For the past few days, our temps here in Minneapolis have hovered around 50. I’m contemplating my annual spring trip south to the desert. The Sweetie and I walked into the LBS last weekend, blinking and peering at all the sparklies hanging from the ceiling. And now Fat Lad has called me out.
It’s all converging, forcing me out of mourning.
I suppose.
I have to think bicycling.
There are more important and timely issues to contemplate than the passing of the snow, specifically:
What's your favourite bit of trail? Not ride, but your one, two or three hundred yard stretch of dirtly nirvana that you would put into every ride if you could.My favourite bit of trail...
it’s that one section where equipment and weather and fitness and challenge are all in agreement...
the spot on the edge of the woods that explodes into the prairie-covered meadow...
it’s the place where buddies converge after the ride to drink a beer around the fire barrel...
you know that mud pit that stops you dead in your tracks? and you have to put your foot down? it's that part...
it’s that two hundred yard stretch that’s far enough away from the work week that, when I look behind me, I can’t see my way back...
it’s the theatre of bullshit, the passage to agony, the challenge for the soul, and the playground of the enchanted...
it’s just around the curve from inspiration
in the vicinity of grace.
- ob
5 comments:
I have a couple...
Rosie's field "Chequamegon". It's a magical place.
The trail to Pincushion Mtn. ski trails. "The Sawtooth Challenge" 800+ ft. of elevation gain in less than a mile, if you start in downtown Grand Marais. It's a lung buster : )
Fire Tower Hill at Chequamegon. Rocks, ruts, and absolute insanity if you hit it in the midst of a large pack of riders. Not for the faint of heart.
Poetic Perspective indeed!
"...around the curve from inspiration, in the vicinity of grace" - TOB, you have a way with words, oh my yes you do.
My favourite trial is the one that challenges me and shoots a new me out the other end.
Ummm ..."it’s the theatre of bullshit, the passage to agony, the challenge for the soul, and the playground of the enchanted..." ummm; oh yeah. That place. It must be spring everywhere.
He asked the right person for the poetic perspective for sure. Glad you guys are unthawing after a long hard winter.
Fantastic, an awesome bit of prose to come back down from the Scottish Highlands to
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