_Ride 2_, or _Singletrack Jedi Night!_
Copyright 1994 by Armadillo Communications
captain@actlab.rtf.utexas.edu
1994Nov22


Tonight was my first single track, high speed, night ride, with my
faithful companion.  We hit the Southernmost point of the Barton Creek 
Greenbelt, and after a bit of preparation and hunting for a drink of water, 
we hit the trail full force. 

Ckeilah took off full bore into the wash of my 50W halogen spot, and I
pursued.  We quickly came upon a series of sharp switchbacks, which I
slowed for, this being my first real singletrack riding, and there being
odd erosion control bars completely across the path (like speed bumps).

We got to the bottom of the switchbacks, and took an abrupt right turn down 
to the edge of the creek.  This was where the fun really began!  The trail
narrowed to less than 3' wide, and rocked back & forth like a roller
coaster.  I was screaming around semi-blind corners at over 15mph,
leaving myself _just_ enough room to wham the brakes if something strange
should have appeared.  Ckeilah fell in behind me at a nice gallop.  

Eloquence fails me tonight to describe the ethereal soaring down that
track, back & forth, around trees, over roots, dodging mud puddles,
greenery swooshing by into the darkness on either side, and the
galumph-galumph of Ckeilah's 130lb paw-falls hot on my rear Psycho tire.

We went about 300m, and abruptly exited into a sort of clearing, with a
bench.  We caught our breath momentarily, then headed on, up a moderate
incline, then down a rocky wash, across the creek, and started up the
wash on the other side.

This was when I decided I'd better write another story, and ask for help.
;-)  I can't climb steep inclines to save my hide.  I either lift off
with the front wheel or spin the rear.  This time the latter occurred,
and I went down, albeit softly, and gave up.  It's not a good idea for
Ckeilah to run too much anyway, since she's still developing bone & muscle.

Anyway, someone please give me advice on climbing crumbly steep stuff. I
have a bad feeling that the only advice is to "practice, practice,
practice", but it can't hurt to ask.  :-) Back to the end of the short story:

We turned around, I got stuck in the upside of the creekbed with my feet
out of the pedals, but managed to find a tree to hang onto while I got my 
shoes back in the clips, and then headed back.

The climb back was much easier, and as we retraced our rollercoaster
single track I was reminded of the Jedi & Stormtroopers in the Marin
Redwood forest on those flying machines.  We zoomed up&down,in&out and
got back to the car unscathed, exhilarated, and only a bit chilled and
winded.  A great little experiment!

A few notes on the equipment:
My lights kick ass (a full spec sheet is in the making!), and the Hoo
Koo E Koo is fantastic!  Light and nimble, but solid. I put my brakes
back to "standard" (front on the left) and find that it's more natural,
even thought I find the brake on the right of my motorcycle to be
completely natural too.  I guess I do a mental shift (not with sh*mano
though!  ;-) when I get on either machine.  The rear der still has a bit
of trouble staying on that BIG back gear while Granny is powering the
front end, probably a simple adjustment.  The Vetta cyclometer is still
crapping out randomly.  I'll give it a while longer, and then it's going
back.  I really want one of those TREK triple display (time & temp)
units, but the bastards advertised it 3 months before production!  Can
you say "vaporware"?  I knew you could.  A big raspberry to TREK.

Thanks for reading.  Have fun in the dirt!  See you there.  :-)

--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
		-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759

captain@actlab.rtf.utexas.edu     Bran Muffin (ACTlab system administrator)