single-minded

truth be told, i really only had one thing in mind for this 3 day weekend. singletrack.

plain and simple.

ask, and you shall receive. right?

day one: rustlers, mary's, horsethief. i only snapped 3 shots. this was the only one that came out. i did not really feel like stopping.

first real view of day 2 afforded this lovely mixture of worlds: desert, and snow. believe it or not, this is looking west from the CO/UT border area. lots'a snow in places i've never seen.

it is pretty apparent at this point that i take terrible pictures of people while they're riding. i must work on that. meanwhile -- the boyz down in the wash.

this is the view looking south from the first false summit. for all those who care to know ... the la sals are covered in this thick white powdery stuff. TONS of it. we could see the la sals looming SO far away in the distance, all day long . one interesting note: VERY interesting doing part of the koko 'backwards' and in the light.

the 2nd day crew atop the first false summit. looking south east. ed, eben, chris.

darling.

they were 'scopin' the route' ;-)

i am so in love with certain spaces.

just some rock

ed

this is pretty much the only pic of actual riding that turned out. this is eben and ed flying down one of the last hills of the day. i must learn to stop to take pictures of my people. i have a lot of practice ahead of me. but in order to learn how to do that, i must first learn to sacrifice certain moments of speed and bliss. this might take a bit of time ;-)

day 3 i didn't bother taking the camera at all. slacker me for riding the ss and refusing to take a camel back. i just wanted to fly around. worked for me, bu ti have no pix except these of the ponies put to rest for the long drive home. the pic above: pony, icarus, and silver

can't wait for more. more singletrack, more flying, more fun, looming in the future.
more. more more.

truly a wonderful weekend darling. thank you oh-so deeply.

jj

wind in my wonderland

wednesdays ride was the start of a 5-day binge.

thursday nights from-the-house fun-fest was a date-ride with cynthia. despite the warmth and calm of the entire day, the clouds rolled over and the wind showed up to accompany us on our quest for smiles, laughter, and dirt. gee, thanks....

in getting to the top, i do believe that the wind had bumped into cynthia in the wrong way and knocked her off the bike. gee, that wasn't so nice!! (wind is a not-so-nice riding partner,eh?)

but we did push through to the top,and proceeded the merry-go-round trail ... in a wind tunnel.

the thing about riding with cyn, is that the conditions can be completely trying, annoying, freakingfreezing and downright naughty, and she will still look and BE like this:

cyn blasting through the wind tunnel, giggling the whole way.

Thanks, cyn ... for an awesome after-work ride. I can't wait for our weekly dirt dates!

mmm... rollin' home once again ;-)

ed and i are on our way to warmer, less windy climes.... 3 days is the dirt should be about rooty-tooty-freshn'-frooty.

tralllalalalalalaaaa!!

jj

for my mother

ma! pay attention! this one's for you!!!

the week has been big. post-grandma's passing led to grandpa's weekend heart attack. yyyyyyyaaaahhhh. one stint, a now clear artery, and a few hours short on sleep, and he's rarin' to go ....... it was really strange to see him flirting with the nurses. i've just got to say... ;-)

work has been a magnificent thing these last 2 weeks. the job became a career (like it wasn't before). but the new responsibilities resonate. and i'm on fire.

family stuff addressed, and work ticked n' tied, i finally was able to have my priorities not only clear in my sights, but i was actually able to execute all decisions based towards that priority.

this here is a picture of where my little world becomes attached the the www.biggerworld.com ;-)
(ummm... not a bad idea there)

where the world inside unfolds, exponentially, outward

it's nice 'n big out there. much more fitting.

and infinitely more satisfying.
yes, i rode the SS (silver) today. damnit. i want a new bike. NOW. pink might give way to silver.

i hit a few old chords of inspiration out there this evening

mom, for some reason, this picture is for you

see ma. i did it. ... ;-)

the other thing i've just got to say is this: that NOTHING beats leaving from the house, on the mtb, hitting a world of dirt and returning to home still on the mtb, all dirty and heart pounding. this is what i've wanted. for years. and it's all here. right here. right now..

thank goodness.


(i know you crack heads get this all year round ------ but some of us have other addictions to feed ... which leaves us hungry ... starving... jonsin' ........... strung-out ... during certain parts of certain seasons.) this must be remedied. i realize that.

you know. i'm just sayin'.

jj

sneak attack

finally. some dirt.
(before the snow returns ... they say).

where we came from ... and went to

where we went to, and came from...

the chase bunnies. yes, they're all male, and they all stopped to look at a map. (not that they needed to).

they realized i was onto them, catching them in the act ;-)

the chase bunnies eventually ran into the chase llama (click to enlarge the pic ... it's there, i swear). the llama, apparently, didn't like to venture off the trail.

my very own personal chase bunny

thank goodness for dirt. i needed that, and then some.

thanks, boys ;-)

thank you, darling ... for the vision, and for making it happen.

jj

quiescent

i have never experienced such stillness.

and that was a good thing.

jj

nebraska, iowa, wisconsin

it's cold out here.

and the wind is such as i have never known. even coming from boulder.

Meredith: iowa has crazy wind. its nuts. be ready. it's insane. i'm rootin' for ya. ;-) at least it will be warmer when you're here....

frozen air, even on the inside

that black floating chaos ... is a flock of birds. we seem to be crossing a migration of some sort. very beautiful. they MUST be cold. they're flying INTO the wind for some crazy reason.

i mentioned it was icy and windy right?

rest stop.

All of the fields look 110% flooded, and then frozen. seems like fun to go ice skate through the fields. seriously.

just getting into wisconsin

another full day on the road.

why does driving across the county seem so exhausting? i haven't been this tired since... might be the motion sickness. i can't ride as a passenger to save my life, especially in the backseat.

driving was tribute to grandma, who NEVER flew, didn't like to fly, and who hated to travel anywhere but Arizona. her husband, an air force pilot, felt differently. i can't count the times that she drove this very route to be with family.

today will be a big day.

jj

heading east

denver to somewhere in nebraska:

papa driving

one of those places along the way ... somewhere in the middle

lovin' the scenery


lingering

ah, the highway

um...

my sissy, studying (personally, i can't do anything but look forward while in a car. i got sick just watching a movie, playing with the camera, and talking)

;-)

seems to be a lot of dirt out here. dirt and rolling hills... at least until it turns back into snow and wind of an insane nature.

rollin' further east with the family in the morning.

hoping for good coffee, somewhere. did starbucks FORGET the whole middle of the country or what?

jj

it's march

so let's see. march has started off with a bang. the last ride of february (last weekend) was lovely, challenging, and ... well, cold. THIS weekend, however: i sported a mighty nice sunburn by 3pm on saturday afternoon. ohhyeah.

waking up sunday morning ...... i think it sounded something like this upon opening the shades to the window: "nnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

colorado in march. here comes winter!!!

so, pix from the last week or so:

tonka sez: yes, it's my house, i can decorate it however i want.

last weekend we rode a long way around evergreen. i needed more layers than i had. and the wind was slightly demoralizing. but all worth it, right? this is a small stand of water just below the last house i lived in within evergreen before i migrated to summit county after high school.

we rode by my very first school-bus-stop. i remember carrying my bag of crayons and pencils and erasers, standing in this very spot.

darling ... are you having any fun at all? ;-)

this the only pic i'm posting of the brilliant, blissful ride on saturday. it's eds pic, of course, as i felt like travelling light and not carrying a camel back, or anything but water and necessary flat-tools. i think ed was trying to capture the spring melt, the road-side dirty spring snow, the light......... really, it was one of the few times we stopped long enough to take a pic. we had a WONDERFULLY good ride on saturday.

so, while ed takes pix of the pounds and feet of snow outside, i thought i'd take pix of the fire inside ... the one in the house, and the one he lights inside of me ;-)

jj

elaine c. meinerz

grandma made it to the other side last night. in peace.

10.21pm, February twenty ninth, two thousand and eight.

she left on leap year. she snuk out. like a secret.

go grandma go.

i love you.

jj