Van of Constant Sorrow '19: Day One

 "It's okay.  It will be fine.  It's okay."

Watts has just pulled up, I've loaded my stuff in the back of the Adventure Wagon, and he goes to start it back up.  Nothing.  Well, a little "whir, whir, whir," but no "chugga chugga."

"It's okay.  Just gonna give it some time."

Some time.  Some jiggling of the entire vehicle.  Let it roll back down the road a bit and get it off the hill in front of my house...

Whir, whir... chugga chugga chugga.

"See, it's okay."

We get as far as Knoxville in an uneventful manner.  Stop at Tennessee Valley Bikes to meet up with Scott and Daniel.  Scott's busy down in the underbelly of the shop learning about how to work on Bosch e-bike motors... because like it or not, it's coming.  Watts is nervous.  Waiting time isn't riding time, and he really wants to maximize the latter and reduce the former as much as possible.  We go grab some tamales and try to eat them without utensils for some reason. 

Scott finally emerges, we toss everything into the TVB Sprinter, and head to the trail head.

As I've been told a thousand times over, Knoxville trails are soooooooooo legit.  Every climb rewarded with some smoking descents.  Uphill switchbacks that allow you to cruise all the way to the top.  Views of lush valleys below.  Berms, braaps, and excite. 

But the pace...

Watts and Scott keep the pace high.  Daniel peels off to do his own thing and go back to the van... because he can.  I hop on the struggle bus and try to keep the furious pedaling duo in sight.  I'm not sure what made me so slow, and I had no idea how long we had been riding, how much longer we had to go... where in the hell I was exactly.  In my tired state, I miscalculated the distance between a couple low speed roots... and I go over the bars.

Meh.  I'm dying on day one.

This trip is off to the good start.

Shortly thereafter, Scott says that we're "basically" on the way back to the van, and a "short" time later, there we are. 

The others jumped into the quarry lake for a soak while I was reminded that my inability to swim for shit doesn't make me feel too super about being in water that's one hundred apples deep.  Dried up and properly lubricated, we happen upon the Bocsh rep in the parking lot, and we all head out for pizza and wings and beer and proper jubilations.  Eventually, we're back at Scott's house, and Watts and Scott talk literal "shop" interspersed with things I actually understand.

Watts "engaged" in deep (derp) intellectual conversation.

We end up in bed kinda late, which I blame on the fact that you just simply can't hang out with someone like Scott long enough.

I enjoyed my time in Knoxville and my last night in a real bed (and my last shower) for the next few days.  It's time to leave the safety of a roof and a cohesive plan behind and hit the road.