East Coast Bikers in Their Natural Environment

The afternoon was spent in search of the New England mountain biker in its natural environment. We have already seen them in North Carolina, an unusual place to find them. Our hopes were that the hunting would be even easier closer to home.

Mountain bikers can be a sneaky bunch though. While hiding behind a fallen tree we caught our first glimpse, through the roots:
















Photo: Tom Collier



The next came shortly thereafter. We had changed our vantage point and, thinking like mountain lions, were hiding above when the next passed by. We caught one slowed by a log and rock feature, what luck!
















Photo: Tom Collier

Quite some time passed before the next sighting. We had begun to lose hope when we came upon a steep, short, rock climb in the trail. We knew the bikers would have to slow down for it, maybe even falter. Our luck was good and we caught one paused at the crux of his fight.
















Photo: Tom Collier

We were satisfied, three sightings of the moderately rare mountain biker in one day. We had all but stopped looking and started relaxing when we caught a fleeting glimpse; the camera was whipped out and a rare shot captured: a mountain biker riding at high speed in the tight, twisty woods of New England.



Photo: Rob Collier

Once again, the trails were shockingly dry for April. We did encounter a few wet areas, but we walked our bikes around them and can proudly say that not a track was left. I would encourage everyone riding at this time of year to be careful of damaging the still fragile wet areas on the trails.