Boomers on Bicycles

July 4th is just around the corner. The riding will be good, but be prepared for conditions that are more crowded. There will be riders of all abilities out there and it will good if everyone pays attention, no matter where you are riding. One of the things that make July 4th even more special this year is the Tour. Yep, the Tour de France starts on the 4th. You not only get to have a holiday ( at least I hope you do), watch fireworks and have a great time at the picnic, you’ll get to watch one of sports greatest spectacles begin. Whether you are a mountain bike or road bike rider makes no difference. The Tour, carried on channel 33 (versus) in my area, is just one heck of a great time. It has everything that most TV shows lack: suspense, drama, mystery, fantastic commentary, competition like no other, colors, politics, blood, sweat, and tears, not necessarily in that order–and, it goes on for 20 days! How can you resist? Set the alarm clock or the recording timer if you can’t watch it as it is happening, and be prepared for a great experience.

Spring

The weather around here has been cool and somewhat wet, especially up in the foothills and mountains, which is where I normally ride. This really is a great time of year to ride your bike, no matter what kind of bike it is. The weather is cool, not cold or hot, just simply very nice, and the days are longer,  so your ride is bound to be pleasant. If you ride off the paved paths you just may run into standing water on the trails, or, if you are in the mountains, snow. Some words of advice about that are important, so read on.

Spoke Junkie

An interesting article in the Tahoe Mountain News, written by Gary Bell, known as The Spoke Junkie, addresses riding in the woods at this time of year. Gary points out that, at this time of year, when hikers or mountain bike riders come across standing water or snow on the trail, there is the tendency to go around the water or snow. Maybe you don’t want to get your shoes wet or your bike wet or muddy. The problem is that by going around these areas of standing water or snow the trail gets wider, which creates more opportunity for erosion which ultimately degrades the trail. If it is a big enough patch of snow, going completely around it creates another path altogether, which, again, creates erosion problems.

Turn Around

The advice from Gary, who lives in South Lake Tahoe and owns a year round ski/bike business, is this: if it is wet enough or there is just too much snow on the trail, turn around, ride somewhere else. The trails will dry out and be free of standing water and snow soon enough. Staying off of them when they are vulnerable to being degraded will make them last longer. It seems important to me that some level of consciousness when riding goes a long way to improving the image of mountain bike riding as well. The destructo mode of riding does nothing for anybody or anything. Tearing up the forest is simply a very bad thing to do.

Thoughts

Those are my thoughts for today. Thank you to the Tahoe Mountain News, and Gary Bell, the Spoke Junkie, for triggering this post. Take a look at Bikes, Bugs and Bones, too. He always has some good advice about riding. I hope you get out and ride, wherever you are. Take advantage of the longer days. Hike, ride, kayak, swim, just get out and do it.