Daniel Randall

Friday, November 6th, 2009 is the day for setting powerful new goals, leaving the past where it belongs, and turning over a new leaf. What will I pack for this journey and what will I leave behind? I’m making up my mind to transform my mind and to get ready for a whole new outlook!  One way to hit the reset button on old programming is to ask new questions of yourself. One great place to start might be, “What keeps happening to me,  what do all the seeming problems in my life have in common?” It’s simply a matter of changing the way you look at things – changing your mind – creating entirely new perspectives. The older I get the more I’ve come to realize that out of difficult situations, many times, there are positive lessons learned…but only if we choose to look, listen and observe. Of course it is never fun to be faced with a negative challenge. Pain and heartache aren’t a thrill and great sadness brings isolation, however, if we can look for the positive or the learning in every situation, particularly the difficult ones, we not only grow but we come out on the other side much stronger and less bruised.  We already know this stuff, but sometimes it just finally clicks.  Have a happy and wonderful weekend my friends and remember…love is the answer.

The reason I started riding. The reason I started flying. Not too many people are blessed enough to be friends with their hero and spend time with a living legend. Thanks Mat for all the support and your friendship throughout the years.

There is no guaranteed outcome in flying or riding, only reasonable assurance at best, and a complete dice roll at worst, But as with anything, it all starts with a willingness to try something new and look at the same situation differently in order to allow something new to emerge.  And with that comes a new found freedom born from the death of conventional thinking.  Many of you might think that this means taking on more risk, and that flying and riding is risky enough.  But this is not about risk being the means to an adventure;  this is about your willingness to embrace the unknown being the means to your next adventure.  The definition of adventure is not knowing for sure what will happen next.  You won’t know if it will work, but you have to try.

The next time you go flying or riding, endeavor to be willing.  Embrace the unknown no matter how small or trivial because the thrill and the excitement of a different perspective can live in the smallest of places, but the effect it can have on you can be surprisingly large.  Some of my best moments flying and riding this year have come from small moments of testing my thinking in familiar places that resulted in discovering something new, or just rediscovering the benefits of good old fashioned belief.  Look at these small moments as training for the big ones, as we don’t get the chance to go big very often and we’d best be ready when the time comes.  But most of all these moments keep the adventure alive within us and scratch that certain itch.

What would you do if you only had one week to live?

One week to live? In case you’re unclear, that’s 7-days, or 168 hours, or 10,080 mins, or… (I’m sure you get the point). In the grand scheme of things, that’s hardly a significant amount of time, unless it’s the last 10,080 minutes you have to live, then it suddenly puts your entire life in proper perspective. If the truth be told, I’m not certain I could give an all-encompassing answer to my own question. I mean, would turning off the cell phone, disconnecting the TV constitute a profound response? If I’m being honest, I don’t know what I would do (at least not completely) I do know that we should be living our lives out loud and that’s what I plan to do.  Can you hear it?

I like treating each season like a new year. I get a surge of hope about who I might be and what’s next. You can sit down, reflect on the last season and what you’d like to get out of the new one, from mundane to profound. For example, looking at fall, I’d like to 1. Find a new health club to attend regularly 2. Put a new bike together 3. Throw a cool party 4. Allow more love, pleasure, and joy into my life. 5. Work on some cool projects that I’ve been putting off for a while 6. Do Speedflying in the Mountains with skis in the snow. 7. What time is it?

Don’t get me wrong BMX freestyle is the heart and soul of my love for riding and where my roots began, MTB is great fun and exciting, BMX racing was a great passion when I was younger and a way to start this whole love affair in the first place…but whatever you ride, whether it’s BMX, MTB, FR, DH, Fixed or Road,  riding is pure pleasure.  We all do it at some point in our lives.  We ride the streets in the city.  We ride the neighborhood trails or jumps and maybe progress to something bigger.  You just do it for fun.  Yes, Fun.  So go have fun before it’s too late.

What is Windells?  It’s a place to go huge!  Snowboard, Skateboard, Freeski, and BMX Camps all year long!  I’ve always had an AWESOME time going up to Windells and I’m looking forward to riding and hanging out with the crew up there soon.  For the past two decades, Tim Windell has been at the forefront of our industry’s progression with the development of camps designed to push action sports to new heights.  Tim is a cool guy and he definitely keeps it REAL.  Click on the picture to check out their site.  See you up there!

I love my bike.  The beauty of it almost makes me cry.

I met this amazing photographer and really nice guy Boone the other day; I’m really looking forward to shooting with him and working on some projects!  Click on the pics to check out his site for some great eye candy.

Riding in Hood River this afternoon, it’s definitely mosquito season!

Happy 4th everybody!

Sometimes, I get lonely at the top.  Sometimes.

These trails are insane!  Can’t tell you where they are, but I can tell you they’ll be a lot of fun.  Just now hitting… look out for some sick pics coming soon.

Went to the Grotto the other day and had a fun session… going back tomorrow too.

Did a demo this last weekend at the Action Sports Expo.  Fun stuff!

I went to Beacon Rock State Park to check out this awesome climbing spot about 25 miles west of Hood River. It is actually in Washington State, right on the Columia River. Beacon rock is a natural monolith that once formed the basaltic core of a volcano, which has been eroded away by the river. It is almost as large as Gibraltar. At the top is a commanding view of the surrounding gorge, the river, nearby waterfalls including Multnomah Falls on the Oregon side, and rugged cliffs.

Lewis and Clark first referred to this as “Beaten Rock,” but then everybody started calling it “Beacon Rock”, perhaps because the rock was like a “beacon in the gorge.”  Later on in the 19th century, the rock was called “Castle Rock”, but its name was soon restored to Lewis & Clark’s earlier designation.

I camped out in the campgrounds a mile away from the rock in the state park with the Lawson Hammock! The next morning I hiked up Beacon Rock with my bike and my Camelbak, then rode down. The hike is over a mile long, traversing over approximately 50 switchbacks, and climbs about 850 feet.  

Went riding at the Vancouver, WA skate park yesterday on the way back from Beacon Rock.

Yes, the economy absolutely sucks.  But don’t let it stop you from riding or having fun. It turns out you can spend a weekend in one of the most beautiful places on earth, ride, hike, fly and have a great time without spending hardly any money.  Good times.

I haven’t posted in 3 weeks… Ooops!   Took a hard slam.  Back now.

Time is a paradox, stretching between a “past” and “future” that have no reality except in our own minds.  The idea of time is a convention of thought and language, a social agreement.  Here is the deeper truth: You Have Only This Moment.

If gravity is the glue that holds the universe together, balance is the key that unlocks its secrets.  Balance applies to our body, mind, and emotions, to all levels of our being.  It reminds us that anything we do, we can overdo or underdo, and that if the pendulum of our lives or habits swings too far to one side, it will inevitably swing to the other.

Just another day at work…