Scott: The First Bike Ride

So, I went on my first bike ride yesterday. A brisk, windy, twenty-four mile ride in the midst of a cold I'd acquired because of allergies. I got home to hack up a lung and incessantly blow my nose. Twenty-four tissues later (one for each mile) and I was almost back to normal. Was it the perfect bike ride? Yes.

The trip from Saline to Clinton and back was a reminder of how frail I am and why the winter is the bane of my existence. After not setting a foot on a bike for far too long, I have inner thighs that are no longer immune to chafing and a butt that hasn't built up a resistance to bruising quite yet. These are things I had taken for granted when we had three months of straight riding, but now I cannot imagine spending eight hours on a small bicycle seat a day.

One day it's warm. The next, cold. I can't wait for all the trees to have bloomed and 70 degree mornings - a day when I have my sexy legs and biker tan back. However, right now I feel I've become rather doughy. I no longer have the hard "overcooked cookies" body I once had, but I can't wait to get that back. You know, because when you cook that flabby dough for a long time, it becomes rock hard cookie. I'm going to cook my body in the oven of life as soon as the pollen has cleared. It brings tears to my eyes when I take it all in - but that may just be the various trees, grasses, and weeds.

I've started to finish the rundowns to the best of my recollection. Some details have been diluted and I look at some of the things I had written and wonder "What the hell was I talking about?" Other headlines bring back so many great memories. The rundowns at the end of the trip may have to be a collaboration with the other riders to fill in any blanks and get different perspectives through the big cities. (Some of the best "...and that's how Stu died." moments were in the last couple of days, as were some of the best fast food moments.)

Anyway, as far as the music is concerned. It's getting there. I wish I had more time to spend on it. Soon I'll have a cut of some scenes to compose to, and if I ever figure out a way to put samples of songs on this blog, I will. Until then. Enjoy life, and get out riding.

Scott

I'm going to try and write more too. Hopefully this won't be one of my empty promises. I plan on keeping it, but sometimes the inspiration just doesn't come.

All the latest with Matt.

Well, some of the latest. Ryan, one of our producers and of course a rider in the film and good friend of all of us, has been riding me to get on here and write. I noticed a significant gap in blogging, so I figure now's the time.

Life's been pretty sweet since the ride ended and I moved to San Diego. A major influence in getting me to move here was the biking trip making me want to have the ability to ride year round. Finances were tough after taking almost four months off of work, then moving, then needing to find a job, so I actually haven't been able to get a bike of my own until just a week ago. I need to patch the tire, which has a large gouge in it, but it was free, so I'm not complaining. I have begun to regret giving my mountain bike away, along with all my other personal possessions, as I had no idea the economy would crash whilst we were riding that summer. My plan all along was to have a job that would make it fairly easy to obtain much of these things again, but that was not the case. Nonetheless, the weather, the people, the terrain, the city of San Diego is so nice, pretty much all year round, that I feel little other than contentment and happiness every day. But don't tell anyone. I can't have the whole nation moving down here and ruining my paradise. I've done a lot of camping, hiking, swimming, and am starting surfing and kayaking. There's beautiful athletic people all over the beaches and something to do almost any day of the week, from concerts to events to just a bit of beach volleyball. I've done a bit of crouquet and bacci ball type stuff as well, rounding out my older person sports, just in case grandpa wants to put some money down on a shuffle board tournament or what such things.

With all that's going on it's difficult to keep up with my obligation to keeping up with the website, and I'm even having difficulty keeping in shape after having been biking for four months straight all day pretty much every day. I often dream of doing another biking trip. It was stressful at the time, but looking back, it was so nice to have only one commitment; getting up and peddling in a general direction until the sun went down.

I'm still sifting through thousands of photos, so expect to see more and more added to the photo galleries in the coming month. I'm off now, as I have to start work in about half an hour, but expect to hear more from me as I want to get back into the swing of this. And I'll try to add more humor in the coming blogs, this one was a bit too "how do you do?".