experiences of observation

          I finally got out to my observation site by the end of last week when the weather finally got beautiful. I usually start my mountain biking route at the parking lot next to the courthouse, but my favorite part is right after the first major rise and fall of the trail (not to discount how terrifying that first free-fall is and the white-knuckle ninja grip I have on my handle bars on the way back up). After that first event, you can see almost all of the other important parts of the trail. On this particular day, I'm seeing a lot more people here than usual. I started riding here on a 106 degree day, so the weather is starting to bring out the less masochistic athletes of North Texas. There's a good mix of runners, walkers, hikers, mountain bikers, and dog walkers. Larger dogs in particular seem to be getting a big kick out of this trail, the first house you encounter after the first hill either really loves tiny terriers that look the same or they might breed them. Either way, there's probably about 8 of 9 yapping dogs flying across the yard with every passing bike, just hoping to catch a sniff. The dogs passing the yard give ever-so-slightly threatening looks and seem to pick up with the clip they were trotting along at. The humans all move through this space in a pretty similar fashion, though. There's a right way and a wrong way for hikers and cyclists; they move in opposite ways as to not create more collisions than already occur. This is true for all of the course except for one part.
          Thrasher's Maze is a really intimidating name for a quiet little trail in Corinth, but with my pretty insubstantial 5 weeks of training, even I can handle it. It's a single track and very tightly wound section of the park, and most often where you would find me hanging sideways on a tree or walking my bike up and down a steep drop. On this day, people seem to be experiencing Thrasher in the same way that I usually do. There's some successful turns and winds, but also a good amount of yelling, some colorful vocabulary, and unfortunately a little bit of dirt-eating. I'm looking forward to a few more days like that at the trail with the weather so bearable.