the birthday ride.....yer sufferfest

So the plan was set. Celebrate my birthday with a kick ass ride, one that leaves you wondering what the fuck did I sign on for. It started with 3 trusty soles. Kevin, Scott and myself. We wanted to be riding by 9 or so, well we got riding by 10 or so, the best laid plans.... The plan was to ride every trail, or to at least touch every major trail on Galbraith, which I found out is actually Lookout Mountain. Yeah look out here comes the pain. Now the numbers are Kevin and Nat numbers, every ride seems to be between 41 and 43 miles lately. This one consisted of lots and lots of singletrack, twisty rooty, short grunt kind of singletrack.... back to the story, we started at Kevin's house and leasurly spun the interurban trail to Whatcom Falls park and were quickly on the trails. Up the ridge trail, down Bob's trial, up the pipeline, a series of steep pitches that most use as a bail out going the other way. I forget some of the next trails, Rock and Roll, up something down 911 where I crashed really hard of a log, good scrapes on the ankle and shin, and we kept rolling on, and on, getting near to the towers a couple of times, but always veering away to hit some other far reaching area. Kevin had a great loop planned, and thank god that the ladies in our lives put a time limit on us, because I was hurting this day. The trails were in perfect condition, but my legs were wonder what I was asking of them. But the ride must go on, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger...well many of you readers may know that I need to be careful with that statement as I was and still worry about what I was able to do to my body and mind a few years back. That always is in the back of my head and I rest more than I used to, but I may need to slow it down a bit so that I have legs for some of the upcoming races. That said the rides must go on. Somewhere in the middle Scott need to take his medicine, and we met up with Dale another on of their co workers at Kona. Dale was fresh and we hit Kung fu something or other, then Cheech and Chongs wild ride to not Shawn's to not not Shawn's to the bottom, then it was up the three pigs and then it was up to the top of the Woopsy Woodle, now I was getting low on fuel and my stomach which had been bothering me all day really took a turn for the worse, well I pushed through, what else is there to do. Then it was up to the towers down Evolution to the Scorpion and then some other trial I forget the name of, Galbraith is such a lace, maze of interconnected trails that I have a hard time knowing where or what I am riding, i am getting better and I have left whole sections of this ride out cause I have no idea what I was riding. I know we finished on SST, which left me and my back wondering why I was riding with now suspension, my hands where wondering the same. While Kevin and Dale were raving about how fun it was I was standing in pain wondering about suspension. I may go back to it for the summer, oh gasp..... well here are some pictures in no particular order thanks to Kevin, who remembered to take a camera and some pics to boot.....
These are in no particular order.... Here somewhere towards the end of the Woopsy
Somewhere nice, and totally different from most of Galbraith
Scott a bit blurry at the bottom of Bob's

Kevin, our master of direction, taking a breather, and forming a plan
What a view, Scott, me, Robin and Dale...
Me on the corner towards the bottom of Bob's, I know most of the pics are of me, but then again it was my birthday, thirty fuckin three.....