The ride is over. 5 men enter, 2 men leave. Present at the ride were Derek aka 'derek', Joe aka 'joseph da trog', Ed aka 'derelict', Jae aka 'jimyoo' and myself. K-max got a late start but was riding the trails the whole time. We never saw him though.
Route again was:
1st - Buzzards, Saw Pit, Hihns Mill to lot
2nd - Buzzards, Tractor, Hihns Mill - food break
3rd - Sulphur Springs, Braille, Hihns Mill to lot - lunch at car
4rth - Buzzards, Coral, Hihn's Mill to lot.
The day started out with a bright sun, blinding drivers on the drive to Demo. It was going to be a warm day but of course Demo starts you out cold by Highland road. Temps on the first mile was 44 degrees and by the time we hit the summit, it was 66 degrees.
Conditions were interesting. It was dry but not dusty. It was very 'leafy'. This made for tricky cornering conditions as awesome traction would give way to a layer of leaves. It seems there was a windstorm here a week ago as there are a ton of branches on the ground. Some big, some small with a couple downed trees. This is nature's tree trimming process.
The ride start was at 8:30am and end was as 3pm. Actual riding time was 5 hours with 1 1/2 hours of break time. Mileage was 45 miles and altitude gain was 6200 feet.
The ride itself was perfectly executed. The group was tightly packed and everyone kept it safe and steady. Sawpit was pretty interesting with a lot of debris on the trail. Tractor was fast and Braille was fun as ever. Corral was really cool as it was covered with leaves. It's really fun but then it ends all too soon with a long fire road that connects to Sulphur Springs. At least it has jumps.
After Lap 3, Derek, Joe and Ed pulled out the beer and the camping chairs and called it a day. Joe was reallly torn as he wanted to do Lap 4 so bad but the legs were not very sporting anymore. Surprisingly, Jae was upbeat for Lap 4. He said he had a lot of rice for breakfast and was feeling good.
On Lap 4, we felt good enough to do the Pig singletrack trail on the Buzzards Climb to the top. This was good cause this completes our ride with every trail on Demo. We climbed out strong and it was done.
We met about 20 people along the way. Kevin and El Santo were with the Stanford team ride. Sean and Matt were out having fun. Everyone seemed to know we were doing a big ride and were giving us props.
A truly awesome day in an awesome place.
Here's some pics from my 20 megapixel Hasselblad.
Jae, Derek and Joe ready to go.
Ed setting up with his new custom rack. He's from Chicago so he's just wearing a t-shirt... at 44 degrees
Rolin, rollin, rollin.
Joe in the bright sun
Derek not airing it out
Jae with the only mechanical of the day. His inner tube valve just gave out while we were sitting around.
Suffer Springs wall
Jae after the great ride. First ride at demo was 4 months ago. Now he's ridden every trail there in one ride.
Me, post-ride. Where's the Newcastle?
francois
Route again was:
1st - Buzzards, Saw Pit, Hihns Mill to lot
2nd - Buzzards, Tractor, Hihns Mill - food break
3rd - Sulphur Springs, Braille, Hihns Mill to lot - lunch at car
4rth - Buzzards, Coral, Hihn's Mill to lot.
The day started out with a bright sun, blinding drivers on the drive to Demo. It was going to be a warm day but of course Demo starts you out cold by Highland road. Temps on the first mile was 44 degrees and by the time we hit the summit, it was 66 degrees.
Conditions were interesting. It was dry but not dusty. It was very 'leafy'. This made for tricky cornering conditions as awesome traction would give way to a layer of leaves. It seems there was a windstorm here a week ago as there are a ton of branches on the ground. Some big, some small with a couple downed trees. This is nature's tree trimming process.
The ride start was at 8:30am and end was as 3pm. Actual riding time was 5 hours with 1 1/2 hours of break time. Mileage was 45 miles and altitude gain was 6200 feet.
The ride itself was perfectly executed. The group was tightly packed and everyone kept it safe and steady. Sawpit was pretty interesting with a lot of debris on the trail. Tractor was fast and Braille was fun as ever. Corral was really cool as it was covered with leaves. It's really fun but then it ends all too soon with a long fire road that connects to Sulphur Springs. At least it has jumps.
After Lap 3, Derek, Joe and Ed pulled out the beer and the camping chairs and called it a day. Joe was reallly torn as he wanted to do Lap 4 so bad but the legs were not very sporting anymore. Surprisingly, Jae was upbeat for Lap 4. He said he had a lot of rice for breakfast and was feeling good.
On Lap 4, we felt good enough to do the Pig singletrack trail on the Buzzards Climb to the top. This was good cause this completes our ride with every trail on Demo. We climbed out strong and it was done.
We met about 20 people along the way. Kevin and El Santo were with the Stanford team ride. Sean and Matt were out having fun. Everyone seemed to know we were doing a big ride and were giving us props.
A truly awesome day in an awesome place.
Here's some pics from my 20 megapixel Hasselblad.
Jae, Derek and Joe ready to go.
Ed setting up with his new custom rack. He's from Chicago so he's just wearing a t-shirt... at 44 degrees
Rolin, rollin, rollin.
Joe in the bright sun
Derek not airing it out
Jae with the only mechanical of the day. His inner tube valve just gave out while we were sitting around.
Suffer Springs wall
Jae after the great ride. First ride at demo was 4 months ago. Now he's ridden every trail there in one ride.
Me, post-ride. Where's the Newcastle?
francois