sage wisdom

A wise man (or woman) once said, "Do something that scares you every day." I took that lesson to heart today - twice.

My neighbor, Tim, is all into dirt jumping. He used to do a lot of XC riding, but now he's 'evolved'. He has a spare dirt jumper, so we hit some trails near Boulder. But these were not the rhythm section, pump track, and table tops I was expecting. These were big jumps and drops! I had to set a goal early on and make sure I came through with it before we left....which was this drop....
This was about a 5' drop and it was rather intimidating looking down from the top. The transition was smooth and I was psyched to pull it off.
Here's Tim jumping the same spot (from a different angle and with a lot more style). In no time, I'll be signing up for the Rampage.

I then joined Boulder Benny for a couple Giddy Ups at The Sink - the only bar I've ever been to with Mighty Arrow and Giddy Up on tap! Gotta watch those low ceilings though - I had my head tilted to the side all night.

Then it was on to MURS at the Fox. Like most hip hop shows, there were a bunch of openers. But it was cool, the energy just kept building. When Murs took the stage, he had a big smile on his face. He was very happy to be there and it was the last show of the tour - and I know how good that feels!
The groups invited up all the ladies in the house quite often. It was funny to see so many white girls with no rhythm on stage, shaking it with rappers from LA, Chicago, and NYC. Well...there was one African American - but for some reason she didn't get much love. Jesse pointed out that the ration 15:1 was about right for Boulder.

Oh yeah - I did one other thing that scared the hell out of me - even more than dirt jumping. I took my fixie to Boulder to I could ride to and from the show. I didn't realize that 9th St leading down towards Pearl was such a big hill. You see, on a fixed gear - with no brakes - on a steep hill, it's very scary. I knew not to go into it too fast since I can't stop quickly, so I put a lot of resistance on the pedals. But I kept speeding up! And there's nothing I could do. I couldn't jump off. I couldn't put a foot on the tire to slow down (my legs had to keep spinning). I couldn't turn off. I just had to ride it out. And thank goodness....I made it down unscathed. I have no idea how the messengers do it in San Fran without brakes on fixies. More power to them - I'm putting on a brake next time I do a fixie ride in the hills!

On the way back to the car, I passed a fleet of Garmin Chipotle vehicles. They were parked for their team unveiling party. Boulder's a crazy place to be when the training camp is going on. There are gaggles of Tour De France pros riding all over the area. Lawyer Eric and I hit Carter Lake earlier in the day to intercept them - but to no avail. We did get in a nice Carter Lake loop in record time. It's a ride I never do in the summer, but it's when the temps drop.

So today...it's time to bag some leaves and take the dogs for a swim....and maybe something else a little scary;)