amazing

that is Alina. It is so cool to see how she can sometimes express herself so very well, yet she's just 2. And of course she is also in her terrible 2s, so she does test us often. I'm slightly tougher than Helen in this regard, but still a sap for my baby girl at times. Luckily she seems to be sleeping back in her own bed tonight.

Testing video upload again

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Resolution is horrible, but I think that's more my Treo than Blip.tv Sent via Treo by AT&T

stick a fork in me...

I'm done. at least that's how I feel about the rest of the cross season. with 6+" called for this weekend, I am not making the drive down to the Front Range. I do think, major blizzard aside, I will go to Xilinx to race states on 12/9. It will be cool (and painful) to see how badly I suffer (and how much I drool) after only riding my bike 3-4 times in 4 weeks. Who cares, it's fun!

getting excited again about snow sports. think I will get out the xc skis for an early season tour up on Sallie Barber, then some turns on the snowboard tomorrow and Sunday.

Waves and snow

Waiting at Grease Monkey for an oil change for Helen's car. We had about 5" of snow this am. I saw some cool 1-2' waves on a windy and socked in Lake Dillon this morning. One doesn't usually use the word waves very often in Summit County. With the snow, wind, fog and rough water, it looked more like Norway than Colorado.

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self-portrait

out shooting pics again this morning.

another shot from 11,000'

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another shot from the plane on last week's ride from Key West back to Ft. Lauderdale. The scenery was amazing....water, islands, coral. Our pilots looked to be maybe 23-24 years old!

where's the snow

the holiday week was good at work, just waiting now for some snow to make the mountains more fun. yesterday I rode for just over an hour on my cross bike, it was nice after 10 days off the bike. last Friday was Black Friday. Today was Cyber Monday. Unlike many Americans, I didn't make an online purchase while at work. They say over $700M was spent online today for the Holidays. now that the singletrack here is done til May, I look towards riding my mtb down on the Front Range, and snowboarding soon up on the mountain. Not off to a great start with the snow, I see on th enews our snowpack is about 55% of average for this time of the year. Let's hope that number changes in the next couple of weeks.

Beechcraft 1900

This is the 18-seat little prop we flew on for the 45min flight from Ft Lauderdale to Key West.

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This is it

Where it's all supposed to happen. We've had some random events, and she wants to go sit and try often, but it doesn't always work out.

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Sent via Treo by AT&T

testing blip.tv cross-posting

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more

 
 
 

some Key West shots

 
 
 

Testing mobile Blogger

I've uploaded pics from my phone to my blog, now just a simple test to see if I can make a post via an email from my Treo.

happy turkey day!

we had a great time last week in Key West. 80 every day, and lots of sun. even today, with the big cold front sweeping across most of the nation, south Florida looks to be the only place in the 70s and 80s. it would surely get old, but for a week every year it's nice. but now that we know Alina isn't a huge beach fan, I think we might replace Florida with Arizona. Much much shorter travel (1hr versus 4hr), just as warm, but no humidity, and lots of cool places to run and bike also.

now it looks like I am back to reality. working on a Holiday (I'm actually pretty used to it by now), little snow, and 0 degrees right now! we are going over to Danny and Maria's house later this afternoon for Thanksgiving. I have some more Key West pics I need to load on here this evening. I will try out Blogger's new slideshow feature if I can figure it out quickly.

rough night

last night was a rough one. From about 1a-4a, Alina woke up screaming every 15min. we're pretty sure it was because some of her teeth are bothering her. Helen and I didn't mind this too much. What did concern us, however, were the adjacent rooms. Those poor people (we think both rooms are occupied) are paying over $300 a night, and they almost assuredly weren't able to sleep through Alina's crying. Oh well. :)

now we're hanging out in bed watching Disney playhouse together. i keep forgetting how cool the cartoons are now compared to when I used to watch them. the animation is amazing!
Helen is at the gym running on the treadmill. the winds aren't out there today like yesterday, so we're anticipating a nice beach day! more later. I am going to try out the mobile blogging feature.

and some more

 
 
 
 

some more

 
 

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Key West photos

today a cold front came in and it was only 75, but windy. water temp still in upper 70s. we went out to breakast and ahad a great breakfast at about 1/3 of the cost of the hotel breakfast. afterward we walked over to the southernmost point in the continental US and had a fellow tourist snap a photo. i think i was at this exact same point about 20 years ago with my family. we then walked around as much as Alina would let us, stopped at a few funky art galleries and a local coffee shop. we then stopped at a cool little Cuban food stand and got some fresh coconut water, and I also had a grouper sandwich. yum.

 
 
 

off we go

tomorrow evening we'll be in Key West, hopefully enjoying 80 degrees and sunshine. work is getting more hectic, and sales are doing well, which is outstanding considering the lack of snow. big donut hole has already cast its magic spell on the ring of fire they call summit county. they are calling for a few inches this weekend, and perhaps several snowy days next week. that'd be great. even as a diehard cyclist who can't ever seem to get enough riding, I can officially say I am ready for the snow.

long plane ride to Ft Lauderdale, then a short prop flight from there to Key West. looking forward to seeing the keys from the sky.

more singletrack, no snow

well I opted out of the ICCC cross race in Highlands Ranch on Saturday. It was a really good decision, as I rode over 21mi of singletrack out on Blair Witch, the CO Trail, the flumes, Mushroom Trail, and many great others. Even at 8a it was already above freezing, so I didn't need to wear much more than usual. Today i did a similar ride with Dave, and it was shocking how many other bikers I saw out on the trails. Even with some local ski areas open, with little to no natural snow around, many locals are realizing that some trails are still in good shape, even on November 11th. I'm getting psyched about our trip to Key West next week. 80 degrees and sunshine sounds good to me.

Breckenridge Ski Area opens tomorrow!

looks okay from far away. we do need snow badly though, as much as I am enjoying riding the trails!

trailside

You can see the stark contrast between the bone-dry (and perfectly ridable) south facing slopes, and the snow-covered north-facing and high elevation slopes.

Up on the Side Door...

mid-morning lunch break! November 8th, and a lot of the lower trails are still riding well!

Boulder UCI cx wknd pics

Helen took some great photos at the Boulder Rez race this past Saturday.

click here to see the web album.

a few of my favs below:

 
 
 
 

more single & natural light

Dave and I hooked up for an hour and a half of singletrack riding out at the Frisco peninsula. It was only 27 degrees, but the gloves and wool jersey from Pearl Izumi really work well. Thanks Bob!

out this morning shooting a 9600 sq ft, $3M house on the slopes. only about 1/3 of the way done. need to go back when the light is better.

on the lower level, as I was turning off all the lights, this golden light in a hallway caught my attention. it was strong sunlight bouncing off the rock of the house to the north, and bouncing back through a window. cool stuff.

on the Upper Flume, at the top of stock run downhill

in the meadow, looking across the valley towards the ski area, which is holding what little snow it has quite well. they are saying maybe some mountain snow here on Sunday. So I have a few more chances to ride dry dirt before winter really sets in up here. too bad the camera on my Treo 750 is not much better than my Razr.

singletrack in Breck, still!

I took a nice mtb ride this morning during work. The fisherman's singletrack on the banks of the Blue River was still nice and dry. Brilliant sunshine, no wind, temps in the upper 40s. Pretty darn perfect for riding a bike in November at almost 10,000'.

Boulder 'cross wknd

this was it, the weekend I was looking forward to all fall for cross. and unfortunately, my results weren't what i was looking for. Saturday was the Redline Cup out at Boulder Rez. Typical sandy sections, bumpy grass, some goatheads, pavement and some random flying course tape. They only called up top 10 in points to the line, so I was psyched to have a 2nd row starting position. After the whistle I was out comfortably in about 7th place. Wow I thought, amazing start. Soon Phenice and Yoder and some other fast dudes came by, but I didn't panic. For the rest of the race I was hovering around 12-15th, feeling okay, but not able to pick up any spots. With 2 to go my front tire flatted, right after the freakin' pit. So I had to ride about 3/4 lap on a soft front tire. Didn't exactly work so well on the turns! Afterwards with a new front wheel from the pit, it was just damage control, work on technique and get 'er done. That meant 39th out of 60 something. gross.
Next day was the Boulder Cup in S. Boulder at Harlow Flats park. A typical Euro course with tons of grass, plenty of hairpins, and some more damn sand. I thought it involved little to no technique, and required lots of power. Great, another one for the power riders. Although the legs didn't feel too great from the effort the day before, I've felt worse. I was 3rd row at the line, but nonetheless okay with it. The uphill slog on the pavement, which reminded me of the N. Boulder Park Crit, sorted us out quickly before the roundabout dumped us onto the grass. I was maybe 20-25th, stayed there for a bit, then flirted with 10-15th for a few laps, before finally settling in around 20th. A cracked WB (Ward Baker) passed me on the last lap, and I just maintained some to roll in 22nd. Not the top 15 I was looking for, but certainly in the top 1/3rd of a stacked field, so it didn't feel bad. The bike worked well, as did the 40psi I ran, that really made a difference and my tires hooked up well on the grassy hairpins. The fitness is struggling. No excuses outside, as we've been in about a 3week high pressure dome, so everything is bone dry out.

It was great to spend time at Mary & Bill's house again. We went to Zolo Friday night to celebrate Diana's 28th bday. Alina was a little fidgety, but otherwise we had a great time. Saturday night Bill bbq'd some delicious chicken. The pinot grigio was esp. good. As was the turkey sausage he cooked for me on Sunday morning.

Halloween pics

we had a good time trick-or-treating and all that stuff on Wednesday night. great safe n'hood with plenty of kids. thanks to the Breck PD for closing down the streets to vehicle traffic 4-7p that night.

Alina and her classmate (and neighbor) Alex




Alina and her friend Bella


Checking out mommy's bike, wearing her new sweater from Great Granny