No base but dirt

If Facebook is to be believed, it sounds like most of my friends went to Sedona to ride this weekend. I can understand that.  It's cold here.  And Sedona's always rad.  And warm.  Nevertheless I chose to stay put and ride local, in our first-snow.

For the record, in my opinion, the snow-riding conditions were ideal: 1-3" of fresh, and no base but dirt.

I feel so alive in winter.

Raccoon Tracks

Today on our walk we followed raccoon tracks in the snow.

Our little nerd-girl (Love this kid)

When I asked my daughter if she wanted to ride the tandem with me this morning she said, "Well, I was going to play with my friends. But sure, okay!"  I was pleased that the prospect of riding with me on the tandem ranked higher on the fun-scale than running around the neighborhood with her girl-pals... at least for today.

But, a little bit later, as we pedaled away from the house together, my heart quite simply brimmed over with happiness when she asked, so knowledgeably, "Can we ride up Schultz to Onceler and then do Moto and Easter Island?"

Our little nerd-girl (the one who loves Star Wars; who's reading Harry Potter book 5 now; who digs musical theater) knows the trails. And loves them. Has her favorites and plans a route to include them in her ride.  Wow.

We could not have picked out a kid more well-suited to us if we'd placed a special-order for her at The Kid Store.

Love this kid.

Archival Footage: Old Brown Shoes

The following post was originally published at FlagstaffBiking.org on May 10, 2003.

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I've got an old pair of shoes, a set of simple, brown, eight-eyed Docs, that I’ve been wearing regularly, almost daily, for nearly ten years; I’ve never owned more useful footwear. I wear them to work several times a week.

I wear them when I'm working around the house.

I wear them when I ride Pipeline, Elden Spring, and Forces Of Nature home on my awkward Bianchi Incline commuter bike.

Rock Stacking

Call it what you will, stone-balancing, rock-balancing, or rock-stacking (which is the term we prefer), my daughter and I enjoyed a few peaceful minutes together reconfiguring our front yard into a marvelous stone garden of balanced rocks this afternoon.  Just for fun (I really enjoy stacking rocks). And also because, unless decorated with fresh rock-stacks now and then, I tend to otherwise totally despise our crushed pink granite "lawn" due to its natural ugliness.

Camper van BETOVN

I've been to two Camper shows in my life. The same for Cracker. David Lowrey, lead for both bands, is, 100%, one of the best acts going, no matter who he's playing with.

I didn't buy a camper-van so I could name it Beethoven.  But, as a fan, once I had one, it seemed the most logical choice.

To be honest with you, I was a more than a little shocked (and likewise just as disappointed) to find the vanity plate BETOVN hadn't been taken already.

More Glue Than Shoe

If I could afford shoes now
at the end of the summer-season
would probably be a good time to invest in a new pair.

My bike-riding shoes are probably six years old and
have been fixed and patched and mended too-many times.

The soles are cooked near-through
So are the cleats.

They are more glue than shoe.