basics.

it's a long road ahead.

"Where do you ride? when?...
who do you ride with?"
she asks.

I stammer....

"Are you a loner?"
poke.
owwww.

'yeah. I am.' says the quiet
voice in my head.
a recluse, a hermit.
guarded, always..

"are you a loner?"

I am Lone Wolf.
a Tourrettes pronouncement
as he spectated the off the front
parade, spit to the back timed speciale'
at the '07 tour. Lone Wolf, it resonates.

it lifts my spirit,
when the white line
has you beat down.
that memory, the good
times. they keep the pedals turning.

I ride with all of my failures.
I ride with all of my successes.
I ride constantly along this line.

sacrifice now.

reap the benefits later.

so many lonely miles,
rewarded by the communal
traveling circus. so stoked
to be finding a neglected rythmn.


It's how I roll.

check myself

before I wreck myself.
shit gets in my head.
shit gets in my head.
shit gets to me.

back to basics.
feed the fire in the belly.
back on the track.
into the programme.

how to attack this.
how to approach this.

chase those dragons.
or simply go in prepared.
and ride it out with a
smile on the face.

it's not 'can I?'
it's how thin is it?
how will that affect
the motor.

i don't know.
back on it today, really
wanted to ride dirt from
the doorstep, recent
illness vetos that idea.

skinny tires? hmmmm,
haven't ridden those since
once over the Holidaze, then
Sept before that. maybe a
spin down thru
Michaux is in order.

arrogant prick.

yep, that's me, I admit it.

I'm an asshole, or can be, well, am,
sometimes. don't always like to be,
but yaknow? ya just gotta say
it, gotta be it. We'll see where
it goes, been awhile since I've
been that guy.

but god damn it. don't fucking
come into my backyard, and pretend
to know what's going on. don't fucking
blast your shit on teh interwebz, and
expect 100% adulation.

fucking grow a pair. And don't fucking
call me out on my experience. fuck you,
you fucking bike bling, color matching, can't
fucking ride out of your own way piece of
shit. stop dumbing down our trails, quit
turning logs to square the trail, quit
ripping down saplings 'cuz they're a bit
too close for your comfort. fucking ride
the hand your dealt, and if you can't....

get. better.

yeah, I'm being an egotistical, non humble
arrogant prick, but who of us doesn't
harbor these thoughts. liar if you don't or
didn't.....I guess the key is to not say it out
loud.

I'M THE GREATEST FUCKING
CYCLIST IN THE WORLD!!!!!

you tell yourself this every day you kit up.
you believe it every time you clip in.
you have to, it's the key to the pain cave.

but fuck it, I'm in the mood to fucking
scream, cuz I wanna, I'm fired up!
I'm formulatin' a plan, figuring shit out.

looked at the calender, looked at the
weekends, thought of the options, been
thinking some more, looking for crests
and valleys and timing. Bought plane
tix today, July 2 thru 12. No beloved Tour,
but high thin air instead, taking it to
a different stage, a new audience.

Prep...look close, plotting out the programme:

spring is here

And I'm battling the change of season,
transitional cold/cough thing.

Now that I'm wanting to ride into
the sunset, I won't let myself, can't.
Now that the Breck blogwar is over,
now that I have a plan,
now is when I'm down.

typical.

so, instead of further pursuit of the
perfect spin. I toiled in the yard for a bit.
Finally raked the leaves, then looked
to the garden spot. Grab the spade,
turn over the dirt until I get dizzy,
yay Nyquil!
Spy something in the soil, a carrot?
BINGO! I actually did grow carrot
bigger than my thumb last year!!!!!
Didn't taste too bad, considering the
recent hibernation. Also found an
onion bulb, it has a new home in the
corner spot now.

And one of my favorite flowers is
blooming, every spring she comes up.


It's that time, can't wait to pedal.

oh yeah, I also updated the
linkage over there ---->

done sweating.

Official results are in,

I'm going to Colorado!!!!!!

thankyouthankyouthankyou for
the votes/support/tolerance
of my spam. The slutting was
beginning to wear on me

I think Sally said it best:


Final Tally:
5764 Team Dicky, aka Rich Dillen, Charlotte, NC
5520 Tomi McMillar, Carlisle, PA
5385 Jen Hanks, Salt Lake City, UT
5009 Heather Szabo and Mary Monroe, Lafayette and Durango, CO

thinking

Dave put up a good post.
This was near the closing...

"Us enduro nuts do things with our bodies evolution didn’t prepare us for. If we’re gonna be bull-headed about it we better get smart!"

Totally in sync with his age vs diet vs recovery
thoughts, but here's the thing....I think that as
enduro nuts, we actually are tapping into
what we've evolved to do, into what keeps evolution
rolling, our survival. How fit for survival are the
83%ers sitting in their fucking cubes? Wandering
thru life thinking a half hour of 'cardio' is enough
to be physically fit? Fit for what? Cube fodder I
guess,

What happened wayyyy back in the day, when
we weren't luxurious lap livin'? When you and
your tribe had to trek for days on empty bellies.
When you had to push into that place that we
now voluntarily seek thru the spinning of pedals?
When you're 'riding on instinct' just trying to get home?

oooo, woww, whee!!!! we ride bikes, fast!
trivial on the surface, but when you start digging
into those lonely white line thoughts, that pedaling
induced trance of one foot thru the other flow....

well, there are many answers to the question, why?
every time you think you might have an answer which
you could believe was finally, truly, the answer....a new
approach to the question emerges.

onward.

yeah, back on it.

40+ in thorpe, 7hrs following Elk's wheel.
LEft the legs a bit tapped for more pre-ride
love, 4 to go 20 couple.....sweet toughness,
wrinkles looking smaller. missed the apres'
MASH happy hour, couldn't find the venue,
so went home to warmth and food.

Pics from Sat:

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