Inspiration….
I get up on mondays. I go to work. I come home and cook dinner with food I bought from a shop. I watch Deadwood.
And while this routine is easy and thoughtless, and safe I guess… It’s not really the way things should be. Is it?
This year will be more about the living, and it’s examples of what can be achieved, like the one below, that all of us should look at and question our own paths…
Enjoy…
Memory Lane….
For those that don’t know, there was a time when all I did was ride trials bikes. Avoided working as much as possible, and just rode…
I’ve been toying with the idea lately of building up a trials bike again, I do still have a frame and brakeset, and remembering how much fun I had making this video with my good friend Garry, I think I might have to get my shit together and do it…
Partners in Crime 2.0….
Salsa Mukluk (aka Blue Bottle)
When I first got the Mukluk, I copped a lot of shit. ‘You’re not gonna have much fun if it doesn’t snow!’ or ‘You don’t even live near the beach!’ Were the standard calls… And understandably… If you have never ridden a Fat Bike, it’s easy to pass them off as a very specialised bike that doesn’t really have a place among ‘proper’ mountain bikes…
The reality is actually quite the opposite. With the exception of wet root and other wet woods, there is nowhere this bike does not excel. Deep sand, loose gravel, rocky singletrack. It’s pretty awesome, and SO much fun… I challenge anyone to ride one of these and not love it…
This year, the Mukluk will see some cool stuff. Definitely going to get raced in some endurance events, mostly cause it’s a bunch of fun, but also for a laugh, and maybe to weird people out a little.
Stay tuned for details of a longer trip I have planned for her too. Just waiting for a frame bag to arrive, then we’re all set. Think – Dry River Bed Tour…
My Dad…
I’ve spent a little time lately think about a very close friend of mine, and the relationship (or lack thereof) that she has with her parents….. And it made me realise how lucky I am to have such amazing role models in my life, especially my father.
If, in the time I have, I can be as good a friend, husband and father to the people in my life as my Dad has been to those in his, then I will have achieved something that very few men ever will. And that’s a beautiful thing.
Partners in Crime 1.0….
Salsa Fargo Titanium (aka High Plains Drifter)
I always say to people that ask me about this bike, that New South Wales has some great mountain biking, but it has some unbelievable ‘adventure’ riding…..
I spent most of my teens riding unsealed road, fireroads, horse trails and old stock routes. When I first built a Fargo, about three years ago, I intended mostly to use it as a tarmac tourer and commuter. But once you start looking, the places you can ride for a day or a weekend or a couple of weeks if you try, without needing to touch the tar too much is amazing. And having a bike that lets you carry all the stuff you need/want withough having to carry a backpack rules.
Got some small fun stuff, and some big-painful-forget-the-world stuff planned for this guy over the next twelve months…. Stay tuned.
A New Beginning….
‘It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.’ Tyler Durden.
It’s always been one of my favourite lines, from one of my favourite films. And as much as the whole ‘fuck the world, be who you want to be,’ overtone of Fight Club has always appealled to me, I don’t think I’ve ever really understood the reality of Tyler’s line (and his philosophy in general) until now.
I start the year heartbroken. Crestfallen. And maybe a little bitter, try as I might to avoid bitterness. It’s funny how your psyche works hard to blame others at times when no real explanation exists other than – ‘that’s life motherfucker!’
And so this will be the story of my journey back. Starting with nothing, but seeing more opportunities, and feeling more inspired about the things I love, than I ever have.
A Therapy For Pain 