I am attending Interbike, the huge cycling trade show, in Las Vegas. I’m test-riding demo bikes, sampling products, meeting tons of people I only know from Twitter and connecting with dear friends. There is a big Tweetup tonight at Lavo in the Venetian at 7 p.m. where, amongst a ton of wonderful raffle prizes, I will be donating a Bike Scribble shirt for the Tweetup charities Aids Life Cycle and the National MS Society. The Bike Scribble paintings including this will be on display at the Urban Legend Art and Fashion Show on the main Interbike show floor at the Sands, Thursday, September 24th 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!
Permission to Pass in Peace
I don’t think they mean bicyclistsA girl really should hop on the back of a motorcycle more than once every five years but every five years is better than nothin’! Today, when I got a chance to ride to Durango with my friend’s boyfriend on the back of his Suzuki Vstrom it broke the 5 year drought.
Born to be Wild.
Skimming along the surface of the earth as a passenger exposed to the elements gives a better perspective than as someone at the handlebars or the wheel. In the sparsely populated southwest you can easily see the upheavals of the eons and with much more clarity. One gets the sense that we were indeed strangers here once upon a time, deposited on the surface many thousands of years ago. Perhaps as explorers, perhaps as refugees. We learned to adapt and then to dominate – to our own detriment. It’s the prerogative of the Earth whether to embrace us or not, not the other way around. Gliding along at 75 mph, protected merely by some clothing and a helmet one becomes aware of one’s own fragility in the landscape. The forest and the cliffs couldn’t care less if I go splat. Our lesson, I believe is to learn how to respect Her and live harmoniously with the landscape and each other. We are obliged to behave as guests of our gracious host who has endured us these many thousands of years.
Of course, we are free to build more fiery chariots and bug the hell off to harass any other blue planet we are fortunate enough to find. However, if we try Her patience too long, she will simply rid herself of us by becoming inhospitable.
As I pass Lookout Point on Mesa Verde, renown site of vast Native American ruins, it’s easy to imagine the Anasazi performing ceremonies on it’s cliff tops. It makes me wonder how many generations it took for us to forget where we came from. Did our ancestors genetically engineer their offspring with whatever Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal species Earth’s evolution had produced at the time? Earth’s elements are now what make up my existence and all human kind, but the Earth is not a birthright, it is a gift that appeared as a jewel in the blackness of space millenia ago and innocently welcomed weary travelers. Along with the memory of my extra-terrestrial origins I have also lost the ability to imagine any home more beautiful than this.
Ramblings from the lunatic fringe to be sure. Many others have expressed these theories before and far better than I. But these are the things you think about on your first vacation in years while going 75 mph on the back of a motorcycle down hwy 160 in southwestern Colorado.
It’s Raining Champagne in California!
Frank Schleck crosses the line to win stage 8 of the Amgen Tour of California
Record crowds lined the roadside over the 9 days of ATOC. Epic stages. World class racing. Wonderful memories. Cycling is made up of really exceptional people. Made a ton of new friends. There is so much more to tell but I had the good fortune to wind up at the AAA party: Amgen, AEG and Astana! And I simply need more sleep!
Levi Leipheimer makes it Three
And the champagne melée ensues"Idle" Chatter
Breaking news:
Bike Scribbles Cross Atlantic!
“City Cruise”
© Kathleen King 2008
While I can’t believe I’m saying this I must admit I am thoroughly smitten with Twitter. At first it seemed like just another techno-gizmo time suck:
“What are you doing right now?”
“Chewing on my pen cap. You?”
Honestly, who among us is moment-to-moment fascinating like, say, Lance Armstrong (who is, you guessed it, also on Twitter. No really, it’s him)? Certainly not I.
But I gave it a couple of weeks and POW it started to work its magic. I now swear by it as one of the most brilliant networking tools in existence. I’ve started meeting all kinds of local creative people and bike people as well as reaching all the way across the US and the Atlantic. Which brings me to the point of this post: The Bike to Work Book by Carlton Reid and Tim Grahl.
One night I was reading the Twitter roll and saw that a British man I knew only from his internet efforts in the cycling world was asking for Americans to look over the rough draft of his new book and make constructive comments. While just breakfast time in the UK it was the wee hours of the morning here so I think I was one of the very few Yanks still awake at the time. I offered and he sent me the pages in an email. Along the way he mentioned that he had seen my website and liked my artwork. Then I had an idea. I sent over a bike Scribble and made a suggestion. Long story short, he accepted. I drew some custom scribbles and in really a head-spinning short time – TA DA! The book is almost here and my Scribbles are part of it!
One night I was reading the Twitter roll and saw that a British man I knew only from his internet efforts in the cycling world was asking for Americans to look over the rough draft of his new book and make constructive comments. While just breakfast time in the UK it was the wee hours of the morning here so I think I was one of the very few Yanks still awake at the time. I offered and he sent me the pages in an email. Along the way he mentioned that he had seen my website and liked my artwork. Then I had an idea. I sent over a bike Scribble and made a suggestion. Long story short, he accepted. I drew some custom scribbles and in really a head-spinning short time – TA DA! The book is almost here and my Scribbles are part of it! It is a very timely volume indeed. The perfect manual if you want to sock it to Big Oil in style. Fun to read, energizing and packed with information, these guys have covered every possible question. I’ve learned several things about biking that I didn’t know before and learned about some really cool products that assist in making bike commuting a breeze. And those are from just the first few chapters. The only downside is that when you’re done with the read you will be plum out of excuses to drive a car for much of anything!
I am intensely proud of being involved in this project. Carlton Reid is a really good guy (with an amazing 11-year-old cycling son Josh, by the way). I hope this book gets all the smashing success it deserves. Do check the link for a preview and you can leave comments if you like as well. I’ve never seen an author so gracious about getting critiqued!
Many thanks to Donna Tocci, Tim Jackson and Kris Keim for coaxing me into this fine pot of jam! And thanks to photographer Carson Blume for the digital assistance.
“Zoomin’ Through”
© Kathleen King 2008
© Kathleen King 2008
