"Oh, What A Night"

It started like any other ride. We fought the north bound 270 traffic, got our hydration packs on one CamelBack at a time, check the air in our tires. Where did we go wrong?? What lapse in our "pre-ride" tradition could have caused such dire consequences. Maybe it was our caviler attitudes towards supplemental lighting? Maybe it was riding that Nevegal with the duct taped sidewalls "one more time"? Who knows? What I do know is the deity of watershed dirt had a plan and it was to test the mettle our little foursome. I think we passed, though just barely.

I'm not sure when I saw/heard the first "sign". There were a few moments before we began where if the ride had a sound track, you would have heard a dramatic "dun_da_da" music score. "Sink hole on 355 north", dun_da_da. "We don't need to bring lights, we won't be out past dark", dun_da_da. You get the idea. Within the first mile I get not one, but two pinch flats. Going down the blue trail, north of Hamburg. First one was at the first pond, second one was at, you guessed it, the second pond. I tell the guys to "leave me", like some melo-dramatic war movie. "I've had a shitty day and this is just the beginning" I tell me compadres. They won't hear it and persuade me to press on. My ride actually got pretty good. I was riding strong, cleaned some tough climbs and was having a great night. SweetCheeks jammed his finger on Rock Candy and was in a bit of pain. He also wasn't quite over the effects of the Bakers Dozen. But, that stuff aside, he was having a great ride as well. Riding strong.....for a candy ass ;-) Seriously, we were having a good night. Then, half way around Salamander, **** NOTICE ***** Content deleted to protect the guilty ******END OF NOTICE ******* There is this jig-saw section of rocks leading to a big rock-over you can roll the back side. One by one we go over that sucker, smile at our accomplishment and comment on it's placement. Then DKEG rolls over, clean, and then POW, POW.....Hisssssssss. Double Flats. Not just double flats, but, double side-wall slashes that both went un-noticed at first. More to come.......