everyday's a holiday

shortly after getting ride of a refrigerator, i was southbound even though it says east.  the land of kick ass mountain biking, small town goodness, and all around pleasantness beckoned.   it was the last opportunity i had to visit with a couple buds before i rolled out to lands unknown.

and being smarterer than the average bear, i made certain to get to the trail before everyone got out of work.  i give you Enterprise South.  this trail is smooth as butter and fast as hell.  it's basically ten miles of pumptrack sectioned off into three loops on an old dynamite government land thing.  as you go deeper into the system, the trail gets progressively faster, but not much rougher.  if you are interested in ripping through the trees like your on the moon of Endor, this is your bag of tricks.

in fact, if it was not directional, it would be overwhelmingly dangerous at the speeds you can attain.

so me being earlier to the party, i went ahead and started off like a flash knowing there was only one or two other people on the entire trail.  the first loop is rather small, and obviously a true beginning trail.  mind you, there are a couple hops skips and jumps you can grab some fun air on, or dive down the backside pumping out of a roller and snapping onto the next turn...  there are lots of turns, with berms, and it is so good.  perfect warm up.

upon entering the second loop, my confidence was lifted, as well as my tires, and i really got the groove into this.  so good in fact, i missed one of the turns and began the second loop twice.  well, about halfway through you come around a corner, up a little grade, and right in front of some atomic bunker of death that could only harbor some sort of goblin, unibomber, or Cthulhu,you will find a pump track.  holy shit.  yeah, pumptrack.  in the middle of the mountain bike trail.  truly awesome.

once i finished up my second roller coaster ride, it was time to meet up with Ralph.  so in true pro-racing form, we slammed a couple pints, clicked our shoes, and holy hell the race was on.

there is nothing better than riding a new to you trail with a local who knows every berm turn pump hump line climb and slide.  we floated down the singletrack like gazelles with reckless abandon on the brink of disaster until this freight train screeched to a halt in the parking lot.  there had to be a quarter mile section of pure flow, as we poured over the rises and falls, plowed through turns and powered on the transitions.  this was one of the most intense rides i have had in years.  at times i didn't feel like i was breathing.  it was amazing.

if you are ever in chatty, there are a great number of trails you should ride, just make sure you let it all go on this one.  don't hold anything back.  it will be worth it.

once we'd had enough, and the ranger had driven by enough times to spook us while we finished off the last of the beers, we called it a day and headed off to our respective dinner engagements. 

act 2

the Terminal Brewhouse next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo is one of my favorite post ride haunts.  the J. and i rolled into a full house and bellied up to the bar for some kick ass food and some really great beers.  they have bison burger.  you feel like a cowboy when you eat bison, well, i do.

once our tummies were satisfied with the serving of meat, grease and yeast, it was off to yet another Brewhaus to make certain we would not be able to remember everything important that transpired that evening. 

 

i know we had fun, but i;m not exactly sure how where and why.  enjoy my black spots.  the J. had an appointment at 8:00am, and as we were wide awake, cross eyed and still kicking after midnight (i remember looking at my phone around then), there was no turning back.  and that lead me to wake up on the sofa around 8:00am, alone and not hungover...  yet.  but it was coming.  i couldn't imagine the fun J. was having, knowing all too well he was in the same mindframe as me.

in a flash i was out the door and on the hunt for something to help me stave off the impending pain, as well as the necessary legal drugs to make the drive back to Nashy before too long.  i give you Daylight Donuts.  it was wonderful.  i walked in and exclaimed i needed the biggest coffee they had, a bag of donuts, and i had $10.  they looked deep into my blazing red eyes - through my sunglasses - and handed me a quart of deep, black hangover helper and three lbs of doughy goodness.  and an apple fritter.  my joy poured all over the floor, and it was almost followed by the previous evening's bison.

and less than three hours later, i was back in Nashy and all was good in the world.

thank you chattanooga!  it was great!  sorry if i made a mess...