Wattage turns Thoughtage

There were things I wanted to mention in yesterday's post about the ride the previous day however I got side tracked on making fun of Nate for bailing on a sunny ride based on the forecasted rain that never came on the back half of a 50/50 chance. As Clint pointed out on the way home then Dicky as well as I confirmed yesterday after seeing Eric's side profile GPS thing the first almost 16 miles of the ride was climbing from down low all the way to just higher in elevation than the Blue Ridge Parkway at that point. Climbing on a mountain bike ride especially that duration causes me to slip in to some sort of mental time warp where I begin to acutely sense things not only happening in that now around me but I also fall into contemplation about other events in the cosmos, some close by others far away and some even on the edge of the ever expanding universe.

Here are some examples of the thoughts that came to me while forcing my machine and self up the long hill.


-separation

-the magnetic pull of the mountain should be described as dense or better yet density. as one sits and climbs a feeling of quiet density surrounds you, unlike the feeling of let's say riding down in the flat land which could be described as much less dense. it is almost as if the difference of physical place in relation to the center of the earth is actually a tangible feeling amplified by the condition of self energy used to be on the move upwards.

-SSAZ09 is only a 30hour car drive away

-riding a single speed upwards on climb is not necessarily harder to do than a geared machine, it is just different, quieter and less.

-the higher up the mountain I went the more aware my olfactory senses became. example: at one point in an upwards left hand bend in the thick rhododendrons which were lit and shadowed at length I smelled an overwhelming musky animal smell. the scent lasted for about 10 meters or so then went away in the shadows in exchange for the cool light mountain air that was clean all over again.

-another example of acute smell awareness was further up out of a shadowy rock covered section turn right then straight onto an exposed sun blasted section of rise where the surface was brown dirt. just as my front wheel entered it and my front tire turned through I could smell exactly earth that was cooking. brown earth bake. fantastic. flushing my legs as I pedaled, the tires churning this earth bake off the ground at the molecular level and into my nose.

-Israeli Tanks that we have all been seeing in the paper and on the tube look a lot like American tanks. I wonder what state they were made in before being sold at profit of an economy to the righteous Jewish State was it Indiana, perhaps California or Texas? If that is where their tanks come from how about their missiles, bullets, artillery pieces, planes and helicopters(they may be French or Briton Made)-no worry though it is GLOBO-you are just along for the ride and presently are not worried about American made tanks and missiles coming towards you on the small tract of land that the country shooting them gave you after they kicked you off of yours years ago in the name of religion.

-climbs sometimes go down for several hundred meters before continuing the rise again. on one of those false descents the left hand side of the trail was lined with some sort of bush that had vine like arms creeping towards the trail. those arms plucked away at my accelerating spinning spokes which caused this harmonic harp like sound to bounce off of the rock base surface. bing, bong, dong, ting, bing, bong, tong, ting. those I-9's are of such fine quality that they could be used in the symphony(4 parts) so I guess they could be played in the string section. I-9 should go Orchestra.

-clear blue sky is no longer completely clear unless perhaps you are on a mountain range on Jupiter where the filter of human impact has yet to be. I have had recent real first hand reports from high up in the Khumbu region of Nepal that the same carbon creep filter we see here even high in the great Blue Ridge Mountains has made it's way for the first time ever to above 15, 000ft and 16,000ft. I thought of course as I looked around from the saddle where else would all that GLOBO carbon wind up.

-Arleigh talked to Rondal at the store she built-hahahhahahahahhahahahhaha

-my friends are the weirdest thing around, in a great way, I am very lucky to have been at the right place to meet, travel and ride with them.