The Mongolia Chronicles

Rocket Man

 

It is a big world. We will likely - never paint it. That would be a Herculean task. However, be it fate, circumstance, other variables in life - of which there are more than we could ever imagine - we are here. I am writing some relatively useless things - and you - right now - are reading them. I used to love when Stephen King would say 'Dear Reader' - as he had you - right there. This blog gets way more hits than I can fathom - and since my B.I.R.G. with a certain company and a certain Man over the last three years, the additions to my followers on TWIT-ter really makes me wonder. I don't make money from any of this. I just try to make sense of my little corner of the world. It's a hella corner. Big bowl. Great trails. Animals and lions and tigers and bears and adventure and mountains and an amazing family that even at 15 I was yearning for. I love this place - and I love this time - in this place. I take every day as a mircale and I feel rather unworthy of the role I have in the participation of that miracle. So, I try to earn it. Every day. Every day. SHowing up - with the right attitude, correct amount of stretching, Ibuprofen, beer, power tools and vision - well - this is my mission. My devotion. I don't care if I am succesful. I care - as Bob Burnquist would say - that I try my hardest - on every turn. Every ride. Every exploration. Every interaction with my son and my wife and my friends and these sacred places that we call home. And that I honor the amazing friendships that I am so lucky to have. Do them proud.

So, it was pretty cool - that after a run, and some lifting and a stretch and a day of settling in that I went BACK out to the ramp - the bowl that in some way represents every challenge that I face in my life - and I relaxed and I put on some "THEM CROOKED' and I pulled two tricks that I have never pulled - first switch (more on that later) and then 'regular'. One of these tricks had been THREE YEARS in the making. As I told Shenna - it is really terrifying how close we are to the things we want to do. They are millimeters away. But if you do not show up - and throw down - and practice and do all the things that you need to do to be there when you need to be there - it's all for naught. So - I call 2010 - the year of showing the fuck up. Show the fuck up. The results - will amaze even you - Dear Reader.

A Bowl and A Beer

Never dampened by the reality that 75% of the skate crew us under 12 years of age. A classic skate spot - and a classic dive. Such a great thing to road trip with the little men of the Kingsbury Clan. 

Butter Bowl

 
The only cool thing about driving the 2 hours to Orlando on a Saturday night at midnight - is the fact that The Park in Melbourne is on the way, open, and one of the funnest bowls in the country. Skating saves. Skating offers energy even way past my bedtime. I heart skating. 

Makes dad Proud

No encouragement. No guidance. Just "DROP IN SON" and that is how it went down. Nothing sweeter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D87NRix_EbA

It. Is. A. Wrap.

To say it was/is a year to remember - well - understatement of the decade.

Between the Solo Miles, the web tv shows, the FORGING of both personal relationships and NEW terrain (metaphorical and literal) holy shit. I gotta say - I have suffered an epiphany. That epiphany - is that - every day - today - tomorrow - they are oysters - ripe - so full of joy and love and opportunity and experience and depth and color and richness that no one can imagine.

I will not try to encapsulate it all - but I will say - to my friends and my family - I owe you my life - my psyche - my eternal youth - my verve - my chi - my energy and my desire to burn from now until whenever I get snuffed out. It is imminent. On a long enough time line, all of our life expectancy's drop to Zero. May we learn.

I don't pray. But - prayers to S.C. Can't wait to ride with you in the New Year dude. Heal. Up. Our thoughts are with you.

No One in this famly ski's - but we all slide

Tough to teach the kid to slide - on skis - when neither of us ski. So, we improvise. He's been riding my board - we rocked the full 1,600 feet of Eldora's face last week - together - on one board. Problem is - that's illegal. Beer favors and relationships aside - it's not a long term solution. So, The Dude of Dudes was up on skis today with 2 clueless parent who only know how to knuckle drag. He literally stepped off the lift - and killed it. Made me proud. Now we have to get him on an evolved sliding device - like a nice fatty 168. Bwahahahahahah.

Skis or board, in area or backcountry - hell - he can rock the nordic shit and smuggle almonds all day. The kid will grow up with a ski area - in his yard. I can think of nothing cooler.

 

Embrace The S(ub)Lime

 

Squeaky, quiet, bizarre, a little scary. Had to go full face and goggles about 4 miles from the office. Something about the plains - and how the cold holds to the flatter land. There is sometimes a 10 degree difference between Boulder and The Middle-Eastern-Paradise of Gunbarrel. It sure felt like that today.

Chaos abounds in this building. In the world - as we PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS. We asked for no gifts - and gave only goats and chickens to families in need all over the world. The flock - GROWS. 
  
 

The Angel of Winter

4 degrees below zero this morning with 40+mph winds. The weather has me feeling like I live on Ice Station Zebra. Thankful for the gym, and the treadmill - even - whoaaaaaa. Thankful for a roof and a gift certificate to The Hungry Toad. Cheese, meat and beer. That's what this is all about. 

Man's Search For Meaning

So, what do we have here? A young man with a very special Bomber Pocket (wrap yourself in beer - not bombs - that's all I got to say); a pretty flower; a YOUNGER man with a little yella pils at a tasting in the Great Out Doors (G.O.D) in the high life of a Colorado summer; Another, we shall say medium aged man staring off of a place - actually the place on the thing that brings the stuff to the place....all of these folks...looking for one thing and one thing alone: WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS ALL MEAN??????

As I corral photos in the sub-zero weather of our current meteorological experience, I am creating tow albums, digitally - as it were - of the year. I do a Quinn - Year of Quinn kinda thing each year. This year - I am also doing a 'The Year in Trails and outdoor'. Family, and outdoors. These are the two primary focuses of my life. Not in that order, actually in reverse. BUTT.....these are the cornerstones of living. They are - as far as I can teel - WHY WE ARE HERE. To see the seasons transition, and the kid go from saying 'goo-goo' and crapping himself to saying: "If a T-Rex eats trees and meat - does that make him an Omnivore".

I do not parallel our journey with that of Mr. Frankel who I so humbly borrow the title of this post from. We are not living in the Holocaust. We are so STUPID lucky - that we worry about what suspension we are running and Quinn will be ripping turns this season alone and if the trails will be closed or open or if we can find a way from here to there in the woods. This - THIS - is our burden. And I mean to represent. Like, carry this fricking torch. And with the bar that The Missus sets, and the bar that Quinn sets and the bar that MY FRIENDS (yes, I have a precious few) Set and that of my co-workers - AKA other best friends - this is high fricking bar. I aim to do good/well and make a difference.

This - is my quest.

Dark Season Recon

 

Had a pretty good cold all week. The cold that comes every year at this time that says: "DAVE - you do not need 6 hours of anaerobic exercise every day of the year. Back down, chill, relax. You'll be chasing Rabbit (s) soon enough. So, I had some great rides this week, we have been in some interesting weather in the single digits with high winds and such and looking at 4 days of heavy snow and sub-zero temps right now right now...So -  the MAPS and the HISTORY BOOKS call - and we must - dive in and suss out places we would NEVER go when there is dry trail on earth. Little by little we will knocj these areas back...learn...listen...look...for signs of man from some - what - like 140 years ago. Back when everybody rode singlespeeds and high speed really wasn't an option.

An inspired day out there. I am glad there are a few others that share my passion for the lost side of lost. If you are never 'found' - which is an illusion for anyone with a brain - you can never be 'lost' get it. It's all just the trip.

Onward.