for the guys and here's Ted riding through...
He got these shots of me cleaning a switchback - it's steeper and tighter than it looks. I'm not happy with my form tho...i'm looking at my front wheel. But check out those cool cateye argyle socks my friend , Ellen gave me - pretty sweet , eh?
we made it to the top of Georgia around 2:45 after we started - not bad considering we were cruising as a casual pace. Ted took a pic of this visitor and the mandatory "top of the hill " shot.
We started down and even tho i was riding cautiously I was able to keep the guys in sight. It was great descending with suspension - just point and shoot. There are 2 small climbs at the end of this ride and the last one is always a bitchy granny gear climb. Luckily the trail was nice and tacky and we cranked right over it.
It was getting cloudy and dark and as soon as we finished the last climb and were 2 miles from the car - it started dumping. Hard. Rain, sleet, hail. then the thunder started.
At this point it was every man for himself. Brandon and Ted took off and I was hammering too. I was being cautious due to the brake issue and at one point (I guess from overuse) my rear brake started failing. I had both levers fully engaged and i was still rolling along at a pretty good clip. I just focused on hitting the wet, slippery roots at a 90degree angle and being light on the bars.
THEN i surrounded by a bright flash of light and then *immediately* heard thunder. Yikes-ola! Was I terrified! I REALLY started hammering it. At this point my glasses were so fogged up I had to stop and put them in my jersey pocket. Debris, mud, and water were flying into my eyes....when I got down to 1 eye being partially open I would take one hand off the bar and swipe the eyes. A few minutes latter i'd be barely peering out of one eye and have to do that again.
I was so happy to get back to the parking lot - I threw down my bike and jumped in the car. whew! what a way to end a ride.
Here's a pic of Ted afterward....actually he doesn't look *that* dirty, eh???
Kenosha is one of my all time favorite rides so I was really looking forward to riding. ~25miles of singletrack - amazing scenery - good company was in order.
I decided to take the gears and fully squishy on this one as there is a ton of climbing on this and i was looking forward to doing the descent with suspension. :) However, after I got my bike out of my car I realized I had Zero front brake. crap! Of course I didn't let the little fact of having no front brake stop me - i just figured I'd keep my speed in check with the rear brake and descend cautiously. there's nothing crazy technical on the course - so surely i'd be fine.
Ted and Brandon are good climbers - I was keeping up with them on the climbs but realized i was working pretty hard . It's a longish ride so I backed off the pace and luckily they didn't have to wait too long for me. Ted got a new camera since our last ride. I opened the gate for the guys and here's Ted riding through...
He got these shots of me cleaning a switchback - it's steeper and tighter than it looks. I'm not happy with my form tho...i'm looking at my front wheel. But check out those cool cateye argyle socks my friend , Ellen gave me - pretty sweet , eh?
we made it to the top of Georgia around 2:45 after we started - not bad considering we were cruising as a casual pace. Ted took a pic of this visitor and the mandatory "top of the hill " shot.
We started down and even tho i was riding cautiously I was able to keep the guys in sight. It was great descending with suspension - just point and shoot. There are 2 small climbs at the end of this ride and the last one is always a bitchy granny gear climb. Luckily the trail was nice and tacky and we cranked right over it.
It was getting cloudy and dark and as soon as we finished the last climb and were 2 miles from the car - it started dumping. Hard. Rain, sleet, hail. then the thunder started.
At this point it was every man for himself. Brandon and Ted took off and I was hammering too. I was being cautious due to the brake issue and at one point (I guess from overuse) my rear brake started failing. I had both levers fully engaged and i was still rolling along at a pretty good clip. I just focused on hitting the wet, slippery roots at a 90degree angle and being light on the bars.
THEN i surrounded by a bright flash of light and then *immediately* heard thunder. Yikes-ola! Was I terrified! I REALLY started hammering it. At this point my glasses were so fogged up I had to stop and put them in my jersey pocket. Debris, mud, and water were flying into my eyes....when I got down to 1 eye being partially open I would take one hand off the bar and swipe the eyes. A few minutes latter i'd be barely peering out of one eye and have to do that again.
I was so happy to get back to the parking lot - I threw down my bike and jumped in the car. whew! what a way to end a ride.
Here's a pic of Ted afterward....actually he doesn't look *that* dirty, eh???
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