Make ya smile....Thanks Strider...

Location: Rapid City DJ Park

September 2008 (4 months after the "flooded" completion. It was flooded with kids)



Strider

Winter time and trail building...

One of the bonuses to working for myself is I can choose to undertake a project based on the creative potential I think the client will allow me. I visited a potential job yesterday and was thrilled to meet a Development Manager that "got it". More information on these guys to come if I get the work, but for now think dark, sublime hiking only trails that allow me to channel the mountain and make the trails really fit the steep, rocky awesome landscape.

Summing up the current emotion...

I have been going through my photos over the last couple of hours working on getting some marketing material and a "real" website ready. For some reason this photo hit me. It is really a great representation of how I feel right now. The steadfast and idle machine in the background represents my girl friend Jenn and her strength and commitment to "have my back". I can't say it isn't a little scary going into this new uncharted year. I am going to in the least create some great art if nothing else. I believe my mind is finally wrapping around things enough that Olmstead will be almost overly pertinent.

Enjoy your day and the fact that the world is a place where things happen quickly, but it is our capacity to adapt quickly to those changes that give us creatures like Einstein, Olmsted and Shakespeare.

Daily reading: freewillastrology.com

Current Inspiration...

This is a cartoon rendering of the setting for the novel I am currently engulfed by.

I find in order to live a fulfilling life and find inspiration outside of my daily existence books are often the most satisfactory escape. I am immersed in Lord of the Flies currently. I think it is a wonderful synopsis on the state of affairs I see occur at the job site among the youth who frequent the facilities I build. Apparently the Santos pump track sees an unbelievable number of kids who find their own special escape on it, an escape from society much like Ralph, "Piggy" and the other kids on the island. I can't wait to go back and get to see how they improve their social skills while at the same time increasing their biking prowess.

Next on the docket are a couple books on Olmstead quite possibly one of the most underwritten geniuses of the turn of the century. I hope to find great things learning more about the man who I think would have been a mountain biker if he were around today.

For now enjoy the quote:
"after all we aren't savages really..." William Golding Lord of the Flies

Great night ride and computer check up...

I love this photo in that it encapsulates three things that I have been up to. A night ride, a nearly full moon, and the I-5 project.

I went on an awesome night ride in a nearly empty Bent Creek and enjoyed pedaling back my sanity after sitting in front of this hunk of circuits and bright lights. The moon will be full this weekend and I can't wait for the first one of the new year, cycles are fun to watch as much as ride.

Finally, I will be away from this thing for the next couple days as I will leave it with someone better equipped with computer knowledge than me to give it a little one year tune up. While it is "in the shop" I will be headed to Chatanooga to look at a potential "Collonade-esque" project.

I hope everyon enjoys the skies on Saturday night and pedal in the basking glow of our lunar neighbor if you get the chance.

When good roads go BAD...

I spent a bit of time in the far reaches of Western NC today looking at a couple potential projects and saw some beautiful...



And some ugly things. It has rained for the last six weeks in the area and the saturated ground had decided it had had enough in some spots.

Rich whenever I see head cutting I think of you so I figured you would like this photo.



Finally the sum of lots of water and a broken root structure is...DOH!

A Santos start to your new year...