Back to my roots

The first place I rode a mountain bike was Golden Ears park up on the Mike Lake fire road access and the trails that linked up the switchbacks. It was when bikes were fully rigid with cantilever brakes and under the BB U-brakes (around '91).

For the first time in many years I ventured up there to the Look-Out and a little beyond. At the parking area I ran into another rider that I had not seen for quite some time (Jamie Blog). We chatted for a bit and then took different routes to get up to the top: he pushed and I pedaled.

I made my way up familiar trails and logging roads to the top and turned around when I hit snow. It was a little over an hour to pedal up to the snow and then about 20 minutes down. The trails are a lot easier now on my Rune than when I rode a rigid bike in the past. There was one trail that had several larger blow downs on it that need clearing. I may just sneak up there one day with the proper tools to do a little maintenance on these nearly forgotten classics.


It's cool every now an then to ride the trails of yesteryear to see how far your riding and building practices have come.