I have to admit, my blog has gone down the shitter this winter. Lack of good content, or maybe it's the lack of ambition to post anything up here, has made my posts few and far between. The ones that make it up probably aren't such great quality, you have to wait for the bike pictures to re-emerge to get a semblance of quality again... Heck, I've hardly read the blogs and my friends and internet riding buddies...
Anyway, today I was reminded of the story of Murray Mike, and while it won't make up for quality content, it might keep any readers from sharpening the pitchforks and lighting the torches.
The original story can be found at http://www.rideagainstthemachine.com/the_legend_of_murray_mike.html, but I'll plagarize it anyway....
The Legend of Murray Mike
As told by Scott...
One day we were relaxing in our campsite just outside of Palisades. We had just gotten done bombing Horsethief Bench, Mary's Loop, Moore Fun, and a couple other of the Fruita favorites. Setting up to play bocchi ball, an older gentlemen stopped by the camp to talk to Chris and I. He inquired about the Fruita and Moab trails and mentioned he and his wife had just moved here, intending to ride and ski before they got too old to be able to enjoy life to it's fullest. His stories were witty and entertaining, but one story in particular captured our interest, the story of Murray Mike.
Like all good urban folklore, he and his friends were at a Fruita trailhead one day when a guy on a Wal-Mart purchased Murray showed up. The guy asked if he could ride with them and proceeded to "talk up a big game", as the storyteller emphasized, about all the singletrack and trails he did. The older gentleman said everyone sort of rolled their eyes at Murray Mike in disbelief. But once they hit the trails, Murray Mike backed up his talk as he worked the singletrack and left the rest of the guys crying for mommy.
We have always wanted our own version of Murray Mike, just because it sounded too good to pass up. Some day we'll get that girls Murray bike with the rusted chain off of Craiglist and we'll throw Chris on it. If you see him out on the trail, he'll be in white tube socks up to his knees, cut-off jeans, black "Wild Thing" glasses inspired by Major League, an early '90s Bell Helmet, flat pedals, Wal-Mart bike, white ribbed wife beater t-shirt, and best of all, a bottle of Coca-Cola in his bottle cage. If he rides up and asks to ride with you, take him up on it, others need to be entertained by the story.