California Love...

As mentioned in the previous post, I was in California for work a few weeks ago conducting a Pieps Avalanche Beacon clinic in the Reno/Tahoe/Truckee areas of California and Nevada. The area was gorgeous and warm (before all the snow from the past week or so) and due to the lack of snow, we conducted the clinic in Kings Beach, Ca. on the South shore of Lake Tahoe. 

The clinic consisted of education and hands on practice/testing of the major popular avalanche beacons with local ski patrol, search and rescue, shop employees, and other winter professionals. We had 15 or so participants and did several other 'shop' clinics for employees who were unable to make the larger event in Kings Beach. The clinics all went well and overall it was a successful trip for the company; it was also some very appreciated change of scenery for me personally. 

The highlight of the trip was the beauty of Lake Tahoe. Our hotel was right on the beach and I was able to go running most of the nights I was there. The sunsets, the smell of the pine trees, the clean air, and change or scenery were all refreshing. I'd say it was the perfect blend of work and play! Have any of you had experiences when work was just as fun as play?

Goin' To California...

At this very moment I am in a hotel room at the Crown Motel, literally feet from the sandy beach of the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. It's been a busy few days; I'm out here for Liberty Mountain doing Pieps Avalanche Beacon clinics for the ski patrol, search and rescue, and outdoor shop employees of the area. I've visited many shops, met a ton of people, travelled from Reno to Truckee to Kings Beach and back. Visiting shops all along the way and promoting beacon use and general avalanche safety. 

During the slow times in between shop visits and clinics, Brian (my coworker) and I were able to get a few pictures at Donner Lake (no cannibals in sight), and Lake Tahoe. Donner memorial was particularly cool because it was built to the height of the snowpack level when the Donner party had their mishap here. The weather has been sunny and gorgeous...I have jogged a few nights on the beach, the moon reflecting off of the water and the sunsets have been amazing. It is incredibly peaceful and relaxing here...enjoy the pictures. 

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?

Ogden Xterra Sport...

Last year I raced the 4th Street Clinic Triathlon put on by the U of U medical department and had an absolute blast. It was a short tri with a twist, instead of a road leg it was a mountain bike course near the U. Since then I have been training for the Ogden Xterra Sport off road triathlon and this past August I was finally able to race it! 

The Ogden Xterra is the Mountain Championship course, meaning that placing well here will earn you an invitation to the USA Championships at Lake Tahoe and/or the World Championships in Maui. Professional and more competitive racers race the Championship triathlon with a 1.5k swim, 30k mountain bike, and 10k trail run. I raced the Sport course with a 750m swim, 19k mountain bike, and 5k trail run. While shorter, the Sport race follows the Championship course and so the difficulty is high. 

I got to the race early enough and set up T1 at the Pineview Resivoir, then drove up to T2 at Snowbasin Mountain Resort. I lolligagged at the T1 setup and as a result missed the last shuttle bus down the mountain to the race start. I was standing with a handful of other slackers when a bus driver informed us that we'd missed the last bus. We all scrambled for our cars and sped down the mountain. I got there just as the cannon went of for the Championship racers. Luckily, the Sport group didn't leave for another half an hour. 

I had rented a wetsuit from SBR Sports in Orem and thought that was all I needed for the swim prep (besides some strategically placed Body Glide, goggles, and my fluorescent green swim cap) unfortunately I didn't sit in the water and acclimate to the cool temperature. As soon as they shot the cannon off I dove into the high 60'ish degree water and promptly gasped a mouthful of water, "so that's why everyone was chilling in the water before the start!" I had to backstroke for a buoy length before acclimating enough to breast stroke(Aislinn has since commented that I was indeed doing the front crawl not the breast stroke, dang medication). I was soooooo slow!

After the swim I was ticked off at how slow I was and determined to make up some time on the bike while still saving some juice for the run. I started slow, recovering from the swim (and the claustrophobic effect of the wetsuit) but soon found myself passing rider after rider. This gave me motivation and I really started pushing it on the course, which was almost entirely all uphill (except for a mile or so downhill towards the end of the course). I must have passed 40 or 50 other competitors and I got tired of yelling "passing on the left (or right)". I did get passed by an exceptionally talented female rider sponsored by Kuhl Clothing. She had a flat but passed me once she got it fixed, although I kept up with her almost to T2. 

T2 was a bit confusing as it was at the Snowbasin Resort parking lot. I was unsure as where to start running, but I soon got going only to be slowed down from side stitch cramping. I had to walk it out then got to running. I was making good pace the second half of the course and saw the finish line when my right shoe came untied. I got it tied and then sprinted to the finish, I re-passed a few competitors that had passed me and came across the downhill finish with my hair flying in the wind. 

I had so much fun racing the Xterra and I have already determined to start training for the full length Championship distance for next year. I think my swimming is what needs the most improvement on, but I know just being in better overall shape will make a difference too. I think the most important training I can do is stretching, especially my hamstrings. It seems my family is cursed with extra tight hammies so yoga and other stretching is necessary to continue being healthy racing. It was a challenging race, but I can't wait until next year!

Fu, By Popular Request...

I work at Liberty Mountain as the International, California, and Nevada sales rep. We are a ginormous outdoor distribution company with almost 20,000 backpacking, climbing, and other outdoor products all stored in our warehouse in Salt lake (we also have an East Coast facility in PA). We stock probably every outdoor store you've been to. 

Last month a customer calls up and wants to know the color of a particular rope. Now this is the most confusing rope company known to man, with 2-4 different colored thread patterns in every rope, and a different color depending on length, width, dry treatment, and so on. So I make a call to our warehouse manager, Danielle, and give her our 6 digit item number for two different rope types and ask her if she could check the colors. Her response is, "I could take the time to check them, but the first one is lavender and a dark navy blue and the second one is a teal with a dark reddish color." I called BS, thinking NO one could know that out of 20,000 products. She said "what do you want to bet?!" So I, thinking there is no way I could lose, say "I'll grow a nasty mustache if your right! If you're wrong,  you owe me a shake!" Well, she got the ropes and damn if she wasn't dead on, tints of blue and everything! What followed was the most agonizing ten days of my life! Anyone who is close to me knows that I HATE facial hair, it makes me feel greasy and gross; however, true to my word, I grew that Fu and grew it well! 

Enjoy!

Solitude Revisited...

My friend Garrett left his job at Liberty Mountain to persue a career in photography, hammersinc.blogspot.com, he graciously came to one of the Solitude weekly races to shoot some of the riders. I remember that particular race because I was fulfilling a lost bet I had made at work and was growing a "Fu Manchu" as a result. At this point I'd had it for a week or so and it was full on at perpetrator length, so I remember being quite self conscious at the start line in my race clothes, wild hair, and perpetrator "Fu". At any rate, Garrett took some great pictures and in particular this picture I just love! Enjoy!