Tom's Farm - The Unfinished Business...

Just another regular Sunday ride gathering at the MSP, but I have noticed that we were missing our regular riders like Phong, Cuong and Billy P, beside that almost everyone was there then at the SRB adding Tan & Nancy, Rock Racers, Tan (new Dogma) with a young friend, we have a group of 25 + riders. And here is how the story goes..The same old darn style...Scott was like a cheetah being captured and got release to the wild, he just took off and other few guys from Group A started the chase, immediately pulling whole Group B along with them. If you think that was hard...No just about within a mile, we started feel the head winds howled over our ears, our legs immediately feel the impact of rough massaging with gravity force. Group A seem to enjoy the punishment of mother nature, they kept on riding and maintain the momentum on the trail. If you had a chance looking over someone's shoulders in front of you, you can see the VV riders slithering beautifully in a single file through the winding River Bed trail (I wish Cuong was there) mile after miles. But for a while, group B was no longer a part of the hungry wolves pack...we were scattered, stretching out when we reach to the first bridge. With strong winds blow, from the 25 mph +, we slowed down quickly to 20 mph...group A has no longer being seen.

We finally met up with them at the rest room stop. As usual, with their unforgettably attitude standing there with the smile on their faces looking at us slowly pulling in. Not for long, we split up and off we went...group B once again together for about first 5 - 10 minutes beautifully like a snake slithering through the winding trail until I looked back we were now only 9 riders together including anh Sang, Thang, Minh, Rock Racers, Tan, Ngoc, Thanh, Loc and I (I was thinking...oh man! we were now in the group A foot step, have no mercy for anyone even to our sweet female riders Christine & Nancy!). Ok...just a moment of being a nice guy...let go my soft side and I kept on pedaling hard, I realized, at this moment if you lose your momentum you sure will be dropped as well. Anh Sang himself like a spear gun poking through the powerful wind made way for his brothers, he maintain at the 20 - 22 mph for almost 15 minutes. As usual, RRacers charged up from behind, took the lead, but they were too strong so they left a huge gap between us. We, however, managed our self taking turn help pulling the VV warriors from time to time to the turning point that entering to the other side of the trail. Anh Sang sneaked out & took off fast with Thanh left Rock Racers, Thang, Minh and I behind...not to mentioned that this part of trail was crowded and dangerous with slower riders and walkers with children. We were carefully, sped up to catch up with anh Sang &...thanks to RR brothers tried shorten the gap between us and anh Sang, they worked their way up so hard that broken me out of their loop. The wind kept blowing drifting me away farther and farther...

Long was nice enough waiting at the corner of the trail before entering the park, he was waiting for everyone coming from behind but there was no sign of any body else after Minh and I. We finally together rode in to the "Jack in the Box" rest stop. In a few minutes later one after one of VV riders pulling in and we were all together again. We were all super...exhausted.

From here, each one of us probably thinking how we going to manage to Tom's Farm with this strong head winds (I myself have not been ridden to Tom's Farm before but they said that another 20 more miles from where we at, and I like...oh man! that's not good, I thought), but Cap't voice had broken everyone's silence thinking "We are not going to Tom's Farm today". Cap't probably felt our pains & suffering...or even himself, right Cap't? He decided just to climb the Green River hill then going back. However, haft of the group decided going back to MSP and the other haft continued to finish the climb. I've been with Phong & Long on the GMR so this hill was not that intimidated as I thought.

After got out from the park everyone was ridding together with the "acceptable" speed 22 - 23 mph suddenly we heard someone yelling from behind "wait up someone crashed!", darn it! this was the same trail that I mentioned above, it was full of joggers, slower riders and walkers with children on their tiny tri-cycles. Dave tried to avoid the accident that lead him into a crash, he was ok though, just a minor scratch...I also later heard from Long that Christine fell off her bike but walk away from any injuries. Thanks God! For a short time everyone (Group A) from the crash scene picked up their speeds...one Rock Racer immediately alerted us that "sh...they are coming! they are coming!" his sound was so funny and intimidated. It sounds like a bad thing was about to happen to us so we just rushed out and sped up...yes they were right behind us! Scott M once again leading the pack faster and faster back to the SRB trail for a while until Duc took the lead and then...I did not remember & see who else rotated in front any more...I just tried hang on to my dear life, it was 29.5 mph reading from my speed-o-meter, I did not know what I got my self into...for 5 - 7 minutes later my legs slowed down, my heart rate was probably reached to the max that I could not hold on any longer. Cap't sped up from behind smiled at me and mocking in Vietnamese "No more juices?"...hell yeah! I am, I said to my self. That's was it...5 -7 minutes of glory and guts I had "chased" the wolves away and now I was all by my self with my both legs started to feel the muscles pull. I later joined with Long he also gave up on the chase...and was realized that we were scattered all over the SRB trail...they were too brutal, too powerful so left behind some wounded soldiers in agonies. Long still have some strengths left and carried me home. Thang was also rode with us to base from the restroom stop...Thanks to Thang, he was sharing his water with me (I lost my last water bottle at the rest stop) and he even sometimes squirted water over my thighs to cool them down to avoid from cramping. That was one of the reason why I love VV and all brothers & sisters.

After the coffee refreshment I was completely out of order for the rest of the Sunday evening. Today, I am still in recovery stage and I got the email from Phong asking "GMR tomorrow anyone?"...