Colder than a Well-Diggers Ass Ride

The 1st Annual Holy Cow it is Colder than a Well-Diggers Ass ride was, just as the name might lead you to believe, extremely cold. Single digit wind chills for sure. But a great group of guys, including Mark Studnicki, Tige Lamb and Doug Stone kept the pace high enough to keep everyone warm. That is until they left us all on trails #10 & #11.....

For the first part of the ride I stayed toward the end of the group making sure James' bike was still moving forward as he had a little mechanical problem prior to the ride. This was fine with me as I was happy to be riding easy on the old rigid Mary SS and allowing my belly to digest the large sweet mug of 53 x 11 that I had just finished. Carolynn was nice enough to brew me up a pot prior to my departure. If you have never tried 53 x 11 coffee you need to. Anways, after today's ride I have made up my mind to look for a full suspension 29er. Once the Ouachita Challenge is over, the single speed gearing is going on the shelve and the Mary is up for sale.

After a warm-up on Wills Wonder, the group headed to the "forbidden side" of Landahl. Those trails are sure tough and if you are not careful, they can hurt you or your bike in a hurry (as Ashley soon found out). The "A" group soon were out of site and I ended up riding with Brent for a few miles until we got to the top of trail #10 and with my 32 x 21 gearing I was able to climb a few hills that he could not. After a few minutes of hard riding I bridged up to Damian and Randy and we rode together until we got back to the trailhead. Damian and I then headed to Rim Job for a quick loop then we hooked back up with Randy. Trails were in great condition has they only received a dusting of snow over night. Ground was frozen, which made it very hard. I think this might be part of the problem I have been having on the Mary. I don't think rigid and frozen hard ass ground go together.

We decide to ride through the boy scout camp and up Tasty Goodness to the trail head. On the way up Tige, Mark and Doug came screaming down going the opposite way. They looked like they were have fun. Once we got the trailhead we discovered that Ashley had crashed and broken his frame. It was time to go for most everyone. I still had an hour or so left in my legs so I ventured out by myself for another lap of Rim Job, the Boulevard and Family Trail. I was hoping to run into Tige and Co, but never found them so I headed back to the trailhead. I was feeling it when I got back and luckily Tige was still there and we decided to enjoy a nice lunch at Back Yard Burger. I just love that place.

Put down the 3rd or 4th weekend of January 10' for the 2nd Annual Holy Cow it is Colder than a Well-Diggers Ass Ride.