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85kms is a long way, and 170kms is more than twice as far.
My friend Gayle had the bright idea of ferrying a vehicle to the far end of the 85km Timber Trail, riding the trail from the south, camping out, and then racing back on the Sunday. This would deliver multiple payoffs: seeing all the scenery from a new perspective, spending two days riding the trail instead of one, and having a slightly quicker getaway after proceedings were completed on race day....
Eagle vs Shark pays off
This investment was made by the people building the trail, the people who will ride it, and quite a few people who may never ride it, but like the idea of it. Because the benefits of that investment will be reaped by the investors directly, the payback will not be some nebulous figure on a spreadsheet somewhere, it will be in cold hard giggles. No kidding. Go and ride it when you get the chance: try not to giggle....
Do something different
On this morning my friends also pulled out the materials to make fresh coffee, a pile of croissants, and things to smear on them. They had cups and various utensils, and all this stuff came out of various backpacks at about the same time as the sun popped up over Billy T. They even had the forethought to make sure our friend the photographer was part of the crew, so we got a great visual record of the occasion.
We yakked, laughed a lot, and got jacked up on java, sugar and sundry fats hidden in the pastries.
We reached our target heart rates for the day standing on the top of the hill. That was better than our usual way of doing it.
Why do we do what we do?
Events. Perfectly reasonable people create them. Usually driven by a love of the sport, or that splinter of the sport that most excites them, they endure all sorts of privations and personal cost so a bunch of people they generally don't know might enter. Some of them try to make a living out of their events, and a precious few actually do.
Happy place
Bung the keys in one pocket, the phone in the other. Might see a stunning view, or a UFO, never know. Pedal off into the woods, feeling like the kid I used to be when I was sliding around the grapefruit tree on an after dinner backyard speedway session.
It will be nice in the trees
Pants too long to be worn without shoes, and no shoes. Too dark and cold to be naked from the waist up, and no shirt. And as a final potential issue should the aforementioned seem worthy of an arrest, and they make me take my pants off, no undies. I have no idea if they do stuff like that here, but it happens in the movies. And I wasn't thinking straight due to imminent hypothermia.
