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.