Looking forward to Wednesday, I get a brand new hydration pack for review to which I'll strap this amazing Goal Zero solar charger and do some laps on the Mountain Bike wearing my chest-mounted GoPro.  It's time to really get ready for the Colorado Trail Race as well as start figuring out which are the best camera angles for on the go bicycle productions.
My mouth is watering at the thought of what is to come, check back soon!
Be sure to read my last product review here on WebyShops.com!

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Thank you Dug Johnson from Pedals Not Pistons for the Pic!

I recently found this Outside Online Post about the Colorado Trail Race.


Quote Of The Read: HTFU

My legs and lungs are burning at the thought of this race, I can't wait till July!

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"In the path of our happiness shall we find the learning for which we have chosen this lifetime."  

-- Donald Shimoda in the novel Illusions

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Photo: Steve Lewis with the Durango Herald

http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20100731/NEWS01/707319959/Riding-for-reading

This is easily one of my favorite pictures of all time.  I was sitting in Durango one day after riding all the way there from Arlington, Texas when I thought, "why not go peek my head inside Newspaper office and see what's going on?"

What happened was me getting a half-page picture on the inside cover of the Paper!  I also got to meet Steve Lewis, the Herald's photographer who showed me a cool trick with a bunch of cocktail straws and an opened juice box.  That's why the picture looks so eerie, it's not Photoshopped but is simply a flash with a super focussed beam directed exactly at my face!  That's ingenuity right there for ya!

Good times, fourteen weeks of seeking out my own route across the country, meeting amazing people and taking the time to learn all sorts of things which I never even knew existed.  Getting off the beaten path and on with my life.  It's the only way I want to live and I'm making my way back.

By the way, if you have never read any of Richard Bach's novels you need to go out and pick one up -- as soon as you can.  Start with Jonathan Livingston Seagull and go on from there.

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Time for something a little different!

I have had the pleasure to meet the wonderful Morgan when I first arrived back in Texas from my Trans-Western Cycling Expedition back in 2010.  It was a time when I was high on life and seeing the world through the eyes of a traveler who had totally lost touch with the norms of society.  I was riding across the country meeting people and learning from them other ways of living.











And now she is doing the same thing, however she is a crafts-woman creating unique, hand-made jewelry which is both sustainable and beautiful!















Check out her Wanderlust page on Facebook to see more of her wonderful works of wearable art!










This is what I'm trying to share with everyone: a person who has a dream to do things -- LIVE LIFE -- live it the way you, YOURSELF wants to.  Don't follow anyone else's path but your own.  Be true to your own Personal Legend, don't be afraid to dream and when you finally are able to hear what your heart is telling you then you should follow it's course and never steer away from it for life is going to be hard whether or not you do what is true to yourself.  So you might as well follow your heart.






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Colorado Trail Race
From the website:

" The CTR is a monster! If the monster is in a good mood, you may experience Colorado's beautiful sunny blue skies and wildflowers blooming as far as you can see! But, be warned —the CTR's mood can change on a whim, and you may just as likely find yourself getting besieged by massive hailstones and lightning bolts. In short, don't come to this race unprepared —no one will be there to rescue you."

Oh man, this is going to be quite the adventure!

#cotrailrace

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Keep an eye out for a gear post covering the equipment which I'll be using for this Summer's Colorado Trail Race!



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Going to get another GoPro and work on editing two-angle videos of some mountain bike trails.  This will be fun!  Look for it to come soon!

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 Off again to get some miles in on the new Mountain Bike.  It's been a bit of a struggle learning how to slow down and choose my lines as I tend to get too excited and eventually crash in to a tree...
More to come, look for a write up on WHY I chose this particular bike for my Colorado Trail Race and some of the gear that I'll be using as well!

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Tweet that!

Follow me on Twitter where I'm posting daily updates on my training, preparation and gear selection for the Colorado Trail Race!

@zacharyford
#cotrailrace

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March 2012

Check out this month's The Racing Post (read it as a PDF here) for news covering Texas and US road racing, Mountain Biking and TOURING!  The best part?  It's FREE!

My March article:

Woody Hayes liked to say, “You can never pay it back, but you can
always pay it forward.”  Pay it forward, just like The Golden Rule, where
you “do as you would be done by.”  On my own bike tour in 2010, I managed to stay on the road for 14 weeks by learning to appreciate and rely
on the Kindness of Strangers and reciprocate that by giving back, not
expecting anything in return.  It was a life-changing trip, and now I feel I
hold a new position in life, one where I have to give back to the world for
all that I have received.

Enter John and Miranda.

I heard about these two bike tourists who
needed help with a ride from Dallas to Austin, and after responding to
Miranda’s Craig’s List post and speaking with her on the phone, we
decided that my girlfriend Morgan, my training buddy John and I would
meet these two travelers, who we still did not know anything about, save
their website (BikingWithIntent.com).  We would all pile our bikes plus
gear in the truck and drive south.  It was to be a day of sharing in the
energy of a cross-country tour with two people who had been on the
road for over two months.

Yes, two months!  That’s 8 weeks of living on a bicycle, camping,
meeting people, getting rained on and seeing the most amazingly beautiful sights.  Sights you’ll only see from the saddle of a bicycle.  That’s
also two months of pedaling with a load.  When we pulled in to the coffee shop parking lot, I saw one frizzy-haired girl, two bikes and two
loaded down trailers.  I couldn’t wait to breathe the same air as them;
they were doing what I love: riding free.  I knew that after spending time
with these two, I would leave with a renewed passion and determination
to accomplish all that I can dream up.

The drive to Austin was all excitement.  Here we were, five twentysomething free spirits who loved to travel and wanted to be Out There
Doing It.  When we finally pulled in to the shaded grove that is Pease
Park, we all jumped out and took in the warm air and bright sun and
smiled, excited for the chance to ride.  We were all pumped up so high
that we simply bounced down the road.  Down the path beside the river,
over the hills near campus and down the River Trail, all around town and
back to it’s center.  Hours passed by, as did the miles, but all we could
do was smile, laugh and keep going.  Finally, however, the sun started
to set, so we had to find our place for the night.

I called a friend, found us a couple of couches to crash on, and as
we were all getting ready to go out for a fun night of music and dancing,
John went downstairs to grab something off his bike and, yes - it was
gone.  Gone!  Imagine having the center of your Universe and one of
your sole possessions stolen!  I expected a colossal freak out, however,
when I saw John sitting there on the steps of the apartment complex, I
didn’t see a man who was mad, smashing things and yelling about how
much the situation
sucked.  No, I saw a
guy there with a smile
on his face telling me,
“Zac, this is simply an
opportunity for me to
overcome a dire situation and I’m excited to see what will happen!”

Wow.

What was I to do?  I brought these guys down here to Austin where
they really had no contacts - no one to help them.  All I could think about
was, “What if this happened to me while I was On The Road?”  That’s a
terrifying thought, to be in some foreign city while in the middle of a tour
and have your mode of transport taken from you.  But John’s words
touched me, so I proposed that they get back in the truck and we all go
back to Dallas where I could make certain that everything would turn out
okay.

With my roommate’s permission, we got back to the loft and brought
all of Miranda and John’s gear inside.  Seeing everything they had, I
couldn’t believe they had made it so far from Florida.

Nearly three weeks went by before all of John’s parts arrived at
Bicycles Plus (BIG thank you to this amazing shop, they really helped
out a lot with getting the two of them back On The Road). We got his
bike built up; this time, a purpose-built touring machine, complete with
front and rear racks and panniers.  No trailer needed.  It was geared for
the weight and the terrain to come.  With Miranda’s charisma and John’s
eye in the camera, we made some amazing videos for their website and
pictures that I will cherish forever.

Miranda and John have left us; they continue riding forward, enjoying the openness and freedom that is Bike Touring, but they left me and
everyone else they met with something.  It was one reason I wanted to
help them.  I wanted - maybe even needed - their energy.  The energy
you only get when you’re Out There Doing It.  I needed to feel it again
and now that I’ve had that taste, I am even more excited and focused on
my own trip this summer.  

Mine won’t be a 5 month journey like their’s,
but it will get me out into the wilderness, further out than I’ve ever been
before.  The true Backcountry.  On a bike!  

I can’t wait.

Follow me on Twitter @ZacharyFord  #CoTrailRace
ThePonderingCyclist.com

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