Why Two Wheels All of a Sudden?

Again, you find yourself on a bike. A new trend that doesn't suck.


New Years Eve in the desert:

You wake up late because Boondock Saints went late last night with your new friend Will. Fortunately, your bikes and gear are loaded into the futuristic, distance-friendly Toyota Prius and you leaisurely drive south to Sedona.

There are no bookstores in Sedona, you come to find. There are plenty of jewelry, t-shirt and jeep tour shops though. All of which are sandwiched between the purple signs of psychics. You don't want to visit any of these shops, as they only remind you of the excessive luxury tourism of other outdoor destinations like Breckenridge, Stowe or Sonoma.

You make your way to 7 Centers Yoga School, where the auroma and taste of new spices will fill your head for the next hour and a half. The Ayurvedic cooking class is part of their free New Years Eve class schedule. And free is your favorite flavor.


Your boyfriend, however, is tired at this point and needs an energy boost. You decide to swing into the local bike shop to fish for the "local" scoop on good biking spots for the day. NOD, as the attendant introduces himself (gnarly old dude, the G is silent), is a Navajo descendant who prides himself on giving his friends a unique biking vacation. Just last summer he took his buddies, the Switzerland World Champion Mnt. Biking team, on a ride through the reservation, an experience unavailable to those without the proper connections. He mentions he wants to take them down the Colorado next summer. Good thing your boyfriend is a guide. Cha-Ching.
NOD sells you a Cosmic Ray Bike map and sends you on a route you simply can't hate.


Despite being fitted for someone else and rarely ridden, your bike is perfect. The first few miles you remember which levers make it harder and which make it really harder. The next few miles you begin to remember to change these settings in order to climb hills, or speed up around bends. Slowly the comfort and ease of a mountain bike comes back to you. Rocks, ledges and ditches are no longer obstacles, but features. Your body is working hard and you are loving life.

The sun is setting and you are back at your car. Salty skin and fatigued thighs, but smiling powerfully.