{"id":5595,"date":"2013-06-27T23:06:19","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T05:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=5595"},"modified":"2017-06-30T22:47:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T04:47:20","slug":"back-in-the-saddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/back-in-the-saddle\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the Saddle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0891paradise.jpg\"><br \/>\nAs some of you know, an injury with my back prevented my from riding all but about 10 times last summer.  But, I was determined not to have a sedentary summer.  Instead, I took up hiking.  I hiked through forests and on top of mountains.  I walked in places where one cannot ride.    I visited places that I had been to in snow-cover, but never in summer.  I visited places where I had never ventured before.  I explored the mountains that I call home and got to know them a little bit better.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0895biketrail.jpg\"><br \/>\nAfter nearly a year off the bike, it&#8217;s good to be back in the saddle again.  I&#8217;m the first one to admit that my lust for the bike had been quickly fading in past years.  Too many years of mountain bike racing and forced training rides killed my love for the sport.  Even when I finally quit the racing scene, I was still constantly driven to keep up with the best.  I had to crush the rocks and stomp the roots.  It was all about the ride and the ability to keep up.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0889trail.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><!--more Read more--><\/p>\n<p>But, all the hiking I did last summer taught me one valuable lesson.  You can see so much more when you just slow down a bit.  Riding doesn&#8217;t have to be just about the bike, or the ride, or the adrenaline-pushing all the way up and down the mountain.  It can be about so much more.  I&#8217;m not saying that it isn&#8217;t fun to crush those rocks or stomp those roots.  But, don&#8217;t forget to also slow down from time to time and take it all in.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure to smile at the sunflowers,<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0877sunflowers.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>to caress the Columbine,<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0884columbine.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>and to send your laughter lovingly through fields of lupine.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0865lupine.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>You might just find that it changes the nature of the ride.  You might find your love for the bike again, like me \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/bikeride26june2013\/dscn0898biketrail.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/www.avantlink.com\/link.php?ml=119781&amp;p=23393&amp;pw=29053\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As some of you know, an injury with my back prevented my from riding all but about 10 times last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biking","category-crested-butte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5595"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426972,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5595\/revisions\/426972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}