I was riding a mountain bike trail near me a few days ago when I came upon a crew from Salsa Cycles. They were asking riders how they came to be involved with the sport and other assorted questions. They were gathering audio snippets to be used in an upcoming ad that will begin airing in June. They asked if I'd like to participate and so I did. One of the questions they asked me was what do I think about when I'm riding the trails. I told them that oftentimes, I'm thinking of nothing in particular at all; that I'm just focusing on the trail and hitting my turns while keeping my speed up the best I can. I thought about it more on my ride home from the park and wished I had compared it to meditation. I've dabbled in meditation in the past where I focus on nothing but my breath while blocking out all other distracting thoughts that my busy mind wants to entertain. Mountain biking can be meditative like that for me much more so than any other kind of riding I do. A split second of inattentiveness can leave you sprawled out on the trail in no time at all. It focuses my mind like nothing else can in my life. I've commented before that I'm never more alive than when I'm riding the trails. I'm working hard and I'm focused on one thing only: my riding. 

Kevin g