Woman Sock

Finally made a trip down into the south for some ridin'.  All I can say is that I will be heading back down more often in the future.  Hit the Middle Mountain Momma course on Saturday in Douthat State Park in Virginia and then headed north on Sunday for the IMBA Southern Traverse.  Both rides were excellent routes.  Big climbs, lots of great views, fast descents, lots of beautiful single track, loads of critter sightings, and loads of amazing flora...and fungi...

Some things I thought about:

1)  After 9/11 the Dept of Homeland Security thought it a good idea to give everyone a street address...in place of Rural Routes, etc...But one of the rules in this game is that anyone with a driveway lnoger than a certain amount..150 feet or so...got to pick out a name for their new "street"  The result is a whole bunch of really dorky names, funny misspellings, etc...saw Linkin Park Lane, Earnhart Lane, Nascar Lane, Pit Crew Lane, Goast Hill Road, Getta Way Lane, and about 12 different Pleasant Hill Lanes...trust me, historians in about 50 years will be studying this little snapshot...the worst part is that it seems a little ridiculous...why bother with naming streets and places when we already have a well developed GPS system????  Why not just give everyone their GPS coordinates for when they call into Emergency Services???  Why waste all the money on signs???  Seriously...why are we using 18th century technology???

2)  Lots of talk about energy independence...at first it seems like such a great idea...yet, isn't it a bit foolish to think that energy independence will make us FREE from nations that cause us tensions...when it is the money connection...the fact that we are buying large sums of their energy...or aren't buying large sums of their energy...is what is causing the tensions????  How will all these countries respond when we withdraw from the marketplace...you don't have to look far...one of the reasons that Hussein invaded Kuwait was becasue he couldn't sell enough oil...trust me, if the market in oil starts to fall...you will see INCREASED turmoil in the Middle East...not less...unless you make energy knowledge OPEN SOURCE...all wars are fought over the access to natural resources...the key is to make it non-competitive...as a nation we should make a committment to provide other countries with any knowledge we have regarding the development of other power sources (wind, solar, etc)...and we should ask others to do the same....

3)It's all about the breathing.  When you are climbing, you can't focus on the tempo of your legs.  Gotta focus on the tempo of your lungs...if you are breathing in tempo, your legs will follow...incredibly important in the singlespeed world...

4) The forest is a fucked up place...go riding with someone who knows plants sometime...you will learn just how many of the pants you are seeing in the "natural" world in the forest...aren't actually "natural" to this continent...seriously, how the hell do all those invasive species end up at 3500 feet on a ridge line in virginia that sees only about 200 visitors a year???  and just how much are they changing the whole scene???  Good or bad???  Dunnno, but it is a pretty spectacular story...

5)Stinging nettles suck, especially when they are right next to the perfect line down a rocky singletrack section...

6) Television - I got to watch some real live cable tv while at the hotels over the past week...amazingly bad...cable tv has become like the post office...the only reason it is capable of existing is because of junk or spam or infomercials...the amount of "quality" programs compared to the amount of infomercials, advertisements, and other paid crap is ridiculous...again, this is a business model which will fail...and you are all watching it fail right now...just as we all watched newspapers fail over the past five years...this is what failure looks like, like cable tv...it is when the quality of your product no longer matches the price you charge...

7)  I heart singlespeed.

8)  People camping...wow...couldn't believe my eyes at the way people camp these days...could you buy anything else at Cabela's, Dicks, or REI???  I mean, really, what gadget didn't you buy?  and why are your kids still playing with their handheld PSPs at the lodge???  Grow a set...try hiking...we only ran into one couple on our journey through the trails at Douthat S. P. and yet the ranger said the campgrounds were full.....wtf?  Are all of you parent raising a punch of sissies?  Get 'em out there in the woods...let em see deer and bear and snakes and all that other good stuff...keep it real...

9) State Parks, National Parks, Forests, Etc. - best entertainment for your dollar...had a warm welcome at all of 'em (especially the fellow at Penn-Roosevelt S. P.)...and found lots of well maintained trails and facilities...fight the governments anytime they try to take that away from you...

10) Pennsylvania - Why, oh why don't you sell booze at your quickie marts and supermarkets?

How do you do Physical Therapy?  Go out and ride every single day...On a single track mind at the moment...regaining the fitness lost over the past month...had some great rides over the past few days, all of which point to a solid but slow recovery...but should be strong enough for the 101...hell, I might even race this weekend...

Finally back on the mountain bike!  Missed the pretty green slut...she is such a charmer out there...you just wanna ride her forever...been rolling it wiht the fork again to save the shoulder, and it is riding pretty sweet...

Of course, have been spending most of my time riding behind everyone, just barely keeping any kind of pace...but it still feels good, and there seems to be nothing in the way to regaining lost fitness...except beer...

Also, had to buy a new camera...super-duper mp3 player/camera died on me the other day...punk...and so I tossed around the idea of getting an iPhone to satisfy my needs...and it is tempting...but just couldn't bare it, I'm already at a computer 14 hours a day...so instead, I bought a super-cheap camera just for riding...and super-cheap mp3 player just for riding...not as simple nor as functional as iPhone...but dirt cheap...and I dont' gotta shell out any money to AT & T.

I always have these bold ideas of what I should write here.  Grandiose visions of essays regarding my thoughts on health care, immigration, socialism, American culture, historic architecture, and the dreamy feeling of a fine steel bicycle on a long ride.

But, I am busy.  Busier than I want to be.

So I am cutting some extraneous things, simplifying once again.  Recovery is going to require it.  The stitches in the knee are healing, but the underlying pain in the tendons around the knee is gonna take some time to go away.  Likewise, the shoulder.  Gaining motion and strength everyday, but still hurts quite a bit.  So, all of this is gonna take some refocus on my part.  Some patience and time.  I can feel it.

I already live a fairly simple life, not much more left to cut.  But there are a few tenacious threads...things I've clinged to...things that no longer deserve to be in my head...these things are getting jettisoned overboard.  Adios.  So sorry, you lose...better luck next time.

Two more weeks of classes, then plenty more time to ride after that.  Even thought about trimming back to teaching only one class in the fall, just to add in some ride time...but the additional course was the honors course...and I love talking about protests in America...so I'll be teaching two again.

Gonna be riding with a different focus altogether.  Converting the La Cruz into a deluxe and beautiful touring bike, replete with racks and bags....I'll be commuting more and, as long as the shoulder is strong enough and isn't nagged by it, I'll be heading off for some overnight tours.

So, once again.  Out with old, in with the new...rebuilding the self...striving for the ultimate eye, the grand connection with the starry night, the silent bond with the brilliant sun.

P.S.  I still haven't told my mother about the crash, so keep you mouths shut til I get the stitches out. 

This is just to say

I'm not playing the side of the coin
that you imagined for me

Your side of the coin
believed in a god,
trusted the corporation,
and bathed itself in blind culture
and consumerism.

Forgive me,
but it seems to me
that the future of the world
depends on
those few of us who have begun
to play the other side of the coin.

So, go ride your bike in the outdoors...on those last few bits of openly accessible land.