Gravel Grindin’

While I wasn’t really looking forward to riding on gravel for hours on my mountain bike, I was looking forward to hanging out with our peeps down there in the Lowcountry.  We arrived down there Saturday afternoon and our friends were ready.  This is the part where I thank Ed and Alice for being awesome hosts and all around good people.

As you can see, we didn’t wait long to go out for food and beer (pre-gravel.)  And it didn’t take long to get the party started.

Little Miss Sunshine made that giraffe feel um, special.

With the beers already flowing, we made plans to load up bikes and head out to the nearby National Forest.  During the trip there something exploded, and we realized that one of the bikes decided that it didn’t like having tires mounted to it.

And the best part was the Stans bukake on the car.

Ewww.

Anyway, we turned off the highway down a long road into the impending darkness.  We stopped when we saw the sign for the parking lot.

I was worried.  I barely had a place to park my giant SUV, and people were still rolling in.  We ended up just shy of fifty for the ride and somehow we all were able to park.  Once that shit was figured out, the beer started flowing again and people started milling about and socializing.

Beer before a ride?  I was excite.  Eventually we got this rolling shit show on the (gravel) road and rolled out for our thirty mile excursion in the dark.

The pace was pleasant.  At first.  Eventually the leaders picked it up and we were hauling ass.  I had to chug the rest of my beer just to keep up.  Sure, the roads were flat and all that, but spinning my ass off while trying to drink a beer on a gravel road full of pot holes does not a fun ride make.

I had to pay attention I guess.

I bounced around from up front, the middle, and towards the back.  We stopped to regroup every so often.  Honestly, it was a cool site to see so many people out in the dark swamp on bicycles at one time. 

And to top it off, the moon was out so we didn’t really need lights.

It was a fun crowd for sure.  Old friends reunited, new friends made, and many beers consumed.  I came prepared for it  with an “emergency” beer stuffed into my Awesome Strap.

Yes.  Gears.  It was flat and I didn’t feel like spinning too much.  Who gives a shit.

I think we may have cut the route a little short at some point, but it was still fun.  I even took off by myself for a short while to enjoy the pleasant solitude of riding at night sans lights.  Well, until I heard something just off the road making a ruckus.

I stopped, turned on my handlebar light, and saw a good-sized black bear looking back at me.  He shuffled off into the woods a little and I kept rolling.  Unsure if I was traveling in the right direction, I stopped a few hundred feet past him and turned around.  He crept further into the woods because I probably smelled bad or something.

I eventually caught up with the group again and we all rolled back towards the parking lot.  Everyone seemed enthralled by my bear sighting, but I tried to act like it was no big deal.

It was.  I was very excite and not the least bit scared for some reason.  Who gives a shit.

I had an awesome time riding on gravel.  I never thought that would be possible.

Big thanks to the Lowcountry folks that made it a night to remember.