In the usual first ride of the year tradition, the flask of Del Maguay was mounted on my trusty steed and filled to capacity - and we made sure to lower the bike's weight by passing the flask prior to rolling out of the parking lot.
And to imbibe some yeasty malted beverage for carb loading.
Naturally every time there was a pause on the trail, either to reunite the troops, or in the case of Dex, fix a gusher when the valve broke on his Stan's filled tire (with all of that white liquid latex spurting straight into the air you can imagine the comments and comparisons that had us rolling in fits of laughter on the side of the road) we hit the flask until it was drained dry on the run back to Dark Horse.Note Sal's proper selection of tire
Infantile Tom taking one of his numerous sips
One of our favorite sections had recently been privatized and young Paul Vicari, upon venturing into the nether regions faced the wrath of an officer of the law, so we put a proverbial toe in the water and crossed the line of death for some quick laps in the umbrella factory.Next up was a lap around the lake/bog where the Raveinator did a beautiful swan dive/face planet right into the stream crossing and Infantile Tom caught this shot of C-Dubbs on the trail giving the classic Team Seagal salute.
To finish out the lap o the lake we came to a section we now refer to as the Liberator Trail. For unknown reasons on a previous group ride Top Chef, Binky, Infantile Tom and C-Dubbs became immersed in a deep conversation about the pros and cons of the Liberator. Well the young lady that had been trailing the ride must have overheard our conversation and she has yet to return and grace us with her presence. Then it was off to Skip and Bill's were I fulfilled my New Year's resolution of nailing Infantile Tom with the now infamous "splash of death rock toss" as he crossed the river. Cameras didn't catch it but it looked something like this.
As we turned onto the final ride home our perverted minds once again turned to the question that everyone has on New Year's Day - what has become of Hawaiian Mike (aka Loose Boots)? Rumor has it the past fling with his cougar, Katie, has cooled off a bit and good old Loose Boots is now fulfilling a childhood fantasy of becoming a sheep farmer. We found an old family album with this picture of Loose Boots fantasizing what fun it would on a sheep farm.
No doubt that screaming face was due to the excitement of one day wandering into the barn and seeing this sight.
Well good friends we reached out to our contacts in New Zealand, Ben Dover and Phil McCrackin, and they sent us these choice shots of Mike and his mates calling out the sheep in the field and relaxing over a post "loose boots" pint. As you can see the fresh air has Mike smiling like never before.
As the post ride BBQ was closing down and most of the riders had gone home our crack videographers caught this footage of Loose Boots coming in from the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment