Jim Redd's 12,00 ft Bicycle Masterpiece

07-09-2003, 11:06 PM

Being a a fairly much published author myself, I find great joy in
being able to share the following words with you. So far behind
schedule that I don't know if he is going to make the Boise reception
on time, Jim Redd is still having the time of his life out there in the
mountains of southeastern Idaho. And he is able to communicate his
enchanting experience with some pretty powerful writing -- done so on a
device that is a wee bit bigger your palm. Yahoo Jim:
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Leaning against a snowbank cooling my camelback
July 7, 2003
Uintas Mountains, Utah
Dear Pocketmail lady,

It was worth the 2,000 ft hike up just to get this far from the nearest
RV.

Do you remember those patches of snow on Bald Mountain I described in
my last letter? Well, believe it or not, I'm sitting on a rock in the
sun at the 12,000 ft level leaning against one of them. It stretches
about 100 yards on either side of me along the mountain and 50 ft or so
above me. It is melting fast, feeding those gurgling streams I've
enjoyed on the way up. Below me is a sheer 500 ft drop to a rock field.
I have heard of snow slides in the mountains, have you? I thought of
moving away for safety, but then I'm 61 years old and if this snowbank
goes while I'm sitting here, it was meant to be. There are worse ways
and less beautiful places to become one with the earth.

My bicycle would be found at the trailhead, and when the snow melted my
mangled remains would be discovered on the rocks. Among my possessions
would be this Pocketmail device with this letter intact.
"Altitude-Crazed Biker-Hiker Predicts Own Death!" On the other hand,
if the snowbank doesn't go, despite my taunting, I will interpret it as
a mandate that my life can be justified in some cosmic sense, and I
have divine permission to continue stumbling through as before.

Sorry for the self-indulgent philosophy, P.L. -- it must be the
rarefied air. Or maybe the silence of the mountaintop (except for the
whine of the wind), or the indescribable panorama of mountains, lakes,
forest and sky spread before me.

While I'm in this mood, I need to give credit where it is due. It may
appear, Pocketmail Lady, that this journal is all about Jim. Well,
that's because Jim is the only one here right now, ok? But let's get
this straight, P.L.: **No one goes to the mountaintop alone**

First and forever there's Marshia. I need say no more.

Without my friends in the Chicago biking community, an amazing source
of inspiration and information, I would not have the confidence for
these human-powered adventures, so eccentric in the eyes of the world.

And then there's the bicycle itself, an amazing invention which "takes
me places I didn't even know I wanted to go, and shows me things I
didn't know I wanted to see," to quote a woman whose name I forget
right now, but I do know she biked alone across Mongolia. This miracle
of appropriate technology has just brought me 7,000 ft above Salt Lake
City in 3 days on a hot dog and sour cream chips, a pastrami sandwich,
a plate of pasta and chicken, 3 apples, 2 peaches, 2 nectarines, a bag
of freeze-dried organic cereal, 2 eggs and sausage, one banana, one bag
of peanuts, and, lest I deny my dependence on the oil industry: 23
drops of T9 chain lube. Bicycle, I love you!

And lurking somewhere back there are Barry Lopez, Edward Abbey, and
John McPhee, giant literary loaves from whom I have gathered a few
crumbs. {Would someone please submit that one for the Worst Metaphor of
the Year Award? Thank you.)

But wait! Here comes a more appropriate one: Granite mountains of men
from whose valleys I have gathered a few pebbles. Yes, that's better.

Jim on the Road
"You can never own a mountain, but once you have bicycled up one, you
at least feel like you've earned a few shares of stock."

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Subject: Mirror Lake, in reverse.

Pocketmail Lady, I don't know where you are, or even if you are. I do
know that others eavesdropping on our conversations are sitting in
front of a computer, at work, probably. They are in the middle of a
project, or writing a report, or doing a budget. Jim's ramblings from
somewhere out in Utah are abstractions, to say the least, subject
headings alighting in their inboxes uninvited. So there is no way I can
even come close to communicating what I see right now on this little
Pocketmail device, but I'll send a frame and maybe they can fill it in.

From where I am standing, on this rock, I can see probably 100 miles in
every direction! I see layer after layer of mountain ranges,
disappearing in a pale blue wash. Below me are alpine lakes swathed in
pine trees, including Mirror Lake itself; I can see the spot where I
sat this morning with my coffee writing about this mountain, the lake
itself now the size of that coffee cup. Cloud shadows move across the
valleys like ancient landforms. The nearest mountains, to the east, are
almost treeless, like this one, and are spotted with bright patches of
snow.

Closer, around me, are scattered uncountable stones, many untouched by
human hands and hosting lichens which add their blues and greens to the
purple alpine wild flowers tucked in among them, and blend harmoniously
in the near distance, where the jagged rocks slash the sky. The entire
scene is bathed in stark sunlight of such clarity it engraves the
stones directly on your retina.

I have biked many places, from Big Sur to the mountains of northern New
Mexico to the South Americn Andes, and believe me when I say I have
never witnessed such natural beauty.

Ok? Enough? Got the outline? Fill it in with all those calendar photos
you have seen of pristine mountain landscapes and you got it. Now get
back to work!

Jim on the Road
Uintas Mountains, Utah

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Wasatch National Forest, Utah
July 8, 2003

Dear Pocketmail Lady,
A second morning I sit in awe of the beauty of this place (with my cup
of coffee, of course). Since I'm without a camera, I will try to draw
you in, also, with a picture of words.

I'm facing west across the lake. My shore is still in shadow but the
other side, lined with old growth spruce, is in full sunlight. Above
the serrated treetops rises the smooth form of Bald Mountain, arching
across the cloudless sky. I can almost reach out and touch its perfect
reflection in the lake, a few feet from where I sit. A fish breaks the
surface, and then another, and the summit explodes in concentric,
interlocking rings of color, which soon ripple on the rocks near my
feet.

A breeze skims the lake surface, and breaks the mountain colors into
different shapes. Now the edges are jagged, alive with movement. Pieces
of the mountain, some with the whites of snowpatches, some with the
greens of juniper, drift out into the watercolor blue of the sky. And
they, top, ripple on the rocks at my feet.

There now, there's the cameraless picture. Can you see it?

Now the sun is limning my side of the lake. I am fully saturated. I can
leave now.

Jim on the Road
Next: Heading to Boise. But first, a 20-mile freewheel into Wyoming.
Yee Haa!

Camera-Free at Mirror Lake

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Local access to PocketMail mobile
e-mail now available in Europe, North
America & Australia [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Jim Redd can be found at:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
His email on the road is: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

If you want to start from the beginning and/or follow Jim our other
NBG relay riders as they move forward in the National Mayors' Ride at
<http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/schedule.php>,
point to their blog at
<http://www.nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/reports.php>.
All of this excitement will al be consummated at the second annual
Santa Cruz NBG Bike Fest* on Sunday August 17 c/

<http://www.nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Festival>:

btw: If you want to become a rider, we WANT you!! Go to
<http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/getstarted.php>,
to find out how!!
btw2: We have pictures from the various ride legs on line at
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
btw3: If you want to see who these cyclists are, go to
<http://www.nationalbicyclegreenway.com/Events/Mayors_Ride/bios>.

MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com
79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle Greenway CEO
Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it?
Really die? By moving thru clinical death and reversing
paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.