Alina's list for Santa

Connor and Great G'ma Grace

Alina and her cousin Connor

Alina's K class photo

poor iPhone picture of a print photo, but gives you an idea. looks like a nice summer day...-7F outside now.

1st day on the mountain for us

Danny MacAskill - Way BackHome

this is one of the most talented riders (of any kind of bicycle) I have EVER seen. mind-blowing.

night ski tour with Ruby

since I can't escape work tomorrow to sample the deep snow, I went out tonight on Turk's trail for a nice tour with Ruby. the snow was beautiful!

Alina's violin recital, no Facebook req'd

alright alright. Helen reminded me that my wonderful in-laws aren't on Facebook (and may not ever be). So here's a YouTube embedded version. Unfortunately, I missed the first couple of seconds, incl her bow.

USGP New Belgium Cup

some pics of this past Saturday's big cyclocross race up in Ft Collins. super muddy, with about 2" of snow from a couple days prior melting on the course. About time we had proper cross conditions! I didn't register early enough, and didn't have enough points to get a call up, so I was pack fodder in the 35+ Open race from the beginning, starting in about 58th place out of 80 starters. I managed to ride fairly well, only crashed once, and finished 23rd. i would like to think had i started in the top 20, I would have finished top 15 or so, but who knows. Anything could have happened out there, as the greasy mud and snow had me guessing lines almost every lap. Nothing to brag home about, but nothing to be embarrassed about either.

Alina's violin recital

trick here is you need to be on Facebook, and a FRIEND of mine, to view this. SO, if you're not connecting with me on Facebook, please do!

Alina's violin recital

Alina at 5yo check up

shot coming! :(

Wednesday Worlds in Boulder

took this from Greg Keller, aka MudAndCowbells

Wednesday Morning, Boulder from jamie kripke on Vimeo.

Lini's Halloween costumes

family, cyclocross, trailrunning & Halloween wknd at the Hills

One of the two biggest wknds in Colorado cyclocross was this past weekend. Saturday brought the Colorado Cross Classic, held out at the infamous Boulder Reservoir, home of sand and tire-stabbing goatheads. Prior to the race we dropped off Alina with Mary for the day, and then I dropped off Helen to meet up with a huge group of elite trailrunners for a big 30mi run. I was so happy she was able to get in on a group run with some fast people. I always can find some friends to train with, but for Helen it is not as easy, esp up here in Breck. I mozied over to the Boulder Reservoir to get my warm-up on. I had a great start, held on strong and ended up 10th out of over 70 starters. Pretty stoked on that considering it was a Cross Cup points race with a stacked field.



After Helen's run she enjoyed a great walk with her Grandma Grace (G3 to Alina). I met up with the family up at Bill & Mary's house around 5:30. Surprisingly, there was no smoke in the air from the previous day's Dome Fire below their home in Boulder Canyon. As usual, Bill & Mary prepared a great meal, this time it was wahoo fish tacos. Bill made me a Patron margarita to get things rolling.


I got to check out the fancy new induction range/convection oven Bill recently installed. It is beautiful!


Was nice to see George, Grace, Elaine and her bf Tyler as well.


Saturday eve, it was so easy to fall asleep with a hard race in my legs, a margarita, some fish tacos, and some delicious angel food cake with pineapples. There was also some dark chocolate sauce that most people added to their cake. Soon, we were decorating, trying for the perfect presentation. George added a lettuce leaf for a garnish after Elaine & Tyler reminded us we need some more color.


Sunday morning we awoke to a gorgeous morning on Sugarloaf in Boulder. I just love this view, would be hard to get tired of.


Alina enjoyed a fun morning with everyone while I headed out to Flatirons Crossing Mall for the Boulder Cup, another huge race at an unusual venue, a big shopping mall on the side of the Boulder-Denver turnpike. Holy smokes this course was tough. Multiple crashes, a poor start, and a partially rolled front tubular tire had me in the middle to back of the pack all day. Ended up 28th. Bah. We had a fantastic time, and the weather was perfect, though the Front Range is in dire need of some moisture!

freak of nature

One of our best hanging plants ever, these pansies were oh so hardy, even handling many easy freezes and some early snowfalls. About a week ago, with our first big snow and hard cold, the poor guy froze solid and has since been thrown away.

Alina's birthday party

On Saturday the 23rd, we held a party for Alina at the Carter Park pavilion in Breck (yes, her b-day is the 24th). A bit of snow that eve prior and that day made the indoor venue a wise choice.

Aspen Lodge CX

On October 17th, we drove about an hour north of Bill & Mary's house to a new venue for a cyclocross race, just south of Estes Park and pretty much right across the street from Longs Peak. some cool pics. Terrible start saw me clawing back to a 10th place. Not a result I'd normally be too happy with, but as competitive as this year's CO Cross Cup races have been, I'll take it.

Belgian pumpkin waffle

Mary enjoying my cyclocross race!