When I am sitting back thinking "man, I wish I had something to do for the next hour" you know what I do? I go out and find a good spot.  Having the ability to see a good spot for what it is can take a few years to truly fine tune, however almost everyone has the rudimentary skill to find a decent spot.  And this morning  while cruising my bike around I found a decent spot (borderline great).  It is just along our (the people of the world (but most geographically specific; the City of Fort Collins)) beautiful river, in the shade, and equipped with a perfect bench. 

But let's lay out the scene (and with this I can perhaps arm you with the required tools for personal upgrade to pro spot finder).  The wind was in my hair and the sun was in my eyes, but up ahead on the trail I think I spy a fork in the road.  Now, the trail that I'm riding is pretty close to the river at this point so the fork (headed in the river's direction) couldn't be a long spur, it had the markings of a great view point from the very beginning.  And I cannot stress the importance of the view enough, whether it be a nature view, a cityscape, people watching, the subject of the view matters not, what does matter is that you (when sitting at your spot) can look at something.  And sitting is also quite important.  To achieve a high level of relaxation standing is not an option, laying down is good (but generally negates the view), this leaves sitting.  A tree to lean your back against can do the trick, but I prefer a nice comfy bench, a bench that has options for sitting style, as well as a firm surface for sitting support.  I decided to risk it and take the left on the jaunt, I mean what's the worst that could happen?

This left turn was the best decision I made all day.  I was greeted with shade lending trees to block the sun, a river view, a nice looking bench, and even a little walk-down-to-the-river-to-dip-your-feet kind of path.  Pure heaven.  I laid down a sweet skid, jumped off my bike, and immediately took to sitting down.  I relaxed, at one point I even sat on the ground and used the bench as a back rest, then came back up to the sitting level and used the length of the bench top to stretch my hammies.  This was a morning to sit back and take it all in.  About 25 minutes in I decided to test out the dip-your-feet path.  I extracted my feet from my shoes, rolled my pants up, and journeyed down the dirt incline towards the (assuredly) cold water.  My brain was wandering and my eyes were getting heavy from all the relaxing, the cold water running between my toes and under the arches of my feet was exactly what was needed.  This quick shock brought my awareness back and after a few minutes I retreated back to the sitting bench where I sat just long enough time to dry my feet and stick them back in my shoes for the journey home.  The only thing that may have made this time better would have been an ice cold can of Sunshine (but 9:15am on a Tuesday isn't exactly beer:30 (well maybe not this Tuesday)).

So next time your out on your favorite bike shred just don't blow by that little spur that you always blow by, maybe take the off-shoot, because at the end may be a bench and a view with your name written all over it.

See you Friday for another classy food pairing idea.

-JUICEBOX