"Is this really happening?"

At the shop moments before the start of adventure

The first heavy rains of winter failed to dampen the spirit of the seven lunatistas. They ventured out and into the jaws of the turbulent Pacific storm that brought copious amounts of water to Northern California. While others hunkered down and began to slide into the depressive gray of winter, the Bikin’ Fools gathered for a most pleasant assault on run-of-the-mill life. The course chosen for this ride was the Harbin Lite route. This delightful run starts at the helicopter pad in Boggs and ends up in Middletown after processing many mind boggling terrain features.

When the moonlight is diffused with cloud cover, it remains good. The turbulent skies seemed to offer no let up as the two vehicles climbed towards the summit of Boggs Mt. When the cars turned onto the dirt road, there appeared to be a slight thinning of the clouds immediately over the mountain. Mike, Lindsey, Shawn and Jim poured out of Mike’s truck while Eric, Ryan and Sean stepped out of the Subaru ready for this month’s cycle of the full-moon adventure.

Linz navigating the darkness

This dinner run started with an easy spin across Rt. 500, the main drag through the demonstration forest. The dust of summer was nicely settled as the bikers warmed up with the two-mile jaunt to the campground. It was a unanimous decision by all to opt for the single track to Big Springs. As the troupe began to thread through the woods, the clouds around the moon parted and allowed the brilliant, silver-blue moonlight to brightly illuminate the path. The riding along the singletrack became otherworldly. The light of the moon created a scene that was dreamlike, filled with altered visions. Dark areas on the trail were either holes or shadows. One did not know until the wheel rolled over it. Under the canopy of the trees, occasionally the trail blended into the fuzzy wallpaper of the forest. One would suddenly realize that the wheels were no longer rolling on a trail.

The passage went smoothly. Nobody stacked badly enough to halt the mission. The temperature remained surprisingly mild and thick clouds hovered around, but didn’t cover the moon. The scintillating Big Springs trail lead the Bikin’ Fools to the dinner spot for the night. The crew quickly set to the task of starting a fire. Wood appeared and Jim produced a "cheater" stick to get the flames kicking. The rains had nicely ended fire season but not soaked the wood. Plenty of wood was nearby and easily available. In a very short time, excellent food was beginning to sizzle over the flames. The bikers lounged in an atmosphere of pleasure and beauty. It would only get better.

The dinner hour was delightful. The warm air and the bright moon made for a very comfortable setting. Huge slabs of tender beef cooked on the open fire. There was a sense this was the real meaning of life, that this simple adventure had captured. It filled in what is missing in the rest of our waking hours. The simplicity, low tech cooking and the sharing of resources created a bond among the bikin’ buddies. For this brief moment, the woes of the world would disappear and the benediction of the natural setting would temporarily bless the Bikin’ Fools’.

The fire that warms the spirit

Dinner came to an end. With bellies full and spirits refreshed, the bikers moved along. The trail heads south towards the nose of Cobb Mt. It travels through woods for a short period of time. In the vision-challenged area of the woods, several deep ruts filled with as much as 18 inches of water challenged the rider. The trail comes out into the open where, normally, the view is spectacular. But on this night, the surrounding sky was crowded with dark, thick clouds. Only Cobb Mt. and the Bikin’ Fools were under clear sky. Again the sense of being the chosen few dominated the minds of the jazzed bikers.

It was at this point that the Bikin’ Fools’ made a tactical decision. In past events the ‘chutes’ offered great appeal. This dynamic, body-threatening feature of the mountain required a steep climb. The consensus of the group was to drop straight into tubbyland, bypassing the climbing effort and the several miles of scintillating single track that descends the west ridge. This was a departure from the burly mode of riding in favor of bodily pleasure at the clothing optional facility.

The ride down the ‘road’ was fast but difficult. The ‘road’, though passable was extremely rutted and offered a great challenge under the moonlight. Dr. J. managed to find the biggest rock on the road and stacked hard. Suddenly the sky in his view was all stars. Shawn used one of the bigger ruts to practice his patented shoulder roll when the Bullet refused to obey orders from the driver. The seven riders steadily proceeded. Grading and road repairs were recently performed on the lower stretches of the road.
The recent rains had turned parts of the road into a slick, slimy slide-for-life. Signs of civilization began to appear. There was a car stuck in the mud on the side of the road. Suddenly a group of pedestrians appeared in the fuzzy light of the moon walking up the road from their stuck vehicle. The seven bikers thundered by to the amazement of the onlookers. A surprised woman gasped; "Is this really happening?"

Mike shredding through darkness (until blinded by the flash)

It was happening. To the Bikin’ Fools this was in the realm of normality but for those on the outside of the experience it seemed crazy. What in the world were bicycle riders doing out there late at night in the wilderness, in the muck, in the moonlight with no lights? For the riders it was only one more event in a string of moonrides that has covered a span of nearly ten years.

The warm, hot and cold waters of the resort helped to sooth the spirits of the Bikin’ Fools. The ride was easy, pleasant and offered respite from the current woes of the world, a world misdirected by the goons in Washington who seem to think that it is perfectly OK to slaughter tens of thousands of people worldwide and then be surprised that anyone would object. The unfortunate oil war that has broken out has proven to be a very divisive feature of our current living. Naïve minds of a fat, ignorant populace continue to believe what the lying politicians are spewing. To not see that the U.S. is headed down the road of totalitarianism is blindly accepting a status quo that clearly serves a few rich people at the ‘top’ by subjecting the masses to modern slavery. As our civil rights rapidly vanish, while innocent people suffer and die worldwide, the importance of the moonrides becomes yet more critical to the well being of the planet.

The beauty of these moonrides is that they connect one to the spirit and power of the universe which transcends the frailty of humanity and taps into a cosmic presence. These rides serve to reinforce the commonality that all life has upon this blue/green spinning orb. In the presence of the full moon in a pristine setting, the traveler is offered a transcendental truth. It is available to those able to access such, beyond the feeble workings of the ‘rational’ mindset in a Wal-Mart world.

The finale to the event was the shush down the pavement. A new speed bump at Checkpoint Charlie surprised most of the riders, but none stacked. The streak downhill reawakened the adrenaline gland. The road is in a canyon and hence offers very little light. A rider most often only hears others around him while trying to maintain a path within reasonable distance from the yellow line in the center of the road, the only visual clue to navigating. The ride, although not epic by Bikin’fools standards, was none-the-less a classic. It was a deep encounter with truth, justice and freedom.