Mention Cape Cod and most people think about going to the beautiful beaches, but not me. I have been going to “The Cape” for over 50 years, since I was a kid. In 1961 my parents bought a house on the bay-side beach in South Truro, near the end of the Cape. As a kid my mother and father would take the entire family there each summer: 5 kids, a babysitter, 2 dogs, a sailfish sailboat on top of the station wagon and a flying scot sailboat on the trailer behind. All the luggage was in the boat on the trailer. It was a 2 day drive from Cincinnati to Truro and my father later admitted that packing and driving was the most stressful time of his life. We spent a lot of time on the beach and sailing on the bay. I even learned to surf using a board that was about 9 feet long. But that is another story

It wasn’t until I was almost 40 years old that I discovered the other part of Cape Cod – the woods. I had started mountain biking and I began to explore the back roads and fire roads and trails in Truro and Wellfleet. There are so many options and so many untraveled trails that it has given me immense joy and endless adventure ever since. The road biking is good: good roads, light traffic (except Route 6 during July and August.) But the real fun for me is riding in the woods.

I have gotten Lisa hooked on it too, so that now we spend much more time in the woods than on the beach. I like to start every day with a ride through the woods to pick up the newspapers (NY Times for me, Boston Globe – with comics – for Lisa.) Then I can do another road ride in the afternoon.

The hardest part of riding these roads and trails is the soft sand.  Don’t even think of riding on narrow tires.  40mm wide is about minimum, and you will still have to walk through the soft patches.