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MLK Day at the zoo.  I forgot the stroller for Alana, perhaps a Freudian slip, i sooooo want her to tuffen up. She walked almost the whole way. I think she got stronger, I did til i cracked. The half mile carrying her from the petting zoo to the water cave was so tiring I contemplated tossing her to the Brown Wolf. We would not survive The Road.

happy girls with rock candy pops
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really happy, G sat for about 10 minutes and nursed hers

2nd time on the merry-go-round? 1st time feeling likc a triceratops jockey

listen to the giggle

The gospel I preach is they can pick a single ride or treat each visit to the zoo. Its less about saving money, and more about the cardinal virtues and the deadly sins. It leaves me room to be magnanimous, and rebuke G when she feigns entitlement. I saw the slide and knew G would choose it. She rode her bike from 105th St. to the golf course on Quartz Trail the other night, fearless of the chunk or the pitch. I asked her before the last gravelly descent what she needed to think about and she said ‘Staying balanced and holding the brakes.’

4 seconds never felt so good. Selling it to Alana that she would get her own treat too was not easy. Its hard being sub-38 inches.

4 hours non-stop = instant coma

I spent the seasonal slowdown meshing the outdoors with suburban cubicle hell. Verily, the girls did too. They can hate me when they are 16, but they love every minute of it now.

G and I did 3 rides on her new bike, the 2nd one 5 miles to my office on mups and bike lanes. She watched Netflix and ate Captain Crunch while I worked, then we rolled another 5 home. 100 yards from the end of rush hour traffic on FLW blvd, with one driveway left to cross, she got happy and squirrely and turned right into me, premature celebration like the one that nearly broke my thumb on the last 200 yards of Kiwanis. A lesson i will not forget, and neither will G. She bounced off me and into the street. I pulled her back onto the sidewalk while she screamed.  I’m still shaken, but how is she gonna learn to ride in the bike lane if she doesn’t practice? Teaching her to get into granny to climb the canal and bombing off it dispelled the fear of God racing through both of us. *smiles*

here are some bad videos of sessioning the tunnel at Shea\92nd.

The next ride we hit McPump, and the trail. 4 hours ripping the track and 2 1.5m laps on singletrack off the Long Loop – a good day for a tinyHuman and her new bike. She fell, she got up, she had snacks, she rode the jump line on her 20″. I rode it 20 times til i could land pointing down. Beckie rode the 29er and ran. Outdoor fun for everyone.

Alana has learned to run! Sorta. 20 feet at a time. She pumps her legs and slopadoodles 20 feet down the hall, nearly crashing, recovering, then slopadoodling another 20.

Alana rode to the Eagle and back on her 12 inch. She has no power in her stroke, but has begun to combine core with turning. We went down a 1% grade, me in front, stepping 2 steps back and 2 steps sideways, and her steering each direction after me chattering about that damn kid Dylan again. She did not dead-sailor and flop out of the saddle on turns, finally a sign that she is getting it. She began to get braking, when i say pedal forward, and pedal back. But those are similar and confusing words for a Podford; they process very slowly when the cpu connects to the leg api. Like G with her new bike, Alana gets better with more saddle time.

we pedaled, we sang, we played with the remote control car and climbed.

the last day of vacation we hiked Pinnacle Peak. G made it the whole way, albeit with some nudging. Alana did fine, just fine for such a beautiful little girl on such a big pitch.

the first day back at work i wanted to kill everyone and quit, not necessarily in that order. If I could have every day to play outside with my girls, it would not last long enough. I am strongly considering becoming a stay-at-home dad.

I’m so sick of lame-ass obituary drivel about ‘he died doing what he loved.’  I hate dead-legged interminable uphill slogging cold-sweating cramping fileting by catclaw and wondering how my wife is gonna rip me a new one cause i’m so late to NYE festivities. That would have been a horrible — terrible — death, and in my final moments of breathless frustration i would have screamed and cursed the Heavens and wondered why i was not at home playing Wii with the best little girls in the world.

The AZ Trail from the Picketpost TH outside Superior, to the Gila River and back. 41 miles, and we thought 7500 vf.  Turns out it was 9k, that extra 20% all stuffed into 10 miles on top of another 2500 vf., and about 3500 before that. I was doing great through the first 5 miles of the climb.  Easy reliable 15 min miles that steadily rolled off me. The last 5 punctured all reserves and left me completely and utterly shattered. I haven’t had my ass handed to me so badly in a couple years. The climb just kept going and going, and going. All I could think was ‘i have to get out of this canyon! i have to get out of this canyon!‘ When I finally did, my left leg locked up both ways. It cramped extending and it cramped contracting. I couldn’t spin out the cramp or be still with it. I flopped over on a switchback, trapped in cramps extending and contracting, and writhed on the trail for 20 seconds until i was able to grab my foot and pull my leg bent, whenceforth it cramped again and i had to stand up to prop my leg extended, whenceforth… This continued for 2 hours.

Other than all that, it was a primo day on primo trail

The trail is holistic, and follows the contours of the terrain so seamlessly i often couldn’t guess where it went around the next bend. Its surface blended the landscape. Some sections are bench cut, others over embedded rock, through rock gardens or stream crossings or narrow lines on exposed pitches. There were no freebees.

out to the dropin at mile 14 and back would be a great long day without being totally brutal. ~5 hrs, but not so much that you lost the joy of the engagement on the trail I averaged just under 11 min\mile out to mile 14.  A bit faster on the return. It was flowy and snug, but i was so broken the last 5 miles i appreciated very little.

y

the change in tree color marked the Gila River

strange bedfellows

I rounded a corner and saw Doug rolling through this on the far side. It reminded me of a sequence i took of Beckie in The Canyon, the distances and scopes were similar.  can you see him?

lemme help ya out with that

two handbrakes, rear deraileur, squishy and too long. A dirt ride covered in her bigger bad-ass pads and new jersey allowed saddle time and gentle falls. G did so well already!!!

Last day of 10 to enjoy the family outta town, i headed to Tuxson to ride something new and pretty with a new friend who offered to show me around.

I made brownies.

so psyched was i

What a POS is my camera. but if trends continue, one of my kids will break it within 6 months. You’ll just have to use better imaginations to appreciate all the lush chunky violence of the terrain. The backside of the Catalinas is dense, bouldery and tight. Thicker with cactus than anything here in the Valley.

The loamy soil was still moist, and offered outstanding grip even in the many transitions from rockface and back. Flowy traverses, bermed descents, and punchy climbs kept the ride exciting and the heart rate up. Any bike will handle this trail, but stoked for techy opportunities, the Bird was the perfect choice for me.

i gots da last Rage DH jersey, suckas!

lots of b-lines. we were having too much flowy fun on the Lower and Upper Chutes to take many pics. I hit most of the alternate trials and jumps, but not this one.

wadding…

wadding…

booyah! wadded up!

So tell me people, what is the right technique for these long steeps?? I managed on 3-4 other ones out there by creeping in gently and massaging the rear brake down. I just didn’t want to try this without watching someone else go first…twas the night before xmas, I’m not going to the ER. :nono::yesnod:

C.W. McCall – Wolf Creek Pass

Three guys who really really like beer and were really really thirsty all paused in the ice-covered parking lot of the Pagosa Brewery to listen to the end of this song. Then we crammed into the restaurant-nee-quonsetHut, celebrated 2 perfect powder days, and watched all health violations freeze to death as the waitstaff walked meals across the yard from the kitchen in a nearby trailer. whatevah… I wash my hands and drink liquor from a flask, I’m anti-Vail, i’d eat Cliff bars for 48 hrs if the lifts kept running. Even vigorous sex is second to a sunny, 25 degree day of fresh powder. ooooooooh, yeeeeeessss, right there baby. gliding through the trees, floating on titties. i’m still in post-coital bliss.

moonshine and bluebird

Here’s a new way to do Wolf Creek: leave comfortably after work, drive through the night, and nap in the car. 3 is the perfect number, enough to split the gas but not offset the single hotel room, leave spaces in the car and the conversation. Is it a coincidence the lifts at Wolf Creek are mostly triples? We 3 sluffed into Pagosa Springs at 4:30am, bought coffee at the only open gas station so we could gear up in the baffroom. Then we passed out for 2 hours in front of a ski shop. Snow cred for guys who average 3.7 houses having-owned.

The shop mechanic rolled up at 7:30am on a Turner DHR, and left it unlocked out front while JB dropped off his new powder planks. It was still out front that afternoon.

Us: nice $4k bike
Brobra: this is the safest town in the world, i haven’t seen my house key in 12 years
Us: We lock our  bikes in our garage, to a gigantic deadly python. and worry if the humidity is right. For the hand-made tire sealant…not the python.

These are white people problems. Midweek early-season dumps puff them softly away, leaving us in the ecstasy of the moment.  So rare for me to simply be,  in the exquisite simplicity of inner and outer peace.  Everyone here feels it and is so hopelessly nice.  We left all our gear in the back of the F150, and contemplated uprooting and moving to a mountain town.

i filled my 6oz flask with 12 yr old rum. We had half left at the end of each day. Who wants to give up their balance after driving all night and inflicting chiropractic chaos sleeping in a jump seat? The warm nips are something i hope to never be without again. Next trip will be butterscotch schnapps.

my brobras

First run of the first day was sketchy, alien, stance too tight and edges waaaaaaaaaaay tighter. I wadded up, knocked it out, got skeered, got comfy, and got to the bottom thinking ‘its just a board…ride it.’

So James and I hiked up Alberta Peak, to hit the fresh 35 degree pitch. First time hiking from the Treasure lift, which is much gentler than up the Alberta lift side, except for 350 wheezing steps at the end. James slid up mild grades, then nimbly dropped his skis into his pack and trotted up the approach. i took back all the nasty stuff i said about boarders crushing skiers in the sprint tris. This was my secret plan all along to encourage him to take more stunning pics.

The Artist

that is a long fucking short walk

~17 minutes of crucifiction. We did it 3x. pic courtesy of James

I dropped Alberta face on the 2nd run of the day, of the season, ever on my new board. The rockered design ate up the pow, I’ve never been so at-ease on a steep&deep. and it was way more stable – albeit a bit slower – on the cat tracks.  I can’t elucidate the details, but i know it when i see it. Buyer’s remorse and trepidation transition to tickled tenacity.  its just a board…ride it.

So we did for 2 more days, and by the next lunch I had surpassed what I could do on the old board.

new FB profile pic courtesy of James, i’m going to have to start paying royalties.  More pics on James’ blog

James coming down Alberta

on top of me

oww. my boot hurts my shin.  and the farmer’s mart was out of organic arugula. i have white people problems

Bony conditions, bruises, and Lindsey-Vonn-shin put us on the road instead of the slope the next morning, with time to enjoy Durango. I connected with a buddy from high school i hadn’t seen in 20 years. Thanks Adam! James got a pair of boots that will rock Mardis Gras. We took my bud’s recommendation and enjoyed stellar food at Gazpacho’s.

enchilada with xmastree salsa and posole on the side

bueno.

let’s be Utilitarians: my daughter gets candy corn every time she deuces in the bowl. We have not been able to see the candy corn. Truth is, i’m disappointed, it would make this foulness more interesting.

There is a candy conspiracy! Bags of delicious candy corn have been getting simultaneously smaller and more expensive and harder to find off-season, which can not be explained by increasing demand, as there is no barrier to supply. Fat-ass ‘mericans would eat candy-corn or candy-combo or candy-kibble 24/7 if you kept the food coloring interesting. So why the shortage?!?!? Why is there only 1 kind of peanut butter cup? Who wouldn’t buy a bigger, cheaper Baby Roth bar? ipso facto, conspiracy!

Alana eats candy. I am still eating their Halloween candy. She is in a netherworld between diapers and Dora underpants and crisis!

Best candy-coated way to start the day: have your toddler pee herself while dropping the other kid off for school, then have a yard full of teachers and parents smugly judge how you handle it. Not one of you has a damn babywipe handy? A-holes.

Anyone got some candy? Mongo like candy.

Every day in Rocky Point is a holiday.

run to the grocery stoh for last minute items

the non-swimming windy-beach game became building a firepit

collections

pteranadon mountain, complete with baby nest

pteranadon tracks

backyard firepit in progress

hey muthafugga, i live in this hole!

pre-dinner beach walk

another night of excellent cold indoor gamery

firepit and marshmallows

equestrian trail-sharing

so ironic that its the one who kicked her last year

I could not bear to put the Heckler in the recycle bin, we’d been through too much together. So I took it out to the desert and gave it a proper burial.

with a great view

rain brought out all the ghetto-tubeless residue, and set the tone for ceremony

bottle opener on the frame still works

i made a toast

and poured some out for my homey