Yesterday’s ride out in the mountains was surreal. With pending rain just waiting to dump all over our heads, the humidity and fog was through the roof. This made for an unbelievable, lush ride out in the woods. EVERYTHING was green. As we climbed up the mountains of Ellijay, GA, it really seemed like we were in another world with the fern ground cover and new leaves on the trees. When you add the sound of birds happily chirping off in the distance, things were just perfect in their weird little way. Of course, it felt my body was never going to quit sweating so my jersey and pack were completely soaked, but the atmosphere made for a unique ride.
We were all getting together yesterday because there was a friend in from out of town. It made the perfect excuse for a “we can’t bail on this one no matter what the weather channel says…” ride and we headed out in the woods without a care in the world whether the sky opened up or not. Luckily for us…the weatherman was wrong again yesterday and we had a fantastic ride without getting wet from water falling from the sky.
I brought out the Ventana El Chucho 69er with the Hope Tech M4’s to get some testing in. The El Chucho did a lot better with a stouter set of brakes and the new M4 mounts (more later this week) really cleaned up the whole cockpit. Unfortunately, I had been sick for most of the week, so I had to cut the ride a little short at about 19 miles, but it was more than worth it to get out and enjoy some sweet singletrack with friends. I spend a lot of time thinking and tinkering with parts and bikes, but when it all comes down to it…its about days like yesterday…sharing the stoke with friends…
I thought you guys would like to see the pictures because it isn’t everyday that you ride in conditions like this…even around here in the spring…
The following pictures are courtesy of regularjoe…
