Singles Night Part Deux

Last night was my second installment of Singles Night out at Marrington Plantation.
I got to the trailhead a few minutes early eager to try out my new gear. I changed things up to a 33x14 (61” gear) well …because I won last week and I might as well try something different. When I hit the trail there was water everywhere to my surprise. Less than 500 feet in I was covered in SC swamp mud. I went in about 5 miles to check out the rest of the trail and there were some really bad spots. So I took the road back to the parking lot. By this time a few others had arrived.
Now back in the day when I was uneducated about riding, I would ride in any type of weather. The Great Escape in Anderson, SC hated me because I used my 1 year warranty to get just about everything rebuilt on my $400 Trek 4500. Now years later I know better than to ride in muddy conditions. It is not good for the trail or your parts.
So for the record we called the race.
BUT, if the race was to have happened it might have been something like this:
Brad, VW racer boy extraordinaire, was there running his re-built bike from last week. This time he added a tooth to the back for a 42x18 (60.5”). Justin, catch me if you can, was on his new niner with gears. He was supposed to keep in the 32x16 (58”). Sure he did. Joel, Master Brewer and bike handler, had the Mamasita with a sus fork and 36x17? (61.4”). Robby, where did the trail go?, was riding his rigid Raleigh. And Sean, I like singles night, but gears and suspension make a lot more sense to me, was along for the ride.
Same as last week, clockwise and everything out there; into the woods and this time we took it a little slower from the start. Robbie was in the lead until he decided to prove that wet bridges are almost as much fun as slip and slides. While he was floundering in the ditch everyone else was trying to figure out how to make it around him. You would have thought we were racing for the state title. Oh yeah, Brad already has that. I regress, after the pile up the running order was something like Joel, Justin, Brad, ME, Sean, and Robbie. Joel was not feeling the corners with the slick ass mud and let Justin by. Then Brad went by, and then I went by. Justin had started pulling away and that is never a good thing. So Brad and I started working together to catch him. While I was in the lead I blew right by the turn for Fosters Creek (Not Curtis Creek) and we had to back track. Brad was leading into Fosters Creek, but could not hold the pace and let me by. I started getting on it hoping to catch a glimpse of Justin. After a mile or so, I was in no mans land like most races go. I had no idea how far up Justin was or how far back Brad was. I just kept pushing. When I got to Mary’s landing Brad had closed the gap. He would pull me in and then I would pull away. This went on all the way to the finish. The last turn I lost it in the corner and he was right on me. I had to get it together and hammer with all I had. Somehow I was able to pull out second place (Really I cut him off). Justin was still riding around in the parking lot and said he had been there for a few minutes. Then he rubbed it in by saying that he just wasn’t feeling good today. Thanks Man!
Joel was somewhere around 1 minute behind us and Robbie and Sean came in around 2-3 minutes back.
After the race Joel broke out the good stuff! He had a few 22oz bottles of some home brew. It was some of the best beer I have had in a long time. After some appropriate and not so appropriate BSing and cups of brew, I had to head back to the house.
Thanks for another good time.