I Owe Ya This
Catching up after a brief (and unplanned) hiatus
Damn! It’s been a minute. I haven’t written a blog since my (they)ster came to town a couple of weeks ago. Apologies. I’ll have plenty of excuses to come in the following few hundred, or thousand, words.
The main theme is that life has been busy, and I’ve been using my energy on trips, cleaning, and new work opportunities in lieu of posting a blog. It’s been quite non-stop since mid-March, and I don’t expect things to slow down anytime soon. I’ll try better to keep the blog postings fairly regular, and I realize that by posting more frequently, I won’t have to catch you folks up as much. Less writing. Less time. More engagement. I’ll never go 3 weeks between blogs again… lol.
While I’ve been away from the blog, I’ve embarked on an EPIC climbing trip to Red Rocks, including a vicarious free-solo Honnold sighting and lack of strippers in the Vegas area. Also lacking, aside from regular blog posts? Go-karting. When I go to Vegas, I just want to play Go-Karts. Those things are sick. I live to show up a bunch of hot-shot 12-year olds. Life hits ya fast.
Other things of note? Work is burying me, and I’m trying to be better at not being so defensive of my words. Heck, as soon as I hit ‘send,’ I cease to own them, and I have to stop caring about them. If some non-marketing higher-up wants to egregiously mess with and modify them, then so-be-it. It’s only words. How hard can it be, duh?
I joked that one of my work goals in 2024 is to ‘not burn out,’ but it’s not a joke, and I’ve got to be more defensive about my time at work. I guess publishing this blog during work hours is an extension of that? Anyway.
Sometimes, the spandex is as tight as the ass it covers
By popular demand, I’ve allowed this section title to infiltrate my blog. You’re welcome, original Wix site subscribers.
Not that I’ve encountered a lot of tight asses lately, at least metaphorically. I think the train of this analogy has left the station, leaving me on the rails. Let’s… move on, just like that train did.
Moving on. Life has been busy. Dumb busy. I feel like I’ve been doing adult things at an adult rate for the last few weeks. Most of it is through some fault of my own, and other things just being circumstance. I’ve been riding bikes and running less and less, which is not a great sign considering the two considerable athletic events I’ve signed up for in the coming months. But it’s only April, and I’ve got a little bit of wiggle room to get the shape up.
But, the busyness of life is, in the end, a good thing, and I enjoy the rumble and tumble of the days rushing by and there always being something to do. Usually chores. It keeps a guy focused. Idle hands, or however that saying goes.
I spent all of Sunday morning digging holes with friends to support some of the work being done during the Homegrown trail day. Digging holes alone is already fun as hell, but with friends? Oh boy. It’s the most cathartic and rewarding thing in the world. The Homegrown racing team did a lot of work on Galbraith’s North Side Ridge and Miranda trails to widen some problem sections and shore up areas that are prone to excess erosion. For better or worse, over half of the North Side trails are getting destroyed by logging this Spring, so I doubt the new sections of trail will be getting much traffic until the trails up top are rebuilt.
Talk shop at the bike swap
This is an advertisement for the Bellingham Bike Swap hosted by Shifting Gears.
I’m on the board, and we need bike nerds and general volunteers to help on Sunday, June 9th! I’ll post a link whenever the volunteer sign-up goes live.
I’ve already missed a meeting, but being involved in this event has been great. I’m the only guy on this board, but that’s small apples and much needs to be done. I was a little surprised that it might take 7 people to plan a one-day bike swap in a relatively small space, though there seems to be enough work to go around. It’s fun to use my professional skills in a setting that benefits the community and hopefully clears up language about what the bike swap is and how people can interact with it.
There’s still a lot of news that’ll come out of the swap, and a lot to put into it to make it happen, but I’m looking forward to some of the engaging work that’s coming out of being on such a well-rounded committee. I’m not 100% sure if I’ll be able to attend the swap itself, but I’ll do my best to be there in person and help out.
I wanna rock these obnoxious Canadians upside the head and other rock analogies
You know what feels good? Silk. Soft and sultry silk. It just feels sooooo good in your hands. So soft. Fresh cotton does this, too.
I bet it’d feel as good as clocking an obnoxious Canadian upside the head. There were a lot of obnoxious Canadians on our Bellingham to Las Vegas flight. I’m talking about the type of folks who started drinking in the parking lot, through the airport and don’t care about paying $18 for a shitty double on an Allegiant flight. The woman next to me? She started singing happy birthday and clapped when the plane landed, all made worse by the fact my noise-cancelling headphones were dead. The man in front of me? This obviously intoxicated flesh-sack thought it was a good idea to stand up as we were landing to try and hit the bathroom. I’ve never heard a flight attendant literally yell at someone. It was quite cathartic. Lucky lady.
Negativity aside, you know what feels really, really good? Limestone. Hot take, limestone is the best, coolest rock in the world. If you do your due diligence and prepare your hands for the skin-tearing limestone crags that exist throughout Vegas and the Arizona Strip, there’s really nothing better. The rock is ancient ocean-bed coral and fossils, and this creates sandpaper-like rock that will stick to anything that comes within a 2-foot radius.
Bad for skin? Absolutely. Good for feeling confident on rock? Most definitely.
When four friends and I went to the desert for 5 days, with 4 being spent exclusively on rock in and around Las Vegas, none of us sent anything spectacular or worth writing home about. We did, however, have a phenomenal time getting rock trust and stoke back in time for the PNW summer season. Only one of the days was spent on Las Vegas’s famous Red Rock in the Red Rock State Park, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Red Rock State Park is beautiful and offers unique climbing, but on harder climbs, the constant lack of feet and forced smearing on gritty sandstone takes away some of the enjoyment. Rather, I love climbing hard limestone where the smallest holds might make your fingers bleed, but stepping up from a 2mm ledge feels as solid as any plastic jug in the gym. Limestone climbing might also just suit my style more, where years of pulling brakes on mountain bikes have strengthened my tendons to a point where I’ll choose a crimp ladder over anything with smears or slopers (just kidding, crimp the sloper!).
As friends on the trip noted, this might have been the most professional and sensible Vegas trip anyone has ever done. We didn’t gamble. Didn’t drink much. Didn’t spend money at any strip clubs. We were in bed by 10 or 11pm every night and up by 6am feeling recharged and refreshed. Honestly, it was the perfect Vegas trip. Mix in a little bit of biking and go-karting and you’ve got a preview of my bachelor-party-to-be sometime next Spring or summer.
And, as the cherry on top, some of our friends got to witness Alex Honnold free-soling a multi-pitch in the Vegas area. For his standards, it was a relatively tame 10+ rated climb, but having hauled up a 10b/c multi-pitch the day before I can tell you that there were definitely some moves and exposure on the route. I also heard it was his first time in the area, which makes sense as it’s a newer zone only established last year. So not only did Honnold free 5.10+, but he onsighted all 6 pitches. Dudes insane, but him free-climbing a 5.10+ is relative to me going for an afternoon bike ride on Galby. Chance of death? Yes. Likelihood? Very low.
I’m a real newspaper guy
I signed a real life contract with Cascadia Daily News! I’m excited. And nervous. They seem appreciative of what I’ll be bringing to the table, specifically reporting about recreational and community events (think bike swaps, community races, riding groups, intro clinics, local events, etc.), and I have a nice little platform I can spew words from. Really, the risk is all on CDN. Why would they trust a guy like me with words like these? Have they read my blog?
I’m not sure what I’ll be writing about first. So far, I've identified a handful of ideas for the month of April that I think are worth talking about. From the Janicki logging on Galbraith to the handful of new trail openings, I think I’d be able to get some opinions and updates from the community out into the open this month. I’m not trying to blow up anyone’s spot or report on some underground community that’s trying to stay relatively underground, but I will be talking to people who want to be talked to and want more visibility towards their events, programs, non-profits, or whatever else they think is valuable. If you’ve got a lead, feel free to send it my way, and at the very least, I’ll get it in front of the right people.
Podcasts Worth Listening To
This American Life: 828 – This episode is a good mix of cringe and entertaining vigilantism and life stories, as usual. The last story is adorable.
Mags Worth Subbing
Summit Mag – Big, beautiful pictures and very rich climbing stories.
Vinyl’s Worth Scratching
David Bowie’s Changes (One) – My pops sent over a big box of Vinyl’s that we’re still digging through. It makes me sad when I have to throw away a Blue’s Brothers or Niel Young classic, but a scratched record is a scratched record. David Bowie got to sit on repeat for awhile. Working through the stack, AC/DC’s Back In Black is currently on the table.
I’ve got a record on order from John Craigie and TK & The Holy Know-Nothings that should get here soon that I’m excited for. They recorded it over the summer when they were touring together, and only released 40 to the public!
This blog entry isn’t quite up to my standards, but I wasn’t able to spend as much time copy editing as I usually do. For shorter future entries I’ll try to do better.
Much love, Casey.