I’ve been playing hard outdoors all my life. I’m a gravity kid; I love the feel as it takes over my forward momentum. It’s about letting go not pushing back.

As I’ve grown older and put a lot of miles behind me, I’ve realized that the forward momentum has become almost Zen like. I know, I know; you’re thinking this has gone a little overboard. Doesn’t matter. For me it’s true. The concept of Zen says if we concentrate on the simple actions of what we do, the result we are looking for will happen. No need to focus on results. Zen happens.

The result of that in my outdoor endeavors is I simply love the basic movement. The feel of the paddle and boat moving through the water, the feel of the pedal spin and the self-propelled motion through space. The beauty of this flow state is transcendant no matter where I am. The Zen of it all takes over. Whether I’m surfing down the face of an 8’ swell in a sea kayak or paddling across a state park lake. It’s the flow of it all. Flying down the side of a mountain at 20mph has the same effect as spinning along on a bike path. It’s the simple things that matter; and since I’m older now and there’s less flying and surfing, Zen’s a good thing.