Ben: Mountain Bike Extraordinaire!

I've recently posted about slack lining and other spring activities we enjoy enjoy, but I can not stress enough how much we love exploring the plethora of public parks tucked around every corner of Greensboro! Our last home, Hickory, was named a top 10 US city twice in the last five years partly because of their outdoor park system, so I was prepared to really hate letting that go when we moved.  We have been so impressed by the abundance of outdoor activities here, too, though, and are starting to think NC may just be the perfect place: so far both cities have had numerous parks, gorgeous weather and flora, and within hours to mountains for rock climbing or camping in one direction and my coveted Outer Banks beaches in the other!

See all of the green and blue? Just a segment of the different parks and lakes around Greensboro!

One of the parks Ben stumbled upon was Country Park, which, like a few other parks, is attached at either end to different parks but offers it's own unique  attractions. We got to Country Park by driving to the very back of Jaycee Park.  Jaycee Park houses a city rec center, soccer and baseball fields, and an old wooden sign welcomes you to Country park behind the baseball field which contains a paved walking/ biking path that circles 4 miles around two beautiful lakes the butts against one of my favorites, Guilford Courthouse Park, which is known for historical sites, war reenactments, and walking paths around old cemeteries and statues. Sound confusing? We love it because they are all close by and so different!

We discovered Country Park recently, though, because Ben wanted to find good mountain bike paths.  He read that this one was great, so we brought his bike and I brought a book and we spent about 2.5 hours there on Wednesday!

Mostly because he discovered this...

A well-protected, built-up mountain bike/ BMX natural jump park! Or whatever they call it. 

Ben says there was an indoor jump park like this in Cleveland, but who wouldn't rather be outside? 

It has a variety of things, like paths to bike over made of fencing, logs, boulders, and a teeter-totter. 

He says mountain biking at Country Park in Greensboro is his new favorite place. 

And lots of built-up ramps and jumps that are forbidden to walking or skateboarding.

I knew Ben loved mountain biking, and I've heard stories of some of the races he entered as a teen and tricks he could do, but I had no idea how good he really is!

By about 6:00 pm the park got a lot more crowded, and there were 4 or 5 {plus two kids} bikers using the jump park. I watched them all make the run, but no one was nearly as good as Ben. Everyone would stop and watch him when he went! This video doesn't even show how fast he was going or how high his jumps were very well. 

I guess I thought mountain biking meant riding a bike through a hiking trail. Not so, my friend! Ben was truly exhausted after a 5-mile wilderness bike and running this jump trail a bunch of times. It means biking over stuff, keeping balance, gaining speed, perfect angles, and conquering fear. 

He's amazing, isn't he?