Fasting, Then Flowers
Pasta Made Me Cry
I’d been rolling through a 48 hour fast like it was nothing, which is honestly suspicious. The river looked like it had lowered its voice too, gray and steady, sliding past the bank like it had deadlines and didn’t want to talk about them. I walked along the trail with that weird, clean calm in my head, no usual inner committee arguing about bikes, adventure, productivity, all of it. Just me, the water, bare trees, and this unexpected desire to do absolutely nothing heroic. Little walks. Like my body filed a request for quiet and actually got approved.
Then life did what it does and threw a curveball shaped like a bowl of shrimp pasta. Mo sits on the couch with something warm and delicious and suddenly I’m getting emotional over food like it’s an old song from high school. Not hungry, not craving, just… sad and soft around the edges. It felt ridiculous and also completely true at the same time. So I did the classic move: shove the feelings into a corner, open a coding project, and pretend the only thing that matters is whether the build passes.
Today Mo came back with proof that the world is still doing its job. First flowers of the season in Missoula, crocuses popping up like tiny purple alarms that don’t actually stress you out. And I realized the fast wasn’t just about not eating. It was about noticing what’s been there all along, and letting the small stuff count as real.
On This Day
February 24 has shown up 10 times since 2002. A day apparently reserved for mountain biking adventures, tech minimalism experiments, and the occasional existential wrestling match with sleep monsters.
2002: Cool – https://sgpa.org - Hold onto your walking sticks, fellow nature enthusiast, because I just unearthed a goldmine for our next Sleeping Giant adventure! Talk about serendipity – I stumbled upon the...
2002: Emotional Alchemy – Yesterday’s mountain bike was absolutely outstanding. Today I feel a little over-trained but it is a day off so Ill rest. Been a while since I get a head-rush from getting up in the morning. Yep,...
2003: What I really Want – I no longer own a PDA. I broke it and decided to de-tech myself a little. I now carry the cheapest cell phone available and thats all I need. What I do need is a new camera and a powerbook. Ahhh,...
2007: Product Review – Hello from my apartment, where I’m waging a one-eyed war against the sleep monster to blog about my epic ride! Just crushed over 50 miles, dodging road-side shrapnel and battling sandy whirlpools...
2007: Home Safely – Created by DALL-E to fill in posts that don’t have a image for blog functionality (prettiness)Hey everyone, just droppin’ a quick one to let y’all know I made it back to my base safe and sound. So,...
2008: Great Riding in Seeley – Um, whatever!Yesterday, I took a little jaunt over to Seeley Lake - you know, just a casual training ride and to cheer on my pals who were braving the Snow Joke Half Marathon. Just uploaded a bunch...
2010: Spirit – This is part 2 in a series of blog posts that I am dedication to my favorite photos of 2009. Today’s inductee and now a resident in my “Cycling” photo album is “Spirit”. In this photo Zepahnie Blasi...
2012: Fallen – Sun trees and moonDriving along I90 heading West I couldn’t help notice some trees on Pipestone Pass that seemed to have been growing out of a rock. One of them became heavy with snow and had fallen...
2024: The Ballad of Rusty Knees and Rediscovered Joy – Ah, the passage of time. Remember that scene in Interstellar where Matthew McConaughey ages 23 years while chilling on another planet? Yeah, feels about right. Has it really been six years since I...
2025: Confluence vs. WordPress – Both Confluence and WordPress allow public blogging, but which platform delivers the best mix of accessibility, SEO, and ease of use? This 2025 update breaks down the key differences.