shred alert!

all 3 of us headed out on shoreline tonight - red butt to bobsled and back through campus to hit the two sets of grass rollers. ripped it! first time I had been out on my big(er) bike and it was pretty sweet. kind of a beast to pedal, but bobsled was awesome. Schirf was having a blast on a new Rocky Mountain prototype until he stacked it pretty good after bobsled. having fun riding the lower trails for now, would definitely be bummed if we're still in the same situation a month from now. Not sure when I'll start racing, but DV and Solitude are probably the two best and it would suck if those were cancelled.

starting a new job in a week -- crazy crazy -- should be a good time though, I'm stoked. /ty

early races?

I am starting to wonder about some of the early races this year. I had to go up to Logan on Saturday to work an event at a shop up there and thought I would check out the trails up at Sherwood Hills in the evening on the way back. Driving up Sardine Canyon on the way up I started to see a lot of snow- by the time I got to Sherwood there was a pretty solid snowpack. We're going to need some hot weather if thats all going to melt before the Wimmer's ICUP in two weeks!

What about Deer Valley and Solitude in 6 weeks? I guess a lot can happen in that amount of time. Maybe we can earn points by shoveling the tracks out before the races... Anyway, here's to some warm (but not too hot) weather.

windy rim

My parents were in town for a few days last weekend seeking refuge from the long Vermont winter and looking for a little sun. With crappy weather in the forecast up here we packed up my truck Saturday morning and headed for the desert. I had convinced them to rent a jeep and drive the White Rim while Tim and I rode it. I was having second thoughts on Thursday and Friday though, as both Tim and I had apparently picked up the same cold at the RJD2 show a few days before and there were some pretty high winds forecast. All the pieces were in place though so we went for it and Tim met us in Moab from Coors Town, USA (Golden CO.)

It was pretty windy when we arrived Saturday afternoon and we were a little worried. "Can't be any worse than Brian Head in the mud a few years ago." we said. "Can't be worse than the E100 with tendonitis." Tim said. Well, it wasn't but it was pretty bad! We rode the whole thing from the top of mineral bottom road counter clockwise and had 20-30 mph sustained headwinds all the way south (with way higher gusts) and then on the way back the wind swirled around the canyons and messed with us. It felt like we had about 15 miles of tailwind out of 105. We made it though, 7 am to 7pm. Climbing Shafer with sand blowing in our faces just added insult to injury!

My parents had a great time though and loved it. My dad rallied the rental jeep. I've just been laying low and working since. Here are lots of pics in no particular order

The love...


the hate...



no comment



the parental units


lunch!



Ned in the jeep

if it looks like we are leaning thats because of the wind

soaking up some rays

check out the coat my dad found at the DI

vids

so speaking of Moab, Alex and Hannah came back with a sweet video of alex riding a little ledge drop at the end of porcuipine. After squealing his brakes into the drop, he hits the drop well, but then goes off course and jumps over his handle bars and runs it out down the rocks. it was hilarious. they showed it to me at 8 in the morning on hannah's camera, and after watching it three times i accidentally erased it in my drowsy haze. damn. so in tribute to that video here's one that almost as good of my friend Dave hitting a rail at Mt hood a couple years ago...


sorry again for erasing the vid man!
/ty

daydreaming

Trying to get some work started but i keep daydreaming looking at some more pics from Moab that Hannah sent over.


Won't be doing any of that this week... there's an inch or two of snow at out house and its only supposed to get up to 40 today.


I raced Cholla this weekend- went ok and I felt a lot better than last year when I dnf'd, then laid on the ground for an hour or two, made it back to my truck and barfed. I ended up 3rd- not the best ride but I'll take it. That race is a good character builder because it sucks so bad!




Doing this on Sunday... can't wait!

Moab

Hannah and I went to Moab this weekend to ride Porcupine Rim. We lucked out with awesome biking weather and got to ride it twice.

We pulled in late Friday night and pretty much camped on Highway 128- I think a diesel truck drove by our tent about every 20 minutes all night. Luckily we got a slightly better spot for Sat.


On the shuttle














Doing the chicken dance



































This is pretty crazy- they have
been burning the tamarisk trees down
and clearing them out. I think they found a
beetle that just kills those trees. I know they
weren't native but they did provide some good
secluded camp sights. Now its all open and you feel like you are at a KOA- or a junkyard or something.


Fun stuff - Han has some better pics so maybe I'll post some of those when she send them over.

bike accounting

Here's another addition to the bike quiver- though with two sold so far this spring that brings me right back to even. Next week I'll be selling my Yeti after I ride Porcupine rim on it this weekend!