Home » Outdoor & Recreation » Mountain Biking » Where Numbers Loose Their Meaning

Where Numbers Loose Their Meaning

© Wayne Lankford

I suppose I'd ridden right by it at least 500 times. It was at a place on the mountain bike trail that instead of the single-track, the path widens enough to accommodate automobile traffic down this really beautiful dirt road. On the park map of trails it's simply called Camp Road. But this place I'm about to describe to you, you'd never ever guess it was there. Funny, I had taken a picture of this place on the road because I'd noticed one day a small square piece of wood with the number 5 carved into it. That was more than a year ago. It was painted red on orange, just about 5 inches square, nailed, simply nailed about 6 or 7 feet up from the ground to a tree. I took a picture of it and called it "Where Numbers loose their Meaning". It made no sense to me. I didn't know why it was there. The number five all by itself, nailed to a tree on the side of a dirt road, right here in the middle of nowhere. I thought my title appropriate, descriptive.

I come to the park to ride my Mountain Bike often. I'm not into going real fast these days. For me, its about time enjoyment and relaxation, it's about doing something that cures my mind, strengthens my soul and at the same time helps to keep me in a program of exercise that I can do to keep me healthy. Like I said, I'd seen that Number 5 many times, coming and going.

Most of the time, because of where it is, it's in a place where it's pretty flat for about a mile and a half where you can really get some speed going on that small section of the mountain bike trail. For me, that's about 12 miles an hour coasting by the number that has no meaning. Most of the time I never even notice it. When I don't notice it, it's still there. It's there right now while I'm writing this. It's alive somehow. It's being is alive right now in you as you read theses words about it.

Then one morning I was on about my 500th time passing unmindfully this number hanging in the air. I don't know what made me slow down. I don't known what made me stop right there. I wasn't thinking about it. I was on my way back to my starting point. I had about two miles yet to go. It was just another perfect morning. Like so many others, I was feeling good. Morning mountain bike rides are to me one of the most refreshing experiences there are. The cool moistness, the still clean air, the so satisfying sound of air passing all around you like your standing in front of a huge fan. Coasting in another world full of green and life. The rays of the morning sun streaking from the forest floor right up to the tops of the trees where the rising mist meets the cover that shades all who pass these ways. In other words, what I'm struggling to say here, is that, just when I thought it couldn't get any better,...it did.

The copyright of the article Where Numbers Loose Their Meaning in Mountain Biking is owned by Wayne Lankford. Permission to republish Where Numbers Loose Their Meaning in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.