Dirt, Mud and Blood

Last October when Sara and I moved from San Francisco to Oakland we said the same thing everyone else does when they make that move, "We will keep going into the city."  The truth is you don't.  I miss the burritos, silly hipsters, and most of all surfing afterwork.  When we moved I told myself I would keep surfing, it's just an extra 20 minutes in the car.  But the reality is I just don't want to deal.

It's time to find a new sport.  The boys and I were doing some talking and decided to give mountain biking a try.  Paul and I headed over to a cool little bike shop in North Berkeley and started chatting with the guys there.  I knew this sport might be for me when I told one of the shop guys that I really didn't need another expensive hobby but wanted to give mountain biking a try.  He asked me what other sports I'm into and I told him surfing and skiing.  He looked me square in the eye and with a straight face said THIS is way better than both of those sports combined.  Now we're talking!  Nothing like a sport with an almost religious cult following to spark my interest.  You just don't see tennis players telling strangers a sunset session on a clay court will change your life.  But a skier, surfer and apparently mountain biker is happy to tell you you're wasting your life if you're not SHREDDING!

Anywho, the guys at the shop were great and suggested we demo two full suspension bikes for the weekend and see if we actually like it before we start making terrible financial decisions.  And like crack to a junky the weekend began.

First stop was Redwood Regional Park for a sunset session just ten minutes from home.  Once on the dusty fireroads we soon realized a lot has changed in the mountain bike game since Rock Shox Judy forks were king.  The bikes were amazing and really made you better than you actually were (This is a good time to point out Paul was on Berkeley's road bike team in college, so he's no slouch on two wheels.  Actually he is a machine).  Floating over rocks and sending it down hills it was good old fashion fun.  Saturday we did a morning session at China Camp, a great spot with some challenging terrain.  Spent the day drinking beer with the homies for Chris' birthday and decided to hit Redwood for sunset again before the bikes went back on Monday.

Monday afternoon we dropped the bikes off.  Paul and I were tired, beat up, and altogether stoked.  I think it's time to pull the trigger on one of these alien lifeforms formally known as mountain bikes.  Anybody want to buy a surfboard?  Just kidding, I'm keeping my toys.

Check this out if you haven't seen what they did to the mountain bike while you weren't looking: