Bicycle Repair Man

This is pretty funny:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw

A photo from a week ago today - the typical pullout view west to the divide, but with a person in it! I just "found" this picture on my camera of the 1st ride into work with another human (timmay!) of the year. It's been a seriously warm week, 60 degrees in Boulder yesterday?! All the snow around the house is melting quickly, good and bad. It feels too early to lose winter. I hope some March snows come as Feb was pretty lame for the Front Range. The rest of Colorado has had record snowfall so far, and the biggest snow month hasn't even started! My end-of-March Yurt trip with some Pilots to the Never Summer Wilderness should be spectacular.

My girl has left for Vegas for a few for days her Mom's 70th Birthday. What a crazy place to have a birthday! Not my thing, but sounds like it might be kinda fun with some shows and people watching. So i'm home alone with the 6 dogs. We'll miss you!

Dawn patrol: crisis narrowly averted

Moon over VeryMale. I nearly got turned around at the lake today on my first real dawn patrol of the season (for turns at least). The foot of snow we got sunday night got blown onto the road up to the perpetual clearcuts (ski resort) and two dumbasses were already stuck in the drifts. "My SUV can make it!" Not. So I parked where i was and checked out the quickest turns I've ever gotten on a trail we name VeryMale. Most the area was wind affected (SLAB) but there were some gems in there of soft snow that, with the morning light, made for an awesome morning. The Karhu Guides and Burnt Mtn LiteDogs are a perfect setup for me...really they're my ideal setup for this kind of back, slack, and all around ski-country.

I am really not sure why humans like the FLOATING feeling so much. But it seems universal. Is it the feeling of weightlessness - no gravity? Is it flying-envy? Is it the feeling of (what we hope is) the afterlife? So many sports have the goal of weightlessness and the fastest and best athletes make it look easy - they float over the dirt, tarmac, snow, track, whatever the medium may be...it all feels similar when you're in that zone.

Even though I could only link 5 or 10 turns in a row, it made the day. That feeling of float, of taking charge of gravity and the other physical laws and telling them to "hold on a minute!"

If you look closely you can see my runs and waxtrax...and this is what you would see from the road up to the resort. SHH!

Guiding light

There are a few reasons I'm not a guide. I play one with friends, but i'd get fired if I made people pay me to drag them around on a tour for some turns. Today was one of those days that there was good reason i had the only tracks heading up to this remote lake seen above. It's a relatively long and flat approach into the lake and THEN you get to get some turns in on short-ish shallow hills. But that's what I'm all about - no crowds, just me and the....well...i didn't see any movement up there at all today. All in all, almost an 8 hour day in the pins. Down low, I think it may have rained (!!??) and the snow was crusty icy crapola, but above 10.000ft it was pretty good powder, if heavy. Weird weather for this area. A big Pacific storm has moved in and they're calling for up to a foot in the high country! But today, we had barely freezing temps but it was dumping - it felt like the Sierra snow I grew up with.

These pictures are pretty unspectacular, I was trying to eek out a few OK ones to show the area and turns.

The sun broke through, just barely, for a few minutes.


Then a un-forecasted solar eclipse suddenly blackened the sky and inverted the colors...it was insane!

Tressel view of Rollins Pass. The hill in the foreground must be skied another day, but with buddies, as it was a tad too steep to ski alone (and in leather boots).

Killed by Death

It always cracks me up when I ride by the elk and they all run farther away and look back at me like I'm on a suspensful TV show. Cars zoom by, not seeing them, and the elk don't seem bothered by it...but a cyclist they run from..!? As soon as the cars slow and stop, and their windows open, then the elk realize there's a person inside and trot away.

Then lower down on the ride in I spotted this young buck. He also stood as still as possible, hoping I wasn't seeing him. I usually don't stop and take pictures of wildlife since it's kind of disturbing them for my personal enjoyment, but I was far enough away I didn't think I was stressing them out.

Later, in Boulder, i saw a confused red fox on campus, seeming like it woke up too late and got stuck on the east side of Broadway. It was obviously trying to go to the west side - the mountain side - but couldn't get across Broadway with all the traffic. He stepped back and paralleled the road for awhile as I watched. He knew the area well so headed straight for the bike path underpass that led to the other side of the road, trotted through it safely, and disappeared into the neighborhood. Smart fox.

After a day full of meetings, I was happy to leave. Riding to the bus I noticed the mePod was somehow switched to my KBD playlist (Killed by Death records)...I did not knowingly do this but I went with it anyway. This playlist is all old 7" EP songs from mostly punk bands that no one, including myself, has ever heard of. For some reason I took the left up the canyon instead of continuing onto the bus. Why? I blame the music. It was bound to happen sometime...but it just hasn't happened this early in many years. A mini heart attack at mile marker 3 slowed me down a bit near the top. (Yes, I am out of shape.) Luckily for me a car slowed as it passed, it was Nimby, so I hopped in for a ride home. Popped open a couple Avery IPAs for the quick recovery drink. Maybe next time I'll make it all the way home on my own. But for now, I learned that I won't be killed by Killed by Death reords.

When I can't think of things to write, or have too much to BLAH about...i'll just let others do it for me. Here's a good article in the NY TIMES a friend sent me.

A thoughtful week to say the least. I chose to stop eating red meat in 1991 (and all meat a couple years later) because of many of the reasons outlined in the above article. I'm sad to see it's only getting worse. After having seen Zeitgeist a couple nights ago, well...even though I'm not "sold" on many of the "facts" presented in that movie (it's impossible to check all their sources)...it's still disturbing the amount of power certain people have and how their focus is on one thing alone: MONEY, and the power that is gleaned from that money no matter what the cost.

Sheldon Brown

I know this is "old" news, but I just came across Grant's (Rivendell) writeup on Sheldon and thought i'd make sure you saw it:
http://www.rivbike.com/blogs/news_post/36

Getting into a nice weekend pattern

Saturday we wake up when nature calls, enjoy the BlueBottle espresso shots on the couch with my girl and crashed out puppies. While Smrp goes off to play with her new pony, I do some yard walks to get their yahoos out, play some guitar and learn some songs, then hike late afternoon with the Monkey and Basie. These are the exploring duo, and they don't really care for playing in the yard so they NEED to get out. I happily oblige.


Sunday it's "get up early and go places i've never been before." Today was the day I finally went to the place that you can see from trails that I use frequently. It's the place I thought (and now think) would be a good dawn patrol hill as it's just a short hop, skip, and jump away. The Combats were my guide today and it felt awesome to get the regular tele skis and boots (boat anchors) off my feet. Simply said, I found the hillside and some soft snow and made some turns and there was much rejoicing. The main hill was 1000ft vert but the trees were too tight most of the time. So I opted for the lower hill -which was a short 300ft vertical and about 26 degrees. The snow was quite good and turning in leather boots and skinny skis is really rewarding. It is really carving, not "just" turning. It was so fun I couldn't bear leaving seeing all that untracked snow, so I did several laps before deciding I should head home.

One of my favorite feelings in the world is finding skiable hills after much searching. The reward usually pays in powder turns which, although not the goal, makes it so much the sweeter.

tiny elk in the distance

Cows

‘Don’t forget this feeling,’ I thought to myself, as I rode past the three semi-trucks being filled with the cows and calfs that usually surround my office farmhouse. Stuffed in the back like sardines, tripping over each other, stressed and confused, I again realized why I don’t eat meat.

Thinking back to my ride in this morning, past the free and wandering herd of elk, it struck me how far cows have been DE-bred from their ancestors to be simply meat & milk producing machines. Just like corn or any other agricultural crop, we’ve turned these creatures into a crop. People say they’re “stupid” or other such niceties, but when it comes right down to it they are just as sentient as any 2 year old kid or any of my dogs - and I'm not about to treat my dogs that way. After you know what’s involved in getting that meat to your plate, well, in my opinion, it just ain’t right. There are other options and I’ve chosen those over what I see as a bad use of land, energy, and our humanity. So I won’t forget that feeling as I see my friends being carted off to slaughter by hammer to their heads.

Revenge of the Telemarkers

"The only other thing that gives the feeling of telemark skiing is....
Bowling. Ski hard or go bowling."
- eastern hippie in the Revenge of the Telemarkers DVD.

As a dude is skiing tight Maine trees: "In this situation, ski slowly, never ski faster than you're willing to hit a tree."
- again, another pinhead in Revenge of the Telemarkers.

This movie was just packed full of classic quotes...and classic old-school telemark skiing. I must say, it's one of the most classic ski movies i've ever seen. Made in around 1989 byDickie Hall and others, it shows pinheads skiing some seriously steep slopes for narrow skis and leather boots including Tuckermans and stuf on Loveland Pass. I highly recommend it for pinheads of any sort.

I think this is my favorite quote though (which easily transfers to cycling too):
"Dr. Telemark, all this exploring has us skiing up and around a lot. And it occurs to me that this is IT! This is really IT! I'm sure this is really obvious to you but skiing uphill is really incredible! Somewhere along the way everyone got brainwashed that skiing was downhill! Skiing is moving around with skis on your feet. Uphill trekking is fabulous, where seeing details, hearing the sounds of the mountain, and smelling the air...what could be better?!"

Amen.

Hope you all had a good weekend! Tooled around with the new guitar and learned a Hanson Brothers song (Can't hide the Heino!). Then me and Smrp dug out of the windblown snow at home on Saturday, then headed out back with the dynamic duo (Monkey and Basie, below) and realized (again) why I hate the wind here.

All that awesome snowfall just gets scoured off to Kansas. (Or piles up in front of the deck where Ms. Guppie has to stand up to look over it - see below).

Then today I had plans with some pilots to go ski but they all bailed so I headed to Windy Hill anyway on the Jak BCs instead of the Combats. Holy crap, it felt like two boat anchors were attached to my feet! The Combats and 3-pins are literally half the weight of my "usual" backcountry setup.

Up the gully and hill first, I took a nice run down some soft snow...but with 18" in the last few days it was much less deep than I thought it'd be (yes, the wind's fault once again).

I take a similar pic of this slope every time I come here...but I just love the wind whipping the snow off the distant peak, and the open trees are such an inviting scene. It wasn't even windy at this spot, but I knew what was coming...

My lunch spot (hiding from the wind behind some krumholtz). Since I didn't have anyone to piss off that I was getting us lost (again), I finally recon'd some terrain that I've wanted to check for ski spots for awhile now. I found one, and this is the top of it. The wind to get over here was horrendous though (see below sastrugi). It was the warmest day of the winter (34 deg at 11,000ft) but with the 40-50mph wind whipping broken apart snow granuals at your face...it felt like i was going to have frost bite by the time I got out of here.

This is hard skiing. Those sastrugi chunnels are over a foot deep!

Then, relief. I followed some others' tracks from the windblown top to tree-run heaven below. I found this open alley after some effort, which busted out into another alley, intermixed with tighter trees. All that new snow was protected from the snow here and all you had to deal with was occasional tight trees. All in all, it dropped over 1,000 vertical - which is a ton for a tree run in the Front Range! Another semi-secret spot "discovered." Pilots...you missed out!!

Nice commute

Sweet ride in today. The Hunter is riding nice. A full front fender would be nice, i'll get to that someday. Ride, rinse, repeat of yesterday but with the studs as it snowed around 4 inches overnight. They claimed 14" at Eldora...but it was closed from wind for the time being. It would've been nice to head up and ski, but work has to be done! This weekend will be quite nice...heading into the backcountry with some pilots Sunday and i imagine some deep powder.

A good start to the day. Rode the bike into work after I changed over from the studs to the other wheelset - I'm giving the Bontrager Jones XRs a go. They are pretty soft and have pseudo "sipes" so should be good for winter riding when it's not sheet ice out on the roads. Anyways, it was cool 10deg when I left with a little breeze but it felt warm with all the layers. It was nothing like what was to the west in front of the storm cresting the divide. It came in around 4:30...a huge blizzard with white out conditions. Got a ride up with Timmay after stocking up at Liquor Mart. Which led to...

A good end to the day. The 25th anniversary Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot barleywine. This must be one of the first barleywine's ever made...hasn't changed much and it's still pretty damn good.

Staying young is in your head

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/health/nutrition/31BEST.html?em&ex=1202274000&en=abe5623422ad4fa2&ei=5087%0A

A long tour

I've been wanting to take the Combats out on this tour for years. It's long and gradual in this gorgeous glaciated valley that doesn't gain more than 2000ft over 10 miles. Most of the uphill is like the picture above, but it opens up to some of the most spectacular views this area has to offer. Not many a folk go past the wilderness boundary (almost 6 miles in) I noticed as i was breaking trail for the better part of the morning.

Sawtooth on the left, Red Deer Mtn on the right. Sawtooth is one sweet spring ski trip if you can get up early enough to get there before the rollerballs take you out.


That's Elk's Tooth with one of the best lookin couloirs i've seen around here. It's the one to the right of the knob that almost starts from the top. I'm thinking a spring overnight camping trip is in order here - maybe June? The opposite side of the valley has numerous other couloirs to ski as well.

Then of course i went OFF-course and tried to find a couple of open glades to ski on my way back. Problem was, I couldn't see them from my approach so I zig-zagged back and forth looking for them. Sometimes it just doesn't pan out...like today. No matter, they ain't goin nowhere! In the above pic if you look close, you can see the trail/road that leads up the valley where i was an hour before this was taken. Snow is on its way!