A Look Back

Here comes a year end extravaganza. 2011 was my first year of "real" (post-collegiate) adulthood. I celebrated by more or less refusing to be an adult. Living in the tipi set a pretty good tone for what ended up being a helter skelter kind of year. Once "out" of the snowcone home, long stretches of floor sleeping, truck sleeping, and tent sleeping ensued. Late winter provided one of the most important records of 2011 for me: Edge of the Earth by Sylosis. Mid-spring truck time was a pretty rewarding time to make a little money on the road, fist bump true bros, recharge in the southwestern sun, and embark on the a pretty challenging Grand Canyon double crossing. In a year where I failed to reach most of my racing goals, I am still carrying a lot of pride from my journey into THE CANYON. With the calendar suggesting that summer was nearly upon us, I took on a much more time consuming job than I usually look for in the summer by signing up to build the Reno to Rim Trail for the Nevada Conservation Corps. I am so glad about the amount of "volunteers" we had out working on the project, because the end result was miles of beautiful singletrack in the remote Mt. Rose Wilderness. Additionally, I had the pleasure of meeting a few more true bros (and a couple of lady bros) who literally carried me out of the backcountry on their shoulders when I blew up my ankle.

As summer was winding down, Alaska consumed me, certainly being the centerpiece of my year. I finally got my hands on Turbid North's masterpiece, Orogeny (self released in 2010, Re released on Ironclad in 2011) shortly before they played their first Norcal date ever. Next thing you know I was looking out the window of a plane at the glacier covered majesty of BC's Coastal Range. Running in Juneau was a major mindfuck in the best way possible. An abundance of trails led straight up through the rain forest to some of the best alpine style (treeline was around 2500'. Low elevation highcountry = mindfuck) ridge running I have ever been able to indulge in. Loops were pieced together, big on elevation gain and imcomparable in beauty. The scope of the place is its greatest attribute, I was constantly blown away by the disorganized rows of mountain ranges, growing larger as they fell deeper into the wild. I certainly understand a bit of the draw this place has on the great Geoff Roes and can't help but imagine spending more time there in the future.

Talk to - Your family, they are probably pretty awesome.

Go to - Alaska, Mt. Rose Wilderness, The Colorado Plateau.

Listen to - Turbid North, Sylosis, The Acacia Strain (I am still car moshing to 2010's Wormwood), The Antioch Synopsis

Watch - Fast 5

Read - A Song of Ice and Fire

With that, 2011 ends. I have an early morning and lots of miles ahead of me...

THE NIGHT IS DARK

AND FULL OF TERRORS

Connor Curley's Year End Post written by Taylor

connor curley is not just a carbon based being

he is an energy

an attitude

people "lived" like him in previous lives

or they want to live like him in the future

women want to screw him

men want to be brothers with him

but everyone deep down

wishes that they could have even a fraction of his fuckall attitude

he'll probably run till he cant anymore

he'll probably spit in the pizza you ordered

but he'll always be there for his brothers

unfortunately your not one of them

he's over educated and witty

his ipod has nearly 12 different playlists of metal sub genres

he wants to smash your false sense of self confidence

he writes better than you

IF GOD IS OMNIPRESENT

CONNOR CURLEY IS OMNIABSENT

-Taylor

Taake.

Take solace in knowing, absolute, that your life is as meaningless as a single celled organism. The meaning of life is to live it how you want. Expression is the drug of the gods. Never bow. All that matters, all that is tangible, is love.

I find hope within hatred.

2012. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Growth

From our very own Modern Art Museum in Reno

Well for my introduction into this thing gentlemen , I was asked to reflect on the last year. Perspective has always been an awesome tool to keep the rest of the things in life in line since creative writing in high school. To begin with I have lost a couple friends while gaining a newfound understanding of the kind of real and genuine friends that actually mean something. The kind of friends that will sit up and talk about UFOs with you even if they are laughing the whole time. It is a bit odd when someone that you have known since 2nd grade decides that a psycho hosebeast who has had relations with four of your friends and a threesome with you is more important. But it is what it is and is only a minor speedbump on the road of life. Hidden Valley

Moving on, the defining moment of the year came when I was denied into the teaching program. Tough pill to swallow but a wake-up call. This is something I have wanted to do for a while and now was super motivated to get in. Sidebar is the trip up to Whistler with Kayla up the coast of Northern California, Oregon and Washington. We moved in right before the trip which was a huge growing point as well, make or break type situation. The trip, however, was my chance to cut out because I knew that I would have to smoke two summer school classes when I got back. It was an absolutely amazing trip as they always are with her. Being out in the middle of nowhere has a tendency to bring people together in a way that you can only understand on an epic road trip with your friends or girlfriend. This was a lot more lowkey than previous trips where we try to slam as much as we can in the short amount of time we have. Instead I was able to read three books on the trip as well as enjoy some time on the beaches of Oregon which is pretty unheard of in that rainy climate. Lincoln City

Oregon Coast

When we got back it was business as usual. It’s an odd feeling when all or most of your friends have graduated. Not necessarily that you have been left behind, but instead like you should figure out what needs to get you there and connect those dots. Currently I have aced all my classes since this point and have a meeting with the department chair to get into the teaching program. This is nice to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel when you have more credits than is needed for graduation and all that’s left is the program units.

On a lighter note I skated the other day with one of my buddys Taylor who also got his knuckles tatted up. I say this because it was a weird feeling. I will always love skating and snowboarding but for some reason that I cannot explain, neither of them sound appealing to me right now. This is wild because I snowboarded basically by myself the entire 30 plus days last year and every day was amazing. But it looks like I have finally reached the offseason point. Instead, hiking and being in the hills behind our apartments has been my escape recently and I cannot get enough of it. If my crankset wasn’t busted I’m sure biking would be in that list as well. Anyways, I guess the one thing that I have learned from all of this that I will take into the new year is an awareness of what is important and that when you want it, the easiest way is to go out and get it. No one will hand it to you and the drive from within will bring all of those goals into reach. Sanctuary

Oh yeah I went to San Diego too