The other 99%
As classic “romantic vacations” go, it wasn’t exactly textbook: Spend two days driving from the Bay Area, northward and brewery-hopping along the coast to Eureka, where we’d spend the night before driving the remainder of the distance to Mt Hood, Oregon for a singletrack adventure with the great folks from Western Spirit (seriously, these guys rule). Ride bikes and camp for 5 days in the wilderness of Hood River, and then spend two days driving home to revisit our new favorite brewery (Rogue!), as well as some others we missed. The romance wasn’t out of Harlequin, but the details made the trip more memorable and more exhilarating than any beachfront all-inclusive could ever approach. Many photos can be found here.
Rogue Brewery, Newport CA
But along the way, I was reminded of a few things, and they’re worth writing down. So lets assume for a second that for each mountain biker who falls into any of the racer categories (XC speed freak, Downhiller, 4x airstylist, etc) that there are probably 99 other people who just happen to own a decent mountain bike (ie came from a bike shop, probably cost more than $1000 when it was new). This Oregon trip was ‘that kind of ride’: one that introduces you to people who also enjoy mountain bikes, but aren’t the same people you always ride with, including all the campfires, breakfasts, and beer stealing that get included with it. Our vacation provided a fantastic view into what the sport of mountain biking actually is, at it’s core, to the people who actually do it: it’s fun. One level deeper was the (re)realization that this is exactly how most people see the sport, without any of the gadget-lusted, timed-event, number-plated galavanting that ends up in magazines and on websites.
Our guide Josh, flyin' on his singlespeed
In many ways, this was similar to the Death Ride I blogged about earlier this summer. The actual people that were out on this trip were normal, real, and basically super nice people. They are exactly the kind of people I’d expect, if I was to stop to think about who’d want to spend a week camping and riding trails in Oregon. But that’s the part that I forget to do sometimes, and it’s a good reminder: if you spend all your time thinking about bikes in a certain way, then it’s easy to assume that the entire spectrum matches that thinking, or at least understands your point of view. But it seems like it rarely does match, in bikes or anything else. And sometimes, they just don’t have a clue what you’re even talking about.
Fun takes many, many forms. It’s often too easy to assume that everyone plays with a toy in the exact same way you do. Ask any 6-year old who’s been given a large cardboard box, they’ll tell you. Or more likely, they’ll show you.
Our Guides, Josh and Mary
Thanks for the awesome trip guys.