"Wald"

"Ich steh' im Wald" oder "Man sieht den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht."

Where do you wear your heart?

Found this little bugger in the backyard today. Who came up with this design? Isn't it hazardous to wear your heart this way? Must be a female... Anyway, I am sure he/she was glad the first rainstorm of the season was over. Tomorrow, we shall have sunshine again and balmy 80F. That's more like it.

Race faces

Got up at 4AM, to shoot some triathletes in their element at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon 2009. Terri Hatcher was the most photographed participant at this event, I assume, judging by the paparazzi cloud around her, but there were more notable faces.

Funny



Intense


Happy


Competitive

Solitude

While biking around the Four Corners area I brought some light and not so light reading material with me. One of the books was "Solitude - Seeking Wisdom in Extremes" by Robert Kull and I let you decide in which category of reading material this may fall. In any case, the author, no stranger to hardship in life, decided to go for a Ph.D. at age 40 and chose to spend a year on some remote island in the Patagonia wilderness, without human contact, besides a monthly email, to study the effects of solitude on his body and soul.

After a month of bicycle riding on and off the Continental divide and another month relaxing at home I am positive that solitude can be experienced even in presence of other humans, but I must admit, a year in Patagonia makes for better book sales.

Robert's thesis is available for download here.

summer 09: dog days in LA

yeah, it was that kind of day... blue sky, hot sand, cool ocean...

It's been 7 hours and...

32 days or so, since returning from the Camino Santiago. A lot and nothing has happened. For a while I thought it was an achievement to walk 500 km, but that has been a bit "relativiert". Searching for the next adventure, I came across reports of folks that have walked, biked, sailed or otherwise traveled the earth for weeks, months and years, many without much fanfare.

How about this one?

2006 Slovenia – China – Slovenia 2008
33.ooo km - 24 months - 22 countries

by bicycle, solo, female

Then there is Heinz Stuecke, riding since 1962. He has visited all countries on earth, filled 20 passports and has the following, most understated web site.

But it also goes as a couple... 5 years on the road, no plans to stop.

Camino Santiago: 450 km for now

Yes, the lion had his final roar for now. After 450 km I stopped in Leon and returned to the mother country, saving Santiago for a different day, season, company and mode of transportation? Who knows. It was an experience that is difficult to put in words or images, and it will be different for anybody going on this journey...