Dairy Queen For The Soul...

Springtime in the Rockies...

A little known fact: March 21 and September 21 you can actually balance an egg on it's end all day long. It's the equinox. This time-consuming experiment I actually succeeded at during college; while partaking in other questionable activities. Think about it - how long does it take to balance an egg on its head? Takes like 6 months.

Winter has yet to relinquish its hold. I'm just glad my life is a place where dogs and cats both get along... The warmth brings us all together...

Springtime in the Rockies means primo spring skiing. And spring skiing is a lot like.........winter skiing, except with less of a need to justify beer...

Like I said earlier - questionable activities.....general hoodluming comes to mind.......

For years, no decades, I've strived to describe the experience of tree skiing to my non-skier friends and family. Words cannot describe the excitement of bouncing turns through a well-placed glade. To drop in to anything - anything a resort has to offer. Well my friends, I've saved the best for last...

Take a run with me................push play..............

Keep in mind, by the way, I had a non-gloved hand holding the camera, and both gloves and both ski poles in the other hand. I still managed to evade hitting anything. Sound - giddiness at the end.

The 7th Wonder...

I mentioned a few weeks ago, our Tuesday Night Rides have begun again; which are essentially 1.5 - 2 hour race-pace intervals for some of us racers, pro or otherwise, who sit behind a desk all day.

You could look at these training rides in two ways: On the one hand, we're all well rested after a hard 9 hours in a chair. On the other hand, going from sedentary to redline can do nothing but shorten your lifespan - but let's get to the point.

When this guy shows up most folks fall apart like a wet paper bag. Meet Norm.

1995 U.S. National Champion Norm. Beat the big man Lance Armstrong Norm. Former Olympian Norm. Former 7-Eleven and Motorola Team member Norm. He's ridden the Giro; he's ridden the Tour.....Norm.

This guy shows up and you better have eaten your Wheaties cause he'll rip your legs off faster than you can say, "Asalamalakem."

Suuuure, on a mountain bike he'll flounder like Rasmussen during the '05 Tour time trial, but put him on the skinnies and he'll show you why he once held the U.S. Hour Record. Didn't mean that, sir... Rasmussan was an elegent time-trialist.

Sorry for the techno-speak, but to have stories like his...........

(Disclaimer statement: Norm Alvis is the nicest, most modest cyclist out there and I hope he doesn't read ths post for fear of retribution next week)

The World Through Somniferous Almond Eyes...

Over yonder shootin' range. We salute.

The text message went something like:

TWW: Dd. Hb rde t grh mye berfy o - wlmps o wald snup?

E: Wha?

TWW: How bout ride sat. barr or willi-wald? Snak pak!

E: How bout both?

TWW: Word.

Good things come to those who climb. Despite the views, the descents are what keep you coming back.

And one particular local descent is littered with about 150 errosion-controlling water bars that double as Super Mario Bros. obstacles... for the adventerous, anyway...

Master this fluffy souffle and you'll earn some serious confidence points; holding the brake lever like a trigger this sucker keeps you on your toes...

Tip O' The Day:

Learn to work on your own stuff - this ain't rocket science, it's bikes: bolts, cogs, and the occasional brake fluid. The Mrs. and I have 6 bikes betwixt the two of us. Ok 5 are mine. But if I had a nickel for every time I turned a wrench, swapped a fork, or bled the discs, I'd be the U.S. Treasury - Geitner or not...

Good news: I got through my first crash on the new rig and we both escaped unscathed. What does it mean, by the way, when you're more concerned about smacking your frame on a rock than you are about your own safety?

Apparently there is a huge contingent of Oz fans out there and it is in fact Guild... The Lollipop GUILD....






I stand corrected...

We Represeeent The Lollypop Kids...

Whoa....

So I just got back from a Tuesday evening mountain bike ride - you know - those weekly hour-long bunch-sprints that leave you deflated in the gutter alongside the road and I couldn't help but think of the LollyPop Kids song from the Wizard of Oz. Then I got to thinking, I wonder what the Stunt Double is up to?

Like I said......whoa.....

Yoga = Pain...

Yoga is f@&#! hard.

I just got back from my first and last yoga session of the offseason. And while I'll be the first to profess about the benefits of yoga across many levels, there just aren't enough hours in the day for it to be a regular part of my reportiore. And that just makes it harder. Let me tell you; I've got a thing or two to learn about flexibility...

So you spend over an hour in an airtight room that's set to about 186 degrees and humid, put 50 or 60 hardbodies in it (I mean c'mon - it's impossible not to look around), and move around like monkeys while you sweat out 70% of your body composition........then they expect you to drive home...

But lucky for me these days I've got an extra hour of daylight to start hanging it all out there. And with just about 5 weeks left until the season opener, I've got a head-on collision with some serious intensity coming up.

But no matter how much I try during the offseason, I always seem to come into the first couple races walking a high tightrope over a sea of self-doubt. Then one day those symptoms fade and the parachutes open. Fit turns to fast. It's comin,' I can feel it.

Speed Enough Can't Liberate...

In other news...

I got three different types of skiing in over the course of two days. And winter rolls right along............

Projection: The U.S Forest service predicts that within 5 years, 98% of Colorado's lodgepole pine forests will be destroyed by the pine beetle. One benefit of this catastrophe: better glade skiing...

Final parts for the New Bike are arriving daily...

Any time you can get handbuilt wheels from a 20+ year wheel-building veteran, take advantage. It's a little like the holandaise sauce on eggs benedict: go without it and it's just a poached egg on an English muffin with a little roughage in between.

Winter rolls on indeed....

Changing Of The Guard...

This day is one of my favorite days of the year. I call it, "New Bike Day." I've been fortunate enough to have one of these days once a year for about the past six...

And my riding buddies get to suffer through my euphoria as my legs, no matter how tired, celebrate the exuberance of a ride on a brand new race machine.

Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. 22 lbs of pure Formula-1-ready carbon fiber, ready to roll. Built for one thing and one thing only: Doing things as fast as humanly possible.

Unfortunately for teammate KB, he spent his recent "New Bike Day" breaking his; and is learning first-hand all about Gary Fisher's Frame Replacement Program. (Note to self: Aluminum dents. Carbon fiber splinters. Do not crash.)

Rarely are mountain bike rides as costly as that one was...

And with the Front Range's recent May-like weather pattern, it's been easy to get out and stay out. 10 hours and 11,000ft of vertical over a coupla days is some serious caloric depletion. Funny how Fido always knows where it hurts...

And all of this is just in time. With next week's time change, the Tuesday night training rides kick back into session for '09...

Podium spots don't come cheap, so it's time to pay the piper...