Soul-Surfing…It’s My Favorite Part.

I’ve never won a mtb race.  I’ve never even placed in one before.  I’ve never turned in the fastest lap.  Hell, I still have trouble changing a rear blow-out because I refuse to not think upside-down.  Why am I thinking about this?  Several reasons really…let’s start with I’ve been drinking wine while making dinner for my lovely wife and I (bottle almooooooooost gone) and I had a conversation with Rod over a few Dale’s the other night that’s creeping on me.  It’s creeping because I know something is coming…something is about to happen.  Bob Dylan called it a Hard Rain and I call it the Shenandoah 100.

Before I clue you into the conversation with Rod, let me take you on a brief journey of excitement, intimidation, pain, exhaustion, and what I call the “level.”  Last year myself, Rod, and DJ did the Wilderness 101, the longest of the ultra-endurance mtb races in the country (by 1 mile yes, but it’s still the longest).  I’m not going to go through the entire race because if you’ve ever riden that long and hard you know what it takes.  It’s all too much to think about and besides, absolutely none of it matters a single bit.  It’s what occurs mentally directly after that’s the prize.

We all have so many distractions each day that those of us who choose to ride our bikes can leave it all in the dirt…all in the rocks…all on the climb.  Sure we can all attest to that but what about taking it a pedal stroke further?  What about going somewhere that you’ve never been without even leaving the saddle?  See, it’s the mental soul-surf  that I’m after.  It’s the pain, the self-doubt, the reward, the “level” that unzippers me from the back of my neck and allows me to escape myself for a God Damn Minute.

To the conversation with Rod.  We were talking about after the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey in which I soloed and after dumping in 75 miles I walked over and sat on my cooler to…well, I don’t know really.  I didn’t want to talk nor did I want to see or stand.  So I sat, closed my eyes, and remained silent.  There it was…I just got “leveled.”  Everything had just earned a clean slate as far as I was concerned.  Is this how you feel when your born and the world hasn’t yet had an opportunity to tell you to pay your 2K mortgage?  Maybe it hasn’t had a chance to tell you what’s cool yet?  Maybe this is how you’re supposed to think?  They say the enlightened ones LIVE like this everyday.  They even say that you and I could learn to LIVE like that.

I’m not here to tell you how to live…I think you know that.  I’m not here to tell you to ride a 100 mile mtb race either.  Actually, I’m not here to TELL you anything.  I am, however, here to SHARE with you the feeling of being “leveled.”  It’s good to go further than you’ve ever gone before.  It’s good to yell out-loud at the trail at mile 90 or mile 9 if it dawns on you to do so.  Just get out of what makes sense and run…no pedal…the other way like you were bringing hell unto your worst enemy.  Your body will ALWAYS give up before your mind does.  Your body takes orders…your mind makes them.  No-one can just give you this cleansing yet no one take it away.  To me, riding is really about where my legs can take my mind and certainly not the other way around.  It doesn’t happen on every ride or even the majority of them which is what makes it an elixer.  But when it does…sit down, don’t talk, and close your eyes because this is the way you’re supposed to be.  Remember when I said I wasn’t here to tell you anything?  I lied…get “leveled.”

Luv the Level,

Luvroc.