MORE Douthat Trip-05

Thanks to my buddy Dave M whom I met at Rosaryville I was able to get in on the camping and riding at Douthat this year.
Prep for this started Thursday night. I heard there was going to be a potluck dinner on Saturday. I didn’t have a clue what to take. I decided on my favorite summer type cookout dish, shrimp salad. My wife got a good laugh outta watching me prepare it. She finally started helping me with cutting celery after commenting "Give me that knife, it hurts me to watch you do that". I was doing fine, I cut the way I ride, slow and deliberate.

After seeing her and the family off Friday morning(they were headed to NY for a family reunion) I headed out. I did make a quick stop at my LBS for some 29 tubes than hit the road. 4 hours later I roll into the douthat. Thats right, no stops, non stop. I meet up with Dave and his family and help them finish their site set up. They’ve had problems in the past with rain so they were setting a tarp over their tent. That was fun. We ended up having miles of rope strewn from trees. It never did rain so I’m not sure how good it would of worked. Looked good.
Our site was right next to the bath house which was conveniant. Not only were the toilets at easy access but sooner or later I saw everybody who was camping. I went for a short night ride by myself Friday. It was only suppose to be a short trip around the camp site but than I found that some trails ran right off the camp site. I went father than I had planned but not as far as I wanted. I was wearing sneakers on my clipless pedals. When the terrain started to get a little sketchy I didnt wanna chance slipping off the pedals and headed back.

Saturday I went on a ride that Dave decided he would lead. My long missed riding buddys Jason and Dennis tried to talk me into going in with their group, and I almost did, but I know that moderate/casual rides are usually more moderate. I gotta give Dave props for leading a ride at a place he’d never been to. He’s one of those natural leading types. Me, I’m more of a loner who will follow if you happen to be going in my direction and you aren’t too slow. I cant begin to remember the trails we were on. It was on the same side of the park as our campsite and we made it to this cool ass scenic overlook with a cabin on it. The uphills were long as shit and reminded me of Greenbriar up past Frederick. Not the lenght but the terrain you were climbing up. There were people in the group who were walking more than me so I got to practice my "how slow can you ride granny gear" technique. None of the climbs were really steep, just long and grinding. Once we left the scenic over look it was pretty much all down hill. It was during this time that I promised myself I would look into 8" rotors for my ride. I’m not sure if I was playing it safe, or if my extra weight made me pick up momentum faster, but the brakes were starting to get hot. I could smell the brake pads heating up. Something I’d never experienced before. I had only 1 minor accident which gave me some bruises and a skinned knee.

Let me get the names of our crew out before I forget, Dave, his brother Mike, Daves son Josh, Joe (another clyde), Carroll (or Carolin, sorry), Todd and his wife Robin.

We got back, I got something to eat, than headed back out by myself to explore the trail I was on last night. Of course I ran into some fans, a guy on the trail recognized me, "You were cooking burgers at the 100". Its a pain being a celebrity sometimes. Returned from the ride and my camp mates were going to head out for another ride with another guy I know, Bob. I wish I knew they were going to do this. I was wasted by now so I declined their invitation.

The pot luck dinner got going about 6:30 and I headed up there. It was some damn good food. I didn’t plan on getting my fill up there, I bought reserves with me but there was a lot of good food. Everyone had slowed eating so I decided to go ahead and get my fill. I was a little disappointed that my shrimp salad didn’t get eaten much. Must be all those health freaks that have something against mayonaise. Talked with Jason and his wife a while than called it an evening.

Sunday we took a ride on the other side of the park. This was a nice ride. The trails weren’t as rocky or loose as Saturdays. All of us were taking it easy though. We had burned our reserves yesterday and were running off of fumes. I don’t know the trail name but it ended at a swinging bridge. That last 1 or 2 miles before the bridge have got to be the best trail I’ve ever ridden. All of us were smiling when we stopped. All down hill with enough technical to keep it interesting.

The finale to my weekend was at the swinging bridge. Like its name implies, its a bridge about 150’ long thats made off of cables and, it swings. Dave went across first to get pictures of us as we crossed. There was also a group of 15 riders on the other side. It was a natural meeting place. Everyone made it across no problem, except me. I ping ponged from one side of the railing to the other before I finally fell over 3/4 of the way across. If not for the railings I would have went swimming. Just great. All that in front of 20 people. No more group riding for me. I’d still rather do my crashing in private.

Left outta there and got home by 7:00. 5 minutes before the wife arrived home from NY. Actually I was talking with her via cell phones on the way home and we were racing to see who got home first and got the good spot on the couch and the TV remote.

Seeya