Wind Songs: The Spring Begins

By 9am this morning the temperature was already over 70 degrees, the sun was shining and it was going to be yet one more very unseasonably warm March day.

Is it wrong of me that I am tired of summer already?

I quickly drank an over sized cup of strong coffee, quickly checked my emails, and then quickly got dressed in bike shorts and short sleeved synthetic shirt and tech socks, grabbed my helmet and gloves and shoes and pack with water bladder, kissed LC on the cheek and Jamie on the top of her sweet head, and headed out the door.

LC and I were going to a surprise birthday party this afternoon, but before we did that I wanted to get in a bike ride.

As I pulled into the gravel parking lot of the mountain bike trail on base I ran into two riders who were just coming off the trail.

The lady of the couple walked over to me and surprisingly began to make small talk with me as I was getting geared up to ride, telling me that the trails were in good shape and that their ride had been very warm.

Small talk has never been a strong suit of mine but I could always fake it well enough.

Over the last two years though, small talk seems to be an art that I have completely (possibly irrevocably) lost.

I can fake it. For a while. But it exhausts me.

With great effort I smiled and talked about the trails and the weather and asked if the couple came out to the trails often because I had never run into them before.

She was very friendly, and I was very friendly, and by the time I had my shoes and bandana and helmet and sunglasses and gloves and pack on I was grateful when I could finally unload my bike, clip into the pedals, and head out onto the trails.

I quickly began to sweat, and cringed at the thought of how hot it is going to get very soon.

But as well as being uncomfortably warm I very quickly also got into the groove of the ride, riding smoothly, taking the hairpin turns and the winding track and the short steep up and down hills quickly and comfortably.

It felt very good.

There are signs of spring all around the base, but deep in the middle of hardwoods in this early section of the trail there were still no leaves on the trees and only the first hints of green beginning to push up and through the deep layer of fallen leaves that cover the ground were visible................

After riding technical single track for about 3 1/2 miles I came to a trail intersection.

To my left it would quickly open up to the power lines. I could take a sharp left at the power lines and find a rutted out jeep road (that would eventually lead to other single track trails), or I could ride down the long, rutted out and rocky jeep road that led eventually down to UTSI Road.

To my right was a wide open and lengthy horse trail. It is flat for a while then gradually begins to take a long drop down into a low gorge before quickly climbing back up and out.

It is part of my run loop and I took it this morning.

Riding comfortably and easily I maneuvered down rutted out sections, negotiated the inevitable mud pool down at the bottom of the gorge, and then geared down one gear at a time as I comfortably and steadily climbed back out.

At the top of the hill I stopped briefly to catch my breath.

As I straddled my bike I sucked one more sip of water through the hose of my water bladder and looked around me.

I know this area very very well - know where all the trails are that connect with this trail, know exactly where in the woods I placed a white and orange flag when I set up a navigation training for a bunch of adventure racers a few years ago.

I looked down a trail on the right and was surprised to see a sea of newly minted light green flowers.

Smiling at my exciting find I dumped my bike in the middle of the trail and walked over to look at them more closely.

They were a vine of small, fragile, barely green flowers growing haphazardly among fallen branches and downed pine trees that were laying on the side of the trail.

For months these trails have been sleeping.

Now they are starting to wake...............

I had no idea what they were but they were beautiful.

Once I noticed them for the first time I began to see them frequently during the rest of my ride on trail.............

I think that from now on I will begin to see changes to these trails every single time I venture out onto them...............

After climbing back onto my bike I rode for another 20 minutes on an interesting combination of double track and single track, and eventually popped out onto a jeep trail that I knew would lead me quickly to paved road.

I wanted to ride down to one of the coves and take pictures of Woods Reservoir from the shore.

As I continued riding on the easy jeep road I looked ahead of me and saw this tree.

The white flowering trees that have graced almost every yard and every parking lot and every park in Tullahoma are slowly beginning to turn to green.

In their place are other later blooming trees that are covered (like this one) in bright lilac or bright yellow.

Spring is a beautiful time of year in Tennessee.

Pansies, tulips, daffodils, lilacs are all beginning to show up regularly in yards.

An azalea bush in our back yard has the beginnings of red flowers.............

Still heading towards the road I saw this giant bird resting quietly in a tree..................

And then looked to my right and saw these two huge birds resting together on a downed trees that had been piled together.

I thought at first that they were crows, but then saw their red heads and their oversized-size and realized that they were vultures.

When I first moved down to Tennessee from Canada I had always thought that vultures were strictly a south-west bird.

Vultures belonged in such places as Texas and Arizona and New Mexico.

Not lush and green Tennessee. Right?

Wrong...................

Riding down the hilly paved two lane road that touches coves, a campground, a gate leading to base housing, and that eventually leads back to the mountain bike trail head and parking lot, I pulled into this cove...........

We need to head back out onto the water very soon...............

A young man and woman were both fishing - casting in their lines from the shore..............

There are two trail entrances in the pine trees to the right.

I don't ride them often because the trail is short, full of bone jarring roots, and is often muddy because it is low lying................

After leaving the cove I headed further along the hilly road greatly enjoying the ride and greatly enjoying the day.

Across from the mountain bike trail head I rode across the grass and headed down to one more cove.

This is my Mountain Boys' cove - the one where he used to fish before he got his boat.

The summer before I left for Juneau I would often run or ride on the trails and then meet LC at this cove when I was done.

He would sit in his camp chair tossing out his line, trash talking the fish, bragging about the fish he had caught while I was on trail, eating sandwiches and drinking soda while I sat on the grass beside him talking and winding down from my run.................