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.