Cameron Park

We went to Cameron Park in Waco on Saturday for a ride. Cameron has become my favorite place in Texas to ride. The park is located in the middle of a city. A city I know very well. I spent four years there while attending college at Baylor. Four years I wish I had spent on a bicycle.

The park is a conglomeration of various trails that intersect with one another to create a maze of greatness beneath the tree canopy. For the uninitiated it seems a rather mundane location for such a pursuit. For those in the know, it provides the ultimate retreat into singletrack nirvana. The names California 56, Lil' Colorado and Ho Chi Minh seem obtuse and uninformational. But the challenge within is astouding.

Waco itself, is an odd combination. Baylor University is located there and is a haven of Conservative Money. The general population is somewhat poor. The terrain in and around the city is somewhat boring and flat. But for some reason, this urban park contains slopes that provide those on two wheels what they crave. Climbs that seem to go on for an eternity and descents that make the cheeks of your backside pucker from excitement. While cruising the Interstate through the city, you would never dream such a place existed. Trails that are often lined with bamboo, littered with roots and ledges that drop require riders to have skills not afforded the faint of heart. They provide a rider the chance to forget the world exists and learch into a place that is only dreamt of while sitting in a cubicle at work.

I yearn to make the 85 mile journey to Cameron. My mind often drifts to the descent down Bat Cave and to whether or not I make it to the bottom unscathed. I look forward to the chance to make a clean run up California 56's switchbacks. Its bliss. Sweet bliss.