Reading Walden

No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his cloths; yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched cloths, than to have a sound conscience....


There was a certain positive originality, however slight, to be detected in him, and I occasionally observed that he was thinking for himself and expressing his own opinion, a phenomenon so rare that I would any day walk ten miles to observe it, and it amounted to the re-origination of many of the institutions of society. ~Thoreau, Walden


Mr. Lewis was dead on when he encouraged us to read numerous old books for each contemporary work.


Yesterday did not go very well. It was a text book day of mistakes. You've read about avoiding such days in your training regimes. Start off the day with a minor squabble. Then, put in a very hard morning effort in rain and flurries. Following said effort, ride down the single track towards the vehicle. Allow the mind to drift....wreck. Injure shoulder and re-irritate hamstring. Finish ride down the trail cursing one's self for juvenile stupidity.

Injuries are a function of a lack of concentration at the moment, usually following a hard effort. I've had a few decent crashes on the mountain bike. Number one was after finishing an effort at the 'bowl a few years back. That evening I managed to get sideways on a water bar on Second Thought heading back to the vehicle in the parking lot. Again, fatigue and a lack of concentration following a hard effort. I've cracked a few ribs on Sheep in the past as well. Of course, occasionally crashes occur during the training efforts as well and if we don't occasionally take a spill, we're probably not giving it an honest go.

So, for now, I'm returning to Thoreau. Monday, we'll have things checked out. Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe I already did. If I start writing about China or long hikes in the wilderness, simply chime out. Too bad it is not my left, at least I could still cast as the big bugs will be emerging shortly. It's been one day. I miss my bike.