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!

Out with the old...

and in with the new














I am actually selling my Titus so if anyone knows somebody who is looking for a fast race/xc bike point them in my direction. I am asking 3k- its in great shape with full 07 XTR. Full handmade ti frame has interchangeable dropouts for a SS option. I am trying to avoid e-bay if possible.

Kind of wish I was in California racing this weekend- with the price of gas what it is and no plane tickets for under 300 bucks I think I'll stay put. Too bad it just snowed on shoreline because that was getting really good.

snowy march

headed out for a walk with Mocha tonight in a full on March blizzard. Came home and snagged to the camera to get some pretty cool looking shots. The porch and garage lights added perfect lighting to the darkness and heavy snow.

jury duty

Had to serve my jury duty for the first time ever this morning after finding out yesterday afternoon. Luckily I hadn't hopped on a plane the day before to visit my sister in Arizona, and i could serve my civic duty. I didn't get chosen for the actual jury, but I still had to spend the whole morning sitting around at the courthouse. The trial was for some guy that was charged with a DUI. We had to sit in one room for like an hour and a half, then out in the hallway to line up by juror number, back to the room for another half hour, back to the hallway to line up, and then finally to the courtroom for an hour or two. Each of us and had to stand up and say our name, and basic info about our life so they could get a good idea who would be fit to stand on the jury. They were interested if you were married, had kids, how much education you had, where you worked, your hobbies, where you get your news from, if you get any magazines in the mail. Would've been pretty funny to say that we get Playboy at the house, thanks to Hannah, but I didn't quite have the balls for that.

You always hear people joke about how if they get jury duty they'll just stand up and say they're racist, hate gay people, etc... and then be excused immediately. Sounds like a great idea, but once you finally get in there in front of the judge and lawyers it doesn't seem quite that easy. You're sworn in and have to stand up and state your name any time you're going to speak.

so in the end I spent 4 or so hours, and got a sweet check for $18.50.

photo booth

Schools of thought

Some people would say I wasted this run, perhaps the two guys that skied down to my left. I just don't have the discipline I guess. I don't care if I hiked all day- I'd rather make one good turn than 100 small ones. Check out Ty's Pics on the right and go to Twins Hike March 08. He got some awesome shots! No offense to those guys- I am sure they had fun too.

Oh yeah...

Every year it seems like I forget how hard bike racing is. Then the first race comes around and find myself saying oh yeah, this takes a little work. Its funny because it seems like every year I make the same mistakes for the first one of the season- 1 I don't train hard and 2 I blow it nutritionally. This year I have kept in pretty good shape- riding a little down south, renting xc skis from rei a few times, shredding pow at the bird and ski touring a little. Not much in the way of intensity though. I also seem to forget what works for me nutritionally and I end up eating too much too close to the start. Put those together and you have a nice recipe for suffering. At least it wasn't as bad as last year when I DNF'd then barfed my first race out.

Top 10 thoughts going through my head during the race:

10. Shit we are going way too fast for March 1

9. Oh man- my stomach...

8. Man what's going on- I worked Sammi over pretty good when we were down here last month. I thought I was going good...

7. Did I really need oj, a banana, cereal, a bagel, a swedish pancake with strawberries, and 2 cups of coffee this morning? Or thirds on apsaragus and salad last night for that matter?

6. Why doesn't my back hurt? (must be the new Rocky Mtn Element)

5. This bike is sweet.

4. This sucks.

3. I suck.

2. I paid money to feel like this?

1. I can't wait for next time.

I actually think I would have been up there a little more if my stomach didn't go south. Every time I tried to go hard I felt like I was going to barf. I couldn't drink or eat any Gu's which caught up to me at the end. Oh well, good to get that one out of the way. Usually I am thinking about my first ride of the season this time of year...

Props to Bart who killed it- nice work man!

1st race

Alex is heading to St. George for the 1st mountain bike race of the season. Good luck man, hopefully the new Rocky Mtn frame holds up better than this guys did.

Belated Photos- Hogum Fork & Dented Frames

Finally getting around to posting some photos of last
Sunday. We tried to get an early start up Mt. Superior
but they were conducting avalanche control work
until 8 am. I am glad the guy told us- that would
have been a bit of a surprise when the howitzers
started blazing and we were on the ridge. Ended up
hiking over to Hogum Fork instead, where we found out
what 100 mph winds can do to the snow. At least the
weather was calm and clear and killer views made up for
extremely beat snow.

Sunrise over the valley-














The Pfeifferhorn- oh wait who are those jerks?














I told Tim and Libby to pose together on this wind
drift in hopes that it would slide and I would have
some peace and quiet. No such luck.
(Actually thats almost not funny and it was totally
safe or we wouldn't be goofing around)















I've only been drooling over the Hypodermic Needle
(the chute on the right that looks like a downward
pointing arrow) for about 8 years now. Someday...















Great views of the lake-














Ex-stream skiing-















Sweet- new hardtail frame arrived today















Not sweet... my new Element showed up last
week with a dented frame. Had to send it back.
F@$#&*% DHL!

Pagan Basin

Hopped on a 7:00 am tram this morning to do a few
laps out below Mineral Basin. The peak was socked in
with high winds but by the time we got out to where we
were going it cleared up for us.















Here's Libby, Keith and Tim looking bright eyed and
ready to ski. The snow ended up being way better than
we thought and we got three good laps in.















How bad did Tim want to do Pagan Chute?
















One ski had to come off eventually...















But it was well worth it...

ski demo

Spent the past two days at Snowbasin for the on snow ski demo. The highlight of the two days was defintely the Tibetan monk who was walking around in sandals and a robe. The temperature was in the mid teens, and it was super chilly in the shade. He was super stoked to walk around and check out all the skis and had his picture taken standing on a pair of Armadas's, as well as a picture with me. I wish I had a business card on me so I could have had them e-mail me their copies of the pictures, the pic from my phone below will have to do though...

SIA

Ty is down at SIA this week- I didn't have to go this year so I thought I'd post some pics from a few years ago in the SIA spirit... We hit the Rum Jungle then a buffet at 2 am for some leathery steak and soft serve. Yeah Vegas!

St. George- fingers and fun

My friend Brandon and I headed down to St. George last weekend to do some mtn. biking with a bunch of people. It was super fun- despite the fact that Brandon got robbed of riding dirt by a dislocated finger. It was a gnarly crash and I actually saw his bone sticking out of his finger! I thought he was going to be really messed up so I guess it turned out OK. I went to get the car and brought him to the emergency room. 4 stitches in his finger and 3 in his leg and he was back out on the bike by 5 pm. Hard core!! Sunday I met up with a bunch of people for a ride. It was super fun and ended up being really long. Here's Bart stopping for some lunch- its hard to see but there is a sign in the background that says "Wraps $8.50." Crazy. Here's a photo of me courtesy of Brad Keyes. What you can't see is that it is 40 degrees with probably a 40 mph north wind! Cool view down to theVirgin River Gorge and Mesquite though. I almost dropped down to play some slots... Brandon put in 3+ hours on the road on his mtb. Sunday- tough as nails! We got back late Sunday night then I hit the road to work Boise/Sun Valley Monday morning. As if that wasn't enough driving I took a wrong turn on a "short cut" and tacked on a good hour to my return trip. I guess things look a little different in the dark. Anyway- crazy week!

house sitting

styaing up in PC for my Mom and Peter while they're in Jackson and I'm a little bored, so I thought I'd post. Hi Lesha. There's a huge storm rolling in for the weekend and I can't wait to ski again. The snow's been awesome lately, and another couple powder days this weekend would be pretty sweet. New skis are on the way, but I don't think they'll be here in time for the weekend. Super stoked tomorrow's Friday, it's been a nice shortened work week with new years falling on a Tuesday. this is my most random post ever, and probaly the most I've typed in one post. here are a couple pics from driving up parley's with Lesha. Aahh, the moustache. check out Mocha chilling in the back seat too.

Cheers

Who needs champagne when you have hot coco, peppermint schnapps and vodka.











Proper classic xc technique...




and skate...