Good Bye 2009, Hello 2010!!!

2009 was a mixed bag for me. OK, OK - it kinda had some pretty sucky parts. But I'm the type of person who sees the glass half full and looks forward to the future. Despite some bad juju, 2009 was filled with many good things and I ended the year with a lot of family, fun and fluffy white stuff.

Just a few days after my Grand Targhee Cat Skiing early Christmas gift, Jesper and I packed up the Subaru, made all Santa-like with the Yakima Christmas Box loaded to the gills with gifts. This time Strelka came along for her longest road trip yet - Ohio; never thought that dog would ever set paw in Ohio, but I couldn't bear to board her again and I love to have her around for Christmas. Jesper and I drove the 1,300 miles straight through, opting not to stop in Kansas as tentatively planned. A massive winter storm was on our tails and we were fearful that an overnight rest stop might turn into Christmas in Kansas! We made it to Ohio in good time despite a rimey fog through most of Kansas. Dang - that's a long drive!

We had planned for all of my siblings to be together this Christmas, our first since my Dad died. But my younger brother Jeff was ill and did not make it. It was very disappointing not to have him there, but we decided to make sure each of us enjoyed the holiday regardless. Jesper, Strelka and I stayed with my younger sister Chris and her family (husband Steve, daughter Emma and son Ben). My older brother Vince, his wife Nanako and their two boys (Kyle and Eric) stayed with my older sister Vicki and her family (husband Doug, son Tyler who is grown up and moved out and daughters Tasha and Tara).

On Christmas Eve at Chris' house, we all symbolically donned one of the dozens of silly/trashy/ethnic T-Shirts my Dad had been fond of 'collecting' for a family photo. Jeff even put one on at his apartment in Saint Paul and we included him in the photo in effigy. Digging through the piles and piles of joke T-shirts reminded us all of Dad's raunchy sense of humor!

The family in Dad's T-Shirts with Jeff in effigy (photo cred Steve Webster)

Christmas morning came early in a house with a 9 year old! There were many, many presents for my sister's family and quite a lot for me, Jesper and Strelka. As usual, Jesper spoiled me! The 'best' gift was the warming, washing toilet seat my sister Chris received from her husband. Not only was it a most unusual gift, but my sister was absolutely thrilled that her beloved husband bought her a toilet seat!

Jesper helping Strelka open one of her presents

After a Christmas day run with my younger sister, we cleaned up and headed to our big sister's house. Big is relative. Although she sometimes seemed gigantic to me when I was young, Vicki is 5'2" and svelte. Funny how things change like that. It was good to hang out with the whole family (minus Jeff). My family is loud and fun and I thoroughly enjoy the chaos of our conversations.

Chris and Vicki had a few surprises up their sleeves. First off was a sweet and sentimental slide show Chris put together with some of the photographs my Dad took of us kids growing up. My parents had all five of us within just over 7 years, something I can't even imagine. We all grew up very close and affectionate. We also seem to have grown up half dressed and filthy, based on the pictures! But under the mud and dirt we played in, we were a happy lot. Might have been all the cake we ate - seems like there was always a birthday party for one of us! The slide show also featured numerous pictures of my parents before they started their family. I am very happy my Dad was a bit of a shutterbug.

One of the many cake-filled birthday parties of my childhood, my fourth - I'm in the chair with my back toward the camera (photo cred Victor Kwasniewski)

All five of us with Mom, from l to r in front - Vince, Chris and Vicki; in back - me, Jeff and Mom (photo cred Victor Kwasniewski)

After the slide show, we had our sibling gift exchange. We played the exchange game in a manner that allows and encourages stealing gifts from each other. It was a hoot! Especially funny was the gift I gave, which Jesper chose much to my chagrin. Earlier Christmas morning, I had opened a wonderful gift from Jesper - a kitchen mandolin. I have wanted one of these for years! I also purchased the very same mandolin as my sibling exchange gift. Hey, you often buy gifts you would like to receive yourself! Great - now we had two identical mandolins! Fortunately, my brother-in-law Doug stole the mandolin from Jesper, who ended up with a dutch oven (we needed one!) and the book/DVD "Julie and Julia", which I can't wait to read and watch! I ended up with some ear buds that actually fit my small ears and some body glide - perfect for the training I will be doing to run some long distance races this year.

Vince implementing the Eenie-Meanie-Minie Mo procedure in selecting his sibling gift (photo cred Tasha Carnes)

Box 'o catalogs! (photo cred Tasha Carnes)

Later that evening, Vicki's in-laws and family showed up for a dinner of various kinds of lasagna. Before long, it was time to go back to Chris' house; another Christmas had passed.

The next day, Vince and his family left early to fly to Colorado of all places for a week of skiing (Jesper and I would join them early the next week). I had a nice day visiting with some friends and former colleagues I had not seen in awhile - good to get caught up! On Sunday morning, Jesper and I packed up Rubie the Subie again for the long drive back to Colorado. I must confess, I was completely useless on this drive. Once it began to get dark (not that late this time of winter), I could not keep my eyes open! Jesper, rock star that he is, essentially drove straight through the whole way.

We arrived back at our house at 5:00 am Monday morning and tried to sleep until about 10:00 am; I had more luck than Jesper, whose head was still in DRIVE mode. That day, we did laundry and unpacked from one trip, only to pack again for another one; this time a week of skiing up in Summit County. Jesper and I rented a 2 bedroom, pet-friendly condo with our friends Suze and Patrick through January 4th. We headed up mid-day on Tuesday the 29th of December with plans to ski for four days straight with friends and my brother Vince and his family, who were staying at Copper.

We had a nice NYE dinner in Frisco to ring in the new year. It was wonderful to spend more time with Vince on the slopes and apres ski. I had to laugh when my girlfriend Sue proclaimed him "adorable", but upon reflection, he is pretty adorable; funny, always smiling and self-effacing. Not a bad skier either! I discovered that three days of hard tele skiing is just about right for me. I was completely cooked on day four!

Vince following Jesper down a steep slope

Me coming down under the S Chair (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

NYE dinner - Vince, Nanako, Sue Bushman, Suze Bragg, Patrick Bragg, me and Jesper (from l to r)

On Sunday January 4th, we had a leisurely morning at the condo. Vince and his family had departed the day prior and made it home safely. Jesper and I had only been home 5 out of the previous 23 days; I was ready to be home again too. Good Bye 2009, Hello 2010!

See more pics here!

Cat Skiing the Ghee

In February of 2009, Jesper went to Grand Targhee in Wyoming with his Stick-it-to-the-Little-Man group of skiing buddies. The highlight of his trip was a day of Cat Skiiing the Ghee. Grand Targhee (the Ghee) is located west of Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. They get a shitload of snow - over 500 inches - and the resort is off the beaten path, thus not crowded or skied out. The Cat Skiing operation is the gem of the Ghee.

For the uninitiated, Cat Skiing, or Snowcat Skiing, is like back county skiing without a chair lift and without the strenuous effort of skinning (not that we mind strenuous effort or skinning in particular - we love that stuff). The beauty of Cat Skiing is that you get to do run after run after run of unblemished powder all day long; many more than you could do skinning. The Cat is a special vehicle that rides on snow using tracks kind of like those on a bull dozer. Snow Cats are used for grooming ski runs; modified versions are also used for carrying passengers up to the good stuff. Grand Targhee resort dedicates an entire mountain - 600 acres - exclusively for guided Cat Skiing. No one else can go there and no lifts serve the area, although the resort blasts the area for avalanche control. The guides milk the powder so each group that is taken out is guaranteed fresh POW. Jesper had such an awesome day Cat Skiing with his buddies, he decided then and there he would take me one day.

Fast forward to the end of 2009. As an early Christmas gift, Jesper booked us a four day trip to the Ghee with 2 days of on-mountain skiing and one day of Cat Skiing. What a great present! However, as my Christmas gift trip approached, Jesper began to worry. Despite an early season jump, the Ghee received much less snow from October through early December than normal; they only had about a 4 foot base and much terrain was not open. In fact, the Cat was not running yet, a major disappointment to those folks who booked a day for early season Cat Skiing and a possible problem for us. A friend of ours who lives near Jackson, WY even called us to say we should try to reschedule. Unfortunately, we would only be credited with lodging or on-mountain skiing. Jesper looked at the forecast, which was predicting a massive snow storm right before we were scheduled to arrive. Banking on that forecast, we decided to go for it.

I think Jesper and I may be the luckiest people alive. We drove up through Colorado and then into and and west over Wyoming, with reports that the Ghee was finally getting dumped on. We arrived in a snowstorm that had already brought almost a foot of snow. It then proceeded to snow the entire night, dropping 9 more inches. Come Monday morning, our first day on the mountain at the Ghee, there was almost 2 feet of fresh powder!! We lucked out - the resort opened up the Cat Skiing that day.

We tried really hard our first day skiing to take it easy and save our legs for the next day when we would be Cat Skiing. We were not completely successful - it was just too much fun. It was also impossible to see anything! The entire mountain was engulfed in a cold snowy cloud. It was a complete whiteout up top until about midway down. You could barely see the chair ahead on the lift.

On the Dreamcatcher chair lift in a snowy fog

I could not see Jesper skiing down if he got more than 30 feet away. The fog was so thick, you couldn't tell if you were pointed up or down sometimes, creating a nauseous sensation of vertigo. We have since learned another nick name for the Ghee - Grand Foggy!

Jesper skiing fantastic powder in a whiteout

We skied some great powder, most of which we couldn't see, but the fog probably kept us from overdoing it more than anything else.

The fog dissipated lower on the mountain - Jesper floating through the trees

Me coming down in deep pow!

After a nice dinner in Driggs, ID, we hit the hay early to rest up, hoping the visibility would be improved for our day on the Cat. Jesper and I are lucky people! Tuesday dawned with better weather - perfect weather in fact. The clouds were much higher, well above anywhere we'd be skiing. We could see!

The Cat holds 12 customers, but ours was not fully booked and a couple people didn't show up (we have heard this is highly unusual). It was great only having 8 people, all of whom where good skiers/snow boarders. We were able to do a ton of runs, only limited by the speed of the Cat to come and get us.

Jesper and I posing in front of the Cat

The powder on each run was beyond incredible. As promised, we had freshies each time. The guides take care of everyone and also manage to make each person feel special, all the while keeping track of where to take us to guarantee fresh snow. I don't recall how many runs we did, but we started at 9, took a small snack break and then a short lunch break up in a patroller cabin and then skied until just after 4:00. It was a day I will not forget soon -I've never skied so many runs of pure powder! We didn't take many pictures, preferring to enjoy the experience without the distraction of taking the camera out. Jesper and I made it an early night, tired to the bone in a good way. But neither of us could sleep - we continued to have visions in our heads of skiing down deep, bottomless powder snow.

Jesper in the pow on a Cat run

Wednesday I woke up sore! I didn't realize the night before how hard I had worked the last two days. I guess we skied harder than I recalled through all that fun! Never-the-less, we hit the slopes almost as soon as the lifts opened to give our last day our best shot. Once again, thick clouds had rolled in, settling low on the mountain. We couldn't see shit. Then the temperatures rose and the snow turned to a fine misty rainish sort of thing. Rime began forming on our goggles, a double whammy with the fog! We were so glad we had had good visibility for our Cat Skiing the day before! We skied a couple runs, scrapping the rime off our lenses every few hundred feet, and decided to take an early lunch in hopes the conditions would improve. After lunch, it got a little colder and the rime turned to real snow, but the fog remained. The conditions after the rainy precip were challenging to say the least; a bit of crunch on top of everything. By 2:30, my legs were completely toast and Jesper was dizzy from the whiteout conditions. We decided to stop before we hurt ourselves, knowing that we had gotten plenty of great skiing in.

Jesper and I stayed one more night and then made the long drive home. We were so lucky to have just squeaked in on the start of the Ghee's Cat Skiing season and to have had the only day with any real visibility!

I can still feel the sensation of all that powder under my skis. I can't wait to go Cat Skiing again!

End of Summer

Summer has departed, letting both Autumn and Winter in at the same time. The so called "shoulder seasons" are highly variable here in Boulder. It seems that the Jet Stream bounces up and down high above us, resulting in an alternating weather pattern of warm days and snow storms. We have already had two such snow storms; nestled in between, we had balmy days with warm temps.

I like the variation. The weather forecasters usually know when a change is coming, so you can usually prepare. Although freezing temps followed by warm weather can make for mucky trails, most of our trails dry pretty quick (I do not condone riding muddy trails). Due to the fast-changing weather, you can often get out and do a "summer" sport one day, followed by a "winter" sport the next.

After the first snow storm in October that dropped over a foot of the fluffy stuff (within which we snow shoed and snow hiked), sunshine, wind and warm temps melted the snow away in a couple days and dried out the trails. We put the snow shoes away and got out the mountain bikes again for some fun with good friends from North Carolina who just moved to Colorado. We wore shorts and short sleeves (OK - except for Suze, who didn't realize how much warmer it can get from night to day here!). Nothing beats riding dirt in November wearing summer riding clothes!!

The boyz (Jesper and Patrick) hanging out at the Nelson Loop

Patrick at Hall Ranch on his first mountain bike ride as a Colorado resident!

Suze over dressed a bit.....

... but she clearly still had FUN!

During this warm phase, I ran in shorts and Jesper and I got out on the single speeds. On Thursday, I was able to ride my road bike in 74 degrees, wearing shorts and a short sleeved jersey. The afternoon was sunny and the air, while breezy, felt comforting on my exposed skin. Nothing beats a warm sunny road ride in November!

Crappy iPhone pic of my road ride up Left Hand Canyon

The next day, as predicted by the weather forecasters, everything changed. We awoke Friday morning to clouds; gone were the sunny skies. The temperature dropped steadily during the day. By 3:00 when I was ready for my afternoon run, it was 35 degrees and a full-on snow storm! I ran decked in winter running clothes in a near white out. Nothing beats a trail run in a snow storm! (sorry - no pics!)

The snow kept coming, so Jesper and I decided to head up to the mountains on Saturday to get in our first day of skiing. This is the earliest we have hit the slopes of any season since we moved out here; we are anxious to get in ski shape early so we can maximize an upcoming cat skiing trip to Grand Targhee in mid-December. We knew the snow would not be great, very little terrain would be open and it would get crowded. However, we also knew we would not be skiing yet at our peak, possibly only having the legs for half a day anyway; might as well get our first day over with before the good snow comes!

Copper reported 5 inches of freshie, so that's where we headed. We arrived right about when the lifts were starting up. The snow was surprisingly good and at first, the slopes were not crowded. Other than Jesper's new boots causing him some foot pain, I thought we both skied really well especially for our first day! I had imagined that my legs would be quivering and shaking after a few runs, but they felt solid! We managed to ski until 2:00, when the combination of Jesper's painful feet and the increasing crowds rendered it, in actuality, beer-thirty. Nothing beats a 1554 after a day on the slopes!

Jesper making one of the first turns of the 2009/2010 season!

Jesper looking good!

We opted not to ski again on Sunday, deciding instead to take advantage of the snow to take Strelka out for a snow hike before it all melted. Hoping for some majestic views of the Flatirons, we planned a hike from Eldorado Canyon (South Mesa TH) up the Homestead Trail, across the Shadow Canyon Trail and back down the Mesa Trail. Although we only saw a few other people, the trail had been packed in enough that Gore-tex shoes were adequate. Jesper wanted to play around taking some video, so high mileage was not our goal; I think we only hiked about 3 miles. We started out under low lying clouds and diffuse snow fall - so much for the views - but the clouds began to lift toward the end of our hike. Sometimes the mountains are even more stunning when they are partially obscured by clouds. Nothing beats the beauty of the Rockies cloaked in snow and cloud!

Jesper and Strelka heading up the trail

Jesper is the teeny - tiny figure heading down the trail

The clouds began to lift, but still obscured the Flatirons

Jesper and Strelka on the snowy trail

The clouds dispersed to reveal the Flatirons sprinkled in snow

By the time we hopped in the hot tub Sunday night, the clouds had been replaced by clear skies. Monday morning dawned sunny and bright. According to the weather forecast, we will be back up in the mid 50s by tomorrow. Time to get the bikes out again, and maybe the skis too, this weekend. Nothing beats the variable weather of the Front Range!

BFR4!!!

This past Sunday, September 27th, was the long awaited Redstone Cyclery Big Fall Ride 4. This annual event began four years ago (duh!) and Jesper and I were fortunate enough to make the very first one. We had just moved out to Colorado and found out about the ride through mtbr. The Big Fall Ride (no numbers at that point) was billed as an all day epic ride in the national forest near Lyons. We didn't know a soul going on the ride, but it certainly sounded like our cup of tea! Although the ride organizer, Redstone owner Dave Chase, joked about making the participants use his name in vain before the ride was over, what Dave really likes is for people to be happy and smiling, even when they are tired, hurt, cold and hungry; no complainers! We smiled the whole day, even after I fell off an 8 foot scree field and jacked out my rear brake (had to ride Buchanan Pass with only a front brake)! We became huge fans of Redstone and good friends with Dave Chase.

Since that first ride, we have been on many a Dave's Death March Ride and numerous Tuesday Night Redstone Rides. We have also been regulars on the BFRs, although I ended up missing BFR2 when I lacerated my shin in 2007. For 2008, Dave made BFR3 even longer than the previous years. The weather was cold, with a little rain. Maybe I didn't eat enough (tough to eat when you are too cold to stop), maybe I wasn't in as good of shape as I should have been, I don't know, but BFR3 was hard on me. The ride ended with a climb up Heil and down Picture Rock. Those last 10 miles in 2008 were brutal - I was worn out. I was still smiling, but I was worn out, completely. I've been riding a lot this summer and also running, so I felt I was going into BFR4 in good shape. I was hoping that this year I would have more energy, even though the ride was going to be even longer, with more climbing.

Although the weather forecast for BFR4 was stellar (temps in the 60 and 70s with ZERO chance of rain), fewer riders showed up at the shop for this year's ride. This was probably due to Dave's cautionary disclaimer about the ride:

This is a BIG ASS RIDE. Seriously, it will be hard. Mileage will be 40-50, over 4,000' of climbing and around 7500' of descending. This is not a novice ride. Heck, this isn't really an intermediate/advanced ride either. We'll call this an experts only ride. Be prepared for anything and everything. There are NO BAILOUTS. Well, you can bail, but it means a long, long ride on the road back to anywhere important. If you're in doubt if this ride is for you or not, it probably is not.

After serving the ride up this way, 14 brave souls turned up Sunday morning ready to ride; me and 13 guys, some Redstone regulars and some new faces.

Bikes loaded up and ready for a BIG day! (photo cred Matt Saunders)

We started the ride off Peak-to-Peak Highway, ascending Bunce School Road, a gradual mostly uphill jeep road that served to get us warmed up. After about 5 miles, we arrived at Peaceful Valley, home to some of the best technical trails in the Front Range. That's when the real climbing began. Up, up, up we went on Sourdough, a rocky trail with baby heads galore that weaves through the pine forest.

Me on a bridge on Sourdough (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

We topped out at just shy of 10,000 feet in the meadow at the intersection of Sourdough and South Saint Vrain (SSV).

The group at the high point of the day, taking a food break (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

Me and my honey (photo cred Matt Saunders - with my camera before I broke it!)

After a picturesque lunch break overlooking the Indian peaks and golden aspens, we headed off on SSV. This is one technical trail! We were about 11 miles in and I was feeling really good at this point. I was looking forward to a very technical downhill segment on SSV I had been trying to clean all year; the part that dumps onto the short dirt road section. I had been able to ride all of it, just not all of it at one time. I wasn't even wearing my armor, but I felt in the groove. I hit the section and the bike just flowed under me all the way down. When I got to the bottom I couldn't believe I rolled through that section like it was easy peasey! Maybe all the downhilling has helped me on the super technical descents! Needless to say, I was spaztically excited for quite awhile. That is until I kissed a tree.

Like I mentioned, SSV is one technical trail. I was rocking through droppy, rooty, switchbacky section after section. Then I arrived at tough part and as my front tire went over a rooty, droppy switchback, I went over the bars. Smack dab, teeth first into an aspen. After I figured out that my chompers were intact, I was surprised to hear the back log of guys behind me go, "ooooohhh that doesn't look so good." What didn't look so good?!!?! I couldn't tell! I was then informed that my chin was scratched up a little. Come to think of it, my chin did hurt, as did my arms and my legs (bruises surely to come). Feeling that nothing was hurt too bad, I hopped on my bike and continued all the way down SSV to the trailhead off of Peak-to-Peak Highway. I arrived to see this:

My scraped up chinny-chin-chin (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

It was just a scrape, but it looked rather bass ass, I must say (now it just looks like a scabbed over, oozing goatee). My close encounter with the aspen somewhat dimmed my enthusiasm for aggressively attacking the downhills that day, but I still rode everything, just a tad slower than usual. Worse than my scrapes, bruises and diminished mojo was that I broke my camera : (

After SSV, our group headed across Peak-to-Peak and began climbing again on gravel roads toward Gold Lake. Atop a rocky outcropping overlooking the lake, we dined on lunch number 2 and enjoyed the spectacular views. I recalled that at this spot last year, we were surrounded by black, nasty clouds, but this year it was crystal clear as far as the eye could see. We were about 20 miles in, almost halfway, and I still felt energized and fairly fresh.

Another beautiful place to dine! (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

I knew the remainder of the ride would be predominantly downhill, although there were a couple of climbs toward the end that could suck the life out of me. I vowed to continue eating on a regular basis at every regrouping. We made our way from Gold Lake to Jamestown on some fun trails and jeep roads.

View from the trails near Jamestown (photo cred Matt Saunders)

I hit the ground again a few times and felt like my technical skills were out the window, probably due to too much caution post tree-kissing, but my energy remained high. I ate again in Jamestown while we hung out by the Merc for awhile. Then the group headed down Left Hand Canyon Drive, one of the few sections of the day that we would ride pavement. After a few miles on the road, we tucked onto the Left Hand OHV trails, first on a bluff above the road and then getting in deeper.

We ascended up FR 286, one of the last big climbs of the day, and decided to come down Carnage Canyon. I had never been on this trail, which had recently been closed to motorized vehicles. Since we had just climbed a fair bit and we needed to get back down to Left Hand Canyon Drive, a descent down Carnage Canyon sounded like it had potential to be some ripping fun. NOT! The Forest Service had been out in force with what must have been some honking big machinery. They dug up the entire canyon, rendering it soft and rocky in a decidedly unrideable way, apparently intending for this area to be restored to a creek bed. We pushed our bikes down for almost 2 miles, trying hard not to twist an ankle. We got the message loud and clear from the Forest Service - this is no longer a trail! We won't be back.

Despite the bust that Carnage Canyon was, no one complained. I for one was grateful for the opportunity to stretch out my back and use different muscles for a bit. Carnage Canyon dumped us back on the road, which we took for about 2.5 miles to the entrance to Heil Valley Ranch. We were about 38 miles in, with 10 more still to go, but it felt like we were almost done because we were back on very familiar territory.

This is were I started feeling really wonked last year. Not so this year; my legs still felt remarkably fresh. I ascended up Wapiti at a good clip, passing a couple guys in our group and chit chatting with Dave for awhile. Then Dave pulled away, everyone seemed to find their own pace and I was left to myself. Once the Wapiti climb terminated into the Wild Turkey Trail, I dialed it back a bit. Wild Turkey is super chunky and rocky and after over 40 miles in the tank, in my head I knew I should be just a bit cautious, lest I end up a casualty on the rocks. I focused on riding clean and smooth, and I maintained this tactic when I got on the top, techy part of the Picture Rock Trail. I had so much fun as I ascended in the golden, waning sunlight. Once past the silo and on the swooppy flat part of the trail, I increased the speed again, enjoying the flow of the trail. I arrived back at Dave's shop after being out on the bike for about 9 and a half hours. That's a long day in the saddle, but I finished feeling like I had the energy to keep going for more!

BFR4 ended up being one of the BEST rides ever; impressive among a long list of pretty awesome rides I have done! The group of riders was great; we stuck together well, everyone was super cool and there were no whiners! This was the longest ride for a few of the guys and it was so fun to see them crank it out! We hit some fantastic trails and saw some beautiful scenery. Most importantly, there were no serious injuries (my face plant aside), somewhat amazing considering the technical nature of some of the trails we rode!

Final stats:

• 48 miles of riding
  
• 5,400 feet of climbing and something like 7,000 feet of descending
• Highest point about 9,900 feet
  
• Out there about 9 1/2 hours, in the saddle for about 6 of them
• 3,200 calories burned
• Endless smiles
• Zero complaining!

Thanks Dave - I'll be back for BFR5!

DH Learning Curve

My education in DH skills continued over the long Labor Day Weekend. On Saturday, Jesper and I met up with our friend Dave for a day of fun at Keystone. We love riding with Dave! Jesper and I had talked about trying the smaller Fuzzy Bunny drop feature (I think on TNT or Motorhead). Dave had done Little Fuzzy Bunny for the first time a couple week's prior. I was so stoked for him! His success and encouragement that I could do it made me really, really want to try it, despite being terrified of doing it!

The Bunnies: Allow me to describe these features. They sit side-by-side, about four feet apart from each other, on the top of a steep slope. Here's a pic of some anonymous guy on the approach:

As you can see, the features start as wooden ramps that rise up above the ground. Out of view of the photo, just as the slope of the ground begins to go sharply down, the wooden ramps abruptly end. Little Fuzzy Bunny (the closer one in the pic that the guy is riding) rises to over 3 feet above the ground before its mid-air terminus. Big Fuzzy Bunny continues up almost 3 more feet to over 6 feet in the air. The idea is that you ride up the ramp, getting as much speed as you can, and then sail off the end of it, landing partway down the steep slope. Yeah right.....

The last time at Keystone, I followed Dave all the way to the end of the Little Fuzzy Bunny and FROZE. I couldn't do it; I chickened out. However, after doing the little drop on BeAllUCanBe at Winter Park last week, I was thinking about trying Little Fuzzy Bunny again. Maybe...

As Dave, Jesper and I headed toward the Fuzzy Bunnies, I got it into my head that I would check the feature out once and then ride it, following Dave off the end to make sure I had enough speed. I waited for Dave to go. All of a sudden, Jesper came flying off Little Fuzzy Bunny!!! WTF?!?!? Apparently, he had decided to just GO FOR IT! And he did it! He didn't even have a huge amount of speed, which erased one of my fears - that I would crash because I didn't go fast enough. Bolstered by Jesper's success, I was ready to try it myself, so I asked Dave to lead me off. Maybe...

As we walked back up the trail to ensure we could get enough speed, my heart was racing, my breath was labored. I was scared. I forced myself to slow my breathing. I cleaned my goggles. And then I had nothing else to do but either do it or chicken out (again). I swallowed hard and then told Dave that I was ready. He informed me that he wouldn't go too fast, lest he send me off the ramp with more air than I would be comfortable with. I followed him down the trail, keeping about 25 feet of space between just in case he had trouble (wouldn't want to ride over him if he somehow crashed!!). I got to the end of the ramp, the point at which I had balked the last time, and I didn't hit the brakes. I went off the edge and felt oddly calm as I sailed through the air. The landing felt much more smooth than I was expecting. It was EASY!!! I let out an excited hoot and holler - I had done it!! I rode the Little Fuzzy Bunny 2 more times, each time going faster with better and better form, getting my front wheel higher and landing further down on the transition.

Here I am coming off the lip of Little Fuzzy Bunny. No turning back at this point - I was committed! As you can see, the feature places your body, sitting on your bike, pretty high in the air. You can also see the Big Fuzzy Bunny next to the little one I'm dropping. Amazingly, my crazy Jesper tried the Big Fuzzy Bunny all on his own. I was behind him, getting ready to come down the little one, so I didn't even see it! My guy has some Cajones, although he decided after one run on the Big Bunny that he would stick to the little one until his form was more dialed in, and his form on the Little Bunny got very good, IMO. I for one KNOW my form is not good enough yet for the Big Bunny, so I will stick to the little guy for a while! I'm super proud that Jesper did both the Bunnies! I'm super proud that I did the Little Bunny! Yay for us!

First REAL Crash: After my success on Little Fuzzy Bunny, I had my first real down hill wipe out. I went over the bars on a section of Jam Rock, a very hard double black run. I had made it past what I consider the hardest part of Jam Rock, the big rock roller that dumps you out under the lift, and was going down a steep, rocky section before the TP Tree. I believe the TP Tree is there for those riders who $hit their pants coming down this difficult run.

I don't know what I did wrong, but before I knew it, I was slammed over my bike onto a big rock, which I hit with my face and my right hand. The bars of my bike hit the rock so hard I took a chink out of the rock (and scratched up my brake levers pretty good). Had I not been wearing a full face helmet, I would not have any front teeth; I have a big ding in the mouth guard of my helmet to prove this. I know my body armor prevented me from ripping open or deeply bruising my chest, arms and legs. I walked away with a very sore right hand, which I had bruised, but otherwise no real injuries. The crash ended my day - my hand hurt too much for me to feel confident holding onto the bars - but I am so impressed with and thankful for my armor. Although I only rode half a day, I was completely satisfied having slayed the Bunny!

More Fun and Crashing at Winter Park: On Monday (Labor Day), Jesper and I met up with some friends (Kim, Dan, Carey, Craig and their friends Josh and Jason) for a day of down hilling at Winter Park. It was a great group to ride with. Dan is a very talented rider who can go FAST and get big AIR. Kim is also fantastic and inspires me as to what a good female rider can do. Yes - she has done the Big Fuzzy Bunny! I like following her. Carey is also a really strong rider with awesome technical skills, as is her husband Craig. Craig's enthusiasm for trying stuff sight-unseen was unbelievable. They both rode their AM/FR bikes and absolutely slayed it! Winter Park also slayed them and they both went home with matching, but opposing side abrasions on their bums.

With a large group, we didn't take too many pics that day. Jesper snapped some of us riding the Big Wall Ride. This is the feature Carey wiped out on going FAST. Here I am doing it much better than a couple weeks prior, getting up higher on the wall.

I took a digger on a chunky, chundery fast section. I'm working on going faster on this kind of terrain, letting bike just GO under me (I was very slow at this at first). When I slid out on a loose dusty, rocky curve going fast (for me at least), I was able to bail off the bike without getting injured at all, thanks to riding platforms. I simply jumped away from the bike. Had I been clipped in, I would have gone down hard. The armor probably helped too. That was a confidence building crash!

Ultimately we did six runs, including a final, 2nd run on Trestle, on which I flailed a bit due to being tired and went OTB again. I know, who does Trestle, the DH Race Course, on their sixth run when they are tired?!?!? It is one demanding run, and we had already done it once. Yet again, my armor did it's job when I crashed and I walked away unscathed (as soon as I got my bike off me!). Another confidence building crash.

Two more days of down hilling are under my belt, and there are still three more weekends left this season at Winter Park! I've learned to get AIR, I've learned to let it GO on the chunder and I've learned I can crash hard and come away OK! Like I said, learning new things is FUN!

Learning to Fly!

At the youthful age of 45, summer 2009 has finally been my year to take up Down Hill Mountain Biking! By this I don't mean riding a bike down hill. I do that all the time, sometimes on pretty gnarly terrain. No, I mean the kind of riding where you put on body armor (arms, legs, chest, back) and a full face helmet, take the chair lift up with your heavy Down Hill (DH) bike and then rip down super gnarly trails made especially for such bikes; sometimes riding special elevated rock or wooden features, some of which require you to fly through the air to exit them.

I had wanted to get into this discipline of mountain biking for quite some time; it looked super fun and I felt it would help me bring my riding to another level. My GFs out in AZ gained skills through their DH'ing that I could clearly see in their XC riding. They were faster on the descents and they could ride some super techy sections that I wouldn't even try, and I try a LOT of stuff, even when it's beyond my abilities! I wanted to be able to ride the way they did, and I felt DH would help me.

I held back for a couple reasons. Firstly, I was adventure racing the last couple of years and, out of concern for my teammates who had invested a lot of time and money in racing with me, I didn't want to get injured (not that I ever want to get injured...).

Second was that I didn't have the right kind of bike; a burly bike with the lots of suspension and the right, slack geometry for DH. I even had the specific bike in mind that I wanted - a Transition Syren. I had been lusting over this bike for quite awhile. The Syren is a sweet woman's specific Down Hill-Free Ride bike made by a small, rider owned company. The bike, designed with the input of lots of female riders, has received rave reviews for the 2 or 3 years it's been on the market.

This year, I managed to eliminate both obstacles that had kept me from Down Hilling. I decided not to race purposefully so I could do more things with Jesper and maybe so I could try Down Hilling if I could scrape up enough money to buy a bike. Good quality mountain bikes are expensive and I have a personal rule against buying bikes on credit, so I would need a fair bit of cash in hand to buy a Syren. Finally, in late July, I had the dough so I ordered the bike. She is beautiful (and no one will confuse me on the trail for a guy!)!!

My pretty pink bikey (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

Yay - I had a DH bike! Now I needed to go ride it. My friend Kim graciously took me out for my first day at Keystone and showed me the ropes. I had a BLAST! Once I started getting used to riding with flat pedals, the bike took me over and through stuff I couldn't believe!

There was only one problem now. My honey didn't have a DH bike and he's my all time favorite person to ride with. I wasn't even sure if he was interested in Down Hilling. Nevertheless, I arranged for Jesper to borrow a friend's bike and gear and I dragged Jesper to Keystone with another friend, Dave. Jesper did great - riding with speed that I envy. But I wasn't sure if he LIKED it; he was an uncharacteristically unreadable. I was worried that I would be doing this Down Hill thing without my favorite riding partner.

I needn't have worried! The next Thursday night when I returned home from my weekly Gurlz Ride, there in the garage was a shiny new Boyz DH bike next to my shiny new Gurlz DH bike! Jesper had found a brand new Specialized Demo 7 at a great price. He also picked up a Full Face helmet, some armor and Five Ten shoes. Yay - we were now a DH'ing couple!

Jesper's Demo 7 (photo cred Jepser Kristensen)

We have been up to either Keystone or Winter Park every weekend for the last month, having a BLAST!!! Each time out, we get better and better. We are getting accustomed to not being clipped in. We are learning to trust the bikes on super steep chunky stuff. Jesper started out fast, but I am getting faster on the chunky chunder; switching to braking with my index finger alone, vs. my middle finger alone, oddly enough helped me feel more comfortable with speed, as did getting better tires (thanks Jason!).

We are also learning to get air! Winter Park in particular has several groupings of progressive features - table tops, dirt kickers and wooden ramps - that gradually allow you to get comfortable being in the air. Finally, yesterday at Winter Park after getting more and more air on these progressive features, we did our first hucking drop! It's a brand new feature on BAllYouCanB; a 3+ footer made so it can be rolled, but we drummed up the nerve to launch off it into the air.

Jesper did it first. He was so calm about it, soaring through the air with a perfect landing.

I was so proud of him! But yikes, now I had to do it!! I was very nervous, worried I would screw up the landing and wreck. But I pushed that feeling aside and dropped in. And then I flew through the air and landed just fine! I didn't get as high as Jesper, but I was flying! My second effort was even better.

Look - I'm flying! (photo cred Jesper Kristensen)

I know hucking off something this high is considered easy by many DH riders, but for us, it was a first start to getting comfortable with air. I was stoked for the whole rest of the day. I know we will be going bigger and bigger!

It's so fun learning something new with my honey! We are learning to FLY!

Jesper's Birthday Ride

Jesper's birthday came shortly after we returned from a LONG vacation traveling around Colorado to sample some of the finest mountain bike trails in the world. I kind of feel like his special day got swallowed up by the vacation. Plus, when I went back to look at the pics from that ride, I was blown away by how beautiful it was!!! So, here's a short post to celebrate my honey's 39th birthday ride!

We have adopted a practice my brother Jeff follows - never to work on his birthday. Jesper's actual day fell on a Sunday, so we took Monday, August 10th, off. On Sunday, we chilled and did basically nothing, very unusual for us! Monday we awoke even earlier than we do to go to work and loaded up the car with bikes (the Safire and the Spider). I know, you must be thinking we were nuts to go on yet another mountain bike ride after riding for our entire vacation! I guess we like to ride our bikes!

We headed up I-70 to Copper Ski Resort, which the Colorado Trail snakes across on its way to Kokomo Pass and beyond. Kokomo was our goal as an out-and-back, although we had as an option a loop coming down Kokomo to Camp Hale. I had ridden a portion of this part of the Colorado Trail last year up to Searle Pass and was looking forward to taking it all the way to Kokomo!

Like most Colorado rides, this one started by going up, and up, and up. After about 8 miles of up, we made it to Searle Pass, then rode up and and down above the treeline until we hit the high point of 12,390 feet before Kokomo Pass. Jesper and I both LOVE being above tree line. The tundra is so ruggedly beautiful!

Kokomo Pass was COLD and windy and the clouds were building up, so we passed on the Camp Hale loop and headed back down. What took over three hours to ascend took just over an hour and a half to go down, and that included a 15 minute lunch stop! That downhill was a lot of fun!

After 22 miles and over 5,000 feet of climbing, we ended the day with a beer at the bar we frequent many a day after skiing. It was kinda strange to be there without snow, skiers and all the other wintry things we usually associate Copper Resort with!

Here are some pictures of the ride:

The birthday boy coming out of the forest above tree line

Abundant flowers in August!!!

Muted colors of the tundra and the numbered peaks in the distance

Kokomo Pass (~12,000 feet) was cold and windy!

Jesper taking off on the descent - wheee!!!

More of my pics here! Happy Birthday Sweetie!