Damn, its been nearly a month since my last transmission, but I have been crazy-busy. I apologize to all 1.5 of you that have anxiously awaited my return to cyberspace with baited breath. Believe it or not I have not been sitting on my ass so here is a quick re-cap of the past several weeks activities: We purchased and moved into our new home; we opened our second office at work and my band moved into our new practice space. That is a lot of crap to go through, boxes to pack then unpack, and stuff to organize. My better half wisely anticipated that a break would be much needed and booked us a brief time away over the Memorial Day weekend so I am happily decompressing on our balcony over-looking a quiet beach in the outer banks of NC. The last time I was here was nearly five years ago, however that was a far less relaxing time for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed not having any schedule to adhere to and I have had a lot of fun cruising around the bike paths here on our cruisers and goofing on the beach.
I know a thing or two about goofing on the beach. As a kid I grew up only a block from the beach. Today that would seem pretty privileged, but my parents both worked and we were squarely in the middle class. We rented a downstairs apartment in a duplex that I do not think was zoned legally, but my mom knew that it would keep my brother and I around our group of friends whom were all from well-to-do-families and in a good school district. Although I know now that this was a tough decision for my folks financially, I am very thankful. It was around this time (6-7th grade) that I first started to become what I thought was "cool". This was being part of a group kids who were generally smart and well-mannered yet very mischievous. Surfing culture was king for us despite our beach not really being known for good waves. Spring, summer and early fall were all about checking surf for that one day there was something to ride. If we weren't surfing we were finding ways to get into trouble or find the next rush. This included a multitude of questionable activities from hassling tourists/neighbors, underage drinking, terrorizing country club golfers on our bikes and generally being lil' smartasses to anyone and everyone. Surfing as a sport was no where near as mainstream as it is today and skateboarding had taken a dive from its day in the seventies disco ball glow thus becoming the bastion of miscreants across the globe. Initially, I was drawn to these sports because thats what the "cool" kids did, however I came to realize that I liked the fact that I did not need a team, an opponent, or with skateboarding really anything other pavement. It was not football, baseball or basketball and there were no little leagues and my angry ass self was glad. Mountain biking fell under the same umbrella. It is intense, a huge rush and requires no teams, specific fields or rules. The same underground non-mainstream vibe.
Yesterday, I picked up a current issue of Surfer magazine. I was amazed at how huge it is. Pretty mainstream. It is part of the Action Sports media conglomerate that also publishes one of my favorite cycling magazines Bike. It is easily 3-4 times the size of Bike. I recently lamented the lack of riders out on my favorite local trail on a nice day. I realize that mountain biking will never reach the kind of appeal that surfing has. There are no hot chicks in bikinis chilling at the trailhead nor the nice smell of saltwater in yr hair at the end of the ride. Our tans are pretty goofy too. Most people will never get it. But ya know what? Good. Long before Oakleys made the glasses that adorn many a surfer they made bike grips. Love those kind of Hijinx.
Now get on yr knees and worship:
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