Bicycling

A few months before I graduated from high school, I was starting to get into mountain biking, thanks to my friend Krista Dorner. But I didn't really have an appropriate bike to use for the purpose. My parents helped me buy a brand spankin' new bike - for my graduation present. I decided on a Barracuda A2M.

In the Kettle Moraine area, there a bunch of good trails available: the John Muir and Emma Carlin trails in the KM - Southern Unit. I usually went to these once or twice a week. The problem was that it takes between 30 and 45 minutes to drive there. Ugh.

I started to do lots of road-riding. One great thing about the Hartland area is that there are lots of good roads for biking. I haven't found any other places with more pleasant roads to bike on.

I've taken a bunch of trips to great mountain biking places. The first was a family trip to Vail - Summer 1994. This was a great trip, but sadly, my brother fractured his arm early in the trip. To be fair, though, we were going down what was to become the downhill course for the 1994 World Championships.

The next was Summer 1995 - Cable, WI . It rained lots, and there were lots of ticks. We took a bunch of really long rides on logging roads and the birkebiner trail.

When I lived in Colorado Springs, I did a good deal of biking also. Just a few minutes from my apartment was Cheyenne Mountain, which has the infamous Captian Jack's multipurpose trail.

Finally, during summer 1997, I lived in Cupertino, CA. About 20 minutes from work were a bunch of good trails in one of the nature preserves. I went just about every day after work. After the first few weeks, no one passed me, and I noticed most people had more bike-gear than I. Those crazy Californians.