mingling with the locals

Living down here I have run into a lot of interesting locals, some were great experiences, some were super sketchy and some were worth a good laugh.

If your in Tucson you have to chill with “the Grey Wolf,” before you leave. The story goes, he was hit by a bus, sued the city, and now he just does all the group rides (doesn’t every group ride have that guy?) Anyway, rather than attempt some clever one liners of some false preening drivel in an attempt to be funny like Bob Roll… just look for yourself at this interview by Midwest homey and top notch dude Skiles, its for real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaeeMh7qFhY
PS- kids if your reading this, DO NOT LISTEN TO THE GREY WOLF, not wearing your helmet shows that you dont have much underneath it to protect.

I have had a few slightly sketched out moments as well. We live well outside of town just a few miles from the Indian reservation. I have been lost a couple times now training and ended up on dirt roads that no longer said “US 86” but “Indian 55”, no longer on the white mans land. I guess I don’t feel scared there, even though I am certainly not welcome, but I feel guilty for being there. The Native Americans got such a raw deal and have been sp institutionally screwed over that for me to be basically playing on their land, at least in my mind, seems like a slap in their faces, and I get out of there post haste.

At a gas station today stopping for water on a long hot training ride an older guy came up and started chatting me up about the bike. We were waiting on a wayward ride buddy so I started answering his questions about the SRAM components, the weight of the bike, the usual. Normally this conversation ends pretty quickly there, but he was a rider too (at 74 years old) and was really stoked for Ty and I to be moved out so far from home just to ride. It reminded him of his twenties when he started riding in Boulder Colorado (“before all the hipsters took over,” I immediately liked this dude), which he described as the best summer of his life. It was really cool chance encounter, and you could tell he enjoyed sharing a precious memory with someone he maybe saw a little reflection of his own youth in.

We finally left our corner of town and made the pilgrimage to Mt. Lemmon, Eli and Andrea were the photographers for the day and snapped some really nice pictures of the scenery. They left town so now its just Ty and I, and our faithful posse of junkyard dogs - Bilbo, Booger, Flame, Munchies, and Freak-Baby the cat.