Pop. 900 Elev. 5000

I'm moving to a place that has 5X the elevation as humans.  Up into the Hills!

It has 2 breweries, 3 wineries, a bike shop, a good Mexican restaurant, and a lumber mill.

Beats all I can think of right off the top of my head.

In other news:  The View is golden.

Time for Change

I love the fall.  It's the smell of it that I really love and I don't know why, because it's the smell of things dying.  Maybe it's the smell of everything that was good and now its in its time and place.

It's saying goodbye... and see you soon.

I was preparing for a bike ride this evening and first Annie sat in my helmet which was lying on the ground.  Then, when I shewed her out of that and put it on, she jumped on my bike.

Sorry Annie, you can't go with.  I must say Goodbye... and see you soon.

In other news:  I'm moving out of the big city and up into The Hills.  Change is good- always change for the better.

The hits just keep coming...

The Other Side of the World

Growing up in Missouri and living a great part of my life in Kansas, "Moab" was mostly a philosophical idea.  An ideal, actually.  But never anything real... really.  Well, I live in The West now and it's not that far away.

WOW!!!

A lot of firsts this weekend.  I rode my bike above 11,000 feet.  Rode all the classic ST at Moab that I thought was reversed for the Gods.  Plus a trip to Grand Junction.  So much to learn- so much to know that is unknown.

New friends.  New trails.  New Life.

We love our chickens

3 good little chickens are laying eggs.  2 bad little chickens are not.  Bad chickens are not long for this earth.

Annie is the BEST.  She lays an egg every day.

The coop is my own design.  I tried to match the house.  The chicks seem to dig it.  It's big enough for 10 but we've only got 5 in there now.

Free range and organic (mostly).  They are so good.  We let them out and they wander the forest and the neighborhood and they come back at sunset.

Wyoming!

Cara and I spent the last two weekends in Wyoming.  We got so so lucky with the weather: 70 and sunny!  That's great for Wyoming in September.

We rode Curt Gowdy one weekend and the Bear Lodge Mts the next.  Curt Gowdy is an IMBA Epic- look it up!  Because, I can't even begin to explain how fun it is.  It's a big playground of bulbous rocks.  I was grinnin' like a baked possum all weekend.

I've never seen anyone groove through technical stuff like Cara.  Inspirational.

Curt Gowdy should be on everyone's "To Do" list.  I want to go back there and kiss all those rocks.  I love you, El Alto.

And in other news... Annie and Goldie are laying eggs.  Good job, girls!

I just love eating the young when they are fresh and warm.  Yes I do.

I am Blessed

Rode Alkali/Bulldog, Bone Collector, Red Rock Overlook, Shanks, Storm Mountain... and a few other trails all within the last 7 days.  Oh yeah, and Semelius!

So so so many trails.  And I haven't even ventured into the Northern Hills in awhile!

I am truly Blessed.

Cara and I rode Bone Up to Red Rocks Overlook to Shanks the other day.  I am so glad I was on my hardtail b/c that is so classic 90s style XC trail.  All the way straight up Classic XC!  Super fun.

We made a plan to pack up some provisions and ride that route over to Buzzard's Roost- lap that and then come back on the Hisega Rim.  About 30 miles?  Ish??  Dreaming...

Maybe even head through New Trail, Bunny, over Norris and to The View first and then do the Buzzard's loop for about 50+ miles.  Oh!  Could sneak Howling Beagle in there too for a 60-miler.

That will require a larger pack and some ice, and lots of cheese.  Lots and lots of cheese.

A little disconnected...

It's been a lot of business- pronounced, "busy-ness"- for me lately.  Busy at work.  Busy at home.  Lots going on.  Lots of good stuff... and a little bad.

First the singular bad:  Had a pretty gnarly crash-up on my road bike that I've been trying to get over.  I was roaring down a long descent into a tight left-hander and had it all lined up until I hit the little piece of gravel.  Strava says I went down at 40 mph.  I slid a long ways and lost a lot of skin.  Leg.  Butt. Arm. Hand.

It may sound funny, but I enjoyed it because I'd already decided to.  I remember thinking, "When am I going to stop sliding???"

It was a great day all-in-all.  Except I ruined my classic Colavita kit- Booo!!

Cara and I have been making a lot of bracelets for the SHS riders.  Those kids are awesome and they are really digging the bracelets.  That makes me happy.

There is so much more I want to do.

I was served a lucky twist of fate.  What do I do with it?  I felt a little off center today and so I am going to find myself on The Bulldog tomorrow.  It's my place to recenter.

A crusade to blaspheme gravity.  Arrrr!

God is Light = Light is Good = God is Good

Where did we come from?  Where are we going?  Who cares?

I ponder all those questions but I don't need the answers.

There is so much here.

And I've discovered the formula for going fast on a mountain bike.

Yes, I'm on the chicken-water.

Venga!  Danillo!  Venga!!

Away from the things of Man

Humans can suffocate.  Rocks and trees give.

I have to get away from the things of Man.

Except for cheese... cheese is always good.

Sometimes I think I want nothing more than to leave this planet.  That's just me being lazy and short-sighted.

Besides, Earth might be the only place you can get good cheese.

I explore.

At my core, I am an explorer.  I live to discover.  New lands.  New music.  New beliefs, philosophies, or ways of doing things.  New trails!  The moment of discovery is an exhilarating experience- one that can not be duplicated.

Consider that I did my very first barefoot forest hike this weekend.  It's something I'd never thought of, but it was incredible!  More about that later.  Here's the vanguard discovery of the weekend:

Cara showed me some amazing trails I never knew existed.

We rode for an hour (or 3) up to a beautiful vista where we stopped for a refreshment and pondered the landscape below.

We could see the trail network we'd ridden across stretched out below us.  It was like looking down on a live trail map.

The air was crisp.  The sky was blue.  The beer was cold...ish.

So much of what we are comes from what we experience.  I felt a little more alive than I ever have before after this day.

Epic Weekend

I know... "Epic".  Read on and you decide.

Saturday morning breakfast:

Pretty Epic.

Then I did a fantastic ride with some fast dudes in town.  We rode to Keystone and back.  50 miles and 5000 feet of elevation gain.  That's Epicy, I think.

Then I was shown a place where the moss growing on the rocks right in front of me was just as spectacular as the view of the peaks of The Hills.  And... Oh!.. there's the clouds!  Epic scenery.

I had several "I live here" moments this weekend.  Maybe it wasn't all as epic as I make it out to be.  But for me, sitting here Sunday night, I feel like sometime in the history of the future there will be a tale told about the adventures I had this weekend.

Epic.

Cyclocross.

For anyone who wants to know what the deal is with cyclocross, watch this vid:

Thanks to Bad Goat Racing in Manhattan, Kansas.

That's some perfect cyclocross conditions!  I show up at 0:30 and at 2:30.  Notice on the second appearance I make tire tracks through all the footprints.  I'm just sayin'...

I LOVE CYCLOCROSS!!!

I NEED it!!

Another Poet's Table?

Today I made my first ever attempt at finding Poet's Table.  It's kind of a rite of passage when you find it for the first time.  Cara and I set out mid-morning with local knowledge of how to get there and made a few stabs at it.

Alas, we were unsuccessful.  So we made our own Poet's Table.  We enjoyed hot mulled wine with the sun on our faces and I even read a poem.  I can't imagine the view from the actual Poet's Table could be much better.

And now, here is a poem- different from the one I read atop the hill but much more to the point of the day:

The Black Hills Called

The Black Hills called and thus came I,

By poems I hope to glorify

The Hills I found. Just give me voice

To sing to Hills that beautify.

The blue-green pines that fade the sky

To hazy hues I see on high.

I stare. I have no other choice-

     The Black Hills called.

They make me glad . . . the Hills I spy:

I hear the woods and their lullaby.

I hear the woods and there rejoice

A Black Hills home- undying choice.

I'll there remain until I die

     The Black Hills called.

     --by Edward F. Sunderberg

I was NEVER this cool.

I rode with the Stevens HS Bike club this morning.  I didn't really know what I was getting into when I agreed to come along on a ride with a bunch of high school kids.

Well, these kids are awesome!  (They probably hate being called "kids")

Every one of them is a great rider.  In fact, I learned a few things today.  Most importantly: I was never this cool as a teenager.

Riding conditions today were interesting.  We got dusted with snow in the morning and it made everything just a little sketchy.  Storm Mt. and sketchy usually don't mix but on this day it was fun.

Rockin' the hardtail

I hung up the hardtail when I first stepped down on the RM Thunderbolt.

The Thunderbolt is an awesome bike.  But the Curtlo is PRO.  I dusted off the Curtlo tonight and we ripped around M Hill.  BAM!

Sometimes there's no better fun to be had than to ride on the edge of disaster, going way to fast for the circumstances.  Outta control... almost.

And when you stop at the end of the ride and everything you've just seen, heard, and smelled comes rushing up to you, you realize you've outrun time and you've out-tricked the trickster.

That's PRO.

Sun on the drum

When I got home from my day out today and before I went inside to have my bath, I grabbed a beer and sat down on the back stoop and supped in the sun.  It was a beautiful day- Chamber of Commerce Day, I dare say!  So I sat in the 3 o'clock sun basking in the glory of the day and I tilted my head just so the sunlight would shine directly on my eardrum.  That's an awesome feeling.

Smiling with the sun on my drum.

But before that...

Rode The View this morning with friends.  A great ride.... not sure what else I can say.

Then we drank a beer or two in the parking lot and as we were packing up to go, this girl I'd just met wanted to do another lap.

So I went around again.

That's a good day, yes?    Yes.

Fish Pot

On Cape Cod they have this thing called Fish Pot.  It is a delicious giant bowl of stewed bounty of the sea.  Clams, mussels, shrimp, crab, lobster, cod.  Anything goes.  It's as if whatever they've caught that day is thrown in the pot and it's all good.  It's the flotsam and jetsam of sea fare.

Well, I got a "fish pot" at my favorite restaurant in Rapid tonight and I have to say... Nice try.

It was actually quite good.  Lots of mussels, one giant scallop, and some crab.  It was good but it left me longing for the supreme and beautiful natural deliciousness of a good 'ol-fashioned Cape Cod Fish Pot.  It's better out there.

So are the Dark and Stormys.

Oh well oh well.  I will auger on here in the Dakota Territory despite  lack of proper sustenance. (Tongue fully in cheek, of course)

But still, I long for the simple pleasure of The Cape...

Raspberry Rock!

70 degrees!

Took full advantage of this day, my friends.  I got up early and got a lap in at The View.  Rode without a care in the world this morning- just me and the whitetail playing tag in the woods.

Stopped for a moment to ponder Harney to my left and Terry to my right.

This afternoon, it was hiking at Woodpecker Ridge and up to Raspberry Rock.  I saw a lot of great views today.

Then it was BarLee's in Keystone (the only place open in Keystone this time of year).  Great Reuben!  I don't mean that as an expletive, I mean it was a very good sandwich,

But actually... Great Reuben!  What a day!

On my way home

Took this halfway home from the ale house one night- I assume.  I don't remember taking it.  I just found it in my phone and realized how much it says about the way I feel about this place.

Read it.

Do you see?

...or it could be nothing.

Snow's Up, B'rah

It was a fine day out today.  One could not ask for better weather in February.  Spent most of the day at the Little Spearfish Canyon climbing area.  It was recommended by a friend and he said it was unlike anywhere else in the Hills.  He was right!  Except it's just like Spearfish Canyon only, well, littler.  We didn't anticipate the snowpack up there but we got through it and it was actually quite an adventure.

Then I had my first cheeseburger at Lewie's in Lead.  Bam!  That's a good patty!!  And as we sat there sipping beers in the setting sun, my friend Jimmy came by with a pair of skis for me.  My first pair of skis ever.  Gotta hit the slopes!

That's a good day.

Just for Suz

This one's just for you, Suz.

I'm back.