Father / Son mountainbiking bonding

Today we are mountain biking. I believe they call it Slickrock in DuPont. It's like the best mountain biking outside of Moab, Utah. It's been like 10 years since I've rode. He's never rode trails. We're gonna see if I've got what it takes and if you've got it. What's the test? I test the guest. I guess the test is, can we climb a hill without getting off? And we can go down a hill without falling off. With that said, you got what it takes? First, some tea and some breakfast. And in lieu of our forgotten mugs, he's got this big— that's a bacon grease catcher. And that's my— I found out the hard way— non-insulated Nalgene. While the tea's brewing, a little story. I was laying in bed— oh, look! Hey, you got our beds up. Mine too. Good job. Yesterday he didn't do that. He just got his. So yes, he's becoming a man. I lay here in the morning looking up at the beautiful view, and I thought, you know, I didn't really have a deep talking relationship with my dad. We didn't go very deep. I loved him, he loved me, he was proud of me, but it wasn't very deep. So I thought about this. I'm spending alone time with Josiah on this man trip. How do we— how do I change change that for me and my boys, me and my girl. Just so you feel like you can tell me anything. All right, tell me something. We should probably start cooking the eggs. Maybe I shouldn't laugh like that. No, no, I think that's good. I don't think that was not a making fun laugh, was it? I know we definitely don't want to do that. My dad used to kind of make fun of me for the crazy wires and the wire, and you know, he would call the way I was farming, moving the cows every day, like, you know, crazy wires because I was always putting up the fences. You know, that, that didn't help. So I've got to support them even if I think they're wrong. Like, not wrong wrong, you know what I mean? But wrong. In lieu of no bowls, and why don't we get this salt out because these are going to cook fast because the tea has been going on there. Oh, do you want to do bacon? We got to do bacon first. Gonna do bacon and eggs this morning. A little nervous because this is so hot. You can see how hot that is. We should have put the— took the plate off. For heating up that tea. There we go, homegrown bacon out in Pisgah Forest. You know what, Josiah, this is gonna go down in the books as the most forgotten things on a camping trip. On today's episode of Burn It Up Cooking Show, bacon and eggs in the woods. At least we're living with our motto, right, Josiah? High heat all the time. So lesson number 1, I think, never make fun. What do you think lesson number 2 is? What's the trick for me getting you to always feel like you can reply to me? I don't know. Like about girls, life troubles, business. When you're a grown man, what's the trick for you to look up to me and come to me as a mentor? I think about my mentors, and I would think, well, one, they've got to have experience. They have to have gone somewhere I want to go. So they would have had to have successful children, a job, a career that I aspire to. You know, like, I think I look up to Joel and I talk to him about farming stuff because he's so good at that, and his children are around and working around him. Same thing for my, my, my spiritual daddy, Mr. Meeks. Did we turn this down or off? Yeah. Oh well, let's kind of put it out. Honey for the tea. It's your big old mug. Parkside, isn't it? Yeah. I think about Mr. Meeks and what he's done and what he does, besides having done something I want to achieve myself, he never gives advice unless I'm seeking it, which I'm sure is hard sometimes. And even more so, never shoulds. He never should me. Should me? Don't should. He never shoulds. Oh, you should do this. You shouldn't have done that. Especially that one. You shouldn't have done that. Oh, that's a rotten egg. We should put more butter down. We don't have enough bacon grease. There I go, shouldn't wees. But I guess it's okay to should we. I can tell this is something I'm gonna have to work on. It's one thing to sit here and know the tricks and discover the tricks and realize them. It's another one to live it out. That might be something, asking their opinions. And that is something I think I'm good at, not necessarily because I try. I think, I think it just comes Natural. What do you think we should do with this rotten egg? I don't know, go throw it away. All right, this is a trick we learned from last camping trip. Covered bucket for our food scraps. We just hate throwing away food. Ever since we started a homestead, it's hard to throw away food. We just, we just can't do it anymore. Now we take our compost bucket with us. I don't know why I call it compost bucket, because we just feed it to them. Breakfast of champions. Why are we sitting around a campfire? That's not existence. Oh yeah, done. Justine did say the eggs were a little too salty, and I said, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think I had another tip for myself and you. Apologizing. I'm sorry. For what? Just for not being perfect. Sorry for anything in the past and anything in the future. All right, I'm trying. I think that's the key. Well, it brings me down. And helps you realize, at least that's my theory, that I'm not better than you. So therefore you can talk to me. And that doesn't mean I always have the answers. Homemade yogurt. Plain yogurt with just honey, mama. Honey-sweetened chocolate. 24-hour fermented raw yogurt. That's hitting the spot this morning. Good morning, Joe, our faithful guide. How we doing? Good. Is this your gear? Is this your ride? That's my bike, and then I got you all set up over here. What motivates you to do this day after day? Oh, I love it. I love it. It's like, you know, it's like a musician. Yeah, it's who they are, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's like you get paid to go into the woods every day. Oh, and play other people in there. You think he has what it takes? He's never been trail riding. Oh, he's gonna be good today. Meaning He can get up a hill without getting off, and he can go down a hill without getting off. One or two places today that I think are going to be a little more challenging. We're going to do Covered Bridge, and then we're going to probably bike about a mile and a half out to Bridal Veil Falls. Okay. And then we'll drop our bikes and do some trekking. Okay. To see a cool waterfall. Oh nice, alright. How do you feel? You feel pretty good? Yeah. So we just climbed the first hill that Joe said would be difficult. It wasn't difficult, and it was like on double-track gravel. To Joe's credit, I did ask, does anybody have to walk that? He said all the time. So apparently we nailed that. We have been on that gravel maybe 10 minutes, and finally I did say to Joe, I said, I started to think, I hope we're getting off this. Like, how amateur is this ride? I said, hey, we are going to do some single track, right? Just right after that, we started hitting the single track. One of our goals was to make it up the hill without getting off. I was about to— I just stepped off the bike in that little crevice right there. Huge. Hopefully Josiah can meet the goal. Don't fall off. Come on, come on. You got it, come on, one more section. Oh, this is the stuff I love, technical uphills. All right, I got this. Not being one to give up easy and one to being really liking these slow uphill technical stuff, I had to try again. And I tried again. I haven't fallen off yet. All right, third time's a charm. And I tried again, third time, didn't get it. I imagine I felt some pressure from the other ones to just keep going, and I was very tired, so we just kept going. Pit stop. Where are we going, Joe? Bridal Veil Falls. Okay, we hiking up it or just looking? Hike up. Are you familiar with The movie The Hunger Games, part of it was filmed right here. What? Yeah, one of the chase scenes was filmed on these rocks here. What? And you can see the waterfall in the background. Last of the Mohicans was filmed here too. A couple of movies, we'll have to check them out. We're going underneath it. From Last of the Mohicans, they filmed the scene here. Then Joe said we're gonna do the single trout loop again, and I started to think, am I gonna keep trying at this, this technical spot that ate me the last time? When we got there, I tried it, and I tried it again, and then I figured out I had to put weight on my back wheel. I figured out the line, and I did it. And guess what? Josiah tried it too. Oh, almost. Oh, you went through that easy peasy. Get some speed, get some speed. Come on, come on, come on, keep on it. Oh, you did it! And he didn't even need as many attempts as I did. I'm proud of that guy. I used to mountain bike like 15+ years ago, loved it with some of my young friends, and I imagine I just, I gave it up. I gave it up for the period that was raising young children. That we might be in a time that I could bring it back and as an activity with my children. They can like go better and faster than me. Oh, and it's an activity I can do with my hurting Lyme disease feet. Although Josiah and I only completed half of our goal, we both fell off going up. Neither one of us fell off going down. Um, it was a win because we had so much fun. We are back at the trailhead. Rate it 1 to 10 on fun scale. 10. Oh, we got it! I rediscovered an old love and think that it's something I can do that would be a lot of fun with my boys and Lily if she wants to later on in the future. Hey Josiah, great work, man! It was great to work with you. You were a good guide. Just had a quick lunch. Hamburger helper, homemade. Thank you, beautiful one. Sliding Rock, best time of the year. Everybody's gone home. It's cold. We have it all to ourselves, Josiah. Impressions? It was fun. Uh, yes. A lot more people there than we imagined. I guess we gotta come back in November. Yeah, nobody will be with us then. Dinner, hamburgers and hot dogs. It is 6:20. I could go to sleep. Could you go to sleep? Yeah, we've had some dead time here this afternoon. I told Josiah that if you want to slow down time, get bored or get in cold water. How about A little after dinner. Help the digestion. If you've made it this far in the vlog, I've thought of one more tip. Probably the golden tip. Probably also the easiest one. I want to hear this golden tip. Yes, that in just a second. What do you reckon that is? That looks like tombstone-ish. I know it's not. This old, like, 1860s church building out here in the middle of the forest. We're gonna see if we can't find it. Yeah, weird. I think it's gonna be across that building. One of my friends who got me into mountain biking like 15 years ago got married in that building. I think that would be nice if we can find this thing. I see a block building, I think. Come on, come on. Look at that. A church building, maybe as old as that poplar. This land for the church was bought in the 1860s for $5. Do you see something above the door? It was first wood. That went away in the 1900s, and they built the church from the river rocks. English Chapel. Not because this chapel is English, but it's named after a guy with his last name as English. You want to keep going or you want to go back? We can go back. Pooped? Yeah. Is it just too early to go to sleep? No. Oh, he says alright. Let's go home and go to bed. 6:40. Golden tip coming right up, but first, hey Josiah, did you notice something on the trail? All the other people? They're like 50, 60-year-old men. It's not too late for me. It's an old man's sport. I'm just— I'm the young whippersnapper out there. The golden tip, I think it requires no skill. For one, for, for having a deep relationship with your children into their adulthood, just want it. Forget the societal norms of growing your children up and sending them off. Be friends. Want it and put it in your head that that's your desire and that that's okay, and your mind will find a way. Maybe some of my tips helped. You'll find your own tips. It's okay to want it. It's okay. Want it. I think it's our best chance for it coming along and coming into fruition.