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Womble 2000 weekend, May 6-7th

What can I say... The OEF Womble Retreat 2000 was a complete success. With the exception of rain Saturday morning, everything went great. There are a few people I need to thank, for they made this trip happen.
* Lester and Rebekah Meredith: The Meredith's were our gracious host's. The camp ground was immaculate and the BBQ was excellent!
* Terry Tietsort: Terry initiated the idea of having a club event like this and it seems as though it will continue year after year.
* Rhonda Toews, Paul Carter and Walt Brittain: These folks were our ride guides and they helped me scout the area prior to the trip.
* Kelly Mangum: Kelly let me use her work computer for the last 3 months and it made things so much
easier.
* Lionel Berumen: Because of Lionel, we can now haul 17 bikes in the trailer instead of 13. We could probably up the number to 20 or so.
* Jon Richardson: Jon loaned us his spare tire from his van. Seems as though one of our tires on the trailer picked up a nail. Hope Jon didn't need that spare for the trip back to OKC. Jon?
* Ron Goodson and Earnie Gill: These two ARE the men! Ron pretty much organized all the preparation for the trailer and Earnie hauled all the bikes. Our Saviors! Earnie had some great jokes too...

The above mentioned individuals all deserve a big thank you and this trip wouldn't have happened without them. I also want to thank all 43 participants for coming, I hope everyone had a great time.
Anyone interested in a Third Annual Womble Retreat?
Have a good ride.

Charles - OEF prez

Another awesome Womble weekend... I think most people were a little worried about the weather but the rain we had during the ride on Saturday probably felt better than the sun and humidity on Sunday... Saturdays Hardcore ride was just that - hardcore. I promised myself I would take it easier this year but that apparently seems difficult to do with such a strong group of riders. After 35 miles I felt just as worn out as last year. What a cool trail though! As good as any trail in Colorado or New-Mexico but without the 10,000ft and it's lack off oxygen. Long granny-gear climbs (except for W.B..) with fast twisty on the edge downhills with extra leaves, roots and loose rocks to make it more interesting. It felt good to lead some of the sections, slowing the group down on the climbs but puttin' down the hammer on the down-hills :-)
The trail was more overgrown than last year, we had to hop more trees and the water-crossings were deeper too. I had a blast all day long and I think we had a most excellent group of people that helped each other out when someone had a mechanical, and we waited for the slower people when necessary. The only bad thing about the ride was that I was so busy enjoying the trail that I hardly took any pictures, and the ones I did take were blurry...
Sunday was different. I did the novice ride (like most people, I don't think anyone did anything hardcore that day...) and rode with Kim and some other people and it was more of a relaxed pace. The legs were sore but that only last for a couple of miles. I actually had time to shoot a few pictures. I think the shorter ride on Sunday is a plus, it's a good soul ride to finish the weekend and drive home kinda early. Most people looked tired on Sunday, especially Larry :-)

I want to thank the people in our cabin for the good times, good food and beer and all the stories that we shared. Saturday's hardcore group was cool to hang out with and Sunday was short but sweet.
Best moment of the whole weekend? Saturday's ride back in the back of Ernie's pick-up and drinking all his cold beer (and hearing Larry say 'whatever' when he couldn't grab the beer that we 'tried' to hand him while he was riding the 10+ miles back to camp to prove he's the man....).
Marcel - ride on!

Images and Captions - Marcel Slootheer.