Category: Mountain Biking

Paparazzi Follow Me

The moment I stepped out of my car at Kinney Road, we were swarmed by tens of thousands of mosquitos, gnats and other assorted flying insects. They followed me and my entourage around the lake, over the mountain, through the woods, over brooks. Every rock garden, every jump, every rock roll – they were there. They followed our every pedal stroke for the entire 13 mile journey.  I never felt so loved in my life. I don’t want to disappoint these die-hard fans. I’ll be back soon.

One of my friends said “Charlie your entire head is surrounded by a cloud of gnats.” I turned around and looked at him, and his head was also surrounded by a black cloud. So I just busted out laughing!!! We both looked like that Pig-Pen character in Charlie Brown. Then he said, “I can’t see in front of me. My eyes are blurry. I think I need glasses.” I’m like, Dude your eyes are fine. It’s the cloud of fans that’s following you around, obscuring your vision. Their love is so unyielding, they only want you to see them and nothing else. That’s why they say, Love is blind. Their love is so undying, relentless, that nothing could hold them back from their heart’s desire.

Inhaling them is inevitable. On the one hand I want to put a screen mesh over my face. On the other hand, it’s a free electrolyte snack!

Sessioning At Sterling

Went to Sterling on Sunday. My friend who I was riding with, didn’t want to do the usual loop. He wanted to spend the day finding features and sessioning. So that’s what we did. I haven’t done a sessioning day in awhile. I gotta say, it was a lot of fun. Best part of it was, at the beginning of the day my friend could not ride large rock rolls; but after showing him he could do small rock rolls, then medium rock rolls, by the end of the day he was rolling down large rock faces. That made my day.

What do you do to cope with the heat?

On very hot and humid days, I put a frozen 16 ounce bottle of water in the bottom of my camelbak and another bottle on top. In the middle is the bladder, filled with water that has been in my fridge overnight. Sometimes I’ll even throw in a tray of ice cubes into the bladder. Then I go riding with ice cold water, and for me, that helps keep me cool. What do you do to cope with the heat?

The Raspberries Taste Like Raspberries

Did trail work at Stephens on Saturday. Every time I do TM, it’s always oddly mentally satisfying and physically invigorating. Then on Sunday I rode at Lew Mo and found acres and acres of tasty fresh raspberries. It’s like the wallpaper in Willy Wonka’s factory!

I should mention to anyone reading this, to get to the field of raspberries, you have to hike 13 miles up a steep trail that is lined on either side with spikes that have impaled the skulls of trespassers. If you get past that, then you need to climb up a 200 foot cliff and then rappel down the other side, cross a moat that is guarded by angry bears and mountain lions. Pick at your own risk!

When I am confronted by such dangers in the vicinity of Lewis Morris and Jockey Hollow, I ask myself, “What would Temperance Wick do!”

Even the rocks were sweating

Sterling. There was so much humidity, that even the rocks were sweating. Awesome ride though!!

Also, to anyone reading this, Do NOT ride at Sterling! It is situated on top of an active volcano and filled with packs of wild rabid wolves, and we lose at least one mountain biker every day from the hidden mine fields. As I write this, I can hear the screams of horror coming back to haunt me. It’s a really sad place and I highly recommend staying as far away as possible. You are better off riding your bicycle to somewhere more habitable and welcoming like Antarctica or the Sahara Desert.  😉

 

Bears are out this time of year…

Rode at Stephens today. Somewhere around Border trail I mentioned to my friend who I was riding with, “Bears are out this time of year, so we should probably make a little bit of noise and talk loud so we don’t surprise them.” Then sure enough 4 minutes later around Vistar trail, Yogi ran across the trail in front of us. I was in awe by how fast it gracefully floated over logs and boulders on steep terrain.

A wildcat who will follow you…

Rode 13.5 miles, 1400+ feet of elevation climbing at Wildcat Ridge today. According to a very old legend, it is named Wildcat Ridge because there is a wildcat who will follow you. You’ll never see this cat, but it will mock and whisper “I pity the fool who came here looking for flow trails!” That same cat has a sidekick with a Don Rickles-like personality who will taunt, “Why don’t you take up a hobby that you are more physically suited for, like checkers or hopscotch?”
I’ll keep coming back though. I always do ;

I wonder if we can distract the wildcats. Cats like lasers and scratching posts.