Why?

I’m not sure.  I’m unsure of being sure.  Of this, I’m sure.  Yesterday while riding my bike because it’s what I did yesterday, and the day before; I started wondering, why?  Why me?  Why this or why that?

I’m not pondering why the sky is blue….which everyone knows is because Santa wants it that way….and I’m not pondering why I’m here, which I’ve always assumed has something to do with college football.  Rather, I’m wondering why I have so much fun in the face of so much…..crap.

Why do I set out to ride when sometimes I don’t really "feel it"?  In my laziness, I’ll put off riding only to begrudgingly haul myself outside in my gear, ride away only to return a few hours later with an ear to ear grin.

Why?  Why can I take something that causes occasional pain, financial hardship, injury and sometimes stress….and turn it into something beautiful?  Why is it so much fun?  Why?  As I pedaled along asking these pointed questions of myself, a large staghorn cholla ball passed un-noticed below my front wheel only to be picked up by my rear tire and flung at incredible speed into my left calf.

I’ve been hit by cholla untold times, always stinging from the encounter.  This time, it felt like a vice was clamped onto my muscle….and upon stopping, it became apparent why.  Aside from many smaller points of attachment onto my skin…one barb in particular, a very mature and robust barb was not only attached to my epidermis; but had pierced deep into my muscle just below the surface.  For the first time, I witnessed my skin dimpling from the force and depth of the barb now attached to me.

As I pulled and pulled, I struggled to remove this barb from my leg.  Quite a bit of force was required for me to remove this attachment from my leg.  After 5 minutes of struggling, I was able to twist it enough to open up a channel and remove the spine.  No doubt, the twisting turned the barbs within enough to tear open a bore-shaft within my calf….the blood running freely was proof of this.

Why?  Why when this happened, was I listening to Nirvana…..pedaling ever faster and faster, heart beating out of my chest?  Why when this happened, did Kurt Cobain start yelling, “Won’t you believe it, just my luck”?  Why did I just then notice that there were two wild horses, 100 yards from me who no doubt stood there eating shrubs while keeping an eye & ear tuned to my very vocal efforts to remove a bit of cactus from my body?

Why did I get right back on my bike after removing the barb and ride away, all smiles? 

Why?

Worthy of a reprint - shameless self promotion

OK......life has been very busy.....I have no time to blog about my radness...since the only rad thing I've done is work out a strategic capture plan for KPAC....and no one likes powerpoint....so I'll spare you the play-by-play and give you the synopsis:  I'm gonna get them money.  In lieu of any worthwhile activity to shoot or write about, I present to you the only rad thing going on which just arrived in the mail today.....

If you want more....and you should......considering we're on the verge of yet another great winter....then check out Backcountry Magazine at your local news stand or online.

Happy turns and well wishes for everyone finding your spaces between.....I'm off to go burn some skis for Ullr.

TUK FXS game day

Waking the next day, the briskie was rubbed with some coarse grained spices and then placed onto the smoker....26 hours later, it would be done.....

With an even mix of mesquite and hickory, the smoke begins to rise with the excitement of the day....the game is still a day away but the smell of the wood reminds me of my first OU game so very long ago....

Closing the lid on the meat....my only interaction with it other than to add wood to the smoke is seen through these two little guys....their remotes always within earshot to wake me in the middle of the night in case of temp spikes.....

As the meat slowly rose in temp....I prepped the other foods for the next day....here my TUK FXS coleslaw has taken shape.....

Fire roasting poblanos and Anaheims which are added into the polenta along with Gruyère cheese which is then formed into wedges and grilled fresh the next day....

With all the food prep done....I had nothing to do with the rest of the day before the game....but plot the internal temp profile of the briskie on it's march to completion.....

At 9 the next day.....The ribs went on.....here they're done with their first 2 hrs in the smoke and are now being wrapped in foil and juices for another 2 hrs.....the 2-2-1 method being employed....

With folks arriving and the game going well....halftime afforded me the opportunity to spread things out....

Prior to serving....I set aside the point on the brisket.....to be used as burnt ends later.  Happy with yet another successful gastronomic execution and a win this year by OU....the memories of friends who helped me celebrate over some of the best bark on a briskie ever will keep me fueled until next year....

TUK FXS preparations

Simple words....simple food....complex logistics.....that's TUK FXS.  The 8th annual celebration has begun.....some pics from today's events.

16lb packer....cleaned and ready....as a point of reference.....that's a 12" blade folks......

 The Briskie is all rubbed up.......this is going into the cooler for a rest until tomorrow when it gets another dose of seasoning before its 24 hr sit in the smoke......

Rendering bacon for the original brisket sauce......Beer and Bacon......Dr. Sooner states "it can't get better than this".....it really can't......

The ribs have also been rubbed......16lbs of brisket....and 15lbs of ribs.......these guys sit until Saturday morning where they get the 2-2-1 treatment under mesquite smoke....

Having rendered a cup of bacon drippings.....the sauce takes hold with celery, tomato, onion, garlic, hickory chips and plenty of other good stuff......the sauce will be strained and the fibrous material along with the hickory chips will feed the smoke......

TO BE CONTINUED.......

A Vacation from my Vacation

Chollaball and I made bivy under a full moon and a sparkling Jupiter at the Phils World Trailhead outside of Cortez, CO.  As I drifted to sleep, I believe the last thought to cross my mind was...it won't rain tonight......"WAKE UP....IT'S RAINING!!"....these words jostled me from REM as we scrambled in the dark of the morning to cover with tarps....too late...the squall came down fast and windy.  Not wanting to soak my down bag on the 1st night...I crawled into the shaggin waggin and passed out once again.  Waking again to a torrential downpour in the grey light of dawn...we decided that there was no way we could ride in this...so we got breakfast, farted around in a bike shop in Cortez, sulked, drove to Durango, set up camp in the rain at Junction Creek....then releuctently ceded to the weather and headed into town to drink beer.  For two guys who are no strangers to beer drinking...the decision came hard.  We came to ride...and ride hard...and all we got was a steady rain and death mud all around us.

After 2 pints and 2 baskets of peanuts at Steamworks, we looked outside and noticed a weather window....so we saddled up with some cans of Ska and did some urban riding which was the best we could muster given the conditions.

The weather window lasted long enough for a single lap along the Animas....

and two beers....each....

Stairs were tried........

Beautiful bridges were crossed.....

More steps were discovered....

 As I set up shots, I noticed the things around me.....

....and then the shot came....the sound of the tires accelerating formed staccato notes in a crescendo, both in pitch and volume.....

....peering back up the stairs, Cholla's rear tire marks were left at the edge of every step...also in staccato fashion...all 42 of them.

Heading back to camp....we got dumped on in the middle of the night with thunder, lightning, hail....we fell asleep with a sense of dread that the best riding of the trip was going to be behind us.  Waking to clearing skies, alternatives were discussed.  Our original plan to ride Molas Pass to Cascade creek was out for the day, but we considered riding Phils if the trails could dry out by afternoon.

To occupy our time, I suggested we drive to Molas to poke around and make a call on our last day....I wanted to see if Molas would even be possible given the snowline at 11,000ft....otherwise we'd ride the High-Mesa trails at Gallup with our tail between our legs.

What we saw was beautiful and promising...the trails were drying out....we decided we could do the ride on our last day.  The last time I looked at this view...there was a lot more snow....and a lot more adrenaline....

Heading to our southwest, we drove to Phils world and rode the loop....

Even though the loop was not all I had expected it to be, it was good to spin for a while.

The last day dawned with bluebird....so we broke camp and started on the Colorado Trail at Molas Pass

From there, the views got better.....

....as we climbed into the alpine from treeline....

 .....Views of Engineer Mountain off to our SW appeared.  We would be on the left flank of that mountain by afternoon.....

Red Stripe....made me wish I had one in my hand.....

Can you see the CTR contouring around the peaks in the distance?  We'll be on all of them in the coming hours.....

At 930....I felt a need for a mid-morning snack....

Small waterfalls appeared in every drainage, issuing water that had previously been snowflakes formed on the first day of fall......

Chugging up pitches above 11,500....we got familiar with our HRmax many times....it felt good to feel my ears pop as the capillaries pounded with every heart beat.....

Topping out into an alpine meadow to the SSE of Jura Knob, it was clear that the 2nd day of Fall meant nothing up here....this place was done with fall....winter was rapidly approaching....

Reaching the Engineer Mountain Trail intersection with the Colorado Trail....I conversed with Don Miguel whom I had carried up from Molas....and who would now carry me the rest of the day.......

I also admired the handiwork of the Pleistocene.

Descending down off the saddle from Jura Knob......

..... disappointment quickly returned to us.....irresponsible equestrians had thrashed this trail the previous day leaving 1-3 inch deep post holes on the Engineer Mountain trail turning the death mud into an impassible mess....we HAB'd along side of the trail for most of the 3 miles to where the horses had come up from Pass creek.

We still observed great beauty....but the thought that we had mostly hiked our bikes from the lowest saddle right of center on the skyline still stung.....

Nearing Engineer Mountain, the red siltstone of Jura Knob gave way to more limestone which allowed us to ride once again and appreciate the eastern skyline.

Engineer Mountain looming larger.....

Despite the beauty and stoke of the ride......the new snow turned my mind to the coming ski season....

As we neared Engineer Mountain, I could hear the constant sound of rockfall on the north face as the mountain continued to feed the rock glacier below.....

Topping out on the saddle of Engineer Mountain, our climb was over.

Views to the east afforded us a fall foliage tour that the Texans on Hwy-550 will never see.....

As we whooped, laughed, hollered and carved every switchback descending down to Cascade Creek, we were forced to stop sometimes despite every brain cell telling us to keep going....some views just forced our hands to squeeze the brake levers......

Switchback attack shots were set up......

Descents upon a sunbeam were cataloged.....

....and explosions of floating gold petals on the wind force us to stop once again.....

The afternoon sun angle was just perfect at moments to capture the best light of the day......

Staring up at the bluebird through filtered yellows, I was distracted by olfactory hues.....

....But yellow and bluebird clearly ruled the day.......

Ending our ride at Cascade Creek and Hwy 550.....Cholla turned himself out while I waited with the bikes.

We could have ridden our bikes up the hardball back to Molas....but after such a beautiful day....the thought of sucking on diesel fumes and potentially getting run off the road by gawking folks from Austin on a winding mountain road with no shoulder was not too appealing.....so I continued to shoot the transition of seasons....

While some things were in their final glory.......

....some things were already reloading for next season......