Big Sycamore Canyon

Adventure Sports is good for you.

Last Friday, when I went to bed, I didn't know that the next day was goin' to involve a lot of physical training, by way of adventure sports. But thank goodness, that my Friday night sleep was peaceful, as it wasn't goin' to be that way for the next 5 days.

Did you know why the LazyBoy is called the 'LazyBoy'? That's because one just doesn't feel like getting out of it. That cozy chair brings out the indolence in you; that's the real you.

Saturday morning, I am chilin' out and my superfighter friend, in the best of his health, Charles pops the question, "Do you wanna go mountain bikin' with us, hommie?'

I rolled my eyes, since I like to think of myself as an 'outdoor' guy, even though the intervals between the hikes seems to get longer by the year. TinTin exercises 3 times a week, and is the last part of the aforementioned 'us'. The last time I ever did anything that came close to exercising was 2 years back, so this 'mountain biking' event was more like a challenge. I decided to go ahead with it. The unknown was staring at me in my face, and I was staring at it right back.

Charles and I drove over to NewBury Park to hire mountain bikes; Tintin met up with us 5 minutes later. We had picked up the full-suspension bikes, and Tintin had to settle for something less extravagant. It was 3 in the afternoon. The LazyBoy thoughts were still hovering around my halo, and slumber was settling in as we drove quietly to Big Sycamore Canyon.

Slipping quietly into the parking lot near the mountains, we pulled out our bikes, played around with the gears, and set off for a bike-climb of half a mile to the top of the mountains to ride all the 8 miles down to the beach. That half a mile seemed like the Devil's ride to me and I was already thinkin' about what's goin' to be on my will. Charles and Tintin were already on their way without waiting for me, and I was figuring out what gear was good for this climb.

In about 10 minutes we were beginning to zoom down the hills, careful not to jam our brakes too hard lest we topple off the mountain to our death, and those 2 minutes of zooming with the wind in our face, was bliss. The guys were waiting for me to catch up with them, and ungratefully, I zoomed right past them. I reminded myself again about the brakes, and there were no casualties as yet. Charles and I had just crossed the wooden bridge that marked the end of the downhill zoom, and we hear a 'WAIT'. Somebody had fallen to his death, I thought.

That somebody turned out to be Tintin. He escaped death with a scraped palm and a bruised leg. Holding the handle bars was not goin' to be easy for him now.

Charles led us off the main cycling route into what looked like maize fields, with the regular ups and downs, and uneven grounds. It was difficult in the beginning, but we soon got used to handling the gears, lifting our butts up whilst banging into the ground and getting both the wheels to point in opposite directions to get through some tough spots.

Skidding through the muddy fields became second nature in no time. I almost felt like a professional, biking on those terrains. The adrenaline rush when we swooshed through passing streams was terrific. That was also the time, when my tooth cap came off. Ouch!

Tintin was not enjoying the bumpy ride as he was not on a full suspension bike, so we got onto the normal paved biking route all the way to trailer camps. We were approaching the beach. The point that separated the sandy grounds and the solid mud was bikable but not undertaken by us.

We were on the beach for just 20 minutes as we had a gruellin' bike up. Chillin' out on the beach was good. We rested our bikes on the sand, jumped across a tiny backwater stream and had a couple of PowerBars, gearing ourselves for the bike climb back up to the top of the mountain.

In moments, we were back on the route. I was leading for exactly 3 minutes and after that Charles and Tintin were out of sight. My muscles were beginning to give away. In 20 minutes my gear chain gave way, and Charles had to come to my rescue.

After about 4 miles of cycling way behind the others, I was on my own. I couldn't care less. I finally had some time to take pictures of the beautiful surroundings. The bike ride was slow, but do-able.

Since I was alone, I decided to cheat. I got off the bike, and decided to walk it for sometime, until I could feel my calves all over again. In about 5 minutes, I was bored of walking, but cycling wasn't exactly enticing then. Clicking pictures, walking my bike, biking my legs and mustering up my remaining courage, I arrived at a fork.

Now, I had to take a crucial decision. Either I could take one way and be jungle-boy for the rest of my life, or I could take the other way and reach the car where the other guys would be hopefully waiting. I decided to be JungleBoy.

Cycling for 10 minutes, I didn't see anybody, and call it my instinct or what, I just decided to turn back and take the other route. This was the route that we had taken on our way to the beach, but it was through the fields; I just thought it made sense to stick to the normal route, so that even if I don't run into Charles and Tintin, atleast I could run into somebody, instead of bears and snakes.

It was getting to be sunset, and I had to cycle faster. I hadn't seen any humans for atleast what seemed like an hour. Amusing myself by clicking different pictures, I finally find Tintin and Charles waiting for me to turn up. Thank God, I was on the bike and not walking.

The zoom ride was lurking around the corner, and the mere thought of it was exhausting our minds. Crossing the bridge, and marking the spot which was already blood marked by Tintin, there was no way we could ride up. The three of us decided to walk our bikes, something that I had done for about 1.5 miles already. That walk up was onerous. I was far behind, as usual. A very well deserved 'Phew'.

Back on flat ground, and completely energized, we had the company of other bikers. All of us were very glad that somebody invented cars. We stopped on our way at Yama Sushi to have chow.

Adventure Sports is good for you. Yeah, that's what I thought too. I was aching for the next 5 days. And Charles asks us again today, "Is it goin' to be a wine tour or mountain biking tomorrow?'

Mountain Biking, Hell yeah. On second thoughts, Hmmm...Oh yeah. Wine Tour, please.