How can we impart the beauty and value of our natural landscapes while protecting them? How does one National Park become a mecca while others sit idle?
Yosemite gets a lot of traffic. And justifiably so. I haven't even been, but I can feel its enormity just from the Ansel Adam prints I was handed in high school. This video highlights its beauty. It also highlights the traffic through the park.
More people then ever are flocking to our nations parks and open spaces. Natural habitat is being used the "treat" people suffering from depression amongst other things. So when will we bring nature back to our cities. Direct traffic and resources to other parks. Come up with some way to see nature besides 3mph crawling through Yosemite? Maybe dropping the fees on cyclists?
Give cyclists a day, even a morning to ride the parks without traffic. I'd pay for that. I think a lot of people would.
Its the Unicorn of the ocean of the ski slopes. And another way to share your excitement. Going Gnarwhal? Yeah. Doing the Gnarwhal? Sure. Whatever it is. Smile. Get rad.
Laying down on a couch after a day of skiing. Cheeks red from the wind. Legs sore from the carving. And the telltale sign of a good day, a euphoric feeling of content.
It starts when restrictive boots come off and feet slide into soft wool clogs. It extends from your cold lips regaining their normal red hue. From your fingers temperature rising. Then it crescendos in your head, a sense of pure and utter elation. Calm. Then sleep.
More often then not I probably have a big stupid squinty eyed grin on my face.
Our world may be burning massive amounts of energy my the minute, or even the second lighting up our homes. However, there is something magical about gazing at a twinkling cityscape at night. I can't recall ever seeing Chicago at night from an airplane. The sky was so clear and we flew so low that the city streets narrowed to a point on the horizon.
The gaping void of darkness created by Lake Michigan to the east offered a stark contrast. Peering into its endless abyss straining to pick something out. Finding nothing, except perhaps, a peek at your deepest thoughts and soul.
You are a passenger riding on a plane instead of racing away from your past and anxiously toward your future in a car. Mass transit should be our reminder to breath. Message was composed on my mobile device.
Though I will be gracious in thanking Nintendo and Mario Cart for giving me the skills to navigate New Jersey highways smoothly and fluidly. And yes I swerved to avoid a banana peel on rte 287.
I will see you tomorrow night Mountains. Then the next day. And the day after that. And so forth.
The mountains never cease to amaze me. Nor is the beauty ever lost. They are the most majestic surfaces, jutting out of our earths crust, poking through the clouds.
Last Friday marked the day Angry Bovine yanked his former employers colors from the mast, and hoisted the bright pink flag of Angry Bovine.
That also happens to be the second person I've worked for who decided to chart his own course and one of many friends who freed themselves from the clutches of corporate control.
Our first planned foray into the glorious wilderness of Colorado. Though it will be day three on skis, it will be my first strapping skins to my skis and journeying into the mountains. The hum of Moffat Tunnel will slowly fade to the wind with only our deep breath to remind us of our existence. Earning our turns to experience the glory of the wild and remind ourselves we are meager in our existence. In the wild our presence is prominent and can be countered with great consequence, so we will tread lightly out of necessity and respect.
It is our hope that humility and patience will lead to exaltation as we carve through powder with grins on our faces.
The Stoke Meter is reading high right now. As in I'm stoked.
The roads are crap and there really isn't enough snow on the ground for a big storm to be a powder day. You'll just end up hitting rocks and gouge your skis bases.
However, this storm will lead to a big base of snow for the season and the opportunity to reenact Calvin & Hobbes style snow scenes in the front yard.
How to make images as quickly as possible when they pop into your head.
Everything I do is based on visuals. Blame it on LEGO's, David McCaulay books, video games, or just plain genetics from a set of artistic parents. As such my love for photoshop has grown dramatically over the last year. Whether it is making up websites for prototypical people who don't exist or reminding Jay who has more points in the overall competition for nothing. It is gratifying to make graphics, and fast.
Its no secret or joke. I love making food. All kinds. Mostly the delicious sort.
Tonight's dinner special, pizza with salami, garlic, tomato, scallion, and mozzarella. The pizza stone has become my best friend and were this my home I would most certainly already have built a brick oven in the backyard.
To drink. Argentinian Malbec. My buddy Ben lived there for 9 months and has a distinct preference for South American wines. So I have come to appreciate the Malbec nose, brightness, and flavor.
Sweetening the palate: Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with coconut. The ole' standby with coconut to change things up. Delicious. There may be more brownie making in the future too. Think cayenne.
These are the meals I savor. Though I find myself wishing I could cook for friends more often and finding fewer of them around. It is probably because I fly by the seat of my pants, but more then likely it is because they are actually busy. We have many things on our plates these days. Commitments. Long days in the office. Enlightenment is becoming brighter as all of those adages from my elders are becoming reality and I thank heaven for my stubbornness that made sure I did whatever they said. It wasn't all completed, but most of it will be, and I will strive to finish the rest.
Which is too say its damp, cloudy, and cold in Colorado.
Saturday was spent creeping through clouds at 8,000 feet with Tom on a trail I've never ridden getting pelted with rain and generally loving it. Definitely the east coast kid in me. Rain and 37'F sure, that's normal.
Clouds broke Sunday mid-day enough to cheer the cross racers on and squeeze in a road ride. Dinner and a concert to follow.
Enough for a great weekend.
But I long for a damp dark road in Somewheresville, VT-MA. Climbing in absolute silence. The only way possible while riding through the fog. I miss the cheers of friends as we slip, slide, and dart through yellow tape at a cross race. Yearning for the Sunday ruckus with great friends, exquisite food, and warm hearts.
Everytime I relive that cross season I smell an autumn Sunday, soup, and the warmth of friends.
"This video was brought to my attention by Adventure Vida"
This movie brought to mind the imagery in the movie Koyaanisqatsi, Life Out of Balance, which silently exposed us to errors of our ways and the destruction we've left in our path. The trilogy continues with Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, translated to Life in Transformation and Life as War, respectively.
The result of the fires raging in California is unfortunate and terrible when it consumes human life. Yet they serve as a reminder that our existence is not one of superiority. While we maybe able to use urban spoon to find an Indian restaurant on a budget in New York, we still cannot control our relationship with nature.
The fire has also hit close to home on numerous levels. The first being the thought that the house I am living in was on fire as I came home from work Monday evening. The smoke billowing from the backyard definitely put me on alert. Thankfully for me and my firefighter roommate who owns the home, it was our neighbors burning trash in their backyard. Trash, like plastic, not paper. Zach made the ride around the block on his fire engine red townie bike to dowse their mischief. It was too late though as the smoldering trash heap managed to drift right into my bedroom and I drifted off to sleep with the smell of burnt plastic in my nose.
Then Colorado got hit with a little neighborly smoke in the wee hours of the morning with the California fires' smoke drifitng westward to the front range. I awoke for an early ride before work to find a blood orange sun creeping above the clouds and more have then enough haze to block out the sky. Escaping up Flagstaff Mountain did little to relieve the air quality and more then likely worsened it as I sought air at the high elevation.
A life out of balance and an effect shared by all. It serves as a poignant reminder that ripples can become waves and our lives have been trumped by something bigger then our existence.
It is upon us. The fall. It approaches. The Winter.
Summer fitness turns to faster rides. Heat drives us to early mornings or cool evenings. Ski trailers drop like Colorado late afternoon thunderstorms. Cyclocross racers start huffing tubular glue like 3rd graders as they mount tires. All the while my skin tingles with visions of powder turns and snow rushing over my thighs...with my eyes peeled back looking through the woods for my line...completed with the peaceful sensation of flowing like water through a brook or soaring as a hawk rides thermal rises high into the blue sky.
Walk in the door. Turn lights on. Drop keys on nearest flat surface. Throw mail on kitchen table. Drop briefcase on ground. Beer thy self. Couch. Drink. Sleep.
Well maybe not those last few things, I mean, who carries a briefcase anymore. I don't. I much prefer a murse, which is a man-purse, for those who have unbelievably never seen a Seinfeld episode.
Enter the good effing idea of the day. The light switch cover that holds your mail and keys. Bonus, no holes drilled in the sheet rock that would inevitably be ripped out causing you to lose 3% of your security deposit. It won't collect crap like that draw in the kitchen filled with three dead ballpoint pens, a phone book you'll never use (thanks Google), 11 paper clips, 5 screws, and a ton of worthless scraps of paper. Not to mention it is easier to move then an armoire and never needs to be cleaned unless you are a car mechanic.
I noticed that a recent article mentioned the possible bulldozing of 40 American cities. It must be the most heartbreaking experience to hear someone tell you that your city, not your job or your project, is on the chopping block. At the same time these same cities are talking about clearing out uninhabited portions of cities. Boarded up homes, that have been sold, put on the market, or even abandoned. I hope I never know that experience.
In time I hope we see the incredible opportunity that is available in the destruction of those city blocks. Copper ore has been traded as such a rare commodity that people steal wire out of houses. Wire folks. Hardwood forests are at a premium and given the long regrowth period, being phased out of some markets. Material resources have new value.
So where is the opportunity? Deconstruction. Not destruction. We are talking about taking homes apart. Piece by piece. As methodically as they were built. Where hardwood is laid. Bricks are plastered with mortar again. Joists and beams take on a new life. Tile makes another bathroom. Ovens cook another turkey. Wire lights up another life.
Where massive skilled labor in Michigan used to be focused on the hum of 8 pistons firing in rhythmic beauty, there now sits a city asking for help. Return the integrity to craftsmenship. Bring honor to the hand built. Most of all bring relief to the suffering.
No syrup in the house? No problem. The only thing worse then pancakes without syrup is pancakes without Vermont Maple syrup.
There is a simple solution though. Make pancake batter. Pour in pan. Add slices of cheese to pancake. Dab batter onto cheese slices to prevent burning/melting when flipped. In separate pan make bacon.
It is my sincere hope that our future evenings in Boulder aren't cluttered with thunderstorms and rain. Though it appears this is part of a normal trend I would appreciate some respite as my lawnsporting habits have become forgotten. Lawnsporting does require a certain amount of dressing up, even if only for fun, and any inclement weather would certainly lead to a soggy backside. Even if the rain has quite a calming affect which I welcome in a town of type A active folk, myself included. A recent clear warm evening reminded me of those many long days I would spend riding my bike late into the night with friends. Waiting for the sun to drop low enough in the sky to start our game of flashlight tag. If the weather trends do not change soon I'm sure we will adapt. It will just be hard to find a waterproof picnic blanket and sweater vest. Message was composed on my mobile device.
I blogged about this a few years ago and it looks like The High Line has finally come to fruition.
This small park seems paltry considering I am surrounded by green mountains and meadows in Boulder at the moment. The green here is novel for us though as summer is usually brown and dry. So I imagine the effect of each is quite similar. NYC has its massive central park which is more oasis then anything else so The High Line should prove to be a fantastic escape of busy city streets, add a new perspective to the city surroundings freshening the minds and hearts of city dwellers.
Everyone seems pretty alerted to this "rivalry" between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador lately and I'm not sure I buy it.
I'm thinking Lance-Alberto are more along the lines of Kobe-Shaq then they are Kobe-Lebron. They're on the same team. They'll get the team a win. Lance hasn't sent the warning shot he usually does. Alberto was killing, or slaying if you are TP, it in his Spring campaign. 'Bert also has a major TT and hillclimb in the coming days of the Dauphine. One will make his point and one will not. The rest will be left for 200 dudes, 3 weeks, and some pavement in the France to decide.
An article was recently published in the New York Times about the contaminated sludge of the Hudson being stored on the outskirts of TinyTown, NM.
What I found interesting, and mostly disturbing, was the man involved in landing the contract to store the waste, Harold C. Simmons. Its pretty bad when the references following your name entail involvement in propaganda financing.
So the story goes like this. Environmentalists cry fowl, Simmons' company calls environmentalist's claims a lie. The EPA which is based in the same town as Simmons gives the project the green light.
They couldn't have painted a better picture of a man, sans morals, who buys permission for a lucrative contract and highlights the compromised position of a government agency.
From a front range riding perspective our trails are quite sandy with copious sections of jagged rocks thrown which make for a really challenging experience. The only real dirt we get is WAY up on the divide and in the high mountains where late season snow is the norm.
The exception being the Enchanted Forest of Golden in the Apex trail system. Loamy damp soil inhabits this north facing slope deep in the trees. Some solid jumps, drops, and gnarly roots make for a startling contrast to the Apex trail just 75 yards to the north in the sunny valley. Its 1.3 miles. Just long enough to forget where I am. And close enough to Apex to make lapping it choice.
From a front range riding perspective our trails are quite sandy with copious sections of jagged rocks thrown which make for a really challenging experience. The only real dirt we get is WAY up on the divide and in the high mountains where late season snow is the norm.
The exception being the Enchanted Forest of Golden in the Apex trail system. Loamy damp soil inhabits this north facing slope deep in the trees. Some solid jumps, drops, and gnarly roots make for a startling contrast to the Apex trail just 75 yards to the north in the sunny valley. Its 1.3 miles. Just long enough to forget where I am. And close enough to Apex to make lapping it choice.
Got pictures of you and your friends playing a Lawnsport? Well make sure you find us on Facebook and tag the lawnsport in your photo!
Also, a quick reminder of Lawnsports this Monday:
I think we're going to have a good afternoon for some Lawnsport this Monday, so let's meet at North Boulder Park at 3pm. Bring your own drink / food and if anyone has some Lawnsport gear - BRING IT! Last week we had one heck of a game of whiffle ball. Randy "the howitzer" Reichardt showed us how Iowa does it, must be the corn?
Volleyball? Horseshoes? Kickball? They're all fair game! (Target has them all ON SALE)
Also don't forget it's Bolder Boulder on Monday, so I'm sure the entire city will be shut down all day. Ride your human powered bikes or else!
Time to scribble some addresses, slap some labels on them and they're done. Despite an abundance of technology, the U.S. Postal Service makes me manually address and label first class international packages. I could pay double to have a label and postage printed in one click of the mouse but it just isn't in the margins. Tomorrow's early morning trail ride is lingering and I can't wait. Message was composed on my mobile device.
