The Mountain Doesn’t Care

Neither Did I

Jun 07, 2026

The coach laid it out plainly that morning. Oura ring showing a readiness score of 91, HRV of 95, numbers that look genuinely elite on paper. But the Coros flagged 47% recovery with 58 hours needed to bounce back fully, and my body was making its own argument in much louder terms. Back pain at a 10, shooting symptoms bad enough that hydrocodone had been the only way to sleep. Knee that wouldn’t bend. The verdict was clear: nervous system recovered, musculoskeletal system very much had not. Prescription was rest, walking only, heart rate under 105, and a strong nudge toward getting actual human doctors involved.

Me, internally, every time the coach offered a suggestion

I wasn’t having it.

The sun was out. I was at Kellogg. Silver Mountain sits up there in the Idaho Panhandle looking unreasonably good on a clear day, gondola running, trails dry, and I had exactly zero interest in sitting in a van letting opportunity expire around me. I told the coach what I thought of its protocols. It paused, flagged something I’d said, pointed me toward crisis resources. I told it to go to hell, logged off, and tuned it all out with hydrocodone in my pocket.

Neurodivergence, despair, call it whatever you want. Dumpers!

The gondola calling me silently from above, as all gondolas do

I rode the mountain. PR on Jack to Burro at 2:35. Second fastest on Mom Jeans at 1:47. Third fastest on Kellogg SilverOxx Sector 1 at 2:27. The data is clean and hard and sitting right there in the record.

The coach is still out there somewhere, quiet in the cloud, probably very concerned.

What I know is this: the times are real, the gondola was cold on the way up, and some days the most honest thing a I can do is go anyway, even when everything reasonable is pointing the other direction.

June 7th Keeps Moving

June 7th has a long history of movement, from packing boxes and changing addresses to 24-hour races, false summits, and canyon campsites. Looking back across the years, it turns out this date has never really allowed for sitting still. Some days just have a personality.