I had to. My wife complained and my PT chided me to not. I have not been able to ride for "real" (challenging trail with all sorts of pitfalls) since Labor Day weekend (tore up my shoulder, again, surgery, again). Anyway, I ran out Hwy 58 looking for an inspirational place to ride. Through the rain and fog Hardesty Mt. called to me. I couldn't see much of her from the highway or roadside parking, but yep, she was calling for sure.
I was surprised to see any cars in the parking area on such a rain soaked and un-inviting(?) day (gave me a reason to hope for mankind!). Man it was wet and gushy in spots, but this trail drains great! The rain let up for a bit and the forest was beautiful and had that insanely great evergreen smell. I never would have guessed how much I missed smell. The only tracks I saw were boots and dogs, but they disapeared at the first y in the trail (leads to some cool views, but not much of a ride).
I'm not the most skilled rider in the world to begin with, but the amount of water and mud on and around all the rocks and roots made an already moderately techinical (and steep) trail a hell of a challenge for my ham-fisted riding style. I was slipping and sliding and smiling as long as my "fitness" (read that with some humor) would allow. I sat and soaked-up the world for a while at the old look-out foundation at the top. A salamander was my only guest, cute little [censored]. I bailed a few times on the ride back to the truck and for the most part didn't seem to aggrevate my shoulder! I had the Hardesty trail all to myself and took advantage of it. The best part of the whole deal is the only thing worse for the experience is that my shorts are now permanently a darker shade of brown from the mud getting ground into them. It's OK though, I like the color brown. On the ride down a line from an old song by Louis Armstrong kept running through my mind: "...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."
I know my riding would not have impressed anyone/anything watching, but it did immeasurable things for my spirit and sanity. What a good damn day! I may not be back, but I'm on my way.
K.