Playing in the woods

HAPPY JUBILATION!  GOOD SPRING TO YOU ALL!

Yesterday was the day.  Despite the cloud cover and the cooler temps, in fact because of them, we had us one good afternoon at the Baseball-Soccer Complex Trails.

We’re talking about our Novice Mountain Bike Ride.  I’d say we had three novices, a half-novice, and three riders with some level of skills.  That was a pretty good mix.  (For those of you who were there, you figure out who was who!)

  The trails were sweet.  The recent rain only left us with about three mud-holes.  One of those was strategically placed to make the good log crossing interesting.  And yes, we chickened out on the one really messy section.

We started off easy, riding the “outer loop” a couple of times.  This lets folks get their legs and find their balance.  Then, if folks are feeling good, and it seems called for, we’ll move to the inner loop, and a really fun series of gully crossing obstacles.  Yesterday was one of those good days.  Lots of shouting and laughing.  Lots of screams.  No one fell, and no one got hurt.  (Although the day wouldn’t be complete without at least one member coming up with some fresh scrapes.)

What is the allure?  Why would a group of grown men and women jump on bicycles and go ride in the woods?  Whole bunches of folks have pondered that question.  I can only submit my own answer here.  Because it’s fun!

One of our group summed it up well.  At the end of the trip, she said,  “It’s scary.  It’s challenging.  You’re right, it’s all about adrenaline.  I think I did better than before.  Wow did I have fun!”

This was the last these events on our Winter schedule.  We’ll be shifting to the Spring/Summer Schedule in April.  The next of the Novice MTB Rides will be on April 12, at 6:00 P.M.  From then on, we’ll be doing these on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday nights of the month.  We’ll still use the Baseball-Soccer Complex.  No ride if raining.  Wet trails may cancel too.  Helmets a must.  And bring a mountain bike.  Honest, you can not do this on a hybrid, comfort bike, or any kind of road bike.  (But it might be fun for us to watch you try.)