1111th blog post: Bro-vet

by Clint

There's not much going on at VO HQ this week so I figured I'd write about my weekend trip with the new Piolet and this other orange frame I can't talk about.  Met up with a couple buddies and we biked out to Harpers Ferry via C&O trail.  The campsites were buggy and the trails were muddy, but we still had a pretty good time.  The temperatures were in the 90s with high humidity all weekend which meant no sleeping bags at night and a lot of shirtless dudes.

Weekend Thighlights. For the ladies.

We set out Friday night and got to the campsite around midnight.  In the morning, we had coffee at the campsite with one of my coworkers who was also out on the trail that weekend with a friend.   Had to pack up camp pretty quickly with the oncoming storms.  We rode through the rain all morning.  From that point on, everything was covered in mud.

Found a big tree.

Good climbin' tree.

Quick swim to cool down and clean up.

We jumped in the water by Harpers Ferry; we needed to clean up before going into town for lunch. Didn't stay for very long.  Harpers Ferry was great and all, but we wanted to make our way back to the campsite.

Pretty Great Falls.

The next day we rode straight back.  Made a quick stop at Great Falls to see what we had missed on the first night out.  Made it back in time to crash on the couch and watch bad Sunday afternoon TV.

Post-ride hose down.

Both new frames were perfect for the conditions this weekend.  The disc brakes were fantastic for the rain and mud.  Andrew, who is primarily a mountain biker, was on the Piolet.  He described it afterwards as "a valiant steed shepherding you through grand adventures."  I was on the orange bike for the weekend.  It was stable enough to handle the load and nimble enough to navigate the city at the start and end of the ride.  Plus the porteur bag up front was filled with snacks!  Keep an eye out for more on the new orange bike.