Today I finally got to scratch my Mountain bike itch. Vinny and I had been planning to ride our fat tires all summer but since I didn't have my bike we put it off. Well last weekend I made a trip to Athens and brought the Cove back for some shredding. Vince couldn't make the Tuesday ride we planned we tryed for a Thursday late afternoon ride since we both had plans so at 3 o'clock I rolled up and we set out for Huffman Dam.

We arrived and unloaded our bikes Vince had the Giant and I had the Cove. (insert picture here) We rolled out and onto the first section of singletrack Creekside. It was a nice rolling trail that is mainly used as a leadout to the main trails. As anyone can tell you it hasn't rained at all here so it was a very fast ride with Vince following I could tell he was feeling antsy so I pulled off and let him go first. We thundered around the bends and flew up the hills. All along the way dodging the trees which all seem to be too close together.

The trails were all a little short and flat but we are not in Athens so what can you expect. Just as we I thought to myself man I'm going to do this whole ride and never get off tv e bike we start on our way down the most technical trail Hawk's Lair. At first I thought sure this will be real technical wonder how close they'll have the trees on this one (sarcasim). But after a few ups and downs with some rocks I started to have a more optimistic outlook. We made a few quick turns and the woods opened up to a clearing full of rocks. I was in my 34-32 and needed a lower gear but shifting into the 22 wasn't an option for mechanical reasons. The rocks were all small but would throw the backend around with every wrong move and finally after riding so flawlessly I slipped on a climb and ended up having to get out of Vinny's way. He was flying through and unfortunately hit the same hicup I did. So we traded a few words about the rocks and got rolling again.

After exiting the clearing the Lair wasn't finish with the rocks. We were making good progress but I kept slipping up on a few climbs and finally we opened to a fast rolling section. I was leading and while swooping through a turn I ducked to miss a tree and grabbed a fistful of front brake for some brainfart reason and ended up sliding my forearm down the trunk of a tree. After finishing the Lair we decided to ride the rock gardens again and this time Vince road the Cove I rode the Giant it was a bit tricky getting use to the different geometry but I love the XC feel of a bike like that had a little much air in the tires but we corrected that before the trip back to the parking lot.

On the way back my body could feel the fatigue but like Vince said "my legs were great but my body was beat". We did see a few other riders but for how full the parking lot was I thought we would have seen more. All in all it was a great ride to kick off the season the trail was fast and it was a blast to ride with Vince it is always fun to ride with someone who is not only matched with your skill but better and be able to push yourself and learn from someone else. Hopefully he will come down and show me some stuff on Lake Hope's trails. It has been an awesome summer and it wouldn't be right if I didn't ride everyday of my last week so one day to go and I can't believe what an awesome time it has been. The people have made every ounce of sweat worth it.

Willis out!

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