January 22, 2024

Local:

My favorite trails are just 1 mile away from my house. I'm very lucky to have bought my house in 2005 without knowing there was a small trail network in the local hills. People had been riding dirtbikes and ATBs for years in the area as far back as the 1990's from what I gather. Now it's grown into a "scene" with over 20 miles of trails and more fresh trails being added regularly. Thanks to Strava there is also a competitive component to the area that keeps pushing performance to higher levels for the people that like to guzzle adrenaline and rip up the trails at speed. It's so nice to be able to suit up and go on a random dirt ride and hit trails you've ridden many times before but twist it up with new path directions. Instead of riding Panorama like usual go ride it backwards and enjoy the extra climbing. Take an old unused trail and make it new by re-riding it over and over and see if it works and satisfies your needs. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but you have tried and that's what really counts. Now, let's take a sharp turn and talk about the problem we'll all come up against someday...burn out.
So, you've ridden all your trails, a lot. So much so that you're burned out. Riding the same trails with the crew is losing it's fun factor. Perhaps you're in need of a reset. How do you achieve this? Pack up your bike and your gear and hit the road. Take a drive and go ride some trails you've never been on. The www has unlimited ways to find groups that ride trails you've never been to. Making new friends and learning about other people and their cycling philosophy is always refreshing. You may even find your "people" that ride the same bikes you do, and enjoy the same type of stoke riding gives you. Open your front door and go further than usual. Push past the boredom and you'll find the nuggets that made riding so much fun when you started. It's completely normal to get stuck once in a while and feel like your days are repeating without the mojo you felt in the past. This is a sign. It's smacking you in the nose. Look at your bike. It has no feelings, but it has a life, a life you've created for it so take that creation someplace new. Refresh the stoke and you'll find more than just new trails.

Enjoy the ride wherever you are!

Thanks for reading.

Peace,
Paul