My Dad says I have successfully straddled the fence, or the knife-edge between reality and fantasy for my entire life. One of my favorite Steely quotes reflects this sentiment: "The busy world was not for me, so I went and found my own". One leg in the city (or the iarplane, cab, corporate office...etc) and one leg in the woods, on a board, on a bike, in a bowl. I feel incredibly fortunate to have straddled this line and been able to be 'succesful' (which to me is basically 99% lifestyle as I have never really had a 'career' per say or even an aspiration to have a career). There is inherent tension in this space. Like the time my huge client @ HP caught me towel changing in the parking lot after a skate session. Or the time I missed a HUGE meeting in SF because I broke my arm skating the night before. Oooops.
So, as there is inherent tension there, I feel like there is inherent tension out there on the trails. There is everything from the Betasso bulldoze; the handicap access route behind the HS now (I mean the one in the clear cut now) and then there are the manky, distant, vague, sorta-kinda-used to be there random epic connections of Boco. These are not for the faint of heart, or those who do not wish to carry, hunt, scrape, be scraped, chased, persecuted, hunted, or generally villified by others. I have carried and fallen and tipped and wobbled through so many stands of deadfall and creeks and sharp bushes....I can't even count the times. I think these 'rides' are a very important reminder as to how special it is to have a trail that runs through anything at all. Once the trail is on - it's like - easy. You just roll and point and turn and smile. But the effort behind those trails, the searching and triangulating and the frustrated times when you just basically want to leave your bike in the dense woods - for good. Those are the rides and experiences I crave the most. Looks like I am headed into another solid binge as I have about 11 days until my next flight (Portland, Oregon - so don't weep too heavily). So, maybe just ride straight through.
This is exactly what I needed to read right now, even if my own vague, manky trail is through books and up some rocks rather than over dirt right now. Thanks for the inspiration, as always :)
Posted by: Sonja | November 01, 2012 at 05:39 PM