Monday, September 21, 2009

Freedom

Sometimes I wonder why I love mountain biking so much -- it can be a lot of work, maintenence and some days, frustrating. Then, a conversation with friends after a great ride one evening reminded me of learning to ride a bike as a child in the foothills of Meadow Vista. There was really not a flat, smooth surface around (apart from a section of road that we had to climb a gravelly hill to get to). I remembered that feeling as a kid, when you had no preconcieved notion of how you were "supposed" to do something, and you would see an area you wanted to ride your bike to and would just take off and go in that direction. There were no trails -- just a lot of rocks, fallen tree branches, and piles of slippery pine needles that you just furrowed through to get to your fort or whatever destination called.

Now we ride trails that have built obstacle as well as natural ones -- but the feeling is the same. Freedom. Freedom because you know that you can just take off in a direction (or master a skill or have as much fun as possible) and just go out and do it. (No quote from Nike intended. Swear!) That is ultimate freedom -- and having that ability is what drives us to work even harder to keep it.

Photo: Livewire, Northstar, Ca
kd

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