Cowboy Up

October 15th, 2011 by Gavin

We all got pieces of crazy in us, some bigger pieces than others:

(The following story is not based on fact but cowboy sayings – some characters are real and most discussions did take place albeit between 1 man and his inner voice)

I stopped off in a saloon today in Arizona, walked up to the bar and said “whiskey for my men, beer for my horses”

There was a long silence.

“Just a bottle of water please”

To my left sat an older gentleman and he began to speak as I uncapped my water bottle. He asked what was I doing in town (obviously I wasn’t from around here . . the red lycra might have given it away), where I had come from and where I was going . . . .

I told him I was Irish but had come from Mexico – I was racing there but it hadn’t gone to plan.

I was in town to try and turn things around.

“Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got” he said. And most of the time ”if your not makin’ dust your eattin’ it”.

A couple of days ago I found myself in a hotel room staring at the wall. Wanting to sleep but a splitting migraine stopping me. Trying to work out why/how was I not only spat out of the lead pack on the hills but also by the chase packs on the flat ? My thoughts and the silences broken by rushes to the bathroom.

“Every trail has a few puddles in it” he noted and you should ‘always drink upstream from the herd’.

He was talking slow but he was thinking quick.

“The best way out of a difficulty is through it and there ain’t nothin’ like ridin’ a fine horse in new country. Seems to me like you can either go cry in the truck or cowboy up!”