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Showing posts from December, 2016

Finding my direction

Or where do I see myself as an athlete? At first, it was a marathoner - maybe not the fastest, but consistent. It was what I loved and something that I thought I'd be doing forever. But the compass shifted and I reinvented myself as a triathlete. First on the road, then on the trails. It was an interesting journey as a triathlete and I learned a lot about resilience and persistence. I also got a good lesson in reality on many occasions. Which brought another swing of the compass towards the endurance mountain bike world. The riding, the racing and the preparation - all up my alley. Again, not the fastest, but consistent and always ready for whatever conditions the race would throw at me. I felt sure that I'd found my north and the compass had found it's resting point. But... Daydreaming returned the compass to the original direction - back to running. One of my ultimate goals was always to finish a 50 mile race and I was able to do that this year. I found myself pondering

On Sponsors

It is very common to see amateur athletes of all kinds with more logos on their kits then a NASCAR driver. Everyone is looking for the deals and the ability to say they are a sponsored athlete. Companies see the influx of people willing to hashtag their lives away just for a few pennies off something and take advantage of that for some free marketing. There are entire websites dedicated to helping athletes find sponsorships of some kind. But there really isn't a relationship between athlete and company that works for the benefit of both. The discounts offered aren't usually worth the effort and it's difficult to really promote a product that the athlete doesn't believe in. It's even harder to believe the quality of the product when you see athletes jumping from company to company and each one is the "best they've ever used." Or when you are told that such and such is actually better, but I'll use this because I get a discount. No brand loyalty at a

Snow Days

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I have my limits when it comes to fat biking in the cold. Below 10* is about it for me - under that and I'm a wimp. Why I will run in sub-zero without too many complaints but not head out on the bike best equipped for slow snowy miles, I still haven't figured out. But anyway...  Saturday was a balmy 3* in the morning with 5 inches of fresh, fluffy snow and more falling. Skiing would have been the best as Monarch was reporting 21" of fresh snow - but I have my limits with skiing as well! And it was even colder and windier on the pass. So skiing was out, despite the lure of the fresh snow, Instead, we went for a hike up in the canyon. We actually decided to test out some gear for potential backcountry and hut trips with our hike, and it was cold enough to be a very valid test of our new Ibex Shak Hoodies. There were only two other cars in the Mount Cultler lot and the couple getting out of their truck as we pulled in kinda gave us a strange look as we started hoofing up th

Gooseberries and Guacamole.

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Timing is important on Gooseberry and has gotten more important every year as people discover how much fun the riding is up there. We figured on a Thursday Morning, it wouldn't be an issue and we would be able to get one of the nicer spots nestled in the trees. No such luck. We still found a nice quiet place to call home for a night or two, but it was more exposed to wind and sun then we would have liked. Oh well. After getting set up, time to ride! The super moon was coming and Gooseberry was a great place for the moonrise. We have a few favorite trails already on Gooseberry. North Rim and Hidden Canyon are among my favorites - a nice variety of trails and a great mix of what Gooseberry riding is all about. That was the goal on that first ride - ride a little shorter and find our wheels on the riding out there. It always takes me a few minutes to get used to the different styles of riding. It's not just pedaling on the dirt roads - it's darting in and out of the sage