WHEN GOOD RIDES GO BAD

Although all rides are inherently good, sometimes some good rides can go bad.  As the Driver's Club arrived in Ishpeming in the early evening three days prior to the Ore 2 Shore Mountain Bike Epic everyone in the group was ready to take the bikes off the rack and start riding.  What was supposed to be a quick, fun warm up ride through the Hill Street Trails directly behind their headquarters, turned out to be the longest most expensive ride of the trip.

The tandem suffers the first injury

With daylight dwindling they took off.  The first two miles were rather uneventful despite the fact that they didn't have a map and only had a general idea of where the unmarked trails went.  They had ridden here before, but this time things were different. The trails seemed to have been beaten up, almost as if a hoard of ATV's had spent the summer chewing up the track.  Also, there didn't seem to be any of the usual perma puddles anywhere.  This would be harbinger of things to come.

Then the first flat.  No big deal, the tube was replaced and they were back on their way.  After a few rocky areas Dan started to notice his rear cassette was starting to slip.  No worries, this was just a short ride.  The tandem also started to lose gears when they came upon a huge climb by Lake Sally.  Without a full compliment of gears they decided to walk this one. (As if they really could have made it up)   Everything appeared to be going great when they came to Scoreboard Hill.  (What the Hell are those things, and why are they there?)  After a natural break they decided to save their equipment and take the long downhill by Lake Angeline.

Flats two and three

This conservative approach failed as Jim and the tandem both flatted halfway down.

Take note of the dwindling light

Finally they arrived in Angeline.  Out of tubes they opted to take the road home.  Their bikes may have broken but not their spirits.  After all a broken bike is a perfect excuse to visit our friends at Downwind Sports.

The Downwind crew was all smiles after we dropped three bills in replacement equipment

The final tally was in.  4.27 miles in a little under two hours, two chains, three cassettes, and three tubes.  Hungry and thirsty the crew went to Congress Pizza to refuel.  Tomorrow would be another day.

The next day at Al Qaeda (Al Quaal)  proved to be more fun and less expensive