BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!

WOW! That shop on the Cape sure has had a variety of fast masters over the past several years. Faster than everyone, several times. Must be the cool sea air.

Love Rules

This afternoon I mounted a Gary Fisher tow-behind to my 2001 Schwinn Homegrown, yeah the one I at onetime raced. Not more than an hour later, my granddaughter was churning out some watts uphill shouting how awesome riding a bike is. She's not yet ridden solo, instead she's been training wheeled. Today my heart swelled and sung with her joy. Wind? Check. Warmth? Check. Validation? Check.
I invite my brothers and sisters to use there rationality and notions of kindness promoted in our common religious upbringings to temper aggression. Trump is pretty much appealing to a primitive mindset and fears. -the same one that instinctively wants to defend our position in a race.We can do much better in real life. People who work to create a world where can coexist are our examples to follow and ignite in each of us admirable torches to carry. Shine your light brothers and sisters!

My First "real" bike.

The year was 1970. Starved for the real deal, having owned the Sears Roebuck version of a Schwinn Stingray and grade B versions of baseball gloves, basketballs, and footballs, I gathered my paper route monies ( I was paid $.03 for each issue's weekly Derry News delivery) and got a ride to Salem, NH. The mission was to buy the suddenly accessible dream bike. The promise of owning a popular brand was also the promise of legitimacy and to be spared from the "reasonable facsimiles" later institutionalized by Walmart.

It was orange and black, had shiny bits and real Huret (European) shifters. She was mine.

I can remember rides through Windham, Chester and especially all over Derry. Cleanup was a Noxon fan's delight- yielding a beauty meticulously attended to and lovingly embraced.

Around 1980, when attending UNH, it was stolen. I leaped down the stairs of 25 Main Street in Durham ready to ride it, and it was G...O...N...E. I wonder if it still rolls, if someone knew it was a good rig, or if a drunk simply took it and it became discarded in a rusty pile and is under a landfill's heap now. I prefer the image of a proud aficionado whose collection includes it.

At the time, I had to have a shop change a flat. I knew little of the mechanics. I just appreciated riding, being on a machine, and the freedom it offered. Here she is:

Fast Masters?

Fast Masters This would never happen in New England.

Gooseberry Mesa on the Edge Video

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyUiFyB6h5A&feature=youtu.be

In early January,  Ed and Mark clued me into their grand plan: ride for a week at the mouth of Zion National Park in Hurricane, Utah and on Gooseberry Mesa - guided by Western Spirit. I hemmed and hawed, wondering if I could ride for a week effectively after riding snowmobile trails and spin bikes for the winter months. The lure of a good solid western desert ride lurked under self-denial until I finally pushed the button. Guides? Group riding with a dozen others? Was I going to be a slave driving middle management sahib? Yabetcha!

We ended up with a private tour- just the three of us, two guides and a trainee accompanied by Western Spirit's trailer full of food, beyaa, and goodwill ... shaken, not stirred - delivering a five day flowfest behind solid guides Josh and Simon on ripper novel slickrock- red and white with petrified wood eroding from the red layer and Anasazi ruins, petroglyphs and spirits seeing us whiz by. (BTW- they hand pumped a tire back onto a Stan's rim- a exhausting feat worth a tall one, with the evidence here:

Sony's new HD Action Cam ran for three hours at a time ( no battery issues like a more popular version and a big ol' button for turning off and on at will - highly recommended versus a HH ). An 8G card was plenty for 9 hours in maximum resolution and shake control on. I could go on... but I'll let the video speak for itself. Hopefully youtube will still show the incredible resolution.

Everyone should ride there one day... ultra-grippy sandstone and dirt singletrack through 15' alligator juniper forest with the aroma of sage and juniper as the suns rises, sets, and soothes, while rolling rolling rolling...cliff edge urging your MTB soul to fly...

SA Crossing

Anybody wanna ride across Patagonia and the Chilean Andes to the Pacific?    
jamishead@comcast.net

Every Once In While

Every once in a while amazing things happen. Sometimes we are there and maybe even lucky enough to be the source. Think of that moment when you had to make the big judgement call - left-across-shift weight- power on- tuck under and surge. and you saved your as* navigating some ridiculous narrow line across ridges of rip you to shreds ultra steep...and the guy behind you was genuinely appreciative as witness. Then multiply that by a factor of 10:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/people-are-awesome-2013-incredible-physical-stunts_n_2529025.html?utm_hp_ref=comedy