Night Riding Lunar Eclipse Style...

For those of you who may have been riding this evening, you may have noticed it getting even darker than normal around 8PM MTN.

Tonight was the lunar eclipse and I got to enjoy some of it. A thin layer of clouds hazed my view as I gazed up at the moon during the start of the eclipse.

Unfortunately I was unable to see the full eclipse as the previously mentioned thin layer of clouds got thicker and thicker until fully obstructing my view of the sky.

*Photo: Lunar Eclipse taken 02/20/2008 at 8:15PM

Not So Simple, Simple Request...

Two nights ago my wife asked me to do something that at the time seemed very simple. She simply asked me to pick five of my favorite photos, which didn't include the family and email them to her. Having said that, she left my office and I started to think.

Assuming she wanted a quick turn around time I browsed my photo library and sent her 5 images that I really liked and emailed them to her. Shortly after I sent her the photos she came back to my office and said, "Why are these your favorites?" I couldn't respond. Then she said, "I know you've taken better pictures than these. You don't have to rush. Pick your favorite five photos and send them to me."

That simple request has got me looking at my photo albums archive with a much closer eye. Close enough to realize that one of my photos was used on a fellow blogger's post today. I'm flattered, truly.

Back to my point. While looking at the images I emailed my wife I realized the photos are not what I loved, but the memories the images provoke is what I loved.

As I shift through the archive I'll be posting images to this blog of those photos that I really like. If I have a memory associated with it I may blog about it or I may not.

This may take a while as I'm of the thinking that if I take a lot of pictures at least one of them will come out OK.

I have a lot of pictures to look through.

*Photo: Boulder Flatirons taken July 1, 2007

I've made a decision...

A while back I wrote about how I needed an extension on determining if I would race Sport or Clydesdale this year. I've been extremely unfocused over the past two weeks, which may have contributed to my decision, but I did put some time into thinking about what I wanted to race in the coming 2008 season.

And my decision is... Clydesdale.

In all honestly, the decision wasn't that difficult. I still like to think of myself as a dedicated athlete, but the truth of the matter is I love racing, but my priorities are being a father, husband, employee, and website owner far before a racer.

Plus, my love for mountain biking stems from riding and not from racing. I want to enter this season with that understanding. If I want/need to skip a race or not train for a day (or a week) I don't want to feel guilty about it.

This said, I still plan on racing and I am a competitive person by nature, so you Clydesdale racers at Winter Park, plan on racing hard! I plan on giving it my all when I am on the race course.

Lack of...

The last two weeks of training can be summed up pretty easily...

Lack of desire.
Lack of motivation.
Lack of focus.
Lack of energy.
Lack of health.
Lack of time.

Tomorrow I plan on changing that and I'll lack only one thing...

Lack of excuses.


Week Log:
Time: 1:20 (pathetic...)

Crash Test My iPod...

It is said that old habits die hard... Never is this statement more apparent then when I use a new music device. Whether it be a new CD player, new computer, or a new MP3 player; the first tracks I play on it are from Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet.

God Shuffled His Feet was the first CD I ever bought for the first CD player I ever owned. I remember this distinctly because the first track of the CD starts with a tinny, crackling sound, which made me think, "What the Fuck?! This is a CD and aren't they suppose to have the clearest sound available?! What a load of crap!"

Recently my wonderful wife bought a new iPod for me and guess what the first album I imported was? You guessed it!

Flashback To Delicate Arch

About a year ago, my wife, my son, and I headed to Moab, UT to get away from what was then a snow covered Front Range. We were scheduled to stay in Moab for four days.

Late in the afternoon of the fourth and final day we decided to try and hike to Delicate Arch located in Arches National Park. We got a late start and although Moab didn't have the snow like the Front Range, the night time temperatures were still cold.

We hiked to a point in the trail where the trail narrows to a single track path, which was covered in ice and snow. Having never hiked the trail before we made a decision to turn around as it was getting late. We didn't know how much hiking we still had and the last thing we wanted was to be caught in the dark on an icy trail with our son. We turned around and headed back to the car and then to a restaurant for dinner.

When we got to the restaurant we ordered and we started looking at pictures on the wall. One of the pictures was of Delicate Arch and from the particular angle of the photo I recognized the narrow trail in the picture where we had turned around earlier in the evening. We talked to our waitress for a couple minutes and confirmed that was in fact the trail we had turned around on. Come to find out we were less than 100 yards from the arch!

I tried not to let it get to me, but deep inside I was bummed. I know we had made the right decision since my son had gotten a bit scared when we were hiking back to the car in the dark. Had we walked the additional 100 yards and taken a few moments to look at the arch it would have been a bit sketchy getting back to the car.

The following morning I talked to my wife and she was as bummed as I was that we didn't make it. With checkout only a couple hours away we decided to extend our trip an extra day so we could try again. This time we got a mid morning start. When we got to the top the view of the Arch was amazing!

This hike was over a year ago and I remember it as if it was yesterday. The funny thing is I enjoyed the failed attempt as much as the successful hike. I remember the fear in my son as it got darker and darker. I remember the calm reassuring words from my wife and the games she would play with him to keep his mind off the dark. I remember feeling really close to my family as we made the best of the situation.

A year later I realize that the arch and the views were the payoff, but the real reward was the time I got to spend with my family.

Big Day For TC Betty...

Today is a BIG day for my wife (TC Betty) and because I'm married to her a big day for me too!

If anyone has visited the About Us page on TrailCentral.com you would have read this...

"... Over the next several years the website started to grow, the number of
unique visits started to skyrocket, and our knowledge of website design improved
significantly. At the same time, one of the original founders graduated from CU
and started his own business in Denver, CO, while another started making bags of
cash selling on eBay, which left me as the sole owner and manager of a
successful website."

Well, TC Betty is the one who "started making bags of cash selling on eBay." In and of itself this fact is amazing, but having been a Power Seller for some time now she decided the time has come to make the next step and get office space. Today she signs the lease!

TC Betty is everything I am not when it comes to running a business. She is skilled, efficient, savvy, and she loves what she sells, which is why I know her business will continue to grow and become a huge success.

And because I know she is reading this; I want TC Betty to know I support you 100% and I continue to be impressed with what you are able to accomplish when you put your mind to it. Good Luck!!!

What A B.R.A.T...

My stomach has been giving me issues this last week. At first I thought it was my diet, but then I remembered I'm a Clydesdale cyclist and the strongest part of my body is my stomach... It must be a virus of some sort.

It has been gripping my stomach hard for nearly a week and I've been forced to cut back on the spicy foods and stick to the B.R.A.T. diet.

For those that are unfamiliar with the B.R.A.T diet:

Bananas
Rice
Applesauce
Toast

All the foods that are part of the B.R.A.T. diet are very easy on the stomach. This evening my stomach was feeling a bit better and I made a very yummy rice, turkey, and black bean mush that my wife invented several months ago. It may not sound good, but it was delicious!

For those interested in trying something new...

2 Cups Whole Grain Rice
4 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons Butter
4 Teaspoons Chicken Bouillon
1 lb Ground Turkey
1 Can Black Beans

Mix the whole grain rice, water, butter, and bouillon into a saucepan and allow to cook for 50 minutes. In a separate pan; fry the ground turkey and add the beans when the meat is cooked. Once rice is ready; mix the meat and beans into the rice and serve.

Yummy!!!!

What I'm Reading Now... "The Call Of The Wild" by Jack London

As I write this I am forced to multi-task. My new found call of the wild has struck my heart and I'm currently packing so I can hitchhike my way to Alaska where I will walk into the wild.

OK, that is a bit of a stretch. No, make that a lot of a stretch. Besides, I shouldn't poke fun at the story of Chris McCandless, who did just that. His story was written in Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, which happens to be the reason I started reading Jack London's, The Call Of The Wild.

The story is written from the perspective of Buck, a St. Bernard/Scotch Shepherd dog who is the pet of a judge. Lazy and trusting of humans he is kidnapped by the gardner's assistant and sold as a work dog where he is forced to learn the laws of man by way of club and fist. Buck, An intelligent dog who learns how to play the system by avoiding conflict with man, creates conflict with other sled dogs as he works his way to the front of the dog sled team. The dog team is transferred among several owners before Buck is rescued by a kind man who truly cares for him. While Buck enjoys his new life with his new owner he can't help but feel a call of the wild. A call that he embraces when a pack of Indians kill his owner.

I must admit I loved this book. It was a short read (80 pages) with a fresh perspective and powerful storytelling. As soon as I finished this book I started Jack London's, White Fang. However, White Fang didn't grip me in the same manner as The Call Of The Wild and I've since put that book down in favor of a different book called Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

Good Day To Watch Alien...

As I predicted yesterday; after a good night sleep I found my motivation to ride, though it would be on my trainer instead of outside in the cold.

I wanted a couple hours of riding so I opted to pop in a movie I'd never seen before. Yes, until today I had never seen the movie Alien.

To be perfectly honest, I was never really interested in seeing it. However, my boss is a big Sci-Fi buff and when the topic came up and he heard I'd never seen it; he brought his copy to the office to lend to me so I could watch it.

For the past three weeks it has been sitting next to my TV and I haven't found the time to watch it... until today.

I warmed up for about twenty minutes and then hit play on the DVD player. For the next hour and a half of riding I enjoyed the movie.

There is one thing that makes watching Sci-Fi movies difficult while riding my bike. There are several scenes where I couldn't hear what was going on. Let me try to explain...

1) This is an older movie and the sound quality on the DVD wasn't crystal clear.
2) The movie builds suspense by having characters talk softly.
3) The constant humming of my rear wheel on the trainer.
4) I'm frigg'n deaf... Not literally, but my hearing sucks.

*This doesn't seem to be isolated to this particular Sci-Fi movie. I've tried watching other Sci-Fi movies while riding and many scenes are very difficult to hear.

In any case, the movie wasn't bad. That said, I won't be asking to borrow the rest of the series. However, if he offers I won't turn him down. The suspense made the minutes on the trainer tick away pretty easy.

As far as the ride; it was good and I'm glad my cold ride yesterday didn't keep me from riding today.

Today's Ride:
Time: 2:00

Week Log:
Time: 6:21

NCAR, The Hump, The Wall... Oh My!

Last week the call of the foothills directed me towards Golden. This week I headed towards Boulder and specifically the road that leads to NCAR.

NCAR is a road I frequent during the summer. It is a great road to do hill repeats on. It doesn't have the length of Lookout, which I climbed last week, but what it lacks in length it makes up for with a steep initial climb from Boulder towards the NCAR buildings.

When I left my house the sky was gray and the temperature hovered around 40 degrees. However, It didn't feel like 40 degrees. Once the wind chill hit me it felt way colder than that and to be honest; the cold is pretty much all I thought about the entire ride. Seriously, I wish I had some profound thoughts while enjoying my time on the bike, but from the time I started to the time I got back to my house I suffered from an ice cream headache, which filtered out all concious thought and the ride was done purely on auto-pilot.

I thought I was prepared for the cold because I wore a bunch of layers, but it cut right through all of them and chilled me right to the bone.

The only time the body felt like it was getting a bit warmer was on the hills. I had three of them on my ride. The NCAR hill, The Hump, and The Wall. The hills were nice to climb. I didn't take them seriously at all. I downshifted and spun my way to the top.

At the top of NCAR I stopped for a couple minutes to snap a couple pictures and eat a granola bar. If you were reading between the lines you would have read "I stopped to cool off before starting my cold descent..." That was intelligent!

I started the descent and I froze like a popsicle. The blood felt like a Slurpy slowly moving through my veins. Everything felt sluggish the rest of the ride.

It is up in the air if I'm going to ride tomorrow or not. The cold sucked a lot of the motivation out of me today and my body is ready to sleep and recharge. I have a feeling I'll get inspired to ride again tomorrow. I wish it could be outside, but I think if I do ride I'll be hitting the trainer again.


Today's Ride:
Time: 2:21
Distance: 33.8
Elevation: 2,323'

Week Log:
Time: 4:21

2008 Elevation:
7,014'