Wells Woods 2^{nd(and last) Post Turkey Day Trot}

November 23, sunny, 65 degrees, something’s wrong. Everybody shows up on time (except PM & Diana of course) ride departs 12:30 sharp, 20 riders strong, only and hour late, not bad. Off to the Yellow loop, glace over my shoulder looks like the Tour de France minus the lungs. All’s well through Double Hit, many takers, many spectators. 2 of 20 clean the Wall of China, nice job Tom, first timer. No troubles on Horseshoe, High Hard One, Nater even takes the wheelie drop with a gallery, everyone else who wanted it takes exit ramp. Off to Blind Faith, near fatal experience, can’t hesitate at the top then try to ride it out, usually ends up in a half off half on, castration with a side of collarbone. Lucky this time, eh Dave? Through the Yellow Brick road with nothing major to speak of, on to the Drops where Nigro almost redefines the Nigro drop- too much front brake and not enough room to stop before that 20 footer - sweet nose wheelie & excellent display of human Velcro to the ground. Obstacles and climbs getting cleaned until Pete F. tries the no hander lander off the 4 footer. Wish I could have see this but all reports have Pete trying to bail off his bike BMX style in mid air, only to have the thing follow him perfectly between his legs where he lands it (no feet and no hands mind you) and runs three steps with the bike between his legs and doesn’t crash. God Bless You Pete, I’d play Lotto. Onward to Real consequences with no mishaps but many walkers, Lori rides the log at Nemesis but can’t close the deal and pop off the tip(for you PM) , then out on to Mr. Toads Wild Ride. All is well through almost 2 hours if you can believe it, not a flat, busted derailleur, chain, rim, whatever… then at the 2 ½ hour mark we see the orange vests. The first guys didn’t say much, just muttered and swore some, but the next set, well that’s when it got sticky. You see, while we had permission to ride the land, the owner did tell us that he gives permission to hunters and that we have to stay clear of them. What we didn’t figure was that we only spoke to one dude and that these guys probably don’t figure that we cover 10 miles when we’re out there. So they probably didn’t expect us to be out as far as we were. Needless to say, the second set of hunters started verbal sparring trimmed with some colorful language. One of our ride group(who shall remain nameless) responded with some color himself and was answered with a 12 guage shotgun slug fired in his general direction. That’s all that needs to be said about that folks. Wells Woods should be considered CLOSED during hunting season (November 1-Dec. 4). We want to keep our privileges in there. Anyway, we finished up, got back the the Wells Woods Trials competition which was quite amusing and greatly painful, then tapped the Barrel and hit the tub. Good show by all, details for next year’s event pending ~ G