All day today the wind ripped through town. Tossing garbage cans, tumbleweeds, plastic bags and just about everything else about.

Regardless I headed out for an afterwork ride. Just for a spin, even with that raging spring wind as a backdrop, just a nice easy spin.

The wind railed, pushing me all over and dominated my ride until I made it past the base area where the landscape managed to spare me.

Up the draw I climb, snow swirling around me. The wind, temporally pushing me makes the miles roll by. My bubble of relative warmth is intact.

…and always keep the rubber side down….

I halt my progress, turn back home into the wind and blowing snow.

Reality shifts and I’m suddenly out in the sage with just my headlamp bringing tunnels of dark to life. It is snowing so hard that I simply can not see the road I’m descending. I am very quickly getting soaked from the wet heavy snow and the road spray. With more speed on pavement, I feel my fingers go cold, my frozen face pumps with blood. 

Oh how real and also remote it feels. Like so many days in the past and like so many more in the future. A flashback to now. This day, Everyday is our chance to live! A chance to go forth into the mountains and get an ass kicking that will make one glad to be alive. Live, Love and gORide!

So much of living is just plain old work. Success, or even simply making something happen in your life takes time, energy and effort. We forget sometimes how much work others might be putting into such efforts and how much we need to focus on our own. Big things,(even crazy big things) start with just plugging away.

Lately there has been no racing, no big grand rides, no travel and adventure. Just the everyday of work, dogs, love, bikes and living. No great jumps in fitness, or personal bests, just lots of little rides after work in the darkening twilight or in the freezing cold of pre-dawn morning. Lots of spinning on lonely and windy pavement. Plenty of boogger blowing intervals in the cold crisp dark air of quiet night. Many a morning of getting up an hour early to stretch and work my core, hips, legs. Basic, simple, quiet and not so glorious, and yet all steps forward towards my goals.

All little steps, everyday. Then there are days, like today, that feel like magic. Legs spinning and feeling strong. Clear fresh air rushing through me. Wondrous love smiling a few feet away from me. Nothing to rush home to, no agenda to pursue, no schedule to follow, no ego to feed.

Freedom. Mountains. Bikes.

Paths to travel. Birds Singing. Sun Glowing and Warming.

The perfection of everyday is seeing the path that takes you forward. The needs, goals and drive push the ideas, make it move, grow, evolve. Seeking the path makes it come alive and makes it real. Dream. And make it Live!

Got out for a great ride with my sweets today.

Was really great to ride up close to the mountains.

Some dirt, good bits of pavement and lots of sunshine.

gORide!!!

Bikes and Mountains. All Good.

Spring has been warming and melting things up here in the mountains. The warm temps have found me out spinning on the road getting in some miles. With the day off I decided to get out for a longer ride and make it a practice in self supported style riding. I started off the ride with no food from home, everything I wanted to eat needed to come from our closest convenience store, thus a “Loves Ride”.

$13+ in food

First bought some classics, sure these are familiar to many. Then I packed em all up in my frame bag and top tube bag.

Batteries are charged, tires are good, chain is lubed, time to gORide!

Up and over the top of 9 Mile. Was gorgeous looking south at the La Garitas.

Good dry dirt was out there and felt so good to roll along on. Cows, crows and heelers were amuck in the thawing fields.

My legs felt good, the bike felt right, the time outside was so wonderfully amazing.

Here is a herd of elk near the top of 9 Mile, I also so countless deer, a blue bird and flocks of Sand Hill Cranes. The world felt alive and reborn.

So many mountains. Love this world.

Clocked 66 miles and hit 46.5MPH.

More importantly it was simply fantastic to spend so much of the day riding my bike. There is nothing in the world that can make me feel like this, other than just being out there in the world, moving forward, feeling the air, riding my bike.

So damn good.