Demon of the Fall
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Frodo and Samwise's quest through the rainforest - 2009/07/02 01:02
"3 Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
7 for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
9 for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
These words, this ancient mysterious poem that the wizard Gandalf recited to me aeons ago ran through my mind as I mounted my Trek steed and left the comforts of my hobbit hole in my beloved Shire of Boalsburg.
Beneath a gathering, darkening sky I pedaled up the pavement of 322 gazing upon the ominous Tussey mountain and the foreboding, strange wilderness of Rothrock forest.
I met my trustworthy and faithful hobbit friend Samwise Albarano at Galbraith Gap. Josh was there, but he forgot his cycling shoes and had to return to Bellefonte. Samwise and I waited patiently for the arrival of the rest of our party who would accompany us on this adventure. We soon realized that our "friends" must have been waylaid by the Dark Forces of Mordor. There was no HO, Yoda, Kevin, Nabil, Peter, Erik, etc. to accompany and assist on our journey. Samwise and I knew that we would have to rely on each other and carry out this task on our own.
We started the climb of Laurel Run road. The training and discipline of Samwise Albarano was evident as he spun up this climb with ease and efficiency. It started to rain, but we pushed onward. We knew that we would be pleading for rain on the scorched earth of Mordor and we appreciated this blessed moisture.
At the top the sky brightened. We decided to deviate from our original plan and descend Little Shingletown to Sand Spring. We blasted down these trails! At the bottom we crossed a surprisly deep Laurel Run.
Samwise made the intelligent suggestion to climb Bear Gap instead of riding up to Old Laurel run road trail. Gandalf had warned me about the activity of orcs on Old Laurel Run trail. Orcs used this trail and often hid among the rocks awaiting cyclists to ambush.
We climbed Bear Gap very quickly. Along our journey we had visited the Elves in the wonderful Rivendell. The kindly Elves gave us energy foods that helped to propel us up the steep and grueling Bear Gap.
We descended N. Meadows. The view from the vista of Bear Meadows was very interesting as a thick fog cloaked the bog. Samwise and I knew about the strange creatures that lurked in the swamp and the dense forest of John Wert path. We were glad that we decided to ride on the mountain side. Near the bottom of N. Meadows we saw our first fellow mountain bikers. The Women's Group ride of Kirsten, Carol, Donna, and Mary Jo greeted us. We were so overjoyed to see these wonderful women of the woods.
We were then ready to get back on singletrack. We rode up Tussexdos. Near the Talledega turn my trusty sidekick feared that I blew a tube. It was only a knobby on my tire popping off a rock like a shotgun blast.
We continued very quickly across Tussey Mountain trail knowing that the hounds of Mordor were fast on our trail. As the darkness gathered, we felt that the Eye was searching for us. We decided it was best to ride Beer Tap trail to get out of the open of the gasline.
At the beer tap we winded and twisted through the dense forest of Endor (oops that's Star Wars, sorry wrong movie).
We bombed down Camp Trail because we knew that we were near to the end of our quest. We stopped to allow 2 female hikers with dogs to pass. It was totally awesome because Samwise and I only saw women all night in Rothrock! At the end of camp trail we saw their car with 2 kayaks on top which made them even more cool. Later on we waved to each other on 322 and then I saw one of these ladies at Duffy's and chatted with her.
Samwise and I finally arrived safely back at the Galbraith Gap parking lot. There we found Kirsty, Carol, and Mary Jo hanging out and drinking beer! (Donna had left by then) They gave us a beer and we shared stories of our adventureous rides that night.
Samwise and I survived and lived to tell the tale. It turned out to be a beautiful evening and we had an awesome ride. We encountered and hung out with alot of wonderful women in the forest. Our quest was successful!
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