Poop Tire

Sunday was overcast and windy, but conditions were still prime for a ride. I met Ckucke, Root, JT, and Kevyn in Waimanalo for a spin up the Demon Trail ride. Tracy joined us, but went up on foot instead of on wheels. She pretty much took off and we were constantly playing catch-up! I guess on the Demon Trail, being on foot is more efficient on average.

JT found some dog poop at the beginning of the climb. We went as far as the mango tree, then decided to continue climbing up to the Demon Trail and going in a ways. There were some surveyor’s tapes and stakes along Government Road, with “1/2” pipe, capped” indicated. I wonder what the water will be used for? After a rest at the end of the road, we started up the trail. Ground conditions were very good to begin with, but further in it became moist, giving rise to tire spin and kickouts on roots and slick rocks. The waterfalls along the trail were all wet. We paused at the big one to rinse JT’s tire and watch the little black waterbugs darting about. The streambed through the fairy forest was scoured of moss, indicating some fairly heavy water flow in recent weeks. Here and there was some new sloughing and slumping of the contour cut – new rubble piles littered the inside edges, and a large rootball blocked the trail. We rode as far as the second waterfall past the melaleuca grove, then turned around. JT was hurting from a bail into a rock garden, traction was dropping abruptly, and we had all experienced enough pain and suffering for one day.

Returning back toward Waimanalo, we descended the drop-in of death. JT almost cleaned it but ended up going over the bars at the very bottom, landing upside down against a tree at the bottom of the first pitch. With this and the earlier bail, he empirically disproved the myth of good luck being associated with stepping in poop. He was pretty banged up, so returned to the trailhead via the Government Road. Ckucke took three runs at it, and cleaned it on his last. He was The Machine on this ride – climbing the unclimbable; spinning up lung-busting, leg burning steeps; and dropping the unrideable. The remaining four of us continued down the side loop and returned to the cars.

Pictures here

D = 9.25 km (5.75-miles), Vavr = 7.9 km/h (4.9-mph), Vmax = 33.3 km/h (20.7-mph), T = 1-hour, 9-minutes (actual trail time approximately 2.5-hours)