EC patrol

The snow is starting to pile up on the deck so Jon, Jared, and myself hit up dawn patrol this morning in Emigration Canyon. Jared has more pictures.

I should start riding more but with all the snow to play in I think I will just pretend skiing has good crossover. Frozen hog is this weekend but with all the new snow I am not sure if the riding will be that good, I need some biking not running, will see what tomrrows storm brings.

ALL DAY

With a over a foot of fresh snow and the lifts closed the day before due to wind, today was destined to be magical! Now it's nukin again and tomorrow will be more of the same for someone, I'm going to work.

winter mix

Not a ton of exciting stuff to write about but another good winter week.

Monday: 2 hr alpine tour between EC and RB via FC.
Tuesday: 7 hrs crazy powder skiing at the Dance with Rog.
Wednesday: 2.5 hr road commute out to Sandy to ride with Micheal in bitter cold weather and finishing up the canyon in the dark- character builder for sure.
Thursday: 30 min MTB at lunch testing the red butte snow trails, 1.5 hr skate ski at Mtn Dell with some good efforts.
Friday: 1 hr easy commute to and from work.
Saturday: 4 hr road ride into UC and back via Suncrest with a couple moderate efforts, first road group ride of the year for me. Ohran was on a new SuperSix that retails for 10 grand and was looking pretty good.
Sunday: 1.5 hr skate ski to the top of big mtn in some crazy wind and slow snow but amazing evening colors.

Also finished up the custom window seat and trim work in one bedroom with only one room to go. Scored some new FAT AT skis, now I just need to mount up some dynafits and I will be ready to rip the backyard.

Just work tomorrow, I need a little rest!

good timing

Got out yesterday for a snow bike ride with Jared from the zoo and over to city creek, it was nearly perfect and late in the afternoon the hikers and dogs are at a minimum so you can rip. Jared was on his new scalpel and rides it like a pro other than the time it bucked him off (about 30ft) on the down hill side of the trail, of course I did not have my camera. I think both of us forgot to eat lunch so by the time we got back we were famished, fortunately we found some Pepsi's in his car that fueled my ride up the canyon.

If I was a coach I would make all my clients ride in the snow at least once/week. Nothing is better for smoothing out the pedal stroke, it also teaches you to relax the upper body while under load and become energy efficient on the bike. It's not always about watts, it's about learning to go fast.

After skating the 40k Daniels summit loop on Saturday in super soft snow every bike ride should be relatively easy. I have really been enjoying winter this year and getting a lot of good exercise in a variety of ways. Being a bike racer the variety is kind of minimal during the summer so it is nice to mix things up and still stay fit.

It's dumping again so today I think I will burn a lap on my back yard AT loop, work on finishing the up stairs bedrooms, play in the snow with Eva, and maybe sneak in a little snow ride throughout the neighboorhood.

tomorrow's looking like a good day for powder!

2 below

The other morning I rode to work and it was -2 F on my digital thermometer at home, I imagine it was 5-10 degrees below that in the canyon bottom. I was able to keep everything warm but my hands so I have a sweet new glove set up on the way that should take me well into Arctic temperatures.

Skied some turns at the Canyons today and found a few stashes of good snow. It seems that most of that resort was designed more for 10,000 sq ft cabins and the real estate market than for skiing, long run outs and tons of dumb bridges. I miss Park West.

this is a serious winter post

Tomorrow am heading to Daniels to skate the 40k loop, more winter fun!

camped

As fox would say 15 hrs of trail in 3 days, yeeaa! You can't beat meeting new people and riding new trail in southern Utah in the middle of January. I think it should be a tradition.

pic of rog by Adam

Now back to winter and ready to get back to skiing. Who is up for mtn dell tomorrow afternoon?

Anyone looking for a skate set up I am looking to unload a full setup including Solomon pilot boots (40 3/8, around 8 men) and Rossignol xium skis/pilot bindings (cold/hard flexed for 140-160 lbs) with some carbon poles. All good shape.

Also thinking about a good long cold snow bike ride this Saturday, who's in?

dinner run

Last night the samurai and I burned a lap on my back yard ski run and he has all the high tech gadgetry to document the trip. Nearly 2000 vertical from door to door. The snow was as good as I have seen it.

My next run will be to ski home from work via the red butte towers along the ridge and drop into freeze creek to my house.

50's in dixie this weekend. Powder one day, red dirt the next.

creamy

Woke up with a little head cold and decided the best remedy would be powder turns all day at DV followed by home made cookies with my girls, works better than zinc!

five

word on the street is I've been tagged, who started this anyway?



5 things you likely don't or even care to know about me but will read anyway because you don't have anything better to do:



1. I was completely buried in an avalanche on new years eve day of 2003. A crazy storm blew in and it was white out conditions as I made my way down towards mill D from Reynolds peak. We broke a few cornices off earlier in the day into Reynolds bowl and knew it was sketchy so we went down the ridge into some milder slopped trees. About mid way down, the slope broke away at what must have been a wind blown tree well. It was only about 20 ft wide and not steep enough to slide so we thought but I took a ride through the trees swimming on top and dodging the big ones, as soon as we hit the flats it engulfed me from behind and I found myself cemented in over my head. I had opened an air pocket with my arms which gave me some room to wiggle my wrists and one hand was able to pop through the surface. By the time anyone got to me I had dug myself out to my waist. Craziest thing ever, I thought I was dead. I will never forget my first thoughts when everything stopped moving.



2. When at home I prefer to sit down and pee.



3. In the winter of '89 I put together my first cyclocross bike from a Stella road bike that used to be my dads. I was not able to remove the original cranks so I cut them off with a torch and welded on a set of steel 2 piece cranks to get better gearing. I did not know anything about cross but I used to rally that bike in the snow and muck all fall and winter so I didn't have to clean my new mountain bike. Don't remember what happened to it.



4. I eat cold cereal for breakfast every morning with a scoop of peanut butter on top. Usually I have raisin bran or some other healthy base cereal topped with a snack cereal like cookie crisp. With each bite I can closely monitor the ratio of peanut butter/cereal. On holidays and weekends I add whipped topping for a special treat. If you try it you will be hooked.



5. I don't use technology to monitor training. No HR monitor, computer, GPS, power meter, watch, altimeter, accelerometer, inclinometer, etc, etc. I rely on my sensations only. In the past I have used it all and even relied heavily on a HR monitor but found it did not tell me anything I didn't already know. Last summer I played with a power meter but again found I knew what it was going to say. If I had unlimited time and energy then I might more objectively monitor training load but I would rather spend my off bike time with my girls.

my call:
jared i, greggy g, kday, sager, and ohran via Art