I've posted my MTBing history on other portions of the forum a couple of times, but in short back in my teen years I road biked - gave it up for about 15 years - and this past spring was introduced to mountain biking by a good friend and co-worker who used to ride.
I've lost 35 pounds last year (good eating and riding as much as I could), and although I'm still a beginner who's slow and out of shape (IMHO), I'm 100% better than I was just 7 months ago.
I still have challenges to riding (weekdays it's hard to get out during lunch and dark too early right now, have the kids every other weekend and don't bike those weekends), but if there are non-raining available days, I ride. period. it's a 'top of the list' Item.
Sometime last fall I realized in my heart I was USING the trails, but giving nothing back to those who sweat to keep them where i enjoy them.  I decided I must join.
And when the new year arrived, I did just that. $20 is c-h-e-a-p for the amount of times one would ride, and it's the least someone could do to support those volunteers.
I also believe I'll become a volunteer myself to help maintain my trail.
I am absolutely NOT posting this for a proverbial 'pat on the back' from everyone, but I'm hoping that someone who's not joined could read this, relate, and realize they can help too.
I'm high on the TTB and the sheer number and quality of our trails. I've ridden in Raleigh, Clemson, and Atlanta last year, and I'm not sure most casual riders realize just how good we got it here.
The Trailblazers deserve all our support and cudos.

oh, and if there's any single, female riders out there who'd like to meet for a ride, pm me!

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Thanks. Better eating (still too much red meat), removing almost all sugar from my diet (at least what I can control) and biking every chance I get.  Still got this darn spare innertube to deal with, tho'.

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I think if I lived that close to one of the trails my legs would be the size of tree stumps...


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2 hours a DAY?  What on earth do you do for a living??!!
Since my skill level has risen to allow me to (slowly) take most of SB (I've never tried the roller coaster... maybe in 2 weeks, weather permitting), I've come to love it.  Beatty is a much faster ride for me (less switchbacks and much more familarity), but SB is convenient and long. Shame everyone else knows about it too!
The best part of SB, and I realized it today, is you can have 25 cars in the parking lot and STILL barely see another soul on the trail. And I haven't heard of any bear sightings like up at FF! (probably my personal fav.)
As for trailwork, I PM'd Gramps this weekend and *may* have volunteered to adopt a section of Beatty.  As I said in my original post, I feel I owe it back to the trails and community.
And there's probably a 90% chance I'll add a road bike to my stable this spring too...
Finally, SB was great today, but there were a few sections that were a bit 'moist' for my taste (a bit 'snotty' would describe the clay!), and I found myself a few times carrying speed, seeing a wet section, and doing the "toofasttoofast.." chant!!
Have a great week all!!