Let's be honest ... not all mountain bikers are created equally. They all have different loves, tastes, preferences, flares, routines, and when it comes to where to ride we all have our biases and go-to trails. Again, be honest ... you have different mountain biker friends that you tap to ride with knowing what kinds of trails they love and only ride. In theory we all should ride everything, but we don't. So when you feel like a shuttle day you hit up those friends. When you're feeling spritely and pedally you message those friends. Every trail has a different purpose and attracts different kinds of riders.
This is who we are; friends, riders, family. Though many of us will never have the opportunity to ride together, we know that as we descend, every rider is with us, leaving their mark in the dirt behind us.
I like pedaling. I like climbing. I like long climbs. I even like long technical lung-busting climbs.
And then I moved to the Pacific Northwest. For years prior I was a XC singlespeed guy ... long rides through the desert, undulating terrain, and the only consistent verticality seemed to be when going up. In other words, climbing was simply part of it. That was it. End of story.
And just like that the race season is beginning to wind down. There's one more stop on the Enduro World Series tour, the World Cup is over, and slowly but surely riders are making their way back home. Some are picking up life and jobs that were in place before the craze of race season. Now? Plans are already under way for the 2017 season. New potential sponsors, saving money, off-season training and weight training, and even taking a break from riding on dirt. So what else can you do to prepare for next season?
Pft, up your coffee game of course.
We spend the winter pining for long dry summer days where we can ride late into the evening and log endless hours on the trail. Sure, we may complain about blown out trails and thick dust, but we love basking in the sun. This is especially true for those of us here in the Pacific Northwest where at times the sun seems like it is merely stuff of legends or a mythical creature like bigfoot or loch ness monster because it is almost never seen. We even use hashtags like #sunsoutgunsout as we revel in the glow of that giant orb in the sky that our planet hurtles around.
The coffee scene has gone through a lot of twists, turns, and changes over the millennia. Particularly over the last 75 years have we seen successive "waves" of changes ... from large commercial brands like Folgers and Maxwell House (first wave) to Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Peets (second wave) to now the explosion of third wave or specialty roasters with early pioneers in the mid to late 90s like Stumptown, Counter Culture, and Intelligentsia. So what is the third wave? According to Scott Rao the third wave "now typically refers to companies favoring lighter roasts and brewed-to-order coffee made by hipsters" (The Coffee Roaster's Companion, 11).
