I got to the WH Rez shortly before 10am for the BSS group ride. There was plenty of folks all ready to go, so I got out and got right to getting ready. Turns out most were heading for the A group ride, which was billed as a 20-25 mile ride including a loop and a half around the Rez and then heading over to Penwood. If the ride had been a month or two ago I definitely would have given the full pull a shot, but my fitness has fallen off dramatically in the last month or so. I opted for the B group ride which was just the typical ride around the Rez. The mileage was just about perfect for me. We ended up with 7 people in our group until we met up with the A group a little more than half way through our lap, two of their riders switched to our group from there.
Our group consisted of a brand new rider to a guy on a 6" bike to a guy on a fully rigid 29er. So we had a pretty good mix of ability levels. I made the mistake of getting in front of the 6" guy (who apparently races in a multitude of disciplines, including DH on his 10" bike) on a few of the down hill sections, to say he was right there behind me the whole time would be an understatement. Not to say that he was rude or anything, but I could tell he was right there ready to go. On the other end of the spectrum I made the mistake of trying to keep up with the two guys we collected from the A group on the climb back up to the fence line, which I failed miserably at and really cooked my legs. Luckily it was pretty much all down hill from there. Not really much for me to note ride wise, I felt pretty good for the most part. I did break my chain just before getting back to the pavement for the last time though, which kinda sucked. Looks like I bent my middle ring somehow in the process, which meant I was stuck using the small ring for the ride back to the car. :-?
All in all a great time with a good group of people. We ended up with somewhere around 10 miles in about 3 hours time. I'm glad I didn't try the A group ride. They ended up covering around 26 miles in just about 6 hours and I think they said around 3300' of vert climbed.
Several of the people from both groups met up for a great picnic afterward, a nice way to wrap it all up!
Our group consisted of a brand new rider to a guy on a 6" bike to a guy on a fully rigid 29er. So we had a pretty good mix of ability levels. I made the mistake of getting in front of the 6" guy (who apparently races in a multitude of disciplines, including DH on his 10" bike) on a few of the down hill sections, to say he was right there behind me the whole time would be an understatement. Not to say that he was rude or anything, but I could tell he was right there ready to go. On the other end of the spectrum I made the mistake of trying to keep up with the two guys we collected from the A group on the climb back up to the fence line, which I failed miserably at and really cooked my legs. Luckily it was pretty much all down hill from there. Not really much for me to note ride wise, I felt pretty good for the most part. I did break my chain just before getting back to the pavement for the last time though, which kinda sucked. Looks like I bent my middle ring somehow in the process, which meant I was stuck using the small ring for the ride back to the car. :-?
All in all a great time with a good group of people. We ended up with somewhere around 10 miles in about 3 hours time. I'm glad I didn't try the A group ride. They ended up covering around 26 miles in just about 6 hours and I think they said around 3300' of vert climbed.
Several of the people from both groups met up for a great picnic afterward, a nice way to wrap it all up!
