Wheelies & bunny hops

By this time just about all mountain bike trails in the Midwest have dried out and opened. So most avid mountain bikers have already hit the singletrack. However, few of us live near real mountain bike trails and getting to those trails during the week is almost impossible, especially while holding a job and raising a family. I actually know busy racers who train 100 percent on the roads and only ride singletrack on race days.

Use the roads this spring

Early spring is usually a downer for Midwest mountain bikers. The trails are often closed due to winter thaw and runoff. And then come those famous April showers. But if you love to mountain bike, you don't have to sit around grousing when conditions have shut down your local bike trails. Instead you can use that time to hone your mountain bike skills on the roads. That means leave your road bike in storage, at least a couple of days a week, and instead head out on your mountain bike.

Broken but unbowed

It was early December. The computer-generated voice on my weather radio droned on about a winter storm warning, but when I looked out the kitchen window not a flake was flying in the halo of the streetlight across the road.