We had a good crowd tonight. There was a light misting rain, but it was still comparatively warm. Maria, Jean, and I were the female contingent. Although the group had gone South on Tuesday, they wanted to go South again (or the guys who hadn't ridden Tuesday wanted to go South). I didn't really care, I just hoped it wouldn't be as fast as the last time I had gone South.
We headed up the trail at a moderate pace. A new guy tonight was riding without a buddy flap. We all tried to avoid riding behind him. Just before we reached Fones Rd, I noticed someone coming up from behind who was breathing extremely heavy. Turns out it was DJ. I'm still not clear how far he had come, but I'm sure he hauled ass like nobody's business! I told him he could relax now, he had caught up.
Just before crossing 37th, Todd slowed down because he had a flat. At almost the same time, Maria also got a flat. Brad stayed with Todd, and a bunch of us stayed with Maria. A few others went ahead and then circled back.
Flats repaired, we were once again zipping along the trail. This time I actually kept up on Rainier. I just stayed as close to DJ's wheel as I could.
Everything was going along pretty good--even through the gravel section by the river. As we crossed Waldrick and headed through the squirrelly part, Jean yelled, "POST!" Unfortunately, the large boulder to the right of the post had been moved closer to the trail. Jean squeaked through, but Maria wasn't so lucky. She hit the boulder and went down. Amazingly, she got up, wiped the blood off her chin, got back on her bike (after the guys checked to make sure it was okay), and we continued on! I told her I would go back with her, but she said she was good. INCREDIBLE! And she WAS good! She was back to riding just as fast as before! I just don't think I could have done that!
We got to the trail junction. The guys went on to Rainier, but us gals turned back. We figured the guys would catch up to us, but they didn't. I hope nothing else happened...it was already a crazy enough night!
Even with all the craziness, my average speed was still 16.8!
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