Looking Forward

Time to put a wrap on this year and look forward to a new one. '08 has been good, but I'm really looking forward to '09. Finn is getting around on his own very well, which means he and I can get out hiking for longer distances. Maybe once the snow melts off in the spring we can get to the high country. Things are growing at Siren and Brendan has some new ideas. I hope to debut a new bike at Old Pueblo. As always I've learned things at each race I've done so '09 looks to be another strong season. It's been good racing for Siren the past couple of seasons and now that we are teamed up with World Bicycles Relief, things are really looking good.

Here's to hoping your '08 was good and that your '09 will be even better!

Ride on!

WWL (winter wonder land)

We made it back to WI for Christmas! It was a close call, our Monday flight got canceled pushing us to fly on Christmas eve. From our back door in CA to our front door in WI in took us 16 hours. The girls and Finn did great...probably better then me and Bonn. In the end it's been worth it. The past couple of days I've got out with the girls for some runs. These are shots taken just behind the house. It's really nice there is about a third of a square mile of open land and on the other side of that is a park. Plenty of room to tear it up. As you can see from the pix there is about 2 feet of snow. Hard work to run in. Last night it rained and the snow levels have decreased measurably. Good news is that it has stayed pretty warm so I think Finn and I can get out for a run.

Ride on!

We Were on a Break

As of yesterday break has broken. For the next three weeks we are off. The first week looks to be pretty busy with holiday gatherings and shopping. We gotta do our part to stimulate the economy. Today is all about getting things in order before we head back to WI. I've decided not to bring all the 'stuff' for riding outside. All the 'stuff' we need for the three of us and the two dogs is more than enough. I'll bring shoes and shorts for spinning inside at the club. I have to admit I've gotten soft living in SoCal. I don't know if I could handle riding around in sub-zero temps. I know I don't have the clothing to do so. I'd like to do some snowshoeing up in the high country but I don't think there will be time. We need to tie up some loose ends at work before we head out. Maybe this morning Finn and I will go for a hike instead.

Ride on!

Oh the Weather Outside is...

This was the 'view' from the deck last night and this morning. I already got my spinning in. Now it's time for a run.

Ride on!

Duuude

I took the girls to school with me for running club, and I decided to cancel biking club because of the snow. It wasn't much, but I didn't have time for broken bones today. When I got home Finn and I went for a run. It didn't start out that way. When we left home I thought we might just take a walk around town, and get some holiday spirit. But as the road tipped up we started running. This was good practice for when we head back to WI. As I understand it they've been getting some good snow. After today I'm considering not taking all the fixin's to ride outside when we're back. It might just be easier to ride the spin bikes at the gym and run outside. Finn's so popular he needs to keep a low profile when he goes out.

Actually this is the first time he's kept his sunglasses on for longer that 5 seconds. We found that if we strap them over his hat and under his hood it works.

Ride on!

And Don't Forget the Eggs

Got some good riding in yesterday. We needed dog food and some other groceries so I headed down to Hemet with the B.O.B. trailer in tow. I took the rode down so the trailer wouldn't be bouncing all over the place. I took this shot at the last watering hole before heading up.
It was unseasonably warm, in the 80's down low and near 70 up by us. As I climbed up the control road I got to thinking, I'm out of shape. I spent most of the time in the granny just fighting to keep it above 4 miles an hour. I figured I was pulling about 40 pounds in the trailer. I've never weighed any of the loads I've brought up so after the ride I thought I would throw the B O B on the scale and see what I was really pulling. Well I was about 20 pound off, I guess I won't get the job on the fair circuit guessing peoples weight. I was 10 pounds from maxing out the weight the trailer is rated for. Oops. Now don't get me wrong there is still a long way to go to get back in shape.

Some of you might be thinking if I'm pulling a trailer why do I have a backpack as well. I usually like to stick things like the camera, food and extra clothing in the pack just because it's easier to get to.

Today is nice again. Me Finn and the girls have been out for a hike and now that he is resting I think I'll have a bit of a spin. Don't worry it's supposed to get winter like here over the weekend.

Ride on!

Oh yeah, That's Right

I got out with the girls this morning for our daily run to school. Most runs are pretty carefree, but today was different. This shot was taken just before we heard coyotes barking and screaming just behind us. Both Chance and Lucy were ready to go investigate. Thankfully I was able to bring there attention back to me and get them on leach. I kept them on leach the rest of the way to school. I guess scares like that are good every now and again to remind me that we do live in a forest and there are things out there that I need to be mindful of.
This was shot during one of those more carefree times.

Ride on!

Weekly Update

It's been a while so I thought I should give a bit of an update since I had some time this morning. My parents came out for the week which was great. They got to spend some good time with Finn. We capped their stay off by spending the weekend down in San Diego. Saturday night we played darts in the bar after dinner. We hadn't done that since we used to spend a long weekend each fall in the northwoods of Wisconsin. After two matches for Cricket we were tied and Finn was tired so we decided a rubber match would take place when we were back for the holidays.

O.k. this is a blog about mt biking so I reckon I should mention something about that. Training has been in a slow steady state. Running and spinning make up the brunt of my efforts. I've been in touch with Siren and it sounds like they'll have a new creation in the mix for me later this week. We've been talking about/designing this one for a while. It started when I bought a White Brothers carbon ridge fork last spring. Can you guess what we're thinking?

This week the plan is to get more regular with my training. Maybe hit the control road down the Hemet a couple of times. This is great for base miles.

Ride on!

p.s. What's with those Packers?

The end of the fall break has been fun. I got down to LAX about an hour early so I spent that time running along the beach. A lot of people celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family in the homes along the ocean. Manhattan Beach was super busy.

Bonnie Finn and I spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Finn looks to be on the mend, he still has a cough but it's getting better every day. Friday we spent the day at home and in town. Just hanging out and not doing too much of anything. I got some spinning in in the morning and in the afternoon I got the girls out for about an hour run. Saturday we headed down to Palm Springs to visit with the family we were supposed to have Thanksgiving with, and then got back home in time to watch the tree lighting in town. The past couple of mornings Finn and I have been hiking up in the State park with Gray . Yesterday I got out with Gray and his horse Huey. So like I said the end of break has been fun.

I'm really looking forward to getting back to school. A student is designing the set for the next production. Just before we left for break we were right on the edge of being ready to build, so it's getting pretty exciting.

Two more days and Finn will be a year old...wow that went fast.

Ride on!