Went on an epic mtb ride on Saturday with six guys, organized by Jason. We met in Soquel at 9am; didn't get back until 4pm. Over the seven hours, we rode 46 miles and spent 44% of our total ride time climbing 7,609 feet. That's a lot of climbing, but as Rich put it towards the end "...that's the price of admission..." for the super-challenging single track that we rode.
At the top of Sand Point Overlook in Nisene Marks Forest, early in the ride. (Kevin, Rob, Rich, Norman, Jason, Chris, me).
Our fearless organizer, Jason, descending in Demonstration Forest:
There were so many one-liners thrown out that I couldn't remember them all. Here's what I do remember:
"I like my gears." - Jason to me, on an early climb, when we were energized and sharp enough to smack-talk.
"I like pain." - Jason, on the side of the trail with double-quad cramps.
"See if you can get some soup, too." - Jason to Rob when Rob was going to try to bum some water from a big group of downhill guys in the Demo parking lot. They were drinking beer and eating soup.
"If you're not careful, Rob, they'll put you in the soup." - Chris to Rob.
"You're an (f-word) beast for riding that bike on this ride." - Rich to me when I told him the gear ratio on my SS.
"Thanks for not saying that before the ride." -me, in response to Rich's comment.
"Write down everything you remember, 'cause it's a VisionQuest from here on out." - Chris, 38 miles into it, over his shoulder to me. Everyone was suffering at this point, except Kevin.
"You gonna try to climb it, Clay?" - Rich to me, 42 miles into in, before another climb.
"I'm dizzy." - Kevin, after Land of Medicine Buddha fall.
Jason (left) showing off his 100% recycled tube to Rob. Half the weight, twice the price.
Chris, lauching from one of the many jumps in Demo:
Here's our route. We started in the lower left where the red text is.
And here's the profile of the ride:
About halfway through the ride, Jason started talking about burritos and beer. Then we all ran out of energy bars and Goo. About 3/4 of the way through the ride, most of us had run out of water and some of us were making bad decisions on some challenging single-track. So that's when we called it, and decided to head home. We scraped Jason off the Medicine Buddha bridge, found the nearest taqueria, ate, and parted ways.
