adventure!!!

we knew the trail existed, we just didn't know where it was.  there is nothing online, nothing on google maps, it's all word of mouth, sort of like that island in The Beach by Alex Garland, later turned into a pretty good movie with Leo Dicaprio.

"hey, let's go ride tomorrow" i said to my friend Mr. James.  he was leery, having gone on "adventure" rides with me, searching for trails that were supposed to be kick ass and often were just a horrible slogfest.  I couldn't blame him.  then another friend showed him pictures and Mr. James was all in like a poker player with an ace high straight flush.   we just had to find it.

overall it went ok.  two wrong turns, only a little bit of extra driving, then we found the road, some markings, and what we believed was a trail.  did some quick foot recon, and yes indeed it was a trail.  boy howdy.

we hopped on the bikes and took off, not really sure where we were going, or for how long.  People ride bikes for all sorts of different reasons.  to me, in my opinion, the least noble of the reasons to ride a bike is Fitness.  if you want fitness, go to a gym, run, lift weights.  sure you can include cycling, but at least make it road riding.  guys who mountain bike for fitness have no soul and usually are kind of assholes.  they don't have skills or techniques, they don't want to explore or have fun, all they care about is a workout.  fuck that. why would you take something fun and playful and ruin it like that?

we were in it for the fun and exploration.  sure, fitness is a great byproduct, but it's not the main goal.

the trail was strange, different, odd.  it was flowy in a weird sort of way, short punchy ups, odd rocky bits, lots of pedaling.  it was slow, not overly techy, but you were up and moving a lot.  the views were fuckin incredible.  it was crazy that we have that so damn close to home.

we came out of the trail, then had to get back.  we did some bushwhacking and hiking, but we soon found the trail and headed in what we thought was the right direction, and lo, about 45 minutes later, we were back at the car.   we were both tired, even though it didn't feel like we rode far.  it was hot, we did cover some distance.  it was fun.

we found the trail, it was totally worth it, we will someday go back and explore some more.

another great day on a bike.  thank you bike for showing me cool places and giving me such enjoyment.