Early Morning Rides

What a fantastic summer it has been.  Early morning road rides, walks by the river and mud in the face from wet mountain bike rides make me happy.  I am in LOVE with summer.  I love the smells, and the open air that this majestic land offers.  I don't want one day to go by without appreciating it's amazing beauty.   I wish you were here to see how absolutely beautiful it is.  I wish I could also experience your morning rides.  The mountains in your neck of the woods.  The smells from your green pastures.  

This week I met up with some old friends and one new friend.  We headed out to the mountains for a morning ride.  The air was clean from the rain storm that rolled in the previous night.  My tires were pumped to maximum capacity and we were ready to roll.  

I have been hearing some pretty amazing BEAR stories from the Fish and Game.  BEWARE OF BEARS!!  BEWARE OF BEARS!!  It just so happens that we were riding the trial that the grizzly was spotted on a week before.  Usually these things don't really sketch me out much, but this morning I was feeling a little uneasy.  Kelly was there with her camera to do a little filming.  As she waved goodbye from the top of the mountain we headed toward the last opening until the final downhill.  I stopped for a moment to see something pretty glorious.  It was a valley with hundreds of trees.  These trees had all been scrapped by some kind of animal.  Alright, so I almost pooped my chamois.  It kind of freaked me out.  I wish more than anything I had taken my camera to document this amazing find.  After pulling myself together and singing several songs LOUDLY we headed for the single track downhill.  

It was freakin awesome.  I was super stoked to not have been eaten by a grizzly.  We had a great time, with great friends.  So try getting out this week to your favorite mountain trail.  It's worth waking up to.