In need of heavy cropping:
Talk about a great day of riding - we doubled our number of participants compared to the Chubb Time Trial, to make for 12 non-racers! Many a nose-wheelies were performed, and many a family with little kids on bikes were seen deep into the technical singletrack. Because of this, many laughs were had.
A good chunk of us started out at the "Mound", where we proceeded to pedal a penultimate path of pestilence and destruction towards Klondike, where we would mount an assault on the Hogsback switchbacks the likes of which have never been seen before. Once we reached Klondike, we were met by speed-specialist Tim Kakouris, and even a healthy contingent of GORC singlespeeders (actually, one was geared.) HUGE thanks to all who came out - we really do appreciate all the support and kind words!
The results are as follows:
1) 8:01m Tim Kakouris
2) 8:02m Matt Keevan
3) 8:04m Carey Edwards
4) 8:22m Nico Toscani *TIE*
4) 8:22m Shop Minister *TIE*
5) 8:35m Gino Felino
6) 8:38m Larry Koester
7) 8:39m Bryan Adams
8) 8:56m The Good Doctor Wesley McLaren
9) 9:18m Casey Ryback
10) 9:32m "Pimp"
11) 10:28m Jack Taggert
Great Job. Here are the starting pictures:
Each battle-hardened warrior fought valiantly up the treacherous switchbacks on their way to glory. There were many casualties, the most notable of which was weakness. It was nice to not encounter horses and their fecal matter. After summitting, we parted ways, with the Team Seagal Soldiers heading straight back down Hogsback in super record time.
Of course, when visiting Klondike, you can't just ride one trail twice. So we were erroneously enticed to embark erotically on an elite epic encompassing the extremely enjoyable trails that traverse topographically-technical terrain that was westward of where we were waiting.
After playing around on the teeter-totter, we held a little impromtu time trial on the super-fun 1/8 mile(?) Strip Mine loop. The course was one full loop of Strip Mine (without any carrying the bike) starting and finishing at the wooden pallet/sand pit. After two sets of laps, the best times are as follows:
1) 1:26 min Casey Ryback (no dabs)
2) 1:32 min Mason Storm
3) 1:37 min Gino Felino
4) 1:42 min Shop Minister
5) 1:47 min Nico Toscani
6) 2:08 min Dr. Wesley McLaren
The SMTT left us wanting more technical riding, and the best place to fill that desire is, of course, the Donkey Kong Loop, where we easily snapped the metaphorical wrist of the trail.
At this point, we'd been on the trail for many hours. It was time to start heading in the direction of our cars. But not before trying out a different route with which to get to the Matson Hill Trail. Instead of riding the Katy down to Matson Road and then suffering up the "wall," we turned left onto Terry Road, and took that up to Duke. This took us up a less-wall-like gravel road, and lots of rolling hills before turning right onto Duke. It was much more scenic, even if we did have to backtrack nearly as far as Klondike. Then we had several miles of rolling hills on pavement before reaching the Matson Hill Trail. This is probably a route best done with a cyclocross bike, rather than a fat-tire singlespeed mountain bike. Due to limited sunlight, we skipped Matson Hill Trail, and instead rocketed down Matson Hill Road where we took the Katy back to the Hamburg.
These trails are phenomenal trails, and when riding them, please take this sign into account:
The second Team Seagal Non-Race is now in the books as a successful and above-all FUN event that brought a riders together to... well, ride. #3 is already in the works, with a definite date set - Winter Solstice, Dec. 22, which is a Saturday. For the first time there will be an entry fee, in the form of food to be donated to charity. Specific formatting-details have yet to be finalized, but until they are, ask yourself one question: "Just how much do you like egg nog?"
We'll see you there.
-C. Ryback
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