Have I got a Dirt Bike Story for you!

Well, there comes a time in every athletes life when they are due for a weeeee little injury.  And it looks like I was ripe for the picking.  But first, you must always make sure you had the time of your life, and enjoyed every minute of the adventure and athleticism that took place before you injured yourself.  That's exactly how I made sure it happened. hahaha.  

Here it goes....

         It was a beautiful Sunday morning.  I'd slept till 10am because it was sort of hazy outside and I couldn't tell the time of sunrise. The camp was all abuzz with 2 and 4 stroke dirt bikes at that point, ripping in and out of the camp, everyone getting their last runs before they packed up and rolled out.  First things first, feed Julien. Julien, was my cat who was on this epic move from New York to California with me, and a real road warrior to boot.  Next, I put my boots on, grabbed my helmet and a NOS from the cooler, and headed across camp, up to the Husqvarna tent.  There I met up with my riding partner.  Ya see, the night before she told me that she wanted to ride with me, and I was so stoked.  I couldn't wait for Sunday morning.  There I was, sipping on my energy drink, waking up and looking at the bait for a 125, which would have been a small step up from the 85 that I rode the day before, but all the 125's were taken.  So instead, there it was, the 250 4stroke.  A meatier animal, but much like a friends bike that I'd enjoyed riding Saturday afternoon.  It was slightly taller than the 85, had better suspension, and a much nicer engine (more power).  Perfect for all those hills we'd be ripping up and down.  Before you know it, I was putting my energy drink down and we were off. Bounding up hills and bombing steep tracks down hillsides, crawling up rocky canyons and 1st gear long climbs to the top.  When we'd risen out of the thick of the proving grounds, we explored across the channel up another hill.  Well, when I got to the top, I felt that the left fork was more of an option for me, but I immediately turned around and tried to follow her up the right fork, and since it was such a steep slant around that blind from left to right, I was crawling in first gear so that I could keep the traction on that sifty steep surface.  Well, turns out she was coming back to see where I'd gone, and she was in that right line that I was gonna take, so I made a move to adjust my line on the left side and scoot around her, and I gave that 1st gear some throttle, but instead of it grabbing and moving me anywhere, the rear tire slid down into the sifty steep siding, throttle taking off as I was still holding on when I slid off the seat, The bike had nowhere to go but naturally walked up on the left wall, flipping a 180 in the air.  And it came down in all it's glory sideways on my knee, pinning me to the ground.  In those very painful and quick moments, I knew I had to get my knee out from where it was trapped, and so downhill being to my left, I rolled my body left breaking contact with my knee and the bike.  That was the most excruciating thing I'd ever felt.  I thought for sure my leg was two completely different items by this point.  It took me a sec before I could even look down to assess the damage.  Well, remarkably there was no dangling participle below my knee, and everything seemed intact.  It was at that point purely a miracle and good riding boots.  I grabbed my lower leg and shimmied up onto the rim of that steep bank.  My body began to get hot, so I took off my helmet and jacket, wincing in pain, with slight maniacal laughter, and snippits of jokes to break the tension while we sat up there hoping I could muscle through the injury to make it back to camp.   The pain was making me nauseous.  I wanted to puke.  I did not want to be carried off that hill by a helicopter.  So we made a plan that my riding buddy would ride my bike down and then she'd come back up and I'd ride down on the back of hers.  She was so good, and helped me get on the bike and we rode down that hill very carefully, I didn't even feel any bumps.  So then we got to the bike I was riding, she helped me get off her bike, and onto mine, keep in mind this is all happening while taking brief pauses to wince and recover from the pain, and to suck up as much as I could to make the mission possible.  I leaned forward on those handlebars enough to slide a leg over the seat with as little trauma to my left leg, and she put the bike in 1st gear for me, and I pushed the start button and I rode off slowly down the trail toward camp.  She quickly got on her bike and raced to the front and guided me in to camp on the easy roads, then she beat me to my truck and as I slowly rolled up to her, she helped me off the bike, and then helped me hobble to the bench.  I was absolutely not wanting to draw much attention to myself, so I tried to be as invisible as possible.   My riding buddy helped me crawl into the bed of my truck where I'd spend the next few hours waiting for my sister.  The Husky folks brought me some comfort items like energy drinks, and made sure my cooler and food was all accessible.  A couple of camp neighbors saw that something wasn't right, and they came over and kept me company here and there.  Didn't take long for the camp ranger and medic to show up and take my vitals and splint my leg.  They were awesome.  I told them I'd have to leave my truck in the camp for a day, and that I was being picked up to head to the hospital.  They said they'd keep an eye on things while I was gone, and I was set.  When my sister got there, I needed her to load all my campsite things into the truck before we took off, so that everything was nice and secure in the truck while we were gone.  She did an excellent job.  She was a real trooper.  And off we were in no time to the Los Angeles VA Emergency room.  Long story short, we all know how ER's go.  They took X-Rays, and they absolutely found NOTHING BROKEN.  But there wasn't an MRI tech in house so the Dr. put in the order for an MRI and I had to follow up.  They initially scheduled me a week away, but I wasn't sitting for that, so I was on the phone calling MRI to see if they had any cancellations and openings, and on Wednesday they told me to come in and have a seat.  I got there at 2:30, and I was out by 3:30, amazing turnaround.  That brings me to today, Thursday, the results are that I have a completely destroyed Miniscus, and some other torn tissues.  But the worst of it being my miniscus.  I think that's pretty neat.  And tomorrow I have to get someone to get me an appointment with a surgeon and get my knee worked on, because I'll be laid up for a quick minute.  

Nonetheless, I can't wait to get back on a dirtbike.  I always have such a great time.  This next time I'm gonna ride with knee braces and all the pads.  Then I'll be set to rip and tumble, and I won't have to worry bout any more major injuries.  hahaha   Operation quick heal, Operation ride! 

Backpacking/Camping in the Backyard!!!!!

Last night I practiced my camping tricks in the back yard. I hiked 50ft out into the backyard with my loaded backpack, then before I did anything, I started my fire with my magnesium fire starter and spark shavings. This took a second, because my first starter went out, but I was able to use some sparks again to get it rolling. Pine leaves are highly flammable, and is a great starter to any fire. Once my fire was established, I set up my tent. Then I got out my stove and can of soup, and started the fire in my little stove using a small stick from the main fire. I'm using one of those Esbit cooksets, and I have only about a few minutes of burntime per cube, and these ones I am using are so old, and barely light so I reeeeallly had to keep throwing them on there, to keep the flame up. My goal is to get better new burn cubes, because I don't want to have to pack compressed gas. I mean if that's what the most efficient means to a long backpack trip means versus me carrying the equivalent amount of fuel cubes, its going to come down to convenience, packability, and weight. So another stove might be in my future, but this one was light and cheap, so I figured, why not. Anyway, after a good while of playing with the flame under my stove, my soup got to something called medium temperature, and I ate my soup next to the fire. I then packed my stove away, rolled up my things, packed down the tent, and loaded up the backpack and headed on down the trail, and I hiked all 50ft. back inside the house.

"Larry Crowne" Movie Review

Movie Review: On my very hungover post-Easter/Spring Monday, I slept till noon:30, and thus I wanted some easy food and a light hearted movie. I casually browsed the selection on Netflix, and there it was, the movie that piqued my attention was "Larry Crowne." A vibrant romcom, that I'm sure will inspire anyone to never fear the unknown. It will strike a lot of the right chords for any audience viewer. With a whole cast of amazing characters; Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Brian Cranston, George Takei, Pam Grier, Taraji P. Henson, Cedric The Entertainer, and tons more familiar faces. Really really cute and light hearted. Left me with a smile on my face, and a skip in my step. Go ahead and do yourselves a favor and watch something refreshing. Watch "Larry Crowne" on Netflix.

For the people.

I wish nothing more but for my liberal friends to develop good relationships with firearms. Learn to shoot, learn to know these weapons, become proud owners. Because unlike our conservative counterparts, who know and understand that to secure a freedom and way of life, you need to be willing to die for it, and defend it. And a gun has always been the most civil of reckoning tool. It can be used to persuade evil intentions to leave you alone, and it is a wonderful negotiating tool, when it comes to securing your freedoms and hard earned way of life. This country wasn't founded or secured with pacifist ideals, and the pursuit of freedom for many wasn't secured without many a hard fought battle between violently contentious ideals, and the new rights and freedoms that we are trying to secure in this country aren't going to be secured without a solid frontline of progressive patriots willing to fight and die to pursue and secure our hard earned rights and freedoms. We as America won our freedom from England by the gun. Slavery was defeated by the gun. So many eras of forcible expression fought with the gun, for the right to hold down new and achieved freedoms in this country. Same as in other countries whose people and ideals are at warring odds; The progressive vs. the antiquated. When the status quo tries to prevent at all costs the progress in mind and body of their people, the people must fight to break that old mold, to pursue, and secure new freedoms. And old mold is not broken without a forcible blow.

Chew on that.

Call me old school, but...

I might be at odds with a lot of you pot culture folks, because I'm someone who doesn't like the stuff, but because I have sooooooooo many friends who like the stuff, I've always tried to take a positive stance and show my support for the legalization of it, because the whole "alcohol vs. weed" history thing.  And there are a lot of you out there, with whom I'm close to in various different ways, who smoke an awful lot.  I always question ones ability to just be present, and just be mentally and emotionally available.  And if I were to have a beer every time someone smoked a joint my liver would be toast, and I'd be drunk all the time.  Like, I don't drink in the morning, but weed smokers will have weed in the morning.  How is that even ok?   What is so wrong with feeling life and emotions the way we as humans were supposed to?    Sober isn't just for alcohol anymore.


This Vice Article will Enlighten You.

Getting Lost In The Downtown Industrial.......

District of St. Louis, Missouri, wasn't my idea of a sane time Saturday night on my last trip across the country.  Here I was dealing with a funky navigation app, which basically means my navigation is me watching a blue dot move bleepingly across the screen of a yellow map on grey lines.  I am bound to misunderstand a route or two.  This one put me heading north in the heart of St. Louis, and as I was yelling "WTFWTFWTF!" I took the first exit into the heart of that shithole.

 Where the buildings are blank, and crumbling, the roads are shit, there isn't a sane looking person in sight, and I'd imagined someone was about to run out at gunpoint and try to take my CB radio, which I would fight for dear life to save of course.  I was just short of running all stop signs and red lights, and using the excuse: "Well, officer, let me tell you what happened once.  Ya see, I once was in this really rough part of town with a bunch of grassroots canvassers, and this Po-lice officer spotted us in our mini van with no tinted windows, all doughy eyed, and ready to go knocking door to door...in this really rough neighborhood.  But before we could get that far, he stopped us in our tracks, and said to get back in our minivan, and head right out of town.  He said do not stop at stop signs and do not stop at reds, and if anyone approaches the car, just drive away.  He said, that, he did.  I was having flashbacks."  

True story.   We survived Richmond.  We did just as he said, and rolled all those stops.  Shit, sometimes you end up in areas, that all you are is happy to see a cop.  "Hey officer, can you please just give me a chase car to the highway?  Would really appreciate it."  Bahahaha  

       I drove far enough away from that city before I found a nice rest area to curl up in the back of my truck.  Actually, I think I slept pretty on my guard that night.  You ever have those nights where as soon as you get to falling asleep, you hear a noise, and you jump right up and look out all your windows, sleeping with your hands on all your knives and 911 is ready to dial on your phone.  Haaaaahaha.  I wish I'd had a short lil shot gun on me that night, something that would just spray an hit.  Man, things to never leave home without.  

       Outside of that,  the trip went fine, until I realized I'd reached that part in the drive where I just didn't want to drive any further.  I laid extra long under my sleeping bag that morning, rain shuffling down all around the truck.  The Eastern gloom.  I'd hit it.  I just wanted to sleep forever that morning.  But I had to make miles and time, and I know I won't be here long, so I just plodded on down the road.  Made it to Brooklyn around midnight Sunday.  Yeah, it's raining here, but it's warm, and that's nothing to shake a finger at.  My cat is within arms reach, curled up and cozy.  He was really happy to see that I had come back.  That I didn't abandon him.  He'll get used to this, but I'm sure it's never easy. 

Signing off.  10-4 good buddy.

Babes In Borrego 2016 Reunion

3 Years ago 50 women descended on the desert for a day of sun and fun and being absolutely free from the egotistical confines of every other typical motorcycle event.   Something different, where women could just exist and express themselves in unabashed freedom.  That's how Babes in Borrego started.   You can fiddle back through my previous posts for the long harrowing experience that led me on a day long journey, and adventure that I never once gave up, in order to join those women in that desert late one evening back in 2013.  The bonfire, the booze, the camaraderie around the campfire.  It was something to behold.

And whelp, we did it again.  The originals.  Long story short, I ended up being in Los Angeles this time picking up my truck from a Toyota dealership where I left it with a blown head gasket, back in December.  But I had to had to take it back twice in February because they hadn't fixed it right.  While I was in Los Angeles some friends had let me in on a little reunion scheduled the first weekend in March for the original Babes in Borrego attendees, and so I decided to extend my trip just to attend.  Cause really when was I ever going to turn down an opportunity to get dirty and dusty and tear up some desert ground?  After, I got the truck back and it was working great, I headed to northern California for a few days, hung out with my parents, had beers and bonfires with friends, installed a roof rack on my truck, threw a road side coffee table inside the shell, and drove out to the desert for a party!    Yeah, I know, I drove, what the fuck is that all about?  Well, usually I don't go to a bike party if I don't ride my own bike.  But this time, it was something a little different, a reunion of sorts, a gathering of originals to relive the past.  It was great.  Mini bikes, sitting round a giant bonfire, playing guitar drunkenly, dancing, singing, laughing, playing games, telling stories, making new stories, and reliving and remaking the energy that brought us all together in the beginning.

So heres the next part to this California trip.  The bitter sweet side to being someone with a very busy mind, a busy soul, and too many things to sit on one plate without medication...this is what I call the dump. 

I've been missing my bike terribly as I had to leave it back in Brooklyn, while I flew back to California to get my truck.  The weather on the east coast had me shoveling snow the day before I flew out, and the weather on the west coast had me buying surf shorts and thinking about living life on a beach in the sun on a tropical island.  But mainly a lot of things have been swirling around my little world of mental noise lately.  I'm really distracted with all the directions I want my life to shoot, things I still want to accomplish, and guess that means I'm feeling a little unsettled, and a little out of sorts about it all, because I seem to find myself in the same place every 2 years.  And well as a friend so kindly reminded me last night, that it's not something to be down about, it just means that I'm evolving.  So basically I evolve every 2 years, and take off on another route, direction, adventure of learning.  And along with all that is a bit of uncertainty, feeling ungrounded, and somewhat frustrated.  But my friends words were wonderful to hear, and a sweet reminder that I'm still great, and just becoming more of myself and the things I want and am pursing in life.  But while we're here, allow me unload some of that mental noise on you now:  I'd love to launch a model of my jeans; I'd love to have customers lining up for my custom tooled leather products; I'd love to be making music again; I'd love to be digging a pool in the desert;  I'd love to be riding my bike to new places in pursuit of my perfect most happiest place in the world; I'd love to be building beautiful things for people; I'd love to join SASS and start the shooting circuit; I miss my cat with 3 teeth, and I feel like an ass for always leaving him behind.  Most of all I feel like a lost soul (evolving).  And I need to listen to my needs, and follow my dreams, my instincts are trying to guide me.  So here I am with all these random skill sets, and dreams that I have, you may or may not find me retiring it up in Slab City.  #ramblingsofalostsoul