Isabelle, Welcome to Texas

Tuesday afternoon Isabelle, the Moots 29’er mountain-bike, arrived safe and sound via UPS at Desert Sports. Though she was reassembled quickly enough, there was not time in the day to hit the trails. Wednesday, too, would see her anxiously awaiting her inaugural ride; the day was consumed by a twelve mile hike within the Big Bend State Park scouting trails

to be built in January. Thus it was that Thursday, December 8th, 2011, Isabelle got her first taste of Texas.

With Frieda the Freightliner loaded with bikes, helmets, shoes and hydration Kt, Rebecca, Rick, Patrick and I drove to the Lajitas trail-head. And within minutes of arriving, we were ready. Ripping across the sand-covered, rock-strewn, cactus-inhabited ocean floor, we rode the fourteen mile Outer Loop in about an hour and a half, stopping just a few times to regroup. It was glorious, validating my reasons for returning to this arid paradise.

There were sections spent spinning in the big-ring deftly negotiating tight turns while keeping clear of the myriad cacti always hungry for blood. There were climbs triumphantly summitted and others that must simply be tried again. Powering through rim-deep sand, floating over sharp-edged volcanic rock, ducking below the thorn-covered branches of the ocotillo, smiling all the while.

It didn’t take long for Isabelle to recognize this was her land, this was the reason she was conceived, built and assembled. Though built with titanium by human hands and powered by my legs and lungs, it was the desert’s inspiration that thrust her forward, feeling at home in Texas.