Hiking, how life changes as we get older

Most of my friends know that I have been hiking every so often the last year down the street from my home at Hellman Park in Whittier.

Hiking is all right, kind of slow and you get to enjoy the environment more closely. It is a great low impact workout.

But I do miss mountain biking. Growing up in the desert during my adolescent years, I have been bicycling since I was a young child. First, BMX, as most of my friends since living in the desert you can do some crazy challenges like making 20 foot jumps, table-tops, burns and such. A few of my friends were pretty good at BMX, but they were some crazy white boys. A couple of them built their own personal racing tracks on their property. lol. It must be in their blood to do the extreme.

When you become a teenager, BMXing is not cool unless you compete. As much as I enjoyed it, I gave it up since I was getting too big for a small bike. At that time, there were no bikes such as a BMX for bigger kids unless you rode a motorcycle. I never liked motocross dirt bikes since they scared the crap out of me. The motorcycle didn’t scare me, I scared myself. Many of my friends were into motocross and they did some insane stuff on them. My friend, David loved riding dirt bikes. I wonder if he still does with his family in South Dakota.

Fortunately for me, mountain bikes were starting to come on to the scene. I bought one around 1988, a white Univega. Although it did not have any suspension what so ever, it was awesome. I would go into the mountains or desert trek through with friends, making a day out of it. I loved speeding down a mountain, the thrill of it. I was such an adrenaline junkie back then.

My favorite ride, with my friends, was going up State Route 173 which is the back way into Arrowhead Lake. We then rode back down the mountain. 173 is the only state highway in California that has a dirt road on it. The dirt portion went for more than 10 miles along the mountain. The ride down the mountain was awesome and we had no suspension.

One time, we went up this mountain trail on the northern backside of Silverwood Lake right off 173, it was steep trail. We were going fast down it and then I hit this huge rock that donuted my rim. I flipped over my bike and rolled down the mountain for a bit. It was thrilling, but I was bit wild and somewhat foolish in my youth. I was alright more or less no major injuries, just some road rash. I now had a problem; I didn’t want to trek down the mountain trail lugging my bike as my friends rode down. I ended up tweaking my rim as straight as I could, removed the front brakes and rode down the mountain. It was pretty funny and I had to buy new rims which gave me a reason to upgrade.

One of the coolest and longest rides I did, I was by myself. At the time, I was upset and confused for whatever reason (adolescent angst), so I decided to go into the desert as far as I could by myself on my bike. If you ever drove on the Interstate 15 on your way to Las Vegas, you pass Victorville. In between Victorville & Barstow on the 15 freeway is 30 miles of desert. I rode on Interstate 15 for a while and got off at bell mountain road exit and then rode west into the desert. I rode about 3 or more hours into the desert to the top of this large hill (mountain?) in the middle of nowhere. It was serene and it was hot!

All I had was shorts, t-shirt, helmet, some power bars and two water bottles. It was so hot, and I was pretty far in the desert. Back then I used to tan a lot so I rode without a shirt for a while. A few times as I was coasting down a slope quietly on the sand; I would sneak up on some wildlife such as rabbits on the trail. I remember it was so quiet that I could hear my heart beating at times.

After many hours of riding in the middle of the desert, I finally reached an old highway on the other side on old highway 66, now called National Trails Highway. I then headed south towards home. It took me all day.

I got home at dusk, burnt out and tired. I wasn’t upset anymore as a matter of fact, I do not even remember why I was so mad I decided to go on such a ride into the desert.

I have many other memories of my mountain biking adventures throughout the years. Unfortunately, when I crushed my wrist when the car fell on me several years ago my riding has never been the same. If you haven’t heard about my Acura falling on me while I was changing the oil underneath; that’s another story. Although I don’t ride hardcore as I used to do in my youth; my wrist was still weak and it was painful when I rode on simple dirt trails even on full suspension.

I gave up my mountain bike about two years ago. I do I miss it though. As I am getting older, I miss not being able to ride as I used to do by creating that adrenaline rush of freedom by pushing myself to the edge of my abilities. I must have mountain biked for at least 15 years, that’s a long time.

Hiking is okay. I remember when I used to bike on a trail and pass a hiker, I would think to myself, “why would anyone want to hike?” Now I am hiking, the irony of it.

I might invest in another mountain bike just to do some light trail riding since it has been a while since my accident and my wrist does not hurt as much anymore. I do not believe that I can truly bike on a mountain trail as I have done in the past. I will miss it and cherish my memories of my rides with my friends. It was a great life experience for me that lasted many years.

That is my random thought for the day. I haven’t thought about riding in a long time and it was brought up in conversation. For some reason, I was thinking about it as I was hiking by my home this weekend.

Life changes, we adapt and keep moving forward, enjoying the memories.

PEACE.