Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Trail Boss

Are you riding the same old loops, tired of the boring regular trails. Why not challenge yourself and your riding buddies to be "trail boss" for a day.

It's very interesting how we tend to default to our regular rides and our regular routes. I have seen this over a couple decades of riding in different areas and it was one of the reasons I began racing. Racing takes you out to  new zones, something in itself different, then you are put on a track likely to have never been seen before and with any luck showcasing the areas finest.

Mike Traslin, Wade Simons and Dre Hestler

But riding at home in the months or weeks between races can become monotonous, either because we are alone or with the same group. Usually the guy at the front is dictating the direction, it's hard to back seat drive while aerobically suffering and gasping for every breath.

In this case some preamble to starting the ride or posing the switch to your group can drastically change things and give some much needed variety.

I have taken some time over the last few years on my solo rides to explore every nook and cranny of my backyard. It gives me great pleasure when I take out other locals and am rewarded with responses like "I never knew that was there" or "I didn't know you could ride that trail that way". This gives me incentive to continue thinking about my zone in a different way.
Steve Mitchel and Paul Kalish

My crew has been kicking around an idea for the last few months about a daily designated 'Trail Boss". On any given weekend we will pass the conch over and there will be a new man of the hour, or hours depending on how long your ride is. They will have prepared and given thought to a route that is different and exciting. If the parameters are opened and a bit of hiking can be included - then even more terrain will become available and an adventure is sure to unfold.

Don't forget to take your GPS and record the route for posterity and future missions, sometimes re-finding someone else's route can be a daunting task and we don't want anyone lost in the woods.

Riding the backyard can be fun again but we have to turn it upside down sometimes to appreciate how others see it.

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