Summer of Love

Well loyal fans (Nico/Casey where have you been?) this weekend finally saw and end to the winter time blues and the sub 30 degree single speed rides. Here at the NECS when the seasons change it comes in like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist and this weekend we saw temps sitting a full 50 degrees above last weekends trash fest with ideal riding in the upper 80s.
With conditions like these there was no doubt that the troops would be out in full force. with some even being lured to the site with promises of early morning C-Dubs power snacks! But to no avail those in the know didn't show, Top Chef was still too bloated from the recent hernia surgery, and of course Hawaiian Mike was in rare winter training form as seem from this top secret shot.

Never one to miss a ride, the Mayor, despite severe respritory aliments, managed to procure a Sunday pass from the State TB Ward (with backup documentation confirming it was not a case of the Swine Flu) and was able to hack up a lung cookie or two during the ride.

And just to reassure all that the new world order is still intact the Mayor showed his uncanny ability to call the shots out on the course, even from the back of the pack. As a result of this we all had to be on the look out for Tom/Sven/Ingamar/Pedro Rossi whose favorite past time is to lurk back and wait for the waterhole before coming in full bore and giving someone (usually C-Dubs) the big mud shower.

Well this weekend, despite having some patented C-Dubs power bars before the ride, I was able to keep the old fart at bay for most of the ride and it wasn't until he sprinted ahead on the fireroad that the payback came. With Rossi a 100 yards up the road the Mayor made the call "RIGHT" and off we went into Skip & Bill's, another sweet section of single track with a nice bridge. With Aikido like skills I dumped the bike and found the largest, flattest rock so when Rossi came to the bridge it was in mid flight and hit in a manner that put up a geyser similar to this.

Needless to say Rossi was a bit wet and in good humor over the entire prank - but at what cost to me in Moab I have to ask?
Finally back in the parking lot while having our fourth round of double IPAs, we were wondering about our ability to navigate our way home. Right about this time Sal whipped up the shirt and noted that he always keeps a map of the home state handy for just such an emergency. The only question we all had is where is the star showing the exit you live at - a major faux pau when tattooing your home state on the body.