ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Mark has this saying.  Actually, it's a line form an obscure John Mellencamp song... "When it's too tough for everyone else...it's just right for us."  It's a mantra that encapsulates a certain kind of mountain biking that he and I both love.  It's the kind of mountain biking that has no real destination.  It's the ride that possibly requires a GPS, a map, or at the very least...cell reception.  This particular kind of mountain biking demands that there be no real time constraints.  Inevitably, on this ride there will be a ton of backtracking, a climbing to mileage ration that is completely obnoxious, and yes...it will include the infamous " hike-a-bike ."  The final component of this ride is a friend who knows more about mountain biking than I do and can navigate his way out of just about anything.  A friend who finds craziness just a fun as I do. Mark Lentz and David Raymond exploring parts of Michaux State Forest that were not famili...

I have this nice little memory of my mother that is uniquely mine.  I don't have any pics of it...just the memory.  I really don't remember the year or exactly how old I was (but I can guess I was around seven or eight years old).  The memory is of my mom waking me up early in the morning so we could take a bike ride together. My mom, Kathy Raymond.  This pic was taken in Ohiopyle State Park . -- November 1980 My mom, if my memory serves me correctly, rode a super cool 5-speed bike that she and my dad got at the JCPenney's in Altoona, PA.  No gears for me...my first real bike was old school...a single speed with a sparkly blue paint job and a banana seat!  I have no clue how many times mom and I got up early to do this and why my brother and my dad weren't involved...but I know she and I did this more than once.  Here, however, is what I do remember...vividly.  I remember riding down South Juliana Street with the cool morning mist hitting ...