i'm in love again...

with my single speed. it's an old missed love. old, meaning that i used to do it. missed, that i should have never stopped doing it. i took the single speed to west branch to go mountain bike riding. the moots was m.i.a. (well it's not missing, i know where it's at). anyway "here we go." i say to myself. one speed. hardtail. let's do it.

right away we dive in. down and up onto the main road. down into the woods. onto the trail. the first part of the trail is up and down. back and forth. roots. rock. rock. rock. more roots. doing fine. doing great. either randy is giving me some slack or i'm kicking ass. i believe that i'm kicking ass. powering up hills. sliding the voodoo in between rocks, trees, and around corners. "god i miss my disc brakes." that was the only thing to go through my head of what i wished i had right now. going over some intense roots i kicked my rear end up and shaked it for randy. i felt like a kid again. i'm doing it. off road. on a single speed. why do i even have those other bikes? this is all i need. splash through the steam. up. up. up. down. down. down. turn. quick. go. go. these were all words that were in my head as we rode. riding the single speed was a renewed feeling. sure i thought more while i rode. but it wasn't "o.k. now shift. pedal some more." they were quick action thoughts. spin. pedal. rotation. i lost it on one big uphill. that's o.k. open field to the end. spin. spin. move. move. go. go. on our second lap, oh yes, second lap. we took the more challenging end route. through rocks. over a balance beam. did o.k. randy took off here. with my rear end kicking up all over the place. damn hardtail. my mind started jumping. like my back end. be here. be zen. be here. be zen. got through it.

beautiful day. leaves on the trail. there was a guy though with a leaf blower clearing the trail. thanks guy. are you going to be there when the trail is covered with snow?

i hate to do it, but i've got to make a political statement. as we were cooling after the second loop i noticed on a car the sticker "wal-mart sucks." do i shop there. no. that's not the point. i have to ask: "what kind of condition would the third world countries be in if we didn't buy things from them?" what would be the conditions? living standard? do they make a lot of money? no. do you? what kind of car do you drive? if it's not a honda then shut it. at west branch today there was a trek demo days. ride a trek for free. great idea on the part of the company. go where people ride, and say try this trail on one of our bikes and see what you think. where are the bulk of their bikes made? in madison wi? it's a great little warehouse. i've been there. it's still little. i recently saw one of their top end full suspension al frames. it had a sticker on it...tour de france...u.s.a....made in china. i kid you not. great u.s. company. the funny thing. the people that had this sticker on their car were riding the trek's. where they the china one's? i'm not sure. but that would have been great irony. i'm not saying that you should only buy american only. that's your choice. but think about what you are saying, and promoting. is there some sort of moral obligation here? american's constantly want cheaper stuff. and want more of it. supply and demand. i would like to remind you...we live in a capitalistic nation. i don't believe it to be a bad thing. or a good thing. it is.

be now. be zen...