The Last Lunch Ride

New Found Glory – My Friends Over You

it never really was a lunch ride. i don’t take lunch unless i can scavenge it at the office, and even in winter when it got dark early i never much left before 2. An appropriate name would be the Last National-Right-Out-My-Office-Door-Whenever-The-Fuck-I -Felt-Like-It (And-Was-Technically-Still-At-Work-While-I-Changed & Got-Ready) Ride. but that does not fit well in the header of a post. Next week the office moves from here..

…to somewhere that is not here.

Ooooh the office is modern, and new, and will impress clients, and has a shower… i’m optimistic about the potential for commuting, the nearness to Pera Club and the Papago Brewery and Rage Cycles, but unless they start including free soft drinks and covered parking like in the LA office i still say take your ergonomic workspace and groupthink layout and wireless net and balconies and shove them up your ass. its not South Mountain.

At least the Heckler and I unlocked the mountain this past winter.   Last year I rode National 20 times, but 10 times in the last quarter, and already 13 times this year.

It was Alex’s first ride on Somo on his new Yeti 575 and his first ride on it since we hit it at Thanksgiving.   and the first time JB and I would manage to actually hook up in a month of Thursdays. I was psyched to do it with a very old good friend and a very new good friend.

Alex and I plinked and bullshitted our way up Javalina and met JB just down from the saddle. We gabbed, Alex and JB reacquainted from Alex’s “Falling the Spine” grandeur. It was cool, I could tell right away we were all in a good happy place. So up we went and i climbed pretty well and the other guys enjoyed their zones too.

The carrot at the end of the stick all ride was something on the north face. Alex wanted to stretch himself and his new bike, and JB did too after having not done Geronimo in 10 years and getting fired up on his Goat Camp success and everyone else’s pump.   kewwwwwwl. 24th St. is the less-smart option here when you haven’t even done Geronimo, but so tantalizing with its challenges and the option to come halfway back down National before an even more intense downhill. So we compromised at the top of the Mormon climb, and i led down to the first rock slot just a tenth of a mile into the trail. It was like a nip of Yeti-guys’ Scotch and the brief beaver shot in “Basic Instinct” at the same time; a taste of 24th St’s pleasures for the next ride.

We saw a few friends and tooks some optional lines as the good mood and good climbing continued up to the Waterfall, my bent seat seems to have seen its last ride after I landed a nice drop, then Alex decided to get over his crash demons. A new line has developed on the outside of the Waterfall – its jagged and steep but at the same time straight and somewhat smoother. Its a commitment, and without giving anyone much time to get nervous aobut what might occur Alex dropped in. and then endo’d on the bottom move in the rock garden. But he was in control and suffered no more than a slightly bent brake lever. It was like watching it in slow motion…he had it, had it, then let his weight get just a bit too far foward. Then he went back and did it again and got it. It was an inspiring moment.

Me, being me and easily swayed by the emotions of the moment, and finally riding National with some others to peel me off the rocks should something go wrong, decided to ride the spine. I’d been staring at it most of April feeling tingly, time to man up.   it took two approaches. The first to get the right angle to line up the drop, the second to actually roll up to the drop and make sure it felt right. The third time i was scared shitless but knew if i could just keep my eye on the ever-narrowing rock spine and keep my weight back it would all work out. And it did. And i was still scared shitless as i carried the bike back to the top.

More good times and folks we knew climbing to the top, and then we all got fired up for Geronimo. Its been about 2 months since i hit Geronimo, doing about 6 times down 24th instead. I felt a little urge to push it knowing Alex and JB were going to follow me, and i just felt so smooth and so in control and so not afraid the entire way down it was amazing. 24th St. is soooooo much harder and made me soooooo much better. And the confidence from riding the spine wrapped around my cool buzz mixed with adrenaline, the good kind of tired, and my friends. I got the entire trail without dabbing.   As we rounded each switchback near the bottom i thought “i haven’t missed yet,” and kept trying to put it out of my head and stay in the moment cause that was what was making things works so well for me.   And each turn and slot flowed off the bike.

We were all pumped at the bottom, each of us having his own accomplishment. After the spin back to the office, Alex helped me load the remaining space in the truck with ex-Ticketmster office furniture, and the sight of a beat-up pickup with a $3,000 bike and a jumble of furniture certainly turns some heads here in Arizona.   we all met up at Cactus Jack’s at Elliot and 48th. Cactus Joe suggested Cactus Jack’s…hee.   Rancho Relaxo is September 8th, I must put that on my calender. A good way to finish out the office.