A Trail, A Year

It’s funny how the trail goes by. Blurring past out of focus, occasionally reaching out to us with the scrape of an overhanging branch or the splash of a small puddle. We exercise delicacy but often times we fail. We roll and we smash our way through the forest oblivious to the many insignificant details lining the trail. If it isn’t an overturned rock or a jagged stump threatening to toss us aside then it really doesn’t matter. A little bird hopping from branch to branch, the stick that fell onto the corner, the rut that nearly sent you over the bars. Those are the things I notice. The lines gone wrong and the elegant accents that make the ride a pleasure. The steep chute you didn’t think you were going to hold on through, the corner you blew off and the tree that brought you to an abrupt stop shortly thereafter. We blast past the good and the bad and the black and the white, and remember little of the in-betweens. When we reunite with friends at the bottom of the trail we celebrate. Exaggerating the points that blew our minds and made our smiles, speaking quietly of the sketchy moments and what we will do to avoid them next time. We talk of all that went by and why it was important and why we can’t wait for the next trail. Almost before the trail is through we are already looking on to the next.



The year 2010 is over now. I think its funny how that went by, comparable to a blur. I sure got scraped and splashed a few times. And I find it enjoyable to look back on all those steep rocks, the threat of the storms and the narrowly avoided disasters that continually present themselves. But I am carrying forward with reckless abandon. I am cornering hard to the right, tires tight rope walking the border between traction and explosion. Decisions, people, long windy roads. They are all behind me now. Burning in the dust that lingers along a well ridden trail. My right hand is brushing through a wet shrub as I feel the tires grab the dirt once more. The corner still bends right, but my eyes are focused further ahead. Scanning for treacherous rocks, narrow trees and nasty little nuggets that may line the trail. Looking forward with great anxiousness to the new opportunities, new adventures and whatever else the trail has in store for me. 2011 is almost here. Another year, another trail.