Chaos!

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blithering idiot

In part of this interview,

ignorant Sarah Palin said 

"It's sort of perplexing to me, because I'm a practical person and plainspoken also, but just cutting to the chase and calling things like I see them, just like most Americans.  But this has not left a bitter taste in my mouth, the bitter shots taken by the mainstream media and by some of the elitism there in Washington," Palin said.

The reason you feel that it's hostile elitism that's holding you back, is because you're a fucking moron who is unfit for the office you seek, or even currently hold.  Accept that fact that although every American has the opportunity to be something great, not everybody has what it takes.  Not everybody can be a winner, this isn't some self esteem boosting tee-ball bullshit.  This is living in a democracy, it can be hard work, it takes some intelligence, especially if you aspire to lead.  So, please, go back to your dime a dozen hockey mom, country hatin', Alaska redneck way of life.

That 'elitism' you complain about is because everybody but your fucking ignorant, intolerant, racist, worthless, uneducated base is sick and fucking tired of your shit.  Of McCain's shit, of Bush's total clusterfucking of this country.  Please, crawl back into that little fucking hole you came from and shut the fuck up.  

Real America?  Real America?  Fuck. You. I'm sick and fucking tired of having my patriotism, my rights, my freedoms attacked because you assholes can't have a conversation or support an argument on it's merits.  All you can do is attack the messager.  The apologies made for Murtha's comment about his home district/region, of northwestern PA, as being racsist......Well, no shit Sherlock.  Anybody that lives in good ol' Pennsyltucky can tell you that.  He called a spade a spade, deal with it.  The time for whitewashing this shit should be over.  The shit I hear from some of the rednecks at work, there's a generational entrenchment of those attitudes.  Fucking call 'em out on it, don't sugarcoat it.  Walked into a conversation the other day.....

"not..vote...no nigger..."  is what I 

heard as I walked thru the door.

whawhawhhuuuut?  "Well, you're just 

fucking ignorant.  If that's your sole 

reason, then you're just. plain. ignorant."

"Well, then I guess I am ignorant,

cuz ain't no way I'm votin' for no nigger."

"Then you're just fucking ignorant."  

and I went back to my office feeling kinda sad...

Not gonna change the way that asshole thinks.  

It's over, it's done, your way didn't work, now step aside for the grown ups, for real leaders to try to get things heading in a better direction.  Don't forget to vote.

hmmmmm.

on Facebook now....

lizard brain

had an interesting conversation the other eve.

delved into creation myth and where does 'history' start.

also reading a book right now, Explorers of the Infinite.

Gets into the spiritual side of extreme athletes of all backgrounds

and disciplines.  Talks about those magic moments, visiting those

thin places, alpine tragedy, etc.  

Why is it that so many different pursuits lead to the same place?

That extra-body transcendental experience of disconnected nowness.  

Do we purposely 'go there?'  

If so, what do we seek to find there? 

What do we actually learn while visiting?

Anything? or just an escape?

So, you've torn it all down, shredded yourself to the core, as essentially you as you know how to be.  Focused survival mode, running on instinct.  Looping back to the opening about creation myth and also blurbs I've read about more evidence being discovered that supports these passed down stories and memories....Is something like Atlantis really just a myth?  Why couldn't there have a been greatly advanced civilizations previously, that are now gone due to cataclysmic events?

Like when the poles of the earth flipped, or extraterrestrial impacts, wiping out all but the hardiest survivors.  Forcing them back to the Earth, back into the caves, surviving on instinct and passing down their history thru memories and stories, now myth.  And if we've heard these stories, so many, many, many, many times through how many generations, is there a part of the semi-primitive old brain that has that knowledge stored in some way?

Visionaries, mystics, shaman, monks.....what are they really tapping into during those transcendent states?  Do we also catch a glimpse of that when we've torn it all down at the end of a long effort?  What's the difference between a full on emptied the well need to push on for 4 more hours or sleep in the woods bonk vs a monastic meditative days long fasting?  

Physiologically a similar experience, empty the body until the brain bonks, then do some exploring....guess it depends on your focus, and where you really want to go.

bring it!

Bought my season pass yesterday.....

Today: Rain showers, mixing with snow after 11am. High near 44. Breezy, with a northwest wind between 17 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 47 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

logged.

Added up the numbers
that I keep track of.
From some point in Feb
to last week, the 'season.'  
Peaks and valleys, along
with scribbled notes.

The spreadsheet goes back
a handful of years now, stack
of journals grown by one, my
'manifested artifactual evidence.'

Riding with purpose, 
'training' on instinct,
this year's total was 
457.5, last year was 455.  
interesting that it came 
out so close.

didn't count the commute
though, that's another 35ish,
it's just a short spin....

flight

You roll out the door, down the block, settling in.  Working out the wrinkles in the chamois, getting the pack settled just right.  Half hour of fidgeting and the legs have loosened, the kit is tuned and the trailhead taunts.  Qwik 30 minute ascent and you're up on the ridge, take a breather, take in the view, munch some calories and relax into the trail.  Let the tires find their purchase, test the shluffyness of the leaves and loam, slowly wind up the cadence.  Don't force it, let the trail come to you.  Roll out of each turn with a bit more snap, sometimes with a crackle, then a pop.  Soon enough the 32:19 is wound out and gravity takes over.

Relative silence, no clanging banging shifty bits to disrupt. Bit of brake squeal into a corner, the buzz of the Eno and the stern plunk of rubber on rock, knobs chewing up crunchy leaves. Keep winding that gear out, chasing gravity, ramping closer and closer closer to wide eyed blurry oxygen deprived sweetness. Swooshing thru the trees, nip and a tuck with a hoot and a holler, bike is brakeless flow and there's that perfect little hit.  An inviting ramp of rock with a sweet downslope landing.....then it's silent, and you're no longer connected, taking flight for those few bike lengths.  Don't forget to breath.

Is it any wonder that the inventors the magical flying machine had their start in bicycles? Wilbur prefering long rides thru the country, Orville being more of a scorcher on the track.  Their shop in Dayton was the foundation for the aeroplane works, where they repaired bikes, where they designed and built bikes, where they experimented with flying.  Did you know that the Wright Brothers were the 'inventors' of the left handed thread on your non-drive pedal?  That the propellers on the original Wright Flyer were driven by a bicycle chain?

freedom, in so many ways.

viral

ripped this from Fuzzy's site......

Dear Red States:

If you manage to steal this election too we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,
--Blue States

for freedom.

got together with the extended family for bit of mountain bicycle freedom celebrations down in WestByGawVirginny over the wknd. Full effect two day shuttle maximized the trail lovin'. Gaggle of fifteen fools of Foof, 'burgians, 'cakes and even a native son on hand for SpruceBerries-High Meadows-Horton-SpringValley-Allegheny on Saturday, 40 in 7.5. Lose a pair, add a bunch and you get 22 of us traversing the GnarlyNorth on Sunday, 5hours of quintessential east coast ridge love.  Team ACL Buck & Martino were missed. Awesome to see Sue's HUGE smile talking about her fresh tastes of pedal freedom once again. 

drive, beer, fire, beer, sleep, eggs, bacon, shuttle, riiiiiiiiding, burritos & beer, fire, beer, fire, beer, sleep, pancakes, shuttle, riiiiiiiiiiiide, beer, break camp, pizza, drivvvve, zzzzzz.

yeah, it was alright.

qwik surf sesh

found this,
happy Friday,
bikes are freedom!!!!!

away from

the field of battle
exist two real people

pro blogger?

is this what it takes?  I haven't counted words for an essay since what? 11th grade?

jeeeez.

Overview:
The Breck Epic Blogger’s Grant (BEBG) Program was established out of pure selfishness. I like to read about bike races and I feel like there are a lot of people out there like me. I also feel that the current crop of race reports published in the straight-up vertical media sometimes lack in nuance what they attempt to make up for with a detailed list of top-five finishers. I think that people want to live vicariously through others and I’m willing to pay for a small handful of you to document your journey from wherever you are right now to your finish in Breckenridge on July 10th. In exchange for you putting pen to paper I’m offering 4 individual race entries.

The Rules:
1. There are four BEBG. They’ll be made available to solo and team competitors.
2. Only 1 person per team may receive a blogger’s grant. 50% of your team’s entry will be picked up by us.
3. BEBG application submission period begins today. Thanks to all of you who’ve already forwarded your literary palmares…but please fill out the form and get it back to us.
4. BEBG applications need to be submitted (via email only) by Tuesday, January 6th, 2009. That’s 6 months out from the race start and will give you a rough submission deadline of one article every 6 weeks leading up to the race.
5. Blogger’s will be required to submit 4 training/general articles prior to the event in addition to 1/day while the event is in progress.
6. Each article (9 total) must be a minimum of 1,000 words.
7. Images may be included – please submit screen-resolution images unless otherwise directed.
8. Articles will be edited by BE staff, posted online at www.breckepic.com and blasted out to the members of our newsletter email list.
9. BEBG applicants will have their applications posted online on the event’s website. Users of the site’s forums will be allowed to vote for their preferred blogger. Winners of the ‘poll’ will receive their very own BEBG and unlimited self-promotional bandwidth. Polling rules are still to be determined, but in general, the sooner you get your application published online, the greater window of availability for people to vote for you.
10. The copy of BEBG recipients becomes the exclusive property of the event. You may repost your copy, but in broad strokes, we own it and can use it as we see fit. This leads us to…
11. Your blogs will appear on the Breck Epic website and in email blasts. Each blogger will also be ‘paired’ with one of the industry publications. BE staff will edit and forward your copy to your designated publisher with the sole intent that it be allowed to be published on that publication’s website.
12. Don’t be bummed if you don’t win! If you habitually write we’ll post links to your stuff on the blog page. There are also event sponsors who may request their own writer for the event. We’ll address this situation one-on-one with sponsors and writers as it becomes relevant.
13. We (OK, “I”) hold the deciding vote. I could be coy or less than up-front about that, but there are also strategic reasons for this program. I’ll serve as the ultimate tiebreaker if necessary.
14. Please submit your application by January 6, 2009 to mikemac@breckepic.com. Sans-serif fonts only please.


The Questionnaire:

Feel free to write whatever you’d like, but please adhere to the word-count guidelines. You’ll be allowed to run on indefinitely if you win. (To the victor go the spoils.) Please email to mikemac@breckepic.com by January 6th, 2009.

NAME: 
SPONSOR/TEAM: 
HOMETOWN: 

35 words or less (please answer all)
Where are you from?
What kind of bike do you ride?
What do you love about it?
Solo or team competitor? Why?
Who’s your teammate (if applicable)?
Done any ultra-endurance stuff before?
Favorite food?
Movie?
Book?


100 words or less (please answer at least 4)
Worst experience on a bike?
Best experience on a bike?
Tell us about your LBS (Local Bike Shop):
Tell us about your favorite ‘local’ ride:
Tell us about your favorite ride EVER:
Describe a sponsor or company you admire and why you admire them?
Who will play you in the Breck Epic movie and why?

200 words or less (please answer at least 1)
What do you hope to get out of this experience? Expectations/goals/etc.
Tell us about your history as a cyclist or in the industry:

200 words or less (optional)
Feel free to blatantly self-promote here. A quote you like, a direct appeal to the voters, some hateful vitriolic slander for your political opponents (see: Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter…) This is your space. Decorate it however you’d like.

An image of you. Or of whatever.
Mandatory. 200 x 200 pixels please.

Links to your work: (Optional. Please submit a maximum of three.)

public relations.

almost became
a hood ornament
this morning.

bitch got an earful,
that's for sure.

then she actually
pulled over to apologize.

I hadn't calmed down yet,
she caught some more.

OPEN YOUR FUCkING EYES!

shout out

yo Rousseau, nice work at IronCross!

wish I'd known you were in town,
get in touch next time, slacker!


wanna bounce some Durango/SSWC09 ideas off ya.....

colors

52 in nine elapsed, couldn't ask for a more perfect day, beginning to end. sweetness.

date night.

any wonder that I'm single?

Friday night, coulda set up a first date type thang and been social.

Instead, I'll be rushing home from work, packaging a few cogs, hitting the post office, swing by the bank, grab a sixer to go from the sandwich shop, clean and tune the Salsa, gather up some breakfast/ride food, cook a frozen pizza, hippy pack the CR-V for camping, then head north......alone. West Rim will be tic'd off the list this wknd, the leaves should be bangin' so it's gotta happen now. Chick probably thinks I'm playing games, not being avail on the wknd, again, but that's the way it is. Who knows, maybe there'll be some digits for me to dial when I get home, actually have company for a dinner next week....not getting my hopes up though.

Oh, went to the Carlisle Council mtg last night to add a voice in support of the bike lanes if needed. Didn't sense much negativity towards the proposal, so I silently observed, then snuck out after the main body of the discussion. What had me laughing though on the way in....roll up to the meeting place at the Boro offices on the Jabber. Look for a spot to lock up the steed, no racks out front, none along the side, so spin around back to the main parking lot, still nothing. Finish the lap around the building and also nothing on the other side. Finally cable her up to a street sign and chuckle that I'm going to a meeting about making Carlisle more bike friendly, and there's no designated parking for bikes.

funny that.

skillz

Danny Macaskill : Next level street trials

fini

yeah, so that was definitive.

the wave has crested and left 

my carcass on the beach.

rode it for a loooong time,

pretty much since the W101.

Friday, sent out a qwik email

prior to rolling, jinxed myself

on the weather I think.  Forecast 

was golden, mid-60's/low 40's, 

minus five for the mtn effect.

rolled out the door 5pm, goal was to camp at a spot shown as Chimney Rocks off of Bower Mtn  Rd.  Hoped to find a neat outcropping and fire ring spot to camp at....didn't happen.  Found the trailhead, followed the trail, then it dropped the fall line down over the pitch. I said no thanks and turned tail to press on.  Started looking off the side of the road and came upon the hoped for established sites.  Pulled into #107 and tried get as far back from the road as possible, just wasn't comfortable in that spot.  Nice picnic table and firering, but just not a good vibe, tweaking about redneck locals harassing me, bit more seclusion woulda been nice.  Bit warmer sleeping wear woulda been nice too.  Slept off and on, fitfully waking every 45ish minutes probably, the alarm didn't beep too soon.  5am, grab the dampish, campfireish smelling kit off the El Mar clothesline, warm it up inside the bag and fire the stove for a 1.5 shot wakemeup, then double pack of oatmeal.  Rolling up the bivy sack & whhaaat???  pit,  pit....pit, pat, breezeyshwoooooooshhh, pit, pit, patter.....is that fucking rain?  mother fucker, where the hell did this come from?  gotta be just an early morn inversion, overly dense fog something or other.  right?

no sense standing around, so jump in the saddle and try to sneak some sunrise vistas, then drop into some sweeeet singletrack down along Cold Spring.  Make it to Fowler's in about an hour, top off the water and up Alfreta Tr to check out Bowman's Tr.  Not all squiggly lines on the map are created equal.  This section sucks.  Kinda like the Little Mare hike, but in the rain.  And lots of windfall, like every 2 bike lengths.  But, buuuutttt, there was a sick looking enduro track crisscrossing the blazed trail every so often....looked favorable, but didn't explore it.  Instead I plodded along, hitting a pretty low spot in the moral o meter, then found myself back on track and busted left on Robinson Trail.  That was noice, very noice.  So was Iron Horse above Shearer Dug, and saw more enduro track.  Made it to Big Spring, disappointed to see all the fountains and spigots marked not-potable, DANGER!!!.  It was also still raining, and it was approaching noon o'clock.

I'd hoped to be sitting down at the pizza shop in East Waterford by now.  I was still an hour away, at least, with a substantial climb and cold rainy fireroad bombing descent between here and there.  Pulled out the cell phone, and actually had a single bar of service.  Called up the weather radar and found out that I was sitting smack dab in the middle of a big green blob.  No rain back home, Meeshow was looking dry, just a disc of green right over top of me.   Looked like at least another two hour ride to not be rained on, then a damp chilly 40ish deg night trying to burn day long soaked wood.  Just didn't seem like a fun time, so I said fuck it.  Seemed dumb though to bail immediately to the road, so I hopped back onto Iron Horse and took it down to the snowmobile trail.  Man, that's a little taste of VA love right there, good stuff.  Stopped for a fresh set of maps at the ranger office, then slummed home thru a grumbling hungry stomach bonk, 4hours of 32:19 spinning, final hurdle of Waggoner's ridden in the sun, rain finally broke around 2ish...while I enjoyed a small fry and two hotdogs at the Landsiburg Deli-mart.  26ish in 3 on Friday, another 8:40 on Sat brought it up to 83ish for the trip, which was plenty enough.

then I slept a lot, and had a heap o' fun riding w/ the 'cakes for Travissimo's b'day on Sunday.  

good times.

peeksh=ures.