Finally worked up the energy to spin the legs again, get the gear turning. easy spin on the green machine, out east. asides from a leaky faucet nose and a case of WIND, it was nice to ride again. I have taken a complete break from any form of physical activity this past week in hopes of ending my cold once and for all, and my legs told me about it today. slow, slow, slow.

my oh my

So last week was absent of writing because, to put it briefly, I have been battling some sort of head cold from hell. In addition to making me feel terrible, I didn't do anything fun in hopes of warding off said cold. This weekend, however, I was sick of being couped up, and ready for some outside.
On Saturday, brae mike and i rode up, oldstage, jamestown, peak to peak, ward, and back over lee hill almost all on pavement, ah well too snowy for trails right now. oy vey, even my pansy geared green machine could not stop the hills. and the descents were frickin cold.


Sunday was the real adventure though. A little bit of a slow start, but turned into an awesome ski. Dad and I dove up to east portal and landed right in the thick of spring time conditions. Before I continue, it is important to say that, for better or worse, when I go bc skiing with my dad, it usually involves more than a leisurely tour. For those of you who read this site a lot, you may remember last year's adventure .

(here's a shot of todays accomplishment)
Skinned up, boycotting last weekend's route in favor of the forest lakes route. detoured again in the direction of Arapaho lakes. After a steep windy climb through the pines, we popped out above tree line and continued west. We started climbing up to the divide, up, up, up. I thought it was a bit hairy but, since I was following Mr. Avalanche himself, i figured it was all right.
Photo Courtesy of Dale Atkins
got right up to about 30 feet below the ridge before it was too steep to ski, so pulled the skis off and kicked steps up to the top. It never got much steeper than 45 or so degrees, but it felt really vertical. After a rest on top of some little bump on the ridge, we collected our rewards. The snow was interesting, crunchy grabby sun crust, but the turns look alright :)
The whole descent, what took us some four hours to climb, passed in under 45 minutes, and, while an icy luge run at times was had some stashes to enjoy.

The Plague Returns

Found a cool article the other day, This one courtesy of the folks over at Rocky Mountain News:

***For Immediate release***

WARNING: BUBONIC PLAGUE RISES IN BOULDER COUNTY

Boulder, Colorado is now undergoing a major inspection after authorities recently discovered an alarming outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. The Plague, also know as The Black Death, is a highly contagious bacterial infection caused by contact with another infected person or animal. The Bubonic Plague was responsible for the death of over a third of the world's population in the 14th and 15th centuries.
A team of Wildlife Specialists from the US Department of Fish and Game are currently investigating the outbreak, but experts say that the situation is extremely grim. "Especially in Boulder, where humans have disrupted mother nature's intentions, the environment is so susceptible to disease. The bubonic plague could have astronomical impacts on everything." said local pathologist Susan Dean. The containment of the outbreak is another problem because, the bacterium responsible for transmitting the plague is a mutation of previous forms and a cure could take months or even years to find.
As if residents don't have enough to worry about already, this mutation of the bacteria has resulted in an airborne strain, which makes it all the more contagious and possibly deadly.
Ironically enough, the only group of humans who have been infected are cyclists. Particularly Mountain Bikers. In a recent interview, Christopher Barrow, a member of the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance, said he is so afraid of getting the plague, he has quit bicycling entirely.
Experts say that typical symptoms include a disgust of bicycles with multiple gears, and urges to destroy things such as derailleurs and cassettes. This can progress to a deep seated contempt for lazier cyclists, leg hair growth, and allergies to lycra. Although there is no way to stop the Black Death, families are urged to keep children indoors and avoid the use of "singlespeeds" (bikes with only one gear) due to the fact that this aids contraction of the disease.



The Plague Returns, 2008...

East Portal

the formerly comatose beast of winter has been resurrected in some degree of force. And after a leisurely morning with a nice latte, my mom and Eoulus and I ventured into the recently awakened spirit of winter, and went up to do a tour out of east portal. I guess I didnt realize how much I've missed my skis till today, but its been almost a month since the karhus have seen the white and fluffy. anyways, skinned around for a while got up to somewhere that wasn't very impressive and made some turns down. not entire the most radical adventure ever, but it was a hella lot better than nothing.

I think winter may have left us permanently... Its a bit sad, and its making terrible spring fever.

Compared to last week, these past few days have been moving slower than a snail on horse tranquilizers. Time flies when you're having fun right? well then it makes sense that school has the innate ability to make it slow to a crawl. No skiing as of late. from stories I hear, the mountains are in pummel mode, but out here... well you could say the weather is balmy at worst. It does make for nice riding though. Wanker trails on tuesday with the devo crew, played around on mike's spot in hopes of an idea of what a new 29er may bring. rode up the link trail today with brae and mike. nothing notable to speak of. so let the pictures talk.

Isn't it Wonderful?

How sweet life is when you can escape everything, go to Fountain Hills Arizona, ride fantastic trails for a week, with awesome friends, enjoy the weather and most importantly, not go to school. Ahhh...
I would say that Fountain Hills (Home of the world's tallest fountain)is not were you would expect to find sick riding. definitely more of the kind of place where every single person is over sixty, loaded, and driving around in a brand new shiny car. The most popular activities include socializing, golfing, shopping, or, if one is feeling particularly active, strolling. The above photo was our backyard. yes indeed, it was posh.

Asides from the overpowering displays of wealth, there was rad riding to be had. We put in some good miles all over the place, McDowell Park, South Mountain, Trail 100, good stuff. The trails were well built and went from fruita-esque rolling flowy singletrack to steep, loose, rocky techy stuff. and all surrounded by lush albeit poky foilage.

The weather was awesome too. 65-75 degrees the whole time, partly sunny, and no WIND.


Went with the devo crew, Ann, Alec, Brae(pictured), Ellen, lydia, matt, jill, nick and myself


Also, fruit grows on trees down there(I know!) and since most of the houses are second or third homes... you could say that life hands you lemons (and oranges and grapefruits) mmmm.

So, we leave the place where the trails flow like lemonade, and us warm weather riders flock like old people to fountain hills. but it was fine, truly fine.

not a lot of writing lately, I've been busy with school and such, lots of work to get finished this week. It kind of sucks, usually we dont get this kind of work load until the end of the semester yet its only february. I've also been sick, so not a ton of activities to write about. been drinking echinacea tea and popping chi-restoring pills every chance i get. trying, unsuccessfully, not to let my throat feel like it got a twice over from a belt sander.
two days of skiing and four riding this past week, remarkably warm weather down here, just a lot of fucking WIND, while eldora has a killer base. yesterday we double pulled up this fairly steep and long hill, three times. my triceps feel like they're about to fall off. today, rode the wanker trail for a good hour. any north facing aspects are getting enough sun to melt the snow just enough to turn it into the consistency of peanut butter, not melt it off. Other than that, and the WIND, it was such a nice day, blue skies, warm, far better than homework. the WIND, i only mention in capital letters due to the fact that i have put in a hundred some odd miles this season, and with not a single WIND-less ride. And i'm starting to get sick of it.

A moderately epic dog walk

Now most people, including myself, would scoff at the mere though of the words "epic" and "dog-walking" being used in the same sentence. But after this evening, I believe that changed. It started with a simple jog up to the top of the hill. no big deal. just a little half hour jaunt. I'll take the pooch, get a workout, be home before dark. yea... right.
It began benignly enough, the snow made the trail slower, but the light was still good. I let Eoulus(the dog, whose name is pronounced yo-lus) off the leash seeing no harm in it, because no one was out to bother, and he runs better anyways. By and by we made our way up, and upon reaching the top, i looked at my watch. apparently I'm more out of shape than I thought, the climb took a good fifteen minutes longer than normal, and It was now mostly dark. looking around, I noticed that eoulus was a quarter mile down the ridge, right on the heels of a bunch of deer that were bedded down behind the rocks. After a lot of whistling and yelling, i got him back. At this point I realized, oh shit. its almost completely dark, and I've got a good ways to go down with almost a thousand vertical feet of drop.
Rather than take the trail, which weaves all over, i opted for the most direct route, down. whilst on our way, I began to think of the stories of mountain lions and such. not good. so i picked up a rock the size of a baseball cap and started talking to the cat. "Okey doke big kitty, you don't want to eat us, we're just a couple of scrawny runners, nope we won't taste very good at all." Hmmm... no bueno. but, we made it, safe and cat-attack free. so while it wasn't that exciting and you're probably telling yourself "wow, that was a really bad story" I can tell you that it had potential to be very, very epic.

January Thaw

So thanks to the lack of precipitation and warm temperatures (relatively) in the 80304, we have been able to enjoy the luxury of participating in two wonderful sports at the same time.I dont know why but it seems like every time we get into the middle of winter, somebody flips the switch, and we get several weeks of sun and above freezing temps. thus there has been skiing up at eldora after school almost every day, and lots of riding. Its not actually that much riding, but considering the fact that last year I didn't touch my bike till april, it feels like a lot. Most of the rides are boring, road rides with serious WIND. Got the green machine some new rubber, a 21 in back, and cables/housing, so its impressively functional albeit slow on the flats. Went out to hall earlier today, trails were clear and dry up to the loop, where we turned around and came down. a two litre of coke at the lyons store, and a long, very boring spin back on 36. Thank god there were lots of roadies to ring our bells at.
Skiing at loveland

Mike's new belt drive

trying out oakley's new high-coverage riding glasses.

Nordic Log: last week~65km, season to date~361km