Down in 2

I'm up way to early today. A late night full of fun and abuse should still have me sleeping but I'm expecting my firewood guy anytime. Last night the boys and I made our way down to Joyride 150. This was my second trip tot he best thing to ever happen to the Toronto area . It was an optional training day for me so this includes hitting jumps. More on that shortly.

Nothing to exciting on the way down except for the rental car driver that was on the 400 with no lights on. Random thoughts on this include he either took the night vision goggles option or he is in a rental car because he smacked up his own car for being stupid.

It was pretty calm around the bike park, I guess everyone would rather be out partying on a Friday than riding their bikes. I hang with a different crowd though. This meant no line ups and the first place we hit up was the foam pit. Have to admit it was kinda fun. I think tonight should have been a night where both my bike and myself should have stayed around the heavily padded area.

i made my way out on the skinnies for a little tech work, ok there was no training in this just playing. It may have been the 3rd or 4th time down and my back wheel slide of the side of the log. Crack. Not what I wanted to hear. I was riding my Anthem that i normally race on, the one that hangs on the wall most of the time. Why was I on it, new drive train I wanted to get a few miles on it. Let's just say that I had a few thoughts go through my mind on what it could be with that noise and none of them were good.

Looking down I saw the damage, snapped cage. Not just any cage but an xtr carbon cage. Shit. This is the second one on this bike. Both times I was not even pedalling or technically riding. The first was at the mudfest called 24 hour Summer Solstice where I pushed my bike around the mud pit and somehow snapped one. Apparently the xtr shadow derailleur is designed to have less chance of being taken out by random objects, HMMM.

Back at the front desk another huge thank you to Scott and Shannon for setting me up with a bike to play on for the evening. I made my way around to all the playground stuff. With my bike down and out the next thing on the list was hurting myself and my pride. It didn't take long. When fatigue sets in it hits hard. My body is trained to ride a trail for hours on end with no problems, this is not a trail. Because this place is so popular there are a few sections that are getting a little slippery with repeated turns in the same direction. Well I found them and slide out. Road rash without ever hitting the road. Of course it had to be on my left shoulder which has been a little trouble some but was starting to feel better. I'm feeling it this morning.

We managed to stay till closing time, a quick stop at a coffee shop that I'm not a fan of topped the night off. Let's just say that we were very entertained by both the staff and the customers. All we wanted was our food. I rolled in to the house just after midnight, I'm not sure when the last time I saw that hour. Maybe New Years.

So my thoughts on the derailleur issue. It was talked about on the drive home. I may score a almost new xtr from Tristan or I'm going back to an aluminum xtr or xt replacement. It's funny that my other Anthem has ten times the miles on it and never a problem. Hmm. I have a full weekend of training, going to attempt to get as much outside as possible even with the chillier temperatures. The bay is looking good and the dog has to much energy. Those skis are a calling.