Yoshi Bench

Yesterday I took my buddy out for what I though was going to be his last ride ever. Yoshi passed away over a year ago, but I never got around to taking some of his ashes with me on a ride. Perhaps I wasn’t ready to do it. I thought about it lots over the past year. Yesterday was the day though.

The day was spectacular. The sun was out, and it was warm, bordering on hot at 10:30. I took my hardtail for the ride since I didn’t really want to be wearing my armour on a hot ride. Heart came with me too.

There were three places I wanted to take Yoshi to and leave some of his ashes at. I changed my mind on one of them though. I took a route that Yoshi enjoyed and stopped many times along the way. Heart came with me on the ride for moral support. She didn’t really know what I was up to, and I was ok with that. She is turning into a good trail dog, but her differences really remind me of Yoshi.

Yosh used to be constantly running through the bush whenever we stopped. He would like to lead the pack on the trail too, though he never liked to get too far in front of me. I will never forget that there is one section of trail that he did not like. There was something there that scared him, and any time we got close he would act very strange, and sometimes go the opposite direction on the trail. I often wondered if he smelled a cougar or something.

Heart on the other hand sticks close to me, usually in front. When I stop for a break, she sticks with me and hangs out.

The first stop was at the bench at the bottom of the Switchbacks. Any time we rested there Yoshi would look at us with his big tongue hanging out. Inevitably he would head down the bank to the stream and get a drink. I sprinkled some of him at the top of the path and marked it with a rock.

After a nice break Heart and I continued on to Twister. There is a clearing just after the first hill where we would often take a break. Yoshi would run around eating grass, or come visit for some scratches.

After Twister, Heart and I made our way up to Snakes and Ladders. At the top of the trail there is a nice rest area with a clearing over looking the dump, and the valley.

Here I found a rock to leave part of Yoshi under. The last little bit of ashes I had I tossed into the wind. In my mind I could see Yoshi running free. I thought back to his uncanny ability to always get up in the car when we got close to a destination for a walk. I remembered how when he ran wildly his ears, jowls and tongue would flap about. I missed him terribly at that moment. I still do.

After a moment of silence and thought of Yoshi I got back on my bike and headed back to my truck. I made one resolution though, that won’t be his last ride with me. I’m going to get a small container and seal some of his ashes in it. Then he can come with me on every ride.

Heart had a good run that day. She was pooped by the time we got to Skull trail and lagged far behind me on the double track back. After a big drink and a cool down, she had a deep snooze for the rest of the day.

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Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 6.86 km (4.3 mi)
Total Time: 1:34:39
Moving Time: 50:43
Average Speed: 4.35 km/h (2.7 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 8.12 km/h (5.0 mi/h)
Max Speed: 29.02 km/h (18.0 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 112 m (367 ft)
Max Elevation: 287 m (942 ft)
Elevation Gain: 312 m (1025 ft)
Max Grade: 5 %
Min Grade: -11 %