MTB: Thursday Nights at Big River

Shout out to RI NEMBA , my first Thursday night ride. Gotta say, I was impressed with the passion for this weekly event. Despite temps being in the low 90ʻs there were still a good 25-30 fat tire enthusiast. I was told it was a "wicked reduced number" due to the weather. The group gathered by the gate at the route 3 parking lot around 6 and broke up into 3 groups based on level. My guide from the previous Big River ride, Jason, and I jumped into the B group. Iʻm guessing Jason can hold his own and is probably in the A group most weeks. Iʻm still fat and out of shape and working my way into this East coast riding so I thought the B ride would suite me fine. After taking off with the B group, I realized I will not be joining that A group anytime soon (as in most likely never). I wish I knew the trail names to describe this ride because it was awesome. About 10 mins in we ascended a decent climb, longer than I even imaged could be in Big River. I was psyched about the climb but feeling like crap. Seriously, Iʻm in horrible condition. So much for clawing myself back into shape with a couple of commutes a week and a road ride on the weekend. If I have any chance of even enjoying cross season this year, I need to get on it soon! Iʻm pretty sure this Thursday night gig is going to be a step in that direction. The B group comprised of about 10 dudes and a designated group lead. These guys are are pretty committed to this group riding thing to the point that the lead would pull off from time to time and bring up the rear. I was off the back hanging on for dear life. The trails were great, not too technical until we got to the classic New England rock garden riding. Eventually I need to figure this crap out, but on this ride I spent more time off the bike than on through this section. I just donʻt have the Trials riding skills for that. After one section the group was heading for another similar section so Jason and I peeled off from the group for some fast spinning. We went solo from there for another 1.5 hours of some sweet singletrack. By now the temps had drop what felt like 10 degrees and I had my legs back. We did a couple of trails from the last post, but mostly new ones for me. At one point we crossed over Hopkins Hill Road to grab a loop. The network in Big River is huge and the options are endless - which is good, because I suspect thatʻs where Iʻll be doing a majority of my riding. Local to RI there arenʻt a ton of options for fast flowy single track. So for now Iʻll just hunker down, hang onto Jasonʻs wheel as best I can and hope to Buddha I eventually get in shape! Oh and Iʻm not used to it getting dark so early during the summer - sunset is like 8:15 these days. It was pretty much black by the time we got out. Iʻm guessing weʻll be riding with lights before too long. That just doesnʻt sound right!

Overall great ride after the initial suffering. Already looking forward to next Thursday.