Good gets Better
Cruising around on the Surly Big Dummy is perhaps the best cycling-related experience I’ve had in Austin. My obnoxiously large box arrived on Friday last week, four days after the order was placed. I left the office a little early and went into time trial mode to the shop, so we could get started right away on building it up. I helped Andy (my coworker and favorite mechanic) get it all together, and must admit, I was a little intimidated by the sheer size of it all. The chain, the insanely long cable routing, the super-sized wheelbase – for someone who rides aggressive road bikes pretty much exclusively, there couldn’t be a more polar opposite.
But I’m totally hooked. The plush ride, the stopping power and control, the ease of packing – everything is right. I’m still waiting for the opportunity to load it up really heavy, but so far, it’s been incredibly smooth. I loved going to the grocery store and not thinking about what I was throwing in the cart. It may sound trivial, but when you commute by bike exclusively, that little bit of freedom is something to behold. I’m very, very happy.
Good gets better.
Carolina and I have been climbing almost every Sunday. Yesterday’s trip took us to Hand Beyond Wall with my good friend Rami, who will be departing for a new life in South-east Asia in just a few days. Hand Beyond is my favorite place out at Reimer’s. Few people know about it, it’s far away from the typical weekend crowds, and the routes are all especially high quality. We did a lot of mid-hard 5.10s, and just enjoyed life in the sunshine. After thoroughly wearing ourselves out on the rock, C and I continued on to a great afternoon together, and a beautiful evening.
She lifts me up to a higher place – if you can’t tell by now, I really like her.
My work is keeping me excited and quite happy too. We’re developing a very productive dynamic at the office, and I like being handed the reigns on more and more projects. I recently reconnected with an old friend of mine to work on a project I’m really, really excited about, and I have a good feeling we’re going to make some magic happen. It’s good to get excited about those things…
Quick Update
My back muscles are just now beginning to return to normal. Last Sunday Carolina, Luis and I climbed especially hard out at Reimer’s Ranch. With the regular crowd presumably doing Father’s Day activities, we were able to set up camp at Prototype Wall and stay there for the day. We climbed on 8 flake (5.8), Bisector (5.10a), Prototype (5.10d), Sugar (5.10d), and Bolt Talk (5.11a). Not a bad lineup of routes to play on…
Bolt Talk is one of my favorite routes out there – a great balance of hard and powerful moves at the bottom, with crimpy and balancy moves at the finish. Pressed into the limestone at the top are a bunch of prehistoric pebbles and fossils, giving you some really interesting holds to play with. I’m still a little ways away, but I think Bolt Talk will be my first 5.11a redpoint. Maybe 2 or 3 weeks. Better yet was how Carolina sailed up it at the end of the day – she’s getting wicked strong, and will be all over 5.11s in no time too. I seriously have the coolest playmate a guy like me could ask for.
Surly Big Dummy. I ordered one. Arguably the most capable cargo/heavy touring bike out there right now, I’m hoping it’ll fill some pretty significant gaps in my transportation arsenal. Most notably in the “moving heavy objects” category. The whole package should arrive early next week, and the build should take another couple of days. I’m super excited. It’ll be nice to have a versatile and comfortable bike to cruise around on, picking up whatever I see fit along the way. And I have dreams of weekend touring trips in the near future too.
Lots more to write about, but I’m running out of time this morning. I have a series of conference calls to be on starting in 10 minutes… Life is good to me right now.
What is Fortunate?
My world is filled with good things and good people. I’m fortunate to have my health and my happiness – and the things in my life that contribute to both. For a long time I was reluctant to use that word – fortunate – because it implies luck, chance and random occurrence. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I don’t believe in luck, I just don’t like feeling that things are out of my control.
I’m not religious, nor do I believe that any higher power is directing any part of my existence. That’s not exactly an easy path to follow. In tough times and more so in happy moments, I question a lot of things, and the breakthroughs in this questioning typically lead me to some concrete point. An action I took, something I learned, something I neglected to learn, someone I met, negative and/or positive energy channeled or released, and so on.
But they’re always just breakthroughs, never an end-all answer to the question. The question of why good things or bad things, or anything for that matter, do happen. The only realistic conclusion I’ve found is that the answer doesn’t exist. A few weeks ago, hitting that car like I did, I thought that I was going to be in a lot of trouble. I was horrified. A broken collarbone, or any sort of serious physical aliment would have really put a damper on my life. But I got lucky – there’s no other way to put it. There’s no point to questioning why – it’s just how it happened.
“The purpose of our life needs to be positive. We weren’t born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others. For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic good human qualities – warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful – happier.” The Dalai Lama
I can’t always manipulate good or bad, I can only do my best to input as much good into the world as possible in hopes that it comes back to me. What makes me fortunate is that somehow it’s working.
I rode my bike to work yesterday morning, like I do everyday. I was smiling the entire way, with a passionate excitement in my pedal stroke. Two women followed me out to Southwest Parkway on their early morning training ride, hanging in my slipstream the entire way out. That used to annoy me, but yesterday I had nothing but warmth and kindness to give; I gave them the smoothest and fastest “free ride” out they could handle. The positive energy continued for the rest of the day.
Every part of everything that I do makes me happy right now. I’m fortunate to be able to live my life like this, and I’m especially fortunate to have the mental strength to change when I’m not satisfied. Right now, in this moment, I’m very, very satisfied.
Recap
Time is going by too fast – so much stuff going on. Let’s go back to May 26th, Wednesday afternoon. I was riding my bike home from work with my coworker, Kieran, when a truck pulled out in front of us on South Lamar. I slammed into his driver’s side door at almost 30mph. Scary stuff. I reacted quickly; in my last two seconds I was able to get the bike fairly sideways, putting my shoulder into him instead of my face. I thought I broke my collarbone when I ripped his side-view mirror off with it; but beyond some soreness, cuts and bruises, I fared surprisingly well.
The bike is going to need some work, but that’s what insurance is for… $1,600 worth of work.
Three days later, on Sunday the 30th, Carolina and I, along with a friend of her’s, headed out to Reimer’s Ranch to climb. I still wasn’t 100% from my crash, and had to tape up the cut on my finger quite a bit, but it was a good day of climbing none-the-less. I felt like I could still pull pretty hard, but the cut was holding me back. We ended the day with a pretty amazing dinner at Carolina’s place.
Fast forward.
My adventures this past weekend started on Thursday the 3rd. Carolina and I had a late dinner, carb-loading for the test of endurance set for the upcoming Saturday morning. We made pasta and drank Mirror Pond Pale Ale, and before we knew it the clock read 1:30am. Opps. With an alarm clock set for 6am to head to work the next morning, I think this is where my long stretch of sleep deprivation started.
Saturday morning, the 5th, the alarm clock started singing at 4:00am. Carolina and I had wheels on the road at 5:00am. We were the two crazy cyclists doing the 100 mile route variation for the Texas 4000 ATLAS ride, going from Austin to Lampasas, TX. I don’t think either of us had done more than 20 miles in one go in the past few months, but we’re both rockstars.
The ride was amazing, but quite hot. It was great to see some old friends on the bike again, and my time riding with Carolina is always fantastic. We completed our epic and epically hot day around 2:00pm with BBQ and beer in Lampasas. Our plans had us camping in Lampasas that night, waking up too early on Sunday morning to cook breakfast for the 2010 riders before they headed to Alaska. We found a hose to clean the road off of us, then our group headed to a spring-fed public pool to cool off a little more.
Saturday, night under the stars, was pretty much perfect. But way too short. We were up again at 4:00am, after maybe 3hrs with our eyes closed, to start cooking.
And that brings me here; I’m finally caught up on my missing sleep. I’m juggling a few work-related projects this week, but it’s all within reason again. Looking forward to a good week.
Good Things
- I’m back up to around 200 miles/week on the bicycle. Getting faster. Fitter.
- I’m making steps towards a great career, doing exactly what I want to be doing.
- I have a house that rejuvenates me. People to give me great advice. Friends that care about me.
- I’m not making any concessions in my path to pure happiness – today, in this moment.
- I haven’t given up on climbing 5.12, but I’m content with my climbing ability at the moment in relation to my free time.
- I ride my bike to work everyday.
- I’m learning new things about myself everyday.
- And I’m learning new things about the world around me everyday.
- I’m valued for my knowledge and ability to produce unexpectedly good results.
- I don’t get enough sleep at night, but only because my days are filled with too many good things.
New Energy
It’s been a long time; almost a month since my last real post. Life has been moving at a pretty fast pace for me, in more ways than one, and I’m just now starting to feel caught up. It took a lot of effort.
I started this new year with decent list of goals and aspirations. Five months later, I’m at a place where all the things that I wanted are in my grasp.
Two weeks ago I embarked on a new career path. I’m finally the young non-profit professional I’ve wanted to be since I left the University of Texas. I’m working in a communications and technology capacity for the US Business Council for Sustainable Development. We have a small (I’m one of four) but incredibly talented and cohesive staff. Together we coordinate with an equally motivated network of companies, NGOs, and government groups to facilitate value and sustainability orientated action. It’s all very, very cool.
I’m always in awe of how some things seem to just fall into place at the right times.
In the last two months I’ve hit some pretty low spots, but I never gave up in my pursuit of good energy. I started to study Feng Shui with a commitment I’d always wanted to give to the practice. I cleansed my living space, making room for new things to come into my existence. A few minutes after the bulk of the work was done, I had an offer for my dream job. A week after, I was talking to my favorite friend face to face again. Good energy came back to me in the best ways possible.
I’m back up to around 100 miles a week on the bicycle; a far cry from what I used to do, but I’m starting somewhere. My commute to the office is pretty amazing, and most days I ride in with my coworker, keeping the motivation level up. Even in just two weeks, I feel like i’m gaining a decent amount of fitness. I’m always surprised by my body’s responsiveness. Carolina and I ventured out to Reimer’s Ranch yesterday – my first time climbing outside in over a month. I haven’t lost too much strength despite my time away; I just need to work on getting my confidence back in the right spot.
I still have a handful of objectives to work on, but soon I’m going to have to re-evaluate my 2010 goals. I didn’t expect to make this kind of progress…
Now that my schedule is back under control, I promise that I won’t leave you all hanging for another month long absence. This outlet is an important one for me, and I don’t like neglecting it.
Little Flowers
The tree outside my window is in full bloom.
Covered in little flowers. Wish you were here to see it.
Windy Bike Ride
Hard bike ride today. Lots of wind, lots of hills, and an undesirable “mileage to time spent on the couch” ratio. I haven’t really been on the bike since our new warmer weather here in Austin either, which certainly played it’s part today too. Regardless, it sure was nice to be out again.
I think a lot about where I’ve been and where I’m at when I’m pedaling on the bike. Most of the roads I ride I’ve been on hundreds of times by now. I cycle through snapshots in my mind of how I looked at any given point of the road five years ago. How my pedal stroke has changed, my position on the bike, the way my legs and arms have changed, and the relatively new stars on my arm. Even better, I think about how my thoughts and worldview has evolved and changed so dramatically. I’ve come a long way, and I still have a long way to go.
303 blog posts later, you can probably tell that I like to follow pathways from past to present.
Today, Carolina is headed down to Xilitla for the weekend, and I’m jealous. I spent a lot of time at UT studying Nahuatl and Teenek cultures, but I never had the opportunity to make it down there. She’ll be coming back to Austin near the end of April, which is just soon enough for me to start getting excited. Distance between us has been a difficult obstacle for me, but things are looking up.
My body and mind is tired today, especially since that bike ride, and I’m having a difficult time putting words together. Maybe I should take this cue to go relax for the rest of the day.
Enchanted Rock
Granite is hard. In more ways than one.
I climbed at Enchanted Rock yesterday with my good friends Ky, Emily and Stephen. Erock is our local Central Texas destination for traditional climbing on relatively uniform granite cracks. The type of rock out there is sharp and unforgiving, just like the style of climbing. For an aspiring limestone rockstar like me, climbing at Erock is like climbing in an entirely different world.
We started on some “moderates” at triple crack sanctuary, where just the scramble up to set some top-rope anchors was an adventure pushing me out of my comfort zone. We set up a 5.9 hand crack, a 5.8 off-width, and a 5.10a finger crack. When I see those numbers, I think easy warm-up climbs. I got shut down. By 5.8. The motions are just so much different from anything else I’ve done on rock. The 5.10a finger crack actually went down easily though; the route was a bit more receptive to raw crimper strength and fancy footwork. But wow, what a workout and harsh wake-up call.
We climbed another 5.9 hand/fist crack. The movements were so dirty feeling, ramming pretty much any body part that would fit snugly into this crack. I was cussing and grunting the whole way up. When my feet touched the ground, I let out a reassuring “huh” with an odd smile on my face. Ky, Emily and Stephen just started laughing. After that, I think the motions finally started to click for me.
I learned how to place gear too yesterday. Ky is a professional guide and a great teacher, and Emily has enough trad experience under her belt to comfortably instruct any climber out there. I couldn’t have asked for two better people to show me how those shiny widgets work.
My body is sore, scraped and bruised today. I passed on climbing at Reimers Ranch this morning, and will probably do a nice long bike ride this afternoon instead. I’m still in good spirits.
Good Spirits
I’m thinking about going back to pen and paper. (Don’t worry, I’ll still copy the words I write on here for you all.) During my time at UT I drifted away from that form of writing, because I felt my hand couldn’t keep pace with my thoughts. My my mind was indeed moving faster and more chaotically back then… But I feel like now my focus is sharper, and the ideas I’m working on could benefit from a little deceleration.
I finally have a weekend off work starting tomorrow. I’m taking my climbing expertise to another level, learning to climb on gear at Enchanted Rock. My friend Ky and I have been itching to get out there together; tomorrow is finally our chance, and we’ll be joined by Emily and Stephen too. I’m super stoked. I’ll climb anything and everything, but I see hard trad climbs as the pinnacle of our relationship with big rocks. Having some trad knowledge under my belt is just another goal I’m ticking off my list.
Everything is so green around here right now. The house is sitting in a small jungle, and little wildflowers are blooming in between the long leaves of grass. The Spring air is getting people outside and active too; I’ve had some fantastic customers at work these past few days. It’s a refreshing movement to be such an integral part of.
All the talk of climbing and backpacking and long bike trips has me itching to plan another wild adventure. Something on the boundaries of physical fitness and sensibility. My mind has been on the Lonestar Hiking Trail lately, a flat and unsightly 90 miles of trail north of Houston. I want to do it in two days, nonstop. I have a new pair of Chacos coming in the mail today, so why not?
I’m in good spirits right now. Things are spinning in my direction again.
