Nothing better to do...

Friday was a mandatory day off from work. I had no plan to speak of after I was through posting my blog other than building a bike. I am always a bit intimidated by three day weekends without structure, as they tend to lead to lethargy and gluttony. Before I was even done building the bike, I had more plans than I knew what to do with.

I got the call that trail work was "on" some time around noon. Being that I am way behind on my commitment to do trail work at least once a month, I was in going to be there. Before I headed out to the trail, I had even more options plopped down on my plate for the rest of the weekend.

There were no fewer than three groups assembling in Pisgah to hit the seasonal trails the day they opened (Saturday, Oct 15th). Since I already had to head in a westerly direction to attend to business regarding Project BS, it seemed to make sense to combine these two trips into one. After heavily weighing my options, I decided to join Eric "PMBAR Honcho" Wever and the Wednesday Night Drinking Club. It was a good fit, and what better way to celebrate the opening of the seasonal trails than to be descending down Bennett Gap at midnight?

Trail work, spend some time at home with the family, and back out the door towards Pisgah.

I got to the parking lot where I was to meet up with everybody else that had already started the ride a couple hours earlier. When they finally rolled in, beers were drank, lights and clothes were adjusted, and I finally got to meet Samford, the Pisgah Gnome.

The guys had went up and snagged him from the location where the folks from Bike Mag had left him. Although Bike Mag had managed to fill Samford up with beer and french fries before leaving him in the woods, Eric was not so nice. While descending in the dark, Eric managed to separate Samford from the lower portion of his uni-limb... nothing a little duct tape and a beer can couldn't fix.

Once prepared and assembled, we headed up 477. I got out in front of everyone else's lights so I could ride alone in the light of the moon. Crazy cool. Clay, Zach, and I got to the top first. Zach went left to go lay down in a field and wait for midnight. Clay convinced me to go right and up Buckwheat Knob to go out and back and kill time... a difficult task with an open beer.

Eventually, we all convened at the same spot in the woods to await midnight, open season on the seasonals. More beer was hoisted in celebration of this magical moment.

From L-R: Me, Zach, Jody, Jay, and Tomato.

We made it down Bennett in one piece, save for two mechanicals.

Jody's flat was an easy fix.

My seatpost?

Not so much.

One of the aluminum bits cracked, and I was afraid to put any weight on the post the rest of the night for fear of getting a titanium prostate exam.

The ride was not over yet. On the way back to the cars, we decided to hit North Slope (another seasonal trail). Attrition and dissension were felt amongst our ranks as we progressed, but eventually everyone got back to the cars safely.

I slept in my car since I was too lazy to put up my tent. After an uncomfortable night, I realized that I had slept in my very constrictive knee warmers and also with a Fat20 CO2 cartridge still in my jersey pocket.

Ouch.

Saturday morning I set off to attend to Project BS, which may or may not involve one of these:

all Bennett photos courtesy of Eric "PMBAR Honcho" Wever