Brown's Ranch: All-Star Crew

I had one more day to ride over the Thanksgiving break. Rachel & Jefe were in town from Colorado visiting Rachel's family and we were able to sync our schedules for a Saturday spin up at Brown's Ranch.  Kaolin, from Flat Tire Bike Shop, would also be joining the fun. He's helped me tremendously with bike fittings, etc over the past couple of years, but we had never gone on a ride together.

When I tracked down the group at the trailhead, Kaolin introduced two more of his buddies, Dax & Shawn. I had heard of both of them before since they routinely place very high in any race/event they enter. This got me thinking...Jefe - fast. Rachel - fast. Kaolin - fast. Dax - fast. Shawn - fast. John - not so fast. Hmmm. This could be interesting if not short lived!!

Thankfully, no one was particularly interested in a hammerfest. Rachel made Kaolin promise. I figured I could keep up with their relaxed pace!! Off we go!!

Down the Brown's Ranch Superhighway.

Bluebird skies from Cathedral Rock.

Danger! Beware!! The daunting El Diablo...ok, not really, just a fun trail with some rocks to goof around on.

Spotted two more buddies out on the trails, Phil & Jamie - who knew Shawn. Both are from the Cortez, CO area.

Jefe & Rachel winding through the boulders.

Kaolin mashing the singlespeed.

Shawn flexing that chain!!

Dax & Kaolin should've swapped shoes.

Yeah!! HAB!! 

Such a fun section of Branding Iron trail.

Kaolin & Shawn leading the charge.

Dax hot on their heels.

Fairly typical of Brown's Ranch, packed parking lot & empty trails.

Crested Saguaro!!

What's in your backpack? Ziplock leftovers Thanksgiving feast? No? Jefe & Rachel think otherwise, taters & turkey anyone??

We ran into Bart, quite possibly the fastest dude on the block!! His trophy case runeth over. Stud.

I was very surprised to find out that Kaolin had never ridden any of the trails north of Branding Iron. The guy lives the closest!! So, it was cool to show him new terrain.

The pace was brisk most of the day, but very manageable for me with the breaks tossed in. I couldn't quite keep up with Kaolin, Shawn & Dax on the final trail, but that didn't matter. It was a great day cruising around Brown's with fun people.

Over the hill & back to the trailhead.

Quite the cast of characters: Shawn, Kaolin, Rachel, Jefe & Dax. Nope, no fun at all. None.

Lst's do it again sometime.

Flyover

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