What is it about flowing along a trail that captures ever single mountain biker’s imagination so?  Some of us may seek out big jumps.  Some of us may work to keep our tires on the ground at all times.  Some may go slower and some may go faster, some may prefer to fly down and walk up the hills with their soft, cushy, geared downhill bikes.  Some may prefer the reverse on their masochistic cyclocross machines.  Either way, or anywhere in the middle, where most of us find ourselves, all mountain bicyclists can unite under the simple pleasure of following a brown ribbon along, for no reason other than to follow it.

Though I have no inclination to change these personal predilections, and I in fact desire to spread them amongst the men and women I interact with, hence this site and organization. However, I do occasionally wonder why the simple act of riding a bicycle on a trail captures our mind body and imagination so.

Is it the pleasant hypnosis of simple, complete focus? The zen like state of being free of desire? I felt the same sort of thing back when I was surfing regularly. And indeed, most people passionate about one sport or hobby will often refer to this mindless state achieved when practicing their craft.  Most of our lives, we are thinking about what we’ll do tomorrow, what we should have done yesterday, what we can’t do today.  That over-evolved brain just firing, firing, firing away, keeping us in a manageable state of panic, stress, bliss and bewilderment.  But put a mountain biker’s brain on some loamy lines through the forest, and you’ll hear a sound as quiet as the forest after fresh snowfall.  (Hopefully our mountain biker has left for home by that point)

Is the mountain biker’s joy found in the experience of physics acting upon the body? The same thrills that cause families to pay 80 dollars a head to line up in queue for hours in blistering summer heat for a chance to ride a few amusement park rides that lasts perhaps a couple minutes at most? I do know that ever since I started mountain biking for three, four, or five hours at a time, that I haven’t had much desire to go to six flags or knotts berry farm.  Perhaps that’ s a sign of maturity, but those that know most facets of my personality, know that maturity probably doesn’t enter into the equasion.

But there is something to the speed and velocity, the feeling of weighting and unweighting one’s body over subtle undulations of the earth.  That is, perhaps the thing that separates rabid mountain bikers from rabid trail runners.  Both enjoy the runner’s high, both enjoy the satisfaction gained from a hill or mountain surmounted, and both enjoy the quiet solace that comes from spending time in nature’s cathedral.

But the runner does not know the freedom that comes from floating upon wheels. The thrill of flight.  That unfettered feeling of wind in your face as your bicycle, silent and swift delivers you down copper canyons and through lush green groves.   To me, its always been that.  That flight.  As I child I dreamed of being a superhero who could fly.  After all, did not superman capture the worlds imagination by his cape and flight? Him and so many others legends of gods and heroes speaks to the human desire for flight.  The Wright brothers were cyclists and bicycle mechanics far before they were pilots and inventors.  From bicycles to flight, It was a natural transition.

Bicycles may limit our flight to only a few inches (or feet, given a jump or drop) above the ground, but it is flight nonetheless.  And on smooth, hypnotic brown ribbons, that flight is about as angelic and ethereal as it gets.

Go out, grab your bicycles, and find your space to fly.  Get away from that urban jungle, where the only green things are bilboards for ‘green’ cars, ‘green’ soap, and ‘green’ consumer electronics.  Go play under the green canopy of sutro.  Or amongst the green grass of McLaren or Golden Gate Park. Feel your wings strech out steadily as you push through the turns, and let yourself be hypnotized by those brown ribbons coursing through our beautiful outdoor spaces.

Just remember to be courteous to other users you encounter on your adventure, and be mindful of the natural beauty that surrounds your experience.