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We have rode together on a three easy rides and he wanted to try something "a little harder". So we enter El Moro/Crystal Cove State Park, (Laguna Beach) and are on the fireroad in the bottom of the canyon, round a bend and there is a small mountain lion staring at as...maybe 50 feet away. It is small and nonchalantly meanders off into the bushes and down into the creek. Ok "that was cool", my friend is wondering "were its mother is" . After some coaching we continue on our ride.
Many of the trails/roads in So-cal are just.. different since the rain. Well I am OK get bushwhacked and the singletracks are very over grown, in places you cannot see the dirt though the bushes and grass. So I am ahead of him going through the brush and I hear bees at the same time I am getting stung. I am feeling numerous stings on my ears, arms and back but pedal quickly 20-30 feet down the trail and jump into the bushes, the ones without poison oak. My friend yells "BEES" and I respond "I KNOW...KEEP PEDALING"! he stops and gets off his bike and starts removing helmet, gloves, glasses and jersey while running around out in the open trail. I am remaining still in the bushes listening and watching the show. Good thing they were honeybees and not wasps or hornets. I got stung maybe a dozen times, but I must have removed over fifty stingers from him. Now he is not having fun, saying he has not been strung since he was five years old and maybe allergic. So we regroup, I let the bees calmed down and go back to retrieve his bike and stuff that litters the trail and bushes for 100 feet, no headaches, no major swelling so we continue out of the park.
I wonder why he did not ask when are we riding next. For me it was the best ride I have had in a long while, albeit somewhat at his expense.
My Biking Credo: If you are not lost or getting bushwhacked...maybe the trail is too easy.
Maybe that is why I ride alone so much.
Many of the trails/roads in So-cal are just.. different since the rain. Well I am OK get bushwhacked and the singletracks are very over grown, in places you cannot see the dirt though the bushes and grass. So I am ahead of him going through the brush and I hear bees at the same time I am getting stung. I am feeling numerous stings on my ears, arms and back but pedal quickly 20-30 feet down the trail and jump into the bushes, the ones without poison oak. My friend yells "BEES" and I respond "I KNOW...KEEP PEDALING"! he stops and gets off his bike and starts removing helmet, gloves, glasses and jersey while running around out in the open trail. I am remaining still in the bushes listening and watching the show. Good thing they were honeybees and not wasps or hornets. I got stung maybe a dozen times, but I must have removed over fifty stingers from him. Now he is not having fun, saying he has not been strung since he was five years old and maybe allergic. So we regroup, I let the bees calmed down and go back to retrieve his bike and stuff that litters the trail and bushes for 100 feet, no headaches, no major swelling so we continue out of the park.
I wonder why he did not ask when are we riding next. For me it was the best ride I have had in a long while, albeit somewhat at his expense.
My Biking Credo: If you are not lost or getting bushwhacked...maybe the trail is too easy.
Maybe that is why I ride alone so much.
