Long time I don't go for a trail ride, just for fun! Last time was at spodefest, then I raced a two day enduro and that was it. The enduro is fun, but you can't stop and watch the birds...
Well, I had plans to go last week, but last minute problems prevented me to go. Okay... One week later... I had a class to teach, computer programming class, to a dude (yeah, just one student), the course would take the entire week. The guy was at an advanced level, but he said he wanted to go saturday. I was upset, because I had teached him more than the course curriculum has... Sunday wasn't a good trail to ride - later on this subject some lines below - Saturday lights came on the morning with a very strong rain, that stopped by 8am, but the clouds were still there, covering everything. I was at the classroom and thinking about riding, the traction would be perfect, everything would be perfect, except that I had to be there. Was when the student asked if the sun would come (he's from another part of the country) and I said him to enjoy the beach, the sun would come greatly, would be a terrific day to go to the beach! (I am such a liar, what a shame!) Hehehe, good news, it worked. I called my friend Eduardo and he said "well, my rear tire is flat, I am going to fix it and I drop by your house in one hour". Great, One is the time it takes to drive from the school to home and put the gear on - bike was ready, I just needed a lubricant on the chain and gasohol on the tank.
9:30am I was ready to go. I called buddy... "well, bro, I got four holes and the valve steem is ripped off. It will take time..." No problem. I started studying economics theories (subsidizing agricultural production, causes and effects). By noon, he arrived my home, and we finally went to the ride!
The day was cloudy and when we were at the paved road - needed to cross Jaboatao River, a very large and deep river - the rain started. Heavily! But wasn't cold. I believe it was around 25C (75F). We looked for another entrance for the Dutch Road trail and found a nice hillclimb. There is a little creek, we searched a way to cross it, but no chance. We had to return to almost the beginning of the trail, to find a spot where the creek was dry, so we could cross it. Eduardo looped the bike over him - I keep telling him that quick-rev throttles are for two stroke bikes...
The Dutch Trail. Fun, fun, fun! Okay, there are better places, as this is the ruins of an old road built by the dutch in the 1600s and it is wide. From the Dutch to the Jar trail.
The Jar Trail is (was...) a very tight single track. This winter, I heard that a bunch of jeeps (mostly Land Rovers) tried to go trough. Okay, let's be fair. When I started riding this trail in 1999, it was indeed a jeep trail, but the water and mud got the trail closed to the jeeps for a long time and the trail turned itself in a *very* tight and twisty single track. The jeeps did some damage, of course, but the trail remain, for the most part, "single track". Okay, it is wider than before, but this trail have so much mud that the ruts that the jeep weel carves was mudded and we had to ride on the edges of the trail or in the middle rut, which was hard at times, and we had to to lots of rut changes... At one of these changes, I failed to hit the edge in the right way, and I got into the rut and a couple meters later, I was stuck on the mud...
We finished this trail and instead of turning left, we turned right, not before almost crashing with 5 other bikes which were coming the other way... Doing that we could get another trail, but unfortunatelly we missed the Cane Sugar Juice trail. No cane sugar juice this time! Instead, we went straight to Zombie Woods trail. The first section got some damage in this winter. There are huge ruts. I see where people had a very bad time... The little creek had more water than usual, the Zombie Lake must be very full. We climbed the Zombie Woods uphill. Since our friend Andre crashed and broke a root that made this climb so difficult, climbing now is a matter of keeping the wheels on the right path (the path fits only the wheel) and crawl in first or second gear up to the top... In the winter, people could not climb: The clay was too slippery.
Up there, we stopped to rest. We spent one hour talking about the times we
got drunk, about the times we went riding, and mostly, about the political situation of our city (Mayor election next sunday and I am NOT going to vote. Okay, I am going, but I am voting for a candidate that does not exist. VOTE 99!!!). It was good. It was fun... We saw big, and I mean real big, lizzards. Green lizzards that we call "teju", it's an edible lizzard, from tail to head, it is the lenght of a motorcycle. They are shy and run away when see you, but they can cut your hand with a tail whip. Because it was raining, they got cold, and some parts of this trail they can rest under the sun...
Then we climbed Grass Hill - the newer climb - and I stopped in the middle of the climb to check some tire marks coming from where the older climb used to be. Hmmm, not good stopping in the middle of a hill climb... Didn't crashed, but had to use some strenght to keep the rubber down. Then, to the Doido Bar (doido=crazy), where there is a new trail, all going up a hill, so tight that we had to stop and clear some vines... Fun!
Then, some wide trails, mostly connections between villages and trails made when roads were urban legends... Got into Paradise Beach, then some riding on a little mango forest - I will tell ya one thing... This year, the fruit season will be killer. Passing under a mango tree and we see the ground bellow it completely yellow, the flowers are blossoming, same we can tell about the cashews. Araca (kind of smallish guava) is still sleeping, but soon they will blossom too. Fruit season starts mid december and goes thru mid april, being the end of february and beggining of march the best time. I can't wait! I like riding post winter the most, but mid summer, with all the fruits, is a good ride too. Just not so exciting and with blinding dust everywhere. Speaking of winter, most creeks are still full, it was a long time since I see such a rainy winter - well, no, I was at Idaho at the core of the raining season - but giving the ruts, the mud that still lies under the Zombie Woods shadows and the bright shade of green the plants have, I say it was a historic winter...
We stopped at Sarico, an "alternative" bar for a couple beers, where punks and reggae lovers get together. It was playing some Led Zeppeling song when we arrived, soon to be changed to Janis Joplin and "Cordel do Fogo Encantado", a local band, very good. When we were leaving, Sarico cranked "Blitzkrieg Bop", from Ramones. I got the song stuck in my head up to now - more on this later...
We rode down the Gaibu Beach rocks - and some tourist even took pictures of us?! Hehe, this rock seems unrideable. Really. It is scary. But it is really easy, to speak the truth, the only time I saw a crash there was a buddy trying to go up (it is hard...) and a dude who broke the upper t-clamp when going down too fast with an older Agrale, which is known to have weak t-clamps... His was probably cracked, I saw friends going down like it was free-fall on Agrales and nothing happened.
We took a shortcut through Pedra Preta (black rock) beach, a big granite rock, that looks like a trial section. After going to Emma Creek this looks like kid's play... I used to respect this section a lot, but I really had fun this time. This trail ends at Itapuama beach, where we took the Jar Trail back to the paved road, over the Jaboatao River and straight to Miriam bar - no beer - and to Cuca bar - cold beer! Arrived home about 7pm. We missed a couple sections this ride, mostly because we were short on time and because we were looking for having fun at a nice pace, stopping, watching the plants, hearing the birds and looking for savage animals, the dirt bike is the *perfect* tool. I should have take this camera with me, oh well, there will be a next time, maybe after I vote for mayor. VOTE 99, he is our *best* choice!!!!!
Sunday I went to a rock concert, "The Offspring" was playing here and it's not everyday a rock band plays here. People doesn't like rock'n'roll a lot around here, I could not ride sunday, I had to jump and yell at the gig. Guess what? The last music they played was Blitzkrieg Bop.... Somebody, please, put something on my drink so I can clear that song out of my head...
Hey Ho, let's go!