THANKFT3UL

Last night nine pithy MTB'ers gathered at the Knott lot among huge rounds of downed pine in tufts of sawdust and pine needles. I began heckling Bambi for his lack of attendance and he announced that he was going to have to re-learn how to turn the pedals. B was there too, coming off his long work-related hiatus that has kept him off the bike, out of the county, and away from FT3 for too many weeks. He kindly made the rounds with pre-br's just as Mother Rye began chiding us for parking in the lot as if we were supposed to know to park elsewhere. It was something of a reunion, the group of nine including R.G., Cap'n, Bambi, B, Newb, Spawn, C-Man, NoHandle and our D.R.L. - Lars, were present. It could have been the first reunion of the complete 24 hour Team 1 in many months, if not years. This was at least subliminally present in NoHandle's mind, because at one point during the night when his headlamp battery was jettisoned from his jersey pocket, and lost among the bush, he couldn't help but make a reference about how devastating such an incident would be during a 24 hour race. Note to other riders, it appeared to be the empty wrapper in his pocket that gave it just enough 'slip' to provide for ejection during his epic and stylish maneuver off a six inch high log jump.

Stylish maneuvers abounded last night, as Bambi quickly proved he had not forgotten how to ride, he maintained his typical antics and even sang us a country song. Our D.R.L. took us down to the lake and along the lake and on some horse trail to the super steep climb to the bottom of Rufus Rage. During the horse trail part, I took to announcing, in BMX announcer fashion,  the awesomeness of this reunion, riding the wheel of Bambi and Newb who were equally embroiled in antics. At one point I announced some particularly awesome fancy riding of Bambi's and Newb decided to look back to see what was going on. He then rode off the trail, crashed and whacked his nuts. There was little remorse from our group of excited riders, so we rode on while Newb HTFU'd and rode on as well. Our group contained 1 single speed more than geared bikes for a total of 5, each of those riders took to the steep climb with ferocity. We climbed the rage and descended upper skid and skid row and all the riders thoroughly enjoyed the works of the unknown trail builders, not to mention perfect trail conditions.

'Round the lake we went to Hazel Creek where we got on the fireroad that only people who do long runs know how to find. We climbed in that area for a long while, then descended some fireroad back into familiar territory. During the fireroad decent, a wild and ferocious possum crossed the trail forcing some hard braking among the group. The hard braking took place just as Bambi was about to make his move to pass Lars and I by riding swiftly between us. Bambi rode directly into my left ankle, where I was not Bronsoned, rather I was Ardented, and he then took an unplanned dismount into the hillside, narrowly avoiding taking me clean out. It was quite a spectacle from what I hear, but I did not see it, as I was more concerned about the ferocious and obviously rabid marsupial in front of me. We dropped back down to the lake in the vicinity of B is for barf, then rode back up to the qualifier, dropped a little single track section and out to the road where where we could see the Knott shining like a beacon in the night.

We rolled into the tuft lot once again to change out of our cycling panties and headed in for tacos. It looked as if all of the riders partook in some rye, with the exception of the Spawn, who opted for water and a single champagne of beers. During the conversation we learned how chainsaws help us appear more manly to our significant others, how much beard growth is just the right amount, and how absurd it is to try to change your own taco handle.  Alas, we were all thankful for yet another successful FT3. May there be many more to come.

Cap'n

For those of you who are not aware, there is a local, very grassroots and only 'somewhat organized' Turkey Trot run tomorrow at 8:00am. The run starts at the Placerville library and goes down the Forni to Missouri Flat road section of the El Dorado Trail. Two mile, 5K and 10K turnarounds will be marked. This is a fundraiser for the local food bank. If you come, plan to donate what you can, burn off some calories and enjoy this community gathering of friends for a good cause. Hope to see you there.