CDANF Season Finale

As you probably know, I've gotten all enamored with riding in the C'dA National Forest this summer. Over the weekend, I had the chance to go back in one last time with John, Alex and Andre. Don't let the pictures fool you . . . these guys know exactly where they're going and what they're doing. Seriously purposeful dudes.







Okay, that didn't go so well. So let me just start over by saying that car camping rules. I mean, carrying everything on your bike that you might possibly need to make you happy is all romantic, but also totally nonsensical. To be even mildly happy in a damp and cold forest, you should be taking at least this much shit and probably more . . .



So that you can live like this . . .



Still don't get it? Look. This is one whole station for making breakfast burritos . . .



And this is another station for simultaneously making huckleberry pancakes. FRESH huckleberries, dude. Try doing that on your damn bike . . .



A third station is all about coffee . . .



I think you see what I mean. And is it just me, or do I have the biggest tent? By far? I think maybe the peasants owe me some taxes or something.





So anyway, on to the actual ride. I was gonna do this map showing all the roads I did this summer in the CDANF, and it would have been majorly epic, but it turned out to be a giant PITA, and as much as I love you guys, you're just not worth it. Just being honest. So trust me, I was all over that forest like a wet blanket.

But anyway, Friday, we did kind of the standard kill-yourself-in-the-forest-tour and it was great, and we did (kill ourselves). 50,000 vertical feet, honest. The highlight for me was road 261, which was all crazy climb-ey and scenic. John, Alex, Alex, Andre, John,(repectively) . . .









Saturday turned out to be all about crashing around in the brush. It's the logical next step in our CDANF evolution. Well-travelled roads where they can easily find your body are apparently boring, so we hurled ourselves into the abyss. Andre, rockin' the roadlessness . . .



You probably think this is bad camera work, but you are once again wrong. It's how things really look when you are short on oxygen . . .



The smile on John's face reminds me pretty much exactly of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". The woods can mess with your head, obviously . . .



Pure glam shot, but it really is this good . . .



Oh. GPS shows a bridge across this creek. Must be the invisible kind . . .



Anyway, all kidding aside, if you wanna know why I dig it there so much, this picture says it better than I ever could. Variety is surely the spice of life, including elevation.