Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance

I’ve had the opportunity these past few months to watch my father and a couple other family members lose weight. My father covertly began an exercise and nutrition regimen while I was still in the polar north known as Logan, Utah. He had lost about 20 pounds when I first found out. It was a shock to the senses to see him look as if he had gone back in time, thinner and more energetic.

How’d he do it? He returned to nature.

There weren’t any miracle drugs nor expensive exercise equipment. He simply began to eat fruits and vegetable in the quantity he should and started to exercise on a regular basis. He rode his bike.

Having watched him go from a short balding man (I can say this because I am also short and balding) to a skinny, energetic balding man made me think. I had tried to point out the benefits of good nutrition and exercise to this man for a few years. Particularly after realizing that I was trying to get my mother-in-law to do things that my own father was not. As a resident in this country, it is obvious how fat we are. I have found that most U.S. citizens take their health for granted and try to blame things outside of their control for their weight. After observing this transition for my father and others around me, I came to the conclusion that nature de-bloats.

My father lost his bloated status by simply eating the way nature had intended. He brought fruits and vegetables back into his diet which pushed out the plethora of shit he was consuming. Nature, being the grateful being she is, quickly returned him to a state that was both more comfortable and conducive to a healthy lifestyle. We ride as often as we can.

I’ve also found that we as ‘Mericans are bloated economically. We have found ways to import everything that we need. Most of which, Nature, in her devine wisdom, saw fit to keep outside of the reach of previous cultures. What this means is that we have become bloated as a nation, we have too much excess. This excess leads to various problems through diverse causal channels. Mass immigration into the U.S. is directly caused by our bloat. To maintain our fat lifestyle we have to import, at inhumane labor rates, goods. The workers on the other end providing the labor never see any fruits from their labors. On the contrary, they are kept in poverty conditions below what Nature would have for her children. Pollution, global warming, war, terrorism and puppies dieing are all direct consequences of our excessive living. We as a nation are bloated beyond help.

If we were to eat our political and economical fruits and vegetables our problems would go away. We would de-bloat and lose the excess that impedes our growth as a society and that will ultimately be our downfall.

Watch this: http://www.ironweedfilms.com/films/wetback

This is an amazing documentary that portrays life from the other side of that imaginary line that immorrally devides our continent.

The Fugitive Slave Act, as I understand it, I’m not much of a historian, was enacted to force those north of the Mason-Dixon line to aid in the capture and return of “fugitive” slaves. I use parentheses around fugitive to show a point. The word connotates a criminal, someone running from the law. In our ‘Merican way of thinking, a fugitive is an immoral person for he has broken the moral code of our society. I think most of us now can clearly see the immorality of this act. We now have a similar situation, one so similar that it is disturbing to comprehend how far we haven’t come as a society.

“Illegal” immigrants, they are by definition criminals for they have broken a law by simply being within the imaginary boundary of our country. Again those who oppose humanity and its efforts, have chosen to magnify and solidify the immorallity of immigrants by showing they have broken our ethical code of content. Quite frankly they, just like the slaves, have headed north to find true freedom and economic empowerment. They leave families behind, giving everything they have for one shot at being on the other side of the new Mason-Dixon. This has to be stopped. Not only for those who suffer from the oppression but also for us, the oppressors, to ever have a society worth living in.

The Alliance night ride is tonight, except that it is snowing outside and the entire area is wet. The ride will not take place tonight to avoid damaging our trails.

Peace. Love. and Revolution.

Bryce and I rode Little Creek Mesa today. It was a great ride, as most of our Sunday rides are. Little Creek is just so much more remote than the Goose, even though it is only across the highway. Fewer people know about it, and even fewer can actually ride it without getting lost. The sandstone differs as well. It reminds me a lot of the canyon as one goes from Escalante up to Posy reservoir. As always, it is a joy to see proof of ancient civilization. The petroglyphs are interesting, beautiful and still in their moslty prestine environment. As you can see from the photos the views are spectacular. But the best part is the fact that it is big. There is enough riding on this mesa to keep me coming back for months without having ever ridden it all. This is also the reason people who don’t know the trail shouldn’t venture out by themselves.

The weather seemed a bit iffy as we headed out around noon. We both went well layered and were glad when we got to the trailhead. There was still snow on the ground from the last storm and the breeze was chilling. Luckily, the day progressed into a beautiful afternoon. The temperature was great and the overcast grey clouds burned off giving us the ride we had hoped for.

The only thing that was missing was about ten more days to stay out there and ride continuously. Yes, it is really that good.

Life goes on. Ride it on a bike.

I know I haven’t been writing much recently, the reason is that I haven’t been spending much time on the internet. I guess I’ve just gotten bored with it. The lack of writing has kept some thoughts bouncing around in my head for a while. I guess I need to let them out now.

Gate keepers. As a student of journalism, I have been taught the relevant theories behind the practice of reporting the current events and the production of newspapers. One of the first classes I took was a media critique class. The purpose of this class was to teach students the impact of media on the general public. We studied the theory of cultivation, which states media do affect individuals. The more media watched the more the impact. But what I would like to address now, is the gatekeepers. Media have systems that are utilized to get the package delivered to the consumer. Whether it be television, radio, print or new media, all forms have filters that report on certain stories and leave others by the wayside. The most obvious to explain is that of the editor at a newspaper. Newspaper employees gather news by actual investigation and research or by finding the important stuff on the wire. Here in St. George we see more Associated Press stories than articles written by local staff members. There is nothing wrong with this, just pointing it out. Anyways, the reporters are assigned stories to research and write. These assignments are based on various characteristics and vary from paper to paper. It is the assignments and what is actually printed that gives newspapers and media in general such power. The editor has the final say he is the big gatekeeper of information for our area. The reporters have their say by how and what they write, but when the presses have started rolling everything printed will have the editors approval. If he doesn’t like it, it doesn’t get read. In this way it is possible for media to control the information we can access. Many people have no idea who these gatekeepers are. Ask the average citizen who wrote the story or edited the newspaper they read in the morning and most will not be able to give an answer. We consume the information but never analyze who is holding the keys to the information gateway.

The alarm has been sounded and gone unheard. Most media are owned by a few gargantuan corporations. There have been countless instances that news of value to our country has been placed on the back burner or even censured by the CEOs of these companies.

The important thing to understand from this, is that it is up to us to analyze where and how we get our information. To avoid missing the important stuff, we must access and support alternative outlets. The internet has been the biggest threat to the choke hold these corporations have on our info. They have been fighting for the past few years to alleviate themselves of this problem. We need to fight back, peacefully of course. www.freepress.net.

The Mason-Dixon Line. As you all should know the Mason-Dixon line was the border between slave and free states before the Civil War. I just finished reading Ralph Waldo Emmerson’s essential works. Within that tome, I was introduced to two of his speeches he presented in favor of emancipating the slaves. It was a short trip for me to draw a parralel between the M-D line and our southern border. In that time, it was viewed as an economic imperative that cheap labor, namely slaves, be perpetuated. It is now a given that any labor job, production oriented task that can be, will be exported. We didn’t remove the Mason-Dixon line with the emancipation of the slaves we slimply moved it south and made it someone else’s problem. ‘Mericans complain about immigrants coming here and living as parasites, but in the big scheme of things we are the parasites. We suck the blood out of every society that we can by exploiting their cheap labor and refusing them the opportunity to become our equals. We must have our cheap laborers, we must have our slaves.

On a lighter note, we are going to go for a ride tomorrow. I’m seeing a good, long ride on Little Creek tomorrow afternoon. In related news, I have been enjoying the Tour of California this week. The last stage was a great race, a seventy-mile chase to catch the breakaway just a km. before the finish. Bringing it down to the sprinters to see who would win.

Well, seeing that I have been listening to Forest Gump in the background, “That is all I got to say about that.”

Peace. Love. and Revolution. and it all starts with you.

Pratt and I did the Church last night in the dark. Lily came along for support. I didn’t get cold this time around but my light seems to know just when I make back to the dirt road. It switches off at the exact spot regardless of how long it has been since we left. Strange I tell you strange. Of course, Pratt brought along his camera and made me walk the sandstone runway. I sware I better get compensated soon or there will be no more modeling. Period. From what I saw of the pictures they should turn out pretty cool. www.crawlingspidergallery.com

In other non-related news that I am going to relate, uh, I got nothing.

Peace.

After such an awesome weekend, I now have the opportunity to work seven days straight. Hoorah! OK working seven days straight isn’t great but guess what when you actually enjoy your work it makes things so much easier. Yes, I said it. I like to work as a dirty, low-life bicycle wrench. It is satisfying, enjoyable, and best of all I spend all day with dirtbag low-lifes like myself who love the very things that I do. What else can I guy ask for? You’re right, companionship. Well, we all know that I can’t stay here forever and soon this poor knuckler will be heading south again. When? hell if I knew we would be lucky. Right now, I’m just happy to be alive, able to ride, and to work as a wrench. It’s just one more way I feel like I’m giving the middle finger response to the establishment. Weak, I know.

Anyways… Yadayada…. and that’s it folks….

Ride more. Drive less.

A pic from the Alliance night ride:

Now pics from the Goose, today:

Pratt and I rode Goulds Loop yesterday, which consists of Goulds Rim, the J.E.M. trail and Hurrican Rim. We put in 22 miles on the singlespeeds. Then to culminate our weekend we rode the Goose today. The wind was nippy but for the most part the weather was great. I felt indestructible on the Raleigh today. It was one of the best rides I’ve had in a couple of days. We saw a lot of other riders and surprisingly the majority were pedaling onegeared contraptions. I think it is time to sell and move on. The problem is I really like riding gearless and rigid. I’m not sure what to do, I’m in a conundrum here. The popularity of onegeared pedaling machines has become disgusting. I didn’t start the craze, I’ve actually only been doing it for a few months, but damn. Trends really bug me, that’s all. I guess this is where you say, “Shut up and ride.” Thanks, I needed that.

I’m sure you noticed my new colors, thanks Sir Gurr. I like the way it looks. It seems everybody I know has a blog now. A few you should check out:

www.anarchistcyclist.com

www.crawlingspidergallery.com

Both of those bloggers are good friends of mine. The first is the guy who set mine up, you can see he spent a hell of a lot longer on his. Well what can you expect. I’m happy with what he did, so I’m not complaining.

Keep pedaling towards sovereignty. Peace.

The Alliance night ride was great. I went to Church with Lily and we had a hell of a time. All you Sally’s missed out. It’s interesting how riding at night is completely different. The way we judge distance and how intimately it is connected to space becomes apparent when you can’t see more than five feet in front of you. Throw self-propelled transport on top of that equation and it’s no wonder Einstein thought of relativity while on a bike. After just a few minutes I feel like I’ve been riding for hours and I’m surely not on the trail because I feel as if I’ve gone way too far. After the last few night rides I have learned to somewhat control this feeling, or at least to understand it.

The Tarmac went out for its first ride yesterday. Smooth, fast, effortless, it rides like a dream. Except the whole 11-23 thing, and of course, that is connected to a traditional crankset. I admit I wasn’t ready for that gear ratio when I hit the Gunlock wall. Having the higher gear got me up the hill fast, but I could feel it afterwards.

I need to supplement my last post, “Ride more, Drive less,” with the other interactions that are caused by my pedaling. Wednesday on my way in to work, I counted the casual encounters that I had with people. To and from work, added up to a grand total of seven. Seven people that I interacted with because I pedaled. I would have missed those opportunities had I driven my car. I guess what I’m saying is that although riding tosses me into a coersive relationship with automobiles and a constant battle for space, it also affords me the encounters that make up community, that make me feel alive. The old man who walks his dog every morning in Morning Side Park is a refreshing token of humanity. It also gives me the chance to feel the air, to know it is still chilly in the morning but the bight is gone. Bicycling helps me know that I am a person and that there are other people out there. They are two-wheeled love machines.

Life goes on. Ride it on a bike.

Cars, automobiles, carros, coffins, whatever you want to call them, have an intimate relationship with bicyclists, unfortunately. They surround us, tranport us at times, but mostly they intimidate us. Cars and bicyclists are thrown into the same jungle of transportation infrastructure and thus must interact. This is one of the many coersive relationships that we as modern humans are forced to deal with.

As an anarchist, I claim to choose how, when, and where I will interact with who. I attempt to eliminate the  coersiveness of daily interactions by not allowing others to choose how I interact with them. As a bicycle commuter, the most forced interaction I participate in is with automobiles. I need to get somewhere, they need to get somewhere, we have to use the same roads. I choose to interact with them every time I leave the house.

It is safer to use roads instead of sidewalks. Once I venture onto those roads, I have found it better that I don’t allow any car or driver bully me. It is easy for cyclists to feel inferior and therefore afraid as they interact with traffic. Feeling inferior forces us to the sidelines. Cyclists attempt to be small, to avoid being in the road even though they have full legal rights and deserve to be there more than their automated counterparts.

I choose to interact with cars as the bully. I use the lane when I need or want. I take the space that is mine and allow them to use the space outside of where I am. I have learned that to feel comfortable on the road I must occupy space. I make myself big. Instead of riding as far out of the way as possible, I get in the way. I use shoulders only when they are big enough to allow me to be safely overtaken. I exercise my human right to transport myself in any way that I deem worthy. I think the most important this to understand is that a cyclist doesn’t ask for permission to share the road, they allow cars to share the road with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbeDxOHfT68

An email of interest I recieved today from the Mexican cycling post, Bicitekas:

Les mando un video de una nota en TV de un noticiero
gringo. Perdón que les mande esta reflexión en inglés,
pero me pareció buena para reforzar la idea de los
retos para pensar la bicicleta como vehículo en la
calle. X.
We have plenty of evidence of both the power of the
public emotion against vehicular cycling and of the means of
overcoming that emotion in individuals. The means of overcoming that cyclist inferiority phobia are repeated successful exposure to real traffic of gradually increasing intensity. A useful first step in such acclimatization is the video work of Dan and Brian, which can be viewed in a non-threatening environment, but it has to be followed by success in cycling in real traffic.There are plenty of cyclists who cycle successfully, relatively speaking, in real traffic, but still don’t seem to be “acclimatized” . As an example, consider Michael Clarke, the KFI nager recently featured in the NBC news story, This guy commutes some 34 miles per day in LA traffic. By most any reasonable measure, he is an “experienced” traffic cyclist. But the clips show him riding far to the right (certainly as compared to the clips shown by Dan and Brian), we know he has been hit at least once, and his words reveal a strong sense of inferiority while he is out there. I don’t mean to pick on Mr. Clarke, but I believe he is a fairly typical example of a very common type of cyclist: he doesn’t make the gross errors of riding on the wrong side, riding at night without proper lights and reflectors, riding on sidewalks, blowing through red lights, etc., but he still doesn’t act like a (slow moving) vehicle driver when he is out there, particularly not in terms of negotiating for ROW and
controlling lanes when they are too narrow to be shared, when approaching intersections,
etc. In fact, very few cyclists seem to do that. How do we popularize this more assertive,
safer and more rewarding form of “integrated cycling”, as exemplified by the work of Dan and Brian, within the community of “experienced” cyclists? As far as I can tell, for the most part, these are not the folks signing up for LAB courses, and, much of what is covered in those classes they already know. Plus, they think doing anything much different from what they already do is “crazy” and/or “asking for it”. They believe the problem is the motorists and favor bike lanes as reprieve that gives them space that they don’t have to fight for. They believe most if not all of the problems that they have, be they close calls or actual hits, are par for the course, something that is inevitable. How to reach them? How to get through to them?
Serge
 

A brother in arms.

Declare your Sovereignty!

Remember tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. is the Alliance night ride at Red Rock Bicycle. We will be doing the Barrel Roll.

Peace.

It’s been a while and I appologize. I would give you all a long explanation about why I haven’t written but quite frankly I don’t want to. I was sick. Period, that is the end of discussion, no I don’t care what you think.

Now let’s see, what has happened since my last post? Nothing, well that was easy. Actually I missed the first group road ride out of the shop. It was a beautiful day yesterday and I was sick here in the house. To top it all off, yesterday was supposed to be the maiden voyage of my new road bike. Yes, I already sold and got a new one in the two week period after purchasing the first one. The link shows the 2007 model of my bike, I got the very last 2006 Tarmac SL w/ Dura-Ace groupo and Roval wheels. Out of the box, she weighed in at 15.24 pounds. Yeah, she’s light and I hope very fast because we all know that I am not. She also has upside-down Gerolsteiner stickers on the fork, gonna be a collecters item. So, now I have another new, awesome ride and it hasn’t seen any more action than the parking lot loop. I do go to work later tomorrow, but all signs point to rain. Things aren’t looking good for a ride tomorrow morning.

I am still looking for chickens. This week should, I hope, see some work from my lazy ass on the garden. The fence was taken down and everything needs a good loosening up by the rotatiller. I’m think Thursday would be a good time to get that going. From what my father says, we should plant starting the first part of March. Sounds like sovereignty.

I’m currently listening to the KSL news. It seems that there are two gunmen in a mall in SLC shooting up the place. Sounds crazy, and you all know that I don’t agree with killing ever. No, there are no exceptions. Maybe a few but not very many. Killing to prove killing is wrong is probably the very first one on the not-an-exception list. Followed by “we’re the bullies and people just want to protect themselves from us but we don’t think they should have the same weapons”, so we bomb them. Yes, that is number two. I’ll keep the list going and a tally of the not-an-exception items as well as the exceptions. Right now I can’t think of anything that would be exempt.

Wednesday, as you all know, is Alliance night ride. Not sure where we will be pedaling but we will meet at Red Rock Bicycle at 7:30 p.m. I hope to see you all there.

Peace. Love. and Revolution.

Well, the group thing didn’t go over very well for a ride that was planned, advertised and done all within a three day time frame. I can’t imagine why I rode by myself last night. I’m sure you’ll all be there next week, same time, same place.