Are You Living It?

Live Your Passion Gear made a donation today to our friends Jason and Heather Hooten’s participation in the CT Jamboree, which is an 80 mile mtb ride on the Colorado Trail. Proceeds from the event go to provide support for individuals suffering from the disease.

This is a major ride… quite a bit of it is over 12,000 feet, and the weather can make you re-think your definition of a summer thunderstorm. Our best wishes to all the participants and support crew. Nice job, guys!

It’s late May. Full-swing. You’ve dialed your half-dozen standby loops to the point that you’re starting to recognize your own tread in the brown sugar trail dust. You’ve convinced yourself that you’ve finally shaken the cold, life-sucking fingers of winter… (that’s right, it snowed here last week). You’re back to hammering just like you were last September. It took about fifteen rides, but you’re back. Right?

Ahhh, the fanciful narrative of a forgetful mind.

Ever join a group mtb ride and look around at your fellow singletrackers and think, Hmm, this is going to hurt … ???

Well, for reasons spiritual and intergalactic, it had been a tough week for me, but with Friday afternoon came the offer to join the fellas for a blast up Junction Creek and around the Dry Fork Loop.

Here is a timeline of the three hour ride:

Bike fitting is more than just plugging in body part measurements and asking a computer to tell you the correct dimensions of the seat, pedal, handlebar geometry. This type of fitting sounds very scientific, because it uses a computer, but those measurements don’t tell you how your body mechanics will relate to the bike. And remember, your comfort and efficiency on the bike are all about ease of movement or lack thereof. This type of formula-based set up, while appropriate as an initial match of the bike for a given rider, should not be considered a true bike fit. I have clients complain that they have discomfort while on the bike, even after they have had the bike fit to them at the bike shop. This is usually because the bike has been set up for their measurements, but not truly fitted to them.

I don’t know if I have enough material for this post, honestly, but it’s best to capitalize on those rare mornings of good humor before the mosquitos start breeding and the sun makes it impossible to sleep in the truck past 6 am. As I prepped my morning yerba in Moab, I overheard the little girl who was camping next door as she left the restroom ‘facilities’ stating to the world in a sing-song voice, ”I’m-no longer-occupied!” I empathized, reaching back to the mornings after my first cup of coffee when I too feel possessed. Then there was the exchange between she and her little brother, Jake:

Calling a spade a spade, the recent Denver trip was a warm up for the real adventure. One of the keys to enjoying oneself while living in the tight confines of a small truck is to immediately dive into the tasks that you would otherwise put off. These tend to be the least enjoyable ones, like driving in the city, sleeping in the truck even when you don’t have to, brewing up some yerba mate on the tailgate, boiling water for dishes, and for god’s sake, keeping organized.

Would have known that there was something missing for the world to be right or he right in it and would have set forth to wander wherever it was needed for as long as it took until he came upon one and he would have known that that was what he sought and it would have been. -Cormac McCarthy