I have written to this theme before...and praise be..I hope to many times in the future. I am thankful - and THEY say that gratitude is one of the most important - if not THE most important element to a great life. I am grateful for the dude sleeping like a log; the gorgeous woman who is my wife working across from me as I write this; the skate session I had with my 9 year old nephew yesterday in Southern Calfornia.......rides home from the airport....but tonite - mostly - just for being here knowing that when I get up...I get to meet two of my best friends...and they will help me shlep boards and child equipment...and we will go south and west and we will sit on the beach in Mexico....and count our fricking blessings...that...is the bomb.
Photo Albums
Panama 2006
- In the spirit of adventure and having new experiences together, the Missus and I rolled the dice on some informal recomendations and an ad from the back of Surfer Magazine for a 'Private Surf Island' off the coast of Panama. Suffice to say - we had a great, diverse crew on the island, scored some of the best - and longest waves - I have ever ridden and already have the island booked for next year. This is the DL from Morro Negrito - 2006.
'Round The Hood
- So, we live at 8,040 feet. We commute via bike some 17 - odd miles and 3,200 feet of vertical down to Boulder, most days. On the other days, we are running, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, drinking beer in the meadows and ridges around the house. The natural environment is something we are immersed in every day. This album is an attempt at reflecting on and capturing some of the beauty that we are immersed in every day. After a decade and a half of this - I am just getting warmed up and feel like a tourist seeing it for the first time every day. All these photos are in the hood - in the yard. It's a hellofa yard.
Colorado Trail 2004
- In August of 2004 an assortment of riders from Nederland, Belgium and Northern California set out to ride some 320 miles of trails across the amazing state of Colorado. This is their story.
Snow
- Being that we live at 8,040 feet, weather, and snow are both a huge part of life. We shovel it, ride through it, ride on it, pray for it, curse it. We love it. Whether it's burying the ramp, blowing into hug lip launches at Edlora or carrying us over a cornice in some distant part of the state - it is a huge part of our constitution.
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February 29, 2008
February 24, 2008
Right...always end up being...right.
The thing - about life - albeit - disregarding the pain - the injustice and the hands from 'heaven' that reach down and snatch things away - or give things to....if you work really hard at things..there will be rewards....if you don't....if you are a slacker wank ass take credit for others' work....other's efforts...it will ALWAYS catch up to you and not only nip you in the bud...but it will reach right through...and grab your sack with savage fangs that are like a Morey eels...and it will not let go...it will ruin those nards...as small as they may be..and all the shite that you sow...will end up on the flat side of a wooden round hammer...and get pounded the hell right back up your arse. From whence it came.
Thankfully...I am on the other side of that...putting in the time and the effort and the faith and the work. I feel 'right as rain' about this - and time will bear me out. You heard it here first.
February 23, 2008
Thanks, Bob. # 4,324
It's hard not to be inspired by watching Bob Burnquist skate. The guy just has such a hunger for the new and the weird and the things that noone would ever try...like switch one footed ollies, or backsmith's - one-footed of course.
As I progress down the road of skate evolution I do not know why I am so focused on the strange, the switch, the non-tricks. They are what fascinate me and keep me up at nite. I envy the guys who are ripping pools to pieces and pulling loops...but I don't care to emulate them. I want the strange stuff...the stuff I have never seen - or rarely see. I want Haslam. If I could skate like one person - I would have to say it would be that hairy beast Haslam. In that spirit - I learned Backsmith's today...with the egress all the way through switch - rather than reverting out as I have been. Spending this much time on the coping switch...is illuminating some new things...some things I thought I would never try - much less pull. So - here's to Haslam - the switch backsmith......and everything that follows. Here's my analogy for bike friends: Ride up a ramp backwards..nose wheelie backwards into a 180, swing the tail around and hang up the frame on purpose, dislodge the frame and come in backwards - blindside. There you have it.
February 22, 2008
In My Little Town*
* I do not own Nederland, or the trails here, or the runs at Eldora. I guess sometimes I wonder when a place really feels like home. 17 years ago, when I walked the property lines of The Auger Inn Homestead - something hit me like few things in my life before. Things like the first time I saw my wife, the first time I saw my son...big stuff here. I walked the property lines back in '91 and made my way back up the field into the 'yard' and onto the dilapidated plywood deck that surrounded this 'rustic' 1963 cabin. I sat down next to the pollen filled puddle that lived in the depression in the rotted plywood and I felt this thing - this sense of home - this sense of settling and this sense of rootedness. I bought the place the next day for a sum that any of us would laugh at today, and it was one of the major decisions of life that was just so lucky and so perfect and I kneel daily and thank whomever for this place and these people. The woods and the birds and the snow and even - yes - the wind (keeps the flatlanders away - HAH!).
So - this morning - after spewing and balling our eyes out reliving a tragic event from a short ways back, and after being lucky enough to ride to work with my wife, ride old stage on the 1x cross (OUCH) with new, cool friends, riding again this afternoon and ending up coasting down main street to my neighbors gorgeous brewery right here in the heart of Ned....I got hit with that same feeling and sense of home and community and sense of 'place'. This IS home. Kinda feels like the second twenty years will be round II....and I can't wait to see what rounds three and four bring.
February 21, 2008
February 18, 2008
Inch by Inch, Roll by Roll
Wise 45 year old said to me last week - in regards to dirt jumping - and the slam I took a few months back and the whole getting back on the (horse) bike thing - that I just had to ride certain lines at the park until I was sick of 'em. Just repeat, repeat, repeat. I walked away from this trick about a month ago....out of frustration. Backside 50/50 into a cared in revert. No lifting the trucks - no pivot off the back truck - just a subtle lean in - and revert around and come in switch - off the coping - off a solid 50/50. I know I can do this - as I know I can do most of the tricks that I want to learn - but they just mess with my head. So - after a few warm ups and stretches on this hideously windy day (mountain opened at 11:45...it was a fricking white out blizzard up there) I settled in...built some confidence and strolled up to this trick....and scored. Maybe doesn't look that hard - until you try it - but it is SO counter-intuitive and the programmed reaction of the body when trying to revert in - is to pull up - and that leads to slammage. So.....victory out there in the cold and the wind...and a casual and nice tone of victory...along with blunts off the pool cope and a switch backside hurricane/switch feeble in. What's that called Ric???????
February 17, 2008
Oft Unappreciated........
Rarely seen in public - and even less frequently hooted at - yes, kids - it's the frontside layback air body varial to tail. Tongue tied and twisted. For no reason I can understand this inestimable trick eeked it's way into my consciousness today...and despite the 19 degrees and snow showers...I had to give it a try. Started off going to disaster....ended up to tail. What the hell do you call this - Ric? Sequence below for the haters.
February 16, 2008
Tertiary Lines
I will keep this simple. No fresh snow - or completely untracked terrain. None at all. The pillows...were on fire. A few new drops...and they were swell. Tertiary lines. Exploration. Only rule today was I could not go anywhere I knew/had already figured out. So - the next time they claim on the Eldo website that you can connect Corona with Fort Fun - believe them. I connected our 'line' Joey - and it was righteous.
And...if you are sessioning...feeling tired....haul out some 80's...haul out some good old roll in/roll out shit. Ric likely knows a name for this - but I just call it the Duane Peters Indy handplant roll out/roll in. It felt good. It felt even better that it was over pool coping. That made it priceless.
February 15, 2008
Yay...etc.
I got up at 3:30am Thursday - in Miami - so I could get home in time to take a walk. I froze my nards off on the walk. Nevertheless.....I was SO glad to be HOME. Dorothy. If I smash my PDA is it like Dororthy clicking her heels? Will it bring me home? Where's the balance? The balance is saying fuck all and making turns with the girl this am...getting fish tacos with the dude tonite and staying up way too late pretending he was an airplane - with balls - albeit - naked flying around the house until I couldn't move my arms. These things....all these impermanent things....they are the center of the oreo, the tree roots and the reason - we are 'here' in the larger - sort of - like - Life sense of the word.
Pce Out
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