So here is what I remember from the 50 mile ride on Sunday. Maybe Splatt or
GIJane can fill in the rest and make a recap.

Well for me it starts out the week before- I bring the bike to the shop on
Monday to get the rattle in the front fixed. I pick it up on Wednesday for
the Grayville ride with a new set of Panaracers. I flat at Grayville -
didn't have time to put the Panaracers on. Glad for new tires otherwise the
50 miler would have been a 1/2 miler.

Saturday morning I realize my derailler hanger is really tweeked from the
log stunts at Grayville - off to the shop again for a last minute fix.

Friday and Saturday I go to 2 country music concerts with my wife at the
Durham Fair to make up for being gone all day Sunday. ("Coventry - where's
that?" "Hickville." "We're all from Hickville.") Even on TV the Simpsons was
about country music. Yuck.  I watched the Col. Homer episode as well.  One of my favorites.  GI Jane prepares by riding Case with SSK and Kona Saturday AM and sessioning the Clinic with Beast Master and Joe Dirt in the afternoon.  New stunt called Alotta Fagina at the Clinic is a good one, by the way.  Raise the seat back up and the Silver Bullit is ready for 50 miles.  Am I?

At 5:30, it's 45 degrees, and I ride up the hill to the "Start" banner at
Dan's house. Yes, I'm spoiled I live 500ft. from the start line.

GI Jane rolls in at 5:05 to find he is 2nd in line.  Who beat Jane?  Fritz has pole posistion by arriving at 4:45!!  Jane should have been carpooling with Splatt but Splatt oversleeps!  Spaltt reads off directions and GI Jane is off solo.  Splatt arrives at Dan's with time to spare after finding an open Dunkin Donuts and driving 90 plus on Rt.2.  Yeehaw!

Who was there? Me (TT), Splatt, King Arthur (KA), GI-Jane, Rickshaw, Mark
(what's his nickname?), Ken Dayton (from Bikerag's past) and his buddies
from some Spring Company in Bristol, and a whole lot of people not from
Bikerag: Todd who owns Sunshine Cycle, my neighbor Dan, Ken Dan's brother,
Kristen & Warren, Matt, Bill, Ben & his girlfriend, Halo(aka The Dirty Holly), the "Three Musketeers",and some idiot drinking a beer at 5:45 am. And there were more - about 40 people in total.

So we're off... This was the most boring part of the ride since it was all
road and rail trail for the first 10 miles.

Boring yes but it was still dark and most people had no lights.  The fact that no one crashed was amazing.

After five miles were stopped waiting for the rest, I go ahead to take a leak, about 9 guys follow, and
Halo follows thinking we're starting again. Surprise. She calls the place
"Penis Alley".  I think she knew what she was doing all along.  She doesn't even like to ride, she's in it for the men in tight shorts.

GIJane is ribbing me about my all-cotton gear. Hey-I'm losing the sweatshirt
at the next stop. TT going comand so he claims.  Thats gonna chafe around mile 40 I bet.  We had just ridden through 2 miles of underwater rail trail and he isn't fazed when his ass is soaked. TT rides awesome but dresses like a bike path reject.  All part of his mystique?  Now he has clippless pedals so his cover is almost blown.  I suspect he is a Cat. 2 roadie as well.   Ken Dayton is talking about Bikerag, how he was Trouble's
neighbor, and how Nach used to get everyone lost bushwhacking through the
woods to a trail that was just over there.

Rickshaw's Front derailler is on the Fritz so Todd takes it off for him and
he's in midring. At the next stop they zip-tie it to the bike.  Jane hears Fritz is having "chain  problems" so offers lube.  Fritz suppresses the desire to punch Jane for the stupid offer but calmly explains the real problem.

OK we're at the first stop at the south end of Meshomasic. That was easy now
it's singletrack. We split up into two groups - "Moderate" and "Slow" no
let's make it "Fast" and "Moderate" so no one's offended. Up the blue - a
fast ride through Meshomasic, mostly blue except for a couple of side trails
to avoid a hike-a-bike. Splatt and GIJane are riding Bullits- where's the
rest of them? Splatt and I keep passing each other - that's cause he's in
better shape than I am but his bike is heavier so it balances out to about
equal.

That was quick now we're at the tubes to go under route 2. That's an Alice
in Wonderland experience. Look ahead so you don't hit the sides. After that
Halo and Mark ask me "Why aren't you sweating yet?" Hey I'm wearing cotton,
it's 60 degrees, and it evaporates - plus I have no plastic-ass gadgets like
you guys.

Up through Meshomasic North - this is the most fun yet. We have to do a Wed.
night ride here there is new singletrack! At one point we're stopped looking
at a sweet smooth steep downhill singletrack. Another time we're stopped
Mark has a flat, Halo is stretching on this small tree, reminds someone (GI Jane) of a pole at a strip bar "You'll be upside down on that thing in no time". GI Jane tells her she will be leaving snail tracks on it as well.  The Holly, while quite shocked at the thought of it is laughing her H-Low off.  H-Low /Halo is a takeoff on the J-Lo booty nickname.  Halo leaves to her backyard - she was only planning on half the ride.

At the end of that sweet section we pull out into a neighborhood of
gozillion dollar homes. I'm riding the singletrack sidewalk and the others
ride the road up to 94 and Birch Mountain Road. It's lunchtime (at
10:00-10:30!) at the radio tower. The 2nd group is not far behind. The guy
who drank the beer at 5:45 this morning leaves, and a couple of other
"half-riders" leave.

After lunch we're off into Case - to the power lines and down the Fern.  GI Jane crashes hard on entry to Fern Trail at Mach 2 warp speed in front of most of the group.  Elbow range of motion cut in half and very sore.  Knee leaking red fluid as well.   Do I need more Gonadvil?  Or have I taken too much?  Dust off and back in the game.  No pictures or video but scars last a lifetime. I run into Sock Stuffer! "Want to join up?" "No way." Down the fern and over
and up the slick rock. I almost clean it, Panaracers pass the slick rock
test. One dab, but after 30 miles I can give myself a break.

Then it's blue-white down to Gay City - what a cool trail. It was a cruel climbing loop in Case for sure.  Dan Hagerman claims it was on purpose to make sure nobody thought the ride was too easy.  What a guy!  Loop through Gay
City to Blackledge. It's the third stop here. Oops- where are the three
musketeers? Seems like they drank too much beer for lunch, missed a turn and
instead of waiting decided to do another loop in Gay City. Todd and Matt go
look for them. Eventually they show up riding down 94 woo-hoo we did Gay
City - boneheads. Rickshaw lost his rear derailler - maybe we should call
him Deraillerless Fritz (DF)?? Too bad, he was doing pretty good. Mark also
notices a slice in his tire, and he buys a new one from Todd.

At this point I notice this one group of guys keeps asking one of their buddies "Hey, how's your ass doing?"  Be sure to stay away from these guys on the bathroom breaks.

Now it's up 94, down West St. to some double track. Pavement - double track
- pavement. And then we're on the singletrack that time forgot. Hasn't been
used since the 60's but it's still there and it's pretty cool. Real cool trail   Good thing Puke didn't come with the GPS or he would know where it is and ruin it for the rest of it on his web site.  Speaking of the Pukemeister where is he?  Then it's
pavement cross 66 pavement until schoolhouse Rd. dirt doubletrack right to
Grayville. Short trail through Grayville- I contemplate riding the log stunt
backwards, no way. GIJane probably did ahead of me, or maybe he got tired
from riding on one wheel? Up to the last rest stop at the Grayville parking
lot.  Cool trail into Grayville along river or pond.  Tight and technical with ramped logs and slippery roots.  Then we get to stuff that looks familiar.  Too burnt to try anything too stupid at mile 40.  Did I mention my elbow doesn't bend very fair?

Then it was all rail trail back home. Splatt and this hammer on the Cannondale (sorry I never got his name) set blistering pace on the rail trail.  Canndale dude says he had to lead to avoid the spray from the 2.35 Intense Sticky Rubber tires Splatt and GI Jane were running.  Killer pace with road crossing and gates to slow it down and re-group, and then hammer some more.  Great way to ease up and spin it in - NOT!  There was a real short loop at the end to round out the 50, but some people got wise and bee-lined for Dan's house.  Those who went straight back - AKA cheated - are sure sorry they didn't get the full 50 plus.  Oh the shame.
We all rode under the big banner at the end saying "Long Trail", and 1/2 a
keg of Long Trail was waiting for us with Pasta at Dan's house.  Jane skips the pasta to head home to SSK but steals 2 left out in the sun all day cinnamon rolls which tasted devine.  Maybe I should have a Redbull for the drive home?

(How this got started was Dan went to register for the Vermont 50 miler and
it was full! (600 people limit). So he decided to make his own. There is no
1/2 keg of Long Trail at the end of the Vermont 50, and it is not as
technical.)

I ride home and take a shower before going back to Dan's. I notice problems
walking downhill at a 1% grade.

Fun time at Dan's. Many thanks to Dan and Todd for putting on the ride, and
to Marlene and Jen for hauling the trucks around with our food and water.
That made the ride do-able.

So where were the rest of you?? So many of you could have done this without
a hitch.

Maybe we should have the "Bikerag 40(oz of Malt Liquor, Flavor Flav memorial, boyyeee)" - a little more technical, 40 instead
of 50, but the same idea.... PM you should get your people on it.  Ditto on all the thanks to everyone.  The guys who set the loop rode it last weekend as well and marked it.  Great job.

TT and GI Jane.