Every year I get to spend a week up in Grand Lake, Colorado, on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. And every year I sojourn back to two trails I like very much: the Grand Lake Metropolitan trail network, and the Gilsonite to Wolverine Trail, which courses through the remote Arapaho National forest. One […]
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Riding White Ranch—With Commentary by William Shakespeare
Last Sunday I embarked on a great ride at White Ranch with my riding buddy Ed. Our first ride of the new year together, it was great to have a pal there, to shoot the bull, to discuss the proper line, to draft behind on the long slog up Belcher Hill and then onto Shorthorn […]
The Armstrong Affair
As a long-time rider—almost 15 years now, how did that happen?—I love watching the Tour de France each July, which, naturally, has made me a huge fan of Lance Armstrong. After all that’s happened recently, It’s safe to say that Lance has had a pretty lousy month, and I’m saddened by it—all of it—and feel […]
In Memoriam
I know this about myself: I am obsessed with death. As I was saying to some writer-friends earlier this summer, aren’t all writers obsessed with death? It is, after all, the complete and final denouement to all stories—the story of our character’s lives, own lives, and the lives of those who’ve gone before us. I […]
What Work Is: What Labor Day, the Poet Laureate, Ballet, Mountain Biking, and the Philosopher Horace have in Common
Have I missed Labor Day? Where did you go, oh amazing national day off? Well, perhaps I needed to have already experienced Labor Day 2011 in order to begin contemplating the meaning of Labor Day, and the idea of labor, and how it relates to the work of writing, the work of our daily lives. […]
Breaking The Law
Not to be paranoid or anything, but it seems like there are lots of people out there who don’t like mountain bikers–people who see us a lazy, dangerous, and dumb. Of course, there are always a few bad apples to make it seem so. But I certainly don’t fit that label. (I’m not dangerous. The […]
23 Things I Thought About While Riding Yesterday
The ride: Chimney Gulch, Golden, Colorado. Temp: around 50 degrees. Wind: howling with gusts at least 40 mph. Start time: 5:07 PM. Finish: 7:03 PM. Vertical climbed: 1,735 feet. Total miles:7.05 miles. __________________ Thoughts, in no apparent order: 1. Dammit, it’s cold. 2. I can’t believe I forgot my socks and have to ride in […]
