Riding Through Watersheds

No Dabs, 9/10/22

Last month I got caught in a morning storm in the mountains. Going across to Champagne Pass, a dark cloud hung over the Cuyamacas. Down I went and then I climbed up to Noble and turned left, working may way around to the meadows. As I pedaled the west side, the dark cloud was now hanging over me. Going up in the direction of the kiosk/Sunrise Highway, it started to drizzle on the Lagunas.

Perfect. I love a good light rain in the mountains.

back east

As soon as I popped on to the old county road, it turned into a steady rain. Before I got to Chico, it was a deluge. I was soaked clean through to my capillaries. Water was running everywhere, chocolate streams flooding down the road. Lightning flashed and thundered cracked.

It wasn’t the first time I got caught in a storm. I kept moving, like times past, because I wanted to stay warm and what’s a little rain storm gonna do to me but make me wet? I was up high (landscape) and I knew various forest roads to get back to my car would be better than using trails, as they’d likely be slippery messes of gushing water.

winter rains/sky over the anza-borrego desert

Along the way, a few other riders were pedaling the way they needed to go. “Ain’t this great,” I exclaimed. Only one guy agreed!

Exhilarating.

murky double ipa called Sea to Slope, a collaboration between June Lake Brewing and Pure Project Brewing

On that ride, I got to thinking about watersheds. As rain fell from the sky and water ran here, there, and everywhere, I harkened back to being a student and learning a watershed perspective when thinking of land management. All around me it was evident that I was riding through a watershed, one that spans mountains, desert and ocean, with micro-watersheds present throughout the larger shed.

Do we think of a watershed approach when we ride?

Of course we do! Mostly it has to do with trail design and maintenance. As stewards of the land that we need to enjoy mountain biking, let’s simply remind ourselves while we’re out there that in addition to riding through forests and deserts and canyons and meadows and (enter your landscape), we are also riding through watersheds.