Tetons/Yellowstone

Well, I'm late posting, as usual. A couple of weekends ago, Kathy, Amy and I went to the Tetons and Yellowstone for a long weekend. We all had Thursday and Friday off of work and wanted to get outta dodge. Jackson Hole is about 4 and a half hours from here, but probably closer to 5 in the van. Pretty cool - a short days drive to amazing scenery and two national parks. We had beautiful weather - in the 60s, although it was chilly at night, in the mid 30s - comfortable for sleeping but cold for cooking! We had dinner the first night at the Jackson Hole Brew Pub - GREAT food and company - my friend Kevin joined us. Kevin was my and Scott's guide when we climbed the Grand Teton years ago and we have kept in touch since. Kevin is still guiding and is now doing some chef work and soon, ski patrol. The next day we toured and hiked around Grand Teton National Park. Did a hike up into Cascade Canyon, but not too far as the sun was getting low. And then on we went to Yellowstone the next day. Amy had never been there before and we had a blast exploring, and checking out the hot pots and animals. We even saw Old Faithful blow which is a must if you've never seen it before. Home the next day, revitalized and happy. A great trip!

Back on the Horse (er..Monkey)

After 2 weeks of slothliness, I finally got back in the groove this weekend. A run yesterday, along a nice flat road in nice temps and a bike ride today. Feeling that my endurance and fitness from the past year would keep me going, I jumped onto the Monkey and climbed to Scott's pass, then down to sahdow lake and Mid-mountain all the way the the crest connector and then back the crest to Guardsman pass. Had heard a few reports of this route, but never actually done it all together. Had done most of it on various rides, but never did the crest this way. Suffice to say, I am not in the shape I thought I was, two weeks of nothing hurts when you do something and climbing 5700' on a single-speed hurts, especially if you bonk!! You might think that this was a bad experience, but nay!! It actually was a beautiful day (60's, sunny) with little traffic on the midmountain trail, nice to cruise this trail for 12 miles thru the slopes and pines with scattered leaves throughout. Finally, I came to the connector trail from mid-mtn to the crest trail. This is a fairly steep climb. I don't know what hurt more, my back, biceps or quads? After a short time though I was up at the great western/crest junction above millcreek. I think the next climb was the worst. This is where the bonk began to take root. Looking at the garmin and it saying 8900' was not encouraging, as I know the top of puke hill was 10,000'. Not sure I had 1100' feet more of climbing in my legs I nursed every chance I had to rest (giving way to downhill riders!!). After the spine, it all seemed to get better, flowing nicely along the crest, looking at the spires above Solitude all draped in snow, thinking SOON!!!!!! Anyway a quick trip down puke hill to the car, was refreshing and made the ride worth it!! Makes me wonder why I keep chasing the Ironman dream? Anyway, might be the last ride at that height for the year, but good to keep it fresh for early summer, well mid-summer after Ironman.

rk

24 Hours of MOAB

Moab was awesome! Two words: windy and cold. We arrived Friday with something like 20-30 mile an hour winds kicking sand up and blowing it around everywhere. This did not let up until the wee hours on Sunday morning! And of course, it was cold. 30ish at night. So, how was it all? Well....

We arrive on Friday in a number of cars forming a little village of our own in the desert fields. Rich and his brother, Brian, me Tam and Kathy, Tammy's husband and his family (visiting from MI), Libba and Camine (my teammies) and Zach (Rich's Teammie) and his wife, Kate. This was actually the way it was all around, villages of teams setting up for the event, settling in and trying to tolerate the sand blowing all around. It was like a big city plopped down in the middle of the desert. We went into town and had dinner that night, came back and hit the sack, trying to get some sleep, but managing little, mostly due to the wind buffeting the van to and fro. Saturday morning finally came and after loading up on carbs, proteins and coffee we began our preparations for the 24 hours ahead.

A quick rider meeting at 10:30, in the blustering wind with sand and dust blowing like crazy, sometimes nearly blowing Laird around the stage.
THE START: Tammy started for our team. They do a LeMans style start with everyone running down the field, around a pinyon pine tree and back, I suppose to spread people out. Off they went kicking up a good dusting in their wake. Tammy is a super strong rider and finished her first lap in 1:42. Camine took off next, then me, then Libba. We were all under 2 hours our first lap, all is well. Rich and Zach were riding 1:25s - very very fast!

Rich and his partner, Zach, were racing a Duo Pro team. Meaning; only two members, racing against pro teams. The kicker? They were racing on Single Speeds (meaning only one gear!) against the others with geared bikes! These guys are nuts! (Awesome, but nuts!) :-)
THE NIGHT COMES
Then, the night time came, the cold set in and questions of how to dress runs through our heads. Will our lights last? Will I get a flat in the dark? Are there mountain lions in the desert? (haha). I love riding at night. Peaceful, quiet, a little creepy at times... I had issues with what I was wearing and found myself over dressed for the long climb in the beginning, which made me very cold for the rest of the lap due to being sweaty, but I made it. I lost some time stopping and adjusting my clothing along the way. We all finished in about 2.5 hours at night, except for Tam who did 1:52 - and get this - with a regular back up LED camping headlamp - her other light died ONE MILE into her lap! She's a rock star! Rich also had some issues with his lights; his headlight went out and his bar light was pointing strangely off to the right making it quite the challenge to see straight down the trail!

ON my third lap, I was doing really well, time wise, then coming down one gnarly stretch of trail, a steep, rocky, loose descent, this guy passed me, totally out of control and crashed, HARD, right in front of me. Well, of course, I stopped and stayed with him til the EMTs got there. He was pretty messed up. Finally, I'm on my way. With adjusted time I finished my last lap in about 2 hours, same with Libba. Camine, had to bail on her third lap due to a knee injury. Rich and Zach decided to slow down a little (to 2 hours on a couple of laps) to allow themselves more time to recover. Keep in mind, they were taking turns going out approximately every hour and a half! After six laps and some fork issues, Zach called it done, Rich slept for a few hours and did a final lap as well. Then ended up 8th out of 18 pro teams! A job VERY well done!!

THE WRENCH

Brian flew out from the east coast to be both teams mechanic. This is something that is essential, especially for the teo person team. To eat, change, sleep and work on your own bike is not possible in an hour and 20 minutes. He did an awesome job, sticking it out until 4:30am, when everyone else tired out as well. Indispensable!

The Support
And special thanks to Kathy as well. She was our "support" crew. Kathy fixed us food, cleaned up for us, made sure we were drinking, met us after every lap with a warm coat, but most importantly, her enthusiasm and spirit were hugely valuable. Always cheering and encouraging. Also, indispensable!

Well, it was a great experience all in all, I had the best team you could ever imagine and a lot of fun. We all came home tired and happy, ready for a hot shower and a warm bed!

That Time of Year

Saturday















Sunday (about 14 inches!)

Road Riding - SLC Style

While Rich rode up LCC on his mountain bike, Rhonda and I did a road ride up Emigration Canyon. About 25 miles. The rain finally cleared out leaving us a beautiful fall day of about 60 degrees. The clouds were hanging low still and gray, but with this amazing sunlight coming through and illuminating the hills. Rhonda and I had an easy spin up the canyon, relaxing and chatting all the way. I took my camera and had fun snapping pic en route. The ride down the canyon was very chilly though, as the wind was hitting us hard and cooling us down dramatically. Upon returning to Wasatch Rd, I was able to see a ton of snow up high on the mountains - I hear there is supposed to be up to 2 feet by tomorrow! Ski season here we come!
It was an awesome weekend filled with the company of good friends. On Friday, I enjoyed drinks after work with Eli, Christina, Amy and a couple others - great conversation and chillin. I stopped by Amy and Jeff's on the way home to see how their new landscape is coming (it's awesome) and they were kind enough to invite Rich and me to stay for dinner - more great conversation and chillin'! Saturday night we enjoyed great conversation and chillin' at Rhonda and Andy's (and some killer ping pong!) and Sunday we enjoyed some great conversation and chillin' at Stu and Jen's. (hahahahaha - there seem to be a pattern here! LOL). Anyway, the week ahead will be busy and fun -more on that later!!

Fall rides

Salt lake, October, SNOW!!! It's here!!

It was a fairly rainy, snow up high, here this weekend. All of saturday, and sunday am. Afternoon here the sun broke out and it was time to ride. I got a small ride up LCC trail today. Just an hour, 17m round trip, but with the leaves and rain, we actually had foliage that looked green!!, not brown.

We are heading to Moab, next weekend for the 24hours of Moab. SHould be a fun time. The Monkey is all ready and primed. I put the bigger gear on, since It doesn't have alot of big climbs. Hopefully I won't feel like a crack addicted, meth smoking gerbil spinning the pedals and going nowwhere!! Here's somemore fall. Will report more next weekend.