I usually stay late at work, hours being determined by the amount of work left to do.
Not so today. Today I was going to ride my first Hump Day; Frank's first social engagement. By 5:32 I was out the door.
About 3 minutes from the trail-head I remembered I had been too excited to really read the instructions on where and when to meet. I vaguely remembered something about 6 o'clock and Sail Boat Cove. Turns out that was information from last week's grill out, fortunately the road passed Smoke & Davey trail-head where we actually meet.
My first point of consternation was that Sail Boat Cove has nice bathrooms where one can change out of work clothes, fill water bottles, check for ticks, etc.
Smoke & Davey's has no such accouterments.
Turning into the parking-lot was akin to walking into a swarm of mosquitoes. Spandexed, be-helmeted, clipped in mosquitoes; they even make the same sounds!
There are a lot of things out on those trails which can be run into, but before I could worry about that I had to maneuver a parking lot full of people in constant motion.
The lot was full of cars and the prospect of parallel parking was not exactly relaxing. Once I had the keys out of the ignition I had to contend with the fact that my 'Smoke & Davey's trail-head routine' involves changing clothes in my non tinted window car. Now there were 30+ people buzzing around. Well, I guessed we'd get to know each other at some point and public indecency is lower on my list of social faux pas than tardiness, so I did what I had to do.
Once dressed and out of the car, I began to relax. I recognized faces and was breathing outside air; everything was going to be okay.
Kelley rode up as I pulled Frank down and invited me to ride with their group; they had another beginner with them. Most of the other groups took off ahead of us, spreading out throughout the trails according to skill levels. Kelley and Co. waited patiently while I put on gloves and helmet. Then we were off; a group of 5. Two brand newbies and 3 folks who knew the ropes and were patient and encouraging.
I began learning immediately. For starters, I have always ridden in the hardest gear I can manage. The advantage? I feel tough. The disadvantage? I am down shifting like a maniac any time I see an uphill coming; when I don't see the uphill coming, I'm walking my bike. When focused on not hitting trees and rocks, it's a whole lot to be considered. Seeing that the more experienced riders did not ride like this, I evaluated my reasoning and came up with the above.
I also learned to identify the sound of 'cross chaining.' This is not a good thing as it causes unnecessary wear.
These bits of knowledge taken together, I think I will be better off riding in the middle gear on my front sprocket and ranging amoung 3 or 4 on the cassette; thereby NOT cross chaining and hopefully being better prepared for climbs.
Frank and I continued to get to know each other and we got to know the other bikes too, learning what kinds of noises the other bikes make and watching what kind of rider actions precipitate those noises.
Our group intersected with others out there, all moving at different paces, and all having a blast. All in all we rode for about 2 hours. The whole experience was fun but my most favorite was when the 3 savvy riders stopped us at the top of a hill and explained how to hit a jump so as to catch air. I squealed like a little girl and am fine with it.
In closing, I think it best for the morale of the reader that I not mention the sound of sirens which passed early in the ride. Nor would I so much as consider bringing up the fact that they were there for a rider who dislocated his elbow. Even if this were the case it would be entirely inappropriate to nickname that derogated bit of trail the 'Hend-Rocks' as a nod to the incident. An unofficial title which I have no interest in perpetuating...
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