Some days you're the buggy, some days you're the whip. Or a horse. Or hopelessly out of date and out of witty analogies. Wait - does one whip the buggy? Or the horse. WTF?
Whatever the case may be, I was not going to be able to ride the ECV TT on Wednesday this week, so I got a hall pass for a ride on Tuesday. Threw the hardtail 29'er on the car and zipped over to Pinnacle Bikes / Cyclocrossworld.com HQ to meet the gang for the shop ride. It was a small group - 4 of us total; Silas and Josh Anthony (yes, of the crazy fast / genetically gifted 'Anthony Clan') from the shop, and long time North Shore, MA stud Andrew Mahoney (owner of the stellar Atomic Cafe's in Beverly and Marblehead). Good thing these guys were "out of shape" and "injured" and generally all claiming all manner of excuses - as even with their "out of shape" form they still killed a sick ride - both technical and fast. And fun.
We rolled out of the shop, crossed the tracks in front of the 6:13 local headed south, and went out past Dave and Jean's new house on Dodge Street. Then the fellas connected a series of fast, fun, hard singletrack sections, some two-track, and some road to connect things up. It made my head spin, but eventually I recognized Beverly Commons along the way - though we hit a gnarly technical section (for me!) that left me dropped a few times. A few lucky turns, and a little mercy from the group and I was right back on.
A few more twists and turns, back under Rte. 128 and yet more trail. I suspected there was quite a "stash" of trails along the highway here - but this was awesome! Looks like many, many years worth of exploration - right in the proverbial "backyard".
Epilogue: My fun 29'er with 34 X 18 gearing was a bit tall to be chasing my geared and fully suspended brethren around on. 34 X 19t or 20t would have been perfect - though the tall gears helped on the road.
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