Rides 1 & 2 ... the Epic Tour of Truth Begins...

Arrival - Jeffro and dB left SWVA in the WRX with bikes and gear for DC to overnite at the Cheng abode in DC after work on Tuesday. On the way we ht Luigi's in H'burg for pizza pie with Thanimal. We enjoyed our visit and arrived in DC around midnite-thirty. We got to sleep and rose at 5:30 AM for Mr. Cheng to give us breakfast and a ride to BWI where we met our check in time and flight. We flew with Frontier to Denver and then had a short layover there where we grabbed a bite and checked in with the wives - also checked on the TdF where we heard about my new hero (he didn't do it I tell ya'!!!) Floyd blowing up on the last climb and losing 8' on the GC. grrrrrrrrrrrr. Our arrival at SMF at 1:55 PCT where Crash met us at the airport in SAC and the love flowed.

(The smiles hide some tension... did the rigs make the flight?)

The bikes finally made their appearance at Baggage Claim (SHEEEWWW!!!), the Official Toejam One Percenter dogs were passed around, and before they made it out of the SMF a brushfire was started and we made our 1st stop at In-N-Out for double-double cheeseburgers & choklit shakes.

YUMMMMMY

We finally made it to the CRASH Pad and Jeffro noticed that perhaps our trip was off to a bad start as there was a nail in the ToeJam Hooptie Ride, KB deftly pulled it out with needle nose pliers and it went sphhhffffftttt... so we found a larger nail in his tool box and hammered it back in to the tire - it lasted over 1,050 miles

(hey Kev, you get that tire plugged yet? 7.27.06 --db)

Ride #1 - Auburn State Recreation Area - on the American River was the site of the first assault. This ride was to be a little shakedown for the rigs and to get the legs stretched out from the long trip out. Temps were around 100, so we started off at 8PM and began climbing with Jeffro leading from 50 yards back as CRASH & dB continually lifted the pace from 4 to 8 mph. Auburn's sweet singletrack kept things interesting, it felt good being on the bike in spite of the fact we'd been up on 4 hrs sleep since 2:30 AM PCT. We ended up doing 23 hrs the first day, but it was worth it. dB crashed out along the Manzanita Trail in a sketchy ditch crossing, wrong gear and too little speed. No harm done - felt good to get the first one over with.

Sweet ride, lites made their appearance and we finished with 25 miles and 3,000' of climbing posted in 2hrs, 29 mins. with no wild animals seen. Darn, I was looking for cougars, but no luck.

Riding bikes with your pals makes you forget all about being an adult.

Ride #2 - Hole-In The Ground - The ride started out with us being a bit less lost than last time I rode here as this time I knew the trailhead - so in spite of Jeffro and KB's best efforts we made it to the trailhead on schedule.

No one saw ANY 'NO PARKING SIGNS' (there were seven!)

dB (that's me) crashed FACEPLANT style after having just cleaned that same rock... dumbass.

As you can see it was AGGRO dude.

Then dB crashed again in a 'Wallet Challenge', KB laid down the line and dB missed the line by less than an inch resulting in a wheel chock stall that slammed him violently to the deck...
... in this case a nice piece of granite, breaking his wrist - so it really sucks to type this. ...but I wrapped it up with an arm warmer and continued, no broken bones gonna take me off this Tour, Tyler Hamilton has got nothin' on me. Next morning I bought an Ace brace for it at the Safeway and it really got the job done. A little pain won't kill ya' and it dulls to an ache after the bike pounds on it for ten minutes or so. It really didn't slow me down except in stutter bumps, and made me a little choosier about the lines I rode. So with the help of EPO, steroids, HGH and Hammer Perpetuem - I had it all covered and continued to climb like Landis and Lance, who take none of that stuff. --dB