I was able to sneak out for a ride last weekend. By most standards it wasn’t a major accomplishment. I didn’t win a race, set a new course record or even blaze a new trail I just went for a ride.

Starting in December of last year I’ve had a series of injuries that had largely kept me off my bike. When I had a rare, injury free window, I threw my bike on my car and drove across several bridges just to go for a ride and completely ignored all the trails I could easily access simply by riding out my front door.

Maybe I thought my local trails weren’t “special”. Maybe I thought that I wouldn’t have enough leg strength to get me up to the trailhead let alone add some more mileage on dirt. In other words I don’t know what I was thinking.

After being injured for a while I’m just happy to be able to ride.  Slowly, for the moment, painfully but hopefully not for long but riding none the less.

The value of being able to ride from your house to a trail cannot be understated. I think it gives you a relationship with the trail that driving to the trail doesn’t.

When I lived in San Francisco there were few things I liked better than riding from my apartment, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, then either hitting a Headlands or Tam ride.  The trails became “my” trails especially when I was able to do it early enough that I was almost could be assured I was the only one riding.

I’m going to be spending more time on “my” trail and I’m looking forward to getting to know it better.

Adam H