they're not ready to accept that dream situation yet

You lik bike rides?



Here's the current situation at the end of Mudhen Express. Folks are using the trail I laid in. It's going to be allright.



You lik spy novels? Alan Furst writes the best spy novels I've ever read. Set in various corners of the WWII European theatre, but nearly always including Paris, his books are hard-boiled and romantic and well researched and fundamentally (for me anways) speak to the importance of living. Characters who are alive, not asleep, even in the face of these overwhelming doom type situations. During the Cheney/Bush administration I felt a real craziness in this country, a feverish push towards fear. Here's hoping we're done, even and particularly in light of this tragic shooting in Tucson, but Furst's novels capture that sense of imminent danger very well.
Recommendo.



Life encompasses...uh, everything. From dangerous battles between a wolverine and a couple hungry wolves to shootings on capitol steps. I'm trying to stuff mine with kickassness til the seams won't hold. They pack up pretty full, if you toss out the fear and the fever and the sleepwalking.







You could try shoving some velocache in your personal life sack. I bet it would fit.

bold talk for a one eyed fat man

What I was getting at with the clothes and gear in True Grit was the practicality of it. See, I see some folks who won't commute without their neon yellow jacket (and truly, who doesn't look well in that?) and I see some folks who won't ride trails without their bibshorts. To say nothing of HRMs, power meters, and GPS synched ride profiles.

The only thing I won't ride without, is a bike- though I do have some reservations about heading off with no pump/patchkit. Also, I like a multi-tool. With a chaintool. And maybe some snacks. But I (digress) understand the "need" for specialized clothing/gear. One could flip that however, and consider how clothing/gear that works very well to ease the journey (thermoregulate, etc. however you like to think about such) can be your daily driver as it were.



If your ish is wool (at this time), you are good to go whenever. And plus, you will smell as fresh as is possible given, well you know. No need for anything more than getting in that saddle and riding the range. The only thing you need is to ride.


Folks want to need stuff. That's cool. Want to need an $11 case of canned beer and stuff it someplace in the woods I can find it.

where the only Law is Right

The old lady and meself watched the Coens' remake of "True Grit".



This is a movie I had to love. Being a Texas Brushpopper, I have loved The Duke as you might expect, and it pleases me to say my own sons follow in this. And plus, the original was filmed in part in our old stompin ground- near Telluride. The True Grit Cafe is still a spot to eat bad/overpriced food in Ridgeway, and it looks like the above scene shows Lizard Head in a couple shots.

Bridges did not disappoint. Damon did a fine job of making Campbell's LaBeef both more real and more (rodeo) clownish. The dialog was well paced, very well timed; to my ear it was authentic (but then, I have never actually heard anyone from the 1870s speak). It smacked of Cormac McCarthy before he wrote the terribly, darkly hopeless "The Road" when he was writing the terribly, brightly hopeless Border Trilogy or, more so, "Blood Meridian".




My mind kept focusing on the clothes and gear. It was all so useable...from the wool everything to the leather saddle strings for to tie on waxed-cotton bedrolls. They had what they had and used it up. That appeals to me.

It's a seesaw, balancing weight and use in bicycle touring. Remember the cowboys vs. the Big Dummy? I'm still thinking about that. In the end I am the horse, so it matters more to me than it might to Rooster Cogburn, but we both want the same thing...a big ride and a little whiskey in some far back spot.

Fill your hands, you sons of bitches.

chaos, anarchy, and cannibalism

Some things should go without saying. That having been written, here is some:

Know that if you are my friend, well then we're friends. Whether it's convenient or not. Regardless of other relationships. Independent of time passing. When negotiating the world, if the situation involves you then I consider that, and will act accordingly. I will not speak ill of you. I will embarrass and infuriate you, but never with malice. You can always count on me.

That some people are so casual with their "friendship" as to strip it of meaning or value...saddens me. Step up and stand up or beat it, kook.

what strange alchemy

Railbike
Originally uploaded by vernor

Um,



Whoa.

Opens up whole new headspaces. Who loves a railbike, now? Can you imagine how his pants smell after having that woodburning stove between his legs for the duration? How often does one stop and refuel?

Yeahyeahyeah. I realize it's cheating. Go piss up a rope.

sometimes your words just hypnotize me

It keeps getting better:



"It seemed like a Good Idea at the time" is words to live by, friends.


Big Sur this day. I forgot the camera, so take my word it looked like it did then, only cold.

Singlespeeds. I love to hate that ride. The climb is relentless; it starts out steep pavement and delivers several kicks then falls back to solid tempo riding with occasional short steeps to keep your hand in, as it were. Hurtful.

The albino redwood is thriving. We took that hike up the drainage to check on it. That region is such a fantastic place to be. It's a privilege riding through it.

"Let the mind beware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious." - Jack Kerouac.


From the saddle, the route becomes dirt, and further punishes you via some sections necessitating BMX style stand and thrust, but with enough pitch and grit that the balance required to keep the rear wheel from letting go is no small feature. Good stuff. Just when you (I) feel as though you've worked enough to be at the top, the skibbly decayed asphalt drops appear. Then it's a matter of a few more juuuust doable (if you bury yourself on the attack) steeps to be got through before the summit, at which point you begin to wish you had a suspension fork and don't cease wishing this until you have ridden all the meandering and stuttering singletrack back down to the coast.

Bikes. And bike riding. Hurt so good.

prepare for every possibility

Pilderwasser reminded me of Jane's Addiction. I haven't listened to them in years and years.


Remember?




So today. Select bike. Bounce bike. Hear rattle. Tighten rack. Tighten headset. Lube chain. Air tires.

Affix trailer. Spin wheel. Adjust cones (ignoring unfixable hop in wheel). Adjust cones. Adjust cones. Replace wheel. Tighten QR. Curse aloud. Adjust cones. Replace wheel. Tighten QR. Bounce trailer. Tighten pivot/cotter bolt. Bounce trailer. Load tools. Roll out.





Look at these oaks. This is still out there. There are these trails.


Surgical strike mission: repair Mudhen Express Overlook. Marginal success. I will say that the BOB trailer with a light load is a bouncing shit show. Some extra weight would have really helped to keep the trailer's hitch dropouts on the skewer. As it was they was a lot of rattling. A lot of rattling.

Is that Toro in the distance? Yes.