Trail Work/Events Calendar

Monday, November 2, 2009

To my friend's friend. You did her well. Was there for her no matter how hard the terrain,
through thick and thin and then it was time to snap. She's too much for you Lamar - you knew it.
It took her a while to realize the same. I know you'll welcome the new member of the family like the champ you are. Watch out. She's gonna step on a lot of ticks and you'll be proud.
Cause you taught her how. RIP Lamar.

So Long Friend


Yesterday, Lamar died.
It was the end of a slow agonizing death. We went as far as we could go together. He gave out over a little log in the woods. It would have been right to leave him there beside it, but I carried my fallen comrade to the road. For those of you in the know, Lamar is my Trek 3700 - starter MTB. He weighs- waaaay too much, won't shift when asked but will slip in into granny gear at the most inappropriate time, and has more scratches and dents than paint on his frame. We had a lot of fun together. He took the brunt of my learning curve -must have crashed 5 times a day when I first clipped in. He would always be ready to carry on no matter how many rocks, trees and parking lots we fell into.
Any day now, I will be welcoming into our family a brand new Stumpy 29r. The gears will switch the second I ask, the brakes (disk brakes mind you) will work and the ride will be so much lighter and sweeter. I dream about floating thru the woods rolling over any tree and keeping up with the rest of the Ticks. But I secretly wonder if I'll miss him. Will the thrill of the ride be gone - never knowing if your brakes work or if your gear will spontaneously change as you are killing yourself to climb a mole hill? Or the randomness of your chain flying off at the worst time possible. I'm not sure. Will Stumpy (Jerome) carry a funny horn with pride or will he be waay too above that and just fierce? I wonder.
Here's to you Lamar - for all the good times and the bad. You'll make a nice guest bike or an organ donor for our other bikes - either way - you made me love what I do.
Fare well.