Aakash Mittal sent me his Sonic Divide contribution yesterday. It’s a wonderful piece titled “Pahaar”, which means “mountain” in Hindi. He uses a creative method of melodic progression that gives me a lot of room to improvise, but within a structure that keeps the energy flowing forward. Given the title, the fact that Aakash spent much of his youth in Colorado, and that some of the Divide crossings are on some of the highest points on the route in Colorado, I’m thinking I’ll probably sing this piece at the top of one of those mountain passes, which go as high as 12,000 feet. Hopefully there will be enough oxygen for me! I’m so excited about this project. That makes five pieces I’ve received so far, and they are all perfect in every way.

I took the photos of the bike you see a few days before I left for India last month, but I was too busy to actually try out the bike, which had arrived just hours before the photos were taken.

It was an eBay victory; one of those nice deals where someone purchased the bike new, rode it a while, then decided to sell it quickly by offering it up for a ridiculous price.  I put in the lowest bid–thinking there was no way I would get it at that price–and got lucky enough to win.  It even came with two forks, a rigid and a suspension fork.  I never thought in my life I would ride a bike that nice.  I always figured those rides were for cycling pros or investment bankers, of which I am neither.

So this morning I took it out on its maiden voyage.  To say it is incredible is an understatement.  I love riding carbon for all the common reasons: you get exactly what you put in to it, but it absorbs chatter and noise much better than aluminum.  This bike is light, fast, clean, and crisp.  And the 1 x 11 drive train is a dream.  Much cleaner and simpler than the 3 x 10 I was running before, and I have everything on each end that I did before as well.  Seeing as how I hardly used my front derailleur on the Tour Divide last year because it was so gunked up anyway, it’s nice to know that it isn’t even there.  Less weight and one less thing to go wrong mechanically.

I’m looking forward to putting thousands and thousands of miles on this dream machine . . .

In the last week three more amazing composers have joined my SONIC DIVIDE project, including Eve Beglarian, Blake Tyson, and Nat Evans.  To say I’m honored and humbled is an understatement . . .

Nathanial Bartlett and Stuart Saunders Smith are both working on their pieces for me as you read this.  I can’t wait to see what those brilliant minds and souls produce . . .

Elliott Sharp and Glen Velez have already turned in their compositions and they are perfect in every way.  Elliott’s is titled Long Division and Glen’s is titled Rotations.