Where's Highroller?

High above Castle Valley on the Upper Porcupine singletrack prior to rolling my front tire off, twice! Owie! Great to see the mini-crew briefly...time to go to Vernal for some real hedonism!

Moab, oh yeah!

In a nutshell, rode Amasa back, famous locale of Buikema/ Morgan engagement, ate Moab Brewery, 3.2 beer only, whisky in the dinning room, not in the bar, go figure...Rode Cicle O, DAsh broke his derailleur, showered, saw lots of vintage hot rods and doo rags, witness strange Asian man almost break coffee shop door not understanding it was closed, the door and the shop, saw Matt Alford, lost Allison somewhere over emial, lost Matt Alford, rode Sovereign trails in full sunshine, drove home in full arctic conditions, laughed, ate, drank, rode, farted, saw, came and conquered (not necessarily in that order).

Short skirt on Sovereign Trails!

Last minute (literally) arch hike

Moab!

Dash's long lost senior picture

The Spastic Dolphin!

Now I can retire the much-unloved "Dirty Hippie" (Giant Trance crash-machine) to the wilds of Craigslist and luxuriate in the loving embrace and perceptions of better riding that only a $7000 mountain bike can really deliver. 20" Moots Mooto Xz w/XT, F29, DT wheels, Moots stem and Cinch seatpost, white, red and blue accents...classy!

I'll be breakin' it in (hopefully not literally) tomorrow in Moab!

Hammer-time yeah!

Missed you in sunny Fruita

Chainsaw picked 'em up and put 'em down in fine order at the Rabbit Valley Ramble XC on Sunday finishing on the podium in 3rd after a Trout-induced layoff of over 2 years from the racing scene. With grey skies, low clouds and rain dominating the horizon we were more than psyched to get out of Steamboat for the weekend, scoot to the desert and choke down some sweet, sweet race dust! Trip started well with Highroller attempting to throw his apple core out of a closed window but we reloaded with tasty vittles in Rifle, CO at the "Cowboy Calf-A", popped in the "Snack Time" CD from Barenaked Ladies and motored out to our classy domicile at the "H Motel" in plenty of time for Chainsaw to get out on a lap of the course while Highroller and Trout hiked the often seen but never experienced Trail Through Time. Reconaissance was for nought though as the BLM closed one of the trails later that night and everything was "re-organized" for the Sunday XC. "H Motel" treated us right, within strolling distance to Hot Tomato and the Saturday night race party, and we all piled in (including Betty) to snore away the night in peaceful slumber. After waiting out numerous delays Chainsaw went hard from the gun Sunday and was sitting pretty near the front after lap one while Trout and Highroller focused on heckling and throwing gravel at the other competitors. Fading slightly on lap two Chainsaw had only this to say at the finish line, "Gah!". In a few days time though I'm sure she'll agree that she had fun. Smokeburgers in Glenwood never taste better then when you can share fries with your 20 month old son by holding them over your head from the passenger seat, and feel his grubby claspers snatch them away...

SoBo trails

Bunny-time

Hardcore of bIKE cLUB ready to rumble southwards! Thanks all for the nice visit and mucho thanks to the Ash's for the hospitality (and scrapple!). Chainsaw is still pleasantly pummelled from the ride while Highroller remains beat down by lack of sleep, wouldn't have it any other way!

ArtCrank Sat night, that's tomorrow!

Seems like some of you have learned NOTHING from the last umpteen "events", "rides", "...aloozas", "parties" and other get togethers Highroller has organized over the decade and are willing to join me on East Colfax, in Denver, late Saturday night, with $ in your pocket, relatively cheek and jowl to trannie prostitutes, to attend an art event, in a cupcake factory...well there's only one thing to say to that. Kudos to you! That's a victory for optimism over experience if I've ever seen one, and knowing me as well as I do, which is pretty well, though not like the back of my own hand, I can tell you with complete honesty that my ENTIRE life to this point has been one big victory for optimism over experience! That's the way to take some lemons that life gives you and just start sucking lemons before even looking for some sugar to help things out. Go team!
If you're still reading, desperately seeking (Susan) some details to latch onto like a life preserver in storm-tossed seas, or a Cheerio in frothy milk if for some reason you were shrunk to 1" tall while in the middle of eating breakfast, then grab hold of this. Highroller will be heading down to D-town at 6pm, seeking victuals en route to ArtCrank and is willing to entertain the notion of noshing with YOU, and/or carpooling... Be dere!

Who's going home with a Roubaix cobble?

I think Haussler may hang onto his form for a few more days...

Drinking in the 'Boat

I don't know about any ski-action photos...looks like most of the day with Loni and Briee was apres-ski to me!

Steamboat!

So Rose got all the ski action but here are the pictures from the wicked road conditions!
Let it SNOW! Let it SNOW! Let it SNOW!

Rocks and Core Shoots

Rocks and Core shots aside, high hills and big snow made for a killer, probably season ender last Saturday. Righteous!

Good times, good times

Dash and Sean dispaly their friendship atop Loveland's Ridge circa lap #6. Wicked!

Where do all these cable things go again?

Well the Uber Ancestors on High with their dastardly Weather-Manipulatrix device seems determined to block my foray into the uncharted territory of Vernal this week-end, and this despite my insistent entreaties and ham-fisted last minute wrenching that has transformed piles of expensive odds and ends into something, at least superficially, resembling a mountain bike which is apppropriate as what I will eventually do on said machine only superficially resembles mountain biking, much like this sequential arrangement of words and punctuation marks resembles writing but is in fact something much more insidious, exasperating, confusing and when all is said and done, as a sidebar I'm no where near saying and doing all so you better settle in with a warm blankie, un-illuminating and headache-inducing in many, though some, wiser perhaps then their years would indicate, skip right to the end for the summary. Vernal, UT, Apr 3-4-5, NOT GOING so you can stop crafting your weak excuses and feeble rationalizations...Out. M

Trails are ugly in Steamboat

And this is before the 16", 17" and 6" snows of the last 3 days. So you can imagine what the trails are looking like in Vernal. What? You can't imagine? Well never fear, I called the local shop owner/trail builder this morning and he reports "stellar!". Not a drop of precip over there all week and the trails are in great shape so THIS guy at least is still going, assuming I can get a lift of course. BLM land surrounds town so we can camp right at the TH, poop under a rock and call it good...5 miles to center of town, bring your own full strength beer 'cuz Vernal is in UT in case you haven't been paying attention. I gots maps too!

Race day approacheth!

Chainsaw received her new Honey Stinger team duds yesterday in preparation for the Rabbit Valley Ramble on Apr 11-12th at which point she will commence kicking some serious ass! Trout and I have been working on our equally important "rabid fan" costumes, trying to come up with appropriate phrases we can body-paint on our chests to support her as she races by. Since there's just the two of us we're thinking of either "Ma!" or maybe "Go" and we've had to scale back plans for the 12' long alpenhorn..."Riiiiiiicola!". C'est la vie. Maybe we'll do a full moon taunt of "FU HO" on our butt cheeks, though the "HO" will be aweful hard to read on Trout's tiny buns...