Flying Dog Trail...

Sooooo fun! 18 miles, 2800 feet of climbing, just over 2 hours, a fun downhill section, all Park City yumminess!

Carbon Yumminess...

Now all I have to do is build them up!

Muddy Ride...

Went for a ride in Park City after work today. The sky was cloudy but it looked like it would stay dry...WRONG! I should have known. Just as i got to the "Power Line" trail road it started raining hard! I didn't have anything to cover my iphone with so i took my gloves off and wrapped it in the gloves and shoved the bundle down my shorts. I booked it back down and the phone was dry as a bone when I got back. Bad news, my bike was covered in mud (it was sparkly clean before the ride)...Good news, my new Fox fork with proper offset worked beautifully!

Park City, Summer is Back!

It took three tries but I finally was able to ride Park City without getting rained out. It threatened and I had to wait ten or twenty minutes for rain and a big dark cloud to pass but eventually I was riding Spiro and the Mid Mountain trail. 

The trail itself was dry and just the perfect amount of tackiness. There were no downed trees until after the Mid Mountain intersection with Power Line trail. I only rode to the summit overlook and there were five or six logs I had to dismount and hop over. It was a great feeling to climb on one of my favorite trails. Perfect day.

Biking Bliss...

With the weather warming up, the trails are getting dry! Riding in Draper on the racer course (the full race course not the rain and mud shortened course from race day). I'm still waiting for Park City to open up but that should only be another few weeks. Photos courtesy of Jo, one of the toughest riders guy or girl that I know of!

Rex Lee Cancer 5k...

Rex Lee was President of BYU as well as the founding Dean of the Clark Law School and a Solicitor General of the United States. President Lee was diagnosed with cancer in 1986 and passed away from the disease a decade later. To help honor his contributions, BYU holds a 5 and 10k race for cancer every year to help raise awareness and funding for research and this year it was held Saturday March 14th. 

This year my sister Liberty decided she wanted to race the Rex Lee run for her first 5k. She called me up last Thursday and asked if I'd run it with her and of course I told her I would! It was a chilly Saturday morning but the weather was clear and as soon as the sun came out (half an hour before the start) it warmed up. We made a few goals before the run-the first was to run it together and the second was to run the race without any resting. Liberty did great!! We ran the race at a brisk but comfortable pace and accomplished both of our goals. Lib was tempted to take a break on the last spin on the track but resisted and finished strong! The best part was being able to chat with my youngest sister the entire morning and of course the great harvest bread and fruit at the finish! Thanks for the invite Lib and lets do the Freedom 10k this summer!

24 Hours In The Old Pueblo...

I spent my Valentines Day racing the 24 Hours In The Old Pueblo in Tucson, Arizona on a 5 Person Coed team with pals from Racer's Cycle Service. Our team name was "Racer's Racers" and included Arthur and Jessica Morris, Shaelie "Mrs. Nails" Johansen, and Kellie Williams. The trek down was a harrowing experience as Arthur, Jessica, and I loaded up their 'Burb with 5 bikes (that's right I said 5), gear, and our bodies and headed down I-15. We hit snow along the way and due to a multi-car accident on the freeway we had to detour just before Beaver. We left at about 5pm and due to the snow and a slight detour (through California!) we made it to Tucson 19 hours later! Woo Hoo! 

The first night (and last night) we stayed with Jessica's sister and her husband in Tucson (thanks Mike and Jeni!!) and it was a dream come true! A warm bed, great food, and lots of laughs. The other nights were spent camped in "Tent City" at the race site. There were probably 4 or 5 teams of friends camped in the "Racer's Cycle" area and it was good times hanging out with everyone there. Thanks to those who brought the propane heater and the ginormous MSR tent we used for the "staging area" for our various team racers. This became the hang out spot for us during the night and was soooo warm!

As for the race, Arthur went first and did the Lemans start and the fastest lap time of our team (1:08 and change), I was next followed by Shae, Jessica, and Kelli. The course was 16.25 miles long and had just over 1000 feet of elevation gain. It wasn't a difficult course nor was it technical, except for the 7 or 8 different types of cactus that were everywhere, and I mean everywhere!!! Arthur's blazing lap put us in first place and we never looked back. I put in a fast first lap despite a moronic crash I had on a fast dirt road section while reaching for a Gu (and an overinflated tire). All in all we put in 15 team laps and came in 1st place in our 0-149 Combined Age division. We won some cool trophies and some mad swag ($300 bucks worth) and I had the best Valentines Day I've had in a decade, and that was without a date (my bike doesn't count)!! Thanks to everyone who helped in the race with support, the ride, camaraderie, comic relief, and everything in between, I can't wait for next year! Race results here.

Like Father Like Son...

You can take the boy from the ranch but not the ranch from the boy. I'm back home in Alberta, Canada for the holidays and having eaten and opened presents, and with the Lakers/Celtics game a few hours away, there's not much else to do on the ranch. My dad was a pro bull and bronc rider in his day and even in his early 60's he's still competitively team roping (and winning money). In team roping there are two riders who ride after a steer. One rider ropes the steers head, the "header", while the other rider ropes the steer's legs, the "heeler". My dad is a heeler and In our barn he has a his practice setup of a mechanical steer and a hay bale "horse" set up, complete with saddle. The mechanical steer's legs move in a running motion and the steer's head and horns also flex to simulate an actual steer. 

As a kid, my dad taught my two brothers and I how to rope. He, being a heeler, taught us all how to rope as a headers so we would one day be able to team rope with him. I have roped throughout the years, but not on his "horse" contraption and not with his mechanical steer. So, after we had gone out and fed the cows, I decided to give the practice steer a shot. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I caught the steer 7 of my first 10 attempts. My dad was impressed and said with some riding practice I'd be good! It was good fun and a good arm and shoulder workout! Enjoy the pictures, any of you surprised over my ranch background?

*P.S. Upon further inspection I apologize for the look on my face in the pictures...I'm trying to decide if I'm just super excited or if I really am a zombie...I'm leaning towards the zombie....

Draper Boulders (Part 2)...

As promised, here is the second installment of the Draper bouldering experience. As mentioned in Part 1, Julie (photographer friend), Brian (friend and coworker) and I did a bouldering shoot at the Draper boulders. After getting lost and hiking for an hour and a half too far South (in one of the pics I'm looking from a promontory while talking to Tobin, who had given suspect directions), we found the bouldering area. The lighting by that time was less than ideal, but we got a few shots anyway. I think the problem Brian did turned out a bit better than the one I did, but Julie still made it look good. Thanks Julie for the time and thanks Brian for finding this location! Enjoy and comment, thanks!

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?