Re: gorillas in the mist
- From: Mike Vandeman <mjvande@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 05:57:36 GMT
On 27 Dec 2005 14:09:20 -0800, "JD" <dij@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
..I don't think my brother Timmy is hairier than me, but his "ape index"
..certainly qualifies him for the notion I had for the title of this. He
..
..happened to be in town for Christmas and we got a couple of chances to
..ride,
..one of the rides on a misty day in the local mountains.
..
..The peaks were shrouded by windblown wisps of moisture the whole ride.
..With
..temperatures in the 60's at the bottom and 50's at the top, it made for
..an
..interesting change in what gear was worn where. My base layer was
..finally
..peeled about three quarters into the climb and my long-sleeved tshirt
..was
..wringable by the time we finished the hike/ride to the top. The base
..layer
..was added back for the duration after topping out. Timmy didn't
..convert his
..gear at all, then again he had proper riding gear on as opposed to my
..JSTRM
..gear.
..
..The descent was rockier than I remembered it from two weeks ago. I was
..on
..the same bike, but Timmy had flown in and was borrowing a rigid geared
..bike
..of mine. That trail has beaten me up on more than one occasion when
..the
..bike of choice was a rigid singlespeed. I think Timmy was taking a bit
..more
..of a beating because of the conditions. He did manage a pinch flat
..about a
..third of the way down, which was quickly remedied. He decided to pick
..his
..way a little more after the flat with me in tow the rest of the way
..down the
..steeper parts. Those Continental Diesel tires sure worked well in the
..conditions presented, both bikes equipped with one up front.
..
..The "flat" part of the descent had suffered moto damage since we had
..ascended it earlier. The noise from them had crept up the mountainside
..when
..we had neared the top of the climb. Having hoped for the best, what
..greeted
..us the rest of the way down the singletrack was not the best. Turns
..were
..blown-out and anything remotely steep had been roto-tilled in both
..directions. They must have missed the humungous "CLOSED TO MOTORIZED
..VEHICLES" sign at the trailhead. Some people's kids.
Hmmm. Sounds just like mountain bikers.
..The road ride out on a dirt road was somewhat interesting and seemed to
..be
..full of various dirt claudes. Claude #1 decided his jeep was much
..faster
..than bicycles and gunned it when we asked to pass, choking us with a
..huge
..dust cloud. Claude #2 was using 100% of the road and obviously not his
..
..mirrors, almost pinching Timmy against a granite wall on the *left*
..side of
..the road when we were passing. Claude #3 had slowed to a crawl to pass
..
..another gargantuan SUV going up the road and didn't give us much room
..to get
..by after his pass. Claude #4 must have thought he was Mickey Thompson
..because his little disco wannabe-rockcrawler must have been doing 50
..coming
..at us when he shut it down and decided to give enough road up. Claude
..#5
..had a box van full of illegal aliens and almost pulled right out into
..us.
..Claude #6 decided that he wanted to drive his new disco jeep all over
..the
..road, even on the left side when traffic was oncoming when we were
..attempting to pass. Ending up as hood oranments was not part of the
..plan,
..so we gunned it past him and hurried to get off of this section before
..being
..killed. The dirt claude road happened to be much more technical and
..dangerous than the singletrack was.
..
..Timmy had to leave town this evening, so I brought him back to our
..Mom's
..place after the ride. I didn't mind the extra driving because there
..was
..leftover turkey, ham, apple pie, etc. waiting to be scarfed up. I
..drove
..home in a tryptophan haze and thought about how cool it was to ride
..bikes
..with any of my brothers. It's almost a shame that only one of them
..rides,
..but at the same time is better than none of them riding. It won't be
..three
..years before these apes get to ride together again.
..
..JD
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
.
- References:
- gorillas in the mist
- From: JD
- gorillas in the mist
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