This weekend a good friend casually mentioned how terrible I was at updating my website. Friend, this post is for you!

Lots new on my end, but first off, important things that others are doing:

-The Plastic Pollution Coalition - an organization my friend Manuel Maqueda has started that educates people on the dangers of plastic pollution, and clearly explains what we can do about it. So simple, so smart. Bonnie Raitt endorses it...so it must be cool! 

-Ray’s Mtn Bike Park held their grand opening this weekend, and they are doing some amazing things with the place. Rather, they have done some amazing things with the place! I would say it’s one of my favourite places to ride, and has the highest concentration of good people of anywhere I’ve been. The place is great. It’s worth going to Cleveland Ohio for. Enough said. Oh, and yep, that’s me in the poster holding a hot dog. Thanks Ray.

-As many of you know, good music is the fuel of my soul, and this website has been really helpful in the fueling process lately: http://onesweetsong.blogspot.com/. Have you noticed I’ve been in a great mood lately? It’s because of this website.

-Met a great person today named Bill Weaver. He is a filmmaker and the creator of the “Media That Matters” conference and I was honored to get an invite from him for next year. Bill does many many many great things. Check out (one of his) sites here: www.mediathatmatters.org

Are you sick of me saying “great” yet? I thought so. I’ll get onto not-as-great subjects now...such as school.

It’s official, I am now on my way to becoming a master in International and Intercultural Communication. Well, perhaps not a master in theory, but a MA on paper. In the past 3 weeks I have begun to realize why most people don’t do master’s degrees...they are HARD! School is very humbling, and the best part about this program (other than the incredible instructors and very interesting and intelligent classmates), is that I don’t have to physically go to school! That means just as much time on my bike and in the surf as before...minus the social life. The exception being the next three weeks when we have to go to school from 8am-5pm everyday. I’m guessing my definition of hard work is about to change.

I’ve been taking advantage of my freedom the past few months though. I was in Vegas at Interbike, followed by a Norco team trip to Moab, Utah, continued on to LA/Orange County for a few more weeks, came home, left home, spent a week in Whistler riding with Bike magazine, came home, went surfing, caught H1N1, felt closer to death than I ever have in my life, did some filming with Aaron LaRoque, went to Cleveland for the opening of Rays, came home, went surfing some more, and almost bought a piano - twice. Oh, and somewhere in there I began the first correspondence portion of school. Life is busy! Life is good!

In the wonderful world of bike riding, I have been busy working with Norco to design the 2011 line of women’s specific bikes. The Vixa is undergoing some major changes that will make the bike pounds lighter. The new engineer working for Norco is on it and it’s been amazing learning from him. He’s a wizard with autocad. I have also been filming with Aaron LaRoque, but the greasy grimy mud we were looking for was nowhere to be found. Aaron does great work in all conditions though and we shot some really cool lines in the old growth. Not bad for an afternoon of filming a week after both of us had just gotten over swine flu!

Ok, time to go do school work now. The next three weeks will be hectic with my residency going on, so please excuse my lack of updates...not that I update regularly anyways! Oh, and if anyone has great thesis ideas on communication, media, cultural diversity preservation, and/or environmental media please feel free to pass them my way :)

Take care and happy trails!

Darcy

P.S. Thanks to the readers of Singletrack magazine UK for nominating me for the “Personality of the Year” award. Steve Peat and internet sensation Danny MacAskill are my competition. Such an honour to be in their company! I’d gladly take last place in this one :) http://www.singletrackworld.com/reader-awards/

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