Look, A New Post!!!

First- sorry for the delay. Can't believe the last post was August 1!!!
My "New Fall resolution" will be weekly blog updates.

SO much to tell. I added a new peak to my list of Wasatch Mtn peaks. I finally climbed Mt Timpanogos this weekend. Karen has done it a couple of times, but I seem to have always been somewhere, doing something. Finally, I decided to take the plunge and ignore all the talk about the "sketchy" spots at the top, that might bring out my subtle dislike of high edges/ledges. I must admit this is much worse on a bike, but even some hikes I get afflicted and really have to keep moving or I will be there for awhile (probably until someone gets me about 6 beers to let go of the wall!!). Anyway, I figured I could always turn around and wait at the lake level. Turns out it was not bad at all. Lots of scree, and fairly a wide path all the way to the summit at 11,749'. Not even any altitude problems! Since I haven't hiked in about 2 years, I was somewhat concerned about a 15mile walk with 5000' elevation gain (and then loss) and if it where possible. Mauna Kea in HI, was 13,300, but we had a ride to the top, and felt kinda crappy up there. Maybe because we went from sea level to 13,300'?

Had lots of company on this hike. A great group of 7 people that all hiked about the same pace, plus lots of the furry white things you see here. Amazing where these guys can walk!!( If you double click on the image it gets bigger.) So, another peak, more sore legs but 9hours of fun!! Why can't I seem to find fun exercise that lasts 2 hours instead of 9-10hrs?
I must be "broken".
rk

Aloha (Finally...)

It's only been two weeks since we have been back, but has taken that long to catch up. Hawaii was lots and lots of fun!! We spent a day in Maui, then flew to the Big Island for 8 days of fun and travel in our hotel on wheels- Holo Holo. Holo Holo was the name of our VW vanagon camper that we circled the big island with. Same year and model as ours. We went from Hilo to Volcano N.P. and spent 3 days there. Lots of hiking, relaxing, some driving around. The old lava flows are crazy! Just flows down and covers anything in it's path. Walked across the lava lake, hardened for 400 feet down, though lots of steam coming up trough the cracks, kinda freaky!
Next we continued south and west to Hookeena beach park for a night on the beach. Quiet, cozy place. Nice sunset.

Next we continued on to Kona. Left the beach early in the a.m. to get to Kona in the morning for a run. We had to do a long run that day so we decided to run the second half of the Ironman course, from Kona to the energy lab and back. Man, does it get HOT in the energy lab. Took a cool shower at the beach shower to cool down then finished up. Very tough run. Definitely would be hard with 112 miles in the legs.

The next night we took a guided tour to the top of Mauna Kea for sunset. A nice bus to the 13,800 foot peak to watch the sun go down over Maui. Very pretty, very cold and little oxygen! After sunset we went down to 9000' for a star show. Got to see Saturn (with rings), a nebula, and some other stuff I think they made up!!
Next day we drove from Kona to Hawi (Ironman bike turn around), then continued on to The north side of the Island for 2 nights at another beach park, with the waves crashing on the shore only 20 feet from the van. Very soothing.

Then, I had to go to "work". Next up, the resort on Maui.
rk

Can I get a Woot Woot!??

My new toy!! YAY!!!!

Decided to return to a full suspension for comfort reasons and so that maybe I'd stay on the trail better, haha!! This is the newest member of the family - A Gary Fisher Superfly carbon 29'er.









Now anyone wanna buy this one?:

Tour de Colorado

I say Part 1 because we are already making plans to go back again... this trip just whet our appetites for more. A fall trip to Rocky Mountain National Park is in the planning stages as we didnt get there this time due to snow/rain/falling rock/zero visibility. And of course, we are totally committed to getting back for some multiple days of Rocky Mountain mountain biking!

The trip started out on a hot hot day as we headed toward Moab in 95+ degree heat... no air conditioning in the Vanagon makes for an interesting drive on such a hot day. We stopped in Moab as a half way point since we were leaving after Rich got off of work. Of course, we HAD to have dinner at our favorite place, Miquel's. http://www.miguelsbajagrill.com/ Miguel's is a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that is fantastic! The next morning we got up early, went for a run before the 105 degree temps kicked in and headed out of Dodge. On to Mesa Verde, our first stop.

Mesa Verde is seriously cool. Walking in the footsteps of people who occupied that space 800- 1000 years ago is quite an experience. The cliff dwellings, so full of history, resonates through you as you feel connected to something so grand and to a culture so old and forgotten. We took a couple of the tours so that we could get up close and personal to the history of the Anasazi people. The dwellings were remarkable, so perfect in every sense, from the plum walls and near perfect construction, to the utility of every building and room. It was humbling, to say the least.

The next day we got up early and headed out at 7:30 to ride a trail called Phil's World. http://www.spokejunkies.com/reviews/colorado/index.php?get_page=philsworld We had heard from three different people that this was a trail not to be missed. The trail did not disappoint. Desert singletrack at it's finest with the craziest, most fun section called The Rib Cage that literally felt like a roller coaster - huge 30 foot whoop-de-dos and tons of giggles. The heat chased us away and off we went to The Great Sand Dunes NP.

The sand dunes were also amazing. Such a fascination - reaching 750 feet out of nowhere, seemingly growing from the side of a mountain. Naturally, we did what anyone would do - climb to the top! Of course we did all that very early in the morning to beat the heat knowing that a high sun would be scorching on that sand. Afterward we hung out, and then hung out some more, then in the afternoon, we hiked to a hidden waterfall that took us up a freezing cold stream, into a cave to discover this most amazing sight. Well worth the painful frozen feet!

Afterward, a great little drive through the mountains, north to Denver. We drove through Salida - a really really great little town, that I would love to visit and spend some time in again. We arrived at our friends, Laura and Rich's (old friends from Michigan) in the late afternoon. After a quick run to stretch our legs, we hung out with Rich and Laura, ate some great bbq chicken that their cockatoo, Snuggles, helped cook and drank some great wine. So great to see old friends! The next morning, Rich and I went off to mountain bike with some other Michigan transplants and old friends, Kevin and Danielle. We decided we want to live down the street from them - they have the perfect spot! Off we went, trying to beat the rain, on a most stellar mountain bike ride! Quintessential mountain biking. Gradual ups, through the high altitude pine forests, over rocky ledges, and then down down down - swooping and fast and seriously fun! That night, dinner out with the six of us.

We had planned on hitting RMNP on the way home but the weather kept us from heading that way. Huge storms, hail, snow, etc. made the 12,000 foot pass impassable for us. Another time! A beautiful drive back on I70 and home to more rain! A GREAT trip all in all - super relaxing, super fun, saw lots of amazing sights and got to hang out with some really great people!

Vanna, I'd like to buy a vowel...

Riding my bike the other day, climbing a hill I got to thinking. What is the difference between the two pics here? Other than one a cat, one is not? A vowel, that's it. Feeling a like a rotund, slow decrepit individual wallowing up Clark's trail in what was clearly too big of a gear on the singlespeed, I began thinking about how ironic the difference is between the words FAT and FIT. Just a vowel!! As simple as a quick stroke of the pen or keyboard, yet requiring hours of workouts and exercise! All to make the difference from this cat to this man. After an annoying crash (boy I have crashing!!!), which has taken most of the skin from my hip, some of the knee, shoulder and elbow, I am now dedicated to asking Vanna for an "I"!!

48 Hrs in St. George & 36 Hrs in Moab

Rich and I have been out of town the last two weekends, enjoying the desert and some mountain biking. Last weekend, we headed to St. George, about 5 hours south. I was supposed to run the Red Mountain 50k but had to bail due to some plantars facitis in my foot. I couldnt run for a couple of weeks so thought better of running 30 miles! Because we had a room reserved already, at a discount rate, we decided to head down anyway to take advantage of some warm weather to bike and hike. The weather WAS beautiful... mid to upper 70s both days. We arrived on Friday, took an easy run after picking up my t-shirt from the race (hey, I earned it but doing all the training!) and then had dinner and went to a movie: Date Night - VERY funny movie! Saturday we hit the trails and rode 21 miles on a big loop that was ridiculously fun: Gould's/JEM/Hurrican Rim. Such flowy, fun, fast singletrack! That afternoon we headed to Snow Canyon for some hiking and photograpy. We enjoyed a VERY nice dinner out at the Painted Pony restaurant (a bit of a splurge, but well worth it!). Sunday we hiked to the top of a cinder cone that erupted 27,000 years ago spewing lava all throughout Snow Canyon. A great little mini vacation!

This weekend, we headed out for a short but very enjoyable weekend in Moab. We headed out after Rich got off of work, and got down there about 10:30 pm. After an hour of searching for a place to camp, we finally got settled and crashed. We met up with our group the next morning and headed out to Behind the Rocks to set up camp. Once settled we headed out to the Sovereign Singletrack trail to ride. After finally getting there, and an hour of lunch making, preparing and farting around (testing Rich's patience for sure, and mine as well) we finally got going. The trail is super fun, with some challenging climbing and descents. After a few hours, one bruised hip, and a sprained wrist (not ours!), we finished to settle back at the trailhead for a beer. Back to camp, a great dinner and comaraderie and home the next day!

Spring Has Finally Sprung!

April 16 and its 70some degrees, finally. Perhaps we're past the snowy cold weather, although the end of the week calls for three days of rain - April Showers bring May Flowers, right? Well, we have tons of flowers blooming already, daffodils are tulips are aplenty.

So, what have we been up to this spring? Riding our bikes, mostly, and doing some yard work. I have not been running for over a week and likely will not be doing my big race next weekend. My foot (planters faciaitis) is not healing and I'm nervous about running 30 miles on it and making it worse for future activities and races. I think patience and logic will rule this decision, not emotion and desire. We'll see, I'm not ruling it out completely, but with only 6 day until race day, it's not looking good. Either way we'll still go down and do some mountain biking and hiking in the area next weekend.

Rich tore out the bushes in the front of the house and so that has become our next "project". We're going to get a little professional help with this one, though, as harvesting and transporting and lifting big rocks is not something easily done. We're going to rockscape the area with sandstone boulders and flagstone the color of the brick on our house, including a little patio where we can sit in our rockers and watch the world go by. Should be completed mid-May.

We've been out on our bikes a bit... a few road rides and a couple of mountain bike rides. Yesterday an awesome 2.5 hour ride on the trail and today a road ride in gorgeous 75 degree weather.

That's it, enjoy spring in UT as it's amazingly beautiful with the snow covered peaks, the trees turning green, flowers coming out to enjoy the sunshine and blue skies.