Bedrock & Paradox

I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with a non-human world and yet somehow survives still intact, individual, separate. Paradox and bedrock.

Weekend Vitals

Friday: Elden ride (last of the season)
2 hours, 1.5k, awesome temps and crispy snow

Saturday: Thunder Mtn (last of the season) and The Loop
6 hours, 4.5k, two of the best trails of earth
-gotta watch hydration in the cold (duh)

Sunday: Kaibab snow and coffee with good people
45 minutes horsing around on snowy fire roads on the Kiabab (couldn’t resist)
Sipping coffee and chatting in my favorite coffeehouse of earth, watching snow fall over my favorite place
-gotta work a bit on that whole carpe diem/stay in the present/zen thing (or perhaps the Wabisabi of all that is in fact never being totally content in the present)

The race (ride) is indeed a metaphor for (your) life, Adam.

Is it a complement or condemnation of our culture/ourselves that so many spend so much on so little? That a millenia ago was so useless as to be inconcievable?

The excuse that riding bikes is a more healthful diversion than playstation, and therefore “better”, is solipsistic to a large degree. Why do I care about being vigorous in two decades? So I can keep riding, of course. Hypothetically, I’d like to be not diabetic and toothless for my (hypothetical) children. I’m still a teen in that the hypothetical doesn’t mean too much in the nitty gritty.

[Tiny snow is falling on the porch.]

And I am consoling myself with the Socratic excercise of drawing lines around my weaknesses. I have to be patient here, too.

[More, more snow.]

DaveC

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7 responses to “Weekend Vitals”

  1. enel Avatar
    enel

    “Why do I care about being vigorous in two decades?”Or rather, what are you living your life for, and how does being vigorous and fit into that philosophy?Life is unfortunately very short in the scheme of things.Is there something bigger than yourself, or is this all there is?

    Reply
  2. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Yes and no. (Of course!) Especially w/r/t your last question.Nietzsche writes that “the doer is merely a fiction added to the deed, the deed is everything.” One of my favorite quotations, and one that I debated all through college.It’s great because it has meant so much over the last 120 years, and because as I read it, Nietzsche calls for radical self-empowerment. We “write” the past and future into being with our actions at any given moment. Meaning that you don’t have any room to bitch, and if you don’t like it fix it. Also a very scary idea, I think, when you spend much time on it.Also, when I wrote that this morning, I was thinking of the larger sociocultural context of cycling, rather than my personal piece therein.I do need a camera for all this. A new saddle is first, however, my beloved old WTB is splitting.The monkey rules. I’ll write more about that later.And last, I freaked when I had a comment. People read this?!

    Reply
  3. enel Avatar
    enel

    Glad to make your day.Hope to see the Monkey soon. I built up a Cross Check and am loving it. Monkey is now SS.I’m liking the blog…I am not much into this stuff, but yours interested me since I met/rode with you. Don’t know that I would care much if I didn’t have a face/person to connect it to.To me the final outcome of the Nietzsche quote is that a person doesn’t matter, only their deeds. Sort of flies in the face of my belief that every person matters deeply regardless of their deeds.History is written, but eventually it will all be forgotten. Most little people (like me) are only remembered by a few, and then only for 1-2 generations. I have to believe there is more the the story of the universe (and our lives) that we don’t totally understand, that more is what makes sense of this life.For me the only history that has made sense is that of a creator God drawing us into relationship with him and allowing us to share in the history he is unfolding. Of the Creator God stories, the only one that has made sense again is the God of the bible.Anyway, hope that is not a conversation killer. I also hope we can ride again.I love the goals you have set for yourself. If I were at your stage in life, and had the time, I would definitely be all over those things. I have never done a r2r2r, but have gone down to river and back in a day, and that alone was challenging. Glad to see the KTR is on the list as that race also fascinates me. Now I have someone to cheer on.Finally, I have decided that drop bars belong on road type bikes, not offroad as I for one can’t get my weight back enough to technical descending, and they hurt my hands after an hour or so.Lots to think on…Cheers.

    Reply
  4. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    God and religion has always been an interesting topic for me. While both of my parents were raised going to church at least occasionally, it wasn’t something they carried over into their adult lives. If my distant memory is correct, the very idea of God was not something I was exposed to until I began going to school. My main reaction at the time was uncomprehesion; it just didn’t make sense to me.I have greater empathic capacities now, but remain a commited atheist. And Neitzsche was certainly the most intensely anti-theistic thinker, possibley of all time.Hopefully I’ll be well enough to do the hike this weekend, today is the second day I’ve been stuck home from work, barely able to eat crackers and soup. I hate being sick, its soo boring!Given your body type and the current dimensions of bike, especially <10cm headtubes on 29ers, I don't think you could set up drops to work right. Experience in variety of conditions has demonstrated that I need my bars right at saddle level, and to achieve this on the monkey I used about 2" of spacers and a 40 degree, 105mm stem. The more I use the midges the more I love em, but fit must come first.

    Reply
  5. Enel Avatar
    Enel

    How does this look:Link: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/7691/img1708st6.jpgI'm using the full steerer and the highest rise stem there is, and I can barely get it to work. I was able to ride in the drops for 2 hours this way.I know little of Neitsche other than the “superman” stuff. Only one philosophy class in college, and I wasn’t paying too much attention.My background is in the physical and life sciences. I have studied the origins of the universe and life fairly carefully, and really find an atheistic approach difficult given how specially and precisely designed this universe (and this earth) appear to be to support life. Don’t know if you have ever studied the “Anthropic Principle” but it is interesting.Agnosticism I can understand better.Anyway, back to work am I. Hope you are healthy enough for the hike and that you don’t freeze.

    Reply
  6. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Link didn’t work. I certainly believe you, recalling how high your saddle was when I rode the Ventana.I’ll leave it at this: Nietzsche is probably the second easiest philosopher to misunderstand in the Western canon; second only to Socrates.

    Reply
  7. Enel Avatar
    Enel

    “Link didn’t work”Cut and paste to see CrossCheck. with very high (and comfy) drop bars. This bike is a hoot.Same basic position as the drop bar monkey, but with 2 inch shorter TT.

    Reply

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