le nord

I got to go to France. And. I took a bike, my bike. How cool is that? Sounds like bragging, I'm pretty sure it is, but how freaking awesome is that? I'm still in disbelief of the whole thing. France. Well, to be more accurate Northern France in the Normandy and Picardie regions. Right on the Channel (or left depending on which way you are standing). I went to Europe last fall and it was awesome (bragging again). I'm not going to say BUT. (but)This time was different because I took my bike, and we stayed in the same place for a week and a half before moving on to Paris and Bruxelles.

I was on my own to explore wherever my legs could take me. I have to say this is the only way to see a new place, whether it be a foreign country or your own neighborhood. The bike is just fast enough that you can go places, but slow enough that you don't miss out on the nuances. I can say that I made a connection with the places I went on bike. The memories seem more tactile. You see, feel, hear and smell the experience. It's sensory usage that imprints greater because more senses are being recorded at the same time. Towns and villages have more character that one can feel by slowing down. The smells of the agriculture, bakeries, fish markets, and the sea are enhanced by the sound and sights that envelop a place.

 I could go on and on, actually I can't. So, I'll let these pictures pile up the thousands and thousands of words. Yes, it was that beautiful, even on the rainy days. Yes, I did imagine riding shoulder to shoulder with the pro peloton, when in France these things happen. I didn't actually get to ride shoulder to shoulder with the pros, but I did see the end of the Tour of Picardie. I did ride next to and behind the pros as they were heading back to the buses. Je t'aime, France, merci

How's it going?

I commute to work every now and then, I'm not a have-to commuter, I'm a want-to commuter, and I want to more than not. In this metropolius of pick-up trucks I am one of a handful of people that actually ride bikes to work in this unfriendly, no infrastructure, take your life in your own hands country. On my commute to work I expect to be honked at, buzzed, yelled at (when one yells out of a car window at 70+mph one sounds even more ignorant than if I could even understand what you are trying to convey). Don't yell it makes one seem stupid.

I never see other cyclists on my commute. Never. Well, in the year that I have been doing this maybe a handful. So you can see that I was delighted to see another cyclist on the road on my way to work this morning. Speeding up to catch said rider is my usual response, but not today. I stayed the course and gradually reeled him in. Wow! Another cyclist out on the same road enjoying the same weather and a beautiful tailwind. I was ready for a chat, a cyclist to cyclist chat.

I slowed slightly to meet his pace, edged up beside him and announced my presence with a friendly "how's it going?" He barely half-looked in my direction and kept riding. So I followed that up with a "you doin' alright?" which was completely ignored with a blank-leave-me-alone-stare. No glance, no nod, nothing. Well well, guess all the "Riders" in these parts are too PRO to have a little cycling banter on the Sunday morning spin out.

I expect rudeness from the automobile clad legions, but a fellow cyclist? Really? I know there are the stereotypical jackasses in cycling. I know this. But here in this tiny cycling community where a group ride has less people than a training ride with my old cycling club? With so few people can one really afford to be such an ass? Hope that works out for you buddy.

Ignorance comes in the four-wheeled variety and it also is prevalent on two wheels. Yes I come away from this incident a little sad that I could not share an experience, the experience of riding a bike, with a fellow cyclist and possibly meet someone new. I should know better and not have my feelings hurt, but it just seems that we are all in this together and we should be on the same team. The next time I roll up on another cyclist, if it ever happens again, I will be sure to give at least a nod, but more importantly, a "how's it going?"

dumb rage pt.2

It has been several hours since part one, and I still have the rage glowing inside me like a spicy taco truck burrito. I am still amazed by the ignorance of people, people who are supposed to be in our tribe, think the way we do, live the way we do, but then again every family has that crazy uncle who drinks too much, talks too much, and is well you get the point. My rage digresses into sadness.

(fade to black and white grainy backdrop) I've been riding mountain bikes for almost 17 years, I started back in Utah in the summer because I was getting fat and it took forever when the snow came to get into riding form. Bikes were not my first love, and I just used them as a tool. They did not become my life until about ten years ago. I'm not providing my background in cycling to prove that I "know stuff", it is to show that I don't know everything there is to know. I am a student of cycling and I have a lifetime to learn. My knowledge is only a small sliver. What I do know is this. (house lights come up with a small rainbow and unicorn -stage left)

Mountain bike trails don't make themselves, there is not some magical all seeing being that comes down from Unicorn Rainbow Land to breathe trails to life. I wish. But. For me this is really kinda how it happens. Trails just appear. It is a miracle. I go to the Trail Head ride my bike and go home. Done and dusted, time for a man soda. Wait. I know what you are thinking, you don't believe in Unicorn Rainbow trail making god?

First Santa and now Unicorn Trail Making god. I found out the other day that people make trails. Who knew? Yes, real people just like you and me. Well, except they spend countless hours working, building, breaking, sawing, sweating, cutting, moving for the common good of ALL trail users. Not just mountain bikers you silly. Everyone. It's like going to your job doing all the work and then someone else gets your paycheck to spend on beer and candy. Show some appreciation, say thank you, respect what you have -what you have been given. Find these magical real people and buy them a beer, or probably the best thing you could do, is help. Or, just say thank you and stop your complaining, after all you are big, though, awesome, PRO, mountain bikers.

Thank you for all your hard work. MY trails are awesome. That's right I own them. (last two sentences dripping with sarcasm)

Dumb Rage

This is probably a bad idea, but I'm pissed. I have to put something down to maybe, just maybe work through this seething rage of hatred. I hate ignorance. Ignorance that has no merit but is embolden by years of just not having a freaking clue. Throwing a leg over a mountain bike does not magically make you a mountainbiker, but for some it does, and with this it gives one knowledge beyond all comprehension. Trolling the interwebs, mags, and edits makes one so PRO. Please oh great ones let us know how awesome you are, we seek your wisdom.

Riding a trail or hiking or rolling around in the dust for 30+ years does not prescribe ownership. Taking your sick whip out of your padded tailgate truck for the first time does not entitle you to ownership.

 KNOWLEDGE DROP:  NO one OWNS the trails, we are all users. The only people who OWN trails are the ones that have Title or Deed to the land, then and only then does someone OWN the trail.  

I have never wielded a rake, shovel, sledgehammer, weed-eater, or put on work gloves for trail building/maintenance. I am a consumer, and everyone who does the same as I, is a consumer. If you are not working on the trails in some capacity this is what you are. Unlike Burger King, being a trail consumer, we can NOT Have It Our Way. We have to consume the trail the way it is presented to us.

End of story.

 More to come on this subject, I am by no means finished with this RANT, I'm pissed.

The L's

Live
Life
Love
Live

Live Life, Love the people in your Life, and make sure it is Live.

I like to pick up heavy stuff and put it down

Strength

What does it mean? To be strong? A show of strength, is that being strong? The opposite of Strength is Weakness, so Weakness is the opposite of Strength? Right? "I bench 4000lbs" (yeah I put an extra 0 in there to see if you were paying attention) Is the true show of strength muscle bound apes lifting heavy things and then putting them back down again?

I don't know what it "means" to be strong, what I do know is there are people who are stronger than I. I'm not talking about lifting heavy stuff, or being faster, or whatever your measuring stick might be. I am talking about fortitude, the kind of stuff that real people are made from. Forged if you will. Forged out of stone. The aunt that is fighting cancer, the cousins that lost an adult son, the family friends that lost a father and husband. That is true strength, the kind that gets one out of bed in the morning when there is no reason to get up. The power to look another day in the face and hope that you have another one tomorrow. I know nothing of this strength, I marvel at these people in my life and I question. How do they do it? Strength. Where does it come from? If I ever need this kind of strength will I find it?

In our daily lives we get too caught up in the small stuff, we forget the big picture and focus on the unnecessary. It's too easy to care about stupid things and forget what is real. Reality is not always unicorns, rainbows, and sharks with lasers. It is pain, suffering, dark and cold, and it takes strength to live.

 Getting up when you have been knocked down is Strong. Trying to get up when you can't is Strength.