STDD Remedy Trip: Days 3 & 4

This post may lack some in the coherence department. I was abducted last night and taken to a Roger Waters concert. Three thoughts are stuck in my brain.

That was an incredible experience for someone like me who used to listen to the album from one end to the other over and over and over and over....

Our current generation of youth will never have a "The Wall" experience with bands like Nickleback and Foster the People.

Roger Waters looks a bit like Richard Gere.

Back to the STDD Remedy trip.

Zac and I woke up early on Monday and prepped our bikes a bit more before heading over to the Stoker Ride.

We really had no idea what was in store, but Rebecca Rusch was there handing out Red Bulls and Gu. We loaded up our bikes into a trailer and headed out in a small bus to ride Red Warrior to Greenhorn Gulch.

Whilst riding in the woods with strangers, we made a Harrisonburg (Tour de Burg) connection.

Don from the Galena Lodge was college roomies with many of the TdB illuminati. The animatronic figures were correct. It's a small world after all.

The ride was awesome, I was getting more handy with my Scott Genius 40, and Zac blew out his shorts.

Please note, that is not his fuzzy ass, but is indeed his fuzzy chamois.

The ride ended with beers back at the bus. Not just beers, but fat 22oz Ninkasi Brewing beers.

As dopey as Zac looked in the above image, we still had enough stoke left over to head out on a ride of our own that afternoon. On the advice of a friendly shop employee at the Elephant's Perch, we headed out to Eve's Gulch to do a quick run down Forbidden Fruit.

We barely squoze the ride into our itinerary for the day, and then headed over to watch the Idaho Pump Track State Championships. Well, at least we made it over there after enjoying a few free beers with the volunteers that are making the whole Ride Sun Valley/USA Cycling National Championships happen. When the beers ran out, there was Mike's Hard Lemonade. We had to reaux sham beaux to see who would get which of the last three flavors.

Zac was second place loser and selected Cran-Radish.

Then we finally made it over to the short track where the beers cost money, the entertainment was free, and the enthusiasm was contagious.

The next day we headed out for Stoker Ride #2 accompanied by Shimano MTB Product Manager Matt Robertson and a couple healthy hangovers. We were going to the Edge of the World VIA Baker Creek after a stop for brats and lemonade at the Tornak Hut.

The views on the climb up were terrible.

The stop at the hut towards the top of the climb was pleasant. Unfortunately, the diminutive hut host was not pleased with Zac's lack of personal hygiene.

The descent down was bomber silly. I followed a young man who rode just slightly above his pay grade and crashed his brains out thrice. After the ride, we returned to an empty lot. We were early, and instead of waiting for the van (and the beers within), we followed a local around for some additional stokage all the way back into town.

We still managed to finish up the ride in time to get our grub on and head over to the Fat Tire Crit, where Chopper had the opportunity to announce us to the crowd... as the winners of the "Ironic Hat Contest." Nobody wears anything but trucker hats in Sun Valley.

Who knew?