The Almost Perfecta Trifecta

Saturday was Aggro's birthday and all he wanted was to ride the Trifecta with some good people. He got his birthday wish and everyone else got "to help him open his gift" so to speak. The day was clear and cool in the morning with temperatures reaching the high 50's to low 60's by the rides end. I'm not sure I got everyone's full name or even that I'll list their name correctly, but here's my attempt at the rider list:

Aggro Jo
Rich Pierce
Scott Melies
Rob Oellerman
Mary _________
Christine Ford
Bill "Slick Willy" Howard
Greg Suter
Jiri Doksansky
Barry "The Barryman" ___________
Tonya Wolf
Sam _________ (Sorry Sam. I failed to remember your last name but appreciated the company on the ride back to the cars.)
2 others I can't recall right now, so I apologize for my failing memory. If you were on the ride, let me know and I'll perform an edit.

We rolled out around 9:10am and did 1 1/4 laps of Lost Valley before heading over to the Katy enroute to Matson. Most of the ride was uneventful (good) until I launched off a jump and flatted my front tire shortly after the landing. (I swear I got like 3 feet of air that time, too!) Aggro hung back with me and I repaired the flat quite quickly and we were off with some clear track ahead in an attempt to catch the group. We caught up and made tracks for Matson. As we were leaving, Scott and Mary decided to head back due to time constraints and that left us with 13 riders. Two more rider dropped off halfway to Matson and now the group was whittled down to 11.

We regrouped at the Matson stop on the Katy trail for some fuel and to watch Aggro ball it up in the gravel. That 3" curb was killer, but that turned out to be the only known "wreck" of the day. I guess that's good knowing no sacrificial blood was offered to the trails. As we prepared our hearts, lungs, and legs for the Matson Hill climb, we rolled up at a rather pedestrian pace. Funny, the last time I climbed Matson with a large group of riders was in the State MTB race in June. My results were great that day, but not so good this day. The riders were strung up and down the face of the hill like climbers ascending towards the summit of Mt. Everest. As we neared the top, most of us looked like we were in the oxygen deprived summit zone, too. Barry had so much fun climbing the hill, he cruised 1/3 of the way back down and re-climbed the road with some of the tail end riders! Impressive or stupid? I'll give him the impressive nod, as I was quite gassed.

As we entered the trailhead, I noticed Rich was on my wheel for our clockwise assault of the trail. I was airing it out a little and really trying to push into the corners and enjoy finally pointing the bike downhill again. Right after rounding our third corner, a very large doe bolted less than 5 feet in front of me and sounded like a horse thundering across the path. Startled, I called back "Deer!" to Rich and he responded with several loud bursts of "DEEER! DEEEER!" I almost rolled off the trail laughing at the sound of Rich alerting the entire forest of this deer. I was beginning to think it was open season on Rich Pierce and the deer of the midwest have his photo posted. However, this time I'm on a collision course with Bambi's mom and Rich is in the rumble seat. We made it past the deer (with Rich 100% intact) and then cruised for the climbs. The only loss in Matson was a broken chain on Jiri's bike, but after a short maintenance stop, he was back in the group and we headed for the downhill and onto Klondike.

As we pacelined towards Klondike, there were discussions of how to tackle the park. The decision was made to make a run up the switchbacks on Hogsback and then roll towards the back of the park. We rolled a chain of riders up through Hogsback and attempted to navigate the switchbacks with some success. I noticed my left pedal popped loose somewhere along the way and then I couldn't get my foot clipped back in during the remainder of the climb. When we arrived at the top of the hill to regroup, I noticed my eggbeater pedal spring had somehow spun out of position and wouldn't allow me to clip in. Furthermore, the bottom of my shoe didn't provide any comfortable or safe place for me to rest my foot, so I felt this was the end of the day for me. I decided to peel off at before entering the back of the park and Sam and I made a beeline for the Katy and the return home. The remainder of the group headed for the back of the park and from what I hear, Donkey Kong must have been full because no tacos were eaten.

Sam and I cruised and chatted, while I was battling leg cramps. I guess taking 3-4 weeks off the bike and then not drinking a lot can take it's toll. We made it back to the cars, albeit slowly, and loaded up for the drive home. All in we rode roughly 40 miles in 4 hours. We had an awesome weather day and a great group of riders. All in all, an almost perfecta trifecta.