Heat Advisory...

The Infamous Cotter rolling through 8-pins

It's hotter than Hell here in Kansas Shitty. Full on moist summer conditions that leave you drenched with perspiration and covered in a fine layer of dust. With a Heat Advisory and Air Quality Alert in full effect, I headed out for a quick lap at Swope in the early a.m. to try and beat the heat. There was a momentary lapse of reason in my decision to ride Swope. Upon arrival I realized all too quickly that it was the Specialized Demo Day, and that i would not have the trails all to me oneseys as hoped, but rather a sausage fest of folks trying out the latest and greatest that Specialized has to offer. I'm 110% stoked on my Niner, so other than visiting the demo tent to say hello to The Trail Asshole, who didn't even acknowledge my existence, I kept to the dirt.

 The best part about the morning ride was meeting up with Cotter, Davis and Tate in the parking lot. These three fellas are a pleasure to ride with not only because they are chill, laid-back and have a great sense of humor, but because they can actually ride mountain bikes like Debbie rides Dallas. 

It was time to roll and one of our group decides we should climb up the pavement to get warmed up. The paved climb is a brutally steep and long bitch of a grind. it takes its toll on you and causes more of a pre-bonk than a warm-up, but that's the way these guys ride: go hard or go home and pretend it's all a cruise while keeping things fun and interesting.

We all have our good days and bad days. One day you feel great, your legs are strong and breathing comes easy. The next day you are dying to keep up, legs are about to explode and you're half a step away from hyperventilating. Today, I was having a good day. The trails, which I had not rode in months, were feeling great. The climbing was solid, technical sections challenging and everything was flowing like like a Japanese Tsunami. 

At some point during our high speed rock flyover festival, Tate managed to crash his brains out, which in turn was an early excuse to head to the Demo tent and talk bikes while the rest of us finished our lap. Soon thereafter it was time for me to head back to the lair, and in doing so I rode out one last climb with Cotter and Davis. This particular climb is basically from the parking lot up and parallel with the paved climb we started the day on. There is one section that has a couple of rock steps and is very steep. This comes long after you've popped *23 veins in your forehead, and with pumped legs the steps are almost overbearing. I'm about %50 on this obstacle, and as Davis agreed, it's probably THE hardest little required ride-up challenge at Swope. A pure and undoubted litmus test on what type of day you're going to have.
I personally had a great day. Thanks fellas for sharing the ride. Hope to do it with more frequency in the near future. I just love riding bikes. Maybe Wednesday Night?