MTN

This thick fist of granite is tattooed with swirls of red iron rock. I sit as the sun showily sets behind me, behind a ridge of peaks punctuated by the uproar of water. Water, the only element to defy the bravado of granite – but even mere water uselessly spatters itself across the face of crags without time, gravity, and the ponderous, dangerous thaw. Their combined attacks chip away thin sliver after thin sliver, year after year, until sliding scree and dust dresses the cliffs in a skirt – covers the cut through the detritus of life which embalms the earth’s bedrock, the cut this fin of solid stone sliced above the tree line, above the clouds, above the mortal mind, almost above even time. Divinity houses itself summit ward, respectful of the peak’s puissance. This relic, this ancient alpine outlook for the bedrock below, reminds mortal matter – root and beast and human alike – of their temporality, their transient status.

Later, lying in my tent, I delight in the night terrors, in the possibility of every snapped twig, every shift in the wind. This realm belongs to mortals other than me. The bear and the cougar control this valley and I merely visit, hoping they do not spirit me away in the dark to fill their empty stomachs. But despite my hope, the fear invigorates me – risk worth reward. The reward of healthy perspective, or wonder at the world again, or pushing legs past limits and realizing that they were mental, not physical. Yet above this tableau of love, loss, hunger, and pain, the mountain takes no interest. Both challenging mortals and impartially observing their follies, the mountain is untouchable.

In the morning, the sky colors the white peak pink. Colors plucked from air’s chemicals, placed like a garland across this crown of the earth. The sky knows that wind will not win while rock still stands. For all the force wind wills on mortals, it is no more than a flutter to the bluff. So the sky worships that which sits below it, that which sits within it, that which frames its form.

When the midday sun drums down on me, the rise to those divine heights cools my beating head. The realm of the gods, looking down on earth, looking down on sky, looking down over all of mortality, welcomes me temporarily. I am not meant to stay. This realm is only for me to visit. The mountain will throw me back into my place soon enough if I attempt to inhabit her peak.

Yet, as I pick my way carefully past her precipitous cliffs, her private valleys and clefts, I perceive my place anew. I appreciate the pleasures of culture and progress. I remember the joy of potentiality. I forget the depression of presumptions proved correct – the day-to-day expectations met as nothing novel happens. Perception is so full of prior experience. Perspective is so pleased with everything happening the same way over and over. But now it all seems unique again, as I am coming down off the mountain. And I know that realization will improve my perception, my perspective, for weeks to come.

Motorcycle Trip Haiku

Day 1:
Burn miles and cheeks.
Pass valleys, dams here
where I used to live.
No time to stop now.

Day 2:
Mt. Rainier squatting
amongst clouds, glaciers.
Switch backs to get there.
Switch backs to get down.

Day 3:
Front of ferry line.
Hurricane ridge caught in calm.
Night in Twilight wood.

Day 4:
Beached driftwood giants
dwarf human forms. Offshore rocks
guilty of beauty, and murder.

Day 5:
Cloudbank moves inland,
Cape Kiwanda covered up,
cigars and campfire still lit,
growler still giving.

Day 6:
Painted hills, sculpted
cliffs – but deer in road make me
too scared to inspect.

Day 7:
Twist wrist to descend
serpentine ridge road,
or ascend bent cliff,
repeat, again, again.

On the 8th Day:
My skin still senses
ocean, or maybe dreams it –
tensing at distance.

Dear China Miéville: Thank You

This isn't a critique on your book or a sappy fan letter. I merely wanted to write you and say thank you for including a couple of blank pages at the end of your latest novel Embassytown. While I was broken down over the 4th of July weekend on the side of the road, I was able to make a sign with one of them ("Cell Phone?") and get people to stop and pull over so I could first call my friend to come pick me and my bike up and then call my wife to say I wasn't going to make the trip to her family's. Then, as I sat there waiting for an hour and a half, I was able to read more of the book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

So thank you, Mr Mieville, for your good book and the extra blank page at the back.

Best Wishes,
Theaty Hannington

PS - By the way, have you ever been broken down for more than a few hours on an American Rural Highway? It changes everything.

Le Mans 2011

Hour 1:
Great racing so far! Alan McNish ran into the #58 Ferrari and the #3 rolled, threw a tyre at a photographer and caused some scary moments. #58 got back to the pits and should be good to go. #3 is very very much out of the race, Alan looks to be okay. Safety car was out for 1 hour 9 minutes.

Hour 8:
Great racing so far! Mark Rockenfeller ran into a Ferrari and the #1 rolled after the Mulsanne's corner, rolling up and over the Armco and caused some REALLY scary moments. #1 is very very much out of the race, Mike looks to be okay, but I was sure he had died. Safety car was out for 2 hours twenty something minutes. 8 guys replaced 127 pieces of Arco and a ton of posts. That was a terrible crash. Rockenfeller is being kept by the hospital overnight but checks out as okay.

Hour 12:
#10 shunt at Indianapolis (I think). Limped back to the garage on three wheels.

Halfway Through
Peugeot #9 has been about 1:45 to 2:15 back on the leading #2 Audi for the last couple of hours is just waiting for something to break on the Audi. Just something small is all they need.

Hour 18:
7 Hours left. Safety car is out again for the #74, class leading Corvette, shunted hard. To give an idea of the racing quality, at the start of hour 18 there were three cars within thirty seconds and one more less than four minutes back on them. None of them have had any major problems and have stayed that way since... the last 17 hours, actually. Go Peugeot! Fantastic race so far this year! So many lead changes. So many. Also so much time behind the Safety car. I didn't even post two of the safety car periods. We are under our fifth, so far.

Hour 18.5:
NOSE TO TAIL. All four Peugeots, the two in first and third, the one a lap down in fourth, and the other in sixth ten laps down; and the second ranking Audi. Jeez. This is how it has been all race so far. You're missing an exciting one if you aren't watching.

3/4 Through
So much good. So much. Peugeot Sarrazin got a one minute drive through penalty for a mechanic not wearing his goggles at the last pit stop.

5:45 Left
#7 Peugeot off at Indianapolis with Wurz on board.

Two and a Half Hours Left:
#10 spun and lost rear body work at Indianapolis the same time rain started and the #22 spun at start-finish.

Two Hours Left:
Basically, everybody has gone off at least once in the last 1/2 hour. The rain can't decide where and when and how heavy it wants to fall. It's trying to be dry though. Most places. Engineers are fretting. Most exciting indeed. Still #2 Audi and #9 Peugeot within 30 seconds.

One Hour Forty-Five Minutes Left:
#4 Mark Gene seemed like he hit the leading #2 going into the 2nd Chicane on the Mulsanne, then maybe tried to push him off at the kink between there and Mulsanne's Corner. Shameful.

Forty-Five Minutes Left:
25 seconds between Audi and Peugeot. Incredible. Ridiculous. Both need to pit.

Thirty-Seven Minutes Left:
Both pit on the same lap. Audi has gone with Tyres, Peugeot not! We are down to six or seven seconds of gap for the end. What a gamble for Audi! Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. 7.8 seconds between them after 23 hours and twenty-three minutes. Ridiculous. 31 Pit Stops for Audi, 28 for Peugeot. Ready for a thirty-four minute sprint? The drivers are.

Twenty-Eight Minutes Left:
6.477 Seconds...

Twenty-Five Minutes Left:
The return of the rain. This race is unbelievable. "If you wrote this race, nobody would believe it." - Radio Le Mans

Twenty-One Minutes Left:
14.896 Seconds...

Eighteen Minutes Left:
12.7 Seconds...

Fifteen Minutes Left:
11.611 Seconds...

Ten Minutes Left:
16.755 Seconds... Is that it?

Four Minutes Thirty Left:
16.741 Seconds and there is now oil on the track thanks to the Pink Oak.

Two Minutes Left:
17.875 Seconds...

One Minute Left:
15.586 Seconds... White Flag. Full speed final lap.

It is Over:
13.854 Seconds.
Audi wins.
Peugeot 2, 3, 4, 5. Rebellion 6, Kronos 7.
Two cars on the lead lap, three on +45, and two on +55. Those are the only battles left.

Ford GT in third. :) On their anniversary.

Le Mans 2011 Predictions

LMP1
Audi (And if it must be, can it at least be #3?)
Audi
Peugeot

LMP2
Strakka
Signatech
RML

GTE Pro
BMW
Ferrari
BMW

GTE Am
Ferrari (AF Corse)
Porsche (Larbre)
Ferrari (CRS)

+++

Less than an hour until Green Flag. Stay safe everybody.