Liberty Furnace Round #2

Sunday March 30th

This was the second Liberty Furnace ride of the year. This was my first time riding the trail with some fast guns. The crew for the day was Ryan, Matt, MattyD, Joe, Erik, and myself (Jay, Spence, and Sid were there earlier and Sid broke another bike here is my last adventure with Sid in this area.) I have done this route several times, but I wanted some new people to experience it. Ryan and I carpooled(thx for the gas money!) We got there earlier, I guess there was some confusion cause the MORE site has you start at the T intersection, but I had us start at the gate so there would be less gravel road. For a good outline of the route check out Joes Blog he writes better then I. Up the Laurel Run trail, I was doing fairly well, but Ryan was showing some skills, and MattyD and Matt where going strong. Joe was riding better then I ever could on a road cassette in back so when the rest of us we in our 22-32 or 34 Joe was pushing 22-25! I actually got in front of the crew for the last part of the climb, I felt I needed to show people I could climb a little. Onto the next part, Ryan got a flat, and found out his hub was trashed, and locking up. So on the next down hill, MattyD, and Matt were kicking it, and I was riding behind Ryan where he was going a little slower. We decided not to add the part I was thinking about adding to the general store, so we stayed on the original route. Next on the Trout Pond Trail climb I lead up it and almost made it without dabbing! I was like 10 feet away on a part of the climb to a place where it would level out again, and I could have made it. So next time I am really going to try and see if I can do it. I was sooo close! We got a good group shot up there, thanks Erik. We ate a little then did the fireroad to the falls ridgeline trail. I wanted MattyD and Ryan to ride this since we did Elizabeth Furnace last year and I didn't really like that as much as this trail. Everyone was digging the East Coastness of the ridgeline. Then I told them the downhill was a hoot, and everyone agreed. I was doing the downhill behind Joe, and I was going a little too close at some points cause I was hitting rocks as they were still flying up. I got around Joe and Erik for the off camber straight down stuff. Sounded like Ryan cranked it and MattyD was going fast too down the mountain. We then took the fire road back to the car. I cranked it on the way back while others were chillin' I still had some stuff in my legs and I wanted to blow them out. I think I rode well but people seemed to be riding well, and Erik seems faster then he was last year in May so he looks ahead of schedule. Another funny thing is that all of us on the ride are racing at the Bakers Dozen, but all 6 of us are on different teams for the race. We did like 15 miles but with allot of elevation gain. I hope to have the GPX off Erik's GPS if he can give it to me. We will be out there again soon, and will try a different route.