The Spindle Hosts 3rd Burrito Armageddon Triathalon

Headed over to The Spindle to check out the 3rd Burrito Armageddon Triathalon. Fun times.

I wasn't racing, just wanted to ride a bit ahead of the race and get some snapshots. The turnout was pretty good. As soon as the racer lined up and held their shots over their heads for the start, I booked it to the first stop, El Myr. Yeah, mandatory shot for all racers at the start. It was that kind of party.

I didn't get any pics worth posting at El Myr. The real treat at this stop was the heckling. As everyone tried to cram a whole burrito down as fast as they could, spectators and event staff made them feel appropriately silly about what they were doing. Thin skinned? You're gonna let them break your concentration. Stay focused and channel your inner Kobayashi.

Second stop was Argosy where the riders had to do another shot. I heard is was some kind of Jameson and egg-nog concoction.  Then it was on to the mini-cyclocross track. The heckling continued as the riders navigated in an egg nog booze haze, the burrito from the last stop starting to maybe possibly gurgle a litlle in the old tums. Bonus Level: silly string assassins. 

Final Stop - Elmyriachi. I believe that when you got here, you needed to chug a PBR before posting your final time, but I am not quite sure. I was scoping things out up by the finish and the person handing out the PBRs said "Welcome racer", and I told him I didn't race. He said "Oh I have to give these beers to the racers only." Fine, no worries. The I walked around a bit and when I passed in front of the beer zone again, the guy from before came out from behind the table and gave me a tallboy with an event coozie on it. Very Rad!

I hung out til the raffle was completed then headed out. The only downside is that on the way back to my car, I somehow lost the Burrito Armageddon beer coozie. Now, to most people something like that might be no big deal, but I can't stand losing stuff, so it bothered me all the way into late Monday. Hopefully it will find a good home wherever it flew out of my pocket.  

Trail Review - Trail Creek, Athens GA

Rode Trail Creek Mountain Bike Trails in Athens GA for the first time today, so I'm laying down this review while the ride is sill fresh in my memory bank. This trail is just a short hop from the downtown area, and very easy find. Parking was not an issue at all when I was there.
Download Printable Map Here

My overall first impression is very good, and definitely a bit different than other GA trails I have ridden. To me, this trail is very "bike-park-ish." Each loop is short, and if you are looking for epic mileage this is not your best choice. Head on down to Ft. Yargo if you are trying to clock up your distance stats.

What this trail lacks in single loop distance it makes up for in fun factor by way of some excellent "intermediate/advanced" sections, which are "sessionable." By that I mean that most of the berm and jump sections are set up so that you aren't forced to go all the way to the end of the trail hit them after your first pass. Sometimes you can go right back into the fun sections and loop them over and over. On the really heavy stuff, you do have to follow through a little further, but even the ride back to the top is not very bad. You can access the entry points to the heavy stuff about 1/4 mile from the main parking lot, at the 3 o' clock point of entry off filed 2 in the mao above, then hang a right and you'll be at the start of the two heaviest sections. But let's go through the map trail by trail with my recommendation on how to do this trail the first time.

Orange Crush (orange on map):
To get to this trail, come down out of the parking by field 2 to Trail Creek Street and hang a right. Take Trail Creek  Street until you see the cement path on the left. Hop on the path and talke it all the way to the entry point on the right. Yes I know we passed teh entry point to the Green Trail, but we are going to do that later.

When you get to the trail entry, hop on in and go clockwise. You're going to do a little climbing for the first half, then when you get to the top, the fun stuff starts. You'll see on the map a dotted orange section which is the berms and jumps business. If you aren't comfortable with berms and jumps, just take the other direction. If you take the intermediate section, get ready to commit because it gets fast quickly and it is hard to impossible to back out of a line once make your choices. I had to footdown twice on this section on my first pass, but I also roosted some good lines on the berms and caught a little air. Then when it ended, it was easy to see where you could hook around and repeat the section. This is what I meant about sessioning. I could easily ride just the intermediate section of this trail for like 45 mins to an hour, then call it a day. However, on your first time there, you need to experience more, so instead  of doubling back, go ahead and close out the loop and you'll be back on the cement path where you started.

Green Trail (green on map):
Directly across from the outrance of the orange trail you are going to see an entry point to the Green trail. You can go in here if you want. I did not. I went back up the cement path to the main entrance. Once you pop into the trail, there are a few picnic tables you can chillmode at, and get your thoughts together about how you are going to kill it next time you do orange.

Green trail is almost totally flat. Not a lot to say about it, except that you can always use it as a cheat to get your distance numbers up by doing it 2 or 3x. It's only like a mile long, just like Orange Crush. If you are new to mountain biking and don't want anything too heavy, this is your trail, I mean, when I say it is flat, it is, but it is not so tame that you aren't really mountain biking.

Drive By Truckers (blue on map):
When you finish green, go back on the cement trail the way you came, then hang a right onto Trail Creek Street. You'll go about 1/4 mile til you see the entrance to the blue on the left. Head on in!

You're going to start twisting and climbing. be aware of bikes hauling ass the opposite direction! The rules at this park are that downhill riders have to yield to climbers, but sometimes they can be hauling pretty fast and not have time to get off the trail, so just keep your eyes open up ahead. If you look on the map you'll see a dotted line section of blue. You want to go to the left of this section, because it is a unidirectional intermediate section. You'll go about 1/8th mile and the trail will come back together. Hook around and try the intermediate section! You can handle this one. You can just roll over the jumps or you can go for some air. It is a short but fun section, and again, you could get to this spot and just loop around sessioning the berms and jumps til your heart is content. But today you are going to go back to just do it once and then keep going in the original direction. When you get to the top rightmost part of blue, you'll have reached the top as far as elevation for the entire trail.

So now you'll be going mostly downhill but some of the switchbacks take you back up a bit. The whole way up the berms on blue have been useless to you because you have been climbing, but now there will be a bunch of small jumps and berms that are working for you. This is a nice long section, so rock it all the way til you connect with the yellow/red trail entrances.

BONUS: if you look at the map you'll see that when you get to the intersection with yellow/red, you can also take a short path back to the parking lot so you can get a beer. You might need one for these next sections.

Panic (yellow on map):
Hold tight here you go! This is a sweet downhill section with bigger berms and jumps that you have encountered so far. Although they are larger, they are not terribly scary and you can roll over most of the jumps. But that's no fun. You'll have a few opportunities to catch a little air and maybe scare yourself a little. If you cleared the intermediate on orange, you'll dig this section which is longer.

Eventually you'll meet back up with the tail of red, and at that point the heavy stuff mellows out, but you'll still be cruising pretty quick. Make sure to keep an eye out on your left where the trails come back together so you don't collide with someone from red. Go under the bridge and at the next fork hang a right. This will pop you out onto Trail Creek Street, and you'll see the way back to the parking lot. You can go to the left and get a little extra distance, but I did not do that on my visit. I was anxious to get to the final section. Once you get back to the parking lot, you can easily head right back in and do this again. Sessioning!

Widespread (red on map):
Are yo ready? because this is where it gets real.
This section has the biggest berms, the fasted speed, and the most rad jumps. Take it slow the first time, but there will be spots where you can catch some air very easily. Most of the jumps are not gaps, they are tabletop jumps, but even the ones that are gaps are only slighting gapped, but you still don't want to case it with your back wheel if you try them. You're can go a zillion miles an hour down this section, but remember there is going to be a point where you meet back up with the yellow trail so keep your eyes open for riders to your right as the trails come back together. The finish is that same as red. Take a deep breath and realize that you just did something very rad! Then if you want to, go back up to the parking lot and do it again, and again. Sessioning! While I was there today tehre were some locals that were doing nothing but Widespread, over and over and over, ad they were rinsing it pretty good.

Drive By Truckers (blue on map): 
To close out your first visit to this trail, go to the intersection where blue, yellow and red meet (again) and this time take blue. you'll be doing it the opposite directoin that you did the first time. Take it all the way back to Trail Creek Street. This will give you some extra distance, and you'll get to do the downhill sections of blue that you passed when you were climbing it previously. There are a few rock drop off options that you can try of you want to get really gnarly. I was not in that mode today, and truthfully they may be better for the full suspension crowd.

When you get back to the road, you'll know where you are at this point so you can go do some more riding or you can call it a day. If you call it, you'll be at about 7.5 miles/500ft climbing. That's All! So you can see how sessioning may be to your advantage for fun factor and to get your stats up.

Conclusion:
I love Athens. I love that all of the trail names have to do with Athens bands. I love that I have found a trail that is very different than every other trail in the area, I love that this trail seems like an entry level "bike park" only here you don't have to take a shuttle or lift back to the top, and you do need to do a little uphill business. I can't wait til next Spring when I can go and stay for a whole day. I think you should go with me.

NOTE: You'll see that there is a way to connect the bottom section of the blue trail to the green trail but as of this writing that section is closed so they can build a new bridge over the creek because the old one is failing. The trail stewards straight up said NOT to ride this section and you should listen to them. You can go to the SORBA-ATHENS facebook page for updates on bridge construction and other trail related news.

Big Ups and Bike Together!

Getting Microscopic with Curb Dog Maurice Meyer

Let's examine this classic Bob Osborn photo. You know Bob. He ran a magazine called Bicycle Motocross Action. We can talk about that later.

For now though, let's get microscopic this 1984 photo of Maurice Meyer of Curb Dogs fame, going full on back to basics style with a straight up front endo, most likely at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. That is the end of the obvious stuff.

The first oddity you may see are the brake levers. They look all motocross-ey, like they came off a dirt bike. Let me decode them for you. He is running Dia-Compe Tech 3's, but he has added a few mods. First off is the red plastic tubes that are squeezed onto the lever portion. I had these things on a bunch of bikes. They basically beef up the overall diameter of the actual lever, which makes for a bit more comfortable and thus tighter pull. Next he is running some kind of rubber dust/dirt guard over the top most portion of the lever and the clamp. These accesories probably did come from motocross. Never ever ever seen this exact model marketed to bike riders. Terrycable had something similar, a flexible plastic guard that just sort of flapped over the middle of the lever and clamp.

Working downward we have the CW bars and number plate. I've seen racing number plates used for freestyle by putting your actual name on the front, but this is the first and only time I've seen one used to promote a "crew". Yeah man, SF guys always future forward.

He is riding a Kuwahara racing frame (1984 was just before every company in the world came out with a dedicated freestyle model) and running a Hutch tall headset lock. Maurice gave it a personal touch with the MM initials under the head tube sticker.

The dual color Dia-Compe MX 1000 brakes are an interesting detail that may have snuck past you though. This was a common mid eighties mod where you got a front and rear brake, each two different colors, and took them apart, then reassembled them half one color, half the other. Easy Peasy! If you took the time to do that you probably also took the time to put lubrication between the brake arm contact points, and all of the associated washers and spacers. This made the already strong classic brake set work even better. After a while I started using 900's instead of 1000's. The only difference was the tire clearance, the 900's were smaller. Ah, the good old days before V-Brakes. I hate V-brakes.

Did you notice that he is running a Cycle Pro Snakebelly tire on the front? Ha...he has it mounted backwards.

The whole rig is "pre-potts mod" which means he can only turn the handlebars a certain amount before the front brake arm rams into the frame. Potts, which allowed the front brake cable to route through a hollow stem bolt, and allowed turning the bars 360 degrees, hadn't been invented yet and we were quite a way from rotors/gyros at this time. Don't let that stop you, Maurice didn't.

That's pretty much all there is except I'm wondering if the guy on the PK Ripper behind and to the right of him is Brian Scura. I'm not trying to hate on Brian Scura but he is a guy who was able to make an already "safe" sport so sanitized that...well I don't even know how to explain it. Actually I can explain it but I'll make that an individual post, because this one is already long enough.

V-Brakes Suck. There I said it.

Bicycle V-brakes are such garbage.

Any bike system where one of the components is called a "noodle" shouldn't exists simply because of said noodle.

I've been trying to look up who the actual inventor of the first set was but so far no luck. Anyway, brake designs previous to v-brakes were already working very well, so long as you knew how to properly set up and adjust them. Then at a certain point about like 10 or so years ago, seemingly out of nowhere the v-brake was on everything. I want to know why.

Why would something with such a crappy, bad, ridiculous, ugly design, with no sigificant leap in performance, and a huge PITA factor for regular, non-bike mechanic people to adjust, suddenly become an industry standard?

Oh let's put out a brake system that anyone who has ever worked on a spring tensioned system could look at from a mile away and see that you're never going to get the adjusted properly while having them actually look centered. Pick one or the other. The offset on where the noodle ends creates a situation where in order to be adjusted properly the spring tension has to be uneven on either side. Dumb. Since you can't begin asymetrically adjusting the spring tension until the actual cable is tightened, once you get them centered, one arm is always in a different position than the other. Always.

Some of you tough guys might want to get on here and talk about how you can get them centered perfectly, but you're not going to convince me. Even if you think you're the v-brake master and -claim- to be able to get the centered and symmetrically aligned (which you'll never get me to believe), it still doesn't take away that it is a badly designed system that makes you work three times as hard to get results that were easily achievable with previous designs.

Anyway, I have been out of the bike industry since 1995, so obvs I don't know what the heck went on between then and now, but I do know that someone somewhere had to do a helluva job selling v-brake technology as the "new big thing". Maybe it started with some custom manufacturer making really nice ones, and the big manufacturers all copycatted it. Maybe vice-versa. If you know, please tell me. It smacks of someone trying be -different- by fixing something that wasn't broken.

Yes I know that disc brakes have replaced v-brakes on down to all but the lowest end bikes. That still doesn't excuse the years of embarassing industry wide adoption of a failure of a system. So Mote It Be.

The First Time I Saw a REAL BMX Bike

I can still replay the entire scene in my mind like some kind of internal youtube video dream.

It was after little league football practice one fall evening at Stemmers Run Middle School, which was probably still called "Junior High" at that point. My 8 year old self was walking through the parking lot waiting for my mom to pick me up, and boom, there it was. I remember the exact spot where my whole life changed. (See red X below.)



Right where the X is, there was a large pile of dirt which may have been there to spread on the baseball fields, or it may have been there to help create the foundation for the yet to be built concession stand. Regardless of what it was there for, some of the local older kids, about high school age, had packed down a path straight up the middle, and one of them headed towards it a decent clip of speed.

He was riding a black Mongoose with yellow Tuff Wheels, Most likely the bike started out looking just like this:



In a zillionth of a second I was able to imprint the entire bike to memory. The reflectors had been removed, as well as the chain guard. Also the bike did not have the "single" stem that is seen in the picture, it had a Mongoose Double Stem...



with some kind of unidentifiable chrome aftermarket handlebars. They could have been Redline Microline bars because they definitely had a "V" crossbar but I am not sure if those bars were made that early on (1979). It also had a yellow padded seat which was a little more racey than the one in the pic.

All of this visual data locked into my braincells as the rider wooshed past and the next few seconds changed everything. When he hit that dirt pile, he flew up in the air higher than I had ever seen a bicycle jump, and he styled out just a touch of a cross-up, and landed perfectly, with the rear wheel hitting just a touch before the front, absorbing the impact with his knees instead of slamming down with wreckless abandon.

The SOUND of what had just happened had almost as much impact on me as what I saw. When he rode past me on the approach to the jump, the bike didn't make a single noise. When he landed the jump, it was also totally silent.

Now, I had seen BMX bikes before in my favorite magazine "Minicycle / BMX Action", which was half devoted to the tiny motorcycles for kids, styled to look like their full size brethren that were a big trend in the late 70's (I had an Italjet 50cc), and half devoted to BMX which was an upstart sport that the publishers didn't deem worthy of a full magazine yet. And like a lot of kids at that time, I spent a zillion hours ripping around the local motorcycle trails on my minicycle when it was working. But when it wasn't I'd join in with the gaggle of kids on bicycles pedaling their asses off trying to emulate what we saw the bigger kids doing on their full size YZ80's and RM125's, and all of the awesome 2 strokes that the local hoodlums used.

This meant that we were using our Western Auto or Huffys or Murrays or equivalent non-bike shop bikes, and let me tell you, they sounded like pieces of shit. First off the chains were usually so loose that they would rattle against the (also very loose) chain guard several times every pedal stroke. Also, after lots of hard landings, the built in kickstand would not stay up, so you would get a big "clunk" every time the crank would smack into the it as it hung down. Various other parts would be loose or broken, contributing to the noises. The sum of all this was that our cheapo bikes made a cacophony not unlike an Einstürzende Neubauten song as we hurled ourselves over jumps to wrecklessly slammed, barely hanging on landings.

So when I saw/heard that Mongoose make no noise at all, and saw the kid launch so high and far that it seemed like different gravitational laws applied, I knew I had to have a REAL bike. I knew that I needed a bike with that level of precision. I haven't and couldn't accept anything less ever since.

The next day I got rid of the chaingaurd, reflectors, and kickstand on the bike I had at the time. I started checking out books on bike repair from the local public library and learned all kinds of valuable info that has served me well to this day. Once my bike got quieter I found that I was jumping better and doing longer, more stylish powerslides, and basically reaping the psychological benefits you get when you feel like your gear is dialed in.

It would take a few years after that, and lots of struggling, to convince my folks that I needed a REAL BMX bike. When I finally got one, it opened a whole other realm of opportunity and fun, which I'll save for another post.

In the Hot Rod World I Believe They Call Them "Trailer Queens"

Yesterday some dood was going off in a Facebook group for 24",26"and 29" BMX bikes, about how he was Joe Cool because he "always did all the work on his bikes himself and never took it to a shop". Not only was he was making a ridiculous point he was doing it in a very rude way, using some smugtone and 'tude.

I had to resist my urge to piss all over him by reminding him that he is part of a group that builds insanely awesome bikes which then just SIT THERE never being ridden, like some kind of sad museum pieces. Seriously these guys get a blister on their peen if they so much as get a spec of dirt on their authentic skinwall Comp III tires.

They also make stupid parts choices sometimes, using parts that would immediately get destroyed if the bikes were actually ridden (I'm looking at you Suntour XC pedals ).

I can appreciate that they love bikes and love building them, but when I was a kid I hated the rich kids that always had the best bikes and parts and couldn't even do a wheelie or a bunnyhop. Fucking poseurs. I hated it when they would come into the bike shop I worked at because I knew I was selling them parts that would be served much better by people I knew personally who couldn't afford them.

Then this morning I had another laugh at that particular group as one of the members was showing off his builds, which were all different equipped/colorwayed version of the same bike! How fucking boring. He had 4 of the same bike, and no doubt is working on one or two more. 

I dunno, maybe my way of thinking is wrong. Maybe some of the guys doing these builds ARE the ones who couldn't afford the best bikes and parts when they were growing up, so now that they can, they are indulging themselves. Good for them I guess, and I will say that there are some great builds from time to time, like this Bassett.



 But there are definitely people in that group who are really into doing a build JUST so they can sell it and do another one. I just don't get that. Oh I'm sorry, is my retro grouch showing? I guess after working at a shop I really just can't get into the concept or working on bikes for fun. RIDING bikes for fun, now there's a concept!

The Blues

Rad new anodized bolt for the star nut inside the steerer tube. My buddy Jay hooked me up. Thanks Jay! I love little details like this that heads see but normals don't. 

Slowing Down to Speed Up

Lately it has been HOT here in Georgia, so I've been adapting my riding style to deal with the heat. By that I mean I have been slowing it waaaay down. Not that I was very fast to begin with, but the slow down isn't just the pace of the rides, it is my approach to summer riding in general.

First off, I am not doing as many rides. Throughout winter and spring, my ride strategy was: RIDE EVERY TIME WEATHER ALLOWS. Here in Georgia it does get cold wet and windy, but those days are usually interspersed with mild sunny somewhat unseasonably warm days. So you have to be ready for all of it, and unless it is pissing down cold rain, you better take advantage of acceptable riding conditions when you can. This year the winter was fairly mild. Lots of warm days, not too much rain, and the wind was even cooperating more than in years past. Still, since you can never tell when the streak of good weather may end, the sense of urgency to ride from January through the end of April is high. So I rode a lot over winter/spring. A lot for me anyway. Now that I am using the Stavistix plug in to enhance my Strava stats, I am able to see where I am mileage-wise compared to years past, to the day. Definitely did some work this winter. UPSIDE: I can tell that the work paid off.

Secondly I'm not working towards any immediate goals right now. Through winter there were a few organized rides happening in spring that were always percolating in the back of my mind to work towards. They were the Atlanta Cycling Festival Bicycle Camping ride, Athens Twilight Criterium - The Gambler ride, and the Jackson County Brevet. But right now there are no organized rides on my agenda. This could change quickly though, as this is the forst year that I have been keeping a spreadsheet of upcoming charity rides so that I can actually make plans. So I'll be making a late summer - fall plan soon. No, Six-Gap (well, 3 Gap for me) will not be part of my plans, but it is on my radar as a long term goal.

Lastly, I'm kind of bored with riding all the same places, so I needed to change things up a bit. To do this, I finally got a new KONA BLAST mountain bike, and I've been hitting the woods.



Getting back on a mountain bike has been awesome. Lots of shade in the woods so riding is cooler, and being in the woods makes me feel great. No buyers remorse at all on the bike, it is the nicest I've ever had. In addition to hitting the trails I've also developed a little liking for pump tracks.



But lets get back to talking about going slow.

Right now, when I am riding, I have been deliberately turning easier gears. I've been thinking about  and trying different techniques. I've been working on different positions on the bike. I've been standing up to pedal more than in the past. I've been choosing easy, fun routes.

Right now on my road bike rides, I'm taking it easy on the flats and downhills, but putting stronger efforts into the climbs. I'm hoping that it will have an effect of making my overall rides as fast or faster than I've been doing, but sort of tricking myself into feeling like I haven't used as much energy, since I will go for long periods in chillmode between climbs. usually I am giving a decent effort on the flats and downhills and then automatically go into "high torque high cadence" mode on the climbs. Now I am telling myself that I am strong enough that I should be turning a higher gear on the climbs, getting my butt out of the saddle and attacking them. Plenty of time to rest on the other side. We'll see how this works out.

I'm also breaking out ye Olde GT Talera for some rides. Always a pleasure cruise on that contraption. I'll wear my wal-mart imitation crocs when I go Talera. That will insure that no aggressive riding will happen. It is my "Forget Strava and just have a good time" bike. Of course I still log the ride though.

I'm cool with slowing down my riding in most aspects right now. I had a great winter and spring so I'm due for getting back to ENJOYING the ride again, rather than having each session come off like work. I'll get back to workmode soon enough.

Atlanta Cyling Festival 2016 - Pump Track / Opening Party Action

Atlanta Cycling Festival - The Big Opening Party happened this past weekend. Fun times! The event was at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, on the top two floors of the parking deck. BONUS: You didn't have to ride your bike up all 6 decks, you were able to come up with your bike in the elevators. That was a nice touch because it was HOT out.

Once on the top floors, you could scoot around and check out lots of biking related vendors, and also grab some beers which were included with your admission. What I was really excited about though, was the REI  portable pumptrack.

It was a Shoretrax wooden slat board system which is able to be set up in a different configuration each time. I had never ridden a Shoretrax system before. Lots of fun was had. My buddy Mershon rode it on his new 700c, while I used my 27.5 Kona Blast. I pumped up the tires and locked out the fork for maximum pumpability, which worked out pretty well.

The pump track was very popular and lots of people tried it on all kinds of bikes. A few people didn't make it through the whole way the first time, and some even had some small bails, but I am pretty sure everyone who gave it a try eventually cleared the whole course.

Overall I am glad I went to check it out, and I'm glad I got to support ACF. I heard that they are going to have the pump track at the closing party so I may have to hit it again.


Mershon gettin' it on the MBike


Regular Cyclist using the berm as a launch device.


Manual off the final berm yes yes

BRAG 2016 Swainsboro Overnight

I've been following the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) on Faccebook. I'd really love to do a multi-day ride like BRAG at some point, and watching the posts on FB is a great way to get a feel for what to expect.

The photo above (by BRAG participant Stacy Johnson) is from a gymnasium in Swainsboro GA, where riders stayed overnight. Looks pretty comfortable compared to not having to deal with the unpredictable weather when outdoor camping. However, the photo has me wondering...did it get weird after hours when the lights went down?

By weird, I actually mean the "night noises". These people are all sleeping in very close quarters without even a tent between them, which means that you can hear EVERYTHING. So I'm thinking that once people started to fall asleep, it became a Symphony of Snores. At some point someone is also going to fart...loudly.

I wouldn't have thought about this at all if it weren't for attending the Atlanta Cycling Festival Bicycle Camping event earlier this year. The event was amazing. Forty five of us rode 35 miles out on the Silver Comet Trail, then camped and did the return trip the following morniing. Most people fell asleep and slept soundly, but not me. I was awake for most of the night for various reasons, so I was exposed to my first Symphony of Snores. I've never heard anything like it. Every single tent had one or more people sawing wood like it was some kind of contest to see who could be the loudest. In the brief moments that I fell asleep, I am sure I contributed. Part of why I was awake was that I had lost my mobile phone, so I was panicking, walking around outside the tent thinking about how rad it would be if I could record the snoring. Unfortunately I did not find my phone until morning when people were waking up (it was under my pillow...doh!), so I did not get to record any audio. But I'll be prepared next year.

Anyway, BRAG riders have the option of not staying in the group overnight areas, by finding a hotel or other accommodations, but from what I understand, if you stay offsite you are on your own getting your back to the daily ride start location.

The rest of the photos I've seen so far look like everyone on the ride is having a great time!