The Shoe

Horseshoe Park is a pretty small, inconsequential park located in the fair burg of Grapevine. It sits on the south side of the lake and has neighborhoods around it. From the street, it is fairly unimpressive. A lot of folks don't even know where it is, much less use it. But to me, it is a little gem.

You see, it has a rat maze of trails that run through it. This rat maze has been carved over time and can be very confusing to the uninformed. You need a guide the first time you go and try to navigate the system and make any sense of it, and this is the reason so many don't appreciate it or use it. Over time, you learn a way to create some excellent flow through the twists, turns, options and obstacles. There are some of us who have used it so much, that we have developed loops and laps out of the confluence of trails. I have ridden there more times than I care to count. Because of this knowledge and lack of use, I go to the shoe to escape the world. The shoe is about a fifteen minute drive from the house and always loves me back when I use and abuse her.

Tonight was one of those nights. This week at work has been a monster. I have logged long days filled with stress and deadlines. I was down and exhausted when I left the office today, but knew I had to ride a bike somewhere. I went back and forth on the drive home from downtown what I was going to do. I felt the need to be alone and didn't feel like riding the road in the dark. So I loaded up the Racer-X and headed to my old friend the shoe. She was as happy to see me as I was to see her.

I rode through the trees, made the turns, cleared the obstacles and even took the time to stop and look at the lake at one point. I was saddened to see how low the water level is in Lake Grapevine, but know that the bad weather is on the way, which will hopefully help. I stopped and talked to folks I met on the trail and just got away from everything. I forgot I was in the middle of the city, that I had work to do tonight or that there was any myriad of problems. I was just a boy riding his bike in the dirt and having a ball. I jumped, I climbed, I rode over rocks. Ahhhh, that's why I ride mountain bikes. I get to be a dirty boy and never feel bad about it!