Thanks Sandy

This is just too funny!

I love the chin move at the end.

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None of these will surprise Sandy...

1. See post below.

2. My favorite TV show of all time was Hardcastle & McCormick. This is probably because unlike MacGyver, The A-Team and Knight Rider it has not been made it to syndication.

3. I have exercised induced asthma. I have no doubt that this was caused by living in the pollution of the SL Valley. This pollution is the thing I miss the least since moving.

4. I am getting a PhD in applied mechanics (not snow science). However, my research is in the mechanics of snow.

5. If I could do anything, I would spend a day skiing with my dad. One day at Alta I saw an older gentleman skiing with his father. I realized how much I would love to do that given that my dad gave me a love for skiing.

Here and there

I spent the last weeks with a bit of unexpected travel. AJD and I spent the Christmas holiday in CdA where I got to ride with my father-outlaw when he was plowing the roads. It was pretty cool and it is amazing how everyone waved to us. I am not sure why cyclists don't wave to each other, but everyone waves to the plow!

The rest of the weekend I ate and if I went more than 20 minutes without putting something in my face, my sister-outlaw was sure to let me know about it. Of course, with my mother-outlaw's cooking it was not very difficult to find food items to eat.

The current cool thing to do in the blog world is state 5 things people do not generally know about yourself. The first I will write about was the highlight of my Christmas day--my "initiation" into "the Family." This involved a trip out to the field and shooting a bunch of guns. I even got "hicked" out for it:



















From the hip:



















Just a couple to choose from:



















Even AJD took part:














Thanks to K, M and S! I have never been big on guns, but it was a blast!

More on the rest of my travels and the other four things soon to come.

Happy Holidays

We just got back from spending Christmas in Idaho. The Outlaws were great and I had a wonderful time. Lola had a hard time with the adjustment and the excitement got the better of her. More on this, with pictures, later...

Thanks to everyone who sent holiday cards to us. Please note that a charitable contribution has been made to The Human Fund in your name!

Geo. Mitchell reporting from steroid central

So in case you have had your head in a hole from the sports world, baseball will change in a few hours and this change will be bigger than Bonds* hitting 756.

George Mitchell will release his findings and I have money that several Sox players will be in it. My gut says Clemens will be the biggest. I am hopeful that Papi and Manny are clear, but I do have some doubt. As much as I hate to say it, I think the Yankees will be hard hit. You never want to see your biggest opponent hit in this way; it is better to flat out beat them.

Anyway, this hopefully change baseball which I think is going to end up cleaning up before cycling.

You know it occurs to me that performance enhancing substances can be good--just look at Ron "Tater Salad" White. Ok maybe not...

Be like Bevon!

As one would guess, moving 342.9 miles north would result in colder winters. Part and parcel is snow and temps that only reach into the 20's. I know it is only in the 20's today in the land of milk and honey, but if I still lived there I would not have considered riding my bike.

BillC has showed me that by dressing appropriately and riding cross bikes on snow covered trails, plenty of heat can be generated even though it was only 22 degrees on Sunday and 29 today when leaving to ride. This sort of riding is quite fun and much, much, much better than riding a trainer.

Considering how many other cyclist are out training on the bike in this weather, I believe that Chopper would be proud! If you are not sure what I mean, and don't mind an R-rated video, check this. Keep in mind this may NOT be one to open at the office due to some potentially offensive language.

I am off to keep riding in the cold as part of Turbo Cycling presented by Bu-zurke Clothiers and Crash-dros Productions.

Work?, Not really

Got out on Sat with some of the boys for a tour. We approached Bear Basin through Beehive just north of Lone Peak which is part of both Big Sky and Moonlight Basin resorts. It was a beautiful morning and warmer up there than in town:





























We dug some pits and performed Stuff Block and Rutschblock stability tests. This Q3 fracture was difficult to initiate.















Thus, we felt good about the stability and decided to do some skiing











































To those of you in the Wasatch, an unknown side effect to snowshoeing can be getting harassed by jack-ass backcountry skiers!

Be safe out there...


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Winding up!

So I think I might get out for my first BC tour of the year tomorrow. New area, new people should make it interesting. I will try to take some pics. At least it will be good to get out for some air and exercise, though the skiing may leaving something to be desired.

School is winding down for the semester. I have one last paper to write and some other stuff due Wed. Sleevie sent out a jersey design for next year and I really like it. We were hanging out with Gardie the other night and wouldn't let him look at it because he is a "former" teammate. I love that guy!

The commute has been snow covered for a while which is a lot better than when it melts and is slushy. My shoes and pants got soaked on Monday because it was so warm and wet. I will take snow covered over that any day. I took a picture of it riding in this morning, but it is on my cell phone and I am not sure how to get it from there to here. Something like this:



And yes, I am riding my bike to campus everyday. So far the coldest has been 4 degrees--does this mean I am spot on like Bevon?

Well I am off to Chunch. Yes, Chunch. It is a free lunch on Friday for students and is sponsored by the local Catholic church with all the food being donated from local restaurants, etc. I am not big on church, but I am big on lunch and the older folks serving it are awesome! They get excited by how many students show up and a couple of weeks ago we set a new record of 454. I made a joke that this means that we hit a pound, but no one seemed to get it. (454 grams = 1 lbm)

Anywho...

do you see a resemblance?

Not enough time

We went to SLC this past weekend, but ran out of time to catch up everyone we wanted to see. We drove down Thursday afternoon. Hit up the dentist for cleanings and me to get a permanent crown. It was about 2 weeks overdue as the temporary kept falling off. I am much happier with the permanent.

I am also happy because I submitted my thesis on Friday. My fingers are crossed but it should be done and I really need it off my lap right now.

Spent some time in the old hood catching up with folks and I did a cross race at Wheeler. You can read all about it here, here or here. My race was not quite like that last link. I crashed, literally came off the bike onto the ground, over a dozen times! The ensuing snowball fight and throwing elbows, etc with Sam and Turbo took it from a miserable day to the most fun cross race I did all year!

Now to finish the semester and work on finding money!