Dreaming a Moon

5 black cherry Shot Bloks juiced me enough this morning to sustain me for a couple of hours on the snowmobile trails. What's that?... It was last night? Nope, it was just dark as in pre-coffee, pre-sunrise, pre-throne early morning dark.
I woke from dreaming at 3:46 am and stumbled downstairs to turn off the deluxe virgin mega-aggro dehydrator. The smoked salmon "squaw candy" came out well done - a little too done after my 1:00 am alarm failed to wake me or failed to go off... or maybe I should have set it to go on(!?)... depending if your are in the northern or southern hemispheres it will go off or on in the pm or am... no wait... that's water spinning one direction or the other when flushing... I mean their summer is our winter... well at least it is summer somewhere. Then I went back to bed. Warm, cozy, fluffy, ahhhhh...
I drifted in and out of semi-consciousness, dreaming of riding on snowmobile trails and asking myself if I wanted to go ride - right NOW. By 4:30, the answer was plain and I was up and dressing to thwart the 14 degree air temperature under a full moon. 4:45am and I'm on the winter bike- the Jamis Diablo LE. ( LE is Taiwanese and translates to "wicked good man". Really.) She's been running since '98 and gets the job done like the red devil she is.
The trails have finally set up after two days above freezing for the first time this winter. I couldn't resist them with snow and rain in the forecast and another spin session scheduled for this evening. I can't wait to hear AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" for the 27th time this winter. Oh boy, I'm getting excited just thinkin' 'bout it. It's February and I haven't been able to go out on the snomobile trails even once since they've just been too darn sugary and unsupportive of my riding, the bitches.
After a 2 mile road ride, I turned on the headlamp and entered the the forbidden zone, the land of snomos. Sunday's road ride showed me things would be good on the trails on Monday and Tuesday mornings and did they come through? Yabetcha.
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch ... the refrozen snow talks secret code, telling downtrail snow what's coming, until I stop.... for the moon, the big fuzzy full moon... bright, dazzling, shadowing each tree upon the trail, etching its light across the frozen river flowing unseen. I turn off the lights and ride, letting the front wheel drift in and out of machine tread and ski marks. I am invisible, part of the woods under the moonlight. All the woods know I am there to be with them, in them, part of them, as each pedal stroke eases me along, calmly, heart pounding, eyes adjusted, in heaven.
Booties and a pair of Craft wool socks work well, but after and hour and a half, brrrr, me toes is code! I turn back, reluctant, full of joy. I've been there. On a cold winter morn, I tapped into the vibe for a couple of hours. It fills me and today, I'm one lucky rider, or just a foolish smiling old man with a bike. Certifiable.

McFunk

OK here goes... The chimney of Marlboro madness that is Captain High Pressure, called last Friday expousing hope. Hope in the form of trails, new trails for us, on the cape. "Nickaaaasun...ever heard of it?" with his New England harsh accent, "somewhaya out on the cape." I went to Jon Peterson's Bike Rag site... nuthin'. I went to Nemba and found a little something - 8 miles of trails, then onto mtbr.com and found oh... 30 miles of trails!
That led to a smoke filled mini van ride from the coast to the cape... where our hopes came true, but only after a false start. We arrived and found a bike path, and more bike path, paved, sterile, a slittle coating of snow and icy in the shade.... the Capt'n becoming grumbly and onery like he does. Then we found the goods: shoreline tight and swoopiness around the kettle ponds that are there, joined by woodland up and downs over the old dunes on 18" wide singletrack and only a few icy patches, one which ate the Capt'n...tee hee, HAR HAR HAR! He's always the one to lay on the laughs at the other guys expense so HAR HAR HAR! After 2.5 hours wee were spent and barely aware of the overall layout of the west side of the park. Sunday we took in the east side and began to see how it all fits together. There's a few features, but mainly just ever changing swoops. Nice, warming, dirty, sunny, swoops.
Go check it out and you'll be surpirsed why the pace isn't talked of more. Pure, buff, non-eroded trails. Ahhhhhh.... which doesn't explain my ice dam dripping ceiling angst and general malaise about slow work, the economy and aw just shoot me or put me on a bike. I'm ready for the healing.