Ahhhhhh Chew!!!!

Yeah so I have never had allergies until this year and it completely sucks! I have been sneezing like crazy with a stuffy/runny nose. It has completely dried me out making riding hard work. Sweating like crazy with a dry mouth and throat is no fun.

Fantastic Moab trip one week from Friday! Hope to get some great riding in with Tim, Keith, Rob, and perhaps some others might just come to camp out. Should be a great time!

That's all.

YAA! and blah...

Well it seems I have succeeded in either wearing myself down riding over hard over the last week or picked up some allergies\cold or both. I awoke this morning not feeling so hot with a stuffed nose and sneezing like crazy. However, I knew I had to get a few more things together for the auditors from the City of Westminster that were coming in to do an audit. I got to work just before 7am draggin complete ass. Patrick got in around 8:30am and I told him things were not looking up for me but I wanted to be there for the auditors to make sure they got everything they needed. He had me brief him on everything since he was out on Thursday and Friday and told me to get out of there and get some rest. So I finished up some things right quick and headed home to relax all day and hopefully keep this from getting any worse.

Yesterday Tim, Robert, and I went up to Hall Ranch and tore it up. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. A few diggers and a lot of speed and bumps later we finished up with some good pictures and Robert got a good video of me almost cleaning a tough section. Not great quality but still good. Mom you remember the section we sat and watched those guys try over and over. This is the one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vThyKYZTjp4

Here are some pictures.

Me cleaning a 45 degree rock with a 1 foot vertical section to get onto the slope.



Robert on a tough uphill rock as well.



Tim following suit.



All I can say is WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Tim saw me fly off this roller the first time and was like damn dude you want to do that again cause that was huge! So what was I going to say no... PSHHH!!! I was like hell yeah! Turned her around and went at it again!

Mothers Visit

So there is only one word to describe my mom's visit... PHENOMENAL! She arrived on Thursday night and we had an amazing dinner at The Chop House! STEAK MMMMM GOOOD! I had planned to take her there on Saturday night for her birthday on Sunday but she felt that she needed to take me out for a late birthday dinner and wanted to take me out for steak. So I compromised and we decided to go there anyway and I agreed as long as I still got to take her out for a dinner elsewhere Sunday night. The dinner was fantastic and we talked and caught up on things.

Friday we headed down to Morrison to meet up with one of her former colleagues for lunch. They caught up and we had lunch and then the Moms and I headed to Red Rock Amphitheater just up the road. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather that was setting in for the weekend. Friday night we went up to a pizza place (Proto's) in North Boulder that I had wanted to check out for a while. The salad and pizza were delicious and then we headed down to Pearl Street for the evening to watch all the people.





Saturday it was early rise as usual with coffee and breakfast down at Paradise Bakery. The weather was once again awesome as it was everyday. After that we headed up into the mountains to check out the views and drive through Gold Gate State Park. The mountains were gorgeous and the Moms enjoyed herself. We came back down to Boulder for dinner at BJ's on Pearl. We finished off the night again by watching all the people on Pearl Street as we did every night. It's always a good time and my parents love to hang out there.



Sunday was probably my proudest day. We went down for breakfast on Pearl again and then headed out to Hall Ranch where I mountain bike quite a bit. I thought it would be cool to let my Mom see one of the more technical mountain bike rides around here and get some good hiking in. We had planned just to go about half way up the climb and watch the bikers but my Mom was able to make it all the way to the top and she did it creating 2 big blisters one on each heel! I was so proud she kept going and made it up there. Once again lots of sunshine and good views. To end the weekend we headed to the Cheesecake Factory where I got my mom her birthday dinner! What a great weekend it was! I also got her a pottery mug and a kick ass Patagonia T-Shirt she picked out! Though it took some coaxing to get to her let me buy her the T-Shirt!

Anyway lots of fun and a great weekend!

Misc

Tim and I officially have clean living room carpets. One realizes just how amazing it is that their mother can keep carpets soooooo clean. But I spose that is also the difference between owning a home which has value to you and renting an apartment which really doesn't have much value.

Tim and I's living room carpet was ridden with chain lube stains and dirt from running the bikes in and out of the apartment. But they cannot remain outside as they pretty much cost as much as a used car. My bikes were definitely worth more than the ol Jetta monetarily in the market anyway. But with that said not all the stains came out however for a rental carpet steamer the carpet looks pretty good. Mother you will be proud. I also just cleaned the coffee pot for your arrival. Brings back memories of when you ran vinegar through the coffee pot and I complained up and down about the horrid smell. By the way I am still complaining to myself about the stank!

On another note we finally got our Senior Accountant in at work today. It's good to have her arrival and in several weeks I will no longer have to do payroll or accounts payable. With the arrival email of Vesa our Senior Accountant my boss announced my promotion to Financial Analyst to the office as well and I received props from several people as well as a VP. It was good to feel the appreciation and I look forward to progressing in my new position.

Pleasure spiked with pain

The weather today was the best it has been this year. The sun was shinning it was mid 70s and the skies were clear as can be! The snow on the white capped mountains gleamed and I relished in it with the view from the office.

I had some more drama with the new car deal today about getting the Jetta towed into the dealership. They wanted me to pay for it when I was clearly under the impression they were going to pay for it. I had an argument with the sale guy about it Friday nearly two weeks after I had bought the car and he said he would get back to me. Nothing happened until today when he called and told me they had towed it and he wanted me to pay $50 of the $125 it took to tow it to Longmont. We both expressed our points and I said I would come in tonight to take care of it. He called me back 10 minutes later and told me not to worry about it anymore they would take care of it! I won! There was a lot that transpired in the arguments and I stuck to my guns. I put my passive behavior in my back pocket for once and let them know they weren't going to push me over on this one. In the end I am happy as I now have everything taken care of with insurance (including renter's insurance to protect all my toys which I should have got a long time ago) for the car and the trade in with the Jetta done. All that is left to do is get the plates which doesn't have to be done till the end of May.

After I got done dealing with the car I came home and jumped on the road bike from a small climbing session before it got dark. I ended up doing the climb twice and though it hurt my muscles are slowly starting to handle the pain of turning the pedals over once again. It feels so good even though it hurts so bad. It's true that it's 90% mental to keep going. Twaz a good day.

My wonderful mother Downstairs Donna gets into town on Thursday and I am pretty darn excited. She will be here until her birthday on Monday and I'm glad she'll be out here spending it with me. Just hope the weather turns nice again as we are supposed to get rain/snow on Wednesday.

That's Better

Today the weather was beautiful and Tim and I headed own to White Ranch in Golden. We planned to ride Belcher Hill up to the Longhorn trail and ride that back down. Longhorn is a pretty technical downhill and I was looking forward to getting some good video to post. However, once we got to the top of the brutal Belcher Hill climb Tim was pretty tuckered out with a headache and we ran into some wet conditions and snow on the north side of the trail. Tim had a small outburst since he wasn't feeling so well and was not in the mood to keep riding to see if the trail got any better so we turned around. I don't think he suffers as well on the bikes as I do plus he doesn't ride as much as he seems to prefer running. I was disappointed about turning around because I wanted to get a good ride in today after yesterdays disaster on the road bike. So sorry no videos or pictures to post.

Once we got back home I at some lunch and chilled out for a bit but had a lot of pent up energy and frustration since we didn't ride longer earlier. That lead me to head back out on the mountain bike. I rode out of the apartment to Heil Ranch which is a trail I usually drive to with Tim but it is totally within riding distance for me. It's about a 30-31 mile ride. I didn't know if I was going to be able to complete it with the brutal climb earlier in the day but I don't have much quit in me when I am on the bike and I pushed myself through it. The legs are pretty tuckered out but it feels awesome and the weather is supposed to be good for most of the week so hopefully I have started to build my form. I was feeling pretty weak in my core and triceps as the ride progressed and the downhill gave me a bit of trouble but I'll start adding pushed ups and situp variations to hopefully work on gaining strength. Today was a good day and hopefully there are more to come.

Ugh

Today the weather cleared up a bit from the craziness we have been going through over the last week. Temps were about 50 degrees and the sun was in and out but the winds were about 13 mph and had some gusts here and there. It was good to get out but I knew about 15 minutes into the ride I just didn't have it today. It seemed like I was working hard whether I had the wind behind me or in my face. Turned out I could only stay out for about an hour and half which was about an hour and twenty minutes longer than what I felt like my body was willing to do today.

Once I got home I knew my body wasn't happy with me when I started to get the effects of a migraine. I popped a few pills and took a nap which helped a bit but when I woke up I felt stage 2 of my normal migraine cycle with nausea. I am still feeling a bit nauseous but much better than I did a few hours ago.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better as I plan to get out on the mountain bike possibly with Tim. It's supposed to be super nice with sun and 60s so it should be a good day. Tonight I think I will hang out and get some sleep and hope tomorrow is better. Really hoping the weather stays a bit more consistent as I really need to start riding everyday. Only about 3 months till the big ride so I need to start getting the legs back and start climbing a lot more. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Closing down Steamboat

Well I spose it's time I let you all in on how the last weekend at Steamboat for the winter season of 2008 was. Spectacular is how it was. Steamboat had a record season and I had about 4 weekends there all of which were phenomenal! We even got 6 inches of new snow on the last day to play in!

Tim and I took off Friday night to head up in the new Outback and the ride was glorious! No wind blowing in through the door seals, headlights where you can actually see what is in front of you... which is a good thing cause there were deer everywhere, CRUISE CONTROL!, and just an all around smooth ride.

Saturday we awoke early to shred with Jess and Keith... and then before we knew it, by noon or shortly there after we were at Rag's on the mountain and rolled out with a group of about 15 people to terrorize the slopes! That is exactly what we did too. Everyone we were riding with was awesome and we never had to wait for anyone. It was pure craziness with people just rippin down the mountain! Definitely the most fun I have had riding with a large group. Most of the time you get separated or are waiting on someone, but not with this group. Everyone took off rode together, almost collided with each other only to laugh about it and say damn THAT WAS CLOSE! and then continue on tearin down the mountain!

Then Sunday we headed out at a decent time again to playin the fresh snow and hike the Pony Lift terrain since they had closed the lift. Then runs were awesome and untouched and lots of fun. We did several laps on the steeps in amazing conditions. Before long it was time for everyone to head up to gate D and party. That was when Tim and I said goodbye and headed home.

Nothing to crazy went down at night but we had a great time and it was probably our last weekend snowboarding this year. It was a great weekend to finish on.

I have included some pictures and videos for your enjoyment.

Tim and Jess on Saturday morning... I caught Jess in mid yawn but it looks like Tim is making her cry! HAHA!


Keith Gnar with his breakfast and milkshake at The Shack!


Short hike up to No Names


Tim droppin some rocks on Pony


Tim, Sarah, Gangsta (yes that is what he is known by) and Keith Gnar


This is why you don't jump in flat light... flat light = ground all looks the same never know when it is coming which = face plant!


Riding the lifts with Keith Gnar is always entertaining



I'll have a couple more videos in the coming days... they take forever to upload.