The Standing Rock Bike Tour- Day 4 - Glorious Heights (Steemit Exclusive)

October 13- Day 4

I started the fourth day of my adventure completely soaked in a dream. Flirting with lucidity, my mind refused to leave the dreamscape and kept pulling me back to experience the richness of my subconscious wanderings.

My alarm had other plans though, and felt compelled to continually nag at me, reminding me, “Hey, Wake up! You’ve got 80 miles of rugged road ahead of you! Wake up! It’s time to go! Come on!”

In my struggle to escape the covers, I lost the dream. It was something profound, but unfortunately it ended up with all the other forgotten dreams. What I do remember, though, were the biscuits and gravy that followed after I left my Momma’s house.

I had a tradition of visiting the Donut Mill every time I went on an adventure in the area. I figured this little ride counted as an adventure, so I loaded up on sugary, fatty, freshly baked treats.

I wasn't counting calories, so I got a full order of biscuits and gravy to start the day out right, then a big ol’ bear claw for when I got hungry in the woods later.

I was planning on filming a ton of content that day, so I didn’t waste any time getting started. I just needed a good view of Pikes Peak, a camera, and a moment to speak from the heart.

In this video, I wanted to acknowledge my white privilege, and apologize for what it cost.

"...Colonialism stole this land from its original inhabitants hundreds of years ago- and while I was not a part of that madness, I still benefit from it.

I cannot simply turn a blind eye to my privilege and pretend it does not exist either. Something within me can't accept living like that. So, I want to stand in the gap and sincerely apologize for all the wrong doings of those who came before me. No one deserves the shit that's been kicked up on the Native People of North America.

Even to this day, First Nation people are being oppressed. Columbus brought a sickness with him when he sailed here, and more than anything else, I want to be a part of the healing process."

I turned off the camera and prayed.

Then, feeling the warmth of the sun on my cheek, I opened my eyes, packed up, and rolled out.

I flew past dozens of memories on my way through town; old smoke spots, late night meet up points, landmarks of locking lips- I even rode past a house that I had decorated with toilet paper back in the day. The nostalgia was real, and only got stronger as I started climbing the winding road that stretched up and out of town.

I had ridden this stretch of road countless times, and knew each bend as if they were an old friend. These woods were my home, and under that blue sky ceiling, I felt free.

A couple miles out of town, I pulled over and stashed my bike in the woods. I had made it to the base of the Boulderfields and was itching for a little stony excursion. So, I grabbed my guitar and started running up the path.

Golden leaves fell like rain from the aspen canopy overhead, while massive granite boulders gathered like a wise stone council planted into the mountain.

A little further up the trail, I found a hand-crafted swing, hanging from an arched tree. I’m not sure how long it had been hanging there, but the soft red seat cushion that I remember sitting on as a young teen, had now been stripped down to the bare plywood base.

Sure, it was a kind of a random spot for a swing, but those who have experienced its sway, can clearly see that it is perfectly placed. It was in a scenic location with complete privacy, and due to its placement on the hill, the crest of your forward swing would toss you twenty feet up into the air. Then as you swung back, the hillside would catch you and guide you back up its slope.

To this day, it is the best swing I ever swung- hands down.

That was just the start though. A quick run up to the top of the hill brought me to the grandiose Boulderfields! This massive outcropping of boulders completely overwhelmed the hillside they fell upon and created a nearly endless obstacle course to climb through. Regardless of skill level, it was the perfect afterschool special for us woodland hoodlums.

One rock was especially noteworthy and was dubbed, "Pride Rock." It crowned this massive stone playground and provided the perfect overlook of the world. If there was ever a spot to just sit and think, this was it.

However, getting to it was not an easy pursuit- especially while wearing bike cleats. The metal buckle, which normally helped me pedal, kept clicking on the boulders and turned my typically sure footed stride into a techtonic tap dance.

The shoes killed my grip, and made the stones more slippery than a rainstorm on the rocks. But, being a problem-solver, I stripped this obstacle down to its raw solution, and found myself barefoot. I tied my shoes to the belt loop on the side of my waist, and with my guitar on my back, I dove into the granite cathedral.

A soft gust of wind brushed a cool breeze onto my back, and the rugged grooves of the massive boulder under my feet, grounded me into a sense of wholesome playfulness. Blue sky smiling, I finally found some genuine peace.

I wedged myself in between two boulders and shimmied up to the next level. Massive stones formed a shaded corridor to walk across, and as it opened up, the boulders dropped out. What was once a solid stone walkway turned into stepping stones, with deep, dangerous caverns in between.

The weight of my guitar threw me off balance, but I quickly adapted. Still, it was nerve racking to peer down into 20- 30 feet of darkness, knowing that if I slipped, I’d dip into its debilitating mystery.

“You just gotta stay on top of it.” I encouraged myself, as I straddled the gaps.

Landing in loose gravel, I nervously shifted my weight up and over another stone. Then, when I found my footing, I looked up to see the broadened horizon. Pride Rock was just a couple leaps away.

Call me crazy, but I could spend my whole life traveling the world, exploring the richest landscapes on the planet, and still want to return here. The Boulderfields are home, and as the birds chirped, I settled into the scene.

I made it to Pride Rock and gazed out over the panoramic horizon in front of me. Slowly taking it all in, I could just about count the foothills before Pikes Peak emerged.

I sat down and reclined on the giant stone, and smelt the fresh air. I saw a hawk above me, and watched it soar through the valley.

It slowly spun and circled through the sky, and as I contemplated it's grace and majesty, I realized that I could easily let the day slip by if I wasn't careful.

Completely content, up on a rock in the woods, it would be too easy to indulge in these ecstatic sights and sounds and leisurely watch the clouds roll past.

But I was on a mission.

I pulled out my phone and started recording another video, to get us all on the same page- people need to know what's going on at Standing Rock.

Strong winds battled my audio recording, but I remember saying something like…

“What’s up everybody!? This is Scott Mackenzie- Low coming at you from the top of Boulderfields, in Woodland Park, Colorado. I’m about 100 miles deep into the Standing Rock Bike Tour, and have already traveled from Denver, to Manitou Springs, Colorado, to bottle up some sacred mineral water. From here, I'm gonna cruise another seven to eight hundred miles, all the way up to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

I just rode my bike up a mountainside, and climbed a huge hill to get here, but I figured, if I’m going to stand with Standing Rock, then I might as well stand on a rock, while making my stand.

I hope most of you are well aware of what's going on at Standing Rock right now. But for those you who aren't, let me break it down. The Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL for short, is an oil pipeline that stretches over a thousand miles, from the Baken Tar Sands up in North Dakota, to a refinery down in Illinois. It crosses hundreds of waterways, including both the Mississippi and Missouri River, and puts all of them at risk. With hundreds of oil spills going unreported every year, this pipeline poses way too great of a threat for any greed to validate.

Yet with billions of dollars on the line, Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, doesn't look like it's going to back down. In fact, they'll do just about anything to make sure that this pipeline gets built. Take for instance the incident on September 3rd, with the guard dogs.

Days after bulldozers ravished Lakota burial grounds and sacred sites, Water Protectors from tribes throughout the US and Canada went to plant their tribal flags in the way of the pipeline. When they did, they saw that the bulldozers had skipped ahead a dozen miles and were digging up ancient burial grounds.

Riled up, the protectors demanded that the destruction stopped. Well, it did, but in response, Energy Transfer Partners sent a private security force, full of mercenaries, to stop the uprising. They came in full force, with pepper spray and attack dogs.

With bloody teeth, the dogs attacked several Water Protectors, including a pregnant woman and a horse. That’s when the mainstream media started talking about all of this. After all, if it bleeds, it leads.

By now, I'm sure you are all well aware that most news networks in the US are first and foremost, a business, concerned with ratings, profits, and advertisements.

Sure, many news stations do their best to cover the news in a fair, unbiased manner, but if you look into it, you'll see that most of them have been bought out. In fact, many companies that advertise on these networks have a vested interest in this pipeline going through. So you'll find that the news coverage is slim or very slanted the majority of the time- especially when it comes to this pipeline in particular.

That is why I’m out here today. I want to tell you what’s going on, and what we can do about it.

This is a huge topic, where if we remain silent, they win... But that’s not going to happen, because this movement is not going to stop. The world is waking up.

Yet this shift towards sustainability and living harmoniously on the Earth isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to take all of us. We are going to need to research, develop, and implement new infrastructure, all the while adopting more conscious ways of living.

In fact, it might be more of a spiritual battle than anything. You see, it’s not a battle of flesh and blood, but in the way we live our lives.

What dominates our life: compassion or instant gratification? Are we spending our time joyfully helping those we interact with, or are we always searching for the next easy dose of satisfaction?

From what I’ve seen, when we are connected to ourselves, our source, and the world around us, life radiates with brilliance. Yet when we close ourselves off to the world, and indulge in easy excitements and instant gratification, life loses its luster.

When we seek external sources of satisfaction, like money, influence, or praise, we lose our sovereignty and become slaves to a system. And if that system is destroying the environment, and allowing civil injustice to occur, then we become part of the problem.

Shifting our lifestyles, so we become part of the solution, can be daunting at first. But if we continually take steps to reduce our carbon footprint, and live more sustainable lives, then we help change the status quo and save our environment. We just need to keep moving towards that goal- not just in our personal lives, but as an entire nation.

That’s why I’m riding my bike to Standing Rock. I want to show you that, “If I can ride my bike all the way up to North Dakota, from Denver, then you can ride your bike to the grocery store. You're more capable than you think!”

Yet I digress. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 3.8 billion dollar pipeline that stretches across four states, and is currently 60% completed. The good news is, there are plenty of pipelines that have nearly been completed, but have been halted for environmental concerns, like the Keystone XL.

It's not going to be an easy fight, but I believe that if we stand together, we can stop it.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people, from around the world are gathering at Standing Rock, to pray and unite in solidarity. Because this is not just about what’s going on at Standing Rock. What’s going on up there affects the whole world, and sets a precedent for future fossil fuel infrastructure projects, and Native American rights, and all our relations.

You see, we need to shift to a more sustainable way of living, and start using the new green technology that's becoming available. Our tools are evolving, and unless we want another ice age, we need to use better tools than billy clubs and oil.

Take for instance floating wind turbines that sail thousands of feet up in the sky and constantly crank out energy, or tidal generators that harness the flow of the ocean. There are even scientists creating biofuels out of algae, which clean the water it grows in, while producing a natural oil. Legend has it, you can then use this biofuel in most combustion engines.

Boom! Solutions!

All in all, what we need to do is come together, and learn how to live better; consistently upgrading our lives, to become more in sync with nature.

I believe one of the simplest and most effective ways to do this, is to a ride your bike. Because after all, you’re health is your wealth, so invest in yourself. Save your life, ride your bike.

Save all of us... because we need some help. We may not have it all together, but together, we can have it all. It’s a matter of starting where you are, using what you have, and doing what you can. So let's do it!"

I was fired up! I looked out, over the mountain range in the distance, and then ended my video.

Then, I unpacked my guitar from it's case, and found a slightly different angle to film from. I listened to a couple birds sing from off in the distance, then I join in, and sang along.

“Love is my religion, and Love is my law,

And if love is not within it, then I don't want it at all.

So peace is what I practice, as I walk along my path,

And of all the gifts of the Kingdom, it's for wisdom in which I ask.

So give me guidance, and I will listen.

I'll meditate and increase in intuition.

Just help me focus, on my vision.

For I want to learn how to love,

That's my mission.

And that's why Love is my religion, and why Love is my law,

And if Love is not within it, then I don't want it at all.

So let Compassion guide my actions,

And let love radiate in all directions,

For learning to Love is my favorite lesson,

Yes learning how to love is such a blessing!

And that's why Love is my religion, and Love is my law.

And if Love is not within it, I don't want it at all.

Because I just Love you all. Yes I just love you all.”

High up on a rock, in the middle of the woods, I was singing barefoot melody’s. The sun was shining overhead, and the breeze toyed with the handful of clouds that danced in the sky. For the time being, everything was perfect.

I played a couple more songs without the camera’s gaze, and lost all my worries to the wind.

When all was said and done, I packed up and wandered back from where I came. Which meant that once again, I was going to have to grapple my way across some sketchy terrain.

Once I had scrambled my way through the maze, I laced my shoes up, jumped off the rocks, and then threw myself down the hillside I had just climbed. Long strides and stone assisted leaps let me sample flight on my way down the mountain, and excitement completely consumed my mind.

Then, when I returned to my bike, I completely consumed the Bear Claw I ordered earlier.

I saddled up again, but no more than a mile up the hill, I pulled over to commemorate a spot that I crash-landed at a couple years earlier. It was a longboarding incident, and a costly one at that.

I started the run a couple miles up, and felt pretty confident that I knew how to slow down. Unfortunately, as you might have guessed, I was wrong.

On a road as narrow and steep as this one, my curves just weren’t going to cut it; no matter what I did, I kept speeding up! Eventually it dawned on me… I was going to need to bail.

I looked everywhere for a soft place to jump off into, but only saw thorny cliffs, resilient trees, and unforgiving boulders. When a landing pad immerged that didn’t look lethal, I took aim and ran off my board.

The next thing I know, I’m waking up on the hillside, holding my now limp and agonizingly painful wrist. I must not have been out for long, because I was still all alone. After taking a moment or two, to re –center myself, I grabbed the cold metal truck of longboard, and started walking back up the hill I just flew down. A mile or so up, I found my friend Ryan still inching his way down.

After an uncomfortable couple of months, and an expensive medical bill, I promised my Momma I wouldn’t be so foolish. Yet here I was, five years later, riding up the same mountain.

The asphalt ended at the top of the hill, and turned into two dirt roads. I took the path heading north and sped into the forest. Endless pines stretched along both sides of the road, occasionally opening up to reveal constellations of enchanted stones, all spaced out across the hillsides.

No more than an hour later, I gave in; abandoning my bike, I dove into the trees to explore. The scene was just too tempting. Everything that excited me as a child was surrounding me! So I pulled out my camera and started filming.

Delighted to be in my element, I darted through the woods and launched myself from the boulders. No more than a hundred yards from the road, I found a wild teepee. It clearly wasn’t any sort of formal or livable dwelling- just a collection of dead aspens stacked together.

I used to make similar structures as a kid, so I did what I used to do, and sat down in the middle of it. I giggled and grinned, and let the sheer silliness of the moment sink in. I loved playing in the woods.

Later on down the road, I turned on some of that wild fox medicine, and let Nahko and Medicine for the People thump out of my stereo. I still had a drum and two bells strapped to my bike, so I let loose a little woodsy jam session.

Random riffs in the road would knock me off center, and temporarily disturb my drumming, but not even those washboards could keep me from pursuing a solid groove.

Yet, if I didn’t immediately flex and attempt to stabilize my bike, the grooves in the road would whip me around, and kick me off my bike like a bucking mule… so I couldn’t get too unruly.

With a bike trailer packed with gear, I needed to avoid these washboards at all cost- which got progressively more difficult as the daylight faded.

When the sky started to bloom, shading the landscape with its heavenly gold hue, my mind surrendered to the surreal visual ecstasy that radiated throughout the mountains.

Yet, unwanted washboards habitually shook me from that wakeful dream, and brought me back to dust and the struggle.

As the night began to creep up on me, avoiding these bumps got to be nearly impossible. All I could do was accept that they were there, and get back on course as quickly as possible, whenever they swept me away.

It didn’t help that my gears were acting up. For some reason, I couldn’t shift into my easy gears. If I tried, the chain would get bound up, crunch around, and leave me wincing. It was a painful thing to experience, so I tried to stick to the tougher gears.

This made every climb more challenging. Not only were there washboards turning the road into a mine field, if I didn’t charge towards the base of every hill with full force, I wouldn’t be able to maintain the speed and inertia needed to climb the endless hills in front of me.

An hour after darkness consumed the sky, I pulled over to breath. The wild road was chewing me up and spitting me out. I felt drained, worn down, and exhausted, and every choppy chuck of road just drained me more.

City lights finally graced the horizon, so I pulled over to take a peek. I could see fairly well, but climbing over boulders in the dark was a reckless stumbling at best. Once I saw what I wanted to see, I scrambled through the night and returned to my bike.

Within minutes, the dirt smoothed off into pavement again, and dropped down into the city below. Finally, after hours and hours of rigorous exercise, it was time to just sit back and coast!

I let out a deep sigh of relief and started to slice through the darkness. Finally relaxing, I released the tension of the day. Unfortunately, I started releasing too much tension, too quick. Speeding down and out of the mountains, at nearly thirty miles an hour, I was rapidly falling asleep.

“Wake up Scottie Mac! Now’s no time for a nap!” I tried my best to encourage myself, and attempted to stretch an excited, wakeful expression onto my face... but it wasn’t working.

When I finally made it to Sedalia, I raced to the nearest bar. I didn’t need to score any booze, but I did need a strong drink.

“Could I get a coffee and some M&M’s please?” I asked.

The bartender looked at me a little strange.

“Sure.” She replied, as she scanned me over. “Where ya coming in from?”

“Woodland Park.” I replied, as I collapsed onto the barstool.

“Woodland Park?” a rough old man with a beer belly piped up. He leaned forward, and peered over the bar to get a better look at me. “Are you that fella’ on the bicycle?”

I smiled.

“I saw you pedaling away hours ago! Ha, what the hell ‘r ya doing out here?” he chuckled as he responded.

I laughed and warmly replied, “You know… just riding my bike up to Standing Rock.”

“Standing where?” he retorted.

“Standing Rock” I said once again.

The bartender spoke up, “Oh, I heard about that. That’s where all those Indians are fighting a pipeline right!?”

“Yup.” I replied.

“And you’re riding your bike up there?” she asked.

“That’s the plan.” By now, the whole bar was keyed into our conversation.

“But isn’t that up in South Dakota?”

“North Dakota, actually.” The five of us at the bar continued to chat, and chewed over the controversy.

While most of us seemed to favor the Sioux Tribe over the pipeline, one man interjected,” Don’t you think it’s a little ironic that all these peace loving hippies are pumping excess gas in their cars, to protest an oil pipeline? It’s like their shooting bears trying to protest hunting.”

“I hear ya. And I agree- it is ironic that we’re consuming so much gasoline to make all this happen. That’s why I, for one, am biking there.

As far as the big picture goes- I think this movement is going to help push us towards cleaner energy, and if we need a little more fuel than normal to ignite that transition, then so be it. ”

We kept discussing Standing Rock, and what it was like traveling across country via bike, but as soon as I finished my second cup of coffee, I was ready to go.

I threw away my empty bag of M&M’s, payed and thanked the bartender, then left. I still had another 30 miles until I reached my friend Ember’s house in Golden, so I straddled my mechanical stallion and raced off into the night.

I was supposed to be at her place by now, so I gave her a call to let her know the situation. It’d be another three or four hours until I was in the neighborhood.

3 hours later, I was in Morrison, just a couple miles away from Ember’s place in Golden. The coffee had worn off long ago, and my fight to stay awake was as real as ever.

Closing my eyes felt so good, and every second of indulgence was heaven. Yet riding with my eyes closed, was still a skill I had yet to master, so I pulled over to the side of the bike trail and collapsed in the grass.

Stretched out like a starfish, I sunk into the earth. I just needed a quick second to rest. Looking up towards the stars, I let out a sigh of relief.

…Then the sprinklers turned on.

I shouted, grabbed my bike, and then fled to the other side of the path. I called up Ember, and let her know I was close. I wasn’t too coherent, and seemed a little loopy, so she offered me a ride.

I toyed with thought.

I wanted to show people that they didn’t need oil, but at the same time, who was I to judge? I inadvertently use oil based products all the time; after all, I bought food at the grocery store, which needed oil for transportation. A fair share of my equipment was made from petroleum based products. Heck, if the circumstances were right, I’d even take a bus or carpool somewhere.

There was oil on my hands, and I couldn’t deny it.

I knew that our society needed oil to function, but also knew that if we continued to use it, it would eventually kill us, and I for one, didn’t want to die.

I felt my damp jacket, and noticed my dulled vision. My cognition was noticeably compromised by fatigue, and even though I hated doing it, I knew I should accept the ride from Ember.

My Momma was sitting on my shoulder, with a halo above her head, urging me to take the ride. “Humility is always the best insurance policy. I know you want to nurture your pride, by turning down the ride, but you’ve got to take care of yourself. You don’t have to be a martyr to make a difference.”

“Alrighta”, I told Ember. You could hear the exhaustion in my voice. “Do you ah, wanna meet me a Safeway or somethin’?”

Once I hung up, I widened my eyes as far as they would open, and smacked my cheeks. In a daze, I climbed back on my bike, and rolled down the bike path to find the store.

Every muscle in my body ached to some extent, and as I arrived, I collapsed at the picnic table out front.

Ember arrived half an hour later, and we loaded up my bike. With all the pins, knobs, and levers, taking my bike apart, and stuffing it in the back of Ember’s Subaru was a trick. –A trick that we weren’t quite able to pull off, without breaking off the hanger tab for the derailleur.

This meant I was stuck in Golden until I got it fixed. Was that karma for taking a ride? Or maybe it was good luck, after all, I’d rather fix my bike here, than in the middle of Nebraska.

The rest of the night, Ember and her roommate Sarah spoiled me with their company. They fed me delicious food, and set me up with a delectable care package, loaded up with all sorts of exotic treats.

A cozy makeshift bed was prepared in the living room, and after a wonderful couple hours of conversation, we all went to bed.

---

Just now tuning in? The Standing Rock Bike Tour is getting released exclusively on Steemit, day by day, for the next two months.

Previous Chapters Include-
Introduction- Igniting the Fire at Unify
Day 1- Indigenous People's Day
Day 2 - Musical Mantras
Day 3 - Bottling My Prayers

Continue on to-
Day 5 - Inner TurmOil

Learn more, and access all available chapters at-
http://www.righteousendeavors.com