Longing to return to real MTB'ing

I miss riding dirt and rock. I haven't been on any mountain biking trips, much less ridden the few local trails in quite some time. There was once a time when bike buddies and I piled into one of our modest but trusty (read dying) vehicles and made a trip cross country to fine riding. Sleeping in tents at the cheapest (if not free) campsites, waking to hit up as many mountain miles as we could handle before dining on the local specialties (green chilie) or campfire food, then retiring again exhausted and smiling to our sleeping bags. If Edward didn't have too much gas we'd usually sleep pretty well. We'd repeat the process for as many days as we could barely afford until needing to return to the prarie. My latest return to the prarie has lasted awhile in regards to my mountain bike. We've certainly gotten outdoors more this year (minus my recent surgery recovery days), but I sure haven't used the fat tires. I think as soon as I'm healed to 100 percent (mountain biking is anything short of jarring (good mountain biking)), I'm going to have to dust off the dirt machines and dirty them properly. For now, we'll just have to enjoy memories until the next big trail trip...












A sample....At the top of the grueling Porcupine Rim ascent, overlooking Castle Valley, UT, 2003.