Break or be Broken

Took part in Carbondale's 350 action yesterday. Ran into an old friend that I didn't even know was living in town, hung out with some great folks, and got out of the house on a rainy day. 

(Fun math note, Dales donated 350 cans of beer for the action, but because of the rain, only around a hundred or so drinking age folks showed up. Good beer-to-human ratio.) 

But more important than an environmental protest action, I also managed to learn fixie skid! First on loose gravel (that whole traction thing being the issue) and then on pavement headed home. 

Fear me, for I can break.

Sorta. 

When I'm lucky. 

//H

No brakes, no problem

(?)

A friend gave me a fixed gear bike and I've been using it to ride to work. Course, I'm pretty dangerous to myself on a bike w/ brakes, let alone one without. (I nearly hit a logging truck the other day.) 

So here's my latest project:

Of course, I'm not down with the emo jeans or spandex, but if you can skid at 30 mph, who cares?

//H

While at the skatepark ...

The Basalt skatepark is set along the Frying Pan river. Our little slice of Colorado is fairly rural, even with all Aspen's pretensions at sophistication. Anyhow, I was skating alone this morning, when through the woods came a 7 foot bull moose.

Being a fan of the old Dan Brown books, my first instinct was to try to sneak up on it and steal a tuft of moose hair. I slipped behind a tree to consider my options, confident that if the moose decide to make a go at it, I'd be able to circle the tree faster than he could. 

The moose took a few steps into the willows, and I started after him. The moose gave me a warning --- a quick few steps my direction --- and that was enough to genetic memory to kick in. I scampered to the top of the quarter pipe and watched from safety as the moose sidled up to the quarter pipe, gave me a stern look in the eye (our eyes were about level at this point) and meandered off to continue munching on willows. 

Moose 1, Harley's stalking skills 0. 

//H