The trail was hard packed due to rain, the air was crisp but not cold, the mountains were snow covered and I was parked next to a Copper Cowboy standing next to my "steel" horse. This is to say, yesterday after the rain I was at the ranch in Colossal Cave getting ready jump on my mountain bike for a ride and it was about 50 degrees.
I had made a playlist a few days earlier for a run and I teed it up again for the ride. Now, you should know that my life has always had a soundtrack and, interestingly, just two days before I was updating my funeral soundtrack with a friend -- Talking Heads / And She Was, Tori Amos / Happy Phantom, Pearl Jam / Just Breathe, etc. This is not morbid, just really my way of keeping control of my soundtrack.
All weekend, I had been thinking about music, downloading this and that. Trying to get the right grouping of songs so I would suddenly be able to run an 8 minute mile.
But, this day, I wasn't running, I was mountain biking. And it was a mountain biking kind of day. Chris and the dogs headed through the gate and we instantly hit a flowing creek! Score. Then, up the hill ... I started along what previously seemed like a long slog .... But, today was more fun. I pedaled through a few good tunes -- A3, Badly Drawn Boy -- when all of a sudden I started spinning in sync with a tune I had just downloaded the day before at the recommendation of the Artist himself. It was a song by The Swigs -- local band featuring a few cool people I know -- the song Ploughed In The Stars literally pushed me up the hill (except for the really steep part where I pushed my bike up the hill). Headed down, we sang about Whiskey and a few other things, then onto one of my secret pleasures -- Lady Gaga..... Bad Romance.
Chris was far enough ahead (I thought) so I started singing RaRaRa ---- whatever. How fun, twisting through the curves, down the hill, dropping through technical sections -- RARARA!!! I took a corner a little fast and there was a runner just kind of smiling at me.... Sheepishly (cause I knew she heard me RARARAing) I said hi and kept rolling. It was a good day. The soundtrack continued randomly with no theme -- Counting Crows, Matisyahu, Groove Armada, Vampire Weekend, Poe "Track #9", Modern English, Dropkick Murphys......... each song matched the trail perfectly in a surreal kind of a way.
On the way back, heading back to the crest of the last hill, I took the headphones off, stuffed them into my shirt and took off after Chris, Alta and Sedona. I didn't really even realize it but I was hootin' and hollerin' (please read with Indiana twang that is intended). Wooooo-hoooooo, Yeaaaaahhhhhhhh! I picked my way through the drops and was going as fast as I could. It was beautiful, sublime and oh so sweet. I came around a corner and there are these three guys off to the side of the trail. They are grinning ear to ear. I knew I had to fess up. They had clearly heard my squeals. So I said "Sometimes the joy just has to come out!" -- Amen, they said! I took off and can only hope they got half as much joy out of the trail that day as I did!
I had made a playlist a few days earlier for a run and I teed it up again for the ride. Now, you should know that my life has always had a soundtrack and, interestingly, just two days before I was updating my funeral soundtrack with a friend -- Talking Heads / And She Was, Tori Amos / Happy Phantom, Pearl Jam / Just Breathe, etc. This is not morbid, just really my way of keeping control of my soundtrack.
All weekend, I had been thinking about music, downloading this and that. Trying to get the right grouping of songs so I would suddenly be able to run an 8 minute mile.
But, this day, I wasn't running, I was mountain biking. And it was a mountain biking kind of day. Chris and the dogs headed through the gate and we instantly hit a flowing creek! Score. Then, up the hill ... I started along what previously seemed like a long slog .... But, today was more fun. I pedaled through a few good tunes -- A3, Badly Drawn Boy -- when all of a sudden I started spinning in sync with a tune I had just downloaded the day before at the recommendation of the Artist himself. It was a song by The Swigs -- local band featuring a few cool people I know -- the song Ploughed In The Stars literally pushed me up the hill (except for the really steep part where I pushed my bike up the hill). Headed down, we sang about Whiskey and a few other things, then onto one of my secret pleasures -- Lady Gaga..... Bad Romance.
Chris was far enough ahead (I thought) so I started singing RaRaRa ---- whatever. How fun, twisting through the curves, down the hill, dropping through technical sections -- RARARA!!! I took a corner a little fast and there was a runner just kind of smiling at me.... Sheepishly (cause I knew she heard me RARARAing) I said hi and kept rolling. It was a good day. The soundtrack continued randomly with no theme -- Counting Crows, Matisyahu, Groove Armada, Vampire Weekend, Poe "Track #9", Modern English, Dropkick Murphys......... each song matched the trail perfectly in a surreal kind of a way.
On the way back, heading back to the crest of the last hill, I took the headphones off, stuffed them into my shirt and took off after Chris, Alta and Sedona. I didn't really even realize it but I was hootin' and hollerin' (please read with Indiana twang that is intended). Wooooo-hoooooo, Yeaaaaahhhhhhhh! I picked my way through the drops and was going as fast as I could. It was beautiful, sublime and oh so sweet. I came around a corner and there are these three guys off to the side of the trail. They are grinning ear to ear. I knew I had to fess up. They had clearly heard my squeals. So I said "Sometimes the joy just has to come out!" -- Amen, they said! I took off and can only hope they got half as much joy out of the trail that day as I did!
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