i shall rideth in circles no more upon thee!

i had to ride National!

the deepness of this need dwarfs my need for a fuck my Freshman year in college. err…no it doesn’t. but GAWDAYUM did i want to ride the Heckler. my self-esteem, my need for a fun ride, my backlash from 24OP, and the office move in late April pried me from my sloth. i blew off some stuff at work. I don’t care. As JB said in his post on mtbr “The mountain calleth my name, and I must obey.” clearly he was feeling the same as me.

i won’t get into details, they are not exceptional, or more actually, i did not care. it was misty and rainy…whatever; i blew off work…whatever; my time sucked, i was winded most of the climb up Javalina and Mormon…whatever; i did get all of Widowmaker…whatever. i was just enjoying being out, even if my body and the ride and my bike did suck. my front tire was sloshy, i had noticed it for a while but hoped it would seal w. riding, but i kinda blew it off cause i was…whatever. This was a mistake. all the sealant is dry, as i should have known from the other one crapping out 2 weeks ago. It started by lasting 30 minutes between fills, then 10, then it finally burped on the Catwalk above Telegraph Pass and i had to give up and pull the tire and get spooge on my hands as i yanked the rimstrip and put in a tube. whatever.

I really wasn’t watching the clock. I had to be off the trail at 6:30 which only wouldn’t happen with a catastrophe, i had a fleece in my pack if it got cold, i have become a durable rider…the only thing i couldn’t handle was a crash. and despite my relatively sloppy riding, i was riding with a lot of confidence where it mattered. there is an exposed rock above the trail on National below the Waterfall, and its developed into an option, which i’ve been taking more and more. i crashed off it a few weeks ago, but now felt just so comfortable as long as i just watched the rock and didn’t look down. and so simply like that, i worked my way up to BV, and down the many staircases towards Telegraph…stopping about 4 times to pump the tire. it was a disheveled ride in cold, damp weather over rough terrain with a mechanical…and i was doing just fine. Other than stopping for the tire, i got everything but 1 switchback on the Catwalk. it was pretty smooth for being so slapdash, until my tire finally burped and i had to change it out on the trail, worried that it will become as much of a nightmare to mount as the last one.

So it was 4:50 at Telegraph, and I had to decide the route. All ride i’ve been thinking about descending 24th St. i’ve had a bug for it the last few weeks, the last few years really, to check out 24th st. down from Mormon. Its supposedly the gnarliest thing on the mountain. i’m not sure that’s true…i’ve hiked it and its plenty bumpy but mostly rolls and steps in the bedrock, not loose or jagged like i remember Holbert or like the back side of National. Some friends of mine who are comparable tech riders to me have done it and say its doable. Mo, who is quite good on the gnar, said i should just hit it and walk what i didn’t like. about the same advice i would have given myself. I haven’t been bored with Geronimo, but its been about 10 times in the last 3 months i’ve hit it and i feel really good on it now. The novelty is gone, its now just a super fun fast rush of a descent that me and the Heckler grab and wrestle. The same drive that made me start taking Geronimo was pushing me to 24th St. At the start of the ride, I figured i’d just see how i did on the stretch of National to Telegraph. when the tire got leaky, i figured Geronimo for sure just to finish the ride quickly, but once the tire was good…well why not let’s just see what happes when i get to BV?

As i was climbing the road back to BV, a roadie came up behind me all cheery and said “what trail are you gonna bomb down?” it was so cool, to see someone else out in the mist, and to feel someone’s friendliness who recognized a big bike but had no attitude about a mtb’r in armor. and why not? i rode my roadie yesterday, i climbed for an hour and a half to get here today. Maybe he was an mtb’r back from OP too, he was kitted up but had a slicker which seemed unroadie-like…or maybe just a dude who liked biking and didn’t bring any attitude to another biker. i’m so sick of biker attitude, of which there was some at OP. whatever, the smile gave me the bit of warmth i had not had in this overcast, damp, sloshy and hazy ride. I gave him props for being out in the rain, he gave me props for being out in the rain, we fisted both with a lift in our cadence, and he went to the towers. So i said well we’ll just decide on riding 24th after we see what happens at the Waterfall.

I climbed out of BV surprinsingly well, and with little fanfare just up and made the big lift which i did not expect to make and frankly was worried about falling back off of, and then all up to the saddle. scratch and claw and crawl went the Heckler. my god that bike is amazing when you and it go play on the rocks. and at that point i stopped worrying about the Waterfall and got ready for 24th St.

when did it become commonplace to stop worrying about the Waterfall? i am fairly sure that i will ride the spine in the next year. at least i hope i do, for otherwise it will be a nasty crash.

Going into 24th, the one thing i did that showed i was scared was take off my music. then i just rolled on in. It was hard, but it just wasn’t hard. i was ready for it. I saw the lines and hit them, and was patient for them to come, and the things that scared me i stopped and looked, and did not let the ever-present knot in my sphincter distract me. I walked just a few spots, and amazed myself with just how few they were, maybe 3 slots and a spot or 2? I rode almost all of it, slowly and in control and just moving with confidence and humility with my bike. how do you get in a zone when everything says you shouldn’t be in a zone? practice for 10 weeks on Geronimo. practice on the Catwalk. draw on your confidence. be cool honeybunny. and wear pads.

when i got to the bottom and out on the road, i went to lock my fork and maybe it was being out for almost 4 hours but i am pretty damn sure it was locked. The compression was soft, and i had about 3 inches of travel in the locked position, but as i wracked my brain i could not remember for the life of me unlocking it after the road climb. I know its the rider and not the bike, but did I seriously ride down National and 24th this way? the shock, the suspension, the geometry and the thru-axle all make the heckler along with the 6 inches, and its the rider not the bike.

back to the office, back home, walking the dog, nothing special.

i called Mo to thank him for talking me into it, i called JB to tell him to give National a hug on his ride tomorrow morning since it is so good when it hugs you back ( in the figurative, not literal sense — actually hugging National sucks) and it would be just like our OP we’d be on the same track but never see each other, and i called Byron cause he is my boy and would understand that i wasn’t bragging but had to tell the tale.

I can’t wait to ride back on the road Sunday with G. I :heart: Somo.