More Than Meets the Eye

Our Wednesday night ride last night was a no go as it rained and rained here in the south. However, I will take this chance to relay some thoughts I have been having lately. Wednesday nights are my night of the week to let out all the stress of life while on my bike. A while back when I first moved to Greenville, I would visit Dupont regularly by myself for night rides. Dupont can be a pretty creepy place at night by your lonesome so I started posting my rides on MTBR and with my friends in hopes of bringing out like minded folks.

Now I have been “leading” the Wednesday night ride for quite some time and I am proud of the group we have become. Not only do we have a great time but now most of us involved in the group really help to give back to the forest through volunteer efforts and supporting groups such as SORBA. We have a wide range of riders in our group on most nights and it is great to get out and see who does what best. Some are fast, some are technical, some are neither or both but it really doesn’t matter does it?

I like how our group operates, no one worries about routes, heart-rates, logging miles, doing sprints or any of that jazz. Except for when Zach whizzed by me the other night, was that a wind sprint or was their a beer up there somewhere? We just ride and if someone starts front wheeling another on a climb, those two go fight it out just like we did when we were kids. The fastest to the top gets nothing but a longer break at the top.

I have always been a person who learned more from doing than analyzing. If you want to become better at what you do, surround yourself with people who are better than you. I can tell you that from my perspective, I see myself and the group growing and improving. I am proud to say the second place in The Most Horrible Thing Ever is a Wednesday night rider. I am proud to say that somebody in our group had a great showing at Heritage Park this past weekend. I am proud to say that my meager skills on a bike are improving due to the quality of riders that come out.

I am not really here to make a point or to get a pep rally going, I just wanted to put to words what it is that I love about mountain biking. There is nothing more positive then negotiating a line, climb, corner, rock, fell tree, berm, descent, ascent better than you ever have; especially when it is in front of your peers who might have seen you struggle with that obstacle (but he said we wouldn’t climb Johanna due to our Ob-Stackles) before.

I made a toast to SURLY earlier this week for helping me get the Drunken Monkey back into my stable of bikes. Now I lift my glass high to all of those who have helped the Wednesday night rides be what they are, a FREAKING BLAST!!

I would also like to thank those who work hard at Dupont! Here is the supervisor’s report for 2008; it details the work done by those who help keep the forest in tip top shape. Thanks everybody.