I warmed up with 1.25 miles on the road the walked up to Mueller Park where Dirt Tours was meeting tonight. I met Maurine there tonight, it was nice to finally meet you. We had a good turn out tonight, some trail runners Ryan and Lindsay came and also Nate, the run organizer. When we started up the trail, Nate was in the lead and he was setting a fast pace. I kept up with him for about 2 miles then he disappeared ahead of me on the trail. On the way up we passed two scouts troops. We also ran passed a group of four bikers who were heading up the trail. I love that feeling. I ran hard but didn't see Nate again untill Elephant Rock. My time up was 35 minutes, 10 min mile average pace. Nate and I waited at the top for a few minutes, but we weren't sure if the other runners we going to run all the way to the Rock or not. As we headed back down we ran into to Maurine who was almost to the top. She told us that Ryan and Lindsay had turned around at the bridge. So we headed continued on down as she headed up the trail. Shortly after leaving Maurine we heard the sound of motor bikes coming down the trail behind. Yes, motorbikes are aloud on this trail but I have not seen them on it much. The motor bikes caught to us and passed us. Neither of them had on helmets and they were going fast. Nate and I comented on how stupid it was for them to be riding like that withouts helmets. I was a little worried about the hikers heading up the trail that could be hit by these guys, but luckily there bikes are loud enough to give hikers enough time to get off the trail. It wasn't ong before we caught up with the bikers. One of them had wrecked and fallen off the trail. I ask if he was alright. He said he was fine and we continued on.
The bikers were now behind us again. We caught us with Ryan and Lindsay and warned them that these idiots were coming. The bikers caught up with us and passed again, but this time I decided to give them a run for their money. I went into high speed down hill gear and stayed right on there tails. I was doing about a 5:30 minute mile. They stopped at a little viewpoint and I flew passed them. The race was on. I stayed ahead of them for the next half mile but finally let them pass me on the switchbacks. I made it to the parking lot just before they left. That is the fastest down hill I have done in a long time. My knee feels better right now than it should after blasting down that hill. We'll see how it feels in the morning.
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