Pack Epiphanies

[GTG_AZH]

Just another sign of the addiction:

Right in the middle of replying to a friends email I imagine a new way to carry a necessity in my pack.
I try it and it works so well that it makes two gallons of water carry like one.
Or something similar to that, might not be water but could be something like discovering a cool pocket for a flashlight or such that you haven't tried before.

Do you ever get them? or am I just that sick?

GTG

e·piph·a·ny Pronunciation Key (-pf-n)
n. pl. e·piph·a·nies
Epiphany
A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi.
January 6, on which this feast is traditionally observed.
A revelatory manifestation of a divine being.

A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.
A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier).

I had to look it up to make sure.

[ck_1]

This is a rather long post and it takes a round about way of getting to the topic, but I thought I would share something ..There is a writer by the name of Rob Story. He is a freelance writer for various “outside” magazines including Outside, Backpacker, Bicycling, Mountain Bike, etc. He has a monthly column in one of the bicycling magazines…one of his columns really hit home. I have the column framed and hanging above my dresser…the reason I mention it is he speaks to the EPIPHANY which GTG brought to the forum…I thought I would share the article with the gang here….


“You don’t have to ski to love the mountains. You don’t have to acquire a chocolate lab puppy who wears a Guatemalan print collar. You don’t have to “really get into” the Allman Brothers. The fact that I’ve done just those things since moving to Colorado a year ago means nothing other than I’m a high-altitude cliché. But I don’t care. Because I’m in the mountains.
We worship mountains for countless reasons. They add texture to horizons. They’re raw and natural. They usually repel the onslaught of development, although California condo developers and West Virginia strip miners try their best to cut them down to size.
Mostly, mountains tilt from the ground to the sky. Sixth-grade science class taught us that the inclined plane is one of the “simple machines.” These six “elementary mechanisms” include the wedge, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. But none of the simple machines add as much to the human spirit as the incline (although you could make a case for the screw).
To ride mountains, no matter how small or gentle, is to open your mind to…well, an open mind. Sorry if that sounds vague, but how else to describe the feeling of pedaling to a summit or an overlook? How do you categorize that heady mix of dopamine, pride, endorphins, disassociative thinking, delirium and simple relief?
Well, in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains there’s an infamous shed with huge letters on the roof prophesizing that, “The higher you get, the higher you get.” I can’t improve on that shed. Still, I’ve tried. The last time I crested a mountain pass-the last time I got high on a bike, under my own steam, reveling in the power of will and muscles and simple machines – I wrote down the words “Epiphany Stage”.
I wrote down “Epiphany Stage” without looking it up, and it could be inaccurate or stupid or both. If you’re reading this mag, though, chances are you know what I’m talking about. Because if you ride enough inclined planes, mountain biking becomes more than mere sport. It becomes a tingling fiber that runs from your gut through your heart to your brain and its various cognitive loops and pleasure centers.
I’m not a New Ager living in a fantasy world. I think “channel” has very limited applications as a verb. I think unicorns are just a medieval version of a jackalope. But I believe in head changes and a bikes ability to deliver them. I believe that, through mountain bikes, the North American West has witnessed more transcendental experiences than the most holy Himalayan ashram.
Sadly, there are millions of bike owners out there who have no freaking clue what I’m talking about. They possess bikes, but they don’t pedal incline planes and they don’t reach physical or spiritual summits. They don’t see the light. I suppose it’s up to us, those who’ve been changed and bettered by mountain biking, to lead the unknowing lambs to the Epiphany Stage. Then again, some things are too fine and mystical to share.

[ck_1]

I didn't mean to kill the thread...sorry guys...

[Nighthiker]

I just got my bike out of the storage shed, cleaned it up and I will be dropping it off at the bike shop for tune up etc. It's a street bike ten speed and I drive out into the desert and ride the highways of AZ 79 (Brady wash to Oracle Jct), 177 (Kelvin to Winkelman), 77 Oracle to Mammoth and 387 on the Gila Indian Community. Its quite an event for me to ride these roads at night during the monsoon season. I have borrowed a mountain bike and rode the area around Roosevelt Lake and the area around Young.

[ck_1]

It's a whole other way to see the trails....with the way I ride, I often see them VERY close up

[GTG_AZH]

I dont think you killed it ck1, very good read from you as usual.

GTG