For the holidays I hope y'all are spending time with friends and fam,
eating great food, seeing new places, exploring new ideas and planning
an unbelievable 2009.
I'm still trying to comprehend 2008 and all that it entailed. I've
been super fortunate and have to thank everyone who made it all
possible. Peace.

Probably funny to only a very few people.

Depending on your personal inclination, this photo, taken minutes
after my previous post, will either make you appreciate CA more or
reinforce your negative opinion. The guy called it 'ridable art',
which, again, may influence you in either direction.

Spray tanning at the beach?
I'm at a starbucks (waiting for a craigslist ride) that is basically
in a parking lot of a grocery store and has a drive-thru. Is this the
pinacle of human civilization? Is this our culture?

I may not be happy about setting the clocks back and knowing that
winter is around the corner, but I have to admit being a little
excited about changes in the weather.

At the check-in for 508 for the 3rd year and it's hard to comprehend
that I'm the one racing on my own! Seeing lots of people we know and
joking about per usual.

Since I'm all high tec and posting via my phone, I thought I'd balance
it with my low tec map of what's important in Santa clarita.

After some criticism that ‘Can’t Stop Won’t Stop’ is actually our stop sign policy, we’ve reached consensus that our new slogan, inspired by the restaurant below, is ‘Can’t Stop, Naan Stop’.

Those were the words of my best friend, Mike McNamee, the summer before Junior High. He has an older brother and sister so I figured him an expert in the matter. I played sports and was good at them, but my heart was in skateboarding and BMXing. So who am I? Luckily not long after that I discovered hard core music where you could wear running shoes, be fit and still be against the status quo. I was stoked.

Now 15 years later I still cannot very easily define myself through the events I do. When the girlfriend tells people I am triathlete I cringe. No way! I just happened to do them. Besides, I have bike handling skills and hate training. I’m also called a roadie, but I’ve been dropped in CatV races (explaining to the girlfriend why I am in the beginner category despite spending my life riding a bike is a whole other funny situation). Ultra-endurance cyclist? I’ve never done any of the RAAM qualifiers solo. Fixed gear freestyler? Yawn.

A photographer from Bicycling magazine was in our house the other day and he asked what kind of riding we do. ‘Uhhhhhhh, commuting? And mountain biking. Single speed too. And some racing. And cross a bit. Double centuries? Yeah, we’ve all done a few. And I ride fixed.’

I am not going through any sort of existential crisis related to my upcoming 30th birthday, but merely going through the curiosity I have about why I do what I do. I have six bikes. Five of them are ridden regularly. I just love bike riding and am easily bored?

Some schedule updates:
HooDoo 500 is not happening. Nicolas is injured, Brian is poor and Jack(the one who’s front wheel flies off) is track racing.

8.02 Vineman full-iron (triathlon)

My first two mountain bike races, six days apart:
8.31 Shenandoah 100
9.06 Tahoe-Sierra 100

Should I put a shock on my rigid single-speed? Anyone know someone over at Fox? They have a sweet 29er shock.
And to get stoked: Sick Of It All

My friend Lisa Auerbach who writes the Little Blog of Revolutionary Knitting has an art show up called The Tract House. Ever see those little religious pamphlets that god-types like to leave on buses, in restaurants, in restrooms and other places for the curious to pick up and page through? Lisa, being the smart and smart-ass person she is thought, why should the religious-right have a stranglehold on tiny pamphlets as a means of spreading ideology? She contacted some equally smart and smart-ass friends to write them for her, with no limitations. I wrote one that does not translate well in pdf or any other electronic means of communication (cause it’s all about little pamphlets!), but Morgan wrote a kick-ass one called Faith in Vagueness. Enjoy.

Have faith in vagueness. Live with life held in only the broadest of strokes, to be
filled in as it comes into focus. Leaving space for co-incidences will naturally lead
to co-incidences; every falling leaf must fall somewhere, every space left for chance
will meet with chance. Vagueness is beauty. The vaguest of outlines happily leads
to a missed bus, an accidental walk home
late at night; an impressionistic plan will
be achieved, albeit through necessarily
meandering means.

Distrust of vagueness easily falls into
facile stagnation. Where is the beauty in a
planned adventure? In a deliberate conversation?
Many things never happen because
practicality gets in the way. But they may
just work out, if you launch yourself into them with optimism and faith that your
vagueness will solidify in the process.
With this in mind, co-incidences are no longer surprising, but expected. With so
many unconnected possibilities, it is inevitable that some will be fulfilled. The more
you have trust in chance, the more you are able to trust chance. Indeed, the more
you have trust in chance, the more attuned you will be to co-incidences you would
otherwise have been blind to.

So: of course the guy sat next to you on the bus that you struck up conversation
with is best friends with a friend of yours, living 5000 miles away. Of course one of
your best friends runs into another friend in a distant city on a train platform. Of
course some friends you haven’t seen in months walk into the restaurant you’re
eating at, miles from where you live. Of course.

-Morgan Beeby