The final day of riding was reserved for Buffalo Mountain. Per tradition, we unloaded at the Rev. Compton trail head and headed south towards historic Matewan. There was a light sprinkle of rain that served to keep down the dust without much further effect.
We made our way to Matewan hitting the blue and black trails on the way. We paused on top of Nate's hill to admire the view and reminisce about Nate's misfortune on a rented Arctic Cat many years ago. The trail to the top is still fun, but not as intense as it once was.
From Nate's Hill we continued on to Big A's hole. Again we paused, this time for a moment of silence in memory of Grubby and Big A, who were not able to make this year's ride. In their stead, Hans and Frans rode through the hallowed ground in a solemn tribute. The whole seemed a little deeper this year, I suspect it was preparing for Big A and was disappointed when he didn't show.
Next stop was Todd's "walk down hill." There was no walking this time. The trail had been fixed and everyone rolled down with no hesitation. After finishing the black trails at the Matewan end of the trail system we headed into town for some lunch. The usual place and the usual orders. Rich had chicken planks and I had a BBQ sandwich. We then went across the river to Kentucky to get gas.
Back on the trail we headed back to the trail head and on to Delbarton. On the way to the trail head, we made the obligatory stop at the "mine entrance" now gated with an iron gate. There was some comments about H-M making the slow march towards a Massachusetts style form of a nanny state. We continued on to Delbarton, a charming little hamlet with some nice brick store fronts. It's similar in size to Matewan. Maybe next time we should try to eat there instead of Matewan. Rich and I spied a Chevy S10 painted to look like the General Lee... the epitome of cool.
Back to the trail head again. After a brief discussion about the nature of democracy and dictatorship, we came to a consensus decision to head to Williamson. The clouds were looking more ominous, but the rain remained light. I sold Frans on the idea of going to Williamson on the promise that there would be a long full throttle section he could use to test the limits of his 700 EFI Grizzly. On our way to Williamson we knocked out the last of the blue trails.
About halfway to Williamson it became more apparent that the rain was not going to remain light. The helpful dust controlling sprinkles had turned into a steady soaking rain. The trail was getting slick, the goggles were getting blurry, and the troops were getting restless. We decided, again by consensus, to turn back. Frans would again be denied an opportunity to go flat out. I too was disappointed, but by the time we got to the first stop it was clear to everyone, we made the right choice.
We pushed on, taking the quickest way we could back to the trail head. That meant going through a now rain swollen puddle the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Soaked to the gills we loaded up in a hurry to head back to Gilbert. In spite of the early finish, we managed to get more than 70 miles in and rode every trail in the system (sans Trails 10 and 92).
After warm showers and dry clothes, we headed over to the new Good Fellas Pizzeria (GFP) for dinner. After dinner, we went to Hardee's for malts (another consensus decision) and returned to the house to watch the Simpsons Movie. A good day and a good trip.
We made our way to Matewan hitting the blue and black trails on the way. We paused on top of Nate's hill to admire the view and reminisce about Nate's misfortune on a rented Arctic Cat many years ago. The trail to the top is still fun, but not as intense as it once was.
From Nate's Hill we continued on to Big A's hole. Again we paused, this time for a moment of silence in memory of Grubby and Big A, who were not able to make this year's ride. In their stead, Hans and Frans rode through the hallowed ground in a solemn tribute. The whole seemed a little deeper this year, I suspect it was preparing for Big A and was disappointed when he didn't show.
Next stop was Todd's "walk down hill." There was no walking this time. The trail had been fixed and everyone rolled down with no hesitation. After finishing the black trails at the Matewan end of the trail system we headed into town for some lunch. The usual place and the usual orders. Rich had chicken planks and I had a BBQ sandwich. We then went across the river to Kentucky to get gas.
Back on the trail we headed back to the trail head and on to Delbarton. On the way to the trail head, we made the obligatory stop at the "mine entrance" now gated with an iron gate. There was some comments about H-M making the slow march towards a Massachusetts style form of a nanny state. We continued on to Delbarton, a charming little hamlet with some nice brick store fronts. It's similar in size to Matewan. Maybe next time we should try to eat there instead of Matewan. Rich and I spied a Chevy S10 painted to look like the General Lee... the epitome of cool.
Back to the trail head again. After a brief discussion about the nature of democracy and dictatorship, we came to a consensus decision to head to Williamson. The clouds were looking more ominous, but the rain remained light. I sold Frans on the idea of going to Williamson on the promise that there would be a long full throttle section he could use to test the limits of his 700 EFI Grizzly. On our way to Williamson we knocked out the last of the blue trails.
About halfway to Williamson it became more apparent that the rain was not going to remain light. The helpful dust controlling sprinkles had turned into a steady soaking rain. The trail was getting slick, the goggles were getting blurry, and the troops were getting restless. We decided, again by consensus, to turn back. Frans would again be denied an opportunity to go flat out. I too was disappointed, but by the time we got to the first stop it was clear to everyone, we made the right choice.
We pushed on, taking the quickest way we could back to the trail head. That meant going through a now rain swollen puddle the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Soaked to the gills we loaded up in a hurry to head back to Gilbert. In spite of the early finish, we managed to get more than 70 miles in and rode every trail in the system (sans Trails 10 and 92).
After warm showers and dry clothes, we headed over to the new Good Fellas Pizzeria (GFP) for dinner. After dinner, we went to Hardee's for malts (another consensus decision) and returned to the house to watch the Simpsons Movie. A good day and a good trip.
Comments