ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

There is a folder on my computer titled PICTURES. Currently, it contains (as of this writing) 1,919 sub folders which house (again...as of this writing) a total of 41,307 photographs...the oldest of which are some old family photos that I'd inherited from my mother.  Heck...just in the sub folder named 2018 there are 6,049 pictures! I love pictures and the memories that they contain.  Cell phones and muliple gig memory cards have made capturing memories easier than it has ever been.  Every once in a while, I'll manage to take a picture that really resonates with me. Not that I think that any of my photos are worthy of winning any photo contest...but because, by blind luck, I managed to do justice to what I was actually seeing, and feeling, in that moment as I pulled out the cell phone to capture the beauty surrounding me.  So...out of the over 6,000 pictures I took this past year...I think I found the twenty best from the past twelve months. Only one of the pics fea...

We all need "me time," but nothing pulls me out of a seasonal depression funk better than time with family and friends.  I think about this a lot this time of year when...as the sun sets earlier and the temps hover around the freezing point... the amount of time that I spend outdoors and the frequency that I am able to get together with friends to soak in some Vitamin N drastically decreases.  A little GROUP THERAPY can go a long way...it doesn't matter if it's a hike in the woods with my family or hitting the trails with the guys in my mountain biking circle...togetherness feels amazing.  So yeah...nothing seems better for my mind and body than doing things that I love, in places that I love, with people that I love (yes...that includes you too, Glenn).  So, here are  (in no particular order)  some pics of recent group therapy spanning the past two years.  Enjoy! Taken after we had just finished riding Grave Ridge Trail in Michaux State Forest ...

Last Friday's ride weighed heavily on me all week long.  Physically, it took me more than a couple of days to bounce back from bouncing off of the unforgiving ground that makes up Rocky Ridge County Park.  Mentally, I fell into that "mountain biking funk" where I knew that all I had to do was get out on my bike and have a good ride...but my body, my schedule and the weather weren't being cooperative.  Truth be told, I wasn't even planning on riding on Friday until some already established plans fell part early in the afternoon...allowing me a small window of time to get out on my bike and rebound from last week. My Stumpjumer on the ridge above Lake Williams. -- October 26, 2018 I opted for a ride around  Lake Williams over, what would have been, my fifth consecutive mountain bike ride at Rocky Ridge .  Besides, after last week, I figured a change of scenery (and terrain) would be a good thing.  Fall has finally arrived in south central Pennsylv...

Recently, an article I was reading in a cycling magazine grabbed my attention.  It was all about the "why?"  Why do you ride your bike?  I read on as people from all over the country chimed in and shared their own personal "why."  It really got me thinking about all the reasons why I ride.  Narrowing it down to one thing...one overriding reason as to WHY I love to ride my bike...has proven difficult.  Some reasons why, like overall health, have been a constant and others, like training for races, have ceased to be important to me. Enjoying the view at the top of Baughman Trail from Baughman Rock Overlook in Ohiopyle State Park . -- June 13, 2017 I have this internal desire to ride my bike all of the time.  My brain is always trying to find a time slot in the day for me to turn the pedals.  Just this morning, prior to coming to school, I was in the rain putting my bike in the back of my truck, with the optimistic feeling that the weathe...