Back to the regularly scheduled program

Finally back from a long vacation and I feel the need to ride badly. Of course, when you desire to ride the most is when the weather turns on you. Oh well it looks like the weekend is shaping up to be nice and thats what really counts because there are big "to do's" this weekend.

A ride that I have been organizing and super excited for is coming up this Sunday. This time of the year is by far my favorite time to ride. The summer is over and it is time to go on beer rides and just really enjoy the great places that we live to ride.

Dicky made a very philisophical post this morning. Maybe the rain is getting to his head but it made me laugh and it might make you laugh so check it out. He also brought up a point that I didn't really want to touch on this early in my blogging career but since he did it I feel as though I must clarify.

What is ExtrmTao anyway? I use it as my screen name on everything. Why? Does it mean "Extreme tomatoes" or what? Well a long time ago when I signed up for my first Bulliten board on the Internet I used that screen name. It was appropriate at the time because I was in Martial Arts studying JuJitsu and Taoism. During this time we would also practice a meditation named Zen. The meditation can be very healing. You sit on your knees or Indian Style and try to clear your mind of all thought. My instructor used to say that you are a master if you can clear your mind for longer than 10 seconds. How would you ever really know anyway? What does all this have to do with biking?

My instructor once said "Martial Arts may not be for you but maybe it will lead you to something that is for you." I think I knew what he meant when he said that. If not, I definitely do now. For now, it has led me to Mountain Biking. I am addicted and I have found that this sport is very philisophical for me now. There is something about a long gravel grind or a sweet fast decent that takes all life and puts it aside for a moment. Many times I tell my friends that I know when I really enjoy a trail because I will get done negotiating the features of the single track then think to myself "All I was thinking about was riding at that particular moment." and that in its own particular way is Zen. Maybe not in its purest form but it definitely gets close.

So back to the point here. "ExtrmTao" is my short name for "Extreme Taoism." Sure maybe it is cheesy and you don't find any meaning in it. Well good because its not for you its for me. It means something to me and more than that most everything I sign up for online has this screename available. That's right folks I have simplified my online life with one simple screen name that noone else understands. That is most definitely Zen.

Many of the things that I used to do in Martial Arts translate to Mountain Biking. I will give one example for now. We used to practice falling and rolls in class. There is actually a technique to falling that will prevent major injury. Basically what you do is try to focus the main blow and power to the big meaty muscle parts of your body. Maintaining momentum is also a key initiative to falling. You don't want everything to stop at once or you will get hurt. This translates easily to riding because as riders we fall all the time. Well I do anyway. Most times I come out with minor injuries at most. I attribute this to the falling skills that were taught to me at an early age in this class. Maybe I have some cat blood but I don't think that is it. I will post more thoughts on these connections later.

Well I hope this clears things up a little. Now get out there and ride your bikes for the pure love of it. If riding bikes isn't your love then get out there and find something on your own.