2005

as the year comes to a close, like anyone else I look back and reflect. A great year for Helen and I. Alina of course is the big headline. What a joy she is, and how lucky we feel to have her in our lives now. Helen had PRs (not PBRs) at Leadville 100, Lake City, Mtn Masochist. many snowshoe victories and other great trail races. She was lucky to still be hooked up with Nike, which helped her travel to some trail ultras out of the area. I had a good season as well. good finish in the Boulder Stage Race crit. some good indiv races in the SMC, finishing 3rd overall and on the podium. my only wins came in a couple early season races. and to end the season 6th at states, after Alina, was a good way to conclude the 05 race season. Work going well for both of us. Hopefully we can build a garage in the spring.

xmas

was fun at the Hills. Alina of course received an unimaginable amount of presents. I of course ate enough to feed a small country. The weather was amzingly warm, in the 60s, which made for a great bike ride up to NCAR on Table Mesa. Kinda felt weird hiking up Sugarloaf in a short sleeve shirt on Christmas Day, but I enjoyed it. Food was fantastic, esp. Bill's pecan-encrusted wild salmon served over wild rice and red char. Now I'm back at work for one of the busiest check-in days of the entire year. Weather seems real good, dry roads now, with 3-6" expected tonight.

Waiting for Santa...

 

the crux of the season

work is as difficult now as it gets, but all in all things are going very smoothly. We haven't had any major problems or building disasters yet, which is nice. The frigid temps we were experiencing the first half of the month have given way to comfortable December temps in the 20s and 30s. Not bad at all. Just started working at the brewery again a few weeks back. Wednesday nights will be my gig. Pretty good night to work, and I still have my 2 days off. As simple as the food running job is, something about it is pretty appealing. I think the fact that it is a very black-and-white job, with tangible benefits, makes a big difference. Also, after leaving the office and going over to the restaurant, it is a refreshing change of pace, seriousness and scenery.
We woke up pretty early this morning so Helen and Alina could get packed up and grab a bagel and coffee with me on their way out of town. It was great to spend some quality time with Alina in bed. She had just nursed, and was wide-eyed, smiley and full of coos. What a great time she is.

2 months

have gone by already with Alina. She had her check-up this morning. All was well with her. Of course she wasn't a fan of the 5 immunizations she had to receive. It was hard to see her cry so much, but I should just get used to it. We have a new strategy with the bottle, so we'll have to see how it works out after the holiday weekend when we're back from Boulder.
Sunday I rode in Fruita with a good crew. It was nice, and wasn't as cold as we thought it would be. Yesterday I got up on the hill for some powder runs. Great conditions for December in Breck.

on top of peak 9

get off my blanket NOW!

 

beautiful morning...

a spectacular moon was beaming over the Ten Mile Range this morning. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get my tripod set up; the image was a bit blurred b/c the moon was so far away. Still an incredible view this morning.

 
 

she hasn't been too receptive of the bottle lately. hopefully that changes friday...

here we go...

our season really ramps up this weekend. Lots of pre-holiday bookings this year, along with the Grand Prix, make for a big weekend. We are doing well the last few weeks especially with bookings, pacing about 13% ahead of last season. It is sweet to have a good early snow season. Business has definitely reacted. So have I, as winter is no longer something I dread.

BC snowshoe race

Helen's got #1 in the books now. Her first race back after Alina, and she managed a respectable 9th place in the 10K. Probably about 5min off her normal pace, but she was happy to get back in action. Alina and I had a fun day walking around the village, taking a tour of the Hyatt and window shopping some. It was a nice sunny day, and the temps were back into the 20s. It was real important for Helen today, and I was glad I was able to be there. The more she gets back into her running and racing, the more for me too come spring and summer. Except for a mini-melt on the way out on the bus, Alina was very well behaved in her Baby Bjorn.

 
 

mom got me these pants...

 
 

peeing in style...

cool bathroom. courtesy of cross tim's blog

Imperial Express

here's a shot of the top of Pk 8 and Imperial Bowl, from my back door. If you click on the image to see the larger one, you may be able to see parts of what is currently the highest chairlift in North America. Can you make out the lift towers and the lift terminal at the top? I was lucky to hop on and ride it Sunday. As much as I was opposed to it (it will be a bump run soon), it was pretty fun. Ironically, it was not as bitter cold as I had expected, as it's sheltered from the wind pretty nicely below the ridge. Beautiful turns the whole way down.

 

coldest morning yet

this morning it was -21 at about 6:30am. ouch. looks nice out with the sun though. we haven't seen too much sun here in the last couple of weeks. looks like a good morning for some photos. i wonder how many gallons of gas I use letting my car warm up each morning?

 

 

 
 

sleepy 6 weeks

this swing is amazing

 

loving my exercise...

 

6 weeks

Alina is 6 weeks tonight. People say how it flies by, or how it just seemed like yesterday when their child was born. But to me it does seem like about 6 weeks. She seems to be doing very well. It is pretty amazing to notice small changes with her, and big ones too, like the co-sleeper. She is very expressive. 

one season's over, another is here

well saturday ended my 8-mo long cycling season. cx states at Xilinx proved to be pretty good. about 40 guys lined up to contest the 3s. starting in the 2nd row is always less than ideal, but I had a pretty good start which saw me go safely into the top 10 for the first lap. my barrier skills are still nowhere near where they should be, but my handling on the bike was pretty solid. hopping the ditch is always a highlight of that course. i was dangling between 4th and 7th most of the race. the last lap I tripped over the barrier, lost my chain and then hopped back on about 5 yards in front of Tim. As we got back on the road in the finishing straight, he jumped, but I grabbed his wheel and came around to nip him at the finish line. pretty exciting for me, as I seldom win any contested sprints. a happy note to end the season on. Now I can look forward to fattening up over the Holidays, and then maybe getting back on the road bike around Christmas in Boulder.
As the race season ends, now we're entering the Holidays and the busiest time of year here at GWL. Things seem to be going well thus far. I was treated Sunday to about 2hrs of riding good snow. My luck continued as I stumbled on to the Imperial chair. I was surprised at how pleasant the weather was at 12,000', while the T-bar was the typical ice-blasted misery. Perhaps there was a temp inversion, but it was pretty pleasant (for being 7 degrees when I left my house) riding up the highest chairlift in North America. Another milestone was reached over the weekend...Alina is now sleeping in her co-sleeper! We now just need her to take the bottle, and we'll be doing well.

6 days...

of snow, and still going. while I was slow to get excited about winter, I've turned the corner and am really psyched about it now. having a powder morning on the hill today certainly didin't hurt either. this has to be the best early season in memory for me. i was riding under the super connect, and it was like mid-winter up there. looking at our bookings and web traffic as well, we really are seeing some benefits at work too. unless the roads are terrible, saturday is the last cross race of the season. motivation to ride a bike is barely there, let alone race one, but they are so much fun, how can I not?

my daily workout

 

check out my jeans

 

i am real happy

 

i am happy

 

cool