The String Cheese Incident & Another Milestone

Tuesday Morning began with a therapeutic session that included an elbow in my back. My upper traps and mid thoracic in general were a complete Sh*Thouse.

Been hunched over on some righteous single track lately. I have a new 1 hour loop that I like to tackle on my lunch break. My bike enables me the freedom to enjoy the outdoors. Focusing on controlling the 575 with my hips and gaining confidence through those bone dry sandy washes. Then, the sweet score!!! The Blue Heron section that was engulfed by the Mighty colorado has opened up. On To Loma I Cruise

Now, just before my 40th, I raced in the Iron Horse Classic. You basically race the steam powered train from Durango to Silverton Colorado. I am brining this up because I topped 47.8 mph descending off Coal Bank Pass. Let me tell you, that kinda speed on a bike is totally stressful. So you could imagine I stoked I was with my 26th placement BUT no way could I possibly fathom 48, let alone 53mph!! Thats Impressive & Totally Out of My League

Can You See That Face - Thank You iPhone6 

Rode over to the recycling center with a majority of the first weeks stash with the twins in town as well. Ready for this??? 7 Pounds of Aluminum, 3 six packs of bottles, One Pendleton bottle, and not pictured are the 4 red wine bottles. Only During Dinner 

Needless to say, we be enjoying happy hour. So back to Tuesday. Quickly loaded the car after receiving the much needed body work. Jumped on I-70 East with the windows down and tunes at high frequency output. Oh Phuc Me!!!! Dead Stop Due To A ROCKSLIDE!!! With motors off ( except for the rich SUV or California plates ) doors open, I decided that it was beer thirty. So I popped the hatch, pulled out my chair, cracked a brew, and tried to hide from Mr Sunshine. High 90's On Asphalt, Joy

So three cars back, two young gals and a fully tattooed dude came over to join. " Are You Really Drinking Beer?" He Asked. With A Brew In My Huggie, I was obviously playing the discreet card," Its How I Roll On My Birthday." We sat, laughed, and shared birthday stories for almost a full 3 hours on I-70. Hurry Up & Wait

Boy Dog - U Were So With Me During This Trip

I finally arrived in Frisco and get this. The photo above is the moment when Amber the Human arrived and was happily greeted by Yellow Orange Blue Purple. I wanted to be all pissy about my travels but Amber the Human was rerouted by a rock mediation section and then was stuck in the same slide as I. Her trip was 7 hours compared to my 5. See, someone always has it worse than me/you.

Yellow Orange Blue Purple & I waited patiently on the balcony of the Best Western while sipping a beautifully oak smoked Tequila on ice. We had a perfect view of our friends and The Cheese were on fire. Round The Wheel for an opener was BRILLIANT. Amber the Human pulled in during Johnny Cash, second song, such timing she has.

The three of us were together again. The entire first set was filled with chilly tequila tasters, non stop chatting, and friends being friends. Its Always The Best With Your Friends. The Cheese belted out an ideal jam filled first sets and Amber the Human says, " I know what the band looks like, I love watching my friends dance down there."
Setlist HERE from that night

I even scored a girl dog for the set. Her owners were like," Dude, She Doesn't Just Sit On Anyones Lap." She clearly liked me and felt at ease when I sat to her level. She was rather comfortable with me and made herself at home in my lap. But when I gave her a biscuit, Night Over!! The Cheese continued to tease Shakedown Street, Oye Como Va, & the timeless Boogie On Reggae Women while our tribe continued our ways from "The Rail" of the BW.

Amber creating pie iron goodness while the old camp stove worked its wonders again 

The three of us headed towards the venue during set break. I walked with YOBP as Amber has her laminate, we enter from different locations but jelly rolled our field trip into the friends section. The moment skipped a beat for me when The Cheese broke out Until The Music's Is Over. Taking in that jam, remembering when that particular song debuted, and watching the band members connecting was mind bending. I Don't Know How They Do It But Damn Do They Ever Do It

Comments throughout the night are as follows in no particular order
Second Whore Find - oops, Second Hand Score
Have A Groove In Your Heart When Mixing Cocktails
See If Amber Will Wear A Shirt Tonight - oops, Given A New Moose Shirt
He Is A Bit Twisted But Certainly Not Handicapped
and My All Time Time Favorite From The Evening - Puppy Cats & Kitty Dogs

Until The Music Is Over morphed into a deep dreamy Birdland like I have never heard The Cheese go with during that tune. Birdland eventually danced into a beautiful Orange Berry Blossom and that circulated the crowd into a huge wave like ripple. Before I knew what hit me, The Cheese went back into Birdland. Sh*T Fire

After this amazing second set and spending time on the floor with such dynamic friends, The Cheese closed out the second set with Beautiful. I never claimed to be a writer, I can't really describe it, this blog is for my failing memory recall system, but my inners left my body and I rose above the crowd during the middle of Beautiful. I was exactly were I was supposed to be at that magical time frame. Surrounded By Love, Appreciation, And All The Well Executed Precise Musical Notes By The Cheese. SMILING FROM EAR 2 EAR

The night scape of stars allowed Saturn, Mars, AND Jupiter to stand out like sore thumbs. But the best was when my phone buzzed my leg and I thought it would be a B-Day text. I almost let it slip by! Nope, it was a reminder that the Space Station would fly over. And There It Was!! The ISS cruising across the sky. I happily pointed it out for yet another perfect moment. Under a full moon rising over the Tenmile Range, The Cheese dropped the encore with Midnight Moonlight!! The String Cheese Incident, Total Veterans. And This My Friends, Night #1 Of The Tour.

I now leave this entry with this photo. See that BLK Bag???? This was a Christmas gift from about 2002. I ordered a variety of shirts for my friends, cut them into tank tops, sewed the bottoms, and created simple hand bags out of them. Reusable, washable, and stretchy for maxim stuffing. And here we are almost 20 years later and they still have a purpose. Phuc YES



RADIO SHOW:

https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/show/magic-carpet-ride-1-kafm-community-radio
Here is the link, only good until the 25th, from my last show. Its a really entertaining show and the twins hopped on the mic as well. It just so happened to be mid day in Melbourne so a number of their friends were streaming live. Bands include WSP ( for Mr PITT ), The Cheese ( opened the show with Emma's Dream ), CS&N, Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull, The Doors, Triumph, Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, & A Stellar Remix of a Dire Straits Classic. Just To Name A Few Cuts.


Sending Positive Vibes,
Cheers

Early July in Marble Colorado

Houston, We Have Some Snow

The Photo I Sent To GZ While Out On The Lunch Loops 

I Call Them, Subway Bomber Barbies

Should Easily Crack The 10,000K Mark This Year

Teaching Little AC The Game For Throwling 

Same Trees In Meeker!!! Loaded Up Turkey Vultures For Steven 

MAD Racing timed the 5K Run For Life on July 4th in Meeker. I had to wandered back to see the Turkey Vultures. Yes, There They Are!! Crazy Cool

Adult Like Fun 

And Now, The Twins are here from Melbourne Australia. So off to the little town of Marble Colorado we drove.

Two Ice Chest Full of Brews, One Ice Chest Full of Food, A 3/4 Full Bottle of Pendleton's Whiskey, & Stories That Carried On Into The WHEEEEEE Hours Of The Evening.

Leslie, Your Mountain Climbing Skills Would Be Challenged But We Have The Faith In Ya

Romping & Rolling in the Rockies , BLK Dog Would Enjoy Marble CO

Some Sights While Biking Through Life

Rob, Me, & Dennis ( L to R )

Yes, A Pine Tree Is Literally Growing Out Of That Roof 

Taking The Long Way Home through the quarry ruins  

Beth, Jax & Mr D Would Love This Peaceful Place 

Biker Dan, We Shall Ride This Together When You Travel From The East Coast To The West Coast  

Just Found Out That I Will Be Going Back On Tour With The Cheese. The World Wind Adventures Continue And I Couldn't Be Happier About It. YES

For You Magic Eye!! 

For Bill in Ireland 

This One Is For Bill 

Catching The Home Run Derby - This One Is For High Riser 

Wildflowers For Perth 

Ended up throwing some plastic in Marble AND Paonia. Never did find the baskets for 8 and 9 in Marble. Not Complaining

      But those fairways tosses were pristine and lined by gorgeous ever green trees. 

Pretty much a putt putt style of course. Meaning, never used the driver all week and holes 3 & 6 I stood on the tee "box" with my putter. Didn't Lose A Disc 

As you can see, little room for error on the approach shot. Relaxing sounds from the Crystal River played out the perfect soundtrack to the round. EPIC

Some very colorful signs in the restroom at The Slow Groovin' BBQ Pit

ALSO, I Am Hosting The Magic Carpet Ride This Thursday ( July 11th ) at 6:30pm MT Time Zone. Stream The Show Live HERE and Click The Web Cam From That Same KAFM Home Page. Should Be A Studio Full With The Twins, Friends In Tow, & Only Good Dogs.


Until Next Time, Live Your Dreams & Think Of Others,
Cheers

Ending The Month With Bike Week in Crested Butte

June Numbers:
Bike  - 244
Run   - nope
PR's  - 10
Activities - 22
Now, a majority of these miles are single track miles on the 575 and commuter miles to the office. With the River Trail washed out, haven't been riding out to the Loma Boat Ramp. Could I still ride out that direction, Yes. SOOOOOOO, chalk it up to pure laziness. Strava even pointed out nothing for nine days in June. Oh, but I have excuses. Such as, traveling, sun was defiantly in my eyes, a vicious dog ate my homework, and MAD Racing events.

CRESTED BUTTE:
Every year, last week of June, its a magical week for me and for other two wheel enthusiast. Bike Week in CB is basically a ski town chalk full of like minded humans. HERE is a link from my time lapse video of Bike Week 2018. Notice how brown the landscape is and NO flowers to speak of. I Was A Time Lapse Nut

The most popular fund raiser is the Bridges of the Butte for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours while dressed in themed costume attire, LED decorated bikes, & riding over all 12 bridges around this sleepy little ski town of CB. The spirit of camaraderie and enthusiasm quickly becomes infectious with giggling, smiling head nods, & belly laughter in tow. Especially Around That 2am Hour

The absolutely suicidal chainless downhill race is Phuc-N unreal. Thats Right!!! You are required to remove the chain from your bike, wear something totally outrageous, indulge in a few communal beverages, & launch yourself on down Kebler Pass towards town.

And then comes the kids Wildflower JR Mountain Bike Race on the last day. Devo host an incredible kids weekend during bike week. They showcased stunt bikes, "free" homemade ice cream for racers AND their parents, local pizza delivery, BBQ's with Oskar Blues Blackberry Soda, and then the blow out Sunday race on ideal single track trails. All these trails are splashed with peaking Wild Flowers in all their glory. The HIGHLIGHT, Not One Parent Complaint

I say not bitching from the oldies because we at MAD Racing timed the kids race. Take out the mosquitos and it was an ideal week.

Klishy Pointing To The Out Of Work Welder's Bike - Those Are Truck 33inch Tires

Now, Here Comes The Part That You Will What To Skip. HERE IS MY DISCLAIMER, Stop reading and move on.

Leaving the town of Montrose, Mother Nature painted a picture of pure beauty. The foothills are so lush with emerald greens dotting the hillside. A herd of about 20 or maybe even 30 Elk causal crossed our paths with perfectly timed Bald Eagles soaring effortlessly above. For Phuc Sake, A Fisherman Reeling In A Beauty From The Bank

Pulling into Gunnison was surreal. So much growth and thankfully the downtown shop owners have recently painted their store fronts. The airport was spitting out aircraft and shadows across the mountains of approaching learjets thundered overhead.

All seemed well. Driving up the valley into Crested Butte became this emotional roller coaster for me. I don't know why my head does this but I just lost my sh*t with Boy Dog sadness. What The Phuc?!?!? I'm approaching the most magical place but visions of The Boy Dog washed over me with heavy grief. Him and I called Crested Butte home and we lived it up to the fullest of our potential.

My jaw just about fell off my face. The above photo of that serving spoon, I fabricated those for X-Mas gifts about 5 years ago. Very Touching

Spring 2018 in GJ

After checking into our room, Klishy & I headed over to the venue & thats when I realized that IZZY's bagel shop is no more.

At IZZY's, every dog, EVERY DOG gets a little slice of bacon handed out from the window above my shoe here. This is a photo of The Boy Dog from around 2010 in a bacon pleasure haze. After 11 years, IZZY's is now Crested Butte Bagels.

Summer 2018 from same spot

During the stunning sunrise Monday morning, after a prodigious weekend, thank you rocket boys, I sat with Craig and reminisced about old times. He made a statement that confused me for a second. He said, "The Boy Dog is archived you know." I didn't quite comprehend until he follows with," I hear you talk about him during your shows." Craig has stacks, literally, full spindles of burned CD's from my shows at KAFM.

June 2019 Once Its Gone Down Stream, ITS GONE

He looked directly into my eyes and said," I can see it clear as day, You haven't let him go."


.

If you are still reading this heavy Sh*t, do yourself a favor and watch this quick video. The writing is brilliant and I guarantee you will laugh out loud at some point.

Cheers