Word and Images by Luke Batten
When I look back on a ride or some images of that ride my memory conveniently forgets how out of shape I was on the climb. Maybe my bike was shifting perfectly or maybe it was jumping all over the place, I really cannot remember. I look on the photographs of my friends and alI I see are perfect beings. This is what I remember. I see Abigail’s beautiful freckles or her smile as she tightens a cleat. She is still a teenager I think and she seems at so confident at her age. She is so chill in our company that I feel like I have known her for a decade at least. This summer she went to Europe with USA cycling and won a race. I cannot wait to hear about how it all came together. Kyle’s undying enthusiasm for every moment I have been around him is never lost in a photograph. He is stoke. He is braap 24/7. Nicole, who I barely knew in these photographs is as steady as they come. When I visit Idaho she is one of the first people I want to connect with. I have known Jon for so long I can conveniently divide my life into half segments of when I did not know him and when I did. He is always up for an adventure and a drive or ride to get there. If I did not live in Chicago I can imagine more memories and more galleries of adventures with my fellow Idahoans. We would make every trail ours and give them new names…The MOON, The Edge of the World… Maybe we would name that big pile of rocks, “PILE OF ROCKS!” There would be so many rides that sometimes I’d forget my camera and there would be no gallery to edit. That’s ok, I’d still remember perfect human beings out there, all of them crushing it.
A gallery of black and white images and a couple color ones
