The smell comes back to me like a something from my youth. It is something that excites and entrances all at once. It rolls up off my front tire as I make my way up the fire road and single track leading me deeper into the woods near my home. I haven’t had that smell in 6 weeks, and I’m finally back on my bike. The smell is a mix of pine and mountain air mixed with dirt, and it smells like healing and freedom. After breaking my foot 6 weeks ago, my outside time has been limited to say the least. For perspective, I spend a lot of time outside climbing and mtb biking, it is a very large part of who I am and what I do. When that’s taken away, I get a bit stir crazy. I, like most men in America, have a nice sleeper case of ADHD, I admit I may have it more then most, but it is something that fuels me for my outside endeavors and also is a great motivator when your trying to heal from say, oh, a broken foot. It allows me to find ways to be active, in this case, it helped me work out in a gym, and do hang board routines even though I looked like a train wreck most of the time.
After about three miles of climbing I reach the drop in and the first real technical sections of trail. As I ease the bike down the first few drops and pick up speed, I grab the brakes out of fear that I could hurt my foot again. This being the first day out, I really can’t be hurt again for multiple reasons. The biggie is Cyn would kill me, and then I’d be dead and not able to do anything, which is, a real no win situation.
But as the first few root drops go under and the foot feels good, even fine, I start to feel the excitement of single track again, and feel the gift of moving outside, I also feel the three words start to bubble up in my brain.
Let. Me Roll.
They are simple words and ones I know well. When I feel good on the bike or climbing, they bubble up and it lets click into a zone where the things IM doing feel effortless. But with a foot still very fragile and the steepest part ahead, I did the smart thing.
I let it roll.
And it was good, very good!
As I dropped down the hillside the trees became the familiar blur I am used to as you whip down towards the creek bottom. After the shallow crossing I hit into some more tight down hill roller single track, which carries me into a small technical section of root crossings, and dumps me at the beaver ponds and a bridge crossing. Here I stop and reflect for the first time since I started. I feel good, tired, but good, and the foot feels great.
I am so thankful to be moving again, and until something takes that from you, you really don’t have any idea how much you miss that simple gift of movement.
As I joined back into the fire road I come across a runner who stops me for directions. He makes the comment about how cool it was that I’m riding with a prosethic leg. I laugh and tell him about my last six weeks, that my metal leg is by far my good leg, and that today is my first day back outside. He is psyched and tells me he was thinking about losing an leg and how screwed he would have been until he saw me, again, I laugh and tell him how well we adapt and that the leg is a good machine and quickly adapts to change. Now that other one with the bones, that’s the one you gotta watch out for!
We part ways and I’m enveloped in the wonderful smell of the mountains as I head home, alone in my freedom.
Craig DeMartino
outsideallday.com
