Six F3 brothers made the inaugural “Hey, it’s a thing” edition of Dirt Church, and three other fellers joined along. It was kind of a sh*t show at first, and I’m blaming the Q.
Huh? What? We did an excellent job of being prepped and ready for the 0800 rollout. Profit brought a spare bike to be demo’ed by Graham, who attends real Church with Profit, and is/was on the fence about buying a new MTB. And three minutes into the ride, we picked up the Blackburns (Robert Senior and Robert Junior) whom YHC knows from his days as a rowdy BMXican. Excellent dudes and excellent riders. So nine began the proper ride together. The plan was to start with gravel and then Sunsetter and do the regular DC route, but the Q committed a mortal sin and lost track of some of the PAX, and soon found some had fallen back before an important turn. Two were dispatched to go looking and some calls were placed to find out that Profit was a Boy Scout and had a map that put his group where they shoulda been the whole time. But the rest ended up bobbing when they should’ve been weaving and two groups were made of the one, at least at first. We all did reassemble soon enough at the center of the Swift Creek Trails.
Eight** did all ride Blueberry Hill descent together and every one of us smiled. I am certain of this, since I took a poll.
The terribly fit (Jenny Craig, Pullout, and younger Robert) were dismissed to climb Blueberry Return at their own pace (expected to be Mach two) while the older men ascended like mortals. It was agreed that this may be the best trail in the Park, since the “Down” park kicks butt and the “Up” part doesn’t suck. Somewhere up the hill, Robert’s massive power output proved to be too much for his chain, so we left him and his dad to affect repairs, and probably ride another twenty miles together. The rest of us got up and out, since some had another Service to attend. Couple guys left via Courthouse Road so as not to be sneaking in during the sermon, and the last four finished together, taking the very rad BlueJay Way and Corkscrew to the bottom of the gravel hill… back to the car just under two hours since rolling.
We may need to tweak Dirt Church’s start time a bit. Maybe 0730 to accommodate the riders who have time constraints? Either way, next time the Q will know where his boys are the whole time.
**Clavin bailed after the Bell Lap climb, and we pray his wrists recovery quickly.
