Olfactory Hues of Summer

Continuing on a course of deliberate socialization, my rides this past weekend took me into the realm of folks with busy schedules.  In a twist of fate, I found a slower pace of life from my harried efforts to pack in the miles.

Troy's birthday gift to Dara in the form of a new Pivot 5.7 in pink certainly caught my eye....but so did the virgin brake levers sans damage....

Waiting for folks to arrive, I was left admiring the only Iris to bless this state...the Rocky Mountain Iris....

Peering within, I found a world of purple swirls, yellow clouds and white hot stars.....

Bikes just randomly leaned against any old stump, appeared to be posing if on cue along the AZ Trail.....

The stump itself, held an interesting story told in a universal expression of wrinkles and wear......

Surrounding the stump, the forest floor was growing up all around us, pushing a precocious explosion of chlorophyll......

Not to be outdone, the bracken offered up it's own version of forest floor carpet....soon to be waist high.

Scorched first by lava, then by fire and lastly by the relentless pace of Dara; my ride through the White Horse Hills and Walker Crater was a healthy mix of climbs, some HAB and drops....

In isolated areas of the shaded forest floor; The Spotted Coral Root Orchid feeds on fungus which in turn feeds on the decaying mass of conifer and aspen.

Back into the sun exposed clearings of a fire long past, a lone climber climbs the sinuous singletrack to a saddle above.

Returning to camp....Troy encourages me to climb a tree....this particular Limber Pine appeared as a ladder from below and became in my mind a "Tree of Life"....each step higher on it's solid branches returned me to my youth....

Retiring to my bivy to make dinner, I stared up at the eye in the sky which would watch over me throughout the night......

The next day dawned clear and cool; all the more reason to ride...yet our thoughts and conversations turned to the turns made last season, and the turns to make next season....how quickly we regress into snow mode.....

All around us, a buzzing and swirling mass of life made it's way through the forest; levels of activity which brought us out of our winter mindset and brought us to the present:  Summer.

Summer fields appeared to push back the trees; exploding in expressions of scents and colors which overwhelmed the eyes....

Stops were made to lube noisy chains...the moon dust of early summer made a mockery of even the most attentively maintained drivetrain.

During rests, even a carelessly tossed glove offered up a shot worthy of reprint....

Memories of conversation, sights, scents and sound will dominate the coming days until we may all do it over again.  As long as the summer may seem....it's not nearly long enough.....