First time for everything

Up until now, I've never seriously considered participating in a triathlon. I never really saw the point. Why take away from something I love (biking) to spend time doing something I barely tolerate (running) and something I really don't enjoy at all (swimming - I was going to say "hate", but decided hate was a bit too strong. Barely).



So what could make me change my mind about participating in a triathlon? Trading in my least favorite event of a triathlon for an event I love, that's what. In a couple of weeks, I'm going to do the "Bash Winter Triathlon" up at soldier hollow, which consists of a running leg (on snow), a mountain biking leg (on snow), and a CX ski leg. As is usual, I told my coworkers about this event and they just rolled their eyes and shook their heads.



The format of the event is not ideal, at least not for me anyway. It is a 2.8 mile run, a 2.8 mile bike, and a 2.8 mile ski. Who ever heard of a triathlon where the run and the bike are of equal lengths? Don't the organizers realize that the top riders (not me) will be finishing the bike in about 10 minutes?



I think I've only run 2.8 miles a couple of times in my entire life, so it should be interesting. Earlier this fall when I was doing a lot of travelling, I think I ran 2 or 3 times, and I ran 2.5 yesterday morning and felt surprisingly well. I should mention that I ran it very slowly to try to get my running legs. The first mile was a 10-minute mile, the second was a 9-minute mile, and the last .5 was on 8.5 minute mile pace. I figure I can run a couple more times between now and the race and still feel fresh for race day. No matter what I do though, I'm sure I'll be too far behind after the run leg to catch anyone, but oh well.



Ballpark estimates:

Run: 30 minutes
Bike: 17 minutes
Ski: 25 minutes
Plus transition times (changing shoes/boots)



It's tough to guess how fast I can run or bike on snow, and I've never timed myself on skis, so we'll see how it goes.

This and that

I started the year off right with Kenny's freeze-fest up Squaw Peak.  Here we are at the bottom before the gate and the snow:

And here we are at the top (stolen from KanyonKris' blog):

The snow was nice and grippy, for the most part.  I had a few close calls on the way up, but really thought I was going to make it to the top without putting a foot down.  Then at the T before the overlook it got really soft and I finally succumbed to the snow.  From there, I walked at least 3 more times.

Bombing down in the snow was a barrel of monkeys.  Descending in snow is a good way to learn  to trust your bike.  As Craig put it, avoid your front brake, put your a$$ back, and let 'er rip.  Interesting side notes: Craig F. and I grew up in the same neighborhood.  I probably hadn't seen him for 15-20 years until cycling brought us back together.

I've been making pretty good use of my season pass to Sundance.  I think I'm up to 4 days on the skate skis and 3 days on the snowboard (when I say "days", I really mean 1-1.5 hour sessions).  It will be interesting to see whether I put in more days on the lifts or more days on my skate skis by the end of the year.  It really depends on how may powder days we get, because although Chad and I had the running joke about how great all of the "powder days" were last year while skating at Mountain Dell, the pow pow is really meant to be shredded on the snowboard.  On the other hand, a recently groomed icy trail is the perfect conditions for skate skis.

Random thoughts: 

I think that skating is to skiing what road biking is to cycling.  I guess that would make backcountry skiing like mountain biking, and my lift-assisted snowboard runs like the highly caffeinated downhill mountain bikers.  

I really love the skate skis, just as I love a good road ride on occasion.  However, just as my heart belongs to mountain biking, I have a feeling that backcountry skiing or snowboarding would be the ultimate.  The downside?  Death I suppose.  A long, slow and painful burial. Well, that minor detail and the cost of entry.  Are most back country skiers sitting this year out due to the avalanche danger, I wonder?  Or is it a bunch of media hype that can be avoided by one with the proper training?  Either way, someday I think I'll either have to learn to downhill ski and buy an AT setup, or buy a splitboard.

The nice thing about skate skiing is that as long as there is snow, the skating is good, even if the snow would suck for any other snow activity.   My coworkers can't understand how I could possibly enjoy suffering on CX skis in single digit temperatures.  I guess I can't expect them to, just like I can't expect them to understand the joy of a long climb on the mountain bike.  But usually if you get one, you'll get the other.

Okay, so one last random rambling.  I pulled my daughter around in her CX ski sled this morning up at the Sundance Nordic center.  I can't tell you how glad I am that I have a little girl who loves the mountains, loves the snow, and especially loves fishtailing around some of the fast, tight and bumpy turns coming back down to the base.  I thought I was going to lose or tip her over a few times while skiing down, but she was hanging on with white knuckles and grinning from ear-to-ear!  I can't wait till she's on her own skis.  Hopefully sometime this year.    And if you thing that skiing up those hills is tough normally, try pulling a sled up there!  

Happy Christmas

I headed up to Sundance last week for my first skate ski day of the year and to pick up a nordic season pass. I was all ready to pay what is already a comparatively high price for the pass when the nice lady says, "you know if you get a season pass for the chairs it counts for the nordic center as well." Tempting. Very tempting. I told her that I'd mull it over while I skied and let her know before I left. While skiing, the following scenario played through my mind a dozen times:

5:45am - wake up

6:00am - leave for work
6:05am - arrive at work
2:00pm - leave work
2:30pm-3:30 - skate ski
3:30-5:00 - snowboard
5:15 - arrive home to happy wife

Okay so the schedule might be a little ambitious, but the possibility is quite appealing. Maybe I could try to throw in some snowshoeing on the same day to make a triathlon out of it. I couldn't help myself. A few days later, Wesla was surprised to find this show up in my stocking:


Santa pulled off a pretty nice stocking stuffer and somehow got my picture and everything. Unfortunately for Wesla (and conveniently convenient for me), she couldn't even question me about it in front of the kids without blowing Santa's cover.

I have a feeling that I'll be spending a lot of time up at Sundance alone this winter since I don't know anyone in the U.C. that skies (either the fat kind or the skinny kind) or snowboards. If you are from 'round here, participate in any of these activities and need someone to ride with, shoot me an email to set up an online date.

The possibility of skate skiing and boarding in the same day raises an interesting choice of apparel question. Depending on the whether, I'll sometimes dress for skate skiing similar to the way I'd dress for a cold-whether bike ride. In other words, I look a little something like these guys:

How much would you give me if I skated in my spandex (or "MANdex", according to Tony) and then went snowboarding without changing my attire? If the pot gets big enough, I might actually try it.

Oh Canada!

I hung out with the Canucks up in Calgary over the past few days. A couple of things I learned about Canada while I was there:

1) A one dollar coin is called a "loonie" and a two dollar coin is called a "toonie." It's a little tough to take their money seriously, to be perfectly honest.

2) Not every radio station plays Rush non-stop. This was a bit of a disappointment for me.

3) The TV stations do play hockey non-stop though.

4) Everyone really does say "abowt" rather than "about" (this isn't just limited to movie parodies and hockey announcers).

5) Calgary is a nice city. Reminds me a lot of SLC, in terms of climate, nice people, cleanliness, and urban sprawl. Their downtown area is bigger and seems better planned though, and it has a river running through it, which I think is a pre-req for qualifying as a really cool city. Our mountains make up for our lack of river though. Here's part of the city:

6) Calgarians don't seem very concerned about keeping roads and sidewalks clear of snow. They seem to accept it as a part of life. It snowed on Sunday and the most roads still had snow on them when I left on Tuesday. Makes sense to me though. After all, I wouldn't try and towel off in the middle of a rain storm, so why clear the roads in the middle of a Canadian winter?

7) The Canadian Rockies are pretty spectacular, and the town of Banff is like Park City, only in a location that is about 100 times prettier. The visibility in this pic of the Rockies is poor due to the snow, but it's better than nothing:

I almost forgot how much fun snowboarding is. Boarding in Sunshine Village (just outside of Banff) was one of my best boarding days ever. You know how some of your best riding days ever have been while riding alone, where everything seems a little surreal? Kind of like that. The snow was good, even though the base was lacking a little. Thank goodness for rental boards. It really has me looking forward to the day when we actually get some snow, assuming that day ever comes.

Here are a few more pictures from my "work" trip.

The powder didn't suck:

The wildlife didn't seem to mind my intrusion:

If anyone is looking for a nice anniversary spot, check this place in Banff out:


Think about it. You are now the best husband ever for choosing such a romantic getaway, and you get some of the best mountain biking, skiing, and/or boarding on earth. Not a bad setup.

Visit to Nassau and Mangrove Cay, Bahamas

The mountain biking trails around have been in near perfect condition. So perfect, in fact, that it's almost a shame that I missed out on riding the trails for a while during my trip to the Bahamas. Okay, so that is a BIG almost.

We spent a few days at the Bahamas' mega-resort in Nassau doing some work-related stuff, which I must admit was just about the most amazing man-made place to sleep that I've ever seen:

The scenery while walking from our room down to the beach looked like this:


After a few days at the mega-resort for the conference, we boarded a 15 minute flight to a tiny island called Mangrove Cay (pronounced "Key"), which is part of the Andros chain of islands, which is part of the 700+ islands that make up the Bahamas. Before I get to Mangrove Cay, it's worth mentioning that the airline that took us there would only accept cash. That's right, CASH! I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I felt a little uncomfortable entrusting my life to an organization that only accepted cash. What's more is that the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at required that you wire cash before you arrived. I felt like I was involved in some illegal cash money laundering operation. Fortunately, the airline got us to and from Mangrove without incident, and the B&B was friken' awesome.

The arrow in the picture below points to the spot we were staying at:


Mangrove Cay was as opposite as could be from the Mega-resort in Nassau. Mangrove Cay only got electricity in the 1980s. The people lead a very simple life. These kids lived next door to the place we stayed are growing playing on the beach most of the time:


I met this guy one morning on the southern port on the island. He says he's lived his entire life on Mangrove Cay. Although the island itself is 10 miles long by 20 miles wide, the only part of the island that is inhabitable is the half mile strip that is closest to the east beach because further inland is completely infested with Mangrove Trees (thus the name), which means he's lived his entire life on about 5 square miles. He couldn't have seemed happier:


The stay at Mangrove Cay offered some great recovery time:


And the recovery time was much needed after all of the hard-core training we were getting in using the bikes that Mickey (the owner of the B&B) let us borrow:


As Chad has previously pointed out, the best way to see a new city or place is on a bicycle, and we got to see a lot of cool things while traversing the island on two wheels:


Apart from a lot of laying around, we rode out to quite a few "blue holes" for some snorkeling. The blue holes on Mangrove Cay are a series of underground water-filled caves that occasionally break through to the surface, both inside the island and also just off of the beaches (think of them as the places that Caribbean pirates would hide their treasure). The mixture of fresh and salt water make for a perfect place for marine life. In one blue hole off the coast, we must have seen over a thousand fish swimming around in the coral. In another inland blue hole, I was swimming alone while Wesla was taking a nap and a four-foot long version of one of these follow me around for a few minutes:


That's a barracuda, in case you don't recognize it. Apparently, it's quite common for them to follow humans around, mistaking us for sharks that will leave behind some scraps of food for it to scavenge for. I also saw a sea turtle swimming around in the same blue hole.

The main thing I left Mangrove Cay with is a greater appreciation of the simple things in life. The locals were as happy as could be, even though their possessions were about as basic as you can imagine. While I'm not planning on giving away all my possessions and moving to Mangrove, it did make me realize that all of the crap I have doesn't mean anything without family and friends to enjoy it with.

...You might be a roadie

Now that daylight savings time is over and "daylight wasting time" has arrived, I've had a good chance to think back on the season of riding. It's been a good year, and most importantly, I'm not sick of riding at all.

With the season winding down, I started to get curious about the number of miles I've ridden this year. I have a bike odometer that has a first setting for my mountain bike and a second for my road bike which accounts for the different tire sizes.

I checked out the cumulative mileage the other day, and I have to admit that I was pretty proud about what I saw. Not because of the cumulative mileage I logged, because it really wasn't all that impressive. No, instead I was proud of the fact that I logged significantly more miles on my mountain bike this year than on my road bike.

This is despite the fact that I logged quite a few road miles during our never-ending spring (snowing in JUNE!?!?) while the trails were covered in multiple feet of snow. This is despite the fact that road miles are at least twice as easy to pile up as mountain bike miles. This is also despite the fact that I threw in quite a few trips around the Alpine loop this summer on the road bike.

And the difference between road and mountain miles wasn't very close, and it would have been even greater if I had bothered to hook the odometer up to the Superfly I've been riding for the past month-and-a-half, during which time I haven't even touched my road bike.

So it got me thinking. I know a few self-proclaimed "mountain bikers" who seem to be on their road bikes nearly every time they go on a ride. I'm issuing a word of caution that this is a very slippery slope to find yourself on. I'd even go as far to say that if you live close to the mountains like those of us here in Utah do, and you log more miles on your road bike over the course of a season than on your mountain bike, then you need to seriously consider the possibility that you may not be a mountain biker at all. And you know what the alternative is, and it is not good. That's right, you might be a roadie.

By the way, miles logged while commuting to and from work do not count toward becoming a roadie.

All this talk about being a roadie gave me a great idea for a new book. It's called "You might be a roadie" (c). Here are a few sample entries:

1) if you log more miles on your road bike than on your mountain bike... you might be a roadie.
2) if you wear spandex to a casual mountain bike ride with friends... you might be a roadie.
3) if you wear a full team kit during a casual mountain bike ride with friends... you REALLY might be a roadie.
4) if your yearly road race schedule consists of more than an occasional hill climb, you might be a roadie.
5) if you wear an HRM on casual mountain bike rides with friends... you might be a roadie.
6) if you even own a power meter... you might be a roadie.
7) if you tear off the visor immediately after purchasing a new helmet... you might be a roadie.
8) if you shave your legs... you might be a roadie.
9) if you shave your legs more than twice a week... you REALLY might be a roadie.
10) if you meet up with friends for a ride and utter the words "I have to go slow because it's a recovery day"... you might be a roadie.
11) if you own a set of aero bars... you might be a roadie.
12) if you own an actual time-trial bike... then forget about it.
13) if you ride the trainer more than once per week during the winter... you might be a roadie.
14) if you EVER ride the trainer during the summer... you are definitely a roadie
15) if you talk about pedaling circles/squares/triangles in a non-joking manner... you might be a roadie.
16) if you cause a pileup because you can't clip into your pedals... you might be a roadie.
For the record, I've been guilty of violating quite a few of the above items, so don't feel like you need to defend yourselves. Shoot, if my former self (3-4 years ago) knew how often I currently wear spandex, my former self would probably light my current self on fire. This list could go on forever, so feel free to add the Nth entry for the "you might be a roadie" in the comments.

The best medicine

Lately work and life in general has gotten pretty busy. For a while there, I started to question a lot of things, include whether my job really was the best job imaginable for a hack like me. I was grumpy around the family. Not coincidentally, I hadn't been riding much at all this past month. Fortunately I made it out on a lunch ride just before the snow started to fly. I got back to the office and soon realized that life was good again. It was suddenly apparent that I did indeed have an awesome job for a hack like me. It's no wonder so many people hate their jobs. I'd probably hate my job too if I didn't get out on my bike every now and then.

As much as I love everything about riding, I'm getting really excited for winter. The sight of the snow has me itching to dust off the skate skis, the snowboard, the snowshoes, etc. It's no wonder so many people hate the winter. I'd probably hate winter too if I didn't have these activities to look forward to. I'm starting to see recurring theme here.

I'm heading to Calgary for work in a few weeks (just after Wesla and I get back from another work trip to the Bahamas - it's tough, but somebody's gotta do it). I think my packing list for Calgary will include: 1 change of clothes, laptop, snowbibs, jacket, snowboard. Banff is calling my name.