a dark day

how many losses must we endure in this life. how many memories created only, with us only to be left with nothing more than that...moments that were, once, but no longer. Its almost all too much. The first loss was almost too much, but she'd had a good life, lived longer and experienced more than we ever thought she would...but that does not diminish the pain. The hurt. The emptiness...but we move on.

Alas, how many times, how many fresh starts and new beginnings do we endure? The humanity!

The first loss...that was in the line of duty. But this one, a special something stolen from us! Taken, never to be returned...mainly, because I'm 13.5 months into a 12 month warranty.

Bollocks.

At least our last ride was a sweet one. Not much was spoken, but then, it was not needed. We knew the routine....roll out, hit the single, and do it solo.

Because soon we'd meet up with the Boulder Maverick crew...don't ask me where Ariel or Abby were, but it's probably a good thing they didn't make it b/c West wasn't there either. I doubt we could have handled more flats that day, anyway.

Following up the Super D crew's ride, the shuffle and I snuck in a last few moments together, in a sliding, skidding, two wheeled and two ear bud'd bliss.

Then, just like I left her on the counter top, I found her this morning, quiet. Silent. And blinking the orange and green lights of death.

I forgot a few things from Vegas. We had dinner with Doel and Paola one night..and after turning down 3 places because the wait was over an hour, we finally figured out that's the status quo down there. We ended up rocking the Bellagio's buffet every day. I was amazed how much desert I could eat without getting excessively ill. A little sick is ok, but you don't want to take it too far. The key is small bites from multiple dishes.

Friday afternoon was the Ski-jump CX season opener, and it was just like an opener - about 20mins of cx racing is a nice way to get the feel for things. Yeah, they felt like crap, but with the sun setting earlier than expected, the race was cut short. The past two months of injuries have been humbling - forget riding or racing, when the body is injured, you're happy to simply wake up without pain and function like a normal human. Being out there with the boys on Friday was great - the legs were weak, but that will come around, the lungs seared, but eh, that's racing at 7000'. I ghetto tubeless'd the cross wheels, which held up fantastically despite my reservations. I highly recommend leaving tubes back in the 20th century. Soon the back will be solid and maybe with a little luck, I'll find myself with that feel good battle satisfaction after the next CX event.

We're still looking for riders for the 24hrs of Moab...I just can't figure out the rules.