Fall 2007 ABC Rides return to Marin County

Hey Soulcrafties,


Well, we headed out to search for the large item trash sites lurking in the Marin County backroads as part of our bi-annual Tour de Trash Rides.

See http://www.abcrides.blogspot.com/ for more details.

The warmer weather held up for our 8:00AM start time from Ghost Rider's place. After warm coffee, Redneck, Schletcko, Ghost Rider, Hang 1o Tim and your's truly, went out Spring Hill Road and were surprised to find our first large trash site waiting for us so early on in the ride. No parts were worth it for the Redneck after his inspection.

Onwards towards Chileno Valley, and the pace started showing signs that this ride might turn into a training ride as the large litter items were expected to be scarce. Not to worry, the "Kemmelberg" never disappoints as the creek lends itself to an easy dumping ground. Again, refrigerators, mattresses, tires were the target of our GPS receiver waypoints in the hopes that the Marin County Conservation Corps will be able to get most of the litter out of the deep ditches.

After the traditional sprint to the "outhouse" that Redneck won but was unanymously and immediatedly voted as disqualified, we settled in for the climb up Wilson Hill for the next known trash site located at the peak of the ascent. Fortunately, Ghost Rider was trying to respect his low heart rate training mandate that kept the testerone where it belonged for a late Fall ride up the climb. Unfortunately, another huge group of cyclists were out on their training ride to Marshall Wall and local pride was brewing. Quick descent down towards Walker Ranch with our "sister" group was distracted with a few trash sites along the way that forced us to ride hard to catch up. The ride was on!

Wait a minute, this is supposed to be the easy going Tour de Trash rides. Not this time, as the Marshall Wall was nearing. At the foothill, only Hunt Moore was the last rider hanging off the back that we could see. Like a dangling carrot, Hang 10 couldn't hold back and went for Gold with Redneck in hot pursuit. Ghost Rider couldn't resist and threw caution from the coach's training log to the wind. Hanging on, GR and me started collecting the stragglers and Redneck faded into the Bonk Abyss of the Winter rides. Reaching the summit, we split into 2's as other duties beckoned but everyone made it back OK. See you on the wet roads.