Cherney’s Life Story

I just got back from one of my good friends weddings last night.

Congratulations Russell and Amanda.

The wedding service was fun and entertaining, and the reunion after wards was a blast.  The DJ played some great tunes, Russell sang to his new wife, and parents and uncle/aunts played their guitar for the newlyweds.  The setting was beautiful. W ho would have known that Brownsville could have such a pretty setting for a wedding.

I tried hitting on the new bride, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with it.  I think she is pretty happy with her new husband!

So, since I wasn’t going to be spending the night with the beautiful bride, I spent the majority of the time with my other friends.  We had a really good time together.  I don’t remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did last night.  Something special happens at weddings, friends are happier, jokes are funnier, and nothing seems to be wrong.

Time slows down a little bit at weddings.  Not only are we presented with a moment in time we can reflect on our lives, we are also forced to recognize the truth of our own mortality.   Have we accomplished the goals we strive for in our life, have we / will we ever find that special someone ?  The birth of new child, marriages, and the passing of a loved one are all milestones in a person’s life.   It is at these times in our lives were time stands still.  These memories rarely fade; they will stay with you for a lifetime.

I had a great time at this wedding.  Your family was wonderful; they made me feel very welcome. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Yardley, for inviting me to your special day.

Here is an interesting debate.

Is ‘time’ a predator or a companion to human life?

Some might say that it is a predator with sharp teeth, just waiting to get its jaws on you.  When it finally reaches you, your time on earth is done.  It can be eluded for many years through medicines, doctors, technology, and healthy living.  However, there is a point where none of these previous things can help.  The body can only last for so long, far shorter than our minds in many cases.  ‘Time’ is just waiting in the wings, just behind the last corner.  It stocks us, patiently.  It knows that our time will end, as it is enviable.

Depressing right?

Now on the other end of the argument, ‘time’ can be a companion.  How?  Let me see if I can explain it.
‘Time’ can be our companion because it is with us all the time.  It is what makes us human; time represents the essence of being mortal.  As we live each day, it is there to remind us that we need to live for the moment, and not worry about the past.  We are only able to enjoy our life for such a short amount of time.  Relatively speaking, humanity is just a blip in the timeline of the universe.  (Should be the only human in the universe.)  As I may have mentioned before, ‘time’ is there to make sure we live for the day, savior those who are around us, and appreciate all that we have in our life.  You never know when it may be taken away.

Sure, this viewpoint is still kind of sad, not as much as the previous idea.  Well, that is just my opinion, and it is my blog.
Why then are humans so often unhappy?  Looking at it from a higher prospective, there isn’t a better day than today.  Today IS, CAN, and SHOULD be the best day of your life.

So, I took my bike up chambers today.  (This is road that is very steep and hilly.)

I grunted my way up, and road down the other side.  Then, I rode up the other side and road down partway to my friends house.  After I found that they were not home, I rode back up the hill and went down all the way.  The wind on my way home was nuts, 17 mph steady - 36 gusts.

My legs survived, and so did my spirits. : )

The bike rides so smooth, like a hot knife through butter.  It felt good getting home and not having tired legs!

I mentioned that I was going to get some photos on here, and I will.  Just call me lazy. : )  I will get to it.

The ride was nice, the weather was nuts.  What more can I say.

  I went up and did a huge mountain biking ride yesterday.

We started just past the town of McKenzie Bridge and rode along the river until we got just shy of Clear Lake.  The trail we rode was 26 miles long, and it was a hard 26 miles.  Parts were flat, parts were rolly, others were down right brutal.

Here is my play by play.

At the trail head:  My friend Jeff, and I spent a little time getting suited up and trying to find the trail.  It wasn’t as easily marked as it could have been.  We rode maybe 5 miles of good flat / hilly (up and down) terrain.  The bushes were in your face, the ground was solid, and the scenery was great.  Not only could you smell the river, the shrubs and trees had a pretty good smell too.

The next  10 were a little more intense.  There was climbing, switch backs, and rewarding views.  There were times during this stretch of the trail were we lost the trail.  You will come out of the trail and end up on a road, or next to the freeway.  With a little exploring and time we found the trail and continued.  As we closed in on this section of trailing we crossed a lot of bridges.  At times it seemed like you would ride, get off the bike, ride for a little more and get off the bike again.  I don’t know how anyone could ride these bridges, maybe they were more skilled than I.  Oh, I don’t know what poison oak looks like. . but one day later I have no iches, so that is a good sign right?

  As we closed in on blue pool the trail got difficult.  I would say that the trail up to blue pool was pretty rideable.  After this point, either I suck at riding or maybe it was because I was going up hill, but the ride got difficult.  I think I found myself walking my bike and lifting it over boulders more than I found myself riding.  Some sections were so gnarly I can’t even begin to explain.  My bike is a 29′er and my friend had a cyclecross rig.  Both of us had difficulties.  I should have had the upper hand, and it times it seemed like it.  However, steep . . . .rocky . . . . slow moving bikes don’t cover terrain easily.  This type of ride continued until we got past the water falls.

  At this point my friend and I were out of water, demoralized with the lack of riding, and getting really tired.  We didn’t make it to clear lake, however, we figured this type of riding experience was going to continue.  We bailed out and rode back to our car down highway 126.  I don’t think we would have made it back to car had we taken the trail.  Either it would have been dark, or we would have done something stupid which would cause us to fall off a cliff. Yes, I did say cliff.  There are some nice drops if you rode off the trail accidentally.

We started at 9:30am and made it to the falls 7 hours later.  The ride down, on the highway took maybe 45 minutes.  Crazy, right?

With all of this in mind, the trail really did rock.  I think it is one of the best rides ever.  All types of terrain and great views.   Some would say that the trail isn’t difficult just rather long.  Maybe.  Had we started at the top, and worked are way down this might have been the case.  We would have been fresh, and the day would have been young.  Going up the mountain, I would have to disagree.  I think it is a tough ride.  Be prepared.  Bring lots of water, as there aren’t any refill stations along the way.  (Unless you want to drink the river water.)