There used to be a some really good riding in a town close to here.  It was an abandoned rail road bed.  A local hunting club had the right of way and would allow anybody to use the trail and all the trails that stemmed from the old rail bed.  Everybody got along.  Equestrians, 4WD, hikers, mountain bikers and dirt bikers.  Then something nasty happened.  A group of people who know best how others should live decided that it would best if only hikers and bikers had access to these trails.  So they banded together and lobbied the government and collected momementum from a whole slew of haters and created The "Great" Allegheny Passage. You know, those people who think that everybody should be exactly like them and only enjoy the exact same activities they enjoy.  For your own good of course.  Equestrians are also taboo in a lot of areas on the trail.  Imagine that, one of the oldest forms of non bipedal conveyance.. taboo.  But now it's not just the "Alleghany Passage".  It's the "Great" "Alleghany Passage".  I guess all the haters like it because now they only have to commune with others of their ilk who enjoy the exact same activities they do.  

Back in the early 1980s, when I had my summers off, I'd go riding all summer. There were lots of places to ride. I couldn't cover all the area in a day. Fast forward to today. I can go riding now, and cover just about every trail from Westernport to Frostburg in a day. At first I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought, hey, I must be getting pretty fast. But just yesterday I figured it out. The riding area is shrinking.

Training for off road riding can consist of some pretty boring stuff. Running is probably one of the best conditioning exercises available to those who want to prepare for the rigors of racing. But running, to all but the most masochistic of us, is boring. Face it, we like to ride because it provides that rush of adrenaline that we crave. Most of us run, those of us who do run, only because it helps us ride better.