Practice

Telling a story is hard work.

Getting the flow and the tone, just right.

Enough details to give it substance, without losing people in the minutia.

Riding all day, with eyes wide open, there are stories every minute, things you see, how it all fits together. But weaving all of that into a tale that brings just a bit of that excitement to the folks who were not suffering along with you, or who were not picking a line through the rocks, or catching a little air on what use to be a fireroad, is tough.

Pictures help, but that's not where the story is, that's where the place is. And while place is important, there is so much more than that.

Perhaps I am a romantic, but I think back in the pre-television days when oral history was an integral part of our lives, I would guess that folks were just generally better story tellers. That is not a bow to romanticism, but simply an acknowledgment that practice makes us better.

I'll save this story from a by-gone age for later...