RidingAgain Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) Came across this article that left me thinking about the first time I thought a trail had flow. I was riding with a friend in Ocala State Park in Central Florida when we came across maybe a half mile or more of a slight downhill section of trial that wound through some pine trees and grass in a, well, flowy way. It was so cool to ride that we ended up doing it a few times before moving on. And this was back in maybe '96, so this trail I don't think would have been a mountain bike specific trail, just a trail used by hikers I guess. The thing about it for me was that it reminded me of surfing the face of a long easy to surf wave that just allowed you to kind of settle into a laid back carving flow as you rode it. To me, flow was/is more of a state of mind than a trail condition. Shoot, there are times when I get into a flow playing squash — maybe what is referred to as getting into the zone. Yeh, I think that's it... For me, flow kind of equals getting into the zone. But now we have flow trails, which kind of suggests that you can only get into a flow on these types of trails. Which I know from my own experience is not the case. Sure, technical sections can break up your "flow"... But I remember a couple of years ago really wanting to go for a ride one evening and needing to hustle a bit because of the late time. I did a twelve mile ride from the Brush Country road area, up the east side of Mopac, around through the Circle C soccer area, then back behind ATX bike shop area, then back down the east side of Mopac to home... In I think just under 65 minutes... Which for me was quite fast. And the route that I took has a bit of both technical and flow type trail, but I don't really remember how I rode it... I just kind of rode it in the flow. And that's what I enjoy most when riding... Kind of becoming one with the trail to the point of not really being sure how you rode through sections... You just did... And thoroughly enjoying doing it. For me, that's what flow is about. Here's the article that got me thinking about this... https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-trails/4-reasons-why-you-should-be-a-fan-of-flow-trails/?fbclid=IwAR2k1U0OWjO241qvVJ_D7lGNdw_fhk-pgIla9F_TzvbfWYx_T6VOopZnK7E Edited September 17, 2019 by RidingAgain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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