EvilMike aka Derailleur
They call me ‘DERAILLEUR’, because I’ve smashed off 6 in the last year.
Until last year I hadn’t been on a bike since 1986. I bought an IRON HORSE Warrior out of a pawn shop for $150. And I thought I had a great bike here with mechanical disc brakes and 3” of travel in the font end. I told a friend at work that I had a bike and he invited me out with him and some friends.
After an hour and a half hike up the mountain at the Woodlot, on a cold and wet day in April, we headed down Crazy Carpenter, then over to Snakes and Ladders, and into Shotgun. I flipped over my bars so many times that day, and beat the absolute hell out of myself, that I had to drive home shifting gears with my left arm because my right arm was too sore to move. But I was hooked.
We rode Fromme the next week in the heaviest downpour I have ever been in, and got a blow out up on Seventh Secret, and it was way to wet to patch my tube, so one of the other riders lent me a tube, but I had Presta valves and this tube was a Schrader.
So now I have 3 guys working on my bike in the pouring rain reaming out my rim with a pocket knife so that I could continue to ride. I found out then that these guys; the HALFCRANKED crew were all about friends and the ride.
I’m on my third bike now an ‘06’ Brodie Devo, and I guess I have come a long way since my first ride at the Woodlot, and if you watch ‘A day at the Woodlot’ on our HALFCRANKED videos you’ll see that I still get my ass kicked on that mountain.
I’m the one with the helmet cam, taking a spill on the bridge on Quickhit , and taking a header over the bars at the top of shotgun, but every ride I try to better myself by either taking a bigger drop, or trying to corner faster, and once in a while I’ll try a skinny (which I really suck at) but still try.
I’ll never stop trying. I love this sport and will ride until my body can’t take it anymore, which should be a real long time, because our oldest rider is 58 so that gives me another 20 years.
Our group has grown in numbers since my first ride, and we still ride every Tuesday, so if you want to ride with a good group of guys, and it’s all about the ride, look us up, we will have the next weeks ride posted on our website.
See ya on the trails.
EvilMike aka Derailleur
