Ice Capades/The Dark Horse Sunday Single Speed Ride

The past week was spent basking in the sun of Southern California, dining at Spago, rubbing elbows with Wolfgang Puck and of course conducting business. While all of this was going on I never bothered to check on the weather back East, only finding upon my return that one of the worst ice storms in decades had hit, leaving a thick layer of ice, thousands with out power, the trails in shambles and our bikes like this.

After several years of mind numbing time on the rollers and trainers I tossed in the towel and hooked up with the Dark Horse Cycles Racing Team for the Sunday single speed rides. There are only two requirements for the rides, good attitude and beer, neither of which I have any trouble digging up for these rides. (Sadly the cold weather sucked the life out of my camera battery so I was not able to record the actual events, but trust me the following shots closely resemble what actually took place). This weekend with the ice storm the trails were proved to be a bit trickier then usual and at times the riding felt like this.

Habitually I, like a top flight equestrian rider, dismount by unclipping from my left pedal first. Well for the second weekend in a row, despite massive amounts of forearm torque, my left cleat loosened up enough that unclipping in a hurry was not an option. It provided fodder for the pack as I usually ended up looking like this

Mike Rave, riding his new scandium Niner, was feeling more bullet proof then ever and tempted fate by trying to ride every ice patch on the course. The highlight came when he broke through the ice and with rear wheel spinning put up a rooster tail just a shade smaller then this.

After almost 2 hours riding in 20 degree weather we all agreed to spin back to the cars where George Z, the Mayor of MTA, conducted another brilliant post ride debrief.

I can't wait for the New Year's day ride!