Old Switz

The wife and kid are out visiting the inlaws, so I've been alone the last few days. Besides work, of course. What have I been up to otherwise? A big heap of nothing mostly. No kid herding, no wife list to tackle. I've been mostly lazy, and it feels great to come home with nothing to do but flip on the tv or surf the web.

Today I made the best of a lazy Saturday morning, sleeping in, and then planning an assault on the Old Switzerland Trail. A bunch of yous have been on the section outlined here, but that is just a small sample of what the route formerly was. Today I hit a little used part on the xcountry skis, the westernly most section tucked up under the continental divide, west of the Peak to Peak Highway. Lots of work, kicking through the soft powder of the last couple of storms. All told, I was out for a bit over 3 hours in 15 degree weather without seeing another soul and it was mighty fine. Finished the day with a juicy t-bone dinner. Good times indeed!

Family vacation is over tomorrow at 6, so I've got most of tomorrow for man time as well. I hope it goes as well as today!

project

putting new steps and a landing on my porch. using 2 stringers. they are three layers of plywood, screwed and glued together. 200 screws and 32oz of glue each. need to finish. not getting mail, currently.

flatland ski

i think this was 2 wks ago. we had great conditions. we need snow now tho. this is the connector from the jamacia to the hiker side.

NE Holiday

Mary, the kids and I just got back from the quintessential winter Nebraska trip. We left CO Friday evening with a fair amount of crappy driving weather and blizzard conditions nipping at our heels. Rolled into Omaha in the wee hours to spend the next couple of days chilling (literally - it was around 20 degrees) at the Chase household. Hanging with the family is pretty good, but I still managed to get a 4 mile dirt road run in to avoid feeling cooped up.

Sunday the 23rd and Christmas Eveday were my personal highlights. Matt and Laura hosted the hoedown on Sunday night.
To say it was great to see Bdiddy and Johnson would be an understatement. I really wish I could've seen Mick, but he failed to appear, as Mike was driving. Tara was in rare form, though :)
Typical basement scene. I think someone said something funny before this was snapped. They were probably talking about the 3 week backcountry trip that Wolfman wants to take. Something about a 3 week long, unsupported trek into the backcountry with nothing but some food and about 5 cases of beer. At the end, it was decided that it would be 3 weeks worth of one night camping trips so we can come back in the day to refuel.


Mary's folks didn't have a working furnace, so we crashed at the casa de Gersib. After a relaxing morning hanging with the kids, we finally made it out pedalling.

Easily, the most technical riding of the day was spent negotiating the crusty bumpy iced over streets of Lincoln. It was like riding icy jeep roads. The snow and ice were easily troughed out over 5" deep in spots. We made it over to Wilderness for an all too brief tour de packed snow. The hikers and skiers had a very nice 18" wide singletrack packed in. The further south we got, the softer and harder to ride in the snow got.

We parted ways with Matt and Laura and made our way to the Aron family Christmas, but that's another blog post worth of material in itself :)

Hope every one had a great Christmas and that Santa delivered everything you guys were wishing for. Heck, I even got a gift card to IHOP. If only I'd have gotten some tank tops, too, but I guess a guy can't get everything!

Merry Christmas and all that,

Hope everyone's unwrapping a great day with family.




And here's to a great '08! I couldn't ask for a better group of buddies!

freshies

earning'em out on Anderson Mountain

 

Money Mark keepin it real

Snow ride saturday

Racing and smiling

Good day at the State Cross Champs! Lot's o' beverages, snow, cold, and cowbell.

saturday and sunday

got the bike ski bike at wilderness.

First day of the season

a perfect day to play hookie.  Carving big turns n snow reminds me of the days of hauling ass through wilderness park.

If I lived here

I'd likely want a small navy of boats: a sea kayak, a canoe, a skiboat, and certainly a few sailboats for good measure.




It's good to be home. Last thing I need is another hobby.

It's that wonderful time ...of the year.

snow....cold...fuckn cold....still smiling on the pugs.

freshies

hiker side south half freshies for me

Hooky!

Elsa and I played hooky Monday and went on a ride (her idea!!) at Buffalo Creek. It was a perfectly warm, sunny day and we practically had the place to ourselves. This was the first ride we've done together this season. Elsa rode well for not having many miles on her legs this year. We dropped down Shinglemill from 550 road, climbed Baldy trail, then descended Gashouse back to 550 road. Man, I love this trail system...

Sweet sweet singletrack

I can't seem to ever get enough of sweet tasty singletrack. Especially with a nice view tossed in the mix.

Against the advice of friends

At the last minute I bailed on taking the Jeep to Fruita. The hitch was stuck in the reciever and I wanted to use the rear rack for the trip. I tried several things to get it out, and even when resorting to a hammer the damn thing wouldn't come out. Anyway, universal opinion said: Don't try to pull it out.

You were all wrong.

Hitching post + tow strap + hitch + 225 Ft-pound of torque and it pulled right out.

Props to my homies, yo!

1. Butch has a sweet picture of mw in the new Dirtrag. I was pawing through as soon as I grabbed it out of the mailbox this afternoon.

2. Bdiddy, I found you in your bike room wearing latex gloves a few years ago, and you told me I'd understand once I had a kid running around. Yep, now I understand, and it's a sweet trick for keeping my hands clean.

They rode Murray bikes...sorta like this one...

Yeah, yeah, what a great weekend in Fruita! Some of my photos are here.

Dumpster Hinge

Another fall trip in the books.

The JD Trike

It is a 1976 Sear's Free Spirit redone in NOS John Deere paint. I think the front end is off a moped. It is nice and squishy with a sweet drum brake. The rear has a 3-speed shimano. It's a dandy grocery getter.

Good Fun

Pub Crawl 2007

The John Deere trike with 300 watts/45 lbs of pain.

All Smiles on the Pub Crawl

I Can't believe that I actually talked her into this costume idea...

I realized after a tough week of work.,,

One week til Mancation.

Oh how I need this.

Plan D or E?

This weekend we blew through so many plans, I'm still a bit confused about how it all came together. No matter, because after a painful ride on slickrock, a great hike, and a crappy drive over iced over highways, we're all safe at home. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Had this sweet bike in for some new drivetrain parts. Remember the Boulder Starship? Who'd have thunk they were from Lyons! I think the stem is a 140mm.



I took it for a couple of hot laps around the block. It actually wasn't too bad. The rear end wasn't the stiffest thing in the world. Other than that, it felt like a softtail with 3" rather than a 3" full suspension. If that makes sense anyway.

See you in May

After a rough week concluding with a nice headcold and 2 hours in the dentist chair Friday, and a forcast of rain down here and snow in the mountains, the weekend wasn't really looking the best. After getting a few chores done Saturday morning, I loaded up, drove through the rain, and went for what will likely be my last Ned ride of the year. The weather up there was cloudy, chilly, but not wet when I started. After about an hour in the woods, the shunderstorms rolled in with not rain, but snow, and 35 degree temps. I bailed back to the car cold but happy. See you next May, Ned.

On the way to the WP show

Waterton Canyon...

A couple shots from Waterton Canyon Sunday afternoon. Weatherman called for crap conditions...he couldn't have been more wrong...

S-House makes the descent through scrub oak after climbing the first section of CO Trail out of Waterton Canyon...

Climbing back up the CO Trail toward Roxborough State Park...

Next up, Waterton Canyon to Buffalo Creek or Buffalo Creek to Waterton Canyon via CO Trail...can I get a yeahbuddy!

Fall Mancation Part Deux

First weekend in November. Drive out Friday am, ride eat drink sleep repeat til Sunday afternoon. You're invited.

and even more

More Vegas

This is Shawn's impersonation of K-Fed.

Good friends and good times.

fear and loathing

we mostly loathed