Unhappy

power went out friday night and while the fire roared we awoke cold and without power as usual. Second time since hurricane we lost power and last time it was for 6 days and this time it could be even worse. One heck of a way to introduce LuAnn to the east, last years snow, hurricanes, and now this october snowfest.....The fire roared last night but filled our house with a little smoke and a coughin terrible smell of something burning that sent us downstairs to sleep. Bentley joined me on the couch and crowded me but kept my feet warm.........this is by far the worst.......Got a new car in the snowstorm mazda mx9, thing is sweet!

"The Art Of Flight"

Absolutely incredible snowboard film. This film is a tremendous achievement in both snowboarding and cinematography. I am so lucky to be able to see these athletes do such mind blowing tricks and able to watch it from the comforts of my couch. The movie was sponsored heavily from Red Bull and it really does show. Travis Rice continued to have a session with a tree that while he was spinning huge amazing tricks and able to time them to make contact with tree branches or just tapping the tree while some 40-50 feet in the air is absolutely mind blowing! See this movie, even if your girlfriend doesn't like snowboarding, the wilderness scenes could entertain small children!

http://www.biggreenbeats.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nc_art-of-flight.jpg

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Line St @ Case

Got out on another ride before the rain and possibly snow hits! Before the ride I was at the vets with Bentley, he has been having small vomits in his mouth on and off for the last few weeks. They come and go and never make it out of his mouth and all else is normal. So with a few acid blocker medicines we hope he is on the way to a speedy recovery. Paul joined us at 5:30 for the ride at Line st which is a different location than we normally start off from which was cool. We headed off and my legs were feeling terrible. The last ride was the day before and I have certainly ridden more and less and not felt so crappy. Powered through the warm up and the legs were not offering much power but at least the sore was over. Made our way to purple from the summit and then shot down mountain until we had to start climbing back up which lead up to par 4 which going in this direction was more of a par 10 for me. After taking that beating we were back on blue on some familiar ground and making up some distance. Blue is one rocky mother, I always feel bad for Bentley riding behind me with those tall rocks, but when he comes home and I look him over he appears unscathed. Which lead me to wonder if I put a light facing the rear of my bike if it might offer him some great vision or just blind him. Anyway the ride continued and Paul led us down the the reservoir where we headed uphill and rode the fun trail up on the hillside. I have yet to hear a name for it, but it's a fun new smooth downhill trail. I am desperately missing steep mountains and long downhills. I miss Utah riding tremendously, the early morning climbs into the alpine wilderness and the never ending 2,000ft descents. I enjoy riding in CT for sure but the riding around Salt Lake I would take any day! After we were done descending we hit the reservoir where we made our way back to the car. A solid mellow ride that lasted two hours and some 10 miles was an accomplishment on my tired legs. Rain and maybe even snow on the way tonight as well as Saturday so riding is not looking good for this weekend........Oh yea, my brake lever bolt popped out of place and left me without a brake so I popped a stick in it's place and it worked great!

Line st @ case

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Hale Night Time

Met up with Paul and Pat for a ride last night at Hale for 5:30. Had a quick ride from the house to the trail with Bentley running by my side. That ride from my house to Hale never gets old. Gears were slipping away as my bike has gotten sick of politely asking for a tune up. I now am down to the small ring since my middle ring keeps spitting the chain off onto the lower gear when it's under heavy torque. Also the tires have been rubbing on the chasis and I am definitely going to size down to 2.4inch next set of tires. Now that my frustration is kind of out on with the ride. We took a loop that had us doing counter clockwise and with some newish stuff thrown in there. I love this ride and have become familiar with it it gets better every time, having the gears has been very very nice lately. The Single speed has some kind of resistance in the bottom bracket so both bikes are giving me trouble right now. Which makes seeing that tanuki on chainlove.com all the much more desperate. The ride was good and things began to get dark as we climbed up and up and up and then things mellowed for awhile which was really nice. I have never ridden the last bit of trail before squiggle reverse like we did, it was very enjoyable and flat which is always nice for me. I was playing catchup most the ride with Bentley by side on and off. No matter how much I ride I just don't have the stamina most the guys I ride do, I wonder what I am doing that seems to make me a bit slower. I always have been slower in the rides and continue to always be and I am ok with that I just wonder if I did something different would I be faster....... Bentley stays a lot more organized when I am in back and I enjoy his company. He has been very enthusiastic on rides lately and it makes me quite happy. I pedaled on home in hopes of a ride tonight before the rain comes home.

Hale cool night

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Forgot Throw Back Mondays

I got carried away with a few posts yesterday and forgot about my new throw back Monday I put into effect. So in effort to stick to it I bring you...

This was a ride from September 2008, It was another beautiful day out on the Wasatch crest trail. Being fall there were some leaves changing color and the camera did not do it justice but it captures it for the most part. This is on the way up Puke hill by Guardsman's Pass. Which runs up little cottonwood which happens to be where Brighton and Solitude ski Resorts are located. If you look close in one of the pics it shows Solitude.

1,000 Mile Marker

Hit a big number the other day! I knew as I was adding up my mile numbers that I was going to hit 1,000 weeks ago. It really feels like I have ridden four times that much but I still think 1,000 is a big number. It has been such a great riding year and I am getting by with 2-3 day a week rides and with darkness falling earlier and earlier those night rides will be more and more difficult. Winter is closing in but the riding will not let up until probably in December the snow will force me out of the woods temporarily. Let's hope this winter won't be like last years so I will some time to pedal. Anyway one hell of a season couldn't be happier, well maybe a new bike could make me happier......for now both steeds in working order.

Bike Pedaling With My Lady

Got out on a nice Sunday ride with LuAnn. It has been a long time since we have pedaled together that being weekdays are impossible by the time I get home and we always like the idea but have trouble making it happen. So this Sunday we put it in our sights and I got the rack back on the Audi and off we went to Gay City park. I rode this loop a few weeks ago and found it to be pretty mellow for LuAnn so she would have a good time. That we did, she did a great job up some spots I thought she might have walked and she had a smile on her face most the ride which was the best part!

Me and luAnn ride

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Random Pics from last weekend, came out great!

More Goods at Grayville

Mighty fine ride today! Went back to Grayville with Paul and Bentley. We got riding at 10:30 and I had chosen to ride the full suspension once again which I was happy with my choice. We set off on the same route for the very beginning and then turned off onto a good mix of smooth single track that was really really nice. We then started uphill and I had more moves and made it up the stuff I failed the other day before. Found a few logs and got it on the helmet camera first shot....phew..... Hit a nice little drop and eyes some jumps for the next trip out. We checked out some other trails that seemed to lead to other trails but hurricane damage was still very present so we stuck to what we kinda knew. Rode quite a bit of stuff we haven't and found some stuff I was looking for. Ate some leaves on a ridiculously skinny log ride. Finished the loop with some fast twisty xc which was my favorite section and back to the car. The Go Pro was firing on all cylinders and I have spent this morning getting it edited roughly and figuring out how to do this. I hope it is well enjoyed and look forward to getting better at it.

GOPRO!
http://vimeo.com/30980150

Greyville goods loop

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Rad At Grayville

Got out last night since my cold has passed and it was a good ride. My riding lately has been hit or miss but I was on target last night. We met at 5:00 with Paul and my pooch Bentley and set off. The ride began with some smoothie single track that lead down hill and it was good. Came across a few bridges no wider than 2x4's one after another which was pretty tricky but me and Paul did a very very good job nailing them in the first try. We pedaled on and began uphill and Paul began to pull away. The full suspension felt great under me all squishy and I realized I need to ride this bike much much more. Started to loop north and was on some trail I have not set tires on yet and it was really good. We stopped off to a side trail and had a log session and I nailed a tricky log ride on the first two attempts, and sure enough when I got my camera rolling I failed the next attempt. We moved on and eventually hit some forks where we rode some really great rock sections that were a lot of fun. We kept making loops and back tracking in the area since we were both unfamiliar with the area but it was good. After two hours and lots of time on my gps I was ready to head home and we finally found a way to do so. The ride ended in an over grown trail that was more of a riverbed of small rocks than a trail. It was a very good ride indeed and can’t wait to get back there to ride again. The Gps went a little hay wire as it crossed a street way up north that we never touched but it has been acting up on me so I gave it a hard reset and hope for the best.

Grayville radness

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Finally.....

After a long long hot summer and fall! the stink in my helmet has overwhelmed me and so for the last few weeks I was keeping an eye out on chainlove for a dome piece. First off chainlove is the very very best thing to ever happen to the internet! The deals are plenty and incredible! You should see the list I have on chainlove and steep and cheap they are well above 50+ orders....... so after I missed a few deals due to not being familiar with some of the helmets and sizing last night I got fed up and pulled the trigger. It happens to be a Louis Ganrneu Edge Helmet, gray and orange which was not my first color choice but it was my only one. I found only one quick review quickly and what it had to say was good enough for me. Although it's just an helmet I have had ones I have worn that make me look foolish so yes I do care that the helmet looks good.....this thing has crazy amount of large vents which will be great for next summer. My Fox flux I currently have I have been ok with, it never fits real snug on the dome with it's design. While it is a sleek stylish helmet I was slightly disappointed with it's $100 price tag. I will not retire the flux since it will serve as my go pro helmet. I need a helmet dedicated to the helmet mount since I cannot keep replacing my night riding light with the go pro mount. My days in the rank filled flux are over, the stink use to even work it's way into my gloves from wiping sweat from my brow. I use to take the front three cushions off and soap them under water and then spray bleach cleaner after every ride and it would help but not prevent. I'm stoked got this thing for $53 shipped!

http://www.backcountry.com/images/items/medium/LGN/LGN0420/CHA.jpg

A bike for me

Not an absolute dream bike, but something very practical that i want very badly that I have seen on chainlove.com and my new credit card is screaming me to purchase since it's 50% off.......

Kona Tanuki
5 Inches of travel

http://www.bowcycle.com/bc11/bikes/mountain/kona-tanuki-deluxe.shtml

Throw back Mondays

I have decided with all some 8 years of mountain biking to throwback an image from a ride in my past every monday. In a way to revive old fond memories and be thankful for every great day I get to spend on this strange place called earth.

When I lived in Utah I worked a lot of restaurant jobs.....this meant I worked a lot of weekends but played on a lot of weekdays. I remember this ride clearly as it was not a great single track ride but a rough and very tough ride up some atv and dirt bike torn up trails. I got a very close run in with a moose on the way up to the lake and proceeded to ride double track up and up into what was a drainage of little baldy peak which is just down the way from snowbird ski resort. This day was hot and not so rewarding other than my shot I got most the way down of the backside of little baldy and silver lake. This was June of 2008

Case Saturday Ride

Met up with Paul for an early Case ride. Brought the doggy and off we went. Was very out of shape and weak from who knows what but I hung in there and completed the ride. The bike is showing signs of wear with a bent skewer and snap crackle pops form the rear hub and still something with the fork or headset. Good news is I got some new ergon grips, new bb7 brakes and new skewers. I also now am the proud owner of a Go Pro HD which is amazing but a complicated device I have not gotten to play with yet. I still need to get few mounts for the camera but I can start with the helmet mount. I missed a couple rides on Sunday which sucked but I have not been feeling good since Friday so I was in need of some rest.

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http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/bikes-and-gear/components/grips/ergon_grips_4-399-75.jpg

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Case fats slow mgee

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Back To Hale

Got out on tuesday before the rain on a great ride with Paul and Jose. The location was Hale thankfully cause it was close to home. I had gotten a half day of work in and got home and spent an hour and a half raking more of the northern loop. It takes a lot of work and time to clear these trails it's slow moving. I did some bridge work and raked some leaves and after 90 minutes of that I headed home to get ready to ride at 5. I met up with the fellas and we got cranking on our raked stuff. It was amazing to ride the raked goods, like a powder run on the snowboard. After that was over we headed across the way and rode wiggle. Mighty fine ride that I had was only about an hour but I had to head home as Paul rode off with derek and miles for another 2 hours of madness.

Hale good loop

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