The Forest

It's 600,000 plus acres and it's right in our back yard.  Yes, it's a little sandy in spots, and a little wet in other spots.  But it's a FOREST!  Don't we ride bicycles made to be ridden in FORESTS?  Do we have to ride only in the manicured and easily navigated parks, dodging inattentive runners and piles of dog crap?

Somebody else has been riding down there (in the FOREST), I've seen the tracks.  But we spent 3.5 hours riding in the FOREST last weekend and never saw another human.  I know it's not buff single track and it requires you spend a lot of time on two track and graded roads.  Plus the sand makes pedaling hard.  Oh, and don't forget those horrible bushes that scrape your legs.  But the possibilities for adventure are endless.

If you know me, right about now you're saying "Old Man, you're so full of crap, you love machine built trails, and you whine constantly if you have to get off your bike for anything technical".  That's true and it may be because I spent so much time in the FOREST in my past incarnation as a moto head, but I feel comfortable there.

On second thought, I don't want you riding in the FOREST.  Too many people is what ruined it for moto and the same thing may happen again.  I like the fact that it's hard to find your way around, heck that's part of the challenge.  If everybody starts riding in the FOREST then the Feds will decide we're having too much fun and corral us back onto the spoon fed trails of Munson.

Ah, Munson.  I liked the old Munson, but I also like the new one.  Even though an orange ribbon of clay running through a sandy wiregrass upland assaults my sense of aesthetics, it is fun.  But it's not the real FOREST.  Someone even thought the trees were too close together on a section of Munson so they took it upon themselves to girdle them so they would die. 

So, yea, come to think of it, never mind about riding in the FOREST.  It's not at all fun, in fact it sucks pretty bad.  You wouldn't like it.

I know none of the 5 people who read this blog would ever girdle trees, I'm just ranting for fun.  Silk, I was just kidding about the bushes.   YOU like the FOREST.