Like a kid again

The day started out nice as I was able to get up early enough to meet some of the other BUMP folks at Oak mountain. I got there only a few minutes after 7 and they waited on me to get started. We rode a lap clockwise and I was feeling pretty good. We got back to the parking lot a little late and missed the group that was meeting at 9. I talked them into going the reverse direction for the second lap (counter-clockwise). We headed up johnson's mountain and I could feel the heat getting to me a little. I actually noticed a bit of difference as I came to the rocky section leading up to Blood rock. I climbed this in a bigger gear than I have in a while. I don't know if this was just due to not riding Oak in a while, or the road biking making a slight difference. Once again I tried to climb blood rock. I am going to try Joe's method some day of getting enough speed to carry you up the first section, but today I just tried to use technique to climb it. I almost got to the tree, but once again I got stuck. We got to the top of the mountain and met up with the 9:00 riders. After a short rest we headed down the hill and finished out the lap. I was slightly debating doing a third as I was feeling ok. I didn't really want to ride by myself so I sat and had a tasty beverage out of a plastic cup in the parking lot. Joe pulled up and was going to ride a lap, but I knew I would just slow him down so I headed to McAlisters to get some food. I sat outside as I was pretty sweaty so as not to disgust any of their other customers.

I talked to Joel and decided to meet him at his house to head to Bottle Tree. I had never been to his house before and he lives on the mountain beside downtown Bham. He collects old bicycles and I spent a good bit of time just looking at all the bikes he had. He also gave me some of the beer he made and it was really good. The only other person I know who made beer was in college and it was not the best. We waited for one of his friends and headed down to the bar. I took the IndyFab and I have to say I was not very comfortable. They would haul ass down the hills and through the intersection and I was so busy trying to pick a line to avoid the bad road I kept falling behind. I was still a little uncomfortable on the road bike. We got there and had a beer and ate. I was really impressed by how good the food was. they had Cajun sweet potato fries that were really good. I will probably go back just for those. We hung around for a few give aways (they were giving away shirts, and bike stuff) before deciding to head out. It was pretty late(for me that is past 10) and we put the lights on the bikes. I wanted to ride around some and everyone else wanted to also. We followed Joel around downtown and just had fun. He took us on a tour of some of the art as well as riding up a ramp and through a parking deck. I started feeling much more comfortable on the bike and started hopping on and off the curb (this sounds crazy as 3' drops don't bother me on the mountain bike). We finally headed up 20th street to Vulcan. This was a pretty steep hill and I used granny gear on my bike for the first time. We rode down Vulcan trail that is on the edge of the mountain overlooking the city. It was awesome and the moon was near full, so I turned my light out and rode for a short time by moonlight. We headed back to Joel's house and I headed home. I really enjoyed this ride and would definitely do it again.