Hearken

In the darkest, coldest hours of January, I often like to pull up some photos of the year prior and hearken back to what sunny skies and warm weather felt like. Granted, we've been lucky so far this winter - 50 and sunny yesterday, dry trails, not too much wind. The thermometer might as well just read "ACTION" instead of a numeric measure in that mercurial excuse-creator, Fahrenheit.

Nonetheless, hearkening back is a bit of a January tradition for me, and I'm lucky to now be able to do it through my wife's photography instead of the one-handed, disposable camera slop with which I used to limit myself.

On that subject, and straight from the mailbag, we've got:
"Dude, did your wife's photographic talents land your lame ass in Dirt Rag?"


why yes, yes they did. Lower right. and thanks for noticing.

While technically, the photographic talent may be all hers, the wherewithal to actually submit the photo to dirt rag (along with sheer desperation for someone, anyone, to notice my lame ass) are what really scored us a piece of history, however small that piece of history may be.

Anyway, let's hearken for a moment...

Jude Monaco Ortiz, Sedona AZ

stuff your face danny, it's a long way down from here.

singletrack and fisheye lenses make the world worth living in.

So yeah, Shan's got some skills. And in what publication might these skills soon appear again? Anywhere that will tolerate pictures of my lame ass, because when it comes to subjects for her work, I'm pretty much holding her back until she leaves me for a rider with a bigger bike and some real skills. Maybe she'll settle for some Friday morning first tracks in the predicted, artistic dusting and some pictures of me sliding down the gully on my keester. (sweetie, want to go riding Friday morning?)

Let's move on and talk about winter riding for a brief moment.
First and foremost, Snotcycle has about 800 registrants already. That's only a mild hyperbole, but pointedly, it would seem that the only person bashful about racing in arctic cold slop is me. Kev 29er, SS-Ramsey, and Jaybird are all heading to Leesburg that weekend, but if plans go well I'll be slopeside with a microbrew in Pennsylvania when the gun goes off.

Have fun with that, kids.

this photo taken with one hand, with a disposable camera, circa 1954. You see what I mean.

I'll close this out, for a change, with a little advice instead of just stream-of-thought prose and incompetence. Get yourself some glove liners. I know, I know - you paid $40 and got some serious winter riding gloves, or better yet you don't really like braking and your snowboard mittens have been doing the job and keeping you from picking your nose so much too. But I'm telling you - your hands aren't really any different than any other part of your body (aside from your thumbs, which are weird) - they need layers. A thin pair of $2 liners under your much-bragged about ski gloves that you wore when you telemarked the Matterhorn will make an amazing difference.

Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong before?


Click that link. Go on do it. And prepare yourself. The time is nigh.