The New Normal

Yeah I kinda saw this one coming from a mile away.  The walking heap of shit that I am right now warranted renting a cabin in the mountains for a couple of days to recover from the race weekend in Morelia and made for some much needed down time.  It's raining its ass off, cold, and I have a stocked supply of coffee and beer.  Time to catch up on some writing......

The past couple of weeks bouncing around Mexico will affectionately be remembered by me as the first two real weeks of stretching the legs out on Rita (my KLR 650).  There really is nothing like the feeling of the road when it first finds itself beneath your feet (wheels), sadly we accidentally become used to roaming and those first few moments of uncertainty and excitement fade without notice.  It starts to replace itself with confidence and efficiency, it morphs into letting your guard down a little more and more.  It allows for a deeper and more true experience where ever the day may lead, and of course, I dig that.  But you never get those first moments back, you never get that wonderful fatigue of the mind and body that at times asks you, "WTF are you doing"?  I don't want it back, I damn sure know they'll be plenty more WTF moments and I'm happy settling in on the road, but it didn't miss me either.  I try my best to keep a keen awareness in those moments that seem so challenging and shitty to soak up the immeasurable amount of life that is condensed so abruptly into that doubt, pain, and uncertainty.  Anyway, I'm alive, I'm very alive.

The two weeks brought with it catching up with old friends Juan and Juancho in San Luis de la Paz.  Such a perfect home base in central Mexico with individuals that show the kind of generosity usually reserved for family.  Difficult to explain the importance of such foundation on the front end of this trip but suffice to say they're my people, all love dudes....  It was then on to meeting up with my man Jose Adrian (Marmota) in Morelia to begin a preview of the downhill race that was to come the 17th of September.  I looked at the course, I got scared, and I bought health insurance  There I said it.

I then took a quick 4 day window to bounce to playa La Saladita for my first few days back in the water surfing after a depressingly long 14 months.  That's pathetic and I'm a kook, I know I'm a kook, and I'm proud to be a kook.  Either way the feeling of riding waves and paddling multiple hours a day to exhaustion brought back a lot of stoke for the ocean and even more for what lay ahead once the mountain biking part of this deal wraps up.  Tired and sun-burnt I headed back to Morelia for practice Friday and Saturday on a course that I will tell you has man-jumps, rowdy rock gardens, and high consequences features.  These dudes don't F around down here, they're fast, they're focused, and they party.  The whole scene reaffirmed why it was I made the decision to bring all this mountain bike shit on Rita in the first place.  It takes me back to the racing I found in Virginia in the late 90's with an attitude and attractiveness that only genuine people with a beautiful sense of community can mesh with our sport.  I won't say that it's dead in the US, but F it's harder and harder to find that in mountain biking, and here in Mexico they are achieving it effortlessly.  Almost as if they just actually, you know, give a shit about one another....  Weird.  The race went well, I got lucky and finished 5th in Elite with a sprained/fractured left thumb (the pain meds here are incredible).  Clean, smooth run and a respectable time on an Enduro bike where a DH rig would have been the proper weapon of choice.  The whole weekend wrapped up with my man Marmota getting second place in Elite and a showing we can all be very proud of. 

As mentioned, I'm now holed up in a cabin for the next 48 hours to lick my wounds and get ready for the next race in Acambaro, GTO this coming weekend.  Perfect for this old dog, and perfect for a recharge in anticipation of what's next.  When you get a mind and heart full of the observations and experiences that I have over the past week or so it takes some time to digest.  Healthy portions of the best life has to offer has to be lived in the moment with the maturity for reflection.  God dammit, I'm getting old..... 

PS- Mariela (the little girl on the moto) was such as badass that as I attempted to work on my moto she kept stealing my tools and parts until I let her ride the bike with it running.  That combined with the drunk, old dude telling me I was going to get everything stolen made for an interesting repair job on the side-street.