[blkduc1]

Hey I really enjoyed seeing the amazing art display by my close friends Dr. Curve and Alexa. It was good to see them, and to see my BRB (blood renegade brother) Bob Hancock there. Please excuse this long post, but I feel compelled to make a few comments based on my observations and knowledge of these two fine people and artists:

Alexa's work is painted on special high-quality boards that she painstakingly cuts into the precise lines that allow her to incorporate shapes of the images she paints as if they literally hang out of the scene. Many of the plants she depicts are of types that can be used for healing in some way, such as blood root. Many of the animals I believe may be those that are, or have been, endangered. The colors seem to blend and flow while being vivid at the same time, all "earthy" and natural in their aura, and many of the scenes seem to "pull you in" to the central depth of the landscape. She explains it all very well, and it makes one want to take special care of our natural and precious environment. ---You have to go see these in person if you can. -- Nothing like it.

And Curve's maps are intricate and just detailed enough. He shows the ROUTE, but not much of the roads that connect , or, are in the central area of the loops. This way, the focus is on the main running-roads he has scoped out so skillfully through the years, and all the intersections, elevations, danger-zones, and small towns are marked. He identifies all the roads in the loops, and provides distances for each segment. He also uses legends to show different characteristics of the roads he wants to document, and provides some profound comments or words of wisdom in limited places on the maps. The riding adventure waiting there in each area seems to sort of radiate out of the paper toward you and pull you over to look more and more closely. I found myself going through the routs in my mind that he drew that I had also been on, (such as the infamous Blue ridge 500) and trying to memorize every little segment of others so I could go run it again, or for the first time, as Curve has laid it out.

These are not just maps -- and unlike modern Google Map cluttered computer or satellite images that anyone can print---they are hand-drawn pieces of art that somehow radiate the "rider's mojo" that the author acquired as he burned off tire rubber for countless miles working out these beautiful, challenging, and exciting routes through hills and curves and "roads less taken" in some of the best parts of America. These span a long time-period in being recorded, and show the true corner-worshiper's enthusiasm for just how important the routs are. These are special roads, and Curve has chosen to share these "secret routes" with us in an honest, open, generous artistic way. Y'all should go see these at full size while on display if you can. And then maybe go RIDE some of them --- at your own pace, of course, NOT the pace the good Dr. may have indicated here or there. Don't be fooled by some comment of "average speed of 47 mph" sounding leisurely and calm....... That takes in all the stops, etc, that eat away speedy-sounding times in a 300 mile curve-day!

- Celebrate the roads, celebrate the art and artists, celebrate the amazing bikes we have, celebrate life and riding free.

Best to y'all ---

dp