MTB in GA and thats no Bull

I have come to realize those things that I truly value in life. They are the things that make me leave a table full of Girlfriends out for a somewhat raucous evening of Birthday celebrations because I have to peel my butt out of bed at 5 in the morning. Yep, you read right, I got up at 5:00 am Sunday. ?For what??" you ask. For some mountain biking in Georgia at Bull Mountain. Well that and the promise of IHOP pre ride. Yumm, pancakes and crappy coffee :)
The plan was hatched by a friend who had a buddy driving from Atl to meet him and commence the "ASIAN GAMES, PART II". Both of them being of Asian descent they named their competition as such. We started the ride around 10:30 or 11:00. The weather was great, though a little humid, not to swampy. We climbed service road for a while and then ducked onto the trail. There was a lot of climbing to be done, big roots and loose rocks here and there. The trail was rolling, a few grunts, but it was nice.
We came to another portion of gravel service road that had to be climbed. As we started my friend Abey pulled away from me like someone was paying him to do so. I moved right to let his friend try to catch him. He pumped hard, came by me and looked like he was on his was to catching up. The road reminded me of Mitchell, I figured the best thing for me to do was just settle into my pace and stay steady since I didn't know how long we would be on it. But then something wonderful happened, I caught sight of Abey's friend and realized I was gonna catch him. Just as I started to pass him he stopped to rest and get a drink. Then the next mark came into sight. I could see Abey and I was determined to catch him. I put it in a harder gear and just stayed steady, gaining distance on him with each pedal stroke. I rode up next to him and we stayed together from that point on up to the top of the climb and waited for everyone else. We talked about it after the ride and he wasn't happy about being caught, I just told him I'm not fast or slow, just steady. So at least I have that going for me :)
Later on in the ride there was a nice downhill section that flowed really well, wasn't to steep. I was barely touching my brakes (which is rare on a DH) and I was finding some good lines. Debbie was right on my wheel so I think the pressure helped. Then all of the sudden I saw this big gray blob on my right. My front wheel shifted and before I could correct I ran over it. Debbie said my whole bike went sideways and my front tire went hard to the right. Luckily I caught enough air to get straightened out and somehow managed not to wreck.
We all regrouped and headed back to the cars. The ride was fun, we only did 15 miles and that took a while since we had different abilities and fitness levels in the group. But it was a great day in the saddle spent with people who mean the world to me.