...o/o

My first real test of the new machine (Salsa:Red Barn) is producing some promising results. I did the Sypes to Middle Cottonwood adventure. This machine is all about adventure.  It pushes easy, probably due to it’s larger wheels. And it is super safe feeling, again with the larger wheels.  I love the simplicity of this hard tail with no paint.  To clean simply just rinse and wipe.  And … no hard to reach places like on my Turner.

So now I know the bike is easy to hike up a hill and can handle the drudgery of transcending large avalanche debris paths. Oh, how did the bike handle.  Um, I think OK.  Mostly, however, I remember the beauty and oneness I had with the rugged terrain. Being alone and interfacing with the wild is so enveloping one hardly notices the material things we bring along.  So I cant remember much about the bike but if I did it wouldn't be doing its job … right?

Here are my observations to a successful bike date.  First off select a obscure rural town in Montana with a out of place name like Manhattan. This will ensure that if the date goes bad then chances are no one will have any kind of reference or even remember it.  Then choose the shortest bike path available that goes to a river. Once there pick a nondescript boring place to sit until both of you are satisfied.  Then proceed to bike back to town where you can get lost on some dirt street with weird doves fluttering about.  Then when a weird “little house on the prairie looking lady” scares you both the good night kiss can be skipped and your both on your was quickly. 

"Sometimes inspiration is more important then perspiration", I tell my friend on the phone as I look out over the street to a colorful scene involving a red tree with mountains behind it. I was talking about the fact that I did not work out but instead watched a world cup mountain bike race on TV. Maybe it is an excuse. It is true. I have not been working out according to plan lately. But who sticks to plans anyway?