That's what Evan said right before giving me a quick surprise kiss at the trailhead, immediately following a miserably soggy commute from his parents house to the snowy woods that we were so excited to ride. It was still snowing---wet, slushy flakes that turned the highways into a nasty stew of water, salt, and road …
Continue reading "If you can ride in this, you can ride in anything."
Thunder rumbles in the distance, but the sun is still shining. Every now and then the wind gusts, the leaves rustle. Maybe the storm is finally headed this way. But then it is calm again, with only the buzzing of insects and the faint noise of a motorboat speeding down the lake to disturb the …
I awoke a little too soon after I'd gone to bed, to the sound of Dunk banging on the windows of the Subaru to ask Evan where the water was to make coffee. I extracted my arm from the warm down of my sleeping bag to reach for my phone and check the time. 7 …
It's hot as hell again. Not even a slight breeze to offer some relief from the sweltering, humidity-laced heat that hangs in the air. I don't think I have stopped sweating since I left the air-conditioned hotel room in Kyoto yesterday morning. I sit here at my computer, my damp fingers on the keys, trying …
Continue reading "The woods and the waters and the people that make a home."
Trading a warm bed on a lazy Sunday morning for the promise of legs burning with exertion in wet 45-degree weather, I stand, slightly chilly, in the parking lot as the rain comes down and he gathers the last of the gear. Riding to the lake, in slightly-nervous anticipation, raindrops pattering on the windshield that …
helena kotala 