Oak Mtn 2007_11_26

I read on the BUMP forums that they were having a ride today at 12:00. Tommy said he wanted to ride this weekend, but he hadn't retuned my call so I decided to go ride with them. I got there a little early and got ready. Monty, Mickey and I think it was Monty's cousin Ron showed up. They warned me they were going to go slow, but they were actually were moving at a pretty nice pace. I was feeling to pevious day's ride a little as my legs were a bit sore. I cleaned the log again (I think three times is the charm, so mabe I have it figured out now) right before we stopped to regoup at camp road. Riding on up, I jumped ahead right before the downhill to get a picture of Monty jumping the log at the bottom. I was getting off my bike about the time they were all coming down and I finally got my camera out and managed to snap one of Ron. I later found out they thought I was talking about a different spot. I got a little ahead after the BMX track and had to try about 3 times before making it over the log. Mickey passed me while I was going back to try for the trird time. I headed on up and got ahead again so I could take some pictues of them coming down the trail. When I caught back up Monty told me to hammer it to the North trailhead and he was going to "try" to keep up. It didn't seem like he was having any trouble as every time I looked back he was right there. Also every time we got moving we met bikers going in the opposite direction and ended up stopping.
At the north trailhead Monty and Ron headed back on the singletrack and me and Mickey headed up the jeep trail. She set a good pace and I was supprised as she climbed this much faster than she led me to believe she would. We headed on down and I was going to get a picture of her riding down blood rock, but she said she was not going to do it. She skipped Johnson's mountain and I pushed myself pretty hard through the rest of the trail. My legs were burning pretty good and I looked down and my heartrate was only 120. It was then that I realized the monitor was not making good contact. I don't know how long it was not reading correctly, but I wanted a good reading of me pushing it so I can figure out heatrate vs. how hard I am exerting mself. I didn't want to stop to readjust it, so I guess I will have to figure it out later. I got back to the parking lot and relaxed in the back of the truck and had a beer. It was vey lightly sprinkling so I bid everyone else goodbye and thaked them for the ride. I then met Steph at McAlisters for lunch even though it was about 15:00. It was a good day for a ride as the weather was warmer than yesterday and I was very comfortable.

A couple of things I have noticed and need to fix before next weekend. The first is that since I have the tube in the rear tire, I can tell that it is there. I have been running 40PSI in the tube as opposed to the 30psi I usually run with the tubeless. I can feel the tube dragging in the wheel a little a it feels like I am very lightly applying the brakes at times. I want to get the wheel patched as there is a lot of tread left on it, but I may just put the new one on till I can get a patch kit. Also my front brake lever is not returning when I let off of it. It is not failing to release clamping on the rotor, but it is slightly annoying. I need to research that also and get it fixed before the next ride.