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?

You say _______________, but you don't mean it.

Pain in the ass? No, "pain in the low back." OK, pain from the ass. Gluteus Medius is involved in 90% of low back pain. And that is why I do this:


to help with low back pain by eliminating trigger points in Gluteus Medius (which have a referral pattern up into the low back). I'll move the ball until I find the spot(s) and then rock back and forth letting my body weight work out the knots. Maybe hold on a spot for a maximum of 20 seconds, and then move off. This pushes blood from the area and when the pressure is relieved fresh, oxygenated blood floods back in. I also roll around on my side and work points. It works.




In looking for a reason for this new discomfort, I examined my cleat placement.Look at this!



Wha?!? How did this happen? Am I such a lunkhead that I set the cleats this way initially? I'd like to say :"Oh, surely not!" in a firm and competent tone; but let's face it...it could happen.

Ouch.

While this is a clear indictment of my (overall) competence however we look at it, it almost certainly is the cause of my recent pain in the ass/back. I've now moved both cleats as far back as the slots allow to see how that feels. Ankling? Apparently, we don't have to show you any steenkeen badges.



Hope that helps.

kid bikes

nobody kills the wolfman

Got my head right over here, Boss. Though I'd never admit it to them (on account of the necessary rivalry keeps em on their toes) they got the best riding around in Santa Cruz, CA. As good as anyplace you care to name.

Just enough area

for me to patrol?


Alls I can say is: wooden. Head made of wood, heart made of wood, and (most of all) legs made of wood. There is a whole lot of downed wood in the forests right now. I've hit a motivational barricade (feels like solid enough wood) in contemplating the same same rides. Poor me.

Ride in the woods.



I got to get out and ride something different.

what? huh?

I waited some and drank some beers at the trailhead, but you must have had other things going on. I understand. Monday night is no time to go out and wreck yourself on trails and cheap canned beer. Everone has their priorities, their schedules and such. It occurs to me that it may only be myself who has this...urge to ride with no lights at questionable speeds through twisty singletrack. Who among us does not have their deeply personal and abiding interest in some singularly absorbing pursuit?

It's just that mine is important.

In part because the opportunities are so limited. 12 possibilities per year to ride out and see the world at it's best. (OK, on average- but your Blue Moon is an even more special circumstance and cannot be ignored) Moonlight changes those favorite rides with new and surprising magic. It is very different from "night riding" with blazing/limiting cones of headlights. Try it, and it'll make sense. I'm just trying to help you help yourself be happier.



Being alone in the woods under a Full Moon can be wonderful. Being alone under a Full Moon in the woods can be scary. Sudden pockets of cold air in the low spots, warm (almost hot last night) air in the open meadows and higher ridge lines. Strangely amplified rustling in the undergrowth. Deer appearing beside the trail from no place; as if from the darkness itself. The sounds of diverging and converging packs of yodel dogs singing to one another. Unidentifiable animal movements- large, and speedy too- which cause the warm rush of adrenaline down the back of your neck and across your shoulders.

This month I wised up and remembered to wear a cap. The visor helps a whole lot with keeping the moon from sneakily blinding you. I rode pretty directly (I've figured out the good line from the old rope towers is turning right at the paved road and then righter at the singletrack down to the open sandy area and the fireroad East towards Comanche's Grave)(also, the singletrack off that to hook under Blair Witch has now been bulldozed and fucked) over to the bluff at the end of Mud Hen Express (moonlit woop de doos!) where I lounged and toasted the moon with Michter's Single Barrel Rye Whiskey (which is an American/actual Rye ) and thought about real deep and fundamental shit which I will keep to myself.

I will say that there are now 9 dewy fresh Easter Eggs, bathed in the magic of Full Moonlight, aging in the shallow caves beneath the caprock there. If you are reading this and know where that is, you are welcome to 1 or 3.

I hope to see you next month for something similar, if a bit chillier. You know, if nothing good is on TV...

Carry on.

if I could redirect your attention for a moment

Kicking and screaming all night long. Full Hunter's Moon tonight. Usual spot, darkish. Cross bikes recommended.
Ride it...