Biking with Larry
It was a dark and stormy night…well not yet, but it would be. Larry and I were on a family fishing trip in Northern Minnesota and decided to partake in the region’s fantastic mountain bike trails at Cuyuna Lakes. There was a hint of inclement weather on the horizon, but we had ample time to shred the red before Mother Nature made an appearance. The conditions were perfect. A cool summer’s day kept the sweat at bay, and the slightly tacky, iron-rich soil provided gobs of grip for our knobby tires. We had a few climbs ahead of us so I took the lead. Larry can whoop me on a fast downhill section but he has no chance staying ahead when the trail starts to go vertical. We reached the top of Miner’s Mountain and were enjoying the vista when, all of a sudden, lightning seared into one of the lakes within our view.
Riding the storm out
The wind must have picked up over the Dakotas, because the storm was upon us. It was the wrong time to be hanging out at one of the trail high points so we pointed our tires downhill and started sprinting. Larry took the lead on the descent but I was hanging tight on his rear wheel. Usually I’m somewhat cautious when gravity takes over but the adrenaline allowed me to throw caution to the wind. I’ve got four inches on Larry so I knew, if lighting was going to strike, my helmet would be it’s preferred landing spot. After a lightning fast retreat that, luckily, did not feature any actual lightning, we made it back to the parking lot. As soon as the bikes were strapped into the rack and we were in our seats, rain started pounding the roof of the car. Cuyuna Lakes always delivers a thrill, but we were lucky that day that the thrill did not include 300 million volts channeled through our mountain bike frames.
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