Dedication

Saturday morning at 7:00AM I walk into Chic-Fil-A, order my food and as I am waiting I have the following conversation with the girl who took my order:

Cashier “Are you going cycling today?”
Me “Mountain Biking, Yes.”
Cashier “Ooooo you must be dedicated.”

That tiny little act of socializing made me think. Normally I would just shrug it off and go about my day but it made me wonder. Am I really dedicated or am I just another junky looking to get my fix out in the woods?

Then I started to think about all the people that I like to call friends. This doesn’t necessarily mean that any of these individuals address me as their friend but that is another story.

I would like to think that we are dedicated to our sport in a manner that is healthy and sometimes ridiculously obsessive. The reason I call many of my acquaintances “friend” in the realm that is the Southeast is because we share a common bond being in the woods and riding mountain bikes in the woods.

It is knowing that most rides these days I never ride alone and I am almost always meeting new people. It is a group of dedicated freaks and geeks out to get their “fix” in the woods so they can feel alive and live healthy, so yes, thank you young lady “we are dedicated.

Jeremy and I met up on Saturday morning and took off from the Fish Hatchery. We rode 475B, Cove Creek, Daniel Ridge, Davidson River.

Yes, it was short because I almost flew off Daniel Ridge into the river while simultaneously pinch flatting my rear tire. I aired it back up twice and finally the Stan’s was sealing a big pinch. Quickly thereafter Jeremy double flatted and when I offered him my tube, it had a hole. He had just enough tubes and pressure to make it down Davidson River and back to the cars.

I bid the Goat adieu and proceeded to ride back up 475B to meet Zach and Meaghan at the top as they were camping. After a couple cold ones, we bombed Cove Creek for what would be my second time of the day. It felt much smoother the second time.

I left Zach to his own devices and headed home to pick up Kristin, then made the drive back up so we could camp out. It was a cool and star filled evening, perfect sleeping by a creek.

Sunday morning at dark thirty Zach and I are up mulling around like zombies getting ready to meet Jody, Ben, Bill and Dave down at the Fish Hatchery. It was another cool morning but with knee warmers and a Jersey, I felt perfect.

After we picked them up we proceeded to ride the following:

475, Davidson River, Cove Creek, Daniel Ridge, 475, Butter Gap, Long Branch short cut way down the FS road.

I took it much easier coming down Daniel and was really happy that I did when we came upon some Dave carnage. He had cracked his helmet in a hard fall in the rocks. Luckily, the helmet took the brunt of the fall.

Ben took the lead down Butter and I made chase. He rides a beautiful blue Salsa El Mariachi and was really eating up the single track. I couldn’t stay on his wheel but kept him in my sights as we kept speed up through all the technical creek crossings. I felt better than I had in awhile on the bike.

No mechanicals out of six people, sweet.

Someone has done a great thing and fixed the mud pit in the middle of Butter too. A great piece of Appalachian trail armoring now covers the seepage and makes for a great ride.

Great Weekend!