Where Water Buffalo Roam

Good Morning Gordy The following is an excerpt from my thought diary while logging some miles with Gordy.  Through conversation and minimal research, I’ve determined Gordy started not only the Western States 100 mile running race, but also ultra distance trail running in the United States as we know it. Gordy starts: I’d fallen in with bad company.  We weren’t bad, really, just bored.  My friend John got caught stealing a candy bar and it just so happened that, at one time or another, we had also relocated a couple delineators.  John went on house arrest; eventually he got antsy and started giving names.  Local authorities came to my house, arrested me, and put me on probation.  Pretty soon after that my mom said: “Let’s move Gordy to the country”.  *** Gordy is tall, much taller than me, with big hands, big legs and long gray hair that blends with a big bushy grey beard.  Gordy was the first person in the United States, and likely ...

"I completely underestimated our route,"  She started out.  "It took a couple days of climbing just to get to the next town, camping along the way.  Then the rain came--so miserable--riding up hill all day then crawling into wet gear.  We got worked by the mountains, but it was awesome.  I want to go back."  There was a lightness to her voice.  It was easy to tell the memories of camping under a bright moon, descending long hills with the sun, and the calmness of the mountains in the morning will stick with her for years to come. A few years ago I lent this friend a circa 1980's steel frame Team Fuji bicycle, shifters on the down tube, nice big lugs typical of that time--a school bus on two wheels compared to bikes of today.  She had fractured her knee and wanted to get fit without the pain of running.  And so it began--that indescribable passion for pedaling--as fast as legs will allow, racing friends, or exploring new terrain via human ...

***                          San Diego at Sunrise I’m on a search for the perfect ride; a simplified and stripped down perspective--every day.  From the saddle of a bike, outside the breakers at dawn, or chasing alpenglow on a new trail; simple pleasures. "Simplify, simplify." A tape worm road through a range I've never ridden, Hank Williams shouting through headphones, off camber turns, goose bump arms; child-like smile. Running a trail, steep enough to require thought, technical enough to stay present; freedom, solitude, and independence--that is why we go. Perspective, inspiration, and a spanking--that is what we get.  I play outside because it’s fun, the faster I go the more fun I have. *** I’m fascinated by snoring.  Really, so impressive.  The most soft spoken petite Asian man, projecting with such confidence when he’s not awake....

Clear Creek "Men hang out their sign indicative of their respective trades: Shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe, jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth.  But up in the mountains of New Hampshire, God almighty has hung out a sign to show that there, he makes men."                                                                                                           -Daniel Webster, famed American statesman and scholar      "If I jump in the cold water I won't get Hepatitis B."  Stripping down to boxers and sox, for a second I believed him.  Shivering on a ledge covered by a sheet of ice and fresh dusting of snow, something didn’t feel right.  ...