Lots of gears, no beers

B and I rode into the Knot Lot to find the crew assembled, kitted, and waiting impatiently. How were we to know it was going to be a punctual roll-out? In spite of the HCF teasers and in spite of it being SS night, no pre-BRs were being shared. And the rider who is most fussy about on-time departures hadn't announced himself in the count-off. So, little surprise, the start was late. The blog rumor that Greenfro would be in attendance turned out to be untrue. However, his unchaperoned invite did arrive and was ready to roll. 

With a new rider in the mix, we headed straight for the Qualifier. Qualification was easily established, and the new rider was dubbed Orphan.  

We proceeded to the Chopping Block, which was fluffy, bermed, and fast. After the spirited climb out from the flume, ODRL announced his plan to jettison. We rolled back to the Powerline descent, and at the first intersection, without fanfare, Lars turned right and headed home. The group proceeded down the next leg of the descent. At the bottom, on the brink of anarchy, THTH started riding towards the Qualifier. Turns out the Qualifier was in the other direction. Safety First was nominated for RideLeader. Various, and apparently useless text messages were dispatched to our satellite crew. Owing to the poor quality of said text messages the satellite crew headed out on a lake loop, narrowly missing the larger pack as we rode past the boat launch to the horse camp and dropped below the dams. At this point Orphan confessed "Holy Smokes! My legs are blown." He added that he had no idea where he was and that if he lost site of the other riders he would never make it out of the woods. Taking that in consideration we continued towards Palin's and the regular lake ride back to the Knott.

At the Knot lot who should we find loading a road bike into RG's truck?

A minute later Cappy and Xteric finished their Lake Loop and quickly hit the stop watch. They declined to disclose their time. The taco session was boisterous as we strolled in 10 strong.

Orphan's handle betrayed its lack of staying power as he used his Proper Name to order!?! The QA/QC team wasn't in the kitchen this evening as Greenfro was served a naked taco.