LummoxBlog

suburban war

2010-10-04T20:15:00.001-06:00

the past won't rest

till you jump the fence

and leave it behind

~suburban war, Arcade Fire

hopeless tactile

2010-09-28T08:47:00.004-06:00

Can it be true?
Nobody warned you
Nobody told you to make up your mind
Nobody told you that I could just walk through
And shake up your style

I'm inside

like a wrecking ball through your eyes
And I change it all from inside

(don't)
(wait)
Strange and fine

All this hardware
Slope of time
And that one's for me
Go inside
Going somewhere
Hopeless tactile
That one's for me
Open wide
Yawn like New Year

Stay and fight
Stay and fight
Stay and fight

~interpol, wrecking ball

the undoing

2010-09-15T09:17:00.002-06:00

i was on my way

i was on my way to tell you it's no good

chasing my damage

i was chased, thrilled and altered

and it raised me

the undoing

by interpol

on up the mountain

2010-09-08T10:10:00.003-06:00

you're old enough to know well
the better things are all uphill
bitter songs are never sung
in the highlands where you belong

in the smoke of canons below
men they bury each other in rows
people come people go
work in numbers and leave alone

there's a line
making it's way
on up the mountain
night and day
you'll go down
and you'll go deep
but you won't abandon
your masterpiece

here it comes
there it goes
the unbearable sound
of the earth
making men
out of boys

first you learn
and then you'll teach
about that bright bright light
making its way
on up the mountain
night and day
you'll get tired
you'll get weak
but you won't surrender
your masterpiece

no, you will deliver
you will deliver
your masterpiece

~adapted, Jakob Dylan

seven*4

2010-09-04T10:39:00.002-06:00

perhaps the last mt bike race of the season

seven days untill

seven a.m. through

seven p.m.

on a fully rigid seven

12 hours of snowmass

solo

~yeah~

rumi

2010-09-02T06:58:00.001-06:00

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do

Rumi

(thx zen den)

62

2010-08-31T10:33:00.000-06:00

Within, within

This is where the world's treasure has always been

~Tao Te Ching, Stanza 62

Jonathan Star translation

the story

2010-08-29T22:37:00.002-06:00

I went back over your story
with a fine-tooth comb
pouring through each part
for every bit of beauty
every ounce of truth

you became my violin bow over strings

church

2010-07-02T08:24:00.001-06:00

“Everyone get up. Stand with hands at heart-center, eyes closed. I am going to tell you some things you already know..”

pauses.

“Sometimes, life is like this.”

starts “Sunrise” by Yeasayer

“'What does this guy think this is, church?' Yes. Your soul is like church, your heart is like art, your mind is like an academy. Each, in the best sense of the idea.”

“Let's begin”

Tao Tree

2010-05-08T20:24:00.002-06:00

The images attached are not edited, straight out of camera.

the pictures somewhat reveal,

roughly, as much as we would want to ask of clouds and a tree; a yin yang

light and dark. Balance.

probably not just coincidence

They were taken at the sunset of a darn good day.

Saw some friends,

Got some really good mountain bike miles in,

a haircut.

I have begun teaching yoga.

2 regularly scheduled classes a week,

and just the right amount of classes I get to sub for on top of that

I've started to dig teaching

A lot.

RWE

2010-01-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

With a geometry of sunbeams, the soul lays the foundation of nature.
Of this pure nature, every man is at some time sensible.
Language cannot paint it with its colors.
It is too subtle, it is indefinable, unmeasureable,
But we know that it pervades and contains us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson,
From “The Tao of Emerson”, Stanza 62

awareness > opportunity

2009-11-08T07:21:00.003-07:00

Awareness is of more value than opportunity
Once you get to this understanding
Awareness is opportunity

quiet

2009-10-11T11:29:00.000-06:00

be silent long enough for the right words to come
it's hard to do this

Monday Ride

2009-09-22T07:29:00.004-06:00

return to icarus

2009-08-15T06:26:00.001-06:00

A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,
Head high in the forehead and wide between the ears,
Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
Eyes well apart and full of sparkling wickedness…

His nostrils dilate…my heels embrace him…his well built limbs tremble with pleasure…we speed around and return.

Swift wind! Space! My soul! Now I know it is true what I guessed at;
What I guessed when I loafed on the grass,
What I guessed while I lay alone in my bed…and again as I walked the beach under the paling stars of the morning.

My ties and ballasts leave me…I travel…I sail…I skirt the sierras… my palms over continents,

I am afoot with my vision

~Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

spring's second

2009-08-07T09:10:00.003-06:00

burst foward

into all of the long grass, sunshine, birds chirping
   cool breezes
     that take the edge off sunshine
       to leave light

you earned it a long time ago

.

2009-07-28T22:35:00.001-06:00

..all of this is up to something..

of

2009-07-28T11:19:00.002-06:00

"I am watching this” vs. “I am part of this”
"of" is easy
"of" is tough

mlk

2009-06-16T09:04:00.001-06:00

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter
~Martin Luther King Jr

swoon

2009-04-15T10:31:00.005-06:00

better make sure
better make sure you’re looking closely
before you fall into your swoon
~silversun pickups

now that it is you want to go further
growth happens when you stay within yourself
now that it is you are content within yourself
growth happens when you go further
~lummox

narc

2009-04-10T14:59:00.000-06:00

your mysteries are moving in the sun
I show some love and respect
gonna get some love and respect
baby you can see that the gazing eye
won’t lie
don’t give up your lover tonight
cause it’s just you and me and this wire
let’s tend to the engines tonight

she found the lonely sound
she keeps on waiting for time now

~from the song; narc

by interpol

guess

2009-04-10T09:03:00.003-06:00

guess which day is race day :)

dear Al Gore,

the simple solution to global warming; schedule as many mountain bike events in the desert as possible.

love, lummox

rwe

2009-04-09T08:55:00.002-06:00

What a man does, that he has.
Let him regard no good as solid,
but that which is in his nature.

Virtue is the adherence in action
to the nature of things,
And the nature of things makes it prevalent.
It consists in a perpetual substitution
of being for seeming.

Why need you choose so painfully your place,
and occupation, and association and modes of action?
For you, there is a reality, a fit place
and congenial duties.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson
From: The Tao of Emerson

2009-04-08T14:49:00.003-06:00

consistency, my friend.
a calm with your name on it.
one crank swing peacefully following the other.
swoop when there is swooping to be done.

verve

2009-04-06T18:13:00.006-06:00

Cheapness can be value-less. Voluntary simplicity is, furthermore, boring. Less can become too much work.

The everyday object is the monarch of all objects. It's in your time most, it's in your space most. It is "where it is at," and it is "what is going on."

It takes a while to get this through your head, because it's the opposite of the legendry of shopping. However: the things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get.

You will need to divide your current possessions into four major categories.
1. Beautiful things.
2. Emotionally important things.
3. Tools, devices, and appliances that efficiently perform a useful function.
4. Everything else.

The day is going to come, it will come, when you suddenly find your comfortable habits disrupted.

That could be a new job, a transfer to a new city, a marriage, the birth or departure of a child. It could be a death in the family: we are mortal, they happen. Moments like these are part of the human condition. Suddenly you will find yourself facing a yawning door and a whole bunch of empty boxes. That is the moment in which you should launch this sudden, much-considered coup. Seize that moment on the barricades, liberate yourself, and establish a new and sustainable constitution.

~Bruce Sterling
http://www.viridiandesign.org/

catagories one, two, and three;

Ayn lives 3 doors down

2009-02-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

not as contradictory as it might seem
and not as separate:

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
~ Ayn Rand

You're stuck on a chain, and you're towing the line.
It seems like every time that you catch up you only fall behind.
And you're trapped inside this world you made yourself.
But that's not the world I live in,
this is not the life for me.
my world's bigger than your problems and it's bigger than me.

There's always someone to blame
for the things you do yourself.
You think that everything
that's going wrong
is because of someone else.
And you're trapped inside
this world you made yourself.
That's not the world I live in,
this is not the life for me.

I'm on the outside and I'm looking in.
~3 Doors Down

45

2009-01-15T09:29:00.002-07:00

Keep moving and you'll miss the cold
Keep silent and you'll beat the heat

Tao Te Ching
verse 45
Jonathan Star translation

emerson

2009-01-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

when the genius arrives, it flows out of a deeper source
then the foregoing silence

~emerson

tilt

2008-12-21T12:31:00.001-07:00

today is the day
  we tilt back
    bring the sun
      overhead
        rush towards another spring
          leaves yet formed
            grass yet green
              races yet run

soon enough

2008-12-15T10:42:00.002-07:00

spring time comes
soon enough
trust me

killers

2008-12-11T09:56:00.002-07:00

…but it’s just the price i pay
destiny is calling me
open up my eager eyes…

Process

2008-12-10T10:47:00.001-07:00

We give validity to processes that don’t deserve validity

By using them,
throwing away a bit of ourselves,
and working hard

38

2008-12-04T06:29:00.002-07:00

All that has been learned adorns the Way
And engenders delusion

~Tao Te Ching, verse 38, Moss Roberts translation

agenda

2008-11-16T09:21:00.001-07:00

have great plans

be ready to abandon them

still

2008-11-16T09:13:00.003-07:00

And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was
Lying still

Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain
Run from the darkness in the night

You gotta cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice

She walks the through streets
With eyes painted red
Under a black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway
She brings me
white gold and pearls
Stolen from the sea
She is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes

She’s running to stand still

~U2, Running to stand still

act from center

2008-11-15T10:20:00.001-07:00

ocean of noise

2008-11-11T09:56:00.001-07:00

an ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Ring’n like a bell
As if I had a choice

~oh well~

Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep
To an ocean of violence
A world of empty streets
You've got your reasons
And me,
I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies
To buy
myself some time

An ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Now
who here among us
Still believes in choice?

~Not I~

No way of knowing
What any man will do
In the ocean of violence
Between me and you
You've got your reasons
And me
I've got mine
But all
the reasons
I gave
Were just lies
To buy
myself some time

gonna work it out
it's time to work it out
for you

--
lyrics from the song: Ocean of noise
artist: Arcade Fire
~adapted~

~ and a Lummox note; I am fairly sure this song is not about violence, in the typical sense. I think it is more about what it is to contend, to be somewhat torn asunder. That kinda thing. But hey, that’s just me.

optimist

2008-11-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

“Given enough time, I can build anything”.
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2008/11/04/build_anything.html

essentially

2008-11-10T09:51:00.001-07:00

I want to know what you are, when you get everything else out of the way

fractal

2008-11-09T20:11:00.001-07:00

good morning earth

2008-11-09T08:26:00.003-07:00

I find you particularly lovely today.
In that shocking, unexpected,
Amazing if you let it
kinda way

Valiant

2008-11-06T08:44:00.007-07:00

There is this “other state”
   to call it “perfection”
   would not be accurate
   further
   it would miss the scope of it

it moves
     it has flaws
         they add to its beauty There is this “other state”
   that exists in the line you’re on
   if you can divine it
   and run with it
   both acts vital
Divine it

   from the dry dust and bones
   at the center of what might be aversion
   pay attention
   read energy, curves, power

Run with it

   a field of energy will sweep over you
   at the center it is steady
   pay attention
   that is your cue to go

sigh of relief

2008-11-04T21:08:00.001-07:00

we live in a country capable of great things

sky fits heaven

2008-11-04T08:10:00.002-07:00

good for election day, comments from Tao Te Ching, Moss Roberts translation, Stanza 25:

..Mozi argues that the son of heaven, is himself answerable to a heaven that has been defined not as something higher but … as something commonplace – a “humble” heaven that simply wants all people to work for their mutual benefit. Heaven for Mozi is not remote and mysterious but accessible and obvious. Mozi likens the will of heaven to a carpenter’s measuring instruments, thus locating heaven’s authority in the common man.

emerson / yesterday P.M.

2008-10-24T08:22:00.004-06:00

Yesterday P.M. I went to the Cliff with Henry Thoreau. Warm, pleasant, misty weather which the great mountain amphitheatre seem to drink in with gladness. A crow's voice filled all the miles of air with sound. A bird's voice, even a piping frog enlivens a solitude & makes world enough for us. At night I went out into the dark & saw a glimmering star & heard a frog & nature seemed to say Well do these not suffice? Here is a new scene, a new experience. Ponder it, Emerson, & not like the foolish hanker after thunders & multitudes & vast landscapes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

streamlined

2008-10-21T08:41:00.002-06:00

now loneliness is so refined
it's streamlined

I slip through doors
I pass the time
streamlined

I want to be
weighted down
tangled up
in thorns of love
but this year I
ended up
streamlined

all extra weight
I've left behind

between the rain
beneath the signs

I want to be
tangled up
weighted down
lost and found
these days I
walk around
streamlined
streamlined

Lyrics to:
Streamlined
by Slow Runner

fifteen

2008-10-19T08:15:00.002-06:00

They were careful
As someone crossing an iced over stream
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory
Courteous as a guest
Fluid as melting ice.

Do you have the patience to wait
Till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
Till the right action arises by itself?

Tao Te Ching
Verse 15
Stephen Mitchell

11

2008-10-15T10:41:00.003-06:00

we work with being,

but non-being (potential) is what we use

Tao Te Ching

Verse 11

Stephen Mitchell translation

(lummox in italics)

7

2008-10-11T09:33:00.001-06:00

No self-interest?
Self is fulfilled

Tao Te Ching
Verse 7
Addiss / Lombardo translation

run

2008-10-08T10:15:00.002-06:00

light up
light up
as if you have a choice
~
louder
louder
and we'll run for our lives
~
slower
slower
we dont have time for that
~
have heart
my dear
you're bound to be afraid

snow patrol, run

solve

2008-10-08T08:34:00.000-06:00

Solution contains only solution
a fit to the problem
like hand to glove
like a dance
like harmony
Maintain purity of the solution

brief foray into economics

2008-10-07T09:34:00.003-06:00

The best explanation of credit crisis that I’ve heard was on NPR , the show This American Life, this past weekend,

http://tinyurl.com/4jnxkn

And that show has given me a good understanding of why it is said, and repeated; “the life blood of the economy” is these credit markets, these interwoven relationships of IOUs.

After the bailout was approved, things are still uneasy. After we heard how much we have to have it, now we hear how it is only hopeful, not at all assured, that it will work at all.

I get why the credit markets are so important and how there are ripple effects when they freeze up. But:

The essential “thing” in the economy is not, cannot be;
Credit, how and why it flows.
The essential “thing” must be;
Value, how and why it flows.

On which the capitalist within us can rest easy, because it means big profits, big accounts are a fine thing.
On which the idealist within us can rest easy, because how those dollars are spent can create even greater value still. Value beyond dollars.

Bailing out a shell game only perpetuates the shell game.

To be content
And not look for other ways
With the people so pure
Who could trick them?
What clever ideas could lead them astray?

~from Verse 3, Tao Te Ching, Translation by Jonathan Star

not not

2008-10-06T07:08:00.002-06:00

There is the idea of modifying one’s communications such that you avoid saying “not”, which focuses on the negative. And to avoid saying “but”, which cancels whatever came before it.

I buy into the intent of this rule. I think Ayn Rand said something to the effect of; “Nothing is created by the elimination of a negation.” If you are talking about a negative thing, and how one should “not” do it, that is what you are doing. What you should be focusing on is the positive, what should be instead. In the hierarchy, the right attribute must have more value than the absence of the wrong attribute.

But mostly (example given), I have found that to try to follow the rule of not saying not just makes trying to communicate more precarious, as you try to craft sentences that don’t contain the words that are off limits. Thereby making communication itself more difficult, maybe less clear. That cannot have been the point.

“Do not say the word not.” It’s a rule that falls apart by its own definition.

So this time around I considered it differently. Go ahead and say the sentence that contains the negative. Go ahead and talk about the but (heh). Saying the “not” is part of the process. But then do take it, at least, the one step further. Rather than ending at what it is not, or what it should not be, continue to move forward; to what is, to what should be. The guideline could be phrased this way:

The act of working past “not” leads to a fuller truth.

thundersnow

2008-10-03T07:00:00.002-06:00

every anxiety has its cost
every crisis has its beautiful resolution

slc

2008-10-02T11:25:00.007-06:00

Less than 20 minutes from the new work headquaters, Mill South B Trail to Lake Blanch.

walk to the tree

2008-10-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

everything sought by emerson, gilbert, suzuki, etc, is available in a walk to the tree.

any "walk"

any "tree"

emerson

2008-09-30T10:53:00.000-06:00

When good is near you,
when you have life in yourself,
it is not by any known or accustomed way;
you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other;
...
the way,
the thought,
the good
shall be wholly new

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

motor

2008-09-29T09:51:00.001-06:00

Every morning
Nothing is more important
The starting
The running

Of the motor

suzuki

2008-09-28T10:51:00.002-06:00

When our life is based on respect and complete trust, it will be completely peaceful
~Shunryu Suzuki

back

2008-09-18T09:51:00.001-06:00

some instructor is in my ear
of what step is supposed to go where
and when

meanwhile
i want nothing
but to feel the curves of your back
the rockets of you and me across the floor

start with at least this

2008-09-12T07:16:00.002-06:00

Lance Armstrong - Dave Wiens 12 hrs of snowmass

2008-09-11T11:56:00.003-06:00

http://www.velonews.com/article/83021

Lance has signed up a 3 person team at 12 hrs of snowmass, and late breaking news is that so has Dave Wiens...

wow.

An open letter to Barack, John, Sarah, and Joe

2008-09-11T08:26:00.001-06:00

It seems there is a lot of talk, more than there should be, about pigs, pit bulls, lipstick, mavericks, and all that sort of thing.

If someone was just stick to a clear analysis of the issues, what they would see themselves doing about them, and hold off on the smarminess, that would be great. It would benefit us all.

After the last 8 years, this may have been our best shot at an election cycle we could be proud of. It seems we have blown it somehow. And if we have blown this chance, the odds are not better any time soon, without some sort of big fundamental change. That kind of change would probably have to be something painful. And if you check today’s date, you will find that we have been through that process too.

So here it is: To stick to a clear, honest, full view of the issues, as you see them. And what to do about those issues. And even if the other guy or gal engages, you hold off on being smarmy, trite, derisive. It may be hard to do that, but then leading the free world is probably hard too.

Just for kicks, win an election like that.

Or heck, lose an election like that.

You’ve won the nomination, so you will be center stage, everyone will see it happen. Make history. Be a lesson for someone in the future. Maybe instead of this way of campaigning being something exceptional, it might become what we would expect and insist upon.

Doesn’t it sound better than what you’ve got cooking now?

Murakami

2008-09-10T13:07:00.001-06:00

“…But really as I run, I don’t think much of anything worth mentioning. I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it in the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.”

Haruki Murakami
from the book:
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

wednesday

2008-09-10T11:50:00.000-06:00

the line presents itself
you want something different
preposterous

allocation of resources

2008-09-06T08:18:00.003-06:00

find some comfort in this;
there is not enough time to fit everything in
so what gets done will depend on what you select,
and your efficiency and proficiency in doing those things
how much you love doing them will matter
how good you are at them will matter
your focus, your endurance,
your giving of your heart amidst difficulty
all of these things will be of primary importance
find some comfort in this

Falcon

2008-09-05T22:02:00.011-06:00

beauty departs

2008-09-04T09:15:00.004-06:00

there is a beauty that makes everything seem right. It gets reflected everywhere, all of it tied together, nothing lacking. There can be no problems, and there never were any.

it shows up sometimes, as perfect as it ever was.

it leaves, and it makes me wait.

i try not to forget

beauty was there, I kinda missed it

yeah

2008-09-03T09:42:00.002-06:00

there are questions not yet asked
to which the answer is yes
there are questions not yet thought of
to which the answer
is yes

pre-ride snowmass

2008-09-02T08:19:00.007-06:00

Keith is one of the organizers of 12hrs of Snowmass, an awesome Clydesdale racer, heck of a nice guy. I was able to join him for a lap of the course.

As an endurance race, I think it is going to be challenging. It has a good amount of climbing, and technical sections that don’t allow you to rest a whole bunch. Pacing and efficiency will probably be key.

Climbing starts right away at the start / finish line area. Nice wide road, but fairly steep.

Then comes the singletrack. There is plenty of it though the course. Some of it narrow through aspens, some knarly. All of it is pretty much cleanable, but you do have to keep your wits about ya.

pretty sweet

steeper than it looks

There is another road section at the top, good place to refuel, drink on the fly.

view from the top is awesome, this picture does not do it justice

I only got some pictures of the way up, but they are fairly representative of the course over all. There are some tricky spots on the downhill where you can get into some over the bars kinda trouble if you are not paying attention.

I was planning on a second lap to get more pictures, but some rain came in, and pizza was sounding pretty good. Goodfellows Pizza is like 100 ft from the start / finish area, and some of the best pizza I have had in a while. They are race sponsors and will be having some heat lamps, bike wash stands, etc, they are really good people there.

Apperently there will be a hot air ballon festival and a wine festival that same weekend. Should be a good race.

Hello, Yeti Arc

2008-08-29T07:26:00.003-06:00

ya, it’s fast.

If I had any idea how good this frame was going to be, I would not have waited for a crack in the old one.

Ride.

hold firmly

2008-08-28T21:08:00.001-06:00

hold firmly
without waivering
to the hope that we confess

center

2008-08-28T07:21:00.000-06:00

The center is not pursued
Nor does it pursue

Goodbye, Yeti Arc

2008-08-23T20:35:00.008-06:00

It was an amazing race at Winter Park this weekend

For now just a post about the end of an era

My Yeti A.R.C. has ridden it’s last trail

Prior to the race, in a very unusual instance of me checking the frame thoroughly, I found a major crack at the head tube / top tube weld. The Yeti has been through rough use for about 5 years, it performed amazingly. I have no complaint about it, in the least.

It was one of the last A.R.C.s made in Colorado. You practically never see them in this “dart” paint scheme.

I remember when I made the decision to buy it. Originally I was lured into a bike shop that had a sale on road bikes, of course nothing left in my size. Might as well go check out the Yeti’s right? I always did like those. Lo and behold, a pretty awesome deal on their other hardtail at the time, the F.R.O., to good of a deal to ignore. But they did not have my size, and I wanted it in yellow, so I placed an order waited for a week or so.

When it was time to go in and pick up the Yellow F.R.O., a beautiful blue A.R.C. caught my eye. The F.R.O. was a great bike, to be sure, but the A.R.C., that was the real deal. The bike the F.R.O. wanted to be. And just a few hundred more.

And that added up to a lot more than I had in the budget for any bike at the time.

I remember taking a walk outside the shop, the moment of truth, whether or not to buy this thing. It was money I did not have to spend. Money I could put to other bills. Then there was just one other point that I had myself consider:

When you go for a mountain bike ride, it is good.
Every.
Single.
Time.

When you go for a ride, it is pure. It is real. There is nothing in the way. On the bike is a place where things are as they should be.

Yeti A.R.C. sold

I will miss you, my Yeti.

You took me places I never thought I would go.

You were there when I found parts of me I had no idea existed.

You will make a really cool wall hanging.

Bears!

2008-08-22T08:29:00.014-06:00

Went for a pre-ride of the Winter Park course for this weekend. It is a really nifty course, at least up top.. Two flats prevented me from riding anything from Icarus on down.

Saw two bears in the process! First one was in all the construction, a little guy. He was pretty much oblivious to all the commotion of the construction, people watching him, trucks passing by etc. Then he went to visit the Hotel. Then a trash ground. Then stopped by the playground before getting chased off to the stream.

Second one was on the walk down on the main mountain road. Quite a bit bigger, about the size of the one that visited my campsite last month.

The Return of Icarus

2008-08-21T09:09:00.003-06:00

…The wings for the escape were completed, built of wax and feathers, shaped as those of a bird. Daedalus, the great craftsman told his son to follow, to stay right behind him. He knew there was a chance that Icarus might be overwhelmed with flight. He had been an exuberant child, now a young man. Daedalus had regretted their long imprisonment on the island of Crete. Freedom was to be Daedalus’ greatest gift to his son Icarus.

“Do not to fly to high, close to the sun…Nor to low, close to the sea…”

They stood side by side on a high cliff, waves crashing beneath them. On the count of three, they both leapt.

Falling for a moment, then the air caught beneath their wings. They rose, and headed out to sea.

The escape started well enough. Icarus, gliding behind his father for a while, then taking a couple big robust flaps of his wings to rise a bit, then would glide again. At one point, as Icarus glided back down, Daedalus looked back and saw his son grinning.

They were free.

Far above them was a seagull. It called to them from above. Daedalus sensed trouble, then heard a giant SWOOOOSH behind him. Another, and another, each one greater than the last, increasing in power, increasing in frequency. He looked back to see Icarus pitching upwards.

Daedalus called out to his son, but could barely hear the cries himself against the increasing thunder and pace of Icarus’ wings. Daedalus strained his eyes to see Icarus against the brilliance of the summer sun. A winged silhouette, then a spec, then nothing.

Icarus was gone. Daedalus knew the wings could not last. He wept, gliding in big, sad, slow circles over the open sea.

Then a sound like a blast furnace rising in volume;

haaaaaaaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Icarus streaked down from the heavens, plummeting towards the sea, leaving a comet trail of feathers and burning wax. Daedalus pitched himself into a dangerous spiral to chase him but there was nothing he could do. He could not catch Icarus, and pulled up just above the surface where Icarus crashed into the waves.

It seemed an eternity before Icarus surfaced, amidst a slick of black feathers and rainbows from the oily wax. There was only the most radiant joy on the boy’s face. He laughed, gathered himself, and called out to his father, “Are you alright? I’m sorry, it was just…too good! Come on! Back to the island!” Still laughing, he started swimming back to Crete. Daedalus smiled and glided over his swimming son.

The irony of the just-crashed son asking if the still-gliding father was alright, was not lost on Daedalus. The thought of a failed escape to freedom was lost in the joy that his son was still alive.

But back at the island, in the days that followed, some tension grew between them. Daedalus immediately began work on new wings, but Icarus seemed disinterested in them.

Or rather, he was interested in anything and everything else.

Then one day, Icarus invited his father to join him for tea on the same seaside cliff where they had launched their escape before.

Daedalus brought the wings, just in case.

Icarus laughed at the memories as Daedalus set them down on the ground. Brooding, Daedalus sat down at the table and picked up his tea.

Daedalus started in “You are full of life, I can see that. I am happy for it. But why do you not seem to care about the gift I want to give you, the gift of freedom?”

Icarus leaned back comfortably in his chair. “Before, I did not even know what freedom I was escaping to. Now I do. It’s here. Or I should say, it is nowhere else.” He sipped his tea. An ocean breeze blew through his hair.

Daedalus was not quite able to grasp it. “I don’t know what you are talking about, and I don’t think you know either.” Regaining his tone of authority. “I have made you new wings. If you follow my instructions, we can leave this place. Then you will be free to pursue whatever you want.”

“I will accept the wings. Thank you. And someday, I might use them. But the freedom, I already have.” said Icarus.

The father shook his head.

“I could do as you say. Put on the wings, and know their limits. Appreciate them for what they are and what they can do. But why stop with the wings?”

Icarus went on. “As I flew, and climbed to the sun, I saw all of this. A beauty that could not be debated, as it was not anything that was my own. Not anything I could possess. It is much bigger than me. And if it were just flight or just the sun, then yes, it would have been a brilliant but tragic death. But it was all things. And it came to me in a flash; everything, the sky, the air, this island with its birds, mountains, the leaves in the olive groves, the seashore. And yes, the beauty of you building wings to give me freedom. All these things with their limits, all these things with their value. No less no more. And all of it taken together, there can be nothing greater. There is nothing left to look for, nothing left to need, nothing left to want.”

Icarus leaned forward to his father.

“I thought the island trapped me. It can’t. It was my lack of awareness of what the island truly is. Lack of awareness, that is the trap. That is the danger, in the sun, in the sea. And in wings.”

“And awareness is safety and beauty in all of the same.”

balance

2008-08-19T07:49:00.002-06:00

So I started off by kicking around some ideas, some questions really, about balance. And for what it’s worth, I am talking small balance, like working a mountain bike through technicals, standing on one leg etc., and also big balance, like life balance kinda stuff.

Does balance need something to “push” against?

It seems that when it is out all on its own, it is less than stable, and more likely to fail. I understand that is what some contexts mean by “balance”, that it does not have a solid surface to lean against. Otherwise what would you need balance for? But, on the other hand, it seems to me that when good balance is in place, it is not there wobbling, doing the job on its own, in a vacuum. Perhaps good balance is that which has developed some sort of reference, where the usual solidness is not there. Balance that knows where it is at, and is comfortable there.

Once thinking in that mind set, I wondered – does balance have inertia? Not literally but in some sort of functional way, yes, I think that balance has inertia. It has a location and state that is its own. As in the expression “find your balance”, you really can’t force the issue. You are best off trying to get to the spot and condition where the right balance is. You align yourself with it, not vice versa.

And THEN this tied nicely into a fascinating concept that is discussed in a book I am reading, Yoga Beyond Belief by Ganga White. (pretty good book overall, by the way). There is a section that discusses “Three Qualities”. Basically, those are

1) Inertia – heaviness, dullness, (steady-state stuff)
2) Activity – motion, intensity, (dynamic stuff)
3) Light – clarity, purity, peace, (intention stuff)

These three are a system, they work together. One could have the goal of just getting to the last part, item # 3, but it doesn’t work that way. Balance might be a perfect example of this system. So maybe more than just having inertia, balance is a system of all three of these things.

Having the desire to find balance, in and of itself, does nothing.

Too much focus on 3 and you may be detached, likely to be frustrated.

Too much focus on 1, you may be consumed by the heavy nature of your spot, likely to be frustrated.

Too much of 2 and you are always putting out fires, running around for nothing. Likely to be flailing.

Recognizing the nature of the Inertias involved, responding with the right Activities, all of which referencing, or “pushing against” a peaceful, pure, stable, Intention, and by golly you just might find some balance there.

For what that’s worth :)

tree

2008-08-18T10:38:00.002-06:00

Icarus and race 6

2008-08-16T06:51:00.002-06:00

“Daedalus fashioned a pair of wax wings for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the sublime feeling that flying gave him, Icarus soared through the sky joyfully, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted his wings. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms. And so, Icarus fell into the sea…”[1]

Race 6 postponed for one week, snow on Icarus trail…

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus

Epiph 081508 01

2008-08-15T10:20:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of the season I said I wanted to chase the Tao, that which is beyond understanding. I thought I would do it on the bike, and I have, but I have also been doing it off the bike. I got exactly what I asked for, a great sensitivity to that which is beyond understanding. An absolute need to follow it, to be aware of it, superceding what the temporal outcomes might be. The temporal offers little comfort, and the transcendent needs no justification

Be careful what you ask for

If you have not started the journey yet, don’t start now
If you have, you’d better finish
(Noting of course, there will be no finish)

enigma

2008-08-15T09:08:00.001-06:00

Ok, so the song is older than heck, and was overplayed to the extreme. But it makes a good point, I would say. I like that it is counter to the intuitive. And that is what makes it true:

Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong

drift

2008-08-14T22:08:00.002-06:00

Alright. I’ll admit it all
But just to you

I can fly

I can find heaven in dust
     peace on the edge of that sharp rock
I know how sky and earth connect
     the slip of sand on stone
     the slip of wet on stone
The hook and the drift of soil
     how one might be convinced to be the other, if I let them be
There is sun, then trees, and they do something else called shadow
     and that thing falls on the trail
     and that is waiting to say something when I pass through it
     all this and a thousand more things
     each as beautiful
     different each time

I can fly
but what I want most, is to fly with you

I would trade all of it, for the feeling of true friendship
And I’ve tried that.

But the truth is, you can’t make that trade
And the truth is, you don’t have to