Hoo sier Daddy Pass

Brandon, Oakey, Brother Dan and I rode from Kenosha Pass to Breckenridge today. Brandon and Oakey are trying to look pretty...

Oakey has a friend who has a friend who owns this awesome little house in downtown Breckenridge. We woke up this morning to a frigid 20 degrees and a good dusting of snow.

The mountain looked ski-able.
After some uncertainty and debate over breakfast at Daylight Donuts, we decided to embark on an epic ride, despite the intimidating temperature and snow.It was beautiful, the leaves are in their peak color right now.
The majority of the ride was a ton of fun. However, I didn't bring enough clothes so I did become unhappy and cold when we were descending through puddles of melted snow in the woods.

Overall though, it was a great ride!

Lost Wages

I am finally able to blog. The internets at our hotel in Las Vegas were $12 a day! I am so happy to be back home. I can't really open my heart to Las Vegas. My teammate, Anna Milkowski explained to me that I need to embrace Vegas. I should be happy that the mayhem of Vegas stays in Vegas, concentrated in that area. Maybe that's what they really mean by "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"?

Yes, 10 minutes was enough of that city for me, however, the 'cross race was a ton of fun. Half of Boulder was in Vegas. It's always nice to see familiar faces in foreign places. It was my debut race as a Velo Bella, and the team is awesome! However, the race didn't go too well for me. I had an awesome start, and with Janis and Nat's help, inched my way up to the front row at the start. I was on Georgia's wheel, which was exhilarating. But I only moved back from there. About half-way through, I hit a rut, went over the handle bars, and landed on my head. That was scary - but fortunately all that was damaged was my helmet. After the crash, our director, Alex asked me some 'do you have a concussion questions'.

"What day is it?" - "I don't know, but I don't think I would know either way"
"Where did you go to high school?" - "Burke Mtn Academy"
"Is that true?" - "Hopefully"
"Who is our president?" - "An a$@hole"
"Very good, just chill out here."

Excel Sports and everyone involved put on an incredible race. I think they were very pleased with the turn-out, and I think it'll be huge for Excel.

I apologize for not taking any pictures. You can see some here...

Interbike was over-whelming. I had no idea what it would be like. It reminded me of walking around a giant mall, but every store was a bike store. I suppose that would be a dream for some? It was a lot to take in, but incredible to meet the women and men behind the products. Speaking of which, Sabine Dukes, the co-founder of Velo Bella-Kona was honored yesterday at Interbike for her contributions to women's cycling.

So, long-winded, some fun racing, Vegas was cool for 10 minutes, but I am happy to be away from the slot machines and second-hand smoke.

Settler's Park

This rainy day canceled our plans to ride, so Beth and I went on a long and excruciating hike in Settler's Park.

We even did some rock climbing.

Beth taught me that mossy rocks are more expensive because they look more natural.
Well, we had every intention of embarking on an epic hike, but thunder and lightning scared us off the trail.
We took the 'secret trail' back to the car.

We passed one of the coolest gardens in Boulder,

one of the coolest houses in Boulder, built into the rocks,

and the coolest door.
Then we stopped at Amante for recovery food from our 30 minute stroll. It always amazes me what you can do with foam.

It's about time...

The Hurricane has succumbed to blogger pressure.

Ultimate Cruiser

I saw this bike cruising around town a few weeks ago. It's now for sale in South Boulder! If you're interested, click on the picture for the phone number on the sign. It is well equipped with a grill, cooler, light, and bell. The grill has two pans inside it, so you could even make sweet potato fries. It really is the ultimate Thursday night cruiser.

Dad's Project

How does a retired man not have time to visit his wonderful kids in Colorado? One would think that once you retire, you'll have bountiful amounts of time on your hands. That's not the case for my dad. He likes to create new projects for himself. Sometimes the projects make sense, other times I wonder why. His latest is 'restoring' our 1987 Toyota pick-up.You may not be able to see a truck in the picture because he camouflaged it. From living through many winters in VT, with the salty roads, the body of this truck has wasted away. Dad built a wooden bed for it, which helped, although the front is deteriorating as well. So he bought a new, used '87 Toyota pick-up.
Apparently this black beauty has not braved the number of winters that our camo-truck has. However, the interior was in terrible shape. It was coated in dog hair and other not-so-nice things. Dad removed the 'like-new' interior from our truck, and swapped them. Now we have two '87 pick-ups - one for parts, and one that runs ok. The new truck does have some pretty pimped out bling on it. There are side steps to get into the cab (nice for short people). There is a cap on the bed. There is a visor over the windshield. It has a pretty cool rear bumper. And the speakers are actually good. Overall, good work.

The Kingdom of Jericho

After about a 3 week stay in Vermont, I flew back to the Bubble of Boulder on Friday. Before I left, I meandered around our yard, to all our favorite places as children, which used to seem so big and vast.

Dad was out mowing on the Kubota tractor, which used to be a monster to me. I remember sitting in the bucket loader, pretending it was the mouth of some enormous living creature. Sometimes Dad would take me on rides with me sitting on his lap. We own a Christmas tree farm, so Dad has a huge amount of work to do, tending to the trees, to his garden, to the house, etc.

Here's the rushing waterfall. Really, it's just a babbling brook. The game used to be to jump across it. One winter I was walking around in the woods and came to cross the brook, and my foot fell into the rapids of this river. Of course I thought it was the end of the world and thought I would probably drown, or freeze, or be swept down the current. I think my sock got a little wet, and that was the extent of it.

Here's the trail my Dad and Brother Dan cleared. I used to think it was an epic and dangerous single-track mountain bike trail. I don't see it as dangerous anymore, but I suppose it is still epic.

Here's Nana. After some careful and mathematical measuring, I think we've determined that I am actually taller than her. She's the coolest grandma ever, and I was psyched to be able to spend the week with her and Dad after Dan's wedding.
Here's the house, which still seems ginormous to me.

Burkie Bunch

Today I met up with some of the old crew from Burke. Most of Burke has migrated to UVM in Burlington, VT, which makes it easier to catch up with everyone.

Tasha, Rei, Annie, Jay and I met for lunch at a great little hippie sandwich shop called "Four Corners of the Earth". Laurel flew back from a US Ski Team camp in Chile today, then drove to Burlington to see us.

Years down the road, we're all going to return as staff members to Burke...

Dan & Nicole's Wedding Day

September 8, 2007

Dan and I went on a mountain bike ride before their wedding ceremony at 2:30pm.

I was obliged to be the person he spent his last hours as a bachelor with.

He had specific instructions from Nicole to not break his face, arms or legs.

After riding through this stream (which Dan fell into) we came across this rock with this etching. I've seen the pattern as a necklace - I think it means something. Anyone know? We thought it may be a sign for Dan to get married.

Then we got all dolled up and beautiful. Dan looks nervous.

Then rings and words were exchanged and Dan and Nicole were married.

Bolly and Milly were jealous of their ride.After smiling for oh-so-many pictures, we ventured back over to the Inn at Essex for the reception. It was a beautiful ceremony - very intimate. Throughout dinner there were a number of eloquent toasts, and many tears of happiness were shed.
Below, Pepper lectures to Nana about her habit of hoarding all the pints of Ben & Jerry's. Aunt Deb looks on, hoping that Nana will share.

Rehearsal Dinner

Friday kicked off the wedding festivities with the rehearsal dinner.

Nicole made us wear name tags for our tiny family wedding. Even the bride and groom felt the need to declare themselves. Cousin Billy made it known that he is single (at a family wedding?!?!)

We rehearsed at the church in Underhill, then made our way to Essex for dinner at the New England Culinary Institute where I overly-indulged myself with taste-bud-blowing food.

This is cousin Molly and me after too many Oreo souffles. Molly just graduated from Officer's Candidate School, will be going into the Marines, and is aiming to become a pilot!

Here's cousin Captain Billy, pretending to be a chef. He's in the Merchant Marine Academy in Long Island.

Me and Billy, sippin' it and kickin' it.

Samosa-man

Sabra is training for Xterra Nationals. Today we went swimming. Well, she went swimming, and because I don't know how, I kayaked beside her. It was her first time wearing a wetsuit, and quite an ordeal to put it on.

I met a new friend.Sabe jumped in.

And I paddled this butt around.
Sabe swam.

We were doing an out-and-back. On the way back the waves got real big. I was nervous a tsunami might come through.

After swimming, we went to visit the Samosa-man. He was at the Jericho farmer's market.

And we ate samosas. They are little fried pockets of heaven. The Samosa-man makes a few different flavors. There is a steak and cheese samosa, a vegetable samosa, a turkey and vegetable samosa, a chicken and cheese samosa, etc.