Saturday, March 30, 2013

trails and more trails

Back on the bike…for about 6 weeks now, and yea it was running injury influenced I’ve been bouncing around endurance sports for the past 20 years now – triathlon, running, bike racing, trail running,  back and forth around the various forms of heavy breathing. It is so good to be back for a lot of different reasons. For one – I am really enjoying being around my bike riding friends again, and also meeting a lot of new ones as there are quite a few new people involved in the 4+ years I was gone. And oh my, the mountain bike sure is fun. Bombing down a bumpy single track trail with the bike dancing all sorts of way underneath you is such a fun experience. Elbows up, body centered, like a surgeon planting your tires between trail hazards and hitting the perfect line, only to completely drill something you didn’t see and flip over the bars the next second is still so much fun.  Hell, I’ve been pedaling on dirt for about 30 years now, ever since we made a supercross track for our BMX bikes in the fields behind Cloverbank school back in good ole NY.

  Riding on dirt or mud is always the most fun, but the road has been surprisingly fun if I get on the correct road meaning a steep incline or decline, or tailwind, or fast group ride. Well the more I think about it all of it is enjoyable except for trying to ride directly into a huge headwind. It will be nice when I get my good road bike back also (Are you reading this Gaby??????? : ) as I do have my Ksyriums all ready to rock that 15 pound rocket stip. OK, it probably isn’t quite a rocket anymore as I am working the engine, but it is certainly at least a Cessna, or maybe one of those gliders that get pulled a long because I am fairly certain that I can still suck wheel pretty well. I’ve been riding with other people so much that I am sort of missing the singular experience of the solo jaunt. I get a couple night time solo rides per week – but I’m thinking more along the lines of a solo mountain bike ride in the daylight. I’ve only done one of those since I’ve been back and ended up breaking a finger so maybe that’s telling me something.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

STORY TIME

I don't want to limit this thing to just writing about running, or pedaling or whatever. No one reads these musings anyway - so I am just going to write whatever the hell(o) I want to write about. So suck on that people! : )

Damn do I have a story to tell. Some of my closest friends used to tell me "Dude - you need to write a book about all this crap!" And like a lot of poseur's in the world I always wanted to write a book, never was too sure exactly which kind to write though. I have so many unifinished manuscripts lying around - I lost count.  And it's the one thing that has come easily to me in life - writing, but not finishing. So I actually started one, and it's not exactly one I am hoping to sell, or even independently publish - but it sure is a damn deep and emotional story that I am never at a loss for words on how or what to say - at least internally. And yes, it will have running in it - what's a book without running? Of course many other things. It's a story I need to tell even if no one reads it, although I will make a few close friends read it, and if anything it will be hugely fun to write. But it's a story about me at my worst (and looking back and seeing how much of a mess I was will be comical now) and weakest to a depths of hell that I never knew existed until I actually lived there for a long time -  so I'm not sure how exciting that will be - but it's not the events that make up the story, it's the way the story is told that determines how good it is or will be. And if I am completely honest I will understand how big of an eff up I was at one time - but that's quite ok and I am happy with how things turned out from the central point of this story. Because the one thing I have learned is that no matter how bad one thinks things are - they can ALWAYS get worse. yep - that's a joke but also true. It's nice that I can look back at things and laugh now. Always have to laugh! and smile. Life is so much more fun that way : ) It sure is fun to write though, and the emotion behind it, the depth the little black words on a page can bring out, whether written (or read) is always a passion I will have).