It's All About the Bike » Zen

On Top Of Pine Cone Ridge, Park City Mountain Resort

moto — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:22:42 +0000

Using a little trickery with an iPhone app called TiltShift Generator, this is what the view looked like, gazing back towards Scott’s Bowl. I was standing right under the Full Moon Bowl trail sign, waiting for a couple guys who were on snowboards. They had to hike this little section, giving me the moment to pull the iPhone out and snap a few photos. It was a great day to be out there hiking the ridge, although also a little spooky considering what the Utah Avalanche Center continues to call a persistent weak snowpack. Spooky because everything looks so beautiful out there, but there is real danger about 4 to 5 feet down. People, be careful out there.

View from Pine Cone Ridge, Park City Mountain Resort

How To Convince Your Wife To Let You Get A Motorcycle

moto — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:39:18 +0000

This only works for adventure motorcycles, definitely not Harleys, sport bikes, or motocross bikes. But if you really want to get into adventure riding and you don’t quite know how to open the dialogue with your wife, do this. Borrow or buy a copy of Long Way Round, a documentary about traveling the world on BMW motorcycles starring Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charley Boorman. Your wife will want to watch it because it stars Ewan McGregor. That’s the Trojan Horse. That’s what you use to wheel the conversation about getting a motorcycle within the gates of “categorical NO.” As you watch episode after episode, you will imagine yourself being the crafty Odysseus, on a seemingly never ending journey home. Home is when your wife gets to the end of the DVDs, and says, “that looks pretty cool, I bet you’d really enjoy that, honey.” Not exactly a “yes,” but sort of an implied OK. Home is that spot in your garage that you start clearing, long before you have made your purchase, where you will eventually wheel in your new ride. It also can work when you have already had the conversation without a definitive green light, and you are in a sense taking your own “Long Way Round” to seeking your wife’s approval. You waive the element of surprise, because if you bust out LWR at the very end, she will know what you are up to and be suspicious. But it stars Ewan McGregor, you keep telling her. At this point, you might as well be throwing a hail mary pass into the endzone, in which case, this is the only play you’ve got left. So what do you have to lose?

Mongolian Sand Dunes

Darth Nater — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:06:16 +0000

Here is a quick video update from Nato and Ben in Mongolia. Can’t wait for the boys to return and share their photos and videos of this epic moto adventure:

SMS Update From Mongolia

Darth Nater — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:25:45 +0000

Yesterday’s update from Mongolia from Nato and Ben:

“…Day 2 in Mongolia a success. Riding across grassy plains is totally weird but very cool. Saw a large temple complex and also rode to the top of a mountain where we saw trees for the first time since we have been here. Riding sand dunes and camels on the agenda today!”

A Bike Racing Poem By Emanuel Betz

moto — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:27:07 +0000

Chasing Greg LeMond

The bike
two wheels of bliss taking me through dying towns.
Rooster primes in Breton
with old bent pros
going for gypsy carnival bells,
Muddy buckets in Belgium, behind the barn.
wiping down the gutter grime
Foaming at the mouth
they are running from the factory door,
doing whatever it takes
in a square in a place,
where old men in hats
click a silver stopwatch each time you pass by
and chant allez allez

Joe Parkin Interview

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:22:46 +0000

After a glorious week of spring weather, we’re back to snow on the rooftops here in Park City, Utah. Which means I am sitting at the computer, slugging back yet another cup of coffee, trying to figure out a motivational strategy for bundling up and doing some sort of bike ride today. It also means procrastination turns to justification for catching up on some online reading, including this revealing sit-down with Joe Parkin. I agree with Joe on Greg LeMond. I disagree with Joe on Master of Puppets. I agree with Joe on Tyler. Disagree on Floyd. And hell, everyone loves Tim Johnson. Happy reading.

Warm Before The Storm

moto — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:21:46 +0000

This weekend in Park City, Utah was a pretty typical March weekend, where one has a hard time deciding whether to do something for fun on two wheels or two heels. On Saturday, I was hankering for a bike ride, so I pumped up my tires hard and took my 29er single speed out for a pavement ride, the first bicycle ride of 2009. While riding past the White Barn, the nordic tracks looked delightful, and I was left thinking I made the wrong choice, but it was a fleeting feeling, and once I turned right on Old Ranch Road, it passed. Sunday was a different story. After a morning session of skiing at Bambi Basin with my wife and daughter, I spent the afternoon getting the KTM fired up and ready for spring riding. Unhooked the battery tender, stripped a bolt putting my fuse box back together, replaced the bolt, put the seat on, rolled the bike out of the garage, eased the choke lever back slightly, turned the key, pressed the starter, started right up on the first try. Hmmmm. Me like that sound. I let the bike warm up, then took it for a little 20 mile spin up to the Jordanelle reservoir scenic overlook and then back through town. Saw a few other motorbikes out there, including a spitting image of the original Blue Angel, Darth Nater’s BMW F650 GS Dakar. What this all means of course, is there is a big storm rolling in overnight, with predictions that we’ll get up to three feet of Utah’s GSOL (Greatest Snow On Earth®) over the course of the next few days. You can’t count on much these days, except for unsettled weather in the Wasatch Mountains. Be flexible in your recreational plans over the next few weeks, and you might just make it to April with your sanity intact.