I promise that I rode Stump Hollow once when it was fun. It is that enduring memory of good times, with good friends, sun shine and two wheels that has drawn me back to this trail ever since. But every time I’ve done it lately has totally sucked.

I’ve ridden it three times. The first was towards the end of the summer. It was warm. I was with a group of friends and the trail was smooth. I enjoyed the climb up, it wasn’t to hard but hard enough to be a challenge. The second time I rode the trail, it was muddy as hell. I believe my post for that ride revolved around tires not shedding mud. My bike ended up weighing a good ten pounds more by the end of the ride. And it was cold.

Well, last night, remembering the one good ride, I was stoked to get the Alliance out for a  night ride up the canyon. This is the first ride in quite some time that the Element was full. We actually had a crew of four, which has been unheard of since it got cold and dark. When we left Logan, it was cold but not too cold just about right for a night ride. Then we got to the trail head and got out of the car. It was freezing, literally. Luckily, this Mooseknuckler isn’t stupid and came prepared for freezing temperatures. We headed up the trail, some dumb ass had placed a log over the trail and directed us up a side trail we thought would eventually take us back to the main trail. It did not. We turned around and started over. It was so cold the ground was frozen. This translates to hundreds of hoof marks frozen solid. It was rough, it made sitting impossible for me.

The crew consisted of the usual suspects, Speedy Seth, Golden Knuckle Kevin, Ryan and myself. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Speedy not enjoy a ride. It sucked that bad. The best part was when half way up the trail we stopped in an opening turned off our lights and looked at the stars. It was almost as romantic as Broke Back Mountain, but not quite. Then we froze our asses off all the way back down. That was that.

Yet I still remember that one time and I’m sure that sometime in the future I will go back up to Stump Hollow and try to capture those memories a second time. If my track record holds, it will suck, again.