overlaid with antlers

Thanksgiving was a full one. I rode out the valley to work, and then rode on further out past the village to a summer camp owned by friends of friends. It was gloriously warm and sunny (shirt sleeves!) early on; then the clouds and wind pushed me ahead of themselves in the later afternoon. There is a surprising (to me) amount of Fall color out that way.




I felt great. It was a perfect meshing of good position, enough rest, excellent conditions, attackable grades, and sufficient legs for the job at hand. It was just hard enough to be felt. It was just easy enough to be dismissed.

It has been a while since I felt that way. It is a Good Feeling.



Here is the temporary replacement stem. Here are the clamshell shifters after I adjusted them mid-ride so as to give me maximum grab area. I lik a lot of hand positions. It occurred to me that having lots of bikes is good for you; in that you are that much less likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries if you spread the use around over different handlebar configurations. Just go with it- it's Science, and Science is something your sweetie cannot deny when you come home with that next bike.


When I arrived at the summer camp entrance I ignored the devil on my shoulder whispering at me to ride out the valley just a little more, and climbed up to join my sweetie (roped in by friends) in the industrial kitchen to help cook for ~80 people. I walked in the door, cracked a beer and mashed some potatoes. Then I sipped at the flask full of rye and washed dishes for several hours, while all around me it was chaos and quickness.

These people are not us. That's some lady and F____- who wanted to talk to me about his army days in Greenland, and would not stop whistling Van Morrison's "Moondance".



We spent the night in one of the cabins...


I hate cots.






Rain prevented the planned ride back in this morning. Instead, I drank lots of coffee and helped cook breakfast for the ~40 people who stayed over. My Big Idea was to use the GIANT bowl of left over mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes (and so prevent them from going to waste). I used leeks to add some texture, threw in some garlic, salt and pepper and browned up 4 giant cast iron skilletfuls. It turned out well.

I wish I had thought to photograph the poor pathetic stuffed bear they have on a mantel in one of the dining halls. You would have loved it. It is the size of a Labrador, and falling to pieces. I have a strange fondness for mangy taxidermy.

Thank You

The Frontiersman
Originally uploaded by Marxchivist

the little things. The BIG Picture. patience, tolerance, humility. bikes and bike riding. My Family. health. employment. things that are funny. the nick of Time (which comes in yet also cuts deep). again- the heavy heavy monster sound. buzz of tires. rush of wind. silence.Blood, blood, blood- blood and fire! pave. canvas, wool and leather. owls. chances- are and taken; both. wisdom, knowledge and overstanding. wind at my back, sun on my face. whichever ride is happening now....

mouse fight breaks out! no clear winner

Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, Son.



I got on the Long Haul Trucker for a sunny ride to work this morning. It's been a while. The handlebars felt a little off; like the right side was flexing up more than the left. I eyeballed the set up and it was a little cocked to the left, so I thought I must have knocked it around somewhere down the line...and I'd fix it later.

Whatevah.
I flexed the bars back and forth a bunch getting reacquainted with the feel of this bike. Took some turns a little hot. You know. Super fast bumpy drop down the hill. Getting out over the front end. Dropping like a stone.

I wanted to go ride some dirt after work so I pulled out the multi-tool to re-align the stem, but this

was what I saw.

Oh my.

I called the wife for an automobile rescue.

move along

Nothing to see here.

Damn, damn, damn!

to all those that know what really time it is

J's first ever trail ride!



Which quickly became his first ever trailside crash...



followed by his first ever trailside recovery.


He really tore it up. Especially in light of keeping up on dinky 12" wheels.



There were moments of panic, in which he forgot the coaster brake and Flintstoned to a stop. There were moments when he used his feet as outriggers and pogoed back and forth down some inclines.


We took the mildest singletracks available. Some fireroads. A very small amount of pave. Not one complaint.

Ostensibly, the plan was to head over to the old Boy Scout Camp and cut the hands off the used-to-be clown-headed swing sets. The heads are long gone. There's one frame/body still standing, but people beat us to it. Those hands are gone now, too. There is one body in the weeds, which location I thought I remembered but could not find. I had stashed the body in the dark of night maybe 4 years ago, after I'd hack sawed the head off. I kept telling myself I'd get around to hauling the body out one of these days. Dang. Who doesn't want a white gloved tube of galvanized steel with chains attached?

Anyhow, we cooked Brown Lunch and fooled around.


J got tired on the way back. We strapped the pink bike (which had been N's 1st bike and then D's, and J's in turn) onto the tail of the Big Dummy and J climbed on board.


We stopped briefly at the stairs, where J decided he wanted to ride the rest of the way himself.


Then we collected some trailside logs for firewood and called it a day.



We should all be so stoked. ~6 miles.

Post up

If you haven't read David Foster Wallace, you're shorting yourself some Quality.

Full stop.

I hadn't read this piece before, which remains timely and relevant. Go read it, I'll wait.



















I would just add that, short of turning into one of those cyclists who make it about self righteousness of one sort or the other (whether it be lycraed out Serious Training, or Planet Saving Commute, or Traffic Law Obeying to the Nth degree as a matter of being an upright example to others, or maybe just some jackass on a computer-ahem), short of being one of them, being on a bike would make just about every example listed in the tedious workday struggle for conscious awareness a little more fun and, so, doable.
The ability to make the choice to step outside oneself and one's "tiny skull sized kingdom" -and man, I wish that line were mine!- is more accessible given the inherent freedom of the bike to take us a step outside the gridlock.
2 cents.

I found the article via Flick Lives!, which is frequently a good read. Thanks for the heads up, Flick.

for your health!

You have different bikes? For different ridings? Using different bars on them reduces your likelihood of developing over use/repetitive strain injuries, and, plus makes each one more interesting through contrast!

Why didn't you think of that?