BFF Ride

On the drive over to the fountain to meet for the Sunday ride, JT told Ckucke that he needed more friends. This off-the-cuff comment caused a stir in the fabric of the universe, because all sorts of people came out of the woodwork to be our friends. Thanks, JT! Jeff and Sara bailed thinking the weather would be bad, but there was nothing but blue sky in Kailua. Jay and Ckucke were already there when I arrived. As I unloaded my bike, a dude and his son came over to talk story about bikes. After a bit, he wandered over to Ckucke and JT. Something JT said must have lit some kind of fire in the guy, because he went all “intense” and went over the top with his stories. He eventually went away, and Root showed up and we rolled out.

We kept the effort low at the start so we would still have something left for the climbs yet to come. The Norfolk area was dry. We learned our lesson about going in the concrete block hill direction, and kept to the bottom and climbed up to the big tree via the slalomy side trail. While we were recovering at the big tree, we head some loud singing approaching. We knew Chris and his work friend were out hiking in the area, so thought it was him. A tall dude on a 29-er SBI hardtail came around the corner. We have seen him before on the trail up by the top of Government Road. He was cool and stopped for some friendly conversation before heading down flailing fat guy. He was going in the general direction we were, but we didn’t see him after that.

The recent rains had fueled a growth spurt in the cane grass undergrowth. The mudpit area before the big tree and the upper Ditch between the end of fat guy and the main Ditch were heavily overgrown. Of all days I chose to wear a short-sleeved jersey! It wasn’t bad enough that the grass cut at my legs and forearms, but it also cut my cheeks and the corner of my mouth. We leisurely spun down the Ditch to Government Road, passing some friendly hikers. Someone had pulled the fallen tree that was blocking the trail two weekends ago out of the way. After a rest at the junction, we ground up the road. There were a couple of wet spots at the stream crossings along Ditch, and Government Road was a hint soft on the long clay climb. We passed some unfriendly hikers around the mango tree at the side loop entrance.

Passing the cut, the trail became moist. The descent along the old road was a little loose across the slippery rocks of doom and the diagonal roots of death. Entering the singletrack, the climb was soft but not unrideably so. The fast descent was not dry, but the traction was perfect. The first rooty climb and the climb up to the fencepost banyan were soft enough for tire spin to become an issue, but the remainder of the trail was fine. Somewhere along the way, JT got really quiet. He wasn’t bonked, but he had switched over to survival mode. Dropping the last descent to the road, we rode back to the park and the cars. While we were loading up, a neighborhood dude on his city ATB came by to talk.