Cypripedium reginae

Yesterday I arrived at the trail with heavy head from the previous days’ revelries. What had been an afternoon of watching the opening match of the Euro Cup with my cousin Eduardo and B turned into an all night affair complete with B making Vietnamese salad rolls and I BBQ’ing some chops for the hungry mouths. Needless to say the first half hour of pedaling felt tougher than it should have.

The forest is alive and vibrant right now. As I entered the woods I was greeted with a forest floor covered in ferns. I love ferns. Large areas covered in ferns have a shimmery look as the leaves sway with the breeze and create a fuzzy landscape. Dotting the ferns were some of the most amazing orchids I’ve ever seen. Called the Showy Lady Slipper they are “Nova Scotia's most impressive orchid, the Showy Lady Slipper, Cypripedium reginae blooms in July. We only have a few isolated populations in Intervale ferns and bogs.” I had no idea that orchids grew here.

Riding a bike through the forest is one of my favourite things to do. At first I think it was because of the bike and the adrenaline brought on by flying along narrow trails through trees and over everything in my path. But as the years go by I have learned to love the feeling of simply being in the forest, under my own volition, sweating and pushing the one geared bike through the terrain and watching as the forest goes through it’s stages. Yesterday I was lucky to be alone. I saw one racy couple blow past me as I was exciting a nasty little trail called The Skull. I dismounted and held my bike off the trail so they could go by. Then I made it out to the clearing and drank some water and took a needed rest before plunging into the next loop.

I dropped into a new trail that I had somehow missed before. It was fast and swoopy with banked turns. As I crested some of the hills I pushed down on the backside and gained speed with out spin. Generating speed through taking advantage of momentum is one of my favourite parts of wheeled fun. When I lived in Oregon I learned how to pump the transitions at Newberg skate park. Pumping transitions on the bike is similar but with two wheels instead of four. The combination of using your muscles and attention to navigate such off camber terrain is an incredible human feat- it's amazing how our brains and bodies can work in unison so well.

I just checked the Navy wave analysis models for the week. It looks like it will be flat. I haven’t surfed in over a month now and it’s beginning to feel like I don’t surf.