May the Fourth Be With You

A real wilderness experience.

The lament of the solo rider - a bike with no rider in sight.

Another day pressed for time, and another ride at the local regional park. Over the past few months, it was the setting sun that was cutting my riding window short but now, it's the onset of the heat that's interfering with things. Getting the gear packed and into the truck, putting the bike on the roof rack, driving to the trailhead, and setting the bike back up are not individually time-consuming activities, but cumulatively, and with a late start, they can result in me being out in temperatures higher than I'd like.

And so, despite knowing it does nothing for my technical riding skills, I rode the pavement, fire roads, and scant rock gardens and singletrack of my home ride. It's no backcountry epic, but at least I can work on hauling ass rather than threading my way through babyheads. And hey, it's still fun and it still earns me a beer ticket at home.