In order to get some frustrations out, I decided to push out to Kinder Farms, where I met Mike, a coworker. Mike is as serious of a biker as they come. He doesn't own a road bike, but has a few commuters and then his pride and joy, his Specialized full suspension mountain bike. This guy is absolutely insane.... rides to work every single day. Lightning, snow, sleet, hell, he rode home through a god damned hurricane. And every weekend he tears up Patapsco State Park, a rather highly technical path around here.
Anyways... we met at the entrance to Kinder Farms on East/West. He had told me stories about Kinder Farms, and I have to admit, I didn't believe him. I had rode through there enough time to know all the paths... and nothing he ever said held much weight with what I knew.
So... let me tell you... this man is not a liar. He took me along paths I was familiar with and then out of nowhere he starts cutting through these hairpin turns along single tracks that were completely overgrown and covered with briars. During a water break he said, "Now up here ahead there was something I wanted to check out. I saw a deer do it, so hell, I figure so can I!"
And then he took off through brambles and down a path that Crocodile Dundee couldn't navigate.
I turned around and high-tailed it around to where I thought he would come out. And there he was, plowing through tree limbs and underbrush only to come flying out the other side completely covered in mud and leaves.
Needless to say, he showed me just about everything Kinder Farms has to offer. We did about 6 miles while inside the park... through fields, streams, a small water reservoir, over hills, around a cemetery, through a pig pen.
Here is Mike with his bike.
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| From Biking the Bay |
Oh... and I know a lot of the people that follow this blog are riding to lose weight (along with enjoying biking). Mike has lost a ton of weight in the last year. He doesn't keep track of anything (miles, speed, weight), but here he is at last year's Bike to Work event.
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| From BiketoWork2009 |
Damn awesome if you ask me!
12.93 miles today... and probably the last time I'll be on my bike during the work week.
Give the guy a huge well done from me mate, those before and after pics are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteYou should have chased him into the woods... ;-)
Mike was hiding behind that big guy yes? heh heh. Have to say he looks a lot younger now too.
ReplyDeleteI just get impressed whenever I see a MTBer using clip ins. Its like they think "hey its not dangerous enough so I'll fix my feet to the pedals".