Draper Boulders (Part 1)...

In the climbing world (of which I am a novice), boulderers are known for expending the most amount of energy actually climbing while expending the least amount of energy in the approach. Most bouldering areas are notoriously close to roads and fairly easy to access. It was amazing to me how difficult it was to find this area! The guidebook was several years and even more housing subdivisions old, and there was a lot of overgrowth in the area. Then again, I'm not sure they see a lot of use in November! 

My coworker Brian, photographer and friend Julie, and myself all headed up on a sunny Saturday to get some more bouldering shots. After wandering in the wrong area for an hour and a half (it wasn't too bad, it was a great hike and a gorgeous morning) we finally found the Draper boulders...just off of the Bonneville Shoreline trail. They had some chalk on them, but it was not a very climbed area. We found a good highball boulder, where if you fell you would suffer most certain injury, and had a great session! It looked more difficult than it was, with a lot of great hand and footholds. Overall, it was a gorgeous day! How do you think the pictures turned out?

12 Hours of Sundance (late post)...

*Ok, late post I know...I slacked off a bit on writing this one up because I have no pictures (of my own) and I looooves the pictures! I managed to steal some photos from Racer's blog (see friends list). 

The 12 Hours of Sundance was held Saturday September 13, 2008 at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon. It is a 12 hour endurance race that goes from 7 am to 7 pm. Those of you who follow my blog (all 3 of you-thanks Mom, Dad, and Bob!) will remember one of my earliest postings was of the 24 Hours of Moab race, this race was like that but only 12 hours. For those unfamiliar with 12 and 24 hour endurance racing, you pretty much have a course you ride as many laps as you can in a 12 (or 24) hour time period. The racer or team with the most laps wins. I raced in a 5 person co-ed team for the Moab race, but since I couldn't find anyone to race this one with I just signed up to race the Solo class. My bum would regret it. 

The course was just under 10 miles and almost 1000 feet in elevation. It was a perfect mix of short steep uphill, smooth and technical, and twisty downhills. The only annoying section was a new uphill section they swathed and didn't do much else to. It was rocky and technical and super slow initially but by the end of the race had a nice singletrack line carved into it. The temperature was perfect, cool at the start but warmed up to the high 70's. 

For my first solo endurance race, I had a ton of fun! I forgot the "bag butter" the first two laps so my tender bits got sore a bit earlier than I had hoped, but that was the only mishap of the day. My knees, hips, and shoulders were great and other than normal fatigue I felt great. I was supposed to have a support crew there but no one showed up. Fortunately, the gang from Racers Cycle Service had a full crew with food, drink, lawn chairs, and some good laughs, thanks Kellie and Richard! 

All in all, I completed 8 laps for almost 80 miles and over 8000 feet of climbing. I had a blast and didn't come anywhere close to first but I am hooked on endurance racing! This ranked up there with the Xterra as my favorite races of the year. I look forward to more solo riding in the future! Anyone want to join me??

Late Fall Bouldering...

Liberty Mountain comes out with two catalogs a year. The first is a gigantic sized "Everything" catalog that displays our almost 20,000 items in full color and glossy pages. When describing it to potential customers I refer to it as the "phonebook sized catalog that can stop a bullet and probably kill a man if thrown!" The other catalog we produce is a climbing only catalog that is significantly thinner and full of climbing and bouldering photos of staff and friends on every page. It's put together and presented as professional as possible and is meant to "showcase" the wicked awesome radicalness of Liberty Mountain employees. Unfortunately, I only had one picture in last years catalog...a lowly V0 boulder found near Stansbury Island. The location was great and the boulder was fun, but that particular picture that ended up in the catalog was an awkward and unflattering back shot. I was determined to get some better shots this year.

Friends are good, friends with mad skills are even better! One of my friends, Julie, is a professional photographer. We met a month or so ago as she photographed my brothers wedding and as I've gotten to know her her talents have become obvious. In my quest for better climbing shots she was the perfect person to document my efforts. We set up a day that would work with both of our schedules and picked a good spot and went to town. My fellow Liberty Mountain Desk Lacky, Tobin (* there you go!), joined us for the climbing shoot and we headed to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, with a recent snow, so we were stuck to bouldering at the Cabbage Patch boulders. We got some good climbs in but it got dark fast and the flash batteries gave out on us. It was a fun time and we had some good laughs in the process. Despite the snow and difficult lighting I think the pictures turned out great, what do you think?

Interbike 2008...

The Interbike Expo is the premier U.S. cycling trade show. Bike enthusiasts converge in the Sands Convention Center on the Las Vegas strip from September 22-26. Bike and bike related companies set up booths that showcase their upcoming lines of bikes and accessories. The first two days consist of a dirt demonstration located near Las Vegas in Bootleg Canyon. Liberty Mountain distributes for the German manufacturer Vaude, which has a bike specific line of panniers, hydration packs, and tool bags. Our booth is small compared to a lot of big name vendors, but just being at the show is a fun and amazing experience. It was a fairly uneventful show except for the "injury" I suffered setting our booth up. I scraped a good chunk of skin off of my right forearm trying to stop some booth panels from falling off a trolly. Good fun and I can't wait until next year. 

My Ellie May...

One of my better friends from high school had a 1981 Volkswagen Jetta we used to put around in. It was a faded red, diesel powered beast that managed to somehow make it over 200,000 kilometers (124,274 miles for my American readers). My friend named his car "Adolph", a name that played on the German origins of the Volkswagen company, and a name I have replicated on my own VW. It was the first time I had heard of anyone naming their car, and since then have had named all of my important machines. 

Enter Ellie May. 

I named my Ellsworth Evolve mountain bike Ellie May because she's a sultry belle with all the right curves and she knows how to treat her man! I can get her dirty and she never complains, she's always up for an adventure, and has all the right characteristics of a keeper! Anyone else name their bikes or cars?