My 1st Birthday

I recently had my 1st birthday. It was 15 MAR 08....what an awesome day that was. The heady atmosphere of those days still brings a warm smile to my face. I can still remember bringing Jenna home from the bike shop, proud as any new parent could be. I then proceeded to really learn to ride a bike....not what had been dancing in my dreams all those weeks prior to taking my first ride. I've come a long day from those 1st tentative clipless pedal strokes with no safety net but the rocks and cholla lining every turn at Hawes....I always do things the hard way. But along the way I've also learned to go with the flow from time to time.

I've learned the value of a good glove....and to always use them, regardless of how freakishly white your hands look in comparison to the rest of your arms.

















I've also learned....scratch that....learning....that just because Jeremiah Johnson had no use for urgent care, does not mean that you have no use for urgent care. Patching oneself up when you clearly need stitches is stupid....unless you're' Jeremiah Johnson....then that's just rad.




I've learned that cactus doesn't hurt as bad as it looks, as long as it's not attached to your cuticle or your nut-sack.

















I've learned to really like bike porn......






















I mean....really like bike porn.

















I even picked up a car color which matches my bike...not the other way around.

















I've sought the infinite beauty of radial spikes......

















while traveling on the finite simplicity of radial spokes.






















Despite all of this, I've learned not to take myself too seriously while riding....






















And have reaffirmed my commitment to quality post-ride recovery drinks.

















I don't yet know what the next year (my second year) will hold for me and Jenna...but I know it will look something like this.

SoMo Spring Fling

My knee took a couple of hits yesterday out on National...right in the soft tissue where my IT band meets my knee next to the patella.....I sooooo, did not need that. I still had a great time...but have decided to sit out the ride in Sedona today and possibly salvage my knee for the big day tomorrow at BCT.....here's hoping. Otherwise...some pics from Friday....it is way to hot for March already.



Looks Dry out there....don't it?
























Cool edited shot...grey'd out the brown leaving a rare desert-flower like appearance to the oddities in the desert (Blue Bike, Green plants, yellow flowers, and red patina on hieroglyphics).























Thanks to New Belgium who sponsored the sag wagon midday with plenty of cold Fat Tire Ale.....goes well with an energy bar.



















Big Dave leading the weary

Spring Fling 09'

The Pre-Fling Ride was last night. Joined by some folks from the MTBR forum, we rolled Hawes for a Sunset/Night ride with drinks at Joes afterwords. Here is the link to the Spring Fling Site with details on the rides going on...and links to the pics folks are taking....they'll be posting up pics of the rides faster than I can and will be updated each day...so keep on checking.

On the PSA side of things...I want to remind folks that Skiing is not any more dangerous just because a famous actress dies skiing while taking a lesson on a bunny slope...regardless of what the media, attorneys and the rest of the talking heads would lead you to believe. Remember...they are compensated with publicity & free air time (more valuable than money these days) for saying edgy and controversial things. More people still die each year from falling off their toilets than from ski areas accidents. Soooo....wear those helmets while shitting lest you have Sanjay Gupta talking about you on Larry King Live.

I saw you....with a ticketstub...in your hand

(For starters...all pics are from Phish.com....the fact that I am not there is the subject of this angst ridden post)

If some of you read me back last year, you would have read this. If not....know this....I was supposed to be here. I tried.....I really, really tried. I bought hotel tickets on spec....which means that I bought them....and if I did not get tickets...I wasted my money.









Well......my money was wasted.....I lost the money....I never got the tickets in the lottery which is Phish reunion 09'.





















I'm now sulking in a deeper funk than I was when OU lost to texas last year.....almost....but I think my readership (all 5 of you)......you get the point.





















Here is the first set.....I could of...should of....wanted to.....be there......I saw you.....with a ticketstub.....in your hand.....I saw you...........





















Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.......they opened up with 'Fluffhead'.......I'm not sure they've done that before....and I was to be there....with a friend(you know who you are)........for his bachelor party.......this is a bad dream..............but I am here.............in front of my messy desk and my crappy computer........on a Friday night.............wishing the ski season was not almost over.........I hate my job......the snow is melting...............Phish is reuniting without me................all is lost...............I am pathetic............the Phish show I am listening to right now sounds great...........this is the music I was listening to when I became awake to Phish for the first time.....not conscious of Phish..........but AWAKE.........It reminds me of 98' almost passed out on my couch in the slums of the University of Arizona at 2:30 in the afternoon between Geology classes.............barely conscious....I let a phish show get past me........I have to admit.....I never made it to the end of this show......but my lack of energy this day did me a favor.....it held me captive....but acutely aware of the absolute clarity of Page McConnell's piano notes of percussion within "The Squirming Coil" waking me from my hazy drift into dream land.....I am realizing for the first time a piece of art I've yet to experience......the beauty is like the first moment....observing a butterfly...in flight...when you are three years of age......the thing that makes a mark on you for the rest of your life........the kind of moment that you hold on to because it's the first you can remember when you look back at 30 years of age.....the kind of memory that you scour your brain for the earliest indication of independent thought......and all you find are half second snippets of emotion.....not scenes...........emotions.....that fill the void in between sepia pictures your parents give you........you are held hostage to.....but beholden to......the only visual interpretation of what you are feeling right now.......and just now.....you feel........the squirming coil.........it got away.........away.....it got away........So you hold on to it because you are scared that each time you forget........you become older.........

I was supposed to be there....but I did not try hard enough....I was supposed to be there.

• Set One
• Fluffhead
• Divided Sky
• Chalk Dust Torture
• Sample In A Jar
• Stash
• I Didn't Know
• Oh Kee Pah Ceremony >
• Suzy Greenberg
• Farmhouse
• NICU
• Horn
• Rift
• Train Song