Back in my late teens and early 20s, I was so hellbent on being the best possible violinist that I had a lot of problems with tendinitis and carpal tunnel. I was also determined to show that I could make a living at music. One day, when I was playing Irish jigs and reels for people in the privy line at the Bristol Renaissance fair in Wisconsin, my body said, “that’s enough,” and my fingers just wouldn’t move without extreme pain. I finally went to this massage therapist/healer who simply said, “you’re too focused. Just do something that’s the opposite of what you are doing 10 hours a day.”
This is actually not when I started riding bikes. Bear with me. This is when I changed my approach to music and started writing songs more, and thinking about the whole picture like an artist putting on a gallery show or a novelist developing characters. This is when the Bowl of Fire was born, my band that ran from 1997 to 2001. It’s the lyrics and the artwork that helped turn my focus away from the fine motor skills of playing the violin, which had me hitting a wall physically. My mother Beth Bird is a print artist who introduced me to her teacher, Audrey Niffenegger, with whom I collaborated on Music of Hair and Thrills.
Chicago has a very vibrant print scene, and because it often uses the letterpress infrastructure from the heyday of newspapers, print artists tend to work with text and narrative. This inspired me more than anything to treat songs like character sketches, and I enjoyed collaborating with artists like Audrey and Jay Ryan, Chris Ware, and my mom. I would think about the melody and lyrics as being one of many components that make up the bigger picture, almost like a film.
I remember the first time I went to Fireproof/Screwball Press on Western Avenue in Chicago and seeing these beautiful silk screen posters for bands like June of ‘44, Wilco and The Aluminum Group. I was thinking, “if the music is half as cool as these posters, then I’m in.”
So I’d book a show for the Bowl of Fire at Schubas or the Lunar Cabaret and have a poster made. I got such a thrill from brainstorming with Jay Ryan, Steve Walters, or Chris Ware on how this poster could have some clues or Easter eggs, as they call them, and help tell part of the story. All of this added to the theater of the upcoming show. I’d load up my backpack with all these beautiful posters and hop on my old Specialized, hard rock comp that I got when I was 15, and ride all over Chicago, taping limited works of art to telephone poles and shop windows.
Every move I made in my 20s still had to be for the cause, the struggle, but I guess this is the beginning of my adult obsession with biking. Of course, growing up in Lake Bluff, Illinois, bikes were freedom. We would spend hours building jumps in the woods. Nostalgia certainly is at play here as I find myself more and more obsessed with finding the best singletrack trails all over the world. I had a period where I tried to get into bike touring, where you ride 80 miles a day and carry camping supplies. However, years of standing on my left foot while I pivoted to operate pedals caused my knee to not cooperate with long-distance rides. Mountain biking is my thing because you are always adapting to the trail, getting out of the saddle to climb, shifting your weight back to descend. “There’s a tree! Look out for that rock!” It’s a simple proposal. I can go for hours, and I love it.
The summer of 2024 was an especially memorable one for mountain biking, with coast-to-coast singletrack all within a few miles of the venues. It’s become a daily obsession to pull my tallboy from the trailer and hit the trails for 3-4 hours before soundcheck. In a world that keeps pulling us to pieces, it helps focus me and channel my need to get to see what’s around the next corner into a healthy thing.
So here’s my ride log for Summer 2024:
Paciano, IT - Vetta Monte Petravella - June 30
Jacksonville, OR - Ol’Miners Trail - July 4&5
*Bend, OR - Deschutes River Trail - July 6
Boise, ID - Old Pen Trail - July 7
*Missoula, MO - Sound of Music Trail - July 8
Deer Valley, UT - Day Off Downhill Park - July 9
Sandy, UT - Too Hot - July 10
Cheyenne, WY - Lariat Loop - July 11
Omaha, NE - Monarch Pass - July 12
*Bayfield, WI - Dirt Lip - July 14
Interlochen, MI - Lost Lake Trail - July 15
Youngstown, OH - Poland Municipal Forest - July 16
Charlottesville, VA - Rivanna Trail to Reactor - July 17
*Asheville, NC - Bent Creek - July 18
*Atlanta, GA - Sope Creek - July 19
Galena, IL - Chestnut Mountain - Aug 1
Indianapolis, IN - Town Run Trail - Aug 8
Grand Rapids, MI - Cannonsberg State Wildlife - Aug 9
Kingston, ON - K and P Rail Trail - Aug 11
*Pittsfield, MA - Honolulu Trail, Pittsfield State Park - Aug 13
Greenfield, MA - Greenfield Ridge Trail - Aug 14
Chapel Hill, NC - Carolina North Forest - Aug 19
Wolf Trap, VA - North Boundary Trail - Aug 21
* These were standouts for their natural beauty and the quality of the trails. I replay these rides in my head over and over as they keep on giving me pleasure.
You wear a helmet and wrist guards when you ride, right?
Highly recommend trying Patapsco State Park near Baltimore. Best riding on the East Coast. (It's been a long time since you've been here, too. ;)