There’s been times throughout my life that I have felt that I have overcome extreme odds and challenges that would have driven most men and women into the dirt. I have faced, stared down and conquered many challenges in my life that I thought I would have never even encountered in the first place.  To this day I still regard myself as a hard ass Marine who has never backed down from any challenge at any cost, at anytime. The time I served as a United States Marine made me realize that your heart and your balls (figuratively speaking of course) are your most valuable assets. I still believe that today, and will always believe that.

However, as I grow older and wiser, the challenges I face and stare down have slowly subsided and faded away. I am now a loving husband, a valued pillar of my community, and a rising star in the business world.  I don’t have a problem with any of that. I love the way my life has gone and I’m looking forward to many, many years of more of the same. I write this today because, since I have left the Marine Corps, physically, because “Once a Marine always a Marine” I have missed that sense of danger and excitement. Aggression and competition. Fear and Courage at the same time.  I have been lacking in what seems to be a sense of “Challenge”. I have found it again in Mountain Biking.

Now you might say that Mountain Biking isn’t the same as sitting down range while  bullets are flying overhead, but I beg to differ. You still get that same feeling when you’re faced with a challenge of a big climb or a heavy descent. You still have to grab your sack and move forward. There are times you feel as though you want to get off of your bike and walk, but you don’t. You keep on pedaling until your heart and/ or your balls (figuratively speaking) are ready to explode.  That is fear and courage at the same time, that is danger and excitement at the same time, that is the 100 yard stare, if you will.

I have been out of the Marine Corps for several years now and it never seizes to amaze me how I will never lose that edge. I will never lose that ability to shut the rest of the world off and just power through whatever it is I have to power through. Mind over matter, as it will, is still alive and kicking within my bones, heart and veins.

I have found that Mountain Biking has been able to fill that void of competition and challenge that I have been without for some time now. I feel as though I have a new passion for beating myself to a pulp for the mere glory of finishing something that I started, with pride, honor, blood and dirt.  I find that I have had it all along and it will be with me till the day I die. Drinking a beer or eating a fat steak or even just sitting back on my couch with my wife have never felt as good as they do after an epic ride.

I write this long winded letter as a tribute, not only to myself and what my life as a U.S. Marine taught me, but as a tribute to all of the men and women who are to this day either still fighting for us in far away lands and for the millions who still struggle and fight with themselves once they are back among the flock.  I write this to prove that there is an outlet for what you think your missing. You just have to willing to give it some time and find what it is and what it means to you.

As cheesy as this may sound, I know that there are millions of men and women who have been where I’ve been who are looking for that outlet. Be patient, it will find you. You’re not alone and you will never be alone. Comradery, Courage, Strength, Endurance, and the feeling of being among the Elite all are part of what I missed and now I have it back.

That is mainly the reason I have started Twisted Stone. Twisted Stone can be many things to many people, you may interpret it as you like. To me however, it’s the reach down and squeeze mentality you need to succeed in life and in competition. It’s the stare it down and don’t back off mentality. Around here “We turn Mountains into Mole Hills”, not the other way around. No challenge is too great, no climb is too high, no descent is too steep. We move it if it’s in our way or we figure a way to get over it.

TwistedStone.com isn’t a person, place or thing, it’s a state of mind. It’s a belief system, bigger than me or you. It’s what we do and how we act. It’s a direction and only you have the map. It’s a vision. Our vision.

Stay Twisted

T.Stone