Thank you all for the votes. that ride meant a lot to me. Here is the story to go with the picture:
A great friend of mine and the person who got me into Mtb's a long time ago. Met Danny when I went off to college back in 84. He had a 24/26 Cannondale and I had never paid attention to a Mtb before that. Took it for a ride around the block and I was hooked. Danny dropped out of college after a few quarters and bought into a bike shop with his partner where he had worked through high school. He is still doing fine with the small independent shop all these years later.
He is not big on the vintage collecting thing but pretty aware of the old stuff just because he lived it. He does save any old bling that comes through his shop for me to see and usually have. He is old school enough that his modern ride still sports thumb shifters and he has used Grafton pedals with toe straps forever.
This is the Mission Ridge trail that we first rode together probably back in 1985. An awesome ridge line trail that is in my opinion better than the fun but overused Devils Gulch trail that parallels it several hundred feet below. This ride was pretty special because we did it with my son and Danny's daughter. At 17 and 23 respectively, there was something pretty cool about the ride and I felt very nostalgic about it the whole day. Not in a getting old kind of way, but in a introducing our kids to a trail that Danny and I first rode together when we were about their age. Pretty awesome feeling.
Part of the trail was torched by the "Complex" fire that burned for about a month in the hills around Wenatchee August 2012. It was interesting seeing the vegetation slowly coming back a year later and those standing burned trees were kinda spooky. No doubt most will fall with time.
I dig the picture because it shows the devastation of the fire but also the blue sky and hope up in the top right. The kids out of the picture leaving us behind to talk, take it easy, and take pictures. The new ground cover just making it's presence known one year later. Mostly I dig it just because of the fond memory of the day and all that has past between my good friend and I over the last 30 years of riding together.
A great friend of mine and the person who got me into Mtb's a long time ago. Met Danny when I went off to college back in 84. He had a 24/26 Cannondale and I had never paid attention to a Mtb before that. Took it for a ride around the block and I was hooked. Danny dropped out of college after a few quarters and bought into a bike shop with his partner where he had worked through high school. He is still doing fine with the small independent shop all these years later.
He is not big on the vintage collecting thing but pretty aware of the old stuff just because he lived it. He does save any old bling that comes through his shop for me to see and usually have. He is old school enough that his modern ride still sports thumb shifters and he has used Grafton pedals with toe straps forever.
This is the Mission Ridge trail that we first rode together probably back in 1985. An awesome ridge line trail that is in my opinion better than the fun but overused Devils Gulch trail that parallels it several hundred feet below. This ride was pretty special because we did it with my son and Danny's daughter. At 17 and 23 respectively, there was something pretty cool about the ride and I felt very nostalgic about it the whole day. Not in a getting old kind of way, but in a introducing our kids to a trail that Danny and I first rode together when we were about their age. Pretty awesome feeling.
Part of the trail was torched by the "Complex" fire that burned for about a month in the hills around Wenatchee August 2012. It was interesting seeing the vegetation slowly coming back a year later and those standing burned trees were kinda spooky. No doubt most will fall with time.
I dig the picture because it shows the devastation of the fire but also the blue sky and hope up in the top right. The kids out of the picture leaving us behind to talk, take it easy, and take pictures. The new ground cover just making it's presence known one year later. Mostly I dig it just because of the fond memory of the day and all that has past between my good friend and I over the last 30 years of riding together.
