16 Years

Rachelle and I celebrated 16 years of marriage with a little get away that included spending the day in the Wasatch backcountry. Yep. I married a rugged mountain chick. Of all her outfits (and she has a lot of them with the shoes to match), my favorite is when she gets all done up in her ski gear.

We started at the Spruces campground in BCC and hiked to the top of one of the Days shots. I didn't set my watch but I think it was close to 2,500 ft of vertical climbing.

Rachelle putting it into high gear on the climb. We had already passed a guy on tele gear. She can hammer.

We both like to put in a good playlist and suffer on the up. Stopped once for a water break but other than that, it was pretty much head down and upward.

Once at the top, we paused for a group photo at 10,000 ft.

Last year, I made Rachelle traverse around a cliff band. She hated it. This year, we found some steep pitches. She hated it and loved it.

Shelle skiing the steeps

A week after the last storm and we found plenty of untracked light powder. We had to hunt for it but it's there.

I enjoy getting out with the guys but having a wife who can hike and rip the downhill makes me happy.

After the skiing we hit one of our favorite places- The Porcupine Pub & Grill.

I hope to be doing this with Rachelle when we are well into our 60's. Although, one of these years, I should probably book a trip to some place warm and sunny.

"Let Me Ask You Something...."

"Does this look right to you?"
















I found this picture in an old photo album of mine. This was taken in 1977 and is a picture of my twin brother and me with our "swim coach".

There are so many things wrong here. Let's forget the speedos. That's a whole other bag of issues.

I ask you. Would YOU let your children play in a pool with this man? Holy crap. I'm calling my parents right now to give them a piece of my mind.

Fly Bibs

The Fly bibs are in. Heading out now to do a test ride to see how they fit.

If you ordered some, I'll be shipping them out on Monday. Keep an eye out for them.

There are a few left if you still want some.

DNF

Saturday was UTCX #11. The last real race of the season. Double points (that means nothing for me but I felt the need to point that out). It was cold, wet and windy- very windy. miserable conditions for racing bikes in lycra but for some reason, the more miserable the conditions, the more I want to ride/race.

I showed up about 30 min before the start. Made my way to the registration window and noticed the window was closed (it was one of those metal rolling type windows) but had a sign posted that said "registration open". I knocked on the window and the guy inside the booth opened it and said:

"Seriously? What are you doing here? Don't you have anything better to do on a Saturday?".

Needless to say, conditions were not ideal for racing, watching, or putting on a bike race. I responded:

"I've spent the past 5 days sitting in a conference room for business meetings. I need this".

I paid my money and went to go warm up.

At the start line, there were 5 guys including me and 1 girl in the singlespeed flight. I looked around and noticed all 4 of the guys were guys who are faster than me. Bo Pitkin (coming off an impressive result at CX Nationals last week), Ryan Ashbridge, Steve Wasmund, and Christian Johnson.

Perfect I thought. I'm officially racing for last place. I didn't care. I was on my bike and the course was wet and muddy. I love racing in the mud.

The first lap I was holding my own switching between 3rd and 4th place. But Bo was behind me (probably eating a ham sandwich or reading a book). Eventually, he came around and started passing everyone. We all stuck together for the first 1.5 laps and then Bo put it into gear and took off. I found myself fighting it out for 4th place with Christian. We took turns pulling and kept a fast pace for 3 laps and then my rear brake cable snapped and my wheel locked up. Race was over.

You know the best motivation for the winter? Finish the season with a DNF and replay that race over and over again in your head.

It's killing me. I want redemption.

A New Look

It's going to get weird now isn't it?























You know that scene in "Meet The Fockers" when Ben Stiller borrows the ex-boyfriends speedo? He's in the dressing room staring at it while he eats an entire pack of nicotine gum trying to get himself to put it on.

Wearing a skinsuit is kind of like that.

One more CX race to go. I'm hoping the skinsuit gives me magic powers.

UTCX #9

Saturday was the first snow cross race of the season. I didn't race well but had a blast on the course. Both Bob and Daren smoked me. They are both much better bike handlers and on a snow packed course, it's more about staying upright than about going fast. Bob took 2nd and Daren 4th and I ended up with a 6th place finish in the SS group.

The barriers were set up on the fastest part of the course. It made for a tricky dismount on the snow/ice. I was glad I had my spikes in.






























































Thanks Jason and Annie for sticking around, for the cheers, and for taking the pictures. They both raced earlier in the day and took 1st and 2nd respectively. Not a bad day for the White family.