Featured Stories continued 

Why I Love Mountain Biking

An Essay by Grant "I am too stupid to get the hint" Curtis

Today I realized again just why I love this sport so. Today, by riding my bicycle, I made a difference in the world. Yes, if more of us rode with me we could change this big blue marble as we know it very rapidly.

Today I spurred the economy. I went to see my friends at The Path Bike Shop, the greatest bike shop in the world, to replace the gloves my dog ate and the water bladder I haven't cleaned that is now is supporting a mini ecosystem and to buy a power/gu thingy.

Then I went on a ride.

After the ride I went back to see my friends at The Path Bike Shop, the greatest bike shop in the world, to replace the parts on my bike I have broken since my ride mere moments before and the brand new gloves I have just ripped to all hell.

Yes, I love mountain biking. Because of mountain biking today I helped the economy and helped grow a new ecosystem.

Today I bled. Not enough to make anyone other than me faint but enough to help the environment with more biodegradable material for the soil. Not only did I bleed, but I also used my great skill to eliminate some of the overgrown brush on this particular trail while on my way to bleeding and could now consider my time "volunteer hours" as I did trail work.

So today I helped the economy, grew a new ecosystem, helped the environment and volunteered.

Today I made a friend because of mountain biking. As I was at the bottom of this particularly nasty trail that I have just done volunteer work to, fixing my bike so that I can get it to the car and my car to The Path Bike Shop, the greatest bike shop in the world, so I can further help the economy, a person who had never ridden the area came up and asked directions to trails. In fact, by the looks of my new friend he hadn't spent much time on a bike at all, but that all changes in time and all he needs is experience. So, I offer my new friend directions to this particularly nasty trail that I have just descended and done volunteer work to and helped by donating more biodegradable material to while ripping my gloves and bike all to shit. So my new friend takes my sound advice and heads up towards the trail and is too stupid to disregard advice from a man bleeding profusely, covered in dirt, with gloves ripped to shit and fixing a broken bike with a rock.

Yes, I love mountain biking. Today I helped the economy, created a new ecosystem, helped the environment, volunteered, made a friend and helped Darwin further his theory.

Today my mountain biking made a difference in the world.

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mousetrap!

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mousetrap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house."

"I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can think of to do about it. Surely someone else will step in to help."

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, duh?"

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Between Spring Rains

By Dave "Sierra Chief" Moore

My 12-year-old daughter Alissa and I were taking advantage of a sunny Saturday morning at the end of April for a mountain bike training ride in the local foothills near our home at Hart Park, Bakersfield, California. As we were ascending the hill leading back to my truck, I noticed a mountain biker with Florida license plates unloading his bicycle from his truck. He quickly caught up to us on the mile-long climb. Brian Hastey was just in from Florida and was visiting the Bakersfield area for a few months before he moved to Denver, Colorado. Most of the trail riding Brian had done in Florida consisted of very technical rooted trails without much climbing. As a Pro Adventure racer, powering up hills on a mountain bicycle was an important part of his training program. It was going to be nice all weekend, and Brian accepted our invitation to ride the Kern Canyon Trail (1 on map) with us the next day.

While Old Man Winter still has the high-elevation backcountry trails closed, you can still find epic single-track trails to ride a short 30-minute drive from Bakersfield. The Sequoia National Forest, Greenhorn Ranger District, is able to keep its lower-level multi-use trails open all year long. Closures during the winter months are limited to the upper trailheads, with the trailheads at the bottom remaining open.

Greenhorn is mostly made up from four identified "Roadless Areas" on U.S. Forest Service land. The four Roadless areas are networked with close to 600 miles of fire roads, 4x4 trails and single-track trails. Although Greenhorn survived the non-introduced Senator Boxer Wild Heritage Wilderness Bill in 2002, the dark cloud of Roadless designations still looms over our right to recreate and access the area. It seems weird to refer to areas with about 350 miles of roads in them as "Roadless." The Greenhorn District would be the perfect place to receive the BRC "Backcountry" designation.

We met up with Brian early the next morning and headed east on Highway 178 through the Kern River Canyon. Within 30 minutes we were at the lower Kern Canyon Trailhead and upper Kern River Trailhead, a place we refer to as the "Bottom Bridge" that crosses the Kern River (2 on map). Brian parked his truck and loaded his bike into the back of my truck. We shuttled 10 miles up the road to the Freeway Ridge 4x4 Trailhead (3 on map). This 12-mile trail ride is a scaled-down version of the 18-mile shuttled ride you can do if you start at the entrance of the Bureau of Land Management Keyesville Recreation Area (4 on map). We said goodbye to my wife Dawn and youngest daughter Mandy, who were going to check out some antique shops in close by Lake Isabella. She would meet us back at the Bottom Bridge in three and half hours.

The Kern Canyon Trail was rerouted, reworked and then dedicated in 1995. Our group, the Southern Sierra Fat Tire Association, adopted the trail soon after it was dedicated. The area this time of year is a treasure chest of more than 30 different varieties of wildflowers sprinkled in between digger pines, black oaks and live oaks. Traveling along the contours of the Kern Canyon just above the Kern River, the trail offers spectacular views of the Kern River drainage and the San Joaquin Valley beyond.

The trail is considered intermediate with a few technical sections close to the creek crossings. The grades are all doable on mountain bikes in either direction. Alissa and I lower our seats before we head down the switchbacks that lead to the Bradshaw Creek Crossing (5 on map). Brian is well honed while we struggle to get into the balance needed to bike single-track trails. After the first mile we were warmed up and flowed better with the aspects of the twisting and turning trail. We start into the first big climb, going slowly but soaking in all the scenery and wildlife along the way. We stop at Greenhorn Creek (6 on map) for a snack and a rest in the shade. In 1851 gold was first discovered in this 5-mile-long creek. That led to a stampede of prospectors moving into the area in the spring of 1854.

On our last big climb we come up to a place we call the Giant Tombstones. Alissa stops to pose in front of one of the huge granite boulders that looks like a big head to her. Off in the short distance we hear some motorcycles approaching and take a break to let them pass. We wave as they go by. All of the trail users get along very well in the area, working together to help keep our trails open.

At the crossroads of Delonegha 4x4 Trail, Badger Gap Trail and the Kern Canyon Trail (7 on map), we take another break to pull a few irritating stickers out of our socks. The newly installed bench feels good to kick back on for a couple of minutes. We are real lucky to have a recreation officer like Dave Baskin, who has been a true friend to all user groups for trail development and access in the district. His hard work through perseverance and grant writing is why we have rideable, marked multi-use trails at all.

Now it's time to head down the last part of the trail to the Bottom Bridge. It is a 3-mile-long, 1000-foot decent. I catch a good feeling as we pass over about 150 yards of trail I cut in myself about seven years ago. There is something about taking your children on trails you helped build. Alissa is the second child now to ride this trail with me on a mountain bike. I hope to ride it in 2010 with my now four-year-old grandson, Josh, who is already becoming a bicycle enthusiast. It does create a legacy when you help build and save trails.

We are running about a half an hour late as we come up on a group of hikers. Alissa receives tremendous praise from them for her accomplishment of dominating the trail from the back of her bicycle. She finished very strong, even after a crash or two. I explained to her that when a mountain biker crashes they usually bleed a little since we wear shorts and short sleeves. You can then become a true blood brother or sister with the trail. The trail is now in your blood, it is a part of you; always defend your right and the rights of others to access it.

We loaded our bikes and gear and headed back to Lake Isabella to meet some friends and eat pizza. Alissa gleefully explained to everyone how she had whooped me good on the ride. It was a pride-filled moment for both of us.