Man, er um Bike Down

It is that odd time of the year when spring and winter are in an all out war with each other and the winner is yet to be determined. We all know, and time will tell, that spring will once again prevail and days will continue to get longer and warmer. The interim time is the battle ground of seasonal change. I will hold back from entering the debate on climate change, but will happily share the slushy details of the mudfest that was FT3 last night!

Rock God, Ghostrider, In-Law, No Handle, B and I all arrived at the Knot Hole to some remaining snow and very pleasant temps. We headed out towards Road Kill and quickly realized that this was not yet a spring day and the fast melting snow left a lot of standing water around! Muddy and wet before we hit Road Kill had all of us wondering how long the ride would be. The drop down to Back Door was great! There was some nice carnage on the crux between Back Door and Road Kill, all I saw was Rock God climbing back up onto the trail ala Jan Ullrich in the 2002? tour. The remainder of Back Door was great as was the first section of Fleming. The mud was starting to pile up and the patches of snow kept getting bigger as we were climbing. I experience some cleat issues with the new shoes and kept the streak alive by crashing going uphill, actually crashing while trying to get my shoe in the pedal. The crash was actually a first as well, I went down into a snow drift and made a mud angle. We powered on into deeper snow and mud.

The final fire road climb out of Fleming produced the first catastrophic failure of FT3! After arriving at work at 6 and then screaming for Tahoe at 1, Barrett arrived for at least the third event of the day with the cross bike in hand. As always Barrett road hard and pushed the CX set up to the limit. Actually a bit beyond the limit. We got a yelp followed by a bike toting muddy rider and no more rear derailleur. It seems the muddy mess and the power legs were just to much and pop! off it went...he may have shifted into his spokes...but all we really care about are the macro details. In true FT3 style, as we sat around wondering what to do, Rock God produced a tow strap! The first tow!!! Of course we gave the honor to Justin ( on a single speed) and we all headed for tacos. Never leave a man behind!

The Knot Hole noticed the mud on the faces and produced a variety of taco shell consistencies to keep us on our toes. Items of discussion got tabled for a later date and the conversation quickly reached the gutter, as it usually does. Note to all riders: The wonderful folks at the Knot Hole are giving us first shot at the next hot sauce order. Apparently "the book" will be available to us next week to mark our selections!

Dates to Remember:
3/29 Road Ride meet @ 7:30 Starbucks on Main St. (2nd attempt at snow ride?)
3/31 FT3
4/7 SSFT3
4/8 PC Race #1 ?????