Today I did something I’d never done before. I rode a mountain bike on a genuine, suitable for mountain bikes and billy goats, rugged as hell mountain bike trail!
It was a blast.
It also kicked my ass. I worked harder in 90 minutes to go a bare 4 miles than I have in the past going 15-20 miles in the same amount of time. Here’s a link to the GPS track of my ride; you can click the play button to see the ride animated.
Now, prior to today, I had ridden my (birthday/Christmas present) Trek Cobia mt. bike about 50 miles on local gravel roads. I had not, on any bike at all, ever ridden the type of trail I rode today.
I loved it.
This wasn’t a casual, steady peddling, crank out the miles ride. No, this was seemingly straight down runs, over rocky, bumpy single track, followed by sharp turns and then straight up climbs. Well, straight up to my inexperienced legs.
Another big difference is that a ride like this is quite unlike a casual, traffic-free ride on empty country roads that are flat and go straight. Those roads are so mellow I even use my headphones sometimes (and my mirror!) I get a lot of thinking done on the Freemount and Bridgeport loops.
Riding a trail like this commands one’s full attention at all times. I slipped once, early in the ride and had a couple of close calls, but avoided the ground after the first time. Tricky is a word that comes to mind to describe riding these trails.
Oh, and then there was the thrill of riding a barely wide enough to fit track right along side the lake. Water on one side and an unyielding rock on the other. I did dismount and walk through part of this section (I did the same on a few steep hills earlier in the ride).
All in all, I can’t wait for the next ride like this!
Following are a few photos from the ride. The quality is not up to usual standards as most of these are screen shots from a video (helmet cam!) I shot during the ride.
My trusty ride, waiting patiently for the ride to start.
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I’m leading the rear, which turned out to be appropriate as I ended up being lapped by most of the other riders. The fastest rider? 8 miles in 45 minutes. Me? 4 miles in 90 mins. Yeah, my first ride.
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Turns out the downhills on mountain bike trails are much (much!) steeper than the down hills one finds on country gravel roads. Plus, on those roads you can get going fast and keep going for a while. On the trail, it’s time to turn just when you’re getting up to speed!
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Beautiful ride today, just wonderful.
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This part was awesome! It was thrilling to be riding on a single track right at the water’s edge.
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Happy New Year! I’m sitting here listening to the former members of the Grateful Dead perform a concert in San Francisco thanks to the power of Sirius satellite radio. Excellent show, worth tuning in!
While listening to the concert I’ve reviewed my 2011 photos selected my favorite images from the past year. I posted a set of 22 of my favorite pictures from 2011 on Flickr and below feature my favorite 7 of the 22.
This photo of a northern Arizona sunset is actually from October of 2010 but I only figured out how to process it to my satisfaction in late 2011, so here it is.
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An almost delicate view looking north from Coronado Heights, July 2011.
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Summer storm, I like the composition of this shot with the angle of the road and the car.
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Nice close-up of a very large moth!
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Time-lapse photography at the Kansas State Fair in September.
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This started as a back-lit patch of grass, not much on its own, but the Fractalius version turned out pretty nice in an abstract manner.
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Golden Gate bridge as night falls.
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I was in California recently for a relatively rare late in the year visit to meet with my colleagues at work. Of course I was able to take some photos during the trip, starting with some aerial shots on the flight from Dallas to San Francisco.
This photo show where the central valley meets up with the coastal hills.
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Next up are some shots from the Monterey area including an egret taken at Elkhorn Slough, a few from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and ending with a Pacific Grove sunset.
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I borrowed a bike (a cool vintage Stumpjumper) for the duration and was able to keep up a good pace, 55 miles in 10 days. Here are some shots taken while pedaling by the southern part of the San Francisco Bay, in the Mountain View/Palo Alto area.
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The Pacific coast north of the city is always worth a few shots. Here we have a Pacific Ocean viewing area followed by Stinson Beach.
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In conclusion we turn to some night shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
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Additional photos at Flickr.
Late last summer I was contacted by Betty Nelson, director of marketing at the Lindsborg Community Hospital. It seems they were remodeling the hospital lobby and were at the point of determining how they wanted to decorate the walls.
That’s where I came in. They wanted a variety of nature and scenic shots, from the local area; I have taken quite a number of photos that qualify, and they liked what they had seen on my Flickr pages.
They wanted 15 images to use on the walls and of course I agreed to donate my work. I’m honored that my take on our local surroundings were considered appropriate for this purpose.
And I have to say that when I reviewed the set of 15 images they had chosen I could see why they were chosen. Each and every one was appropriate for a hospital waiting room. With that context in mind there are images of upheaval, change, separation, hope and more!
You can see the entire set of images at a new site I set up, Back Roads Studio. More about that in a future post.
I haven’t had a chance to work on my stamp collection for some, but today was the day!
I scanned in a set of French stamps from 1961. They were designed to promote tourism. I guess it worked in some sense as I picked them up in a Parisian stamp mart back in 2009!
I really love engraved stamps, and these colorful specimens fit the bill.
Below are my favorites from the set of 8. The entire set is visible on Flickr.
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