Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Collective of Inspiration

Its no secret that the most influential time in my life was spent bumming around a town in Summit County, Colorado. Breckenridge is still a place that I retreat to, at least in my mind I haven't step foot in the town in since I made a few recordings of some fellow ski bums. That was in 2005. When I'm in need of some inspiration or motivation I revisit these recordings. I know them inside and out. There are 3 different versions that have been edited each reflecting my state of being at the time. The friends that I were able to document for this piece share a collective experience and their stories are powerful enough to stand alone. The fact of the matter is I've listened to them a lot and Nick's story is so good that I found myself repeating his contagious laugh on occasion. I'd like to give a special thank you to Nick Bohnenkamp, Richard Walford, and Amy Geers for yapping in front of a mic for me. Thanks and enjoy. (Approx 14min)

Download Tommy Riley - Breck Documentary

Keep It Going

The temp is dropping out in the mid-west. North west Indiana got hit with snow today and the mercury in Chicago feels like December. Surprisingly the bike rack at work is still being used. Last winter there were four bikes that rocked the house all winter I'm hoping to see two more out there this season. There was a great article in the Tribune about cycling in the winter yesterday. It was a good how-to and talked about what to wear. The main bullet was that the key to cycling is momentum so keep going and stay motivated. I found motivation in a sweet upright bike storage rack. A few months ago I cruised past a garage sale and saw a few bikes littering the lawn so naturally I stopped to check for some suburban gems. The bikes were decent but lying on the grass was an aluminum pole that the guy thought was a coat rack. It had a $3.00 sticker on it. Not wanting to drop $90 clams on a new one I was gonna build one out of 2X4's. Well it just so happened I had 3 bucks and in the back of the truck it went.
Hanging like that they just beg to be ridden.