Caryn and I were hanging out cleaning the kitchen last night after chasing our nephews all day (well, she was cleaning the kitchen and I was surfing - thanks love). Through the ipod speakers came the Counting Crows cover of A Big Yellow Taxi. Now this is a song I have grown up hearing, but it wasn’t until I heard it last night that it struck my environmental chord…Are we going to wait until it’s gone until we realize what we’ve done to this planet? (yes that’s an oxymoron). Or are we finally coming to terms with the message Joni MItchell shared in this song that she wrote some 38 years ago? I sure hope so! 

10-big-yellow-taxi

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see em
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

 

Just wanted to pass along a link to an interview I did with Dirt Rag magazine recently (Sea Otter ‘08), here’s the first part of the interview….

 

Although bike trials action may be hard to find these days, Ryan Leech has carved a niche out for himself in an otherwise faded sport. In so doing he has inspired not just riders of any discipline, but through his innovative Trials of Life program, school kids across his home country of Canada.

DR: Through your email newsletters, I found out about the Trials of Life program. It sounds like a great idea, the kind of thing that trials is good for.

DR: What was your inspiration in getting that set up?

DR: I watched one of the videos on your website and it was cool to see the kids get really excited. What’s the message that you try to convey in your talks?

DR: That’s a really good message. What kind of schools do you work with, is it pretty much anyone that’ll have you?

DR: Are they in Canada only or have you gone other places?

DR: I was reading on your blog about your friend that got to work with students a little more through the Boys and Girls club, taking them on rides. Do you see yourself going into that role a little more, working with students one-on-one? I imagine you don’t have a lot of time…

DR: It seems like a good approach since your talents lend themselves to a display.

DR: I read that you changed your style in order to make it more audience-friendly. Tell me more about how you got away from focusing on competitions, since I imagine if someone’s into trials, competition’s sort of the easy route…

RL: It’s one route for sure, and it perhaps wasn’t so much that I changed my style for an audience, I guess it was more I grew tired of the structure of trials competition and rather enjoyed the freedom and creativity of riding for a film or in front of an audience. I enjoyed that outlet, that sort of creative release style of riding, more so than competition. In order for me to really feel excited about riding a line it had to be smooth and flowy to a certain point, which is why I was motivated to create my first film which sort of took away a lot of those slow hopping style things that you often see in trials. That’s kind of how that started and it just lent itself really well to doing shows. 

Click here to read the rest of the article….

I have been writing an article that discusses the direct link between income and material consumption (coming soon), and what it is going to take to break that link in a world where a huge number of people are now becoming financially prolific. In a world where the knowledge of our environmental impact is spreading like wildfire, our consumption of it (earth) seems to be going right alongside the salary increases. 

To give you some contrast, first check out the extravagant lifestyle of one fellow named 50 Cent. (Sorry to pick on you bud, just gotta use yah to paint a picture) 

 

Okay, now take a look at a link my friend Devin just sent to me. It’s the opposite. No one is ever 100% wrong (as Ken Wilber would say), as is the case with 50 Cent; it’s just that their worldview may not reflect the latest that science has to offer.

 

So now tell me which house you’d prefer? And no you can’t park your plug-in at the mansion, nor can you park your Lamborghini at the eco-home!

So your decision will determine whether our earth looks like the first half of this following animation, or the second. 

Your choice rich kid

Peace Y’all

After a shoddy sleep in an overheated hotel room, I woke up, walked across the street to the bakery and bought a freshly baked croissant and cinnamon bun, then rolled down the street to the World Cup venue at Mont Saint Anne for my third day of demos here in Quebec. After a fairly quiet first show in the morning, I hung out, ate some healthier food, caught up with e-mails in the press room, and watched some of the DH preliminaries.

Second show was great fun, rode a couple hard lines, and because I purposely started the show early, the audience, and myself, had time to watch most of the women DH action. Congrats to my teammate Fionn Griffiths who took a 5th. Solid! She later snatched up a bronze in the 4X, she’s gotta be all smiles tonight.

I caught up with my buddy Marc Landry from FastTimes, he was shooting for Shimano, and I shadowed him for a while to catch all the best views of the mends DH, which was well under way at that point.  Close to tend, I had to race back to the bottom, but still saw the top few guys blow away the rest of the pack, with Minaar, Hill, and Atherton rounding out the top three (if my memory serves correct that is). Right at the same time I got a call from Caryn who had just finished her first mini-tri back home in BC, nice work love!

My 4:30 show was the busiest yet. For some reason it still lacked the magic from four years ago when I was here with my mentor and friend Robin Coope, but it was the kind of show that still left me smiling. I miss Robin’s dedication to his french rhetoric!

I rode my trials bike back to the hotel room, showered up with the intention to head back to the hill. But my hotel room was changed, and I had this beautiful room instead, with a large living room that just begged for a yoga session. So I decided to put on a yoga podcast from Eoin Finn (the Tragically Hips one), because when I flow naturally, I just don’t push myself as much, and after this practice I was sweating and tired and feeling incredible. At that point the weather was sketchy, and I ironically decided to watch the 4X live on freecaster from the hotel room, while multi-tasking with a few other ‘puter chores.

It’s raining a little right now, so with a full belly, a happily tired body, and a day of shows tomorrow, I’ll think I’ll skip the famous Mont Saint-Anne party (which goes until 4am), and catch a good night sleep.

 

Just wanted to share Al Gore’s latest vision of action for America. I’ll link you to an article from WorldChanging that reflects on his words. 

The speech below is certainly a worthwhile way to spend 30 minutes, it’s either that or another sit-com re-run. Check it out…

If you’re in a rush, here’s the short version…

My voyage to Quebec has been very worthwhile so far. More and more I am judging the value of my trips against the emissions that were released to make it possible; its gotta have purpose

The first thing I am happy with is my involvment in the production by Velerium in downtown Quebec City last night. It was quite a scene that incorporated my trials show, along with a flow show, a jumping competition, street running (parkour), breakdancing, and live music. I was happy with my shows, but more so there were a few special moments chatting with the audience between shows. As a Canadian, I am also quite honored to be participating in part of the celebrations for Quebec’s 400th birthday, Bon Fete Quebec, content d’etre ici!!

Todays show at Mont Saint Anne was really quiet, not a lot of people around, tomorrow should be the big day. I was glad to have the time to sit down for an interview with David Howard after my show, he’s the Story Editor for Mountain Bike Magazine. As an accomplished journalist in a number of different fields, I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to have some deep conversations about not just riding, but life in general. I’m excited to see how this article unfolds in the magazine, perhaps a few month down the road.

I’ll leave you with a short clip from one of the street runners from last night, whew!!!

 

Last Fall I travelled to Edmonton for the United Cycle bike show; while waiting for my flight in Vancouver, I met a fellow named Mike Spinner. If you’re not sure who he is, watch the video below, and you won’t forget. I didn’t, I was just looking for videos that showed resi-ramps, and thought I’d youtube him, and the vid below is his latest. Apparently he just pulled one at a contest last weekend too. 

I got to hang out with him a bit in Edmonton out of all places, because he was there for MirraCo. He is a world class, groundbreaking BMX’er, but what is more important is that he is a humble, down to earth, nice guy. He’s clean cut, doesn’t drink or party hard, and is just out to have fun, meet cool people, and push his sport. Simple ideals that are taking him all over the world. Keep spreading the good vibe Mike!

 

One of my favorite bloggers, Julian Walker, just posted a music video to youtube, and I wanted to share it. I didn’t know he was a musician, such a multi-talented fellow, and a song that has some substance and makes you think, all with a catchy groove. It’s about religion, war, and the possibility of a humanistic spiritual awakening. He wrote it between 911 and the invasion of Iraq.

You’re not going to hear songs like this on the radio…check it out!

 

When I’m only home for two days between trips, I have to take advantage of my favorite local eats, one of which is Rehanah’s Roti. If you live anywhere in the Greater Vancouver area, it’s totally worth a visit. Thanks to Robin and Stacey for telling Caryn and I about this joint, yum!

I got a copy of What is Enlightenment magazine in the mail this morning, which is soon to be called EnlighteNext. It’s a quarterly publication, and I’m always excited when it arrives, especially before my flight to Quebec on Wednesday.

Here’s a cool link mentioned in the magazines ’sites and blogs’ section; it’s from Nikon and it’s called Universcale. Surf around it, you can learn about the tiniest and the largest things we know about the universe, all presented in a pretty slick flash style site.

Another fantastic idea for those who like to read non-fiction style spiritual and self help books is PhilosophersNotes.com. I haven’t tried this out because I like to soak in entire books, but those in a rush, or those who want these cliff style notes in an mp3 format the commute, I think it’s a great plan to subscribe to.

One year ago at the Norco 2008 product launch, I remember seeing deep foundations being laid for the new Peak 2 Peak gondola that will span the 4.4km between Whistler and Blackcomb mountain. This year, the cable is in place, and it looks as crazy as ever, amusement park like, and it will be ready for opening in December of this year.

Two world records will be broken:

1. longest span between two towers (straight line) at 3.02 km.

2. 1427 feet high above the Fitzsimmons Creek

Still haven’t decided if I’ll be brave enough to ride it?

Watch some of the constructions videos here, some pretty impressive human engineering going on! As Norco guru Pete Stace-Smith would say, “They’ve got guys with glasses this thick (finger gesture) working on that”.