Sunday Morning Single Track Sermon

After a Saturday of cold misty rain, this morning brought cool and breezy conditions. The rain of yesterday wasn't even enough to penetrate the tree canopy and moisten the trail. We are definitely in dire need of some precipitation and hopefully it will arrive soon. The small amount of moisture we did get was enough to somewhat diminish the dusty conditions.

Years ago I showed up at church one Sunday morning only to be greeted by the pastor who asked where I had been. My response was..."Well, Pastor Rick, people such as yourself and others choose to worship in the Lord's house. Me, on the other hand, I choose to worship in his backyard." Pastor Rick looked at me with a wry smile and said, "You know Vito (he actually called me Bill), I really like that perspective.

So, this Sunday we gathered at our place of worship, Elm Creek Park Reserve, for a morning of worship and fun on the trails. Last weeks sermon was on "eating dust" on the trail to glory. This weeks sermon was much simpler..."have fun". Pictured above is the congregation. L to R is Kenny "The Cook", Crazy Bob, and Dale "The Irishman". Missing from the photo is our "Knight in White Tights" Matt. Apparently he had a brunch date with his family to celebrate both he and his son's birthdays. I always thought that brunch was a post worship ritual. As if you burn a lot of calories sitting in a church pew.

"The Knight in White Tights"

Our place of worship..."The Church" It's one of those open congregations where anyone is welcome despite your beliefs...single speed, geared, 29er, 26er, skinny or fat, hardtail, front suspension, full suspension, or rigid, and even guys wearing white tights.

"Good Juju or Bad Juju"

I'm not really sure what this has to do with anything. Possibly to give good karma and positive vibes to those venturing down Bill's Thrill Hill. Or maybe it is there to ward off evil spirits. Imagine your lights illuminating this on your first night ride through the church. Kind of creepy:)

A rather nice and peaceful place to worship if I do say so myself.

Keep the wheels turning...

Golden

Elm Creek Park Reserve is our little gem. What a wonderful place to ride!!

 

Nocturnal...

 

It is, once again, that time of year...The daylight hours are getting shorter which means if you want to ride you will be riding in the dark. The nocturnal time of year is upon us and the lights are charged and ready to emit those lumens to light the trail ahead of us.

 

This past Wednesday the daytime temps hovered around 80 degrees and the evening temps took their time dropping after sunset. This provided us with the perfect opportunity to get out and hit the dusty local single track. 

We really are in desperate need of some precipitation.

Two years ago we would have been some of the few people who ventured into this forest at night. On many nights I would be the only one out riding the horse trails. With the new single track trail gaining notoriety the trailhead parking lot was full after sunset. This really is an amazing time of year and riding the single track at night is an amazing experience. No matter how well you know the trail, at night it is different. It's almost as if you have to relearn it because now you are seeing it in a different light, so to speak.

It's fun to see riders coursing through the woods. Their lights gracefully moving in and out from between trees and the shadows they cast doing an eerie dance across the forest floor. I think we are all looking forward to more of this in the coming weeks before winter settles in, the snow falls, and the fat bikes come out to play. Although some of us with fat bikes will not wait for the snow to fall.

As I right this the temperature outside is 23(F). It's time for the Sunday morning ride and time to break out the merino wool:)

Happy Trails!!

An Autumn Weekend in the Park

What a phenomenal weekend for riding. The weather has been absolutely perfect, but we sure could use some rain.....a lot of rain.

 

I spent several ours Saturday afternoon on the Cross-Check exploring the park and just enjoying the weather.

 

The new Surly Cross-Check has rapidly become one of my favorite bikes to ride.

 

Sunday found the amigos and myself riding the single track. Once again the weather was perfect and the scenery was fantastic.

There is some serious bike talk taking place here.

Keep the wheels turning....