The Granite Girls have been recruiting people for our Tuesday Blog! This week our special guest is none other than Bear Karwoski…the man, the myth, the legend!

I was excited about the chance to get back on the desert mountain trails in and around Scottsdale, AZ this past week.  I hadn’t been on real mountain bike trails in a few years and the desert beauty at sunrise and sunset is stunning.  The problem of course is that it was about 5 miles to the trailhead and, yes, 5 miles back to the conference center for our 8:00 meeting start.  The sun doesn’t rise until 6:40 am, so you do the math-not a lot of time for trail biking!  It was dark enough when I started at 6:00 am for the 15 minute ride to the trailhead- riding on city streets in the dark is one thing.  Riding between cactus, jack rabbits, coyote and prickly pears in the dark is quite another.  Oh, I forgot to mention- no headlamp or lights.

I entered the trail head just as the sun was coming up and had a good 3 miles of flat/slight grade single track.  Then the fun began!  Uphill quick climbs, downhill loops and switchbacks in between rocks- just large enough to nail your pedal if you were in the wrong position as you threaded your way between two 12 inch rocks, followed by a quick turn then what seemed to be an almost vertical climb.  I’m just not technicalyl good enough to pedal fast, hang my butt off the back of the bike and still keep weight on the back wheel so it doesn’t spin and leave me pulling the handlebars backwards as I begin to lose it on the climb.  The good news is no one was out there to see me slide backwards and bail-out, looking like a rookie.  The only thing that could have been worse was if I had a pink bike and a “my little pony” matching helmet!  I made it half way up the mountain then came to the realization that I had to repeat the trip only downhill.  The picture I took was at my point of no return. 

It was as much as a mental workout as a physical one.  The last thing I needed was to crash and burn and limp home!  As I became more daring and realized I had run out of time, my downhill run had spinouts and tight curves sliding into the edge of needle trees and prickly pears.  I looked like I had been attack by an angry mob of cats.

On my way back from a different trail head, I decided to take a shortcut back to the hotel and wound up lost in a gated community underdevelopment.  With each dead end, I finally went off road, down an embankment through a drain pipe, emerged on the other side of the fences and pedaled as hard as I could to get back. The adventure over, in one piece with minor scratches.

That’s what new adventures and workouts are about- totally forgetting yourself, concentrating on the moment, out of your comfort zone, fighting for survival and enjoying every minute of the journey!  What good is it to work out and push yourself in the gym if you can’t scare yourself to death doing things no sane person would ever  attempt.  – I can’t wait to do it again!

xoxo granite girls and Bear