Roland caught the two by four support post of the trail sign right in the ribs, snapping it clean off at the ground, bike flying, and landed between some boulders at the edge of the fire road. Looking back, the lead group, waiting in the fire road, seemed slightly stunned and advised Roland to lie still just in case he had really hurt something. It was, and so was Roland. After smacking the remains of the trail sign back into the soft ground with a big rock, the ride continued. Just following the planned route required constant map checking.
Human impatience plays a valuable role at a time like that.
At other times, a ribboned single track not on the map would fork off into the trees. So we figured out how to return to the route and headed uphill. With Danny, Steve, and Mike leading and soon out of sight, the Viz, Ryan, and Roland trying to hang, and the rest of the crew grinding up the long hill, we approached the lunch stop. At this point it became somewhat clear that some of the riders hadn't brought lunch. After lunch we climbed some more, found our planned route, and the sun started showing through the clouds, dashing all hope for the pessimist's predictions to prevail.