Push it

Ran some errands early this evening (hehe) and then picked up a couple new toys for Pugs. Success on attempt numero dos of finding a rack that fits. Even if I don't carry anything more than necessary, winter requires a hell of a lot more gear than summer, and now I've got a rack to lash it all to. Thanks to some help from a couple chicks, Jill on the rack suggestion and install tips and Marni with the extra pair of hands for extreme bending maneuvers, the Pugsley is now outfitted with a rear rack and one that's pretty close to centered. That whole pesky offset rear triangle required some brute force action to center the rack to the tire's centerline but I think I did okay.

Almost ready for the a predawn adventure. Ditched the front brake and swapped my DA 12-27 cassette on for testing. Weight still sits at 35lbs as pictured minus the frame bag and thermos. There are a lot of places to ditch weight still but I'm waiting to see if a new bike will materialize before I invest the time and money to do so. Plus Alaska will probably have to wait until next year so I've got a little more time for testing and tweaking.
Landshark says "let it snow!"

More snow

Snowed a good 6"+ yesterday with more on the way tonight and tomorrow. The snow cave pile is almost ready and my cheeks froze on the way to work so it must have been in the single digits. Last night I made some changes to the Pugs that involved taking the tires off the rims. Glad I practiced that and figured out the secrets or I would have died if it was -50F outside. I'm going to practice a few more times soon just so I can do it as fast as possible.

Seriously I have a good update and pictures in me somewhere. Got a sweet new GPS for Christmas from Marni among other great presents. I'm definitely a lucky boy. Also got a Wii which has been really fun to battle wifey with. I capped off the best 8 days of riding I've had in a long time with a 45 mile ramble on Christmas Eve with Marni as well. Got some rest yesterday and tonight I'll probably go bash around in all this snow on Pugs. Friday night we'll head off to STL for a week to visit my family and then it will be time for Camp Lynda almost. Woohoo!

Merry Christmas to all!

I suck

I have so many fun pictures to post but no time. Perhaps tonight or tomorrow or over the holiday break. Training is going well though and I'm starting to get super excited for 2008. So many things to reveal in a little while.

Marni has a few words and pictures for you in the meantime...

Snow for Snacks

Lots of fun playing in the snow lately. We've had a foot or so fall over the past week and a half I think. The high country finally got hammered so I'm hoping the snowmobilers are out and packing down the trails. Got a few areas in mind for Dave and I to check out soon. If I'm right it will unleash a whole new playground of winter riding within a reasonable distance of the house.

Today was just a nice lunch ride. Fresh tracks almost everywhere and I have more areas I ran out of time to hit. Tomorrow I'm going to try to ride on the beach.
I tried to take cool pictures but I don't know if I was successful so I just posted them all anyway.
20 deg is hot when you're fighting your fatbike up a hill in pedal deep snow! The balaclava got stuffed down my shirt for storage. I want to head out longer soon so I can play with tire pressures. I needed to drop them today but it didn't make sense for such a short ride so I walked a couple short sections instead and had one funny powder crash.

Tonight I spent a good bit of time finalizing the RATM jersey logos with Scott (who has done almost all the work) and Bill, plus I'm now scrambling to finish a quick project with sister for an upcoming venture. I am retiring to bed now with the computer to spend more time with photoshop and an EPS conversion tool. More snow riding tomorrow!

Oh yea, I finally got called for jury duty in January after living here for 8 years. I was wondering when that would happen.

There's a few new blogs in the sidebar and some reformatting as well. Check it out if you're bored.

Holiday Cheer

Marni got us to finally get a Christmas tree this year since we'll be in town over December 25th. I really like real trees though so I did my manly duty and cut off the base and extraneous branches with my hacksaw, put down some plastic and screwed it into the base thingy. Then I procrastinated further action by playing with Cujo. Okay not for long. Then we hung up the lights and ornaments. For never having our own tree, we have quite a large amount of cool ornaments.
Including likenesses of ourselves on bikes. Right on!
And an evil Redwings ornament...
Turbo likes to sleep under the tree on the tree skirt.
Marni does too. Just kidding.
We have a pretty light up angel too.
And a Cardinal that makes noise randomly. Including the middle of the night.
After decorating the tree somehow we started playing with the camera. Doggie extrodinaire.
Wifey extrodinaire.
Me.
Sunday night we went to the Avs vs Blues game because one of my nice coworkers remembered I was from STL and offered us some cheap tickets.
It was the highest scoring hockey game Marni and I have ever been too. Hejduk (Hedge Duck) got a hat trick too.
Yay hockey game!
The Avs won 9-5 and got their 1000th franchise win. 14 goals, crazy stuff.

Yea other than that it's been snowing here a lot. I've been on out on the Pugs. More on that later when I download the next batch of pictures.

Dirt for Dessert, Beach for Brunch

Wifey and I got out for a great ride last night, her first time on Dowdy and we also did almost all of Marshall Mesa. Today I rode the SS (again) out to more of my private little trails at lunch. If you're not riding in the Front Range right now you're missing out big time on crazy nice weather for December, especially after last year. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Muse

I've been heading up along hwy 128 the past couple days to visit my muse. I gaze at Long's Peak almost everyday and I've been here for over 8 years now but it's still one of the coolest mountains around. Yesterday was some of the nastiest sustained winds I've ever fought through. It took twice as long as my record time to reach several checkpoints and I got blown over once. Other than that winter training seems to be going well. I'm happy to be back on the SS, alternating between 36x18 and 40x16. Today the wind seems to have died down so I'm going to go play in the dirt. I read this quote the other day and I think I'm quite fond of it. Perhaps I should strive to achieve it's meaning more often.

What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To the pain

I'm sitting here, well I'm lying down in bed here, where I've been since ~3pm yesterday. I do not like getting migraines. I will not be going to work today however Marni managed to get me through the "kill myself from the pain" phase into the "just hurts if I move at all" phase so that's an improvement. I did have a really great ride yesterday at lunch until I started to get the aura in my left eye and I knew I would be doomed in a couple hours. Last time I got one was 8 months ago when Marni was out of town. I'm going to label this in the blog just so I can track them better. This was one of the worst ones I've had. With another day of sleeping I should be perfectly fine tomorrow so that's good at least. Too bad I don't have any known triggers like my mom (food)...

Denied

Marni's got the full story here...

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Hi Joann we're off...I tried you at the office and they said you're stage managing or something..."

Sorry my iPod has been shuffling through Rent lately. Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends. I hope you all stuff yourselves full of delicious food and spend time with your loved ones and enjoy the time away from the grind.

Marni and I are stuffed ourselves last night with a new creation of Marni's volition, DaveC style. I made the salad in a bag, oh yea. It was all amazing though, more-so the chicken, fresh mozzarella and garlic pizza with an alfredo sauce than the salad but nevertheless I've become a fan of vegetables in the past couple years. Growing up you would have never known though.

Now we're headed to her parents house for the traditional Turkey Day fixings with the rest of the Colorado family. After that we're leaving the land of snow on the ground and headed to the desert for our own adventure. I think we're very excited with some definite nerves mixed in to boot. I don't think I've ever been more happy to sherpa an extra day's water in my life though.

Enjoy the holiday, catch you all when we're back home.

Moooo

Looks like I'm in. Not registered SS right now but that's just because I had to pick something. I haven't made up my mind on the steed of choice yet. Another year of playing in the gravel!

Time Marches On - A Photo Essay