to the desert

crossroads

Or perhaps this is what one could categorize as mid-life crisis. Something needs to change. I just can't keep riding these hammerhead bikes. Or maybe I should stop riding! I'm always tempted by the idea of fancy new carbon frame models but can they fit a wide enough tire? Can I squeeze a 28 in there? Is 28 even enough? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I be going full in for steel randonneur style? Should I "make the leap" to… dare I say it… 650B?! And I can't just think of my present self but need to plan ahead for the rider I'll be next year and maybe ten or more years into the future. I can't imagine I'll want a carbon racer when I'm 25% older…  

Or maybe getting a carbon racer will breathe new life into my riding...

But maybe getting a steel rando will guide me in the direction I really ought to be going…

Happy Earth Day

It was kind of a weird Earth Day for me. Or maybe it was perfect. I can't figure it out.

I had an appointment at the DMV to renew my license at 3pm. It had been 15 years since I'd set foot in there. I was anxious. Remembering all the early eighties horror stories of long lines and bureaucracy…

I rode my bike there. It's Earth Day! Of course.

How can going to the DMV on Earth Day be perfect? Well, on bike remember… it celebrates/protests all that we juggle: our decisions… our reality… our passions…

And it turns out that the DMV ain't so bad these days. I was in and out of there in 14 minutes!

I felt so relieved.

I went buy the pub to celebrate on the way home.

Bike: 17.25 miles.

Happy Earth Day… everyday...

New Kassette

Sarah's bike

…she's so cool… 

Pre-Mid-Post Solvang

See you next year…

MM

PowerGlide

This is my new running mantra. It really helps me to understand and remind myself throughout the run what I need to be doing with my stride - it's amazing that after all these miles I still need to focus and keep myself running efficiently but, for me, at least, form always falls apart - I begin to wander… 

The Power part comes from a strong down step - that seems to be what generates speed.

The Glide part comes from all moments in between the Power step when everything quickly reverts to a relaxed float… a glide. 

These are two very different aspects, I know, but I feel they need to both be there in repetitive alternation for maximum speed and efficiency. 

I like the mantra for other reason, too. It reminds me of that old transmission from GM. The PowerGlide - smooth and easy and powerful and fast - like some big, blue Malibu stealing through the desert night… 

N Express

I went for my usual neighborhood run this evening. It's a simple, short, out-and-back - to the top of the hill/street and back. But on Thursdays the Farmers Market takes up residence right in the middle of my route. Which is fine - only a minor dread - and really, a nice change of scenery. Today I was briefly excited by one of the vendors. My first glimpse of their truck gave me the impression that it was a running shoe demo truck - what I saw painted on the side of the truck was N Express. And so, naturally, obviously, I was sure that New Balance had come to find me! But that first view was partially obscured by another vendor's truck. What it really said - as I soon learned - was Cumin Express. Not really the truck I was hoping for… 

the three bears

Catalina Currant (Ribes viburnifolium) after the rain

men to match my mountains

I was standing at my bus stop this afternoon. Standing because it was raining and the bench was wet. I was well dressed for the occasion with boots and jacket and umbrella. Still a bit wet, though. It seems I can never really hide from the rain - some people seem to have a knack for it - not me - I'm always a wet rat. 

I stood there for 25 minutes. In the rain. Waiting for my bus. One came by and stopped but the driver said it was "discharge only" and that he was sorry but he couldn't pick me up in the pouring rain - I get it - same thing happened to me last time except the driver was like all "Hey, Baby, I 'm supposed to be discharge only, but just hop in and let's go…" Thank you, Bitchin' Bus driver lady. You're so cool.

But today, no. More rain. And, that's fine. As I said, I was prepared. But I just really wanted to make it to the pub quick because my window of availability was closing fast… I need my 90 minutes of Sunday relaxation, you know… 

Eventually I made it and everything was really just fine and cool. 50 minutes total. 25 minutes standing in the rain under an umbrella. Biking would have taken me 30 minutes but I'd have been soaked soaked soaked so maybe okay - maybe just great. 

But as I was standing at my bus stop in the rain I was thinking about my friend. My dead friend. And I was like, he would love to be able to be standing right next to me in this rain watching the cars drive buy - it really was a nice rain shower… And so I felt humbled and better… "we" would make it there in time.. no place else to be…

But I also got to thinking about a poem by Snyder, Gary - one of my favorites. The title is "Left Out in the Rain" - or is that just the book title? Which led, after reading his, to a poem of my own. It's in that compilation I put together a while back. (I'm sure you've all ordered it!)

But that night that I read Snyder's poem a dozen plus years ago - that night, that poem, that solitude on the eastern edge of the High Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in that little town that holds fort at the only eastern entrance to one of the most celebrated National Parks in the country/world - that little unassuming town called Lee Vining at the junction of Highway 120 sparked a dream within. Where, actually, as I keeping digging through my memory is home to so much more - where I became an Indian through deep eye-soul connection with the saddest last real Indian I ever saw (and I use this word because of the times then and because you just have to - he was a Native American, of course, but he was also an Indian - as he would have called himself) - I was maybe 6-years old - he was about a million - he became one of my grandfathers - maybe me only because there was no one else that loved him anymore. It was sad and tragic and yet such a beautiful moment that those mountains rising up to the sunset never left me - us. 

And so I still dream about someday riding that road all the way through those mountains - starting in LV and taking the 18-mile-ish steep climb up through the thin air and sketchy RV squeezing-out-the-lane traffic and then descend all the way down and down and down and around and through all the way to The Valley on the other side and then prop my feet up and enjoy a nice beverage at The Ahwahnee bar. 

And then just keep on riding and riding and riding on…

and now the Wild Lilac (Ceanothus)

and manzanita, too

camouflage

first poppy

Hitched outside the pub

One day they will set up trainers for us to ride our bikes on while we drink at the pub…

Circa 1994 times two

I think Mindful Mule just turned 21!

a couple that bikes

Love-bikes!
Old Pasadena, Dec. 2014

Clean, shiny, vintage, and out on the town… I don't know this couple but I like the way they roll...

long december

Long december - it's one of my favorite songs - and one of my favorite months if there can be such a thing - because after this it only gets lighter - so I've revamped the blog to dark background - "and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last…"

I've been thinking about the speed of walking - and how it shows you the over-zipittyness of this place - tried to walk across a street lately?

And I've been thinking about long, undocumented rides through the mountains - carrying a picnic…

And runs through the endless silent hills…