Before, During, After

1996 Dyno Nitro 24 BMX Restoration

Before:

During:

After: 

 This rusty and crusty 'ol girl was dropped off a little while back and has been the "get at it here and there" kind of project. The frame was first in line because of the dents and further inspection items I like to begin with. Totally worth the time and effort, she's a roller now!

The only sad bikes are the ones that don't get ridden.

Fifteen Minutes

 In the modern quest for "fame", those seeking their Warholian fifteen minutes astride a mountain bike are a strange lot to me. The air of desperation emanates from many who seem to be seeking this kind of attention, whether they are wedging their way into obtaining status as the big fish in a little pond, or simply sandbagging amateur races. The reek is real and painfully obvious to anyone even remotely paying attention. Yeah, that shit stinks, even if it is sadly amusing. 

 To me, fifteen minutes is how long a normally twenty minute descent went this morning, as indicated by my analog timepiece. Warhol may have gotten it right for those who earn or stumble into fame, however Bowie got it right for the desperate with, "Fame (fame) puts you there where things are hollow." Hollow is no way to go through life, kiddies.

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate

Revolutionary

 Ever since I read "1984" for a book report at the continuation school I was sent to for truancy in my senior year of high school, Orwell's words have been Gold to me. I needed to make up two semesters of English credits to obtain my diploma and when offered the option of book reports on how to do so, I chose his prophetic dystopian novel to begin the process. When submitted at the beginning of a class a day after finishing the book, the teacher read the report and called me to their desk to discuss what I had written. "What are you doing here, writing something like this?" I told them that when the standard curriculum in the first semester dictated I read Shakespeare, I told that teacher I would not read that shit and was advised I'd not pass the class. I stopped going, hence the truancy issue. After being told that I would be done with obtaining credit to graduate by writing a number of similar reports, I scratched them out rapidly from books I'd already digested. I was done with high school a couple of months before my peers, thanks to Orwell, Stephen King, Joseph Wambaugh, Ken Kesey, Ken Follett, and a few others.

 When I first spotted the above meme a few years ago, it was saved for a few reasons beyond being more Orwell Gold. While it's seemingly more germaine today than it was when Orwell was still attached to his mortal coil, the truth of those words have rung throughout the (de)evolution of humankind. The acceleration of misinformation and other truth-dodging matter in this day and age of accessible information is undoubtedly increasing. If the truth is not spoken, the future seems rather bleak and I don't do bleak very well.

 The association with cycling in this light contains many facets. Though some of my posts based on simple etiquette subjects are most definitely of a ranty nature, the unfiltered observations are truthful. Ignorance in this age of information is self-imposed, especially when so many have a virtual Encyclopedia in their hand. How do mountain biking people not know how to yield the trail properly on a singletrack when searching "The Fruita Lean" online takes less than a second? When AI knows something like this and a trail user doesn't, it speaks volumes about that user's contribution to the Idiocracy, most likely omnipresent in all aspects of their puny lives that further contribute to the degradation of civilized society. Yeah, turn on your apphole craphole, but don't bother with how to recreate without destroying the environment you choose to degrade with self-imposed ignorance. The Idiocracy is real and furthered by the self-indulgent.

 Do I consider myself a revolutionary? No, and as far as I'm concerned the truth should not be considered as such. Orwell's words seem to me as an observation about mainstream public perception. The "mainstream" has been buried under a quagmire of bullshit for centuries, heaping up at an accelerated pace. My own experiences of living outside the proverbial box lessens that quagmire in my life and as such, is where I reside comfortably as just some dude on a bike.

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate 

Reppin'

 The branding bombardment created by corporate hype has become immense beyond imagination to this child of the 1960's. Not having a television as a youngster during that period of America must amplify this within me in comparison to most others who misspent their youth in the same time period. Instead of launching into a diatribe, I'll just go ahead and say it. Unless you are a friend, family, or something that aligns with my personal moral compass, fuck your branding and logos. That said, if we happen to cross paths on two wheels, you'll not see any logos of shitty corporate cookie-cutterdom or branding of any bicycle fuckery on my bikes or person.

"Names is for tombstones, baby..." - Mr. Big to James Bond

The Barge

 Bargers Gonna Barge, as the above deviant did off-road in Death Valley National Park. It seems fitting that they have a tailgate pad for shuttling bicycles, which does not leave me wondering how they most likely conduct themselves whilst astride their mountain bikes. There are many forms of the barge in the mountain bike realm and all of them have one thing in common, they are perpetrated by uncaring egotists.

 The Trailhead Barges also takes on many forms, the most common being the overbearingly loud music barge. Irregardless of what the barger is listening to, who gives a flying fuck what music pumps you up for a ride? Headphones were made for a reason, to prevent others from having to listen to your Kenny G at the trailhead. A more peculiar trailhead barge is the dipshit who parks right up on your vehicle in an otherwise empty parking lot. I've had to move my vehicle to be able to load bikes on several occasions such as this. We could also add the trailhead lot speeders and Mickey Thompson wannabes, raising dust clouds for everyone to choke on as their clapped-out Subaru coughs and sputters through it all. Sad

 On the trail, the most egregious barge to Riders IMO is the "taking a break and as others approach going the same direction, jumping back on the bike and taking off" syndrome. This is most often accomplished by subpar mountain bikers who believe their own bullshit. They also tend to not yield to Riders that they have jumped out on who wish to pass, unless vociferously commanded to do so. The most obvious barge is those who don't comprehend and/or just ignore the basics of yielding the trail properly. These booger-eaters barge on everyone and anyone, most often habitually. Though there are several other on-trail barges, such as cutting corners and other craptastic trail-widening kook maneuvers, one other is worth special mention. It's akin to the yielding issues, however is largely based on misogyny. Many littledick male mountain bikers will not allow their fragile egos be "bested" by female Riders. I've witnessed this many times over the years and have had to call perpetrators out for it several times. Of course this is a case where someone who believes their own bullshit, basing their misdeed solely on the gender of the Rider who wishes to pass. Again, Sad

 The Localism Barge is the most odd to me. It reeks of ineptitude in most cases I've witnessed, whereas those who commit these acts of idiocy seemingly wish to convey some demented version of "I'll show them!" In one place I previously frequented, the "locals" committed barges almost every time I was there. The most amusing to me was when they tried to jump on my wheel and were left choking on dust. It became so bad, I joined an app just to let them know how truly lame they are. The practitioners of this particular barge rarely stray from the comfort of their realm and in the quest to rule their pissant domain, shall forever be condemned to mediocrity at best. Yeah, Sad

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate

Where My Bike Takes Me

Above 12,000 feet Mean Sea Level in the majestic Colorado San Juan Mountains

 

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate

Dumb Downers

 We've all seen it, parts of trails where those with a lack of regard for both their limited skillset and proper trail etiquette have dumbed-down a singletrack into either a braided mess, or twelve foot wide abomination that even a novice ATVer could traverse with ease. One may classify this as trail sanitization, as it most certainly is, however I feel that this is far more prevalent than the misguided work of foolish individuals who tear rocks out of a slightly (or highly) technical section trail bed to suit their own lack of abilities.

Why this form of trail destruction is more prevalent would be that it takes much less effort, in fact it's most often as simple as not heeding to the basic trail etiquette tenet, "Control Your Bicycle". Those who actually control their bicycles on a singletrack stay in the tread, taking care ("care" being key) to not cut corners, blow turns, or braid the trail from the originally designed trail bed. The Dumb Downers are a horribly narcissistic lot and their misguided deeds destroy public trail resources seemingly everywhere.

 The motivations of the Dumb Downers are most likely very broad, however ego appears to be the main cause. Egotistical individuals don't like to admit they lack skill, etiquette or fitness, amongst other qualities that responsible trail users often possess. One of the most common old school rules of the trail is, "If you can't ride it, walk it.". The fragile ego of a Dumb Downer is unable to accept this age-old rule and thus will modify the trail to suit themselves, with zero regard for the public lands they are denigrating. In the case of ego-driven Appholes in this light, one person may have the (dis)ability to turn a singletrack into a truck trail width route through repetitive abuses, just to feed their ego and attain the joke status of "legend" or some other bullshit level of Appholiness. Pathetic 

 The moral of the story here (as it appears everywhere in the MTB realm) is to respect our public lands and if you don't, find another hobby. The true enthusiasts begin with respect for themselves, their (RL, not some internet garbage-bin) community, and the facilities we all are supposed to share. Remember, just because you can't navigate a portion of trail, it doesn't mean that others lack that ability. If you are a Dumb Downer, please heed the first sentence of this paragraph, or toss ego aside and LEARN. Though I've participated in an MTB lifestyle for several decades now, I refuse to stop learning and seek out trails that probably frighten egotists because pushing my bike up what I may not be able to ride cleanly today is a place where tomorrow may be the day my desire to learn gives it what for.

Riders Come and Go, Kooks Accumulate