Some activities that I used to enjoy do not currently exist and the place I usually reside is 60 miles away so I have lots more time in a different place and I have been making the most of it. Here in Warwick we have woods and finding Kevin’s mountain bike, a 25-year-old Specialized Rock Hopper, has changed my life; although I ride my bike every day on the streets of Brooklyn, I have never spent any time mountain biking and I absolutely can not believe that I was not diehard dedicated to the discipline! It is skiing on wheels! It is so different from road biking that I feel like I completely relearned to ride– the balance and weight shift and pedal crank was very foreign when I started riding the trails here. But I am learning! The first two months I was clearing trails in the woods and managed to string together one full mile of rideable terrain! We have about 30 feet of elevation gain and it counts! Quick, fun descents and short climbs with lots of interesting rocks and natural features. It’s a puzzle and I try to ride it better every time.
But then I went even further and started building a pump track. I had only ridden one track about nine months ago and enjoyed it but didn’t think much about it until a month ago, when I started obsessively digging dirt for hours a day to place in piles on the septic field. I studied the science of dirt composition and pump track propulsion with Youtube videos and literature (Welcome to Pump Track Nation v.2 by Lee McCormack lays it out very nicely) then moved tons of clay from a pit 100 feet away to build rollers and berms. It has been mindless and manual, which is partly why I think it appealed to me. It costs nothing but time and the payoff is a super fun bike track! I built it for myself of course, but I’m hoping to share it with my kids and anyone else who might enjoy rhythm rides.
And music. I am so lucky to have music in my life. I play every day, for work and practice, and it is my center. When I enter the studio and hit record, I am completely absorbed in the act of listening and responding. The only relevant past is the time I’ve spent learning instruments and communicating musically and the only relevant future is what the recording will sound like. In the moment, I just want to play whatever I’d like to hear. Creating music calms and focuses me and is one of my absolute favorite ways to spend my time in any situation but especially during pandemic quarantine.