Saturday June 24th MTB bike ride start from Kevin and Theresa's house with 2 groups doing different routes and distances.
We were joined by Larry and Kati Wu, and Steve Sparano. Great not to deal with traffic. The group quickly jumped onto the Black Creek Trail that runs from Dynasty to Old Ready Creek Road. On this greenway we paused to admire the new water fountain and associated Plaque that is has been installed there in honor of Kassel Smit. After leaving the water fountain the bikers formed two groups, and rode from the Black Greek Green way onto Old Ready Creek Road, over the interstate and into Umstead park.
Kevin, Larry, and Steve rode the outer loop of Umstead in a counter clock wise direction. Route consisted of 19 miles and a few small chain ring climbs. Theresa and Kati rode the same route with a u-turn at the entrance of Umstead located at the corner of Trenton and Ready Creak. Their distance was about 15 miles, no granny gear climbs. The Humidity was Ugly, the Temp was high, the shade was great, the breeze only when moving. Kevin planned for this by bringing his largest Camel Back water supply. By the end of the ride he had finished it off. Larry spent the majority of his time defending himself from Horse Flies. One was able to latch on and gnaw on him while biking at 17 mph. Larry could not stop at all due to these dive bombing horse fly's. Steve and Kevin had no issues with the fly's. Hmmmm - what does this suggest about Larry.
Maybe he is full of IT. Parts of the trail were rutted due to the heavy rains lately. We needed to keep a close eye on each tight turn and downhill run. The ruts that proved to be the most challenging were on the uphill climbs. Larry caught a tire in one rut on our steepest climb. This did not phase him at all, with a surge of strength Larry spun the cranks so fast that his rear tire almost jumped off the rim. Sand flew in all directions as if he was trying to chip a golf ball out of the bunker. The bike lurched forward and hopped out of the rut only to dig a new one as Larry powered his way up the hill. Steve and I have decided to enter Larry and his bike in the State Fair's Tractor Pulling contest. We figure he will bring home the trophy. This group met the others as we were exiting Umstead and heading for Black Creek Greenway. The Ladies had had a very pleasant ride, no fly's, no ruts. All smiles and still carrying on full conversations solving world issues, and discussing the steps to reduce stress, as if they had just met for the first time in several years. If anyone can invent a device that could harness the energy of chit chat they would be millionaires.
In all a great ride for everyone.
No ride this Saturday.
Next MTB Saturday ride will be July 8th. Send me an email if interested and If 10am or 2 pm is best for you.
As we get better at MTB we will venture into single track routes.

Sunday June 25th Road Bike ride.
Early arrival and departure for the "smell the roses" group. This group is working on a new name and are kicking around the idea of naming themselves " team adventure". If you study this name closely you will discover that acronym of T&A. The group included Theresa, Beth, Jae, and a first timer for the group Carolyn Sparano ( aka just days off from knee surgery ). This group assembled between 7 am with a start time of 7:30am. They rode the 20 mile loop and enjoyed each others company. First timer - just off knee surgery - led the pack pulling from the front. This just might be a spark of the competitive sprit. Problem is the group will not respond, conversation is far more important than competition. We expect to see Carolyn joining the testosterone group soon. They did encounter the Sink Hole with Beth Gonzalez almost sliding into the hole. She was wearing cleats for the first time and had difficulty getting her foot out and stopped before going over the edge. Theresa took pictures of the sink hole. Those are attached to this email.



The other group started to assemble some at 7am with most arriving between 7:20 and 7:40am. Kevin and Steve Sparano both rode to the start giving them an extra 5 miles. They also rode home that 5 miles once the ride was over. The group this morning consisted of the following individuals:
Steve Cope, Kevin Smit, Steve Sparano, Norris Townsend,
3 new members to this group
friend of Norris's -Mark (last name escapes me - sorry Mark),
Andy Hartsfield - Friend of Beth and Kati and Larry Wu, and Aileen - she was told about the ride by Coach Dotson. After brief introductions and a warning about a possible road detour due to a sink hole on Green level the group was off. The pace was slowed from the start for several reasons. Wanted to make sure all in the group were comfortable and we were not pushing to hard for anyone. Also Kevin was feeling it from yesterdays ride but would not admit that it was the major reason for slowing the pace.

Everyone visited with each other, the riders formed two draft lines that shifted and regrouped and reorganized often. Each rider did a great job of watching for and warning the pack about obstacles.

Kevin had to stop at least 2 times on the route to deal with his cell phone. The cell phone would get bumped enough in the pouch of his jersey that it started to dial contacts in his contact list. Kevin apologizes if you received a call that sounded muffled as if he was talking with a cloth over the phone. We did not add on any of the extra loops and kept the route to the original 28 miles. The pack was well behaved, no one jumped to make a break-away.
At the end the groups both decided that an earlier start might be best for all. Especially as we add more miles to the routes.

So if the majority wants we can start both groups at 7:30am with a 7 - 7:20 assembly time.
Email me back and let me know your vote. AND Remember that next ride that is led will be Sunday July 9th. Invite a Friend.