Free Mountain Bike Mania by Matt Christopher Page B

trail and into the heart of the woods!
    “Wow!” Will gasped as they took air to leapfrog a small ravine that stood in their way. “This is unbelievable! But are you
     sure we’re not damaging the forest floor?”
    Ace turned to him in disbelief. His bike wobbled under him as he waited for Will to catch up. “Damaging the forest floor?”
     he repeated mockingly. “Is that what you said?” He laughed derisively. “Give me a break! You’re not one of those tree-hugging
     enviro-fanatics, are you?”
    “Well, no, I’ve, never actually hugged any trees, but —”
    “Whatever’s growing on the forest floor will grow back, or it won’t,” Ace said with a shrug, and pushed on ahead. “Plants
     don’t have feelings, so who cares?”
    They crested a hill, and before them, the slope took a steep dive down into a dark ravine. “Ya-hoooo!” Ace yelled. Will opened
     his mouth to yell, too. But nothing came out.
    The steep grade and the lack of rocks or ruts made this a perfect place to practice downhill riding. Ahead of him, Will saw
     Ace deliberately spin out, creating a terrible scar in the soft earth at the bottom of the slope.
    “Man, you’re going to ruin the run!” Will complained.
    “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Ace retorted. “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, and I know
     a lot more about it. So don’t tell me what to do, okay? Not ever!”
    Will was shocked into silence. Ace turned around and shoved off down the wide path that bordered the stream at the bottom
     of the canyon.
    “This is the canyon trail,” he shouted back over his shoulder. “It’s a horseback riding trail, so the trick is to avoid the
     booby traps! Ha, ha!” He swerved crazily to avoid a pile of horse droppings. Another rut was dug deeply into the horse trail.
    Will tried to avoid the droppings, too, but was careful not to do any damage to the trail.
    Ace disappeared around a bend. Seconds later, Will heard the frightened whinny of a horse and a child’s scream. A man’s bellowing,
     angry voice followed.
    Will got off his bike and walked it forward, sensing what had happened and not wanting to have anyone’s anger at Ace directed
     toward him.
    “Did you see that?” the man was saying over and over again. He sat astride a big brown horse, and a little girl of about eight,
     his daughter, Will guessed, sat on a white horse, crying. Her father held the reins of both horses in one hand and had his
     other arm around the little girl. Next to them were three other riders, all sympathizing.
    “They ought to ban mountain bikers from the trails,” one of the others said. “Little Michelle practicallygot thrown! She could’ve been seriously hurt!”
    Just then the man caught sight of Will. He turned on him angrily.
    “I’m sorry about him,” Will said hurriedly before the man could speak. “But you know, not all mountain bikers act like that.
     In fact, most of us don’t. So I hope you won’t hold what happened against all mountain bikers.”
    “Hmm,” the father said, giving his daughter a comforting squeeze. “Well, I’m glad to see somebody’s got a little consideration.
     Listen, do you know the name of that kid?” he asked.
    “Um, no,” Will said. He balked at getting Ace in trouble. On the other hand, he was going to have to say something to him,
     even if it meant Ace didn’t want to be his friend anymore.
    In fact, now that Will thought of it, how good a friend had Ace turned out to be? With his wild behavior at school, he’d gotten
     the whole club in trouble. And with his antics on the trails, he was giving all mountain bikers a bad reputation.
    Will apologized again and rode off after Ace. Onhis way, he passed a gum wrapper and two candy wrappers thrown along the trail. When he caught up to Ace, he was chewing gum,
     and the side of his mouth was stained with chocolate.
    “Want some gum?” Ace asked. “What took you? Hit some booby traps?” He laughed,