All of a sudden... and it really was all of a sudden. Like a bolt, or a
whip with a switch the idea came to my mind like it was reality... I was
riding down the Government trail on my new bike that I had just built.
Man... I was having a BLAST! It was one of those Aspen days... impossibly
perfect. It was so perfect that I could taste the clouds with a simple
lick. I was talking to myself in my new reality. I was exclaiming my
greatness, and I was exclaiming my bikes greatness. My mp3 player made me
talk to the bike in rhythm as the world collapsed and darkened and became
cold and wet...
It was a pity really. My reality was not to be so bright that day. The
rocks had been careening like bombs down into the hourglass I was so
desperately trying to get out of for so so long. The rains came, and the
rocks came almost immediately. It smelled like razor blades, and I noticed
that my fingernails were very dirty. I held them close to my face and
helmet, and I kept my helmet close to the rock that seemed to protect me
against the onslaught of rocks and debris that were trying to smash my days
into oblivion. I imagined the rock being pounded until it opened up and
exposed my blue coat to the evil forces of nature.... a gravitational force
for the rocks to pull to and destroy, but the giant rock held itself
together as it shook and heated from the certain destruction that was taking
place just feet from my position. How could sediments turn into ugly,
sedimentary, solid masses that exploded in front of my face? I knew, but it
seemed too contrived, and it made me scoff at the mere thought of thinking
of it.
I turned and looked behind me..... at flying, sparking, and smoking rocks...
in the rain... My breath was taken, and a stark feeling of disparity came
over me. Odds and evens, black and white. The general mayhem was
one thing, but the brutality of the deafening noise generated by the event
was disorienting. I had to get out of there. Could I escape by staying
close
to the rocks and backing up? I watched for the rocks hitting, and decided
that
there was not a chance in the universe on negotiating the wet and steep
rocks
on the decent, while avoiding the small and giant rocks flying through the
air.
I pulled my feet in even tighter as a small rock bounced off my shoe.
I waited for 4 long hours until the falling rocks abated enough for me to
scramble and slide and fall and run off the side of the mountain. The rain
would come and go and come and go. The rocks would never stop. It was
getting late. The trip down would take hours. I just got angry enough to
get [censored] enough to get upset enough to do it!
3 hours later I was in the afternoon sun. It was probably 80, but I was
dressed for snow.... Ice Ax hanging on the strap around my wrist. I didn't
stop to remove an article of clothing until I was at the car 2 hours after
that. It was 8PM... 16 hours after I left the car.
I never stopped thinking about what I thought about while I was behind that
rock. There were a lot of things going on... none of them very joyous. My
mind really had wandered into madness. For stretches of time behind that
rock I really thought that it wasn't just what I was doing.... it wasn't the
tree in the woods that fell that only I could hear. It was the planet.
Everyone was going through some sort of ginormous event, and we would all be
sucked up soon enough only to be spit out into oblivion and space. I bit my
fingernails to the quick, and then believed that quick was alive when it was
really just my own pain and blood. The rocks were alive as well.... and
they were playing a sick game of gravity chance to kill me... they were
doing
it on purpose, and they filled me with terrific fear. The only positive
idea that
I remember was the mountainbiking on Government Trail. It was so real....
It seemed to be the only thing to be real, and it wasn't.
Well.. now it is.
Got it built up about 3 weeks ago.. been riding ever since. It's good to be
back on the steed.
http://home.comcast.net/~darsh007/wsb/media/1044286/site1042.jpg