Dave and I hit the trails again last weekend. Met up off Hamburg road for a nice long ride. We headed out on the blue trail to do Salamander in reverse. Didn't get too far before we found a fellow rider with flat and no pump. Dave was his name. Dave was kind enough to let him use his pump. Dave was riding a KHS, so of course I had to ask him how he liked it. After learning he broke his previous frame from them, and after me mentioning I was considering a KHS to replace my Jamis I got hit by a barrage of words from Dave on "picking a cheap frame".

I soon learned that Dave thinks any frame that breaks is cheap. Heck, even his old Litespeed that I now own doesn't live up to his standards. ;) Then he admitted that it's all about he bike manufacturer and how they take care of their customers.

After the new Dave got his bike back up and running we 3 proceeded up Death March. Always fun to go up Death March; if you need a lung and leg check that's the hill to do it on. For me of course spending the two days prior in my pond tearing it apart to find the leak in the liner left my hamstrings feeling rather tight. And of course I felt them the whole way up death march.

New Dave finally made it to the top and decided to take an easier route. As our ride progressed Dave and I started having our own issues with rocks. Rain + rocks = slick rocks. And then we started feeding off each other. Evil slick rocks tainted a perfect run. Many curse words were spewed out. Thankfully there were no hikers with little kids out there to hear us.

We finally made it out to the upper lot on Gambril Park Road. As we entered back onto the trail my bike decided it wanted to become a fixie. Now as much interest I have in riding single speed, I have no interest in riding a fixie.

To my disappointment my rear cassette body decided to lock up on me. My options were limited and I decided to head back out to the parking lot where I met a fellow biker named Jim. He had just finished up his ride and was kind enough to give me a ride in his Freight Liner Panel work truck back to Hamburg Road. Nice guy; we've run into him several times out on the trail but I've never had an opportunity to talk to him.

I ended my ride with roughly 13 miles. Cheated by my stupid cassette it was the "perfect" end to a somewhat frustrating ride.