The Mongolia Chronicles

4 wheels blow mind

I would argue - that this is a 'modern' trick. BS ollie to nose grind and in. Not that it makes me modern. No. But. I have been working on the ramp alot. Ususally when I do that it stores up magic - like a trail or a board you are shaping in your shed out back. Then - it feeds back. Figures - stitches in the shin are a drag - but not that painful - as most sensation has been eradicated from my shins from banging into things. So - I committed - and this "kerthwackkkk" - that sound on landing on that 90 ml of truck from the air - that sound is priceless. timeless. So fricking stoked. There is no reason I should be able to learn this trick - other than the fact that I tried it. That's the biggest wake up call I know.

The Magic Sandwich

In the electronic world until 10 last nite. Logged off for a few precious hours - and back on this morning. One more day at this pace - which is pretty unsustainable. The ride this am saved me. I took some time out - SO hard to do - and took a few shots, sat on some rocks, contemplated the moist, gorgeous dawn - and the scale of the things...the absolute preciousness of those few moments of down time before coming down here to the city. The the whacko pace, the no time for anything. Time is money - I think I heard someone say that once. People say - man - how do you find the time? And I say - Man - you gotta make time - take time - whatever it takes.

The Spine Also Groweth

Tired. Oh so tired. I spent all my energy working on the new extension on the spine, re-surfacing the clam corner - I barely had the energy to skate. But - it's looking good out there...looooooking good.

Star: 1;Nimby:.6

Thought I had the moxie and threw down for one of the hardest climbs I know on the single. I mean - how hard could it be? 4,000 some odd feet - much of it real technical. Hah! I am not super bummed at how I rode this today - but I thought I had more. But I just founf that place - where I knew if I kept pushing I would blow like the titanic (?). Still - a great ride - a great discovery and a great day. Ouch, and goodnight.

It's long Way to Tip a Rarey

It's a long way from the MAGIC of this stump - Tuesday night - into the double delayed, too much work and not enough skating trip to Portland. Tuesday night I was wrecked from riding. Good wrecked. Tired. For all the right reasons. That faded into a clusterfuck mid-week trip with delays on both ends, a nice hover over DIA for about 2 hours last night. The hot bath and the beer (my girl rules) last nite made the day. So - this shot - on the way home Tuesday night on the third day of doubles - unreal evening light - the light is getting all SLANTED a Fall like.

Doubt that it's fall? Check this out....IT'S COMING!!!!!!!

Work V. Trust

Epic, clear, perfect evening here in Portland, Oregon. In for the day to go worship at the throne (kneel on the tile) of the world's largest sporting goods company. Here to worship sport - but - due to logistical impications of United - I missed out on skating a few of my favorite places: Department of Skate; Burnside. It would have been gorgeous out there. Instead - I went to dinner with a couple of friends. One of whom did indeed a vital reinforcement to my crumbling arguments to why I need to continue to work this fucking 'hard'.
You see - the is one of the more 'powerful' folks I have ever dealt with in business. I worked very closely with her for two years when she was at one of the major global technology firms. She made me a bunch of cash over that time. I don't maintain the relationship out of avarice or greed. I maintain it as I think she is interesting and I think she will continue to do amazing things profesionally and I would like to be able to participate, watch, enjoy her success as she is scary smart and very aggressive.
So - she bailed he huge corporate job a few months ago - and is up here working for an Oregon Land Trust that is vying for critical habitiat along the Willamette river between Portland and the coast. She is hanging out with naturalist's, in tents, with locals, learning about flora and fauna - rather than moving into a Westin for 43 days (true story) during a key aquisition for former mongo corporation. Her eyes are alive, she is relaxed - dinner was a JOY (made even better by the beer selection at The Red Star and the fact that they have the best baked mac and cheese on the planet.
So - truly - as I sit here in the morning light - in a hotel tha costs $300 a nite, with a personal oxygen inhaler ($60 a hit-not using it - duh); $11 pots of coffee and $9 bottles of water - preparing to go - basically to quote Jack Black - suck the devils cock (it's not quite that bad - I am super lucky for the opportunities I have had, etc. and don't take things for granted) BUT - overall - I gotta say - this interspacial sports company really does seem like the evil empire sometimes......AND keeping in mind I DID NOT get to skate yesterday - I am feeling like maybe I should just quit, hook up with some of the folks I know - say at Patagonia who are administering Yvonne Chouinard's land trust - and just roll with it. Who knows what may happen - the day is yet young. Maybe THAT would make a difference in a form other than the amount of money I have that I am not even using.

The Kiosk Curse

You - as in the royal ewe - can call it Management. You can call it 'access' - like a long as line to a new prisoner in the metaphorical showers of life. You can offer another metaphor - as the searcher did - something akin to an ugly, gnarly dude fucking your sister. Or - you can call it like Dv8 - and just say - this is a sacrifice area - something to preserve other areas. But don't call it responsible management. That's like calling OJ's "If I Did It" a book. It's wiping product - at best. There is not even a memory of the trails on west mag - there is not a fucking Iota of the experience that was once there...fucking pave it. fucking burn it. it is a horrifying example - of what we humans do - when we are left to our own devices - as a collective. It - Is - Death.

Present Time - Today. The best of days.

Too many images. Too many things stuck in my head. Rode myself into a giant hole early last week - resorted to the X-bike (rest bike) and then re-rallied for a great ride Friday. I can't even remember where? Fall - is here. Not in the macro 'sugar coated mountains' way - but in a very nice - perfect morning and evening temps and bearable mid-day temps even out here in east Assfalia (gunbarrel). Oh - I remember friday now - rode the geared bike for the first time in about 6 weeks. Still didn't like it.

The weekend started with an 'Urban Tasting' which meant dodging storms all across town, getting poured on, and finally finding the crew in the park surrounded by warm PBR. The PBR caused damage, but did not keep me from heading out and circumnavigating 'Fox Den Hill' with The Man of Fitness.

That's my wedding ring there - for scale. Itty bitty jaw bones and little forearm bones all stacked all around. Trippy. Mondo adventures in areas close to home - seeing things I have never seen. All great things.

A map, a one geared bicycle. A pack full of Sharkies, and cheese wheels and crackers and coffee. These - are all the things I need. These things - along with sitting quietly this morning - after hanging with The Dude - as it is - officially - his birthday. One year. A bit too private of an arena for me to enter in these pages - maybe becoming a Dad has made me a little less 'overt' in some categories. But - he is the mac daddy bomb of all things in life. Period. Happy B'day to The Mighty Quinn.

Poooooooop

I do not mean to soil the woods, or stir the pot of environmentalism with the following confession: I did - indeed - take an enormous dump in the woods yesterday on the way in. This happens a lot - and I do bury poops, and carry out my wipes. Yesterday - the urge struck (I think it was the cold water in the creek) in an opportune place to observe a pantload of cars railing down boulder canyon to work. I can not tell a lie. I did feel somewhat superior, crouched next to my one speed bicycle, an hour into a 2.5 hour ride - pooping - while I watched people commute via car. I can not tell a lie. It felt damn good. Passed through a few things I have not passed through in a couple of years - and it was way cool. Great week on the bike...warming up for my favorite time of year.

Follow The Compass

August is NO repeat month - which means - I have to mix it UP. Which means for the next 17 days - of which I will likely ride some 15 - I may not tread the same trail twice. Seems simple. Right? No. We - humans - are creatures of habit. Whether it's who (or what)we bone; where we sleep, what we eat. So - in a lame effort - and completely inadequate manner to kneel before the Gawds of the singletrack, and the stream and the carry - I will go wide - and far - and not do the same trail twice.

A note on today: Still asleep - 7 minutes into the ride - hook a tree and crash. The sun was streaming through north facing pines - hitting this moss rock like a lazer. I sat and stared. Had I not chosen this 'alternate' route - I would not have seen this. It was insane. This rock. The sun. The fresh ooze of red seeping from my arm. It all made the moment. And it's only Monday.