Riding singletrack is good for the soul (2910 East Broadway)

tonight I took the long route home riding around Lake Calhoun to Dean Parkway to up the road behind the Greenway to back into the neighborhoods surrounding Cedar Lake and into some clandestine alleys and singletrack the whole while loving the fact that I was riding my steamroller fixed wheel flyer. Into the dirt with thoughts unravelling in time with the undulating singletrack, thoughts of Loren and rides all over the country with a guy who was, and is, indefatigable. Saw him crash descending Heart Butte, scrub his collarbone and taco the front wheel on his Brodie, all this on the way to a race in South Dakota. Watched him then buy a rim at a shop in Spearfish, or Lead, or Deadwood-wherever the hell we were, and lace up a new wheel, then race the next day, finishing with the strongmen. I was a long-haired college boy, on an XT equipped Giant ATX 780 which was covered in de rigeur SUB>POP rock band stickers of the moment: Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Love Battery. Finished 3 hours down on Loren, Fitzy (shit!), and others. Indelible moments etched into my mind while I'm riding my fixie over downed trees and logs and all I want to do is ride forever. Loren, you are a defining moment in my life, a friend, colleague, and an exemplary example of how to never give in. Stubborn? Hell, who isn't? I love you something like a brother and a father. Get better soon, you sonovabitch. I'll meet you at the Corral...