Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance

Walden

Sunday was a great ride out at the Goose. The ant-Sea Otter Classic was in full swing. We had the mesa almost entirely to ourselves. I haven’t seen that parking lot void of cars on a Sunday in years. It really kind of sucks how popular it is getting. Any time we find something we love it seems the masses tend to pull and rip it apart because they can. The tragedy of the commons sucks. The disregard for the trail is what bothers me the most. Riders who attempt to go around obstacles create big fat areas where you can’t even tell what the hell the original trail was supposed to be. If you’re going to ride a trail, ride it the way it was designed. Do not sanitize it for your own riding experience. Of course, that goes in the opposite direction as well. If you’re going to ride a trail don’t screw it up to build things that are, in your mind, bigger and better. I guess what I’m trying to say is respect the trail and the artist who built it.

Tomorrow is the Alliance Ride. We are meeting at 6 p.m. at Red Rock Bicycle. I have been informed by a reliable witness that the Bear Claw Poppy is blooming out on the Bear Claw Poppy Trail. So, we will be spinning out that direction for a nice foto opportunity.

I have a confession to make to all the Mooseknucklers out there. The last few months I have been a bit too relaxed. You might even go as far as to say that I have been lazy. I have been driving way too much. This week I started, with renewed vigor, to commute to work. So far I have not driven my car yet this week. I will have to drive tomorrow for the group ride but other than that this week is looking good. Getting back in the saddle to pedal my way through life has brought some much needed relaxation that I wasn’t getting from my laziness. I know I’m preaching to the choir but riding to and from work really is better. I’ve re-convinced myself of that.

I also re-realized how bad cars suck. When I was riding to work on Monday, I was thinking about a letter to the editor in our local daily publication. The letter had the jist that cyclists should grow up, buy a car and pay taxes. Luckily, the paper’s website allows responce from the general public and the idiot who wrote the letter got blasted with upset replies. Anyways… I was thinking about the whole tax thing. It seems a bit ridiculous that I should pay taxes to use a road that in no way is being damaged by me. I don’t have any research to back this up, but if a million cyclists rode a section of road a day, I really don’t think any damage would be done. Which made me think about cars in general. Their weight is what makes them so stupid. We use a couple thousand pound machine to move a person waying a couple hundred pounds. It doesn’t exactly make sense.

But this is what Capitalism has brought us to, and we all know it always foments efficiency… which is exactly why we spend billions of dollars building roads that get destroyed by huge machines that are used to haul little bitty people. We also build huge power plants to power our air-conditioned cubicles in the desert instead of placing solar panels on the roofs of every building and completely eliminating the need for power plants. It’s also why we fight wars to ensure a constant flow of fossil fuels and cheap labor to power our big electricity producing plants and pollution spewing coffins. It’s also why we do everything we can to keep that cheap labor on the other side of the borders so we don’t have to pay actual market value for a salad, electronics, or even bicycles. I think we should make sure we perpetuate this system as far in to the future as possible. That way our children can continue to reap the benefits, suffer the consequences and try to defend themselves from the rest of this world when the laborers final revolt in disgust.

I, for one, hope to never be the system. I hope to be able to stand for what I am and to align myself with those who are on the downside. I will always ride, write and rebel.

Declare your sovereignty.

By the way, the garden is coming along wonderfully. We have tomatoes, peas, and onions sprouting up. I just wish I could get some chickens but that wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. I feel cheated that I won’t be able to share in the labor and fruits of the garden with my parents. I guess the most important thing is that the idea came to fruition. Maybe someday I will be able to have a plot of land that I can grow something for myself and then have children that know where milk comes from.

Goya and his painting Saturno devorando a su hijo.

My Spanish history class I am taking on-line has a lot of art intertwined into the political and religious struggles of the peninsula. My homework tonight partly consisted of watching an hour long video documenting Goya’s work and life. Spanish history is dark. I have found it interesting and far more complex than I had previously understood it to be. (The links are in English)

A couple posts back, I wrote about my experience at the Choya Challenge. I expressed a my inability to understand why racers race, what their motivation could be. This lack of understanding stems from my view of riding. I ride to ride. I try to not allow any kind of outside motivation of how or what I should ride creep into my “style.” I’ve ridden hardtails, downhill rigs, all mountain six inch boungers, xc bikes, and now pedal a fully rigid singlespeed. Only hell and heaven know what I will ride next. Having evolved through these different styles I can understand them and know what it’s like to ride that way. I’ve never raced. In response to my post, a racer let me know why he races, “Racing for me is all about acomplishment. To achieve goals and progress. It is a mirror image of life.” After reading this comment, I feel as if I passed through a firey epiphany and came out with a devine understanding. In comparison with the stupid things I’ve done in the name of accomplishment, racing seems logical. I had never looked at racing this way. I see accomlishment as a worthy goal, being number one as arrogant. I swore I would never race, but having been shown the light….

Lily and I rode the Goose yesterday. It was a bit chipper for this time of year. I actually wore a long sleeve jersey and I felt comfortable with it on. The wind wasn’t too bad except along the cliffs where it is always ripping. Clouds lumed over head all day but failed to produce much more than a few tears on my window on the drive out and back. I took advantage of riding alone to do a few subloops that seem to get skipped when I ride with others. I started out on the North East rim just passed the windmill. I rode up the rim to the bowls and ledges, into the practice loop and to the road. I then spun a couple hundred yards up the jeep road to the closes spot to jump on the South Rim. I proceeded up the rim to the Hidden Canyon junction and flowed through it back to the road. I then pedaled my way up to the top of the North Rim trail and headed back down the mesa to the car. It was shorter than my usual loop but I can honestly say I’ve never ridden the Goose like that.

Don’t forget to get a t-shirt. revolution.pdf. The money will go to further the Mooseknuckler Alliance’s stated goals. If you don’t know what these goals are, either do I.

While watching “The Interpreter” last night, I started to think about the Peace Corps. I’m not sure what if anything will come of this, but I’ve spent the last hour or so checking out their site. I think it is something that I would like to do. I know Mr. Anderson says that they don’t really do anything that helps anyone. And he should know, he went to Africa, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to just go somewhere and live like other people do. I guess I’ve done that before and I loved it. I don’t need any more motivation than that.

Declare your sovereignty, it’s all you’ve got.

I somehow came off without any pictures of Mr. Pratt but he was there too. Biggest turn out yet for an alliance ride. Unfortunately, I will be leaving in a couple weeks. Damn. Great ride though, we rode the Barrel Roll, the new trail in the Santa Clara Reserve. Short but fun.

Peace.

This is for Mr. Gurr, http://www.claritin.com/index.aspx?blnFlash=true

I did a little pbs this morning. I cut down the hoses on my brakes. They were just a little long and when I say a little long I really mean about three feet too long. It looked like I was coming down the trail with a set of lassos tied around my bar. The Raleigh looks much sleeker now. After selling the S Works Tarmac, I was left with the seat that came stock on the bike. So, with no other use for it, I slapped it on the singlespeed as well. I have to say that is the coolest Raleigh singlespeed in the world. Thinking ahead to the cold winter commute I will have this winter, I installed a King headset onto the Karate Monkey.

Follow all those links and that should take you all a minute or two.

Peace.

Buy shirts. revolution.pdf

I never really had time to go over all the fotos I took when I was up to Pine Valley last, so here’s a couple more.

Saturday, as you all know was the Cholla Challenge. I took my camera and took a few shots of the kids taking off and then put it away and did not want to take anymore pictures. The whole atmosphere was uninspiring for me, and therefore, no fotos. I was nice to see so many people out on there bikes enjoying their two-wheeled love machines. In that sense, it did warm my heart.

Yesterday was Easter. I hope everyone already knew that or you may have missed your anual dosage of bunnies that some how produce chocolate eggs. It is a very important part of ‘Merican culture. And as all Easters go for the B-word family, we got together and spent time as a fam. My bro-in-law and I had a long conversation about politics and stuff. I always enjoy this because it forces me to think outside of what I may or may not have already thought. Or in other words, it makes me question my own pre-disposed assumptions. Nothing new to me came out of the discussion but it was nice to speak my piece.

The Chacon-Pratt family rode Little Creek with me yesterday. Enjoyable but it was a little slow compared to past outings. It was overcast and gave us great weather to be riding. The last couple days around here have started to get to that point that riding is not enjoyable. That may be the only thing I am looking forward to in Logan. At least the first six weeks or so will be cooler than here, even if the riding sucks. I have been making an effort to ride as much as possible in the few weeks I have left. I gotta enjoy it while I can. It will most likely be too hot after that to ride anyways.

A few links:

http://english.aljazeera.net/English

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

http://www.el-nacional.com/

http://www.clarin.com/

www.crawlingspidergallery.com

Life goes on. Ride it on a bike.

And I almost forgot, again, we have t’s. Check ‘em out. $15 plus $5 for shipping anywhere in the lower 48. Peace.

revolution.pdf

I’m tired.

I spent the day out at the Choya Challenge supposedly wrenching probono to support the race, yadayadayada. I honestly do not understand the allure of racing. All the riders were happy and cheerful before they rode, but then they all turned into ass holes coming over the line. They did not look like they were having fun. I think that is a shame.

I’ve been somewhat, kind of, not really busy, but too busy to post. The habit has left me and it may take some work to get it back.

 Anyways, I’m supposed to be at Danny’s….

Riding the Goose tomorrow, early…

Peace.

I spent this evening hiking in my canyon that goes up to my mountain. I don’t claim to own this place. Unfortunately, it owns me. It is my favorite place to be. I guess the solitude of the mountain sooths the angry beast inside, just makes me feel better. I find it easier to find my thoughts and shed off those things that don’t matter.

Lily and I hiked up Mill Canyon for an hour or so. I spent my time jumping the stream and trying not to get too much snow in my boots. Lily spent her time jumping in the stream and rolling around in the snow, go figure. At 2235 m we had to turn around. Mostly because I needed a reason to be back in the valley for sun down, but the snow was becoming excessively obtrusive to our forward travel. The stream was nice and high due to the recent snowfall, although the amount of snow for this time of year was a bit low. Lily was already wore out from our riding the Goose this morning with Mr. Anderson. She was out cold as soon as she was back in the car.

I hope these pictures do justice to the serenity of the environment in my canyon. I know they don’t, but there should always be hope.

We’ll be riding the Goose again tomorrow.

Peace. Love. and Revolution.