Tahoe Day 6 (8/14/18): Decided to roll back up to Hoot trail in the AM before heading home, partly to redeem myself from the equipment-induced underwhelming run I had on it the day before, but mostly just because it’s a really good trail, and second time thru is always going to be a big improvement. Got there, parking next to Harmony Ridge Market, and was pretty much the only car in the lot at 8:30 in the morning:
Well, let’s get right to the video, but with a quick mention that this one hit a previously-unreached Dopamine Rating of 9.5. I’ll let you watch the video to see why, but stick around for the narration on the uphill after Hoot Trail to see the effects of a strong norepinephrine and endorphin cocktail from the sustained down, followed by a bit of serotonin overload on the up from being surrounded by the lush greenery. Things were starting to feel a bit… surreal.
Post-ride, was fortunate to meet back up with my cousin and her kids for breakfast in Nevada City, and she surprised me with this care package to bring back home with me!
All homegrown veggies from Jennifer’s garden, with so much flavor that is sadly lacking from the non-homegrown variety we see in our local chain stores. Needless to say, during the long drive home, it was very difficult to save many of the cherry/grape/pear tomatos and baby cucumbers for Donna, but I did manage to bring her a few of each to sample. Definitely added to the dopamine levels.
Now, throwing in a few gratuitous shots from the drive, starting with when I ran across a bunch of the overly-aggro squirrels at one of the rest stops:
Feeding them cashews probably kept them from devouring me alive, but wild creatures that tame always sketch me out a little…
Had to feed myself, too, once reaching In-N-Out territory, which kind of puts a good ending onto any sort of road trip out of SoCal.
Here’s the face of a content traveler, satieted with tasty trails, veggies, burgers and fries.
Also, not a “good-bye,” but more of a “see you later,” I wanted to let people know this will be my last post on NeuroAdventures, at least for a while. Not going away, just pivoting a little! I’ve kind of said what I want to say by now about how incredible it is to participate in adventures that activate the pathways designed by nature for enhanced, sometimes sublime, occasionally transcendent experiences. And the best way to do that is outside, in nature!
So where is the pivot? The fork in the road, or whatever? Nothing too exciting, really. Just a re-branding. I’m going to start posting the videos from my travels under a different YouTube channel, and this one’s called Retirement Xtreme.
Logo!!! ——>
And I probably won’t be posting to a blog/webpage with the writing portions, as I’m hoping to make the video tell the story itself.
First up will be a video from my first day of riding in Scotland, at an incredible bike park called Glentress, about an hour south of Edinburgh.
So have a look at the new YouTube channel, or, even better, subscribe to it, and you’ll be notified anytime I post more content. We’ll see where I’m able to take this fork in the road, but hopefully it’ll help fund some of the future travels a little… Who knows???
NeuroAdventures 