Summer is on!

Another long stretch without posting.. As usual that means I've been busy!

Justine and I are still together, and enjoying each other's company. We took a great road trip to Arizona earlier this year, passing through Death Valley and Bootleg Canyon along the way. While there Justine met Win and Mark, and we had a bunch of good adventures together.

Summer has been a blur of friends passing through town, good rides all around Oregon, and lots of work for both of us. Justine found work as a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) supervisor. She leads an invasive species removal crew, and leads teens all around the area doing just that. I've been at the Mercantile about 40 hours per week. Repairs, keeping it looking sharp, and helping the passers by find good adventures fill my days with smiles and lots to do.

I'm also in the process of putting together a mountain bike race, the FAT55. It is a sampler of many of Oakridges best trails. Starting in Uptown Oakridge it heads up into the hills around town, making a big 55 + mile loop on six of our best local trails before finishing in Greenwaters park. Check out the website @ www.fatfiftyfive.com to see the course map and learn more about the race.

Thanks for keeping tabs on me. I'll try to post more frequently as the fall season comes around.

Eug

First Mountain Bike Ride

I met Justine October 19, 2009. Just having left the garage on my jump bike headed for Diamond Park Jump Track, I hit the little road gap floater behind the cul de sac. At the same time Justine and my friend Brandon Clark were turning into Diamond Park. Justine and I first gazed into each other's eyes that moment, and have been intrigued and entranced ever since.

We connected that day, and continued to build our connection over the coming weeks. As the weeks passed, and we found ourselves growing closer despite the distance between us, as she had gone home to Crescent City, CA and then on to Maui where she had been living earlier in the year. Conveniently, I had planned a road trip to the San Francisco area during November to visit The Family Sard, a family of traveling performers I had met in Oakridge earlier in the summer. Justine was planning to be in Crescent City with family around the time I was returning from San Francisco and we planned a meeting at her family's home.

In the midst of a wintery coastal gale we met, Justine embraced me, and I her, on the shores of the Pacific. We enjoyed the few days we had together there near Crescent City exploring the redwood forests and coast she explored when she was younger, and began to forge a strong bond, united by our common goals and desires.

When the time came for me to return to Oakridge neither of us wanted to leave the other. She came to Oakridge with me that day, and we've been making a home together ever since.

The picture here is of Justine on her first real mountain bike ride. Alpine Trail of course! We climbed the short south facing 5828 climb to intersect Alpine on a warm Decembers day before descending the trail to the Covered Bridge in Westfir, then on up the North Fork Trail to 1910. She rocked it out, only crashing once (into a blackberry briar). Unhurt, she laughed it off, and we had a splendid time.

That's the short story, stay tuned for more!

The Desert Rat Life

p
Life in the desert. Color is vivid, life a standout against the backdrop of rock and sand, wind and expansive openness. I've been reading Desert Solitare, Ed Abbey's book about living in Arches National Monument in the late 60's. A season in the wilderness. For me it is a season in the city; lattes, burritos, wi fi, and mountain bikes, juxtaposed with the harsh environment here and the reality of living out of a vehicle and a bike shop.

It's a fun life, although challenging to make the personal space necessary to write a good blog entry, or dig deeply into old Ed's book, as the wind is often blowing, and I'm often finding myself heading out to camp just as the sun tips over the horizon.

The pics I'm posting today are a mix of traveling here with Ben through Death Valley and the inexplicable Racetrack, where the rocks move about helter skelter on their own, and a couple of the desert life here. Red flowers against the harsh dry rock, and a beautiful desert camp with the good folks of Magpie Adventures as we rode the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park.

I'm off to meet up with Hanka, Bowman, and Troy, for what is sure to be a great ride out exploring the endless sandstone near Gold Bar Rim.

Cheers from the Love Muffin Cafe. 'Till next time.

Eug

Wade customizing the uni with awesome gusset

Gusset going on legs (thanks Wade!)

New style pivoting dropout (probably 20 hours of work here for both)

More pics.

Natty's Uni

Viewed from bottom to top, here are a few pics of Natty's lil 19" uni during construction at Wade's Vulture Cycles shop in Bend in early March. I just received the rim, and will be and I will be building the wheel very soon. It's fun to be building again!

Moab 2009

I left Oakridge on March 2, headed for Bend, OR to spend some time with friends and to build a new 19" unicycle for Natty, on my way to Moab, Utah for the spring. Nearly a month has passed since I pulled out of town in my old red Toyota, and many adventures have been had.

Today I'm recovering from a nasty stomach flu that hit me yesterday on my way back to Moab from a couple of days of riding in the Fruita area. I'm headed in to work at the Poison Spider Bike Shop in just a few minutes, so I'm going to have to spare the narrative for now. Instead I'm posting a few pics from along the way: Mac building a new frame in Vultures Shop, Mark McD shredding near Bishop, me on the rock near bishop. Enjoy.

Finding the Line

My dad, Skip Cathcart, aka Jack Mirfak, died the day after my last blog post. A month and a half later I sit in a little brewpub in Oakridge, Oregon listening to a singer sing "... down the road."

His life changed me. His death changed me. Yet here I am, still me, still following my thread.

Nearly a year has passed since I wrote of my thread from a distant place, in this life. In that time I'm not clear that I've really figured out where my thread leads, no I'm following my thread. But, I've had some clarity about what my thread is made of: friends, honesty, bikes, photography, exploration, curiosity.

It seems that more questions arise, and few questions are answered as this life moves ever onward. My dad once said, "the bigger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of mystery." I think it is someone else's quote, but relevant to us all.

I've been in the usual routine again since Dad died. Go to work, go home, think of stuff to do, think of places to go, think of people to see. But do any of these things get us any farther down the line? Do they answer any of the questions that go unspoken?

Where am I?
How did I get here?
What does it mean when I say the word I?
Is there a purpose to my life?
Is there any way for me to answer these questions?

These are questions my dad asked, and kept asking, until he moved on. Maybe he found some answers to these questions where he went, maybe he is still asking them where he is now.

I'm grateful for my life every day, and for each and every friend I have.

I'm moving on towards another adventure this spring; a trip to Moab to work at the Poison Spider Bike Shop. I'll be there from mid March until late May. I'm looking forward to all of the newness of adventure, to the smells and sights of the Southwest, and to all to the unknowns out there.

See you on the road.

Ad Astra..

Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly,
Man got to ask himself,
Why? Why? Why?

Tiger got to rest,
Bird got to land,
Man got to tell himself he understand.

A few pictures representative of what I'm thinking about and feeling today.

Top to bottom:

We Can Handle It boxcar-my dad's favorite.
Tracks ahead- the road goes ever onward.
Friends and music-make life worth living.
Turns ahead-maybe this was a premonition.

My dad and I are at the hospital. He became too weak to care for himself at home a few days ago. We felt we had no options left but to call for an ambulance and head into town to find medical assistance. The doctors found cancer in his lungs, his liver, his spleen, his lymph nodes, his adrenal glands. He has melanoma. It is untreatable at this stage.

The question of time comes to mind. How much of it does he have? That's what people usually ask in these circumstances. But none of us know. Not for him, not for ourselves. We don't know if we'll live to see 90, or die on the way to work tomorrow. Seems to me the question of importance isn't how much time we have, but rather, what can we do with our time here?

That question of course can't be answered unless a person first considers what they believe the purpose of life to be. I can't say that I'm too sure there is one purpose that is right for me.

I believe that the world contains everything from heaven to hell. I believe those concepts aren't vague and abstract ideas to be realized after we die, but instead realities here on Earth, and by inhabiting the Earth as sentient beings capable of free thinking and action we have the ability to influence our surroundings. I for one enjoy the heavenly aspects of this Earth and have yet to find a higher calling than to try to further the beautiful, the loving, the compassionate, the free and the awesomeness that I find here.

I hope my dad's last days of this life are filled with love, compassion, and the knowledge that he has helped to bring about positive change in this world by being a caring, honest, and compassionate person who values beauty and freedom, love and truth.

Think about my dad-Jack Mirfak, and send him thoughts of love and strength, positivity and courage.

And while there aren't too many signs on the road of life telling you just what the curves in the road are going to look like, you can know that there will be many, and you will be more prepared to handle them if you keep yourself strong and healthy, and avoid the traps of addiction. My dad and I want you to know; it is worth the sacrifice now to avoid the agony later.

Peace

Having left Oakridge just a few days back I've arrived in Flagstaff with my traveling companions Scott and Donna Taylor. We traveled to Arizona via Caldwell and Boise Idaho where Donna's family lives, before turning south and enjoying two days of sunshine and red rocks in Moab.
From Moab we drove to Flagstaff on a beautiful day.

During our time in Moab we connected with old friends, and made some new ones.

At the moment, I'm going to have to leave all the details out, as I'm getting ready to go to breakfast with Steve and Denise Garro (see Coconino Cycles and Denise in my links) before going for a unicycle/handbike/hike with the two of them.

The pictures below are of Shawn Hanka as he showed me around near Amasa Back in Moab.

More later!

Dale Chihuli Chandelier II
in the
Milwaukee Museum of Art

Capital Building in Madison during the Saturday Market

Thai Pavilion in Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden Madness

A poem for the day:

"P U S H"

I do not quit.
I do begin.

To live my life from far within.

To do
To be

Just what is right for me.

To live a life not based on fear.

Rather to seek out the joy present here.

I'm posting from Emy J's, a fun and comfortable coffee house and restaurant in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. I flew into Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the 9th. Enjoying a 4 hour wait, I walked around the city, going from the bus station down to Lake Michigan, before walking along the shoreline to the Milwaukee Museum of Art. I was attracted to it by the amazing architecture, pictured above. Once there I was really stoked to investigate the building and it's contents.

While I chose not to go into the exhibit itself during my short stay, I did enter the atrium where there is an amazing piece by Dale Chihuly, a revered and pioneering glass artisan. It is his "Isola di San Giocomo in Palude, Chandelier II". A gigantic work of art consisting of many hundreds of pieces of individually blown and sculpted glass. It is amazing for it's uniqueness, life, color, textures, and intricacy.

From there I walked back through the city, enchanted with the brick architecture, and waterways throughout. I hopped on a "Lamers" bus, which was indeed full of somewhat lame people, and scooted on to Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

My friend Sarah met me there, and we began our week together. I'll tell you about the edges of my time here, and leave the deep rooted content for another post.

It is fall here, color at it's peak. There are hardly any hills in this part of the country, which I always pictured creating long vistas and a feeling of bigness. But lo, it is rather confining I find. The lack of topography creates a visual barrier at the next building, the next tree, and really a person can't see more than a half a mile most of the time.

But that's OK if what you are looking for is where you are. And indeed I came here to see my friend, her family, and my family in Madison.

Sarah showed me around Point as they call it. The Other Side, a fun little restaurant cafe is a hub of eclectic culture was our first stopping point. We enjoyed fine microbrew from the area, and some good food.

The next few days were a mixture of traveling to Madison, seeing the culture and sites of the city and it's dwellings, and meeting Sarah's family. I had met her mom before in Oregon, but this time I was also introduced to her grandparents, her sister, her friend Dan and her long time friend Lee Francin and her new family Shawn and daughter Olivia.
I enjoyed Madison, was glad to meet her family and friends.

My trip here is the culmination of many years of companionship with Sarah, beginning at the Single Speed World Championships in Downieville, CA.

This trip is something I've both wanted to embark on since our first meeting, and something I've feared to embark upon as it is a journey into the unknown . While Sarah and I both care for each other deeply our paths have often been filled with scree, and the hardscrabble under foot has caused a fall or two for both of us which have left scars.

That said, I was hoping to find smooth tread under foot for this week's travels. However we have again failed to agree upon the smooth path to travel, and are walking the middle ground of no path in particular stumbling over brambles, and cactus, and kicking rocks we didn't see.

Fumbling for footing is never fun, but has provided insight into ourselves and our relationship, and hopefully before the trip comes to a close, clarity and direction.

Sarah has met some great people here and I've met a few of them now too. There is a good bike scene here, just about everyone I've met is really friendly and enjoyable, and they have all been welcoming as I explore.

The week ahead will go quickly I'm sure. I've got another day or two here, then I'm off to Madison for a couple of days with my uncle Jeramiah and Aunt Nancy, and on Saturday I'm going back to Portland. As usual, I'm glad I've gone traveling, and look forward to being home again.

Where's the comments? Whatcha got for me?

Touch it's cold hard steel.
The sharp coolness of alone.

Smile on a bike,
Warm the coolness.

Cold steel meets,
Human drive.

We can handle it?
We can handle it.

Hold me to your heart.
And don't ever say we'll part.

Dreams

I'm sitting out in front of the Trailhead Cafe here in Oakridge. The skies here have been a bluish white with big plumes of rose colored smoke occasionally drifting up from the Rattle fire down in the Umpqua drainage for the past couple of weeks.

It is one of those days when I could be out doing, but instead I'm sitting and thinking, having conversation with the passers by and considering where I'm going.

Maybe this time of year just brings that out in me, especially here in Oakridge. Things slow down, the visitors of the summer months head home, and the stillness left leaves lots of room for contemplation of one's self.

I find myself thinking of Argentina, not only of the sights I saw when I was there, but the memories I made and the dreams I had. I think of the goals I thought up for myself, and I realize that it is in these quiet times when I have the opportunity to actualize those goals.

My current goals are all about meeting basic needs, staying healthy and having fun. Generally speaking I'd like to: practice yoga regularly, play music, dance, get outside in beautiful places often, have stimulating conversation, make art, and learn about other cultures and stories outside of my sphere of knowledge.

All of this comes within the context of having clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, enough good food to eat, and a comfortable place to spend my nights and days.

Often I find myself focusing on providing these basic necessities for myself, or diverting my energy away from all of the above mentioned goals for the purpose of a short respite from the overwhelmingness of it all.

What are your goals? What do you think is going to happen in the next days, weeks, years of your life? An inquiring mind wants to know.

Floating

Radical. To the root.
Courage. From the heart.
Living. From the heart.

Life usually isn't about being strong enough to hold the world on one's shoulders.
Its about finding the courage.
To say no.
To be you.
To know that the little choices comprise our essence.

Thread Bare

Buildings and bridges
are made to bend in the wind
to withstand the world,
that's what it takes
All that steel and stone
is no match for the air, my friend
what doesn't bend breaks
what doesn't bend breaks

Ani DiFranco

Living in Oregon, working at an outdoor store. Listening to the news as it comes. Banks are collapsing, bikes are being ridden, friends are leaving, and coming, and here. There is no time for the future when I am making time in the now, there is no time for the now if I'm living somewhere else.

Forever
is a long time
but it happens all the time

Natty Lee Gann wrote that.

The summer slips by. Cold grey wildernesses turn to green blue and warm wonderfuls. August. The heat, the grass grows yellow, stops growing. The season of new love slips towards the season of yellowing leaves, of falling petals, of windy days on long mountain ridges. Alone in the world, together with all this wilderness.

My Only, wants to find an Only, and I only want the best for us both. The wind. It blows, in my phone, and when I awake I wonder. What was that wind? Did it speak to me? I can't remember the words.

People worry about everyone else, when their own lives are in jeopardy, and struggle to find the holds to grip as they climb towards their own dreams.

I grapple with the tangible in intangible ways.

The world is too complex to see it all as a whole and function logically. We focus on the experiences most meaningful to us and make qualitative judgements derived from these experiences, thereby becoming individuals, yet still within a mass. All moving in the same direction is seems, yet all going about in our own directions.

And ahh, The Thread. It is there, it is hard, it is soft. I can grab it, I can't find it. Did I lose my thread? No I'm IN my thread.

So I Went a Wandering

There were lakes high and warm and beautiful. Arucaria trees and their beautiful bark, and flowers more than one's eye could capture. I walked into the wilderness one day. Hiking up and away from Pucon, away from civilization, into a quiet place unto my own.

Ahhh, the trip was really getting under way.

Chile; finally, again, at last.

Finally! Some pictures from Chile! I flew into Santiago on a sunny and fairly clear day, arriving from the Northwestern side of the city. The plane approached over desolate, dry, and mountainous country reminiscent of Nevada. Only as we were about to touch down in Santiago did I get my first glimpse of Chilean greenery, an agricultural area near the airport.

From the airport I hailed a taxi. With my limited Spanish, and even more limited geographic and cultural understanding of Chile and Santiago I ended up paying about $80 for a 20 minute cab ride into the city. There I was happy to be on the ground, at a hostel I had found online with the help of a friend of a friend of my mother.

I put as much of my stuff (pictured in Portland before I left) as I could into the locker provided at the hostel, and went walking around Santiago. The hostel was located near the city center and Plaza de Armas, so I went there to see what it was all about. Santiago is alive with life, pedestrians everywhere sometimes forming critical masses to cross busy streets on red lights, making places like Los Angeles seem empty and isolating with everyone hiding in their car. I enjoyed walking around, although I was nervous because I didn't understand the culture, or much of the language and I was carrying my passport, cash, and camera on my person.

However I was never threatened and mostly felt uncomfortable because I am not used to having so many people so very close around me. The Plaza de Armas is a neat open park space with brick pavers, lots of open space, and a few trees. It is surrounded by museums (I think) and churches, notably a big catholic cathedral with the pictured statue adorning the roof top.
I went into the church and enjoyed the peaceful tranquility of the place amongst the hundreds of people quietly sitting and reflecting or praying inside.

Santiago continued to catch me by surprise with the many loose dogs on the streets, literally sleeping underfoot. There are big pedestrian only streets there too, filled from building to building with people going in in every direction, overwhelming but beautiful at once.

From Santiago I bussed and thumbed rides south towards Pucon with a brave little American woman named. She is a retired teacher, and bluntly told me: buses are boring it will be much more interesting to hitch hike. Logic I couldn't refuse.

Our trip south was indeed interesting, and we had some good rides. We split up along the way, me going on to Pucon, her staying behind in Chillan where we had found a good, cheap, hospedaje, or hostel in someones home.

Chillan was the real thing. Poor, but honest and real. The people walked where they went, and were not trying to be anything besides what they really are. Image is nothing, reality is everything. Well as far as I could tell anyhow.

I went on to Pucon, anxious to get to the mountains. I felt like I was traveling north from Sacramento into Northern California and onward to Oregon. Only it was a mirror image. Pucon was very touristy, with lots of drunk and well to do people from all over the world walking the streets and sunbathing at the local lakeside beach. I was pretty dissapointed with the town, as it reminded me of the parts of American Culture I despise- gluttonous consumption, and a disregard for the welfare of those around you, arrogance- but the food was indeed good and I found some sushi to eat. It was kind of a paradox for me to be in South America eating sushi.

I stayed at the Wohlenberg Hostel, a second generation German family there took every visitor in like family. Thanks to them I had a safe place to crash and find some info on the trails in the area. I rented a Huffy from them and went on a nice 40 km ride along dirt roads, out to a place called Los Ojos, the eyes; here water as blue as an emerald poured freely from the ground and began a river.

Soon I grew anxious to get into the mountains, as Volcan Villarica (pictured) is ajacent to town and very beautiful indeed. I caught a bus to Parque Nacional Herquehue, where I began a long and steep hike up to some beautiful natural lakes. I snapped the picture of the lake and mountain behind on my way up the hill looking back where I had come from (I had begun hiking at the far end of the lake).

End of Introduction to Eugene's Chile trip. Stay tuned for Part One: The Hike.

No Pictures!

I have some great pictures I want to upload, but Blogger won't let me at the moment. It is late I'll try again tomorrow.

Thrivin' in the Northwest

Wow, I can't believe it is almost two months since my last post! What happened? Where did I go?

Well, after our excellent mountain bike vacation in Moab I returned to Oakridge. I've been here or near here since then. Living in the Airstream, riding mountain bikes and telemark skiing in the beautiful forests and mountains near Oakridge, riding the road bike (to Bend one weekend), going to see Spearhead and Michael Franti in Eugene, and keeping the Mountain Mercantile going on the days I'm in the shop. But most importantly, I've been doing all of these things with wonderful people, my community.

Sorry I've been letting things get stale here. I probably look at the blog more frequently than anyone (it is my home page). I just haven't been motivated to write, to post my photos.
But, thanks to the Empress, the Polywog, the Garros, Mirfak, the Zen Tea Poet, Bearbait, WinTrees and all others who have given me a push recently, I have been encouraged to keep going, to follow my thread ever onward, and to keep you all posted about what it is that I'm up to.

Although I haven't been posting, I have been thinking, taking pictures, and thriving in a non bloggin' way, and there are plenty of interesting pictures to post and subjects to write on.

For today I'm going to keep it short, post a few pictures of the recent weeks, and be glad to have some fresh content up.

Thanks for encouraging me, its good to be back.