Strength

Fight Club

Awesome image, fierce, I get it..the movie is very good too. Fall down 6 times, get up 7..something like that.
I start 6 weeks of manual PT tomorrow for my back/hip, my glutes and my core need some recalibrating so they can support my hip and it's functions so everyone can play together nicely.
This weekend I'm off on a solo quest for soul strengthening, wish me luck.

We got nuked!

Except for a few small snow drifts this area was open and ready to ride prior to it getting nuked on by snow on Sunday.

We still had fun even if we were a little cold..
It's pretty cool how something you ride often without much thought becomes fairly epic just because the weather changes things up on you.

A little more

Deep, open spaces

Friendly faces

This is not a poem, really..

more of a soliloquy perhaps..

open gates..please come in

the apple does not fall far from the tree..

this/that is all..

Recent Far Aways

Some pictures from recent desert adventures in the Grand Valley. Good to be out, far away from all of it, disconnected in a necessary/vital way. Skin, bones, muscles, heart and soul renewed for now.

Steep climb to the edge of far away.

with soaring views..

Satisfying adventure riding with best possible outcome, smiles.

Close to the edge...

but holding our line..

Reminder that we can fly.
Many wild horses all across this area, so very awesome to see.

Last warming rays of sun on a chilly spring night full of stars...more images to follow along sooner than later I think.

Dropped

She made wings of love letters and cherry blossoms
by Amanda Blake

Sometimes you get dropped and sometimes you have to do the dropping, which is what I did to this blog for a few weeks. Life has been distracting and nothing has seemed worth sharing so I let it go. Something worth practicing for me.
This is what I've been up to lately:

• Some riding, here and there. My fire has not been burning bright in this area of life this winter, partly on purpose and partly due to ebb and flow. However the flames are catching as I think of spring and summer.
• I'm saving for a new bike or frame, this may take a while which is frustrating.
• I demoed a Ibis Mojo HD. It was a lovely, fancy, carbon AM bike. I could see myself riding it or not...(lack of stoke)
• I've been running more this winter and that has been good.
• I've been rehabbing my back and hip this winter on my own and that has not been as quick and resulty as I would like. (reason for lack of stoke)
• I'm working FT now, enter in some financial security exit my self employment as an artist (for the most part)
• I've been teaching myself about nutrition and refining my diet/lifestyle and spending a lot more time in the kitchen, which is time consuming but very rewarding on many levels.
• I've been teaching myself to leap with trust more. (this is a ongoing process)
• I realizing that I NEED to relax more, rest more. My body is telling me this and I have to listen. It's one thing I can't apply myself towards with much focus.
• We are slowly remodeling our kitchen and it's fun and rewarding and terribly expensive. There is so much you can spend your money on, it's terrible.
• Reaffirmed that spending a day in the saddle freezing my ass off with my husband is a better day then doing almost anything else. We pedal along bemoaning our aches and pains to each other once in awhile. Growing old together is nice.
  

That's all really, nothing really, but something. I'll be back when there is more to share.

8 Degrees

is too cold to run?

Nope, I don't think so

I like running when it's wicked cold out, it's pretty awesome in its own special way and everything looks do different covered in ice and snow.

8 Degrees on a bike, now that would be COLD but running around in brilliant sunshininess is perfect.

Winter Solace

January Winter Sunrise

It was negative 10 degrees this morning but so winterly beautiful. Clear, sharp and magical.
We received some more snow, a taste of winter as it will warm right up again this week. Winter is my quiet time, my solace, my rest. Don't get me wrong, I've been active, riding and running, I have to be outside every day for at least an hour but I haven't been kicking my own ass on the bike like I do in the Summer. I'm trying to let the lower back/hip heal if possible, running doesn't seem to bother it at all. I'm enjoying my runs even more this year but it will never replace how I feel when I'm riding my bike through chunky rocky trail.
January is a bittersweet month for me and it will be that way for the rest of my life, that's okay though, I celebrate the bitter and the sweet.
I've been delving deeper into nutrition and cooking whole foods from scratch this winter, eating as much raw as I can in the winter, enjoying cooked GF and DF foods and just trying new stuff, cutting back, way back on refined sugars. I've never eaten this well in my life, it's been a process/journey. A friend gave me their old crock pot and that has been a wonderful thing as well, being able to cook beans while away at work or slow cook a dinner or dish, super. Every morning I look forward to my green smoothie. I've always been interested in nutrition and since I discovered my food allergies/sensitivities 10 years ago, I've learned so much, it's a big and important piece of my life. My art production is quiet right now, ideas being written down in a note book for future endeavors. That's ok art will always be a part of who I am and how I function in the world I just don't always have to be creating work, creativity can take different forms. I'm trying to save some money for a new bike frame, would like to upgrade/change that for 2011, we'll see if I can or not.
In the mean time I take solace in the slowing down that is winter, the turning inward and the magical mornings.