Trails

Ricey and I went for a couple of hours mountain bike ride in Tathra on the weekend. In over 2 hours of riding single track we probably spent about 500 metres on the same track as we linked as many different sections as we could. It was a fantastic ride.

I remember glancing back down the hill on the way up 'Kingy's Klimb' and seeing the trail weave around the contours of the hill, as the 'Bridges' trail backed on to it on the way down, and I couldn't help but being incredibly impressed with the skill and handwork that goes into the creation of a trail network.

Being fortunate enough to have ridden quite a few trails throughout Australia, one of the real pleasures is to experience the personalities of the builders coming through the trail. Each trail tells a different story, of a builder (or builders) and their relationship with the terrain. Sometimes it's a conflict, with the trail trying to do something the land doesn't want it to do, but often it is more a love story, with the builder bringing out the best of the terrain. Either way, it's always in the adventure section.

So you can ride sweet flowing lines through forest, or over rocky, dry outcrops. Along the edge of rivers or through towering gums. Some are man made feature after feature. Others rely on what's there to provide the challenge. But as Ricey says, there's never a bad ride.

I wrote a post of thanks to the doers, to the makers.

It was inspired by the trails on the weekend.