It's raining a lot here

Summertime....

And the living's easy.

Hot springs along the Rio Grande near Taos
Downhilling at Angel Fire, NM

Arizona Trail in Hart Prairie riding, monsoons have come to Flagstaff in a big way so the dirt is ridiculously good, and the ferns and wildflowers are hip-high.

This is all I got for now.

How many places can you stick a Soulcraft sticker?

Give it up!

Between teaching yoga and cycle classes, working in a yoga studio (and yes, there is a Soulcraft connection there as well - there is at least one other peep where I teach/work that owns a Soulcraft and we have met and chatted about - logo tee-shirts and riding your bike to work go a long way with this tribe or whatever Sean calls us), and trying to manage my own little start-up i.e. getting the website up and running, newsletter design drilled, and the tried and true theme in the roots across all materials - it's been hectic. Time-consuming at best.

The worst I think is almost completely ready to roll with it all, only to find a hitch(s). Especially when you are running a one-gal show. The decisions kill me. Really they do. Bottleneck DELUXE. Typically I like knowing right out of the gate, but I will say there is something special about the meantime. If it doesn't kill you first. But, I will say once you find what you are looking for, you realize it's all worth the wait. Beer seems to help, too. If it doesn't kill you first.

Other than that I have found time to spin out the legs in the great wide open called the outdoors (it's summer!!), and still hop on the yoga mat and practice. On another note, smores with peanut butter are super tasty.

Until next time...a little Bowie goes along way. Can you feel it?

ponca ride 2010

13 of us left lincoln for ponca, ne.
10 made the full way up. 1 required transport via automobile but only for a short distance. it was hot hot. but tail wind.
5 left ponca for lincoln the next day after camping over night.
3 got rides halfway thru the ride home.
2 made the full way back. i was one, my buddy cornbread was the other. it was not quite as hot and we had another tail wind. back to back gravel 155's. great way to spend the weekend. thanks to cornbread for the pic and for helping a dream ride come true.

CT ON A MONDAY MORNING!

Colorado Trail near Breckenridge. A must-ride trail if you ever find yourself stuck in Breckenridge with a mountain style bicycle at your disposal.

ponca ride

the annual ponca ride is this coming weekend. it's all i can think about. if you are a regular reader of this blog you'll note that i have posted about this ride before. this will be the sixth year in a row that we've done this ride. 155 miles to the north. from lincoln to ponca nebraska. all gravel. all fun. two years ago we rode up and four of us rode back. last year we skipped the ride back because the pain of the return trip was just a bit too fresh. this year two of us have the desire to return on bike. looking forward to the pain.

This is what we in the biz call 'secret training'.

Back in the day

My 10 year old neighbor J.P. came over the other day to show me his "new" bike, a bone stock 1967 Schwinn Sting-Ray with the original tires.  It was purchased by his dad in '67 here in Petaluma.  I had the same bike as a kid and this thing brought back a lot of good memories.  My first 20" bike, it set me along the path to where I'm at now.

Hooky (sort of)

On Tuesday I pretended I was a man of importance and traveled down to The City to meet with Mark Dwight, owner and founder of Rickshaw Bagworks to fit him up for a new touring bike.  As soon as I stepped on the ferry I realized I wasn't so important because I was taking a day off to travel 80 miles round trip to fit someone instead of them taking time to come see me.  The world needs ditch diggers too, as they say.  To add insult to injury, as we pulled out of port, Mt. Tam taunted me, "You could be up here right now, dumb-ass!" I did take my Dirtbomb with me so at least I was riding.

But I was reminded quickly that things could be much worse as we passed San Quentin prison.  Johnny Cash recorded a great album in there. Right there!

This sight never gets old.

Here's Mark on a townie we built them for a trade show a few years back.

      Here are a couple more we made for them.

The shop.  They make stuff right here.

 

I was unaware that Zach Galifianakis worked there.  All bags are sewn together with threads made from his beard.

Custom Soulcraft/Rickshaw messenger bag in the future?  Could be.....

On the way back we passed yet another prison, Alcatraz.  Another reminder that I was cutting school.  It was pretty much a work day, but way inefficient.  Probably the way most of our economy runs anyway.