104-Turning The World Upside Down... After a quick squeeze of the blue-walled tires, satisfied that they were still firm to keep pavement riding smooth enough to avoid the slog of a flat tire, I pulled on my kid-sized helmet (don’t tell anyone I still wear kids gear and shoes…), gloves and glasses and got all five foot four and three quarters of me on the saddle. The right shifter on my Sette frame mountain bike was still sticky from a
103-How Much Do We Understand? I guess I would have to say I was slightly nervous as I hopped out of our 2015 Town and Country soccer-mom minivan, built perfectly for toting a family of 5 around the city and beyond. I quickly glanced back at the adjacent lane of traffic also stopped at the red-light Jen, behind the wheel, was awaiting to turn to favorable green. Before it reached full green, I had skipped across the dirty pavement in
102-The Real Adventure In The Race! “Five… four… three… two… one. Goooooooooo!!!” The fourteen individuals in front of me quickly dispersed on foot into the wooden landscape devoid of the fresh green growth that is just waiting for the final Michigan snow to come and go. Brown leaves crunched beneath the feet of the teams who decided to abandon the packed down dirt of the well-traveled paths at Seven Lakes State Park. There were six teams of 2-3 each who
101-Bold, Brave, Short, And Even Shorter The soggy ground sank in around the fresh rubber rand of my new black 5.10 flats, which I baby since they are my first pair of new street shoes in nearly a decade. Pushing my OCD to the back of my mind I trailed my middle son Z, who’s excitement to jump into the basketball game with the neighborhood kids could barely keep him from running. The local park at the that connected our
100-What Are We Blessing, Really? It’s me, Jen, typing away this morning. You’re going to miss out on the extravagant words my husband has a tendency to so delicately weave together. I hope, what I came across this morning encourages you like it did me, despite my smaller vocabulary. ;) How many times have you read or heard about the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish? Are you rolling your eyes? I bet you are right now.
99-Not Your Ordinary Waffle House The physics behind a tire going from zero to one hundred and fifty and back to zero in a split second still boggles my mind, if the physics is even correct; but that wasn’t on my mind as I headed south toward Louisville, Kentucky. The cargo hold of the gloss black minivan remained free from usual packs, ropes, tents and the coveted trad climber rack full of clanging slings and cams, hexes, and nuts as
98-Harnessing The Urban Wilderness The wild was busting with activity, thousands of creatures each working through their daily routine, making sure that their tasks to survive the harsh environment were to full satisfaction. Uniquely designed by God Himself, each worked hard to keep out of the other’s way, yet work in uniform predictability to ensure that the world continues to run at its status quo. Under an unseasonably warm, sunny sky, I sat patiently, waiting for my opportunity to engage
97-Tie In, Go Ahead... Tie In Already Glancing over my left shoulder I gauged the speed of the sun seeming to fall down over the distant ridge that outlined the Red River Gorge. This was more than just a beautiful sunset from Eagle Point Buttress, overlooking a sharp bend in the river nearly 300 feet below; it was a race to get our team to the bottom for much needed water and to set up camp before the rain caught
96-How Open Is Open? I motioned to my wife as to keep silent as my friend was still sharing his difficult circumstances at the moment. I took a scrap of paper from my make-shift desk and quickly scribbled, “Can I invite him to stay down here a couple of nights?” I never really imagined when I was a teenager that I would be inviting guys into my home for days; that seemed like a high school thing—spending the night at
95-Can I Get A Witness! Keys—check. Strava app engaged—check. Helmet—check. Gloves—check. Water—check. Bike… brakes, shifters work properly—check and check. Taking a quick peek behind me to see that the new kid was following my lead I slowly cranked down on the bright blue pedals that in conjunction with pure muscle, propelled this machine forward. New kid—check. We rolled through the deep green grass not allowing the transition of the sidewalk to slow us down as we eagerly aimed for the
