john hurley

Finally a new post

2009-03-17T12:40:00.010-07:00

Been back to reality for a while after an amazing trip to South America. A little over 4 weeks flew by like a long weekend. Been back on the bike and managed to get a sponsor for this year through NorthStar ski area and Giant. Thankfully this is based on last years results and not current fitness!

Ecuador was the first stop and was a great starting point.

We met up with a couple of friends that were wrapping up their trip and spent a week on a secluded beach in Ayampe Ecuador. We spent the entire time in a place called the Finca Punta Ayampe. The daily routine here was pretty simple....wake...surf...eat....explore the area...surf...eat...drink.
This place really was amazing with miles of beach and perfect waves all to ourselves. It was tough to leave but we were just getting started and headed to La Paz Bolivia via Lima Peru.

Our first view of La Paz from the side of the road winding down from El Alto. Bolivia would end up being our favorite country we visited. There was so much culture here that hadn't been lost in the big city.

La Paz is a very large city in the base of a dramatic valley. The houses are spread from the valley floor on the outskirts of the city all the way up the valley walls. Everywhere you look 360 degrees there are houses on the hillside. One of the main reasons for coming here was to mountain bike on these hills....so off we go!

One of the main rides in the area is on the famous Death Road....no thanks! Long dirt road with steep drop offs...we wanted some tight technical downhill trails. It being the rainy season we had a little trouble finding someone to take us on single track with only two of us. Then we found someone. Turns out he's new....really new in the mountain biking business and things were going pretty well after our first ride. We had just finished a long descent through villages, running into herders...it was really great.
Then......let's just say bald tires, steep muddy "roads", no 4x4, and pouring rain don't mix. This is where we got out and left the tour guide operator and the van stuck in the mud...never got that second ride in and had to take three "buses" to get back into town. Actually after nearly sliding off that "bridge" we were glad to be out of the van.

One other place i really wanted to visit in La Paz was the San Pedro Prison. A prison governed by the prisoners, with entire families living inside, and no guards except at the front gate. I had done a little research and heard about ways of getting inside for a tour (bribes). After checking it out it seemed pretty straight forward and not too dangerous. Money talks down here so 250 Bolivianos a piece paid to some sketchy lady walking around the park out front and we were in a room outside the front gates getting ready to be signed in as visitors.

Inside one of the many sections of San Pedro Prison. This place really is a city within the city. There are restaurants, stores, everything. Prisoners here must buy or rent their cells and either eat the once a day slop the prison provides or buy their own food. Some sections are pretty basic cardboard walled "cells", and others are much more elaborate.

After Bolivia we headed south to the Lakes District of Chile and Argentina. This is the gateway to Patagonia. Our first stop was in a place called Pucon, Chile were we did some more biking and climbed the volcano Villarica.

The top was really cool. It's the second most active volcano in the country and it was obvious. The smoke was continually coming out and lots of noises could be heard deep down in the hole.
Well......a pictures worth a thousand words.....Pucon, Chile to Bariloche, Argentina to El Bolson, Argentina to Buenos Aires....

Winter is here....shortly i'll be there.

2008-12-24T09:06:00.003-08:00

The end of November and first couple weeks of December have been very mild here making for some of the best biking conditions in a long time. Between hitting the Tahoe trails and working the pump track i've been getting a lot of saddle time.

The pump track is completely rideable so i had a little bbq/pump track session under the lights a few weeks ago....lots of fun. The originally planned 4 or 5 people sooned turned into 12-15 and a late night! Seems like as soon as i got the track all dialed in the weather changed. Put the bike away and get out the skis.

It's snowed nine feet this week in the mountains...that's right NINE feet! Surprisingly avy danger has been fairly minimal. I've been backcountry skiing the last few days and plan on breaking down on xmas day and paying for a Squaw ticket. With another three feet forecasted for tonight and two more tomorrow i can't resist! It's gonna be DEEP! Break out the snorkel!

The timing for this snow is great. Two weeks from now and i'd miss it. I'm hitting the road for a while, taking a leave of absence from work! South America here i come.

I've booked a flight to Guyaquil Ecuador, one returning out of Buenos Aires Argentina, and a few others around South America. I've had my arms poked with all sorts of vaccination shots and i'm stocked up on Malaria pills. In a bit over four weeks i should see and do quite a bit. Surfing in Ecuador, Mt.Biking in La Paz Bolivia, Climb an active volcanoe in Pucon Chile....too many things to do...can't wait!

Been A While

2008-11-21T10:10:00.005-08:00

I was just looking and realized i haven't posted since July!
It's that time of year out here when the riding is at it's best. We had an early snow that has all but melted off the trails which has made for some of the best riding I've had out here.

I decided to do a little exploration ride a few weeks back with a couple of friends. (Disclaimer: i did mention this was a hike-a-bike....and didn't specify the hike to bike ratio). My plan was to ride the Donner Lake Rim Trail to the Warren Lake Trail and try to work our way over Castle Peak from east to west to the Hole in the Ground Trail....bad idea. My GPS died but you can see where we were headed.

I'd done the first leg a few times but accessing the Castle Peak ridge was new. We were able to quickly get on the eastern ridge and realized it was VERY rocky and steep.

There is no trail but we got the idea if we made it past the first rock spires we'd be able to ride below the ridge....again...bad idea. Our route required some extremely exposed scrambling without rope while passing bikes to each other. Once we got past the crux we found ourselves in miles of loose boulders that had fallen from the summit. It took us about an hour and a half to hike across this steep loose slope.

Luckily Justin was smart enough to have a six pack waiting back at the truck.

Amazingly just a week later we got a good dumping and it just so happened to come the day before i bought some new skis! Riding one day and skinning up for the first turns of the season the next! The G3 El Hombres proved plenty capable on this quick outing.

The cold weather didn't last and this past weekend we hit Downieville for some super fast flowy runs. I've never gone that fast on Third Divide before....my eyes were watering like crazy but i didn't even want to blink for fear of hitting something. After Downieville on Saturday i couldn't make it through the week without another ride so i took the day off Wednesday and did a nice big ride up in Truckee. The trails were once again in prime condition.

More riding this weekend and probably more time tweaking the pump track i'm trying to get ready for winter.

Split Second

2008-07-22T13:47:00.002-07:00

Thanks for not stealing my race bike.

2008-07-22T13:05:00.003-07:00

Came home one day last week and noticed the dog kennel was blocking the dog door from the house to the garage. Just then my neighbor came over and i figured the garage must have opened and he had to put the dog back in the house....not the case.

He procedes to point out that my Iron Horse DH bike is gone! Some punk high school kids jumped the fence into the backyard and came into the garage through the dog door and took the bike. The neighbor noticed them running across the back and called the cops, but they couldn't find the bike or thieves.

Luckily they knew nothing about bikes and left my new Blur LT sitting on the stand so i was able to get out and race that weekend. Would have been really pissed if i couldn't race Downieville. Good thing i hadn't bought Mustard (my new commuter bike) yet....i'm sure she'd be gone.

With a season pass to North Star already purchased i decided to upgrade the Iron Horse with a new Giant Glory DH....This bike rides over any and everything....it's a tank! Been up to North Star several days with it and it's a ton of fun on all the trails. Whether riding the technical rock gardens and steep loose stuff, or hitting the jumps down Livewire it's a blast!

Downieville:

Couldn't get into the All-Mountain race this year so ended up signing up for the Expert XC race. They've added the Sunrise trail to the course this year and times were expected to be 8-10 minutes longer. My game plan was simple...keep my buddy Don and Jude in sight on the climb and pin it on the descent. My goal if all went well was a spot on the podium.

We start out as usual....about 10 minutes of 110% and extreme pain until we've seperated the enormous field and settle in. ~3 miles into the 7 mile climb i come across Jude pushing his bike...he's cracked. I have Don in sight about 1/4 mile ahead up the fire road climb. At the four mile mark there is an aid station and we finally get off the unsheltered fire road and into the trees. At this point i can no longer see Don , but i'm feeling really good. I turn it up a notch and with about 3/4 of a mile to go, on the last rise i catch Don.

I go into the newly added Sunrise trail at the top of the climb and quickly pass around 7 people that decided to mellow out and eat. This trail is only about a 2 mile stretch that dumps out to a long fireroad section so i decided i'd eat and drink later and ride hard now. When i hit the fireroad two Trek pros came up on me and one of them was nice enough to pull us along the entire way to the start of the single track descent into Downieville.

Just before we hit the Baby Heads trail from the fire road i passed the Trek riders and went into DH, high speed mode. I was having a smooth run and feeling strong. I ended up passing a lot of the pro field and eventually finished in 2:20 minutes, fast enough to take the win!

Don went on to finish 2nd in the All mountain category for the XC portion and put in an incredible ride the following day on the DH course to take the overall in expert All-Mountain!

Last Thursday was the first race of the Thursday night North Star XC series. The race started out with two guys pinning it up the climb with Don and I chasing. I dropped back off the rediculous pace, settled in and caught back onto Don. The others were just up ahead.

Apparently these guys made a wrong turn because on lap two as i'm chasing Don we see them coming out of the downhill section ?? Don and I race on up the climb and i decided that after sucking the dust off of Don's wheel on the first lap downhill i'd go for a pass at the top of the climb. We get into a technical switchback section and Don's telling me how he hates it as i go around and his chain falls off! Obviously i get away and end up staying away to take the win.

Mario, the original leader that got lost, ended up catching and passing Don to take 2nd. He was not too happy and was trying to convince us to give him the win! We rubbed it in that part of racing was knowing where to go and told him he'd have his chance next week.

Fixie Fun

2008-07-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Unfinished from Tony West on Vimeo.

Fastest 3rd Place Ever

2008-07-01T13:57:00.004-07:00

Sam Hill's Insane 3rd place run. The announcer provides as much entertainment as the ride itself.

And the winner.....Gee Atherton

Only in Reno

2008-06-23T11:13:00.003-07:00

Friday night Alex, Shelly, and I grabbed a couple of beers at one of the local breweries and then headed off to Nikki Beach, the outdoor club at the Grand Sierra Resort. Alex hadn't told me who was playing that night, she had heard a rumor but thought it was a joke. Much to our surprise it was no joke although when he hit the stage it was the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Ice Ice Baby! That's right...Vanilla Ice...! He provided some entertainment for an hour or so and that was all we could handle. Some other guy in the crowd was pretty entertaining (weirdo) as well so Shelly decided to sit down and chat with him.

Saturday morning we'd try to enjoy the better side of Reno.

Saturday was the first ride of the year for me on Dirty Harry's and Alex and Andrew's first time ever. We slogged out the ~ 9 mile road climb and headed into the single track. Some guy had told us "A" trail had logs all over it and was impassable for almost 2 miles but it didn't sound like he knew what he was talking about. Well he did and we ended up hiking our bikes around about 1.5 miles of the start of the trail. Apparently there was also a sign saying to start from a new location but we were not very observant.

After a miserable hike a bike we made it to the good stuff. This trail has it all from real technical loose shale to ripping sticky burmed out corners to big step up/downs and gap jumps. We took our time playing on all the good sections and got back to the car about 4 hours later. We had parked at the access road to North Star Ski area and ended up sticking around that night to watch the circuit race for the Tour De Nez.

Sunday's original plan was to hit up Downieville and get a practice run on the XC course, but sleeping in Sunday won out. Alex ended up showing me a new ride Sunday over near the Flume trail at Tahoe. We parked at Chimney beach and climbed the road about 6 miles to Spooner Summit. Then it's a 4 mile fire road climb (get the idea of riding out here...climb...climb..climb) to the start of the Chimney Beach Downhill.

The Chimney Beach downhill is a fast, steep descent from a peak above Marlett Lake down to the parked car at Chimney Beach. It's the typical decomposed granite dirt which takes some time to get used to. Rather than stick to the corners you need to get used to drifting through them. We ripped this up in about 20 minutes or so and grabbed a backpack of beers and hit the beach for the afternoon.

The action didn't stop here, once at the beach we were lying around and two groups of people decided they didn't like each other so we were treated to some ultimate fighting for a few minutes. Both groups cleared out shortly after the chaos and we had the place mostly to ourselves and just hung out jumping off the rocks and swimming in the cold water. Once again no great photos...maybe if Alex would have cooperated i would have gotten one or two of her jumping off the rocks but she's apparently camera shy unless she's on her bike and quick to turn away so this is what u end up with...

Now it's back to the grind and start to prepare for a couple of local races this week.

Just Another Ride

2008-06-20T13:04:00.003-07:00

Yogi Bear

"Should we wait for him"

"This ride isn't about waiting"

"Dude let's warm up a bit...or not"

"Where are they?"

"We came to ride not wait"

This is hurting...a lot

If i keep this pace up i'll explode.

I'll sit back and let them go.

I can't let them go.

PEDAL!

This hurts

Are they hurting this much?

Slow down the breathing...deep breaths

Half way there

I guess we weren't going fast enough earlier

This has to be the fastest i've climbed this trail

This hurts so much i'm starting to laugh

Is Kenny hurting at all?

Stay on his wheel!

The top.....that fealt so good.

12 Mile Super D

2008-06-19T12:21:00.002-07:00

I was really looking forward to my first Super D up in Ashland Oregon this past weekend. 6 of us (Kenny, Don, Amber, Alex, Scott, and myself) with bikes and gear all piled into a minivan for the 5 hour drive from Reno. I would have taken a picture but there was no room to bring a camera!

We rolled into Ashland around midnight Friday and settled into our room in the Ashland hostile. The hostile was pretty cool. It was a big old house with a ton of rooms, stocked kitchen, a nice porch to chill on at night with beers, and it was a short walk to everything in town.

Saturday we planned on getting a few practice runs in on the course. There is a shuttle service in town that runs several times a day but with 9 of us we decided to just self shuttle and send a couple people back on the shuttle service to retrieve the vehicles. Having proven our ability to squeeze bodies into a vehicle we packed 9 people and bikes into a pickup for the first trip up. After a 30 minute drive squeezed into the bed of the truck (2 people in the bed with 9 bikes, and 7 people squeezed into the cab) we arrived at the base of Mt.Ashland ski area. This is the start of the 12 mile descent back to town.

The course starts out on a double track/fire road at 40+mph and then you turn onto some super buff single track for about 5 minutes where the speed barely slowed. This dumped you out at the start of the one and only climb. It was just long enough to hurt, but short enough that you could hit it hard. After the climb there was epic rolling single track winding it’s way through the dark woods.

The next section involved a solid 5 minutes of bombing a fire road. Not the greatest but it would serve as a nice place to recover after the hill and rolling terrain. This fire road dumped you into the last part of the course which is all tight single track. The speed that you were able to hold through these tight trees was incredible!

Unfortunately for me on the first run just before the hill climb a piece of my front brake lever fell out and I couldn’t find it. This made the first run REALLY interesting….and FAST. Back in town I was able to get the brake somewhat working with some tie wraps and we headed back up for another run. This temporary repair actually worked good enough and I left it on for the race.

RACE DAY:
The pros headed out first and Kenny, John, and Casey looked strong off the line. Unfortunately Kenny would show up back at the start 20 minutes later having flatted just before the climb. The bad luck showed it’s ugly head once again on my run. I was having a super fast run and entered the single track after the long fire road descent skipping across the rock section barely touching down. Then…….oh oh….the chain, which had already fallen over the outside of the top ring twice was now snapped and dragging behind me! After staring at the problem for a bit I ripped the chain out and realized I had a SRAM powerlink in my pocket…I put the chain back on and finished the run….nowhere near as fast as I had hoped.

RESULTS:
All in all the group finished pretty well. For pro men, John Wilson took 6th , in expert Scott Leland took the win, Don Morehouse finished 4th , and I somehow managed to get into the top ten with a 9th place finish even with the mechanicals. For the ladies….Alex Vanderhoff took 3rd place in sport women and Amber took 5th.

Next up…..returned to reno, removed all the SRAM drivetrain parts and Kenny was nice enough to pass his deal on to me and hook me up with XTR shifter, a new chain, and an XT shadow rear derailleur. Test run tonight and then off to Deer Valley in two weeks….give this super d thing another try.

Back in the swing...or saddle.

2008-06-06T10:38:00.002-07:00

Well finally got all moved into the new house and out of the old. As a result biking time is back on track to where it should be. I've actually gone full swing from my original plan of not really racing much and have been racing quite a bit.

A crew of us heading down to the Pinenut Cracker for the second race in the Nevada Cup series. The weather for the previous week and that day was rain....it never rains here and this is the longest period of rain and clouds i've witnessed in the 22 months i've been here. We rallied and were trying to motivate with 5 people (Alex, Amber, Kenny, Don, and I) all squeezed into the Tacoma and rain falling during the hour long drive.

At registration reports were the trail was in horrible shape...the infamous sticky clay that you need to scrape off your shoes, bike, and anything else that comes in contact with it. Like the weather, trail conditions change rapidly out here and as soon as we started it was obvious the trails had dried out a bit and were in perfect condition. The race was on 99% single track and had quite a bit of climbing followed by a great downhill. At the end of the day everyone in the car had made the podium.

That Monday we road one of the best trails in the Reno area, Galena, and the trails were in superb condition with super tacky corners. There is a downhill that is a great practice for the upcoming Ashland 12 mile Super D and Don and i were racing down at full speed. On lap 2 i caught a tree with the right shoulder and down i went....long story short...doctor on Wednesday...seperated AC joint! This being the umteenth time i've done this i wasn't too concerned. Riding was painful but i was still getting out.

The next race in the series was last weekends Peavine Challenge. I knew it was a tough course and having an injured shoulder wouldn't help. Held on the mountain up behind my house in Reno, on our local trails, this one is a killer. The weather was perfect this time and the turnout reflected this. Our same crew showed up once again, knowing this one was going to hurt a lot more than Pinenut.

Taking advice from my buddy Don i decided to take off from the start at 110%. The race starts with a sprint to the single track climb and i lead the way. When i hit the climb i opened it up as hard as i could, seeing stars the entire way. The good part was the pain i was in from climbing had masked the shoulder pain for the time being. At the first switch back i had dropped everyone except one other guy. We lead all the way up the 6 mile climb and spent the entire race side by side. At the start of the climb on lap 2 i made a move and he was gone.

At the end of the day, once again, the entire crew was on the podium. Fully representing pro, expert, and men and womans sport categories.

This weekend is all about fun rides on the trails that are starting to open up around Tahoe. Next friday we've got 8 of us heading to Ashland Oregon for the 12 mile Super D. With 3 pro riders, 3 experts, and two woman expert riders we should have a strong presence once again.

BUSY

2008-05-16T10:18:00.003-07:00

I just realized how long it's been since my last post. A lot going on out here lately. Great ski season and got to ski with Daren and Alex for a few days. Now the biking season is in full swing and can't wait till the trails in the mountains are free of snow.

These photos sum up the last couple of months.....

Work....looking down from the jogging trail

Couldn't get the Racer-X to feel right no matter what i did....Put the frame and fork on the local bike mailing list.....guy came over and wanted the entire bike.....sold! The replacement parts arrive.

Blur LT Classic Anodized Orange w/RP23, King Headset and Revelation Dual Air Fork. It built up to ~27lbs.

Decide to buy a house with prices being so low out here......Unfortunately we started getting earthquake after earthquake the last couple of months. They haven't been big (4.9 at most) but being from the east coast when your house starts moving it's a big deal!

The dog loves the backyard...it's full of rabbits and she will not leave them alone.

After a few hours of endless rabbit chasing she is dead.

Decided to rip into the walls and install the A/V system before moving in. This set back the riding for a few weeks. Just getting finished and plan to move in tomorrow. Although i was supposed to move last weekend and ended up riding both days!

Last night i did my first mt.bike race of the season.....picked a great one to start with. The peavine mountain hill climb 6.8 miles 3000' all uphill.....fun....actually painful.

Big Dump + New Skis = I need to ski more

2008-01-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

Since we got the big dump skiings been excellent. So good i decided to ask the boss about 4 day weeks so i could get out on the hill when the storms come in. Much to my surprise i can now take off a mid-week day when needed in order to get the freshies!

Been getting a lot of backcountry in since the last big storm while waiting for it to snow again. Luckily it snowed last night and is supposed to snow all week (taking Wednesday off). Here are some shots from Sunday out behind Mt.Rose. We made a slight wrong turn and ended up skiing WAY down the drainage, eventually making it out to the Mt.Rose highway in Galena. As a reference see the red line below (the route we skied) and compare that to the size of the ski area on the left. It took us a while to hitch hike back to the car but it was worth it!

Blizzard

2008-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Looks like this storm is actually going to hit us......It's raining now and supposed to change to snow even down here in the valley in the next couple of hours. I've got the skis all ready, the shovels in the truck and just need to get out of work so i can head up the hill......ignoring the statements below : )

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGENATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV410 AM PST FRI JAN 4 2008...A MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL AFFECT THE REGION TODAY THROUGHSATURDAY MORNING WITH STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY SNOW CAUSINGBLIZZARD CONDITIONS IN THE SIERRA...EXTREMELY HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL BRING DANGEROUSBLIZZARD CONDITIONS IN THE SIERRA AND LAKE TAHOE BASIN TODAYTHROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE SIERRA PASSES. ATTEMPTING TOTRAVEL IN THE SIERRA WILL PUT YOUR LIFE AT RISK! EXTREMELY HIGHSNOWFALL RATES WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ROAD CREWS ANDEMERGENCY PERSONNEL TO KEEP ROADS PASSABLE AND TO ASSIST STRANDEDVEHICLES. IF YOU DO ATTEMPT TRAVEL IN THE SIERRA YOUR CHANCES OFBEING STRANDED FOR MORE THAN A FEW HOURS IS VERY HIGH. REMAININDOORS DURING THIS BLIZZARD...EVEN A SHORT WALK OUTDOORS COULD BEDEADLY AS YOU WILL BECOME DISORIENTED IN THE WHITEOUT CONDITIONSWITH ZERO VISIBILITY.

SNOW!

2007-12-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

Back from visiting Boston for the holidays and been skiing a bunch. Just starting to learn the terrain that Alpine Meadows has to offer. Scouted some great shoots and BIG drops yesterday, tumbling off of one after clipping a rock on the landing, preparing for this weekends monster storm.

Check out this forecast:
"BY THE TIME THE WEEKEND IS OVER...SOME PARTS OF THE SIERRA CRESTWILL LIKELY RECEIVE BETWEEN 5 AND 10 FEET OF SNOW WITH AT LEAST 1-2FEET AT LAKE LEVEL AND HIGHER TERRAIN/FOOTHILLS OF THE EASTERNSIERRA. AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE WEEKEND...MORE DETAIL SHOULD BEGINTO SURFACE...INCLUDING THE MAGNITUDE OF SNOW POTENTIAL IN THE LOWER VALLEYS."

Curve Ball...of sorts....

2007-12-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Well haven't blogged in a while...not because a lot hasn't been going on.......exact opposite.

Kristina and i are no longer Kristina and i.........finished.

So to make a long post short, things have been a bit hard lately trying to figure out what to do, move back? stay? Yikes!

It's now Zoey and i :)

It's been a few weeks and i decided to stay through the summer at least. I like what this area has to offer and now i really have to explore it and decide if i want to stay or not. Just bought my pass yesterday, but we're hurting for snow. Hopefully when Daren gets out here it'll be epic.

To make matters worse....this happens...no biking other than the trainer.....nothing like 6 wires sticking out of your hand! Apparently i can't hit curve balls that well.

Fall??

2007-10-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

That's what this is i guess......but not really....not unless you go over the hill and down the other side. In Reno it seems like summer (read 90+ degree days) is here and then......winter. There is no fall here, and certainly not up on the hill in Truckee. Plans to get a few more rides up in Truckee are on hold as the snow is building up this last week. It's getting me thinking about setting up a pair of rock skis....just in case i get the urge to do some early season hiking.

Last weekend while it was winter in Reno i headed down to Auburn CA and did a great ride along the American River. After the first three mile climb i asked a local directions to verify what i had obsorbed in the 2 minute sneak peak i grabbed of a map prior to starting out. Surprisingly i was on course. He ended up riding the entire loop with us, and luckily he could ride. Tons of flowing, rolling, buffed out single track in superb condition. After spending about 2 hours on the rolling hard packed single track we finished with an east coast descent with doubles, drops, and classic rocky, gnarly terrain.

I know where i'll be for the "Fall" season when i need a single track fix.......

The mountains are white!

2007-09-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well last week started out at 90 degrees. It "cooled" down to the mid 80s by the end of the week, and this morning i woke up to snow on the hills. The mountains were socked in and it was actually cold down here in the valley. Lunch time rolled around and the clouds started to break up a bit around Mt.Rose revealing the snow capped peaks. The website (www.mtrose.com) claims 2-3" today NOAA forecasts 6-10" Friday to Saturdar with the possibility of 12"+ in the highest elevation. I sure hope this is the start of a big season.

Reno Air Races

2007-09-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

This week the Reno Air Races were in town. You might have heard of the three crashes/deaths they have had on the news. I've been to air shows but never an air race and wasn't sure what to expect. I decided to drive out to the end of the aiport property and see what it was all about. All i can say is no wonder people are getting killed. These guys are racing planes at times 30 feet off the ground, super ....SUPER close to one another. Check out this shot.......this is the section of the course where they really get low!

Here are some shots of the jets racing............CRAZY!

Been doing some riding and working on the Sprinter a bit. I've got a bed setup and started in on a folding table.....just getting it ready for the ski season.

The Sprinter Has Arrived

2007-08-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

I've been interested in them since Gary first got his back in '04 and have been seeing them more and more and decided it was time. I missed the "living room" of the vanagon, the hangout area where you could put on your gear, change out of the gear, eat lunch, the lodge on wheels.

I didn't miss the oil leaks and constant problems associated with owning a vanagon and the Sprinter is known for it's reliability. After doing a lot of research and finally deciding on what model and year i wanted the 2006 Sprinter 140" Wheel Base was the winner.

Mind you these are not easy to find and i looked at several. I finally found "the one" located down in the bay area and decided to take it. A short hour long flight and a quick train ride and i was heading back four hours to Reno.

Of course i immediately started in on the upgrades i had already been planning and have been reading about while researching Sprinters. It's amazing what happens when you cover every square inch of the body, firewall to rear doors, with Dynamat. That tin can on wheels sounds like a Mercedes now!

I've got a few more projects to complete but i've got a lot of what i wanted to do complete. The last bid project is the bed platform which should go in next week. The Sprinter has been keeping me busy, but Kristina and I (and Zoey) have been getting out hiking and running.

This shot is on the way down from the 5 Lakes hike we started out on. We started off at what looked like the 5 Lakes Trailhead, only after did we take a closer look and realize the worn out words to the right of "5 Lakes Trailhead" were something about 1/4 mile up the road! Ooops!

We started up a trail for about 50 yards that came out at a playground. There was a trail of some sort heading up so we kept going. After about 15 minutes it was obvious we were not on the trail. We scrambled up the side of the mountain and eventually after crossing some nasty terrain and getting beaten down by the sun we popped up over the ridge and we were at the top of Sqaw Valley at the farthest skiers right chairlift!

We figured we would get to the ridge, spot the lakes and hike on over...not so...no lakes in sight.

The lakes were supposed to be up above Alpine Meadows so we started to hike around the ridge line of Sqaw towards Alpine where eventually we spotted the water. A quick bush whack and we were swimming in one of the 5 Lakes. Looking back it was kind of nice that we took the route we did. The hike out was not nearly as exciting.

On the mountain bike front i got the invite to check out a "stealth" trail out in Truckee this weekend. It was pretty nice, east coast style drops and rocks and nice doubles. After an hour long fire road climb we hiked off the road into the woods about 20 yards and there it was....the start of the trail. Someone spent a lot of time on this and we certainly respected the signs to "hike your bike" at any point the trail came to a fire road or another trail. The trail went on and on for and hour and a half of great tight single track. This one has apparently been here a year or so, but the people that have been riding it have definately been respecting the rules....hopefully it last a lot longer.

Mt.Whitney

2007-07-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, Kristina and i have now stood on the highest point in the lower 48. We left on the morning of the 4th of July for Lone Pine California to climb Whitney the following day. We had a one day pass and planned on getting an early start on the 5th.

We arrived in Lone Pine and were greeted by 105 degree temps! Nice and toasty! After picking up our permits, and going back for the one i left on the counter, we decided we should check out Lone Pine. Well that lasted about 10 minutes. Pretty much everything, although there isn't much, was closed except for a couple gift shops and a grocery store. I did find a glass bottle coke that some Mexicans were selling along with vegetables and fruit...mmmmm. It tasted better than ever in that heat. Now what to do? We decided to drive up to Whitney Portal (the trailhead).

Whitney Portal is about 15 miles from Lone Pine all up hill. On the way up, just outside Lone Pine, you pass through a cool area called Alabama Hills. This is the other attraction around Lone Pine besides Mt.Whitney. Alabama Hills is a famous setting for over 400 films (according to the sign on the road). It is an area full of enormous, round granite boulders.

We were glad to find the temperature was much more comfortable at Whitney Portal when we arrived. We hung out for an hour or two, finding the trailhead and talking to some people that were coming down from one day hikes. We spoke to a woman that had done the dayhike in 10.5 hrs and apparently she's some crazy marathon runner. Then some guy shows up and he'd been trying to keep pace with her....his time...11hrs. It turns out he's an iron man athlete. This had us re-thinking our time estimates.

Back to Lone Pine, quick dinner and in bed at 8:00pm. 2:15am ALARM.!!! 3:00am hiking with headlamps. Then.......

We managed to complete the hike in 10.5 hrs including 45 minutes on the summit and a 30 minute stop on the way up to refill water and eat some food. Definately a fast pace very doable.
The legs were sore but the real pain came when we needed to spend another night in Lone Pine :).

More Downieville Suffering

2007-07-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

I took the final checkride for my pilot exam last Wednesday and am now officially a private pilot. Kristina and i went out Saturday morning and flew up to Susanville CA and back for my maiden voyage. I bounced us into Susanville after one aborted landing and did a bit better when we touched down in Reno.

Sunday it was off to Downieville for another XC course ride. Kristina dropped me off in Sierra City and she drove down to Downieville to do a road ride while i suffered through the XC loop.

The new high roller USTs were a little slower on the 8 mile climb, but made up for it on the downhill.

I messed up at some point (red section) and took the 2nd divide trail instead of 3rd so i did a little more climbing, but 2nd divide is a killer trail. It was my first time on this stretch and it's really nice, tight, exposed (read massive drop to rocky river), and technical single track. I was trying to get an idea of my course time but this sidetrack through me off. I'll go back this weekend and time myself on the proper route.

At this point i'm thinking 2:30.....hoping to break 2:20. The climb alone took 1:15 this week so i'll need to be bombing the downhill. On race day passing will be an issue on the tight single track.....cannonball!

Off to Lone Pine tomorrow AM and we'll be climbing Whitney on Thursday. Hopefully it doesn't hurt too much....21 miles, 6000' of climbing....shouldn't hurt too bad.

More Fire In Reno

2007-06-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

I spent all day Saturday out riding the cross country course of the Downieville Classic. This area is GREAT! Super fast buff single track winding it's way through tight trees and along the many rivers draining into the area. We started out in Sierra City at the start of the XC course. The route takes about 1 mile of pavement UP, and i mean UP, and changes to jeep roads. This goes on for approx 6 miles until you get up and into the trees. Then you have another 2.5 miles or so of the same steep grind getting you to the top of the 3000'+ climb. Now the fun begins.

The trails are in excellent shape. I did learn that i'm going to need to run a much more sturdy tire. I had two flats with the tubeless Larsen TTs and decided on race day i'm going to try out the Kenda Nevegal UST with tubes. The terrain has a lot of sharp rocks and at the speeds you can reach those little small obstacles dissappear until you smack one. It was a pretty epic day considering i haven't had a lot of saddle time lately. We ended up doing about 5000' and 42 miles. I can't wait to get out there again.

Now to the title.....we've had about half a dozen fires within 10 miles of here in the last week. The latest this morning was about a mile away from the house. I took these shots of the planes and helis after they had it somewhat contained. Just as this one was under control the news broke about a larger fire on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. This dry winter is making for a bad fire season.

Long Post Lots of Pics.

2007-06-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well i haven't been on the bike nearly as much as i should be considering the Downieville Classic is quickly approaching. I'm having fun doing other things and still riding, just not 'training'...not letting it become something i have to do.

Kristina and i went to another wedding in Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago for one of her classmates. It was a cool setting outside way up in one of the Canyons just North of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The next day there was a brunch which we opted out of to do another hike to hopefully help prepare us for Whitney.

We hiked up to Lake Blanche out of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was a fairly easy hike although it was steep from the get go all the way to the lake. Once at the lake you could head up to a peak called Sundial, or climb around Twin Peaks. I opted for a quick swim in the freezing lake and we headed back to town.

The following weekend we went out near Downieville to do some camping and climb the Sierra Buttes (peaks in the background). The area we were in is called the lakes basin and is basically the start of all the rides that lead back into Downieville. This area has some GREAT trails. All rocky and tight woods...can't wait to get out there next week with the bike. We camped out at Snag Lake and attempted to catch some fish with no luck, but i did get to try out my new fly rod that Kristina surprised me with (early birthday present).

We woke up Sunday and hiked up to the lookout on top of the Sierra Buttes. It's and easy hike up to the fire lookout, a little building set atop one of the rock spires. They have a 3 or 4 flights of steep stairs that get you up to the lookout. These stairs would be no big deal unless you've got your dog and have to carry her up and down in the 30+ MPH wind unable to see where you're planting your feet!

We made it down alive and I spent the next week breaking in the new fly rod after work in the Truckee river near the house. This weekend was the Tour De Nez, a local pro cycling race. We headed up to Truckee friday night for the first of two criteriums. This year the race, which is normally a classic stage race format, only had a criterium in Truckee and one in Reno. Hopefully they'll be able to get the race back up to it's original multi day classic stage race format once again in the years to come. It was a lot of fun watching the pro riders in such short technical courses.

The Tour De Nez organizer put on several other events in Reno Saturday including a couple of organized rides. We decided to do the metric century and were glad we didn't do the full 100 miler. There was about a 20-25miles stretch of 20+mph headwinds. Luckily we hooked up with a group with some strong riders and we ground it out and eventually enjoyed the tailwind.

Kristina and I both agreed that this 70 miles we logged Saturday were as hard or harder than any east coast century we've done. Sunday was a rest day....we drove up to Squaw and did some more Whitney prep. hiking out towards Tinker's Knob. It was around 14 miles round trip according to the info. we had read, but we needed to be back in town by 4:30 so we turned around after about 6-6.5 miles in....we'll have to go back.

Back to work and preparing for my Private Pilot checkride this week. I've got the checkride scheduled for a week from Wednesday and if all goes well i'll be legal to fly.

Getting Outside in Reno

2007-05-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

The contrast of this area is pretty unique. Here you see Reno....stereotypical, wanna be vegas Reno. If you turn around and look the other way you see why people like it here. I've been enjoying the other view lately.

Weathers been great here and i've been able to get out a bunch. With Kristina away in Alaska the last couple of weeks i've been running with the dog everyday and bringing her on the occasional mtb ride. She's still not fast enough for the long descents yet, but i still get here out for an hour or so. The low snow fall this winter allowed us to get up on the good trails in Truckee this past week. Mark (aka college boy from back east), Don and I headed up to Dirty Harry's on the big bikes last week.

Dirty Harry's is one of the best rides in the area. A monster climb on a paved road rewards you with about two hours of the best single track around. Got to utilize some of those east coast skills again creeping down steep faces and launching the 4-5 footer at the bottom, doubles, log rides....good stuff. The trail is super flowy with drops at the top for about 5 miles of screaming downhill with perfect, no brakes needed, birms. I even chickened out of a few lines which i'll be back for.

Kristina and I left from the same point as the Dirty Harry's ride on the road bikes this past Friday and did a nice 35 miles loop down to Tahoe, through Tahoe City, and returning to Truckee. The weather was perfect and the ride was nice and mellow.

We headed down to LA this weekend for a wedding in Malibu. It was my first time in the LA area so it was cool to check out Santa Monica Beach and Malibu. The wedding reception was set atop an amazing vineyard overlooking Malibu and the mountains of the area. We had a great time and flew back to Reno Sunday afternoon.

This morning we decided that since we got a permit to climb Mt.Whitney on the 5th of July we better start getting some hiking in. We applied for an overnight permit but only got a day pass which means we need to do the entire climb in one day...it's only about 22 miles and who knows how many vertical feet! It can't be too much altitude as it's only the highest peak in the lower 48! That said we decided to climb Mt.Rose today. It's only 10,778...nothing compared to the 14,494 that Whitney will offer but still a good hike.

This hike wasn't too bad at all. It get's steep for the last mile or so but relatively easy prior to that. We arrived at the summit and spent about 15-20 minutes eating and taking in the 360 degree views. You could see down to Reno, Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, and all the way to Carson City. We started heading down and decided to run as much as possible. We spent a total of 3.5 hours for 10 miles. I figure it shouldn't take us more than 10hrs to do Whitney....ouch!

Now it's back to work and hopefully start logging some time on the bike for the first big race...the downieville classic!

AND I THOUGHT THE PRE-RIDES WERE BAD!

2007-05-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well I’m off to a heck of a start this year……2 DNFs!

The sandy cross country course was anything but! The course turned from a sandy mess to nasty mud. There was a clay hike a bike hill that consisted of this sticky red soil which clung to anything it made contact with. Your shoes had about 4 inches of nasty stuck to the bottom and weighed an extra pound or two for the hike section. Then you had the pleasure of trying to get your foot to click into your pedal…ha!

On lap two, after getting hailed on, rained on, and as the lightning was rolling in I flatted on a downhill. I was tubeless and slapped the CO2 on there to try to save the race. It worked for about a minute and then I was flat again. The tire was filled with the nasty mud and not sealing…that was it for me.

Next up the road race. I wanted to stick with the lead group on the hill that typically kills me and was feeling good. I hit the little hill and took off on what I thought was the big hill. Well I had a good break going with one other guy and we realize that this is still the small hill……oh oh! I get sucked back into the pack and try to get the heart rate below 185 before the hill…no luck. I loose contact and eventually manage to chase back on. Only problem is as soon as I do there is a crash in the rear of the lead group and I’m stuck behind it and forced to stop and keep an eye on the bloody rider on the street. #2 DNF!

I’ve gotten turned off from the experiences and have decided to focus on the Downieville XC race and Xterra along with a couple others and wait for North Star to open for some fun Freeriding. That said I’ve been doing more running with the dog than riding. And she’s getting bigger and faster!

Been getting my but kicked flying too….seems to be a pattern. I’ve been practicing my crosswind landings and takeoffs and it’s not easy! Luckily I go with the instructor and they can help out when needed. I haven’t made it easy on myself either….going up in 15+ crosswinds in a plane rated for 15 knot crosswinds! I should be going for my license in a few weeks…look out!

Race Course Pre-Rides...Bad Idea

2007-04-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

The plan this weekend was to pre-ride the first mountain bike race (http://www.churchillcounty.org/parksnrec/index.php?ctr=101) and the first road race.

Sounds like a good idea, get to know the course so I can come up with a game plan. I’ve done the road race three times so that pre-ride was more a reminder and fitness check for the one hill where the attack goes and the leaders take off.

Kristina and I got up early Easter Sunday, loaded up the bikes in the chilly morning air and drove up to Truckee to check out the course. The race is around a few reservoirs and about 20 minutes west of the house. That twenty minute drive west and up in elevation caused that chilly morning air to be frigid mountain air! The reservoirs were socked in by low clouds and we were completely unprepared for the temps.

Kristina found a pair of gloves in the car and I went with the fingerless pair. I felt like I was going to be fingerless if I went on any longer. We made it a whopping 8 miles…maybe! Had to turn around and get back ASAP. We didn’t even make the hill for fear of having to ride back down and have the wind freeze us solid! And I thought yesterdays mountain bike pre-ride was bad…..

Saturday myself and a few others drove out to the middle of no where Nevada to Rainbow Ridge. I heard good things and some photos I found looked promising. Upon arriving some of the others who have raced here the last few years were noticing how sandy the start / finish area was. I’m talking deep, drive train ruining, dusty, dry sand.

We headed out on the dirt road for about ½ mile before heading up some double track….sandy, loose, steep double track. We were almost immediately off the bikes for the first hike a bike climb (which was also the first climb). At the top we were greeted by a shorter hill that was barely doable. Then finally a downhill which was loose, but at least it was down. The course follows the edge of a ridge, up and down, up and down. The entire way was extremely loose and dusty. Six miles and over an hour later and we were all set with the planned 3 laps. In order to put a positive spin on the experience we figured it will be fun on race day to see the look of pain on the riders who weren’t “lucky” enough to pre-ride with us.

TIME FLIES AND NOW I DO TOO

2007-04-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

Been almost a month since my last post!
I started taking flying lessons and it’s requiring a lot of at home studying and watching videos. Between the flying, studying, getting out on the bike and running with the dog my day is full…..full of good things!

Today was a major milestone for the flight lessons. After several weeks of getting up at 5:00 to be at the airport to fly before work I finally got to solo today. It’s pretty crazy to think that this morning I flew out of Reno International with my flight instructor, landed in Minded (40 miles south), he got out and I took off for a few touch and goes on my own. I have to admit, although I new I could do it, it was a little sketchy when he first jumped out and I was rolling down the taxiway. It all went well and the plane felt like a little rocket without the extra weight. The crazier part is I could go over to the airport right now, take one of the Cessnas and go fly around alone!

Kristina has been getting out on occasion for a ride when the school schedule allows. I even got her out on the mountain bike! It was also Zoey’s first ride…she’s still a little too young to do more than about 8-10 miles, but she’s getting BIG!

Winter, if you want to call it that is no longer in the Washoe Valley. My first winter out west was the driest in over 10 years! What does that mean….it means the biking has been great down in the valley. I haven’t been getting nearly the amount of time on the bike as I should, but I’ve setup a new schedule and plan on doing my best to stick with it.

This Saturday I’m pre-riding the course for my first mountain bike race. It’s the first of four in the Nevada Cup series. These races can qualify you for the Nationals at Mt.Snow so maybe I’ll be back east in July for some naked crit action! Anyone got a place i can crash...maybe someone in Vermont (hint hint hint).

Sunday I’m heading to Truckee to ride the first road race course. Last year the billy goats got away on the big hill and then it’s the usual chase, chase, chase. I’ve got a new strategy for this year (bury myself) so I’m going to head out and get familiar with the course and hopefully hang on when the attack happens and be able to stay with the lead group.

And now it's summer!

2007-03-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

One of many things that's pretty strange about a high desert environment is how different the weather can be from day to day and from the passes to the valley floor. There is plenty of skiing 25 minutes from here and yet it has been in the mid to upper 70s all week.

Well i could be pushing slush around up on the hill but with the nice weather biking has won out.

Looks like Kristina and i will be racing this weekend over in California. I'm going to do an off road duathlon and she's going to do the 10k trail run. Should be in the 80s!

Here is a shot of a cloud i took last night. The upper layer is getting blasted from the winds coming out of the west over the Sierra Ridge.

Yep...it is winter.

2007-02-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well winter hit full blast last night and even down here in the valley we had a few inches and it's been going from snow to sun all day down here. I made my first attempt at hitting the mountain at 7:30 and found the road closed! Lot's of idiots causing accidents had caused the NHP to shut down the road while they clear out the morons. I went home, grabbed something to eat and headed out a couple of hours later.

Mt.Rose had the two summit lifts on wind hold earlier but they were running when i arrived.....barely. It was a complete blizzard, 2' + of freshies being filled in every run. There was nobody on the main lodge side, mostl likely due to the fierce bone chilling winds....perfect. Run after run of untracked...nobody to race for the freshies, covered for the next run! The fun ended when they finally had to kill the lift....at that point you couldn't see a thing anyway and i called it a day.

A quick check of the forecast confirms that winter is indeed here....looks like i might need to play hookie one day this week.

Winter is here!

2007-02-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well last Thursday Tahoe got hit with up to 4' of snow. Friday morning started out with some pre-work freshies up at Mt.Rose. Although Rose didn't get the big dump Kirkwood got it was nice to rip through the trees in knee deep with some buddies before heading into work! Man is that different....no 3+ hour drive...skiing before work! i have to say it again...skiing before work! (sorry guys but after the hours we've logged together weekend after weekend it's strange to be so close)

Today was an epic road ride day. Not epic in terms of mileage by no means, but epic in terms of how i'm feeling. Don and I hit the road and headed south of town and climbed up to the summit of Geiger grade. It's a long grueling climb, many switch backs and a nice false summit. We were then greeted by monsterous headwinds all the way down and up Mt.Rose highway until we turned north on Thomas Creek Rd. All in all we road 55 miles and over 5000' of pain! Good to get out and push it though.

Checking the weather as i sit here with aching legs i see the only thing in the forecast until next wednesday is snow...and lots of it! Tomorrow morning should have us skiing in at least another 18" and it's supposed to snow another couple of feet throughout the day and every day till wednesday!

Looks like the Sierra may finally be getting hit with the white stuff.

Should be an interesting day tomorrow with the weak legs. Maybe i can convince Kristina to hit the slopes for half a day. She's got a tough schedule at school now so it has been study, study, study. That's ok though Zoey is keeping me company and busy.

Maybe i'll motivate and bring out the camera tomorrow for some freshie shots.

3 Degrees and 3+ Feet

2007-02-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

3 Degrees is all it takes. I'm not talking about the temperature drop for it to finally start dumping out here. I'm talking about the rise in temperature by 3 degrees that immobilized me from Thursday to Saturday. That's right, Kristina kicked the cold/flu she had and passed it on to me...thanks : ) It's amazing how sensitive the body is to an increase in temperature.

After 3 days of doing nothing, besides hanging out with the dog all day. I awoke Sunday knowing it had been raining all night down in the valley. I was sipping my coffee and decided to check to see the snowfall amounts at Mt.Rose and it looks like things have finally started to take off. 3' had fallen and the decision was made. Although not feeling 80% yet i had to make some turns.

I was only up there for a few hours but every run was untracked, woods, and finally the real deal! It's still a bit sketchy with rocks showing but it was tree sakiing in nice freshies with the new DPs .....i've got my fingers crossed for some more of the white!

Pointing Vizsla

2007-02-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

Photos

2007-01-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

Zoey has arrived....

2007-01-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

No pictures to post but last night i brought home Zoey, our Vizsla puppy! She was pretty scared without all her buddies around but did surprisingly well overnight. I wish i slept as soundly as she did. Kristina and i didn't let her get the shut eye she wanted until we were ready for bed. When she went into the kennel around 10:30 she let loose with sounds i didn't know dogs were capable of making for 15 minutes and then slept until 6:30 this morning...perfect.

Pretty stressful evening making sure the puppy didn't have any accidents in the house and getting her stuff all setup. Luckily Kristina was expecting me (and had a suspicion i wasn't alone) and had dinner ready.

No accidents in the house....yet! Hopefully she does OK at the house today.

Pics to come......

Not much news

2007-01-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while since the last post...not much happening...certainly no snow to talk about! I haven't been up the hill in 2 weeks. The ski days have ground to a hault at 17 and the 5 day forecast indicates it will remain at 17 for at least another week.

The good part is that the biking has been pretty good. Kristina and i got out last week for a road ride on Saturday and Don and I hit the trails in hidden valley on Sunday.

Here's a first.....Don and i are riding the jeep trail aka fireroad to start our 7 mile ascent and what do we come across? A bunch of wild horses! I've never observed wild horses close up so it was pretty cool, but to then have them cross the road in our path and be within a couple of feet as they walked all around us was crazy!

Later on a small downhill i look to my left to see a wildhorse galloping along beside me!

Kristina and I have been thinking about getting a dog for a while and i've been looking for a female Vizsla for a couple of months. The one litter we were waiting for was born last weekend but there were only two females both of which were spoken for. We'll continue waiting and hopefully have a dog by the end of spring.

pe·cu·liar (pĭ-kyōōl'yər)

2007-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

Unlike Andy's Remedy post i'm not talking about a new bike.
pe·cu·liar (pĭ-kyōōl'yər)
adj.

Unusual or eccentric; odd.
Distinct from all others. See Synonyms at strange.
Belonging distinctively or primarily to one person, group, or kind; special or unique: rights peculiar to the rich; a species peculiar would not be perceived as unusual to this area.

I am however talking about biking. I'm not sure if it was the 3 or 4 espressos i had this morning (couldn't let that new machine go unused), motivation from the book Kristina got me (The Mountain Biker's Training Bible by Joe Friel), or mere curiosity that provoked what was apparently peculiar behavior on my part this morning in the gym at work.

I decided that today i would perform my first LT test. This would require a 30 minute all out time trial. Now out on the road, in the woods, or with a like minded group of cyclist this wouldn't be odd at all, but in the setting of my work's gym it was quite the site.

In order to assure an accurate test i went into this with the thinking that i better be absolutely hurting at the end of the TT.

Try to picture this...The gym is not very crowded; a couple of guys lifting weights, three ladies power walking on the treadmills, another on the eliptical, and one next to me on a bike. I'm on the only other exercise bike, music blaring in the ipod, the asthma inhaler in one bottle holder, and a cup of water in the other. After a 15 minute warm up i hit it! 30 minutes as hard as i can go! Let's just say the heads were turning and i can only imagine what they were thinking....peculiar is probably putting it nice.

The test was a success and i now feel like crap and the legs are aching. The book sais that your average heart rate + 5% for the last 20 minutes of an all out 30 min TT should be a close approx. of LT heart rate. I managed an average hear rate of 168 so i figure my LT hear rate is in the 171-174 range. Now to apply this to a training schedule.

POST 1 2007

2007-01-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

Been a while since i've posted. Kristina and i spent christmas week down in Bonaire scubadiving and windsurfing...and we might have had a few pitchers of sangria. This was the first time in Bonaire for both of us, and i was excited to get away and check out this shore diving mecca. Bonaire is known for complete dive freedom.

The typical setup is you rent a truck, buy an unlimited air package (about $100),load up and pick your spot from the map of hundreds of sites. The road along the coast is lined with yellow rocks marking the many divesites and a book describing the sites can be purchased for under $10. This is a huge difference than being on one of the cattle boats and having to be somewhere to be on the boat at a certain time and then being told what profile to dive...not here! That is what was so nice about Bonaire...no schedule, do what you want when you want.

Kristina wasn't certified to dive so she took the open water course while we were there. This took a few hours each morning for 4 days. On the last couple of days when the class was doing their last confined water and open water dives i helped out with the class, picking up the pace a bit. The last of the open water dives was in an extreme current......kick hard and go no place.....great place to learn!

We wasted no time in getting into the real diving. Kristina was officially certified at 2pm and we were in the water at 5:30 for her first certified dive. We came out just as the sun was setting. The next few days we did what you do in Bonaire...dive, eat, and sleep.....and apparently set off fireworks.

On our last day since we couldn't do more than one dive we had just returned from windsurfing on the east side of the island and were walking around the small center of town.

Fireworks had been going off all week but what we heard this time was different. It sounded like a pack of M80s going off except it went on for over 20 minutes! We came to the conclusion that the fireworks stand must be on fire. When we walked towards the road where the stand is we noticed a police car and assumed we were correct. Nope...just the locals setting off what they call a rug/carpet. This thing lasted over a half hour and each one is as loud as an M80!

Alex and Simon were in the area when i returned from Bonaire and it was great to spend a couple of days hanging out and hitting the slopes. Even though the conditions stink it was nice to be skiing with a good friend again. I'll have to make a point of getting up to their neck of the woods soon.

Finally the snow has started to fall and over the last week conditions have started to get a lot better. I got my first real powder turns on a steep untracked pitch at Alpine Meadows this weekend and there is more snow in the forecast!

Kristina has been picking up the tele fairly quick and the skis she has are definately holding her back. I found a pair of She's Piste online and had a pair of bindings kicking around so we'll see how much a difference they make this weekend.

Been off the bike for a while...trying to keep the fitness up by hitting up the gym everyday. The plan is to get in the routine of riding during the day for and hour and a half or so ASAP.

Oh yeah...anyone want an espresso? This will be here in a couple of days....First, over 6 years ago, i thought i was really springing for the La Pavoni Lusso but now realizing how much use i have gotten out of that machine i have officially graduated to the "prosumer" machine. The Pasquini Livia 90 should be here this week.

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 8 AM PST FRIDAY

2006-12-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning Kristina and I leave for a week of scuba diving in Bonaire and hopefully while we are away, and my pass is blacked out, the mountains will get dumped on. Based on todays forecast the mountains will get at least a foot today and tonight and snow is in the forecast everyday through next wednesday!

Meanwhile we'll be kicking back on the beach enjoying the warm weather and great diving!

Today...Windy with a chance of rain and snow in the morning...Then snow and rain in the afternoon. Snow level rising to 7000 feet. Snow accumulation up to 5 inches above 7000 feet. Highs 36 to 46. Southwest winds increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 45 mph in the afternoon. Over ridges...Gusts up to 50 mph increasing to 80 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight...Windy with snow. Snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches... With 7 to 14 inches above 7000 feet. Lows 15 to 25. West winds 20 to 30 mph becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 45 mph. Gusts to 80 mph over ridges.

The Wild West

2006-12-18T20:56:00.000-08:00

This weeks has been full of excitement. Kristina left for Alaska last Thursday so we had our little Christmas on Wednesday night. Mom sent several boxes of presents for the two of us so we actually had stuff to open! We decided to give each other a trip to Bonaire so we didn't have a bunch of presents.

Mom got me the GPS i had wanted. The Garmin Edge 305 GPS/Cycling computer. This thing is great. It comes with two bike mounts, one speed and cadence wireless sensor, software, and cables. I got out Saturday on the mountain bike and road my local loop behind the house.
(see route in white).

After the ride Saturday the snow finally started to fall out here. Being a ski addict this is a good thing...unless you're in the wild west. When the snow started the temps were just above freezing but quickly dropped turning the roads into an ice skating rink. There were cars off the road all over the place. The people out here are clueless when it comes to driving in the snow, not only that but if/when they get stuck or slide off the road they just leave the car. It doesn't matter if it's in the middle of the intersection, in someones yard, or blocking a driveway they'll leave it.

Then there are the really crazy ones. The ones that ram you from behind going WAY too fast, taking out your bike rack and wrecking the bumper and 1/4 panel of your car! But it get's better this guy is unlike the others, he doesn't leave his car on the side of the road. By the time i turn around he's initiated the chase. This bastard decides to make a run for it! I chase him into a neighborhood i know and i'm able to get a plate. The police, who i'm on the phone with, tell me the plate doesn't come back to the car it's on! I follow him for a while but things get ugly...he's going to kill someone driving the way he is and i'm not going to crash trying to keep up.

Sunday i decided to take advantage of the snow and hit the mountain early in the morning. They still only have one run but at least it was fresh snow. I threw the Garmin in my pocket to see if it would work for skiing. Topped out at 48mph and this wasn't fast compared to some of the runs Daren and i have done at the river. I bet we top 60mph!

The slopes got crowded quickly so i took off and on the way home decided to spin through the neighborhood where i last saw the lunatic that hit me.....GOT HIM! Went to the police today and reported the bastard. Tomorrow i'll be out testing out the UPS package that showed up today....the DP Pros have arrived!

Learning the ropes

2006-12-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

The weekend storms that came in didn't seem to pack the punch i was hoping for...or did they? Saturday was a gorgeous day here in Reno, probably in the 60's and sunny. The mountains were socked in and the information i was getting off the internet was that the storm had dropped 2-5" depending on the area. Mt.Rose only got 2-4" with one run off the top and the threat of wind holds which didn't make skiing too appealing . The weather called for more snow Sunday night but once again it didn't look like much. Sunday was partly sunny in Reno and temps were down to the high 40's. Kristina and i thought about heading up to Mt.Rose but conditions hadn't changed. We instead jumped on the bikes and went for a short road ride (which by the way killed me...sinus infection all last week and just started the antibiotics thursday...excuses...excuses).

Anyway, here I am Monday morning checking the final snowfall amounts and i see this shot of a skier at Alpine Meadows on Saturday!

For now on if i see a report of 2-5" I'm heading up to the mountains! I was victim of the "good weather where i am there can't be great skiing" misconception. That is a rookie mistake that i'll chalk up to being new to the area....i won't let it happen again.

Hats and Gingerbread House

2006-12-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Nana sent a pair of hats home with me after Thanksgiving. She made one for Kristina and me...they're actually great hats!

I was really busy building a Gingerbread house today. Here is Kristina taking credit for my handy work (just kidding she is the home builder). We bought some stockings the other night complete with the elmers glue and glitter. We won't be around for xmas so the stockings and xmas cards are the extent of our holiday decorations....and now the gingerbread house.

1st Turns as a Nevadan..and musical bikes.

2006-12-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Not only was today the first day of turns out west since becoming a Nevadan, but it was also the first time i've had a pass to a western resort, the first time i've left work to ski for an hour at lunch, and the first time i've skied in such horrible conditions!

I decided to drive up and get my pass since a couple of storms are supposed to roll in this weekend. I want to avoid the weekend rush if we do get dumped on. While i was there i took 5 runs on the only chair and trail they have open. This run was about half of Sunday River's South Ridge, and the lift was half the speed (at least). Needless to say it wasn't too exciting. I hit the jumps a few times, made as many tele turns as humanly possible and headed back to work.

Looks like the snow should start piling up out here just in time. Gary was going to ship the new skis out today!

Not sure if anyone has come across this yet but it's pretty cool.
Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" performed entirely on bicycle parts.

First weekend of December

2006-12-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

Kristina and i met some friends last night and went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra. It was interesting. There were parts that were good, and then there was the narrator. I was pretty much sick of hearing this guy tell his story after the second time he came out. There was just something about his tone and the way he told the story that really made me want him to stop. It wasn't the content of the story he was telling, just his tone and presentation. Luckily his part was done in the first half of the show. It did get better in the second half if for no other reason than the narrator was gone. It was fun to be out with friends but i think i'll pass on the show next year.

Still no skiing worth heading up the mountain for so decided to go riding. Kristina spent the entire day getting ready for her big tests next week which will pretty much wrap up the major testing for her first semester. So while she studied all day i took out the road bike for a nice long ride.

I haven't been on the road bike in a while and Greg was planning on getting out for around 50 miles so i decided to join him. I have never been on this particular ride so it was nice to learn another road ride other then the out and back to Verdi which gets old quick and is only 25 miles at best. After the ride on the way back in i decided to throw the Verdi loop in to get a little more time in the saddle...just what i needed....sure feeling it now. Glad to get in a good ride with some good people but still waiting on the snow.

Came across another Rodney Mullen video that once again blows my mind. It really is incredible what this guy can do on a skateboard.....enjoy.

First Turns of the season: 40,000+ Vert

2006-11-27T10:26:00.001-08:00

So i move out west to snow country and end up getting my first turns of the year back east....go figure. Daren and i decided the two top to bottom trails at Sunday River would be enough to entertain us for the day so we hit the slopes early Friday morning. The trail reports had a count of 7 runs....that's two top to bottom runs with 7 names.

Conditions were not bad considering they just opened, crowds were. There were no lift lines but heads up on the way down! We ended up skiing 29 runs on those 2 trails! We kept it interesting somehow and managed to turn the legs to rubber. It got to the point that turns got sloppy so speed became the easiest way down!

All in all a great day again ripping it up with Daren. Hopefully we'll ski again this winter.

According to the Sunday River website Barker mountain has 1400' of vert. 29 runs at 1400' put us at 40,600' of vertical for the day....not bad for the first day out!

What's the date?

2006-11-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

November 19. There should be snow blanketing the mountains and the skis should be freshly tuned. Well, yesterday i was biking in mid 60 degree weather up in Truckee and today i did a great ride, wearing only shorts and a liteweight shirt, in Galena near Mt.Rose. It's nice to be biking still and the trails are in superb condition but i am ready for some snow like they're getting up at Mt.Baker.

It looks like the conditions back east aren't looking too much better. I can't remember the last time Sunday River hadn't opened for Turkey Day....could this be the year?

It's back east for me this Wednesday for the first time since leaving in July and i'm hoping to pick up my new boards from Gary and test them out at the River......hope they can blow enough snow in the next few days.

MotoLite Spotted in Moab

2006-11-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well, a bunch of the guys out here headed down to Moab last week for a few days. I've already put it on my calendar for next year (you should too (thursday thru sunday of halloween weekend)). This group really reminds me of the solid group of riders back home. I had sold the motolite to one of the guys a few days before they left and was glad to see this shot of the bike in action.

Brings back memories of Mt.Snow and getting laid out trying to jump the fire! Of course after a few pops we've all done our share antics. This next shot really shows how much this guy is enjoying the new ride. That's one way to save weight!

Few Shots of RacerX

2006-10-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

~ 25 lbs as shown above

These will take over a pound off!

Crossmax SL with Stan's aluminum rotors, titanium hardware,

Stan's rim strips, non-ust Larsen TTs.

Messed up flash but it looks cool.

New Bike = No Posts

2006-10-30T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well the new Racer X arrived and i've been busy feeling it out. Overall thoughts are this bike is crazy fast! Climbs extremely well with the RP23 and locked out Reba World Cup. The Marta SLs are awesome brakes, absolutely no change in feel over a 14 miles descent of Dirty Harry's last week (after the 10 mile 4000' climb!)

On the descents i could tell the steeper headtube angle was making the handling a little more responsive, but also the feedback from the wheel being knocked around was amplified ( a bit twitchy at first). Once i settled in i realized that you could really rail through the corners. More of my weight is over the front tire on this bike compared to the ML and once you figure it out you can just press into the corners and carve right through them. Last ride out i wasn't feeling it on the descents and the fork felt like it was diving on the corners a bit ? I need to check the air pressure to be sure nothing has changed. It could be the fork is breaking in a bit.

Looks like this will be quite the machine for racing this upcoming season. Maybe a good transrockies bike! Registration opens Wednesday....anyone...anyone?

First Tracks Back East

2006-10-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

We got a dusting of snow here last night up on the hills behind the house, but i haven't heard of anyone skiing.....except one. Came across this guy on the Sunday River forum. Check out the freshies he's getting at Bolton Valley!

Swapping the Moto for a RacerX

2006-10-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

I decided to go for the more race oriented RacerX and was able to find a nice 2006 complete bike. This thing is decked out and should come in around 22-23 lbs. I found a buyer for the motolite so the upgrade cost is minimal. I think this will be a better ride for the tame terrain that makes up 90% of the riding out here. Even the really technical stuff is small enough that a 4" travel light bike and someone who knows how to ride is sufficient. Total different story if you were a newbie and holding on for life on the descents.

Frame: 2006 Titus RacerX 100, medium , black ano
Rear Shock: Fox RP23
Fork: 2006 ock Shox Reba World Cup
Headset: Chris King - red
Stem: Specialized 3D 100mm 6deg (will swap w/thomson on motolite)
Bar: Easton Monkey Lite XC - 25.4 x 25"
Grips: ODI Rogue Lock-ons w/Hope Grip Doctors
Post: Thomson Masterpiece - silver - 30.9 x 350mm
Saddle: Fizik Gobi
Shifters: SRAM X.O Triggers
Rear Der: SRAM X.O - med cage
Front Der: XTR M960
Crankset/BB: XT (will swap w/FSA carbon cranks on motolite)
Chain: SRAM PC-990
Cassette: SRAM 9.0 - 11-32
Brakeset: Magura Marta SL (keep or swap with mono minis on motolite?)
Wheelset: Chris King ISO, DT XR4.1d w/Maxxis rim strips (swap w/wheels on motolite)
QR: Hope - red
Tires: Maxxis Crossmark eXception 2.1 (swap for LarsenTT)

Xterra photos

2006-10-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Got a bunch of shots from the Xterra event emailed to me today.....how do you like my light blue spandex : )

Even though there were not one, but two, one legged swimmers that beat me out of the water i was still feeling a little dizzy on the run over to T1.

Glad to be on the Flume trail after the Tunnel Creek Rd. climb.

About 1/4 mile into the run....wondering if my legs and lungs will get into the new rhythm.

1st Triathlon Completed

2006-10-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Xterra Nevada held in Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.
This would be my first triathlon and i was definately not ready for the swim...and it showed.
The weather was a balmy 50F as we rolled into the village green around 7:30am. My race would go off at 9:00 and Kristina was doing the 10K scramble at 10:00.

I setup my gear in the transition area, got my numbers marked on me and headed down to the water. There was about a 1/4 mile run from the swim to the transition area over small rocks so i followed the lead of others and left some sandles on the beach to slip on for the run back to T1. I got a look at the swim course and it didn't look too bad. The real problem came when i found out all 267 of us would start at once! All of a sudden i'm dead center, third row from the waters edge and the cannon goes off. I start running, dive in, start my crawl and i am immediately swimming on people and getting clobbered. The surface of the lake turned from a calm glass to boiling water in seconds. I was getting nowhere in this chaos and drinking more tahoe water than i cared too. I stopped, waited for the lunatics to get by and then went on swimming at my own pace. I was about halfway done (utilizing the super fast breast and side strokes) and could see the fast guys getting out of the water. By the time i got out, some 23:30 later, there were about 200 people ahead of me!

T1 went smooth and i was on the bike and ready for my part of the race. The first mile was on pavement before hitting the 4 mile, 1600ft sandy climb up to the Flume trail. I passed about 25 people on the pavement and then hit the log jam on the sandy climb. There was one really nice line in the sand for the first mile which everyone was on and going a lot slower than i wanted to. I finally decided it was worth the extra effort to pass in the crud and i took off. I continued to pick off rider after rider on the climb to the flume and was picking off riders on the flume until i the bladder demanded i stop. I did try to do the on the bike move but couldn't pull it off. Finally i stop to pee, four guys pass, and i'm back on again. I quickly take back the 4 who passed and 4 more by the end of the flume. When i hit the top of the final 1400ft climb i realize even with the pee break i've managed to beat my fastest time to Marlett Peak. It was pretty much all downhill from here and i really let it rip...yelling at people on the 35+mph sandy downhill.

When i rolled into T2 i was surprised to see the time was at 2:27 and the bike racks were almost completely empty. I was off on the run and fighting the breathing for a bit before settling into my run. The course winded it's way through the woods, over logs, and over some paved stretches. I got passed by one guy on the run and managed to overtake another so i guess i was pretty much even.

As it turns out i managed to pass about 175 peaple on the bike!
If i can improve my swim a bit, and not drink so much water, i stand a chance to place top 5 next year.

I finished within my 3:00 goal at a time of 2:51:06.
26th/267 place overall, 9th/53 in my age group.

Kristina's race went even better, taking 1st place in her age group and 4th overall. Considering she hasn't been running nearly as much these days it was pretty impressive.

The event was the most organized i'd ever seen. Plenty of food/drinks, and without the use of chips for timing they still had printouts of your results withing a couple of minutes of crossing the finish line. I'll definately be doing this race next season.

Frankenlifted Liberty CRD

2006-09-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

That time of year again....

2006-09-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

The fall is always an interesting time of year for those of us that have a passion for both cycling and skiing. It’s the time of year when you’re biking is dialed in from all the hours you’ve logged in over the spring and summer, and although you know the amount of riding will soon start to fade, the approaching ski season makes it all ok. There is an overlap when your still riding a lot, but you need to get back in the swing of the new sport, the new gear, and recall what last years setup was and decide if it is what will work this year.

The mind is running wild…need to tune skis, will the skins fit the new boards, oh crap I forgot to charge my light for the night ride, better go through the ski gear, where will I get my pass (http://skiingmag.com/skiing/content/pdfs/mtrose.pdf ), better rethink the biking attire…it’s cold!

What better way to welcome the fall than an epic day back east over Thanksgiving……that’s right the 2nd Annual White Fuel Ride! (formerly know as the double kahuna)

I’m really hoping we can get this ride organized. Andy, Jeff and I did this last year on the day before Turkey day in 20 degree temps, frozen brakes, frozen derailleurs, and oh yeah...a small fire!

This year I’m not flying in until Thursday morning, and I’m out Saturday afternoon. This leaves Friday for 10 hours of abuse!
Oh yeah, and this year I’ll bring my own bike!
Thanks for the loner last year Andy but I’d rather have brakes and gears : )

Lifted Jeep

2006-09-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Got a great deal on a set of Rubicon wheels off an '06 that i couldn't pass on so i slapped them on the liberty. I was getting a little rub so decided to go with the Frankenlift from www.boulderbars.com.

The front was a PITA! The general process wasn't too bad, remove the strut assembly, remove strut, re-assemble with new strut and spacers. Sounds easy except when you go to reinstall this now 3" longer strut assembly. That lower bolt doesn't quite line up like it used to. I ended up using two tie-downs and one big pry bar to get the lower piece to line up. The second side went smoother after figuring out the technique on the drivers side.

The rears were a no brainer...remove the springs and shocks and replace with new.

All in all a much better ride (the stock suspension was horrible) and more clearance.

Bad Ass Skis

2006-09-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

I heard comments from Daren about the Stockli lineup last year and got wind that Gary would be getting two pairs of the StormRider DPs into the shop.

I pulled my skis out of the pod where they have been in storage last night, getting ready to mount the pod onto the jeep, and noticed how thin my quiver has become. I'm down to one pair of useable skis (Kharmas) and one pair of ancient Dynastars.
(This is the best excuse i can come up with to justify buying a pair...the real reason is i don't want Daren and Gary having all the fun on these bad boys by themselves)

Since i'm now living in snow country and the worst days will still be better than what i'm used to i gave Gary a call and told him to add one more pair to the order, with 7TM Powers, mount'm and ship'm!

Tahoe Punisher Ride

2006-09-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Punisher...That's what they call Saturday's ride and for some it lived up to it's name. I have been lurking on the NORCAL forum on MTBR and there were a bunch of people getting together this Saturday for the "Punisher" which sounded like a great ride so i decided i'd join them.

I won't go into to much detail since one of the guys on the ride, Steve, usually does decent write-ups on MTBR and he has started one here http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=228276.
There ended up being an ENORMOUS group (20+). Amazingly we managed to keep a fairly steady pace. Myself and one other guy were off the front the entire time and spent a lot of time riding hard and waiting every hour or so.

The day started out at the end of Toads ride were we would shuttle over to Heavenly. When i got there at 8:00AM it was a chilly 23F! Brought back memories of last years "White Fuel Ride" (ask Andy or Jeff for info on that one)! At 9:00 when we hit the trail it had warmed to 33F.

The ride was at a very, very leisurely pace.....7 hours! I think i could go back and complete it in 3 to 3.5, but it was a lot of fun.

No riding today, i was back in the pool pretending to swim!

Damn Toe!

2006-09-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well i've signed up for Xterra and now have three weeks left to train. As if only having three weeks to learn how to efficiently swim isn't bad enough i messed up my toe and had to get part of the nail yanked off! I had this done Monday and the doctor sais give it a couple of weeks before any strenuous activity.

I gave it two days and went for a ride on Wednesday. It felt ok climbing, not so good on the really bumpy decents, but better than sitting at home. The real issue is that i can't swim for at least another week until the wound is all closed up...don't want some flesh eating disease from the pool getting in there. I guess i'll focus on riding this weekend and get as much climbing in as possible...maybe re-ride the Xterra course.

On a different note the last two days have been the cloudiest i've seen since arriving here in Reno. The view of the Sierras on the way into work this morning got me thinking. All summer if the weather was nice here it was the same only a bit cooler in the mountains. This doesn't seem to be the case as Fall and Winter approach. There is a huge thick bank of dark clouds that just stretches to the east of the peaks and then it begins to break up and spreads out over the valley above Reno. This must be what it's like in the winter when the big dumps are hitting the mountains. Time to start watching the mountain weather. Last year on Oct. 23 people were skiing knee deep at Kirkwood!

Reno

2006-09-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

It seems like every weekend since we've been here there is some sort of festivity going on. It's not like Boston didn't have all sorts of stuff happening, it's just that with such a big city and so much going on it never was a big deal. Here it is a small city and when they have some sort of entertainment it seems to be out of the ordinary and attracts everyone.

Examples:
White Water Kayak Competition (held at the white water park downtown)
Hot August Nights Car show (week long, over 20,000 cars this year!)
Weekly Thursday night farmer's market w/bands and beer in downtown Sparks
The Rib Fest (which is four days long and had about 100 different rib joints)

And this weekend we got up at 4:50am on Saturday to attend the Glow Show at the Reno Balloon races!??? And to my surprise, once again, this event was packed!

New Parts...Great tires

2006-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, got out and tested the new goods last night. Ordered up a new set of wheels and decided to try out another UST tire. As you can see i'm running low on wheels and tires!

The wheels are 819s on what else...king hubs. The tires were the big surprise, the Larsen TTs were amazing. I pulled them out of the box and wasn't impressed with the shallow tread and feared the performance in the loose sand would be horrible....quite the contrary. These tires hook up! Much more confident and much faster in the tight loose switch back turns coming down into Evans canyon. Way better than the Kenda Nevegal which i thought was great, and these weigh quite a bit less. The big question is how well will they hold up.

Xterra??

2006-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Started checking out this Xterra race that's coming out to Tahoe at the end of the month and figured i might give it a try. The run is only 5K which seems reasonable, the bike is 30K on terrain i am familiar with and should be able to do well on, and the swim a mere 750m (sounds easy...right?).

I hit the local pool last night to get an idea how long this swim would take me. Lets just say i better be REALLY fast on the bike. It's amazing how bad i am in the water. I can swim....not fast, not pretty, and certainly not efficient. I have no doubt i can make it the 750m but if i did it tomorrow i'd be doggy paddling, side stroaking, and providing entertainment for the spectators.

Feeling completely discouraged last night i decided maybe this isn't a good idea. Today i went to the Eclipse Running to poke around and see how much it would be to rent a wetsuit if i did decide to move forward and attempt the race. The guy at the shop was great and had me reconsidering signing up, telling me i won't be the only one doggy paddling like a fool!

I'll hit the pool again tomorrow and see how i feel. Tonight it's time to test out the new bike parts!

Todays Ride

2006-09-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Did a nice solo ride today up on the Tahoe Rim Trail.
Tried to see how fast i could do this fast flowing single track.
32+ miles 3100' climbing 3:20.

Mt.Rose Meadows (start of ride)

Tahoe Rim Trail down to Tunnel Creek and up to Marlette Peak

Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe from Marlette Peak

Flume Trail

Tahoe from Flume Trail

White Water Rafting

2006-09-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Kristina and I spent Saturday rafting the middle fork of the American river. It was a great day, and a good break from the books for her. We met up with Tributary white water tours at 8:30 and headed to the put in. The drives to the put in and from the take out were just as exciting as the rafting. The roads to the bottom of the canyon are super narrow, no guard rail, and a LONG way down!

This trip starts out almost right away with a class 3 and then there are a bunch of back to back class 4 rapids in the first 5 miles. The river mellows out for about 7 miles where we stopped for lunch and then you are right back into it for another 6 miles of fun!

These shots are from the first major rapid you hit...the infamous Tunnel Chute. You first have to punch through a big wave in the Last Chance rapids and then hopefully you're lined up for the entrance into Tunnel Chute. After that the guide yells "hold on" and believe me you do! Kristina and i lucked out and were the only two on the boat. This made things a little interesting since the boat was a lot lighter than normal.

Good Beer?

2006-08-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Good riding found, still searching for good beer:

There are three brew pubs with good beer however not one sells growlers or sixpacks. Monday i really wanted a good IPA something really hoppy. I had my mind set on either a Stone or preferably a Dogfishhead (60,90, 120 any would do).

That evening the search began. I called Trader Joe's, Wild Oats, Booze Barn, all the large beer and wine locations and it turns out nobody brings Stone or Dogfish into Nevada!

So, admitting defeat i was browsing the selection in Wild Oats and found a promising selection. The Pyramid ThunderHead IPA and the Rogue Brutal Bitter. The funny thing was they only had four bottles of the Pyramid??? I can't even get a six pack! I left with 4 Pyramids and a 22oz. Rogue.

If you've gotten this far reading this please send a six pack of Dogfish my way.

Hills

2006-08-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well since Kristina is in full blown study mode i've been spending a lot of time with the bikes. Got out on the road bike Tuesday for the Reno Wheelman's club championship road race and on Friday with Kristina for a ride out to Verdi. Tuesdays course is one that hurts me. It's got a little hill at 4 miles in and then a wall at 7. Tuesday being the club championships (winner gets free entry to races next year) the competition was tough. The attacks went early on the first rise and i hung with the group, not so for the next one. Not sure where i finished. Probably just in/out of top ten. Painful race....24 miles at 22.6AVG with about 1500' of climbing.

Took the Titus out Thursday to the local trails in Evans and Keystone canyons. Met up with a guy, Pete, that is pretty involved with the XC race series here. He's also working with the park dept. and creating trails maps with aerial photos of the area to be posted at trail heads. He took me on what they call the Peavine Challenge race course. It's a 13 mile loop witha bunch of climbing. He was meeting some people on Saturday to ride Mr.Toads Wild Ride so i joined them for that ride too.

Mr.Toads was great. There were 7 of us and most were very strong riders. Two of them, Kenny and Zeph, were pro level XC racers. Zeph apparently was an ex womans pro DH racer and is now 12th overall in the womans pro XC series. That explains why she was bombing on the decent on her hardtail! 9.5 mile 3000' climb leads you to a super technical top section of trail that would make any Lynn Woods rider proud. The bottom is super fast flowing single track.

Today was a solo ride out in Soda Springs up a trail called hole in the ground. Again, same scenario, about 9 miles, 2000' up and then some great technical single track for 10 miles back to the car.

Finally getting used to the climbing and actually look forward to it now. The riding here gives me a whole new style of riding that i'm really starting to enjoy.

Where did I get all this bike stuff?

2006-08-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've been in the process of consolidating my bikes and biking gear over the last few weeks. There were six bikes in the garage last week...I can't possibly ride/maintain all of them. Not only are there a lot of bikes, but you should see all the parts I have accumulated!

Who wants some old XT cantis? You'd prefer Maguras? I've got about 4 sets, 5 levers, 20 feet of hose, and every part you need to rebuild them...of course I'm not using maguras! How about some tires, I counted 20 and that's after I got rid of the ones that have been around for a while. Need a seat? I'm still working my way through the pile of Bontrager saddles I bought 8 years ago. How about the mystery parts...screws, pieces of metal, bushings all were worth saving at some point in time.....and I can't throw them out until I remember why it was so important to save them.

I've made some progress in my effort to thin out the bike inventory. The Goat and the Redline were sold in the last week. I'm left with the IronHorse SGS, the new Titus, my S-Works road bike, and Kristina's S-Works. Getting rid of some of these parts is a whole different story.

Test Ride Complete

2006-08-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sky Tavern XC Race:
18-19 miles 3000+ feet climbing 1:51

Well, got the bike in Friday afternoon and spent Friday night taking it apart, inspecting, and reassembling. Everything on it looks brand new. I swapped out the stem for a shorter one and put some new Kenda skins on for the maiden voyage. I was only able to squeeze in about 10 mins on the bike before we were meeting people for dinner so i certainly didn't get a good feel for it yesterday....besides i'd have an entire race to feel it out!

Warm up:
Got to the the start with about an hour to kill. The race is held at Sky Tavern ski area outsided of Reno at a base elevation of 7600 feet. This should make it interesting : )

I registered and setout to warm up on the climb which we'd be going up three times. The climb starts on pavement for about a half mile then turns onto a steep fire road for 1.4 miles. At the top you enter some single track where there is another 0.5 mile of climbing but not nearly as hard as the fire road ascent.

The bike fealt excellent climbing and descending. About 3/4 of the way up the fire road was a short steep loose section that was a bear to get up even in the granny. I decided my plan would be to ride until i started to slip and then run up the rest...this worked out well.

Lap 1:
Back at the start i was warmed up and ready. One small issue.....i'm talking to another guy in the race and we notice none of our field is around ???? Yeah, they left already! I hit it fast and stomp the pavement climb out. As i turn onto the fire road i see them. They had about a half mile on us! This was not how i wanted to start the race. My plan was to hang with the group on the climb and pass people up top. Now i'm picking off rider left and right and really pushing myself hard. I can't see the entire field until one long straight when i spot a guy way off the front. I'm not sure if he's the leader but he's now my target. My mission was to pass everyone except him on the climb and take him in the single track.

I passed the last rider as we crested the fire road and entered the single track feeling completely dizzy. I was definatlely at my threshold. I finished the climbing section and had my target in site. but was in no shape to pass so i tried to maintain the gap while recovering a bit. This all changed when we entered the flowing single track and it was only a matter of time before i let out the "on your right!"

Still not sure if he was the leader or not i decided to push it and see if i could catch anyone on the technical descent. I let'r rip and eventually had three more guys in site. I passed them and was glad to see they were from the expert field. At this point i'm feeling confident i'm in the lead.

Lap 2:
Hit the climb with a pretty good gap after the super fast downhill run. I decide to just pace myself, have a goo, and recover. One of the expert guys passes me on the climb but the next guy in my field is still pretty far back. After entering the single track there is a switch back and i see the 2nd place guy. He must have hammered out the climb! Too close for me...time to really open up the gap. Feeling recovered i BOMB the single track and descent. The expert rider pulled right off the course when he heard me coming! By the time i hit the final climb there is nobody in chase.

Lap 3:
This is it, i've got a good gap so barring any mechanicals i should have it. I tell myself to go easy on the descent (yeah right). CANNONBALL!

Result:
1st Sport 30-39
The next rider in my category was ~7 minutes behind, the next sport guy (all ages) was about 5 minutes back.

Next time i'll do the expert race.

Found the next epic

2006-08-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

In my search for rides in the area i came across this dude in the MTBR forums. 104 miles and 20,000+ feet of Tahoe Rim Trail in a day!
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=218015

I'm hoping to hook up with another group doing half of this ride next Saturday...we'll see how that goes before heading out on the big ride.

The Search Has Ended

2006-08-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well since i'm now in the part of the country where a typical mt.bike ride involves at least several miles (several thousand vertical feet) of climbing, i have been looking for a new ride. I am keeping the Iron Horse SGS for DH and Freeride but want something i could race a bit and also have fun on the trails with. A lot of the trails out here have killer up hills and just as killer descents so you want a nice enough bike to be able to have fun on the way down.

Well, for the last few weeks i have been looking at Blurs and Epics and spending a lot of time picking Andy's brain (thanks Andy). I came across a lot of good deals but nothing that was just right. Then, once again thanks to Andy, i expanded my search to include the Intense Spider and the Titus lineup. This of course would require a larger budget but if the bike was right it would be worth it.

Today my search ended...paypal sent, bike will be here Friday AM!

Excitement in Reno

2006-08-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

The end of last week exposed us to some never before experienced excitement. First off, Kristina had her White Coat Ceremony at UNR on Friday. This caps the week long orientation and marks the beginning of her LONG journey towards becoming a doctor. One of her classmates is also from Alaska and her boyfriend, like me, has moved to Reno with her. It's nice for both of us to know some people to hang out with around here.

Now this is where the real excitement started. As we are leaving UNR we notice a bunch of smoke coming from the direction of our neighborhood. A little brush fire is fairly common out here but this was looking like something a bit larger. As we got closer to the house it seemed like the sky was getting darker.

We got home and turned on the news to find that there was a fire that had started in Verdi (8-10 miles west of us) and was spreading towards Peavine Mountain (behind us). As the smell of smoke filled the house we decided to take a drive up the hill to check out the action. The entire hillside was on fire!
It wasn't until Saturday morning when we were driving Kristina's mom to the airport that we realized just how much had been burning.

This shot shows how much area the fire covered. These mountains should all be tan in color...not black! The fire started on the far left in Verdi and the high winds out of the west pushed it onto Peavine Mountain just up behind our house.
The area was still smoking Sunday after we returned from an overnight hike in Desolation Wilderness. You see these fires on TV all the time but being this close to one is a whole different experience.

Saturday after dropping Kristina's mom off we headed down to South Tahoe to do an overnight hike. We parked our car at Eagle Falls and hitch hiked up to a trailhead at Meeks Bay. Surprisingly we were picked up in only a few minutes and were on the trail at 2:00.

The hike involved going up about 8.5 miles to Rubicon Lake, camping overnight and then continuing another 9 miles in the morning over Phipps Pass to Velma Lake and back down to the car at Eagle Falls. We got a chance to test out some new gear on the trip which is always fun.

The MSR Fusion 2 3/4 season tent was really nice for this time of year. We left the fly at home since rain is very rare up here. We also fired up the Jetboil PCS stoves which lived up to their reputation and had water boiling in about 2 minutes.

With all the expensive gear i have i managed to bring my sleeping bag my mom gave me when i was about 10 yrs old! Also, making sure i was prepared, I only brought two lightweight longsleeve patagonia shirts for "warmth". Well at 8000' lets just say i wasn't hot!

It was back to work Monday for me on Monday and the first day of school for Kristina!

I'm Now A Nevadan

2006-08-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well I've decided to join the bloggers and broadcast my thoughts and activities to those who wish to read. Since I've just moved out to Nevada from Boston this will be a good way to keep in contact and let everyone know what I've been up to. So here it is my first blog post.

I started work on my birthday, heck of a gift, Monday 7/31 after 6 weeks off. I am working at IGT in Reno as an electrical engineer working in the hardware design department. IGT, being in Reno, makes slot machines. They are a great company to work for and really hooked me up as far as relocating (moving everything including our cars and providing a nice $ incentive).

Kristina was visiting her grandparents in Montana this week so I've been here by myself all week. Sort of weird since I don't know anyone but i've managed to stay busy with work, biking, running etc.

Before Kristina and I came here I met up with her in Alaska for about two weeks. This was the first time I've been to Alaska in the summer and i was excited to experience the never ending days.

The first of our activities was the Fireweed 400 bike race. We did the 100 miler and I got completely beat! Two water bottles with no drink mix = cramps...bad cramps! At the turn around (5o miles in under 2 hours) I was feeling ok but started to get a twitch in the quads every once in a while. At 62 miles I was sitting in the front 5 wheels and an attack went. I tried to react but the quads tightened up so bad it felt like my leg was going to snap. I backed off and never could recover....that was the deepest I've been into my pain cave in a LONG time. The support at mile 75 and the electrolyte pills from another rider gave me the needed fuel to finish but it sure did hurt. I'll be back to redeem myself next year!

Following the pain fest we (Kristina, her dad, sister Erika, and her boyfriend Tyler) headed out for 4 nights/5 days of sea kayaking and camping on Prince Williams Sound.

It was unreal. We drove to Whittier and picked up some rental boats and were shuttled out to a drop off outside of Derekson Bay. We immediately jumped into the boats and went exploring back into the bay where we got to see the Nellie Juan glacier. I've never seen a tidewater glacier in person and this is definitely the way to see one.

On the way out of the bay the tide was going out and the narrow channel made for some swift current. My lack of experience in the boat showed as the current forced me to side swipe an iceberg trying to navigate my way out of the channel....not the place to be swimming! Luckily I leaned into it and managed to keep the boat upright.

It was raining off and on during the day, stopping in the evening long enough for us to cook a nice dinner and enjoy glacial ice margaritas and smores next to the fire. The next morning it was still pretty wet but nothing major. We packed up camp, put on the rain gear and headed out to explore Graystone Bay.

That afternoon/evening as we were crossing the bay to look for our next campsite the skies cleared up. It remained clear for the next few days until we were picked up on Friday when the skies opened up on our way back into Whittier....pretty good timing.

When we got back from kayaking we did a few day hikes in the area: O'Malley Peak (see picture), Flat Top and Peak Two, and Crow Pass (near Girdwood).

On the last day we took out the latest gotta have piece of gear...pack rafts! These things are great! They pack up as small as a thermarest and then you can hike in somewhere, inflate them and float on out. We ran a mellow section of the Six Mile creek on the Kenai peninsula. I of course couldn't let everyone down and added a little excitement to the trip. After a series of S turns i didn't make the last right hander and smacked into a tree.

This quickly turned into me holding on for dare life as water flipped the raft sideways and was sucking it, with me stuck inside, under. I tried to reach the skirt to release it but it's a long (3-4') section of velcro and with the water pushing on it and my needing both hands to hold the tree to keep from getting sucked under it was not happening. What was making matters worse was that when I tried to reach the skirt the raft began to get sucked under more. After a couple of minutes one of the others came to my rescue, climbing out on the tree and releasing the skirt so I could get out! Nothing like a little excitement!

We left Alaska for our new home in Reno that night and got moved in over the next few days. We did a couple of day hikes around Tahoe trying to adjust to the altitude. We hiked up to Loch Leven Lakes one day, and to the summit of Mt. Tallac the next. Wanting to squeeze in one more adventure before I had to start work and Kristina left for Montana we looked into climbing Mt.Whitney. Unfortunately we couldn't get a permit and there were no cancellations for the week we needed to go. We decided to head to Yosemite instead and hike up Half Dome.

We did a little research online and what we read about it sounded great...especially the cable section on the last pitch! We had read in the guide books to plan 10-12hrs round trip for the 17 mile hike. Our plan was to get up around 5:00am and be on the trail by 6:00am to try to beat the crowds. This worked out great as we made great time on the way up via the John Muir trail. We came across several deer when we entered little Yosemite valley including a nursing fawn! Later in the day on the way down the steady traffic heading up surely prevented any wildlife from wondering around.

We hit the cables (see the little people in the white streak in the photo) in about 3 hours. This is where the fun starts. This is a steep face that they've installed two parallel cables on with the occasional 2X4 to "rest" on. It's not too bad if you don't mind heights and being extremely exposed but it is a no fall zone...you fall, chances are you'll die!

We reached the goal, the so called "Diving Board", on the tip of Half Dome in 3.5 hours. We hung out and ate a quick lunch, took a few photos and headed back to the valley, 3000' below. We took the Mist Trail on the way down and again made great time, returning to the trailhead at 1:30pm. The hike was long, but not very strenuous. We spent the afternoon drinking a few Hefeweizens and swimming in the river.

We returned to Reno the next day and got ready for the real world once again. I'm now on week two of work and feeling out the scene in Reno. I've done some biking, both Mt. and road, and been running a bit. The area around Tahoe has a lot to offer and I plan on taking advantage of that every chance i get.