Leadville Or Bust 2: Palo Duro Morning

 

As a mountain bike rider sidekick, it's important to be a rider yourself.  It just is.  Within 24 hours of being in Palo Duro, we took 4 separate rides, 35 miles of climbs and decents and rough canyon trails through incredible scenes.  Legs don't build themselves, lungs don't acclimate automatically, every mile is earned the way all things worth developing are earned.  Brown took off, he had specific preparation objectives, he was testing out a pesky rib injury.

Palo Duro is a marvel of nature, of course, but also of New Deal intention and labor.  Paved roads, campsites, huts, and a visitor center.  Panhandle Texans with their cars and post WW2 boom we're all over it from then on out.  I'm embarrassed to be a first time visitor at my advanced age and lifelong Texan status.  Better late than never, the 2nd largest canyon in America is worth the visit, enough said.

Tuesday's the day we'll know more about the Silver Rush MTB50, on or off or in between, its irrelevant to our movement.  We must continue towards Leadville.  Independence Day started with a French pressed Palo Duro morning, a fine and delicious hamburger at the Palo Duro Trading Post, and a drive to Capulin RV Park.  From there, an evening ride to sit atop the Capulin Volcano is planned. Should be a hazy New Mexican sunset, the smoke is close.         

Leadville Or Bust 1: Into The Smoke

 

Fires raged in the Rockies, it was unclear if the 2026 Silver Rush 50MTB in Leadville, Colorado would even occur.  We checked for updates and speculated, but we set out west, as planned, on the 1st of July without fear, without worry.  Brown was entered and paid up, his second Siver Rush 50, I signed on as medic, media coordinator, and part time chef.  Every mountain bike rider needs a crew.

The webpage description of the race...

Put your grit, guts and determination to the test with a 50-mile course that packs more punch (per mile) than even the mighty Race Across the Sky. From technical climbs to high-speed descents, the Silver Rush 50 MTB takes riders across Leadville’s breathtaking panoramas and under the shadow of 14,000-foot Rocky Mountain peaks. With 8,000 feet of elevation gain over 50 miles, Silver Rush offers the perfect trial run — and qualifying event — for the Race Across The Sky.

I'll do what I can, stay silent when best to stay silent, speak up when when needed.  Keep the tunes down in the evening and up in the afternoon.

By the end, it's 2 nights in Palo Duro canyon, 1 night near the Capalin volcano, and 8 nights in Leadville.  Plan A, but we got plan B ready to plan, and plan C if it comes to it.  Even our plans have plans.  But, somehow, through it all, we have no plans.  We'll know by Tuesday, the race organizers wrote, head this way, stay close.  It's Leadville or bust, into the smoke.

Dumpster Diver

 

I'm a dumpster diver.

Cold blooded survivor.

Went dumpster diving.

For my phone.

My dog was restless.

Been making messes.

Before I dove in,

Took Teddy home.

Couldn't call nobody.

Was a super hot Friday.

Meeting my kin folk,

Gotta get my phone.

One of those big ones.

Not one of the little ones.

Had to get a step stool.

Coulda broke a bone.

The minute I jumped in.

The smell was something.

But I kept going,

I was all alone.

And I got it.

Yes, I got it.

Good God, I got it.

I got my phone.

Only now I think back,

Nothing could hold me back.

Was on a mission.

Into the unknown.

Dumpster diver.

Cold blooded survivor.

Went dumpster diving.

For my phone.

*Laney Gorman co-write.

GC

G

D

G

Like Nothing

 

Like eating cardboard for days.

Like heavy air full of silence.

Like a sharp edge of ice.

Like a suit hung up in a bag.

Like a drooping and dying flower.

Like a sentence of some sort.

Like an ignored bumblebee.

Like a flickering candle flame.

Like nothing.

Golden Tempo

 

Renegade, Albus, Intrepido.

Wonder Dean from Japan made the show.

Sunday Silence was his great grandpa.

Won the Derby and Preakness, almost won 'em all.

At the Post Parade they all colored up.

Litmus Test going for the Derby Cup.

Great White scratched by the vets.

Flipped his rider before the field was set.

So Happy and with Further Ado.

Incredibolt and Chief Wallabee, too.

Ocelli was ready, Commandment was not.

Six Speed had jitters, Potente had knots.

No one was watching Golden Tempo.

As they came down the stretch he was last, ya know.

Then he made his move on the outside lane.

Blew away the field like a bullet train.

CGFCx2

FFFC

CGFC

For The Rest Of Us (Trucking Sounds)

Who gonna drive the truck.

Who gonna drive the truck.

Who gonna drive that truck.

For the rest of us.

Who gonna take the wheel.

Who gonna take the wheel.

Who gonna take the wheel.

Gimme a good deal.

Drop your hammer down.

Drop your hammer down.

Drop your hammer down.

Hear those trucking sounds.

GC

DG

CG

CDG

*Jingle Hut creation for Trucker Healthcare, Inc.

Hang Gliders

 

Death to America, death to all.

Hit Beirut after ditching the Shah.

Flew hang gliders in to murder and maim.

Took hostages, too, always the same.

Killed their own if they got out of line.

Hung em in public screaming 'Palestine!'

Three generations of Mullah rule.

The Ayatollahs, they weren't too cool.

Shot those girls between the eyes.

Said do it again and we'll take more lives.

45,000 just months ago.

Just a drop in the bucket, so we're told.

Wonder what's going through their minds.

Prolly think Allah is with them this time.

Wreck 'em and forget 'em, snake head war.

Fuck with us again, we'll fuck you up some more.