The Usual Suspects

A group of the usual suspects is forming for weekend rides at Aburi. We number about eight in all now, after adding Scott - a recent arrival from Atlanta.

Yesterday we coordinated a much shorter ride than the previous week. Probably only half the distance, but connecting a few villages and valleys via buff tight and twisty singletrack. SJD, Chris and I had ridden this loop before. Chris took tumble in some soft sand as he was preparing to deal with a plank crossing just ahead. No real harm done although he looked like he'd been rolled in whole wheat flour (the dust sticks).

About mid-way, we tacked on a few more Ks out of curiosity. The extra loop was quite technical with steep rock drops, narrow grooves, and tight corners. It reminded us of riding bits of Gambrill, the Watershed or Michaux. Just barely rideable, but certainly worth the effort.

Here is a link to Chris' GPS data.

My rough and tumble super jock wife took a rather hard tumble, hitting her backside and forearm on log and boulder. It happened so quickly that we guess she veered into a stump just beside the trail. This will generally flip you and your bike around 180 in an instant.

(Note from SJD's slightly different (aka more accurate) version of events: my dear husband was rolling along just behind me as we went through a casava field. He decided it was a good time for a botany lesson and called out " is that casava on the right?" Distracted -- and trying to be helpful -- I turned my head. As we all know, the first rule of mountain biking is to look where you want to go. Unfortunately, just to the right was exactly where I didn't want to go. There was a nice sturdy tree stump that sent me flying... Lesson learned: tune out the botany questions until break time.)

The ride ended without much more calamity. Chris and his wife invited us over to his house for snacks, beer and a dip in their pool.

Ahh...guilty pleasures.