Last Bowl of Chili

What a weekend of fun! We joined the Cartecay crew for Mike's last ride of the Chili Dawg series. A fun packed 30 miles at the beautiful Tanasi Trail system in Tennessee.I think it has some of the best singletrack around. Mary pushed the pace in our group, while Kevin was off pushing the pace with the A Group.Big Daddy Vic conquered the climbs,and we did our best to avoid the mud.Up more singletrack,miles and miles of singletrack heaven.You get the biggest bang for your buck on the Tanasi trail system.
The icing on the cake is Thunder Rock Express.A rip roaring fun downhill that is guaranteed to bring a huge smile to your face.The other highlight of the day to bring a smile to our face was Larry!Guess what? Turns out that Larry and Raja went to the same high school. Yep, look what we found in Raja's yearbook!And just 5 short years later (hehehe) he's grown up to become a climbing machine on the mtn bike!Whoohoo! You go, Larry!!!The highlight of a Chili Dawg ride is the hot chili waiting for you at the finish line! Chef Mike cooked up a great batch of white chicken chili that would light your fire! Mmmmm, delicious!! Thanks, Mike!A great day with some good friends. We have enjoyed the Chili Dawg ride series. Mary tells me it's now time for the Spring Classics Training. I know what that means.......road riding.

Speaking of the road, the original plan for Sunday was to join the Caminator and Damyankee for a road ride. Fortunately, rlaz tempted us with an offer to join him and a friend at the local Mtn Bike park for some leisurely riding.
With gusty winds forecasted for the afternoon, we had no interest in fighting a headwind while trying to keep pace with Cam. It was another beautiful afternoon, and we had a fabulous time spinning around the singletrack.We had fun just playing around. No pacelining on this ride.Roger wowed us with his incredible bike handling skills by riding up and over the tiny ledge that scared the rest of us silly. Actually, there's a perfect line to ride. The problem is there is absolutely NO room for error. As you zip up the rise, you must immediately turn the bike to the left lest you plummet over the sheer drop off ahead. It's a great classroom demonstration of "look where you want to go". Totally doable, totally nerve wracking, totally not going to do it myself....and look to the left.....and now you navigate by the tree, by the root, down the ridge....It looks so tame and non descript on film. I double dare ya.

As I was sucking wind up every climb, trying to keep up with Jungle Boy, I reminded myself that road riding would whip my sorry butt in shape. But as we were rippin' down the singletrack hootin' and hollerin' with glee, I reminded myself that mountain biking is so much more fun! That's why I always start the spring "classics" in bad shape. I'm more interested in having fun on my bike, than getting in shape on my bike. Besides, ain't nobody paying me a dime to finish in the front of the pack.

Back at the parking lot, we ran into zillions of our friends; Al, The Captain, Robin, SinglespeedAddict, wrxbiker to name a few. We all enjoyed the sunshine and shared some good laughs. Ah yes, it was a good day on the mountain bike....here's the perfect sign of a successful ride! Yes siree, I'm all about having fun on the bike.

It may have been the last bowl of chili with my Ellijay friends for now, but I'm sure it won't be the last weekend of fun on the bike! Here's to the next ride, and the next, and the next......
Here's the slideshow of our ride on Saturday.