Big Hard Sun

I have to admit I'm becoming a bit of a phone geek, all the while knowing that I'm only scratching the surface of what "3G" really means (and honestly I don't know or care what 3G means) However, there are a few nice APPLICATIONS (notice I didn't say apps) that I really enjoy. PANDORA is one of them. Its a free inter-web based radio station that plays music based on your favorite song, band, or artist. Reception is sketchy at times (think Geode) but so is regular cell service, but damn its nice to ride with tunes blasting your earballs the whole time. When I'm away on "business" it tracks down anything I need (food, clothing, shelter, booze) and guides me home via GPS, and I can BLAB to my hearts content during all these things. I've added twitter to this blog cause UBERtwitter (currently located in the upper right hand corner, clicky on the X'y) is another of the APPLICATIONS I take advantage of. Most of my tweeting is in code and quite melancholy at best, mostly meaningless but it is kinda fun following others posts in realtime. Good luck to all the TRANS-IOWA riders, you're gonna need it this weekend!) NOTE: I've traveled more miles by bike this month than the last 5 put together :)

Ride the Lightning

No not the electric chair, actually riding a bike again. While the rest of the cycling world was busy building base miles I was busy making turns, now comes the fun part. How many weeks before I don't get dropped on the Roadie Tuesday group ride? Well the count is 1 & 1. There are a few bright spots though, first one is I don't care as much these days as I used to, dunno why, but its not the end all beat all score sheet of my world as it once was. It may take until september, but I'll get there eventually. The second one is even brighter, by watching what I eat and trying to eat better food I'm headed into spring already below 180 pounds, that in itself is a small miracle. Normally at this time of year I'm just three LBS shy of what I refer to as "the FATBOY club" (200+), so my psuedo diet is going quite well thank you. Oh yeah, ever get that ANNOYING creak during a MTB ride and you just can't find the cause? Well its been officially twice now, ANOTHER broken pivot axle on the Blur. That means I've managed to snap all four of them at one time or another, hey Titanium is light and sexy, however, in its application here I could live with chunky and durable steel. SANTA CRUZ has been very good about getting me the repair parts F.O.C. and I get to learn basic bike mechanics...win/win. Winter seems far removed already cause its 80 degrees in April, I better get my snowboard out of the truck and put away now. :(

Thats COLD!

Well I chased winter anyway, above is union bowl at Copper. (HOLY SH*T)I dropped off a small cliff and cratered into 5 feet of powder, had a little trouble extracting myself on that one. No injuries to speak of, except that I got stuck for a week in Colorado on business (no really I did) with exactly two changes of clothes. That means I got to be on the slopes during GAPER day. This is the day that Colorado locals harass and annoy everyone from out of state, so I tried to blend in as best I could. To be honest I am ready for warmer weather now, it snowed ALOT everyday I was there, so much in fact I-70 was closed for awhile, with lows in the single digits I needed more layers on the lifts but boarding down was warm enough. I chatted with a guy who was indeed handi-capable on his sit-ski, if you haven't seen one of these up close they are as complex and groovy a machine as it gets. Complete carbon fiber frame, suspension and seat all mounted on a custom built snowboard. I don't know if I'd have the cajones to ride one of these things or not but he looked smoooooth making turns downhill. The cranes are migrating across Nebraska as well. They go north in the summer and south in the winter, those two things are the ONLY two things thing that ever occur in Nebraska (besides camping near the borrow pit lakes by the freeway) WORD: Cautiously optimistic

Spring means a new beginning...

Geode is about 95% ready to go, just a few mush holes here and there but the hills are rideable. It did take me 53 minutes to complete my first lap of the year though, that will get much quicker as the trail firms up... Dehn's is an absolute mess right now, the middle of the flat section is actually under water as of 3/27, plus our friendly 4 wheelers have created a few spots that are a foot deep of muck so if you see them down there CALL THE FRIGGIN POLICE ASAP and turn em in. I am going to have an interesting week, I will be riding for sure, however, it will not involve anything with wheels...I've studied nuclear science, I love my classes. I gotta crazy teacher who wears dark glasses. Things are going great, and there only gettin better. I'm doing alright, gettin good grades. The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades. I'll explain the relationship of those lyrics and the title to this post in due time kiddies...stay tuned for the next thrilling episode!

When will it end?

Since opening day on December 12th 2009, we have 24 days of boarding in this season. 24 days of riding snow in all its conditions, REAL powder at -5 below zero, rain soaked slush at 40 above and everything in between (Colorado doesn't count, as that was a solo trip). My body is starting to feel it and I'm wondering where all the weekends have gone but its still going to be a shock when it all ends with the inevitable spring thaw. Last years abrupt ending sucked, one of the instructors I work with remarked "the slopes closed on my birthday, I lost my hobby, hanging with my friends and my job all on the same day". Great present. God knows last years early closure depressed the hell out of me too, I guess I'm just gonna have to get back on the bike and ride it out of my system. The Beach boys wanted an "endless summer", I,m thinking endless winter.

Un-Bike related ponderings

Gotta love the Winter Olympics, and more importantly Snow sports in general, and even more specifically, Snow Boarding. I can almost identify with the singlespeed 29er crowd in mountain biking, as boarding always seemed to me, to be the "fringe" outcasts doing their own thing and re-inventing how to ride the snow. Big pants, big coats, big risks, hiding behind gangsta bandanas and the obligatory Oakley's, throwing themselves off cliffs just for the flight time and basically living large. As boarding becomes "mainstream" (forgive me for using that term because I'm employed to do just that every weekend) theres a part of me that would like to hold on to its origins. A little childish I know, but seeing boarders in tight sponsor laden spandex is akin to watching a NASCAR driver change hats six times during the victory interview *YUCK* Case in point is Lindsay Jacobellis, I'll let you google that one cause the first thing you're gonna read is how she showboated herself out of a gold medal in '06 while heading to the finish line. If you saw her DQ last night out of the medal round, I couldn't help but feel extremely sad for her cause the first thing thrown in her face is the 06 fiasco. I'll make a bet that some of her most vehement critics have NEVER ratcheted a set of bindings to their boot and made one F***KING turn on a board let alone raced one against the best in the world. I would have jumped from the couch in tears of joy had she won, styled it with a grab and given the media two fist fulls of middle finger while sliding across the line. A small and not too subtle reminder that just because boarding has made it all the way to the Olympics does NOT mean its nearly as civilized and tame as its apres ski cousins sipping a 1996 Bordeaux bistro style slopeside. Maybe 2014 for Lindsay, maybe never, maybe it really doesn't matter. She'll still be riding while all the couch surfing potato's sneer at what they'll never understand. Its not about them.

Trippin

Welcome to Copper Mountain Colorado, we'll be cruising at an altitude of 12,000 feet this afternoon down to 8,000 feet by this evening. Todays weather is perfect sunshine, no wind and fresh powder from last nights 4 inches. Your quads will scream bloody murder as the runs are 20 times longer and steeper than you've experienced so far this year. I highly recommend trying the double black runs down the Union bowl, how in the hell can moguls get made on a 45 degree slope? Why in the hell would you want to try and snowboard down them? Why not? This is the view from the top of Coppers 22 foot tall "SUPERPIPE". I told myself I am not in the least interested in this feature. Why should I risk it? Hell I'm still nursing a couple of cracked ribs from 4 weeks ago. I don't have a helmet either. My skilz don't qualify. My right rotator cuff may be damaged beyond repair. Missus Brakeville strongly suggested I DO NOT ATTEMPT!!!! So I didn't do it (at least not the FIRST day) By the second day the overwhelming urge to add to my list of injuries was TOO great. First run down was sweet, I noticed that TV does NOT do justice to just how HARD the surface is (note to self, make sure your edges are tuned BEFORE you try this again). A couple of lame 180's is all I could throw, but I was unscathed and grinning. Now lets hit it with some AMPLITUDE, needless to say most of the swelling in my left wrist is gone already! I did recover my hat, glasses, goggles and camera after the dizzy spell went away. I'm sure the onlookers were entertained and the results of my second run may have persuaded those contemplating a go at the pipe to avoid injury as well, so it was kind of a public safety visual aid that may have saved lives. Hmmm, I wonder if Snowstar will let me build a mini-pipe there :)

Workin for a living

Me and the Missus on a powder day. Me working hard with a future shredder. Poaching runs at starrs cave when I'm not at work (hiking for my turns) If you want to wierd your neighbors out, build a three foot kicker in your front yard and practice doing a backside 360 for a couple hours. (ask me how I know) I haven't had the nerve to throw it at work yet cause I'm nursing some bruised ribs but SOON, very soon. :)

First Tracks

The storm of the century is on its way. Ski Snowstar opens this weekend. I call first tracks. And thats a good thing (Martha).

The Happy Mutant

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, when in Burlington, stop in at our newest (and only) OUTDOOR ADVENTURE store THE HAPPY MUTANT and get your fix on. More stuff is added every day. Click the linky in "clain links below to keep up to speed.

I HATE GREEN

The pics are really bad cell phone photos of My REAL job. Its strange looking at the actual terrain when its dry ground, you need to imagine 6 feet of snow covering everything. We had our first Instructors meeting last night and its supposed to get butt-wrenching cold in the next couple of days so my fingers and toes are crossed. ITS TIME TO SHRED, Fred.

Turkey's are so misunderstood

Happy Thanksgiving; To the benevolent entity in control of the entire universe, we all tend to bitch a lot, but here is an attempt to rectify our ungrateful nature that exists for the other 364 days. It's a mere happenstance, a chaotic twist of evolutionary chance, a few extra random molecules wound into our DNA are all that separates us from worms, to being able to see, hear, experience and dream our lives away in relative comfort. A species that no longer survives by tooth and nail, but actually changes its environmental conditions to suit our own evolutionary shortcomings. I'm thankful that I'm not naked, boneless and blind on a cold and wet sidewalk, almost hypothermic and all the while still slowly succumbing to the invisible ultraviolet radiation streaming through the cloud cover. Unable to speak, shriek, or change the circumstances whereby one meets the ultimate fate of every living thing...alone and incredibly anonymous.

Leaves in Autumn, with corn...

The "narrows", Keep Right go's without sayin. Sweet bypass of Single track goodness (note the mush down below) I started calling this section "SLUGS" cause I found about 10 empty 12 gauge shells during its construction. Heres what they've been shootin at, meet Junior. Nice Buck but theres also "Big Daddy" who's half again as big with what looks like an Oak growing out of his skull, he only comes out at night and he's quite camera shy...I can't imagine why? I need a better camera, or some photography classes. If you ask anyone, and myself included, fall is the most favored season. Autumn in the Midwest makes living here almost bearable. Dehn's is no exception, its odd that no matter how much rain we get the trail is still as hard-packed as a sidewalk with one proviso, it does get about a 1/2" of slimy, slippery mud puddin on top, which is similar to riding on ice topped with snot. Happiness is a dirty bike (and I whine about going through cassettes and chains too fast Ha!). While other trails around the area turn into bogs that can reach the depth of your hubs, if you're willing to get spackeled, Dehn's is pretty much OK until the frost heaves in spring start.

Almost time...

Close enough to start wishing for some snow! Check out the link to My REAL Job. Its actually a great time and as I progress in this sport its becoming increasingly evident I need to start wearing protective gear. Its getting colder and I've been practicing my Snowboard OLLIES in the living room, which by the way is a never ending source of amusement for Missus Brakeville. I tend to get a little too excited about boarding, for instance, I had one young student last year who's Mother had dressed in FIVE FREAKIN LAYERS of winter gear. Sometimes I take it for granted that me being fairly OLD, people should have NO problem keeping up with my lesson speed, however, even in the 10 degree cold this poor kid started turning a bright shade of red, then a ghostly white, and promptly threw up all over the bunny hill. After many apologies to his parents (who were really cool BTW)and the removal of a couple layers from the Lad to keep from overheating, I slowed the pace WAAAYYY down and and made my exhuberance level matches my students capabilities. Live and Learn :) I may even try to Ski this year, but I don't want to jack my knees up any more than they already are. C'mon POWDER!!!!!!!

Dehn's and Deer's

"TEAM TITANIC" yes thousands of people died in the cold water in 1912, however, this time it was a happy ending Go jump in the lake, much warmer at this years POLAR PLUNGE than last year. Mama don't care unless you talk, then they FREAK! Thanks to our Local Bicycle shop BICKELS, I was able to spend the entire day Saturday blowing the leaves off Dehn's trails. Its a pretty long walk carrying the industrial sized leaf blower they have but its worth the effort cause you can actually SEE the trail now, especially at night. I talked with one of the land owners as well (he thought I was a four wheeler when he heard 4 hours of leaf blowing) Really nice guy who just purchased 11 more acres of Dehn's, hates four wheelers but likes us bikers. You'll be seeing more "no tresspassing" signs in the future but he is specifically targeting the wheeler crowd. If you see him make sure you thank him for letting us maintain and ride trails on his property. Next up I'm going to get rid of the WIDE bridge the wheelers are/were using to get around the main loop and a more biker/hiker bridge will be installed in-line with the flow on that hill.

Flash...cold off the presses

Well, strictly speaking the young'ns out there may not even know what a "press" is(was). I've been riding alot, and when I say alot for me its alot, which means I'm destroying stuff. For some reason I go thru cassettes, chain rings and chains at an almost even 6 month interval. Damn they're expensive to replace, and I've tried EVERY chain lube out there, currently its ROCK-N-ROLL blue (cause I'm SO cool) This stuff seems repel dirt and grime the best I've seen. Hell I even had to replace the pulleys on the rear deraillure (sp?) as there were NO discernable teeth left on either the upper or lower. All these components worked wonderful in the relatively dry trails at home, but when it got wet and muddy at Farmdale (I-74 Series finale) they conspired together in an ORGY of chainsucking violence. So bad that I was using my XT chain to cut through my chainstay, ripping off the groovy-but-absolutely-worthless-bling thing thats meant to protect the nice carbon underneath. Then my bottom bracket spit all its ball bearings out, not that this was a shock seeing as its two years old, I must say that I'm impressed with outboard bearing designs. Replaced with a Chris King BB, if its half as good as my six year old headset I'll be happy. Oh, I also snapped two (upper and Lower) titanium pivot bolts on the BLUR...nice...If you've ever had to drill a 15mm titanium bolt/pivot out of a carbon frame you'll know this is easier said than done. Replacements from Santa Cruz were free and quickly sent, however, they've went to Stainless Steel on the lower pivot...hmmmm, me thinks I'm not the first to experience this issue. Other than MY drivetrain problems and broken pivots I can't complain about the new bike too much, its stiff and light, climbs pretty well and makes a big hit nice and soft (btw I snapped those two pivots climbing believe it or not) So, on with the early winter riding, the lights are on the bike, I'm freaking out the local Deer herd, and am STILL patiently waiting for snow....

Its all over...

But the CRYING...Contador wins the Tour, calls Lance a JAGBAG and a crappy teammate. I say, bring on 2010 and Team Radioshack, no matter what you feel about Lance Armstrong you gotta admit he looked "pretty good for an old fart". And since cycling seems to eat their own, say what you will about Lance but I'm sure VS. tv likes a 50% larger viewing audience, yeah I know, they should've called it "all LANCE, ALL the time" but cripes its AMERICAN cycling on the tube. Don't tell me Ventoux didn't stir you're climbing legs a little?? Maybe??? Speaking of JAGBAGS, its seems my best buddy Greg Lemond has figured out mathematically how Contador MUST be cheating because of his reluctance to talk about his VO2 max as it pertains to climbing the Verbier...Gee Greg, you're right again! Nobody will ever be as good as you were, or as CLEAN as you were. All Greg needs to do is come up with his own rubber wrist band and I'll buy two of them cause he is SO "then". RAGBRAI finished up in Burlington this weekend, pretty cool to see it happen. The weather they had this year was awesome. When I get older I might try it, if nothing more than to answer the first and always question someone will inevitably ask when I reveal my true cycling identity. WOO HOO for IOWA! Summer's almost gone and I'm already dreaming about fresh powder, obviously wishing my life away....

Colorado is cool

How much stuff can you cram into a Jeep? Everything but the climbing gear, it had to be sacrificed for the bike stuff. Everyone was flashing thier brights at me, must've been settin a little low in the rear, and with 5 people inside the poor little truck climbed the 6 mile 7.5% grade of Monarch pass like Cadel Evans...SLOWLY :) North fork of the South Arkansas river outside of Salida, water temp? c-o-l-d! about 20 yards from the tents. we used it instead of the cooler, and, some previous campers left me a couple bottles of suds! SWEET! Its nice going to sleep listening to the white water flowing by, unless you have to pee during the night. We were in Bear country, apparently WE taste like chicken, but all we saw were sheep. I would have liked to see a bear (from a distance) but echoing my son, "my Daddy didn't bring no gun" so maybe its better we didn't. Angel of Shavano campground (9100 feet up), I could get used to it. we had the best weather window, 70 degrees during the day and 40 at night with nary a drop of rain. Mrs. Brakeville says Bear Grylls is full of shit!! We DID have a fire courtesy of BIC, cause raw SMORES are just wrong. There is nothing like a pine fueled camp fire to cleanse the soul. The Colorado trail, leading to the Angel of Shavano trailhead. This is open to bikes as well, and descending the trail is FAST and sketchy, the open wounds on my shin have healed nicely. Obviously there are a few hike-a-bike sections that can't be cleared no matter how fast you hit them! The view from 13,010 feet up 14,299 foot Mt. Shavano. I noticed my heartbeat in my eardrums, wierdy. 50mph winds and a desire for O2 kept us from knocking this off our list but we'll bag it soon enuff. Above is Hartman Rocks near Gunnison, granny gear up, big ring down. Can't wait for the next time. Oh, I actually raced the Scott County short track race, gee, who knew that these were so intensely paced? Duh! I finished on the lead lap so its all good.

RUN FORREST!!!!!

Running. I heard a comedian comment about runners, he said "nobody likes 'em, they're all skinny and in great shape!" George Carlin said "running isn't a sport, ruuning is a way to get someplace faster than walking". Running for me has always been painfull, maybe because I do it so infrequently, or perhaps because it shakes loose the 30 extra pounds on my gut like jello in a baggie. The Missus and I volunteered to help at the registration for Burlington's Bridge Run on Saturday, all we had to do was hand out pre-registered packets to the racers (and listen to the inevitable jock-snots whine about everything from the free tee-shirt size to the course itself, I think every race promoter wonders why these types of people even show up if not to flap their gums and bitch). For our efforts we scored a free entry into the race WOO HOO! There is NO WAY I'd run six miles unless a Grizzley was behind me, or maybe if a passle of Bigfoots attack me at night in the woods and steal my bike, so we both opted for the 2.2 mile version, and I can tell you the last YEAR in which I've run farther than 1 mile was 2004. Be that as it may, my only goal was to RUN the entire 2.2 miles, even going up snake alley or into the 35 mile per hour sustained headwind on the return across the bridge, I would continue to do my best impression of a "run". At the 1 mile mark they were yelling out the times, my first mile? 11 minutes, 26 seconds. DUDE, at that pace I could complete in under a half hour! So across the bridge we go with the wind at our backs, not too bad at the turn, the REAL runners will continue on to get their six.("not I" said the sly Fox) I drafted a 70 year old guy I caught on the bridge while we were buffeted by the killer headwindn, and once we passed the middle of the bridge and were on the downhill side, I hit the gas and passed him! (I'm so ashamed) Anyway, I finished at 25 minutes and 9 seconds, well under the half hour I had thought it would take me. I must confess my running shoes were purchased sometime in the last century, if memory serves 1998. They look brand new, but my feet are fatter or something cause they don't fit very well. My toes hurt, my thighs are mush, and every time I sit down now I wonder if they will support my weight when I stand again. I may have even had a little fun...running.

Dirty little secrets...

Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon...BIKEGASM!!! 4.4 lbs total The secret is I really don't know jack when it comes to bike mechanics, so nows the time to learn. A thank you goes out to my LBS for loaning me some tools I don't have. Is it bad when theres parts left over? Almost done, "Mr. T" to the rescue, cause I didn't want to even attempt shift cables. I got NO skilz! Thank you SIR! He then went on to diagnose that my rear wheel is ready to split in half and handed me a spoke wrench. *gulp* Old and new. New bike is 24 lbs. total. That might not sound so great but its two lbs. lighter than before and I'm running a list of heavier albeit stronger components. (read cheaper to replace as well) XTR cassettes last about 9 months before the teeth are gone and at 300 bucks a pop FUGETABOUTIT. If I was REALLY worried about weight I'd consider dropping a few LBS. off MY enlarged rear end, and thats basically free. Dirty secret number two? I have NOT been able to ride my new bike more than 20 feet due to work and friggin rain. I'm almost insane...in the membrane...insane in th...well you understand.