Although the weather was looking good at the tail end of the week, we didn’t want to fully jinx it by getting all worked up for a Sunday ride, so we played it low key. The weather was clear and hot all Saturday, so the Sunday ride was on. Chris had last minute babysitting duties, Root had plans with relatives, and Ckucke was MIA. Jeff, Sara, JT, Dr. Paul, and Danny were at the trailhead when I arrived. I was feeling a little hung over from wine with osso buco the night before, so I was off the back from the start. My legs were burning at the first left turn after the gate! JT was hanging too, having survived a fried food and beer fest on Saturday, so he was my compatriot in suffering. After climbing up Government road to the side loop entrance, I aired down the new Rubber Queens, but ended up dropping them too much, as the ride felt like dual flats after that, and I heard a couple of bottom-out bumps on roots as the underaired tires pinched flat. Before the drop, I pumped them back up, maybe too much, as they were squirrely loose on the way down. I backed them off a little to about where they were when I started (40 psi front/50 psi rear) and all was good from then on.
We did the normal ride out along Ditch, to the accompaniment of Vietnamese karaoke songs and smallarms fire, working our way up to the big tree. Root called when we were resting there, saying he was outbound on Ditch, so we chose a meeting place. Jeff, JT, and I went up to the ironwood hill then dropped in through the back door, while Sara, Danny, and Paul backtracked down cardiac hill. We met root along the Ditch, and he accompanied us on the return leg. Danny had a dinner to get to, so he made book for the gate and disappeared before the rest of us hooked back up with Sara and Paul. Everyone was game for burgers and beer after the ride, so we headed down to the Kailua Town Pub for eats. This reward seems to be steadily overtaking the riding itself in importance. I think Root showed up just for the food!
Pictures here
D = 12.25 km (7.61-miles), Vavr = 13.4 km/h (8.3-mph), Vmax = 40.0 km/h (25.1-mph)T = 55-minutes (actual trail time about 2-hours)
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