September 4, 2007 |

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Corporations don’t deserve free speech, people deserve free speech. ~ Ron English


Yesterday: Bunny Cages – COHRS, 3 hours
Today:
 Hike – Raccoon Trail, 1 hour
Tomorrow: 
Swim/Hike – Gilpin County Community Center/Coyote Trail, ~2 hours


So today was spent getting a little work done, tinkering on the dirt bike and dodging rainstorms. I got up at a relatively decent hour and put in some time organizing items for the coming three months’ worth of work (that needs to be completed in the next 24 days). Then I took my chainsaw in to the shop as I need to drop some trees. We have a pending shitstorm of beetle problems headed our way and I am going to thin out a bunch of our trees in an effort to minimize the overall impact on our property. We’ll see how that works. I did speak at length with a forest service guy today who steered me in the right direction. Now the fun part begins.


After dropping off the chainsaw, I messed around on the dirtbike for a bit to see if I could get it running. No dice. So I ran it back over to the shop to let the pros take a stab at it. I am sure it is something dumb but is also has a leaky fork seal with which I simply don’t want to deal. I am debating whether or not to sell it and maybe even all my other bikes to get a single ride that will cover my bases adequately. We’ll see about that. I am kindof jonezing for a snowmobile for this winter but frankly all of this goes a bit against my nature. I tend to prefer non-motorized means of travel. Hmmmm.


On the way home from the shop, I stopped to pick up two motorcyclists who were hitching a ride. They had started the day near Blackhawk and ended up near Rollinsville. Since their bikes were not street legal, they didn’t want to risk getting stopped on their way back and didn’t know how to get there on trails. We tossed their bikes on the trailer and I drove them back to their truck. They were amazed how far away they had managed to get. The system of trails and mining roads is pretty expansive in Gilpin County and it is actually fairly easy to find yourself a great distance from your point of origin without realizing it. I have been lost on these trails many times. Fortunately, most dump back out to the Peak-to-Peak eventually so you can usually find your way home (even if you have to go a helluva long way to get there).


So with two of my maintenance-impaired items in the shop, I think that should cover the major repairs for awhile. I did do some more research on garages and now just need to either pull the trigger or keep looking for property to purchase. We really like where we live, our chief complaint being that we don’t have as much southern exposure as we would like, that we would like a little extra room and a larger garage in which we can keep our cars out of the elements. We’ll see which way that goes.


Rach made me super yummy vegan pizza for dinner. She is the best cook. I wolfed it down and then we went on a nice little hike in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Now it is time for a little more work and then off to bed.


Movies:
Last night, we watched two films: 
POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English and Unknown.


POPaganda was actually not the greatest film ever but Ron English is an amazing artist so it was pretty cool to see his work and to be able to watch him work. If you haven’t seen any of his stuff, you should definitely check it out. He is primarily a New York artist who specialized originally in doing “takeover” billboard art. He would find billboards and paste his art (often times satirical advertising) up over the regular advertising. He then moved to more traditional forms of art and is really an incredibly talented fine artist who does most of his work in oils on canvas. Even if you don’t watch this film, check out his work here.


Unknown was pretty much crap. Don’t bother with this one.



Ok kiddies, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.


~stubert.

Thoughtful strategy. Practical execution.

Clear thinking, honest perspectives, and experience shaped by years of doing the work. No shortcuts, no borrowed opinions, just lessons learned by showing up, solving problems, and following ideas all the way through.

Four hikers with backpacks walking along a rocky mountain ridge under a blue sky
May 8, 2026
We are each our own greatest inhibitor. People don’t want to do new things if they think they’re going to be bad at them or people are going to laugh at them. You have to be willing to subject yourself to failure, to be bad, to fall on your head and do it again, and try stuff that you’ve never done in order to be the best you can be. ~ Laird Hamilton Yesterday: Hit Range Balls/Hike – Casa del Critters, 1:15 Today: Run – GGCSP, ~2 hours Tomorrow: Ride – Somewhere singlespeedy, ~2 hours Yesterday, Rach and I took a nice stroll in the woods around our house. The songbirds were going crazy-nuts and surprisingly, we only saw one other person walking his dog. I love where we live – close proximity to fun trails and the ability to get away from it all in just a short walk from our house. During lunch yesterday, I went to the driving range to get a few cuts in before playing a round of golf with my dad next week. I don’t get to play very often so need to brush up on my skills (or lack thereof) whenever I can. I am looking forward to playing with my pops and hope to break 100. I shot a 102 the last time I played so I am within striking distance of the sub-triple-digit score. We’ll see how things go. I usually do okay for most of the round and then fall apart on a couple of holes pushing my score way up. Dad shoots in the low 80s usually (I think). I am not sure I will ever play enough to be that good but it is fun to get out on the course now and again. I also went to see Dr. Paul yesterday for my ankle problem (which seems to have been resolved) and my knee (which is still a bit swollen but has decreased in size markedly over the past several days). The knee stems from my unscheduled nose-dive back in May (see this post for details). The shot some pictures and believe that everything is a-ok so that was good news. I just need to select better places for splashdowns in the future. And today is Luke’s birthday. Age is one place where I will always beat him but visit his blog to congratulate him on trying to catch up. Until next time…
Runner silhouetted at sunset on a rocky trail, mid-stride between hills.
May 8, 2026
Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience. ~ Elbert Hubbard Yesterday: Run – Casa del Critters/Flume, 1 hour 15 minutes Today: Ride/Hike/Relax Tomorrow: Run/Hike – Pawnee/Buchanan Passes, 6 hours? Yesterday I ran around the house. Not literally, mind you, but in the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous evening – calm, cool. Perfect. The wildflowers are really starting to take off up here and I was treated with a bold display of color throughout my run. Tons of Columbine lined the trailside as I ran on old mining roads and singletrack trails. It is really fun to see how much differently I am able to handle familiar terrain. I used to have difficulties running this loop and would have to walk major sections. Last night, I ran the entire loop without trouble and was able to moderate my speed to maintain a steady cadence through the run. Good times. Contracting is staying steady. A bit of a drop-off this week given the holiday but I am still managing to put in a decent number of hours. I picked up another new project today and will need to get started immediately to ensure that it gets completed on time.  Tomorrow, we are going to head up Pawnee Pass and loop back around to Buchanan Pass in the northern Indian Peaks Wilderness. This should be a fun challenge as we’ll get up pretty high, have to navigate some snow (most likely) and will be out for quite awhile. I am looking forward to it for sure . Movie time: I forgot to mention Shopgirl, a Steve Martin vehicle, we watched the other night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but found this to be a charming film about loneliness. It was well acted and would recommend it for sure. The pacing is steady throughout and some might find it a little on the slow side but it was an engaging film that had a lot to say without being overly sappy.
Hands holding a tablet displaying a video player interface. The video is paused.
February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top