Revert

Weather is all that is talked about in these parts any more. 

Yes it has been cold and seems to snow every other day,, not a lot of snow but just enough to make the roads messy. And the wind machine has been on high for what seems like weeks.

The weather is what it is and can't be controlled by us mere mortals. 

This is the same weather minus the snow that drove Anna and I from Wisco some 

twenty years ago. 

We were second year college students that stayed at school for winter break. 

Living in a cold drafty college house and having to walk or ride a bike anywhere the cold finally broke us and we split as soon as the semester was done.   

No escape like that happening anytime soon,

things are much different now that we are card carrying adults.

But if we could we would split.

The past few day I have been able to get out and ski,, would like to ski during the week after work but with the cold and the wind it is hard to motivate to ski in the dark 

when the conditions are so harsh. 

Yesterday the snow was cold and slow even with the Teal wax their was no much gliding...

So with the wind whipped golf course I just stayed in the woods doing repeats,, which was good hard work after lifting in the morning and sk8te boarding with the boy.

Today the skiing was 100% better,, with a fresh 4inches of snow

on the ground the groomers had gotten after the trails and rolled out some nice new corduroy.

Did not change the wax and was a bit worried about that as the temps were warmer today.

The snow was soft but with the firm skate deck under movement was much faster than I expected.

I kept to the woods loving the monochrome of the fresh pounding the hills and enjoying the silence I skied till my legs were noodles. A touch over an hour and 20k with 1000 feet of climbing and I started to wounder if I was going to be able to ride the skateboard with the boy.

 It has been fun to watch the boy figure out this st8teboard thing over the past few months, and now that i have sucked up my pride and am willing to pay for him to skate at the local hole in the wall indoor skate park, I am starting to see him progress. 

I started when I was his age but things have changed a huge ton of a lot between then and now. 

He is dropping in and working on getting him self up to the coping kick turns and soon some rocktofake's. He keeps saying that we need to live somewhere warmer so he can skate all winter out side.. Can't say that I disagree with him,,, But for now this is where we are and our trip to Arizona can't get here fast enough. 

Mutant

  This Guy is a legend and this is a Great story that Flagstaff NPR did about him,,,, Give a listen,.

I first learned about him and the Team Mutant

while I was living in Scottsdale and upon moving to Flagstaff just happened to meet him at his Bike shop at the time..

The man not only showed me the trails in and around the Coconino Forest but also taught me how to suffer,, and find a deeper love of the bike. 

Thanks Steve.. 

Single Track Dreams

I have had some crazy commutes to and from work,, all my different jobs overall the years that I have been not driving to work.

I spent the polar vortex last week and then again yesterday riding the 

All-City Cross bike and loving the dry conditions with little to no ice. 

But this morning I woke up and for once the snow they call for showed.

I am riding a late 70's early 80's touring bike, stripped down to one gear 53x23

some race blade fenders and studded 44mm tires. 

The bike is a beast and as long as it is moving it rolls pretty easy,, but if you fight the bike it normally wins. 

As today wore on it snowed and snowed and the north wind machine kicked up.

I was able to get out of work while the sun was still out 

and started to make the push home.

The plows had not been able to keep up with the 6 plus inches that had fallen since the crack of dawn, and if it had not been for the bits of carbide sticking out of the tires

I am not sure if staying up right would have been an option. 

As for the wind I could not tell which direction was harder to deal with east west or due north. 

Pointing towards Canada  there were only a few miles left.... They were the longest 

miles of the year.. Felt like I was crawling up hill then add the mash potatoes for snow,, and angry commuters in their  steel boxes and things got interesting. 

Up right and up tight,, made it home all right. 

I am ready for some warmer weather.

Sedona is only two months away.

And it can't get here fast enough. I can

only hope that tomorrow's commute is less eventful. 

RED HAWKS Cross

The Ripon Red Hawks went out to Colorado for the CycloCross Nationals.. Ben and Corrie took second in the Team Relay, friday and then Corrie Rose and Pip went 7,12,13 on saturday and Ben after a crash went from the back to the front and landed in 10th. 

The whole Team Finished Third Overall

Which means More Hardware for the Kids..

Great Job Red Hawks. 

Saw the Thrashers Coming

I have started Three different post and shelved them all.    Other than winter weight gain and 

talking about how damn cold it is outside life has been as

bland as unsalted oatmeal. No this is no pity party or some great manifesto about how  going to change the world as we all change our calenders just a stale old cracker. 

Or that may just be me get old and crotchity ... this forty stuff is hard. 

Seems like every day is just another reason to not stop drinking. 

Get busy drinking or get busy dyeing ,,., or some shit like that ..

First World Problems. 

In attempt to find some youth and relive my past through the youngest one in the,, lots of time this past fall and now winter has been spent on the Back of a Piece of 7 layer Maple.

And to this Board on which we stand four wheels under us with girptape, and trucks for all..

We have found a new world order which brings smiles and pain to young and old. 

In the Thirty One trips 

around the sun since I started riding a board a lot has changed. But the same is the new norm and it

is all still about wearing a funny hat and have fun pushing the limits of what you can do

and finding out what the "Search of Animal Chin" is all about. 

 James has come along way from stepping on one of my old boards in late summer and spending the afternoon out on the side walk surfing up and down until the street light came on and it was time for bed. 

We have had our battles,,, I had to break him from pushing mongo,,, I accepted the fact that he was a goofy foot rider but could not let my child grow up a Fu(ted foot pusher. 

From their it was and is all progression. 

He got his first board for Christmas,, and as I was asked by many why would you get someone a 

sk8te board in the middle of winter.. The only reason is because.. 

Only a short drive away in the Land Of Grain Belt.. Is the Third Layer Skate Park..

Twice we have gone up and this last time James got to 

try out his new Equipment. 

Again watching him grow learning how to slide out on his pads and push his limits. 

It is fun to see,,, the seeds of getting rad have been planted

and now I just need to make sure that I help them 

grow.

The skateboard was my escape before Skis and before Mountain Bikes,,

and now he gets to experience it all,, and Ohhhh the Places that he can go. 

Now as we sit through the Polar Vortex of 2014 we dream of single track and skate parks in the

Arizona sun.

And yep with the van not starting tomorrow I challenge my self to 

pedal to work ,,, Polar Vortex my ass..