I don't live in or ride my dirt bike in New Hampshire, but I did borrow this pic from somebody else's blog without cropping the caption at the bottom.
If you think it's funny, they get the credit. ;)
Yes, folk, we are, indeed, in the season where the leaves change color.
That means that while I was out on the ol' Pachaug enduro loop riding my WR-250FY yesterday (and it was a good ride, too, and I rode well), I came upon a few little expeditions under way on the trails.
These were groups of people - looking very much like a school teacher bringing her classroom of school kids out on the trails as some sort of field trip - walking the very same trails that make up parts of the Pachaug loop.
What were they doing out there?
Well, what else? - getting their jollies by seeing the leaves on the trees.
Why is this worthy of getting out there to see?
Probably because they think it's so pretty-looking and it makes them feel like they're really doing something that makes them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Personally, while I think the view of the leaves turning red, yellow, and gold can look mighty fine, I actually get a stronger feeling at seeing all this that winter is coming in a couple of months, and I'd better enjoy the above-freezing temperatures while I can.
And, while I like to walk the same trails I ride on at times, it really ain't to soak-in the scenery and marvel at it, but to better learn and memorize the details in the terrain that I would only otherwise see while riding that trail at speed.
So, if I come across some city slickers out there leave peepin' I just slow way down, wave and say, "Hello" as I putt by, and be on my merry way.
However, the facial expression I usually get from these wanna-be hikers is one of, "Hey! What are you doing out here riding that dirt bike? Can't you see we're trying to hike along, here?"
My immediate though is one of, "Why, yes, I can see that you are hiking along there...right along the official, state of Connecticut-approved Pachaug enduro loop motorcycle riding trail, my friend".
You see, I seriously doubt these people know where they are standing as I putt by and wave at them.
I'm willing to bet they think I'm some kind of nature-hating, scenery-wrecking, outlaw dirt bike rider who is out there messing things up for everybody else, and that I have no respect or admiration for the outdoors.
I'd actually get a kick out of it if one of these hikers gave me a snotty attitude like that.
Why?
Well, because I'd have to tell them that I'm the one out there on those trails every weekend, not them - I never see these people at any other time out on the actual trails.
Typically, they stay within sight of the SUV that got them there into the Pachaug state forest, and that means near the parking lot for cars.
So, there's no way in heck that I'd stand for that kind of a reception, one that I just very well may get some day, judging by the looks on these peoples' out-of-doors-for-once-in-their-lives faces.
So, today I may choose to not ride the bike, but instead, take a little hiking expedition of my own out onto the Pachaug enduro loop trails, hoping to run across more leaf peepers.
Maybe I'll be able to ask if they've seen anybody out riding a dirt bike past them. ;)
-John
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