And frankly that was awesome... I wish I had "trials skills" like that. Most of my riding is street... with a touch of off road.

That whole connection of sailing and biking though reminded me of an bit of adventure I had on Catalina about 5 years ago. Just arrived at the Isthmus on a friends boat... and went ashore. Noticed a mountain bike rental place and got a bike for the day. The ride up the isthmus and to Parsons Landing was fantastic. I was pretty much the only person around except for the various shore side camp grounds. The wide dirt road was mine and mine alone. The day was warm, not too hot, and the sea breezes kept things very comfortable. I took the whole day just exploring the dirt roads on "the west side" of the island and loved every minute of it. Everything from fast downhill runs to challenging steep hills... all quiet and alone. Parsons Landing was a wide stretch of private beach just waiting for me.

When I finally got back to the boat, the skipper commented... "do anything interesting today?" I had an ear to ear grin, no doubt.