(RR) Shelby Farms, Tour de fugowee

[Clyde_in_tn]

In an effort to get myself acclimated to the heat down here, I went out or my first ride at Shelby
Farms during the high eat o the day (3-5pm).

I parked at the main pavilion and went up and asked some "serious" looking bikers about the
trails, etc.

They all said the Tour de Wolf was the b@lls, but all noted that I _needed_ something more than a
rigid single speed because the trail was very "rough".

I decided to not listen to them and proceeded to ride. it was an okay trail what I saw of it, but
somewhere about 1/2 way through I took a wrong turn and it dumped m out on the fire road back to the
pavilion.... hmm only 3 miles on the odo, lets try that again!

So, I rode it again this time taking a left at the fork instead of a right and was rewarded with
some more nice riding, but sh!t it was FLAT out there and not very "technical" at all. I highly
doubt I'll be getting much use out of my new 18T freewheel probably need to get another 16T instead
for that rear wheel.

Again, the stock IRC Serrac XC's held up perfectly to everything that was put under them, I dunno
what it is about these tires but I really like them. Only wish they were 2.3" to soak up some of the
sharper bumps though. felt one root hit my rim hard. god thing for the Hutchison Greens or I would
have pinch flatted for sure.

There was one mildly amusing rock garden that I rode back and forth through several times and I was
practicing climbing over a tree that had blown down across the trail till I noticed some of the
locals had congregated to watch me.

I could not hear all of what they were saying but I did ear the words "damned" "crazy" and "yankee"
a few times.... SO, I rode over and introduced myself. They seemed okay but a bit standoffish and
got especially snooty when I asked them where the "tough technical stuff was hidden" claiming that
this was as good as it gets unless I want to drive an hour or more.

I bid them good'day and rode on... Somewhere, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the ire road back
to the pavilion. I rode the very narrow single track that paralleled the paved path sometimes
clipping my pedals on the edges and hung around the parking lot hoping to meet up with some more
"serious" riders, didn't find any, just a bunch of joggers and inline-skaters.

I did watch a "runner couple" get engaged right there in the parking lot. They had took off running
a few minutes after I arrived.... "He" got back a minute or two ahead of her and pulled the ring
out of hiding. When she ran up, he gave her the ring and proposed right there in the parking lot
while they were all hot and sweaty.. it was really quite romantic, in a jock sort of way. It was
"cute", yeah.

--
John G.

 

[Dave W]

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 23:22:55 GMT, Clyde_in_TN <[email protected]> wrote:

>In an effort to get myself acclimated to the heat down here, I went out or my first ride at Shelby
>Farms during the high eat o the day (3-5pm).
>
> I parked at the main pavilion and went up and asked some "serious" looking bikers about the
> trails, etc.
>
>They all said the Tour de Wolf was the b@lls, but all noted that I _needed_ something more than a
>rigid single speed because the trail was very "rough".
>
>I decided to not listen to them and proceeded to ride. it was an okay trail what I saw of it, but
>somewhere about 1/2 way through I took a wrong turn and it dumped m out on the fire road back to
>the pavilion.... hmm only 3 miles on the odo, lets try that again!
>
>So, I rode it again this time taking a left at the fork instead of a right and was rewarded with
>some more nice riding, but sh!t it was FLAT out there and not very "technical" at all. I highly
>doubt I'll be getting much use out of my new 18T freewheel probably need to get another 16T instead
>for that rear wheel.
>
>Again, the stock IRC Serrac XC's held up perfectly to everything that was put under them, I dunno
>what it is about these tires but I really like them. Only wish they were 2.3" to soak up some of
>the sharper bumps though. felt one root hit my rim hard. god thing for the Hutchison Greens or I
>would have pinch flatted for sure.
>
>There was one mildly amusing rock garden that I rode back and forth through several times and I was
>practicing climbing over a tree that had blown down across the trail till I noticed some of the
>locals had congregated to watch me.
>
>I could not hear all of what they were saying but I did ear the words "damned" "crazy" and "yankee"
>a few times.... SO, I rode over and introduced myself. They seemed okay but a bit standoffish and
>got especially snooty when I asked them where the "tough technical stuff was hidden" claiming that
>this was as good as it gets unless I want to drive an hour or more.
>
>I bid them good'day and rode on... Somewhere, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the ire road back
>to the pavilion. I rode the very narrow single track that paralleled the paved path sometimes
>clipping my pedals on the edges and hung around the parking lot hoping to meet up with some more
>"serious" riders, didn't find any, just a bunch of joggers and inline-skaters.
>
>I did watch a "runner couple" get engaged right there in the parking lot. They had took off running
>a few minutes after I arrived.... "He" got back a minute or two ahead of her and pulled the ring
>out of hiding. When she ran up, he gave her the ring and proposed right there in the parking lot
>while they were all hot and sweaty.. it was really quite romantic, in a jock sort of way. It was
>"cute", yeah.

Serious bikers huh? holding the laugh must've been tough...

Damn Clyde, what are you going to do without the technical stuff?

Welp, sounds like a project is in order then, eh....

Dave (keep searchin, it's gotta be there SOMEWHERE!)