Emil Walcek 17Jan05 — Does anyone mind if I share thoughts on a glorious winter weekend ride day? Short days and fickle weather make the good days stand out all the more. Mountain biking happiness is a cool sunny winter weekend like this last one, mid-January, where you feel good about peeling away the layers as you ride – keeping body temp in sync with the warm sun shining on the trails. Finding the Prairie Home Companion on the radio proved the next best thing to a biking buddy to speed my first stop: Yellow River trails. I think about my progress since starting a couple of years ago, but now it’s just about the fun – and a good kind of tired.
I’ve held up well doing twice the riding I normally do. I feel grateful for RAMBO involvement, netting many returns in camaraderie, advice and trail advocacy to foster many more days like this one.
The day ends in the BC parking lot. I’m moved by a scene that could have been an update of the impressionist painter, Seurat, who carefully composed a classical park scene full of life, and captured sunlight in a million points of paint in his “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte”. The long afternoon shadows envelop a hubbub of activity, a counterpoint to the park trees and trails that catch the last brilliant rays of sunshine. Like my daffodils that think Spring has already arrived, bike folk and park visitors are everywhere – meeting and greeting. As I slowly edge my vehicle out I wish I’d brought my camera. A young gal sits back in a canvas chair with feet propped up on an open tail gate where her dog watches her read. Overweight bikers excitedly talk about lightweight gear. Hot shots hop their bikes. Tires and visitors are pumped. People get dressed to ride while others are happily toweling off. Does it get any better than this in this part of the world?
