The weather was beautiful, and the time I spent outside was not enough, but i gulped it down like I would never see the outdoors again. I showed up late at GSC and the gang had already been through all the trails. Jason had it in for me, and took off like a mad man. He drove us hard for awhile, then finally slowed down about half way through a GSC lap. I was finally starting to warm up at that time, took longer than usual for some reason. It was a hard half lap. The second half was pretty more of a tempo pace. After that, everyone took off except Hoppe and me. We pulled out a lap at Brownie, then headed over to the Corbies.
The Corby trails were leafy, but for the most part were clear and fast. We hit it pretty hard and I was hurting bad and moving a lot of air around. Toward the end of the lap at Corby South, Hoppe decides he wants to jump the creek down by the pond. I got a picture of him landing. The whole thing looked pretty cool, but he landed really hard and won't be having any more kids, sorry buddy, watching hurt me too.
Well, we kept rolling for a minute. Then out of no where Hoppe is riding a front wheelie and is going over the bars. He saves it, sort of - and we take a breath and see what the hell happened. Turns out his tire came off the rim, but the tube didn't pop. Weirdest thing I have ever seen a tire do.
Hoppe proceeded to molest his tire for the next 10 minutes or so. I was kind of somewhere else today, so I wandered around and tried to take in the woods and water, just tanking up to hold me through the next week. I know I won't be able to get out during the week.
The sun streamed between these trees and hit me in the face. Everything kind of turned colors in my field of vision, like happens when sun hits you in the eyes. Surroundings kind of looked like a dream for just a second. I was happy to have been there.
Wandered back the other way, checked on Hoppe (still molesting his tire), made a smart-ass comment, then stood by the waters edge. Everything was very calm, the water was glassy, and things were peaceful. A vibrant yellow tree reaching out over the water caught my eye. Once I saw it, I couldn't get it out of my head. Wondered if anyone else had noticed it. It was trying so hard to be noticed; reaching out, busting with color, casting its reflection and doubling the visual impact. Again, felt lucky to have noticed it, and again was happy to be there.
And we were off again. Rolled through Corby North to finish things off. This time it was my turn to lead, and I tried to do it justice. Trails were pretty open with only one tree down I think. We rolled pretty fast and I was feeling it. Hoppe was right on my ass the whole time, there was no way I could have pulled away from him. So it was fun. Toward the end of the lap it was my turn. Started to feel my rear wheel sliding out in the corners.... Yep, flat tire. Dammit. Stopped and started farting with it. The new pump in my back pack didn't work, so that sucked. Also broke the tube, so that sucked too. Finally got a new tube in and pumped it up with Hoppe's pump - and we were off again.
Finished it off and headed for home.
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