Slight logistical error on my part. When I said to meet at the shop for last night’s ride, I failed to realize that Main Street was closed for the Classic Car Cruise. Hopefully no one gave up because of that.So although nobody showed at the shop, we met at Timpanooeke Campground and there were seven of us. Me, three shop guys, and three civilians,…Tyler, His girlfriend, and Mark. When we got to the first intersection Ryan and Mark bailed because Ryan had a curphew. They took off at the Salamander Flat turnoff and then there were five. I soon found out that Kyle and Brady, are like a couple of Girl Scouts in the woods. They are petrified of lions, and tigers, and bears. As we made our way up to the Ridge Trail, this became apparent and so once I had a chance to get up ahead of them. I turned off all my lights and hid in the bushes. I did my best Grizzly Bear impression and they both screamed like little girls. I think Brady peed a little.
When we finally made it to Ridge Trail. Two things happened. Tyler and his girlfriend turned around(I think they said something about going to watch some submarine races), and we met up with Curtis and his friend Whatshisname(I think it’s indian or something). After chatting a bit, Curtis and Whatshisname joined us for the rest of the ride. Curtis was battling some intestinal distress and kept threatening to puke, but never sealed the deal. Once over the top, I failed to warn them that South Fork has several sharp switchbacks. This oversight manifest itself when Whatshisname overshot one and piled up in the corner. I left Brady and Kyle, and went to offer assistance. No harm, no foul, and just as we were getting ready to saddle up and head back down to Kyle and Brady, we heard girl screams and there were bouncing lights charging up the trail to us. Apparently, the two of them had heard something in the bushes. And they swear they saw eyes. From here out I was elected lead rider. Secretly in the back of my mind I was flashing back to another night ride in this area.
We bottomed out at Cascade Road and ground out the climb back to the summit. It was surprisingly hot for a night ride and I was sweating like a pig by this time.
We began the last descent back to Timpanooeke and hadn’t gone 300 yards when I heard a ruckus and looked back at a pile of lights and dust. Brady had apparently out run his lights and went down. Everybody was concerned for his well being.
I was just happy that the crash-mojo had finally moved on to somebody else.