and so it is

long time. highlights:

a fall drive and cross weekend in gunnison. camped out at hartman rocks. 5th/7th on sthe respective days. fun. came back to work and work was/is crazy. more on that later. ran a day or so. maybe i rode a bike in there somewhere.

another cross weekend in frisco/breckenridge. suffered at altitude in the cold both days. fun though - but thats 'cross. snowed on saturday; i flatted; ran half a lap to the pit got a wheel and rode 'r out ... typical 'cross. eeked out 31st or something. whatever. sunday was fun-er. but i placed a little further back. but remember, i had more-fun.

grandpa drove out from ceresco to pay me a visit. we watched the huskers on tv. talked a lot. i showed him around town. it was really good. i ate a crap load of meat at golden coral, god forgive me. rode a mountain bike the day he left. realised that i gained 10 pounds and had a beer gut one morning. not that i was prepared to do anything about it.

then one weekend carp came for a visit. it was dope. we crashed at jilly's house went to the uci boulder races where we kicked ass. f'd those mf'rs up yo. not really at all. i couldn't find my race face on sat. and couldn't help but encourage everyone who passed me. big race though so that was fun. and oddly enough, its kind of interesting to ride pretty causually and finish mid pack. out of a 100 or so. thats avg. heheh. even so i crashed (got run over in the process, but not on my head) on sat. and was sore sunday a.m. (i'm almost 35 dammit) so decided upon getting up that i would spectate and support carp in his bid for the podium. sunday was in boulder. carp was doing really well but flatted and i fetched a bike for him mid-race. then we had sushi on pearl street with Sir Wilhelm and his fair Lady and a friend of carps from dental school. highlight of being at the race on saturday was seeing freddy rodriquez racing a 'cross bike in a domo/lotto kit. classic. later that week i went on a mtb ride and crashed. after talking to some reliable sources i've determined that i fractured my coccyx. that pretty much put an end to my '06 'cross campaign (you try a running remount with an f'd up tail bone. g'head, i dare you.).

then i went to fruita with ganz and my buddy timothy. it was an awesome trip. we rode a ton. had some fun. and no one pulled a gun. you don't need to know anything else.

then thanksgiving came and i stayed here for the first time. hung with jilly in the a.m. preparing for a communal feast and then spent the majority of the afternoon drinking beer, eating, playing board games, and watching the chiefs vs. broncos. go chiefs.

.........................

listening to a bit of nick drake lately. i think its the time change.

.........................

crashed on a mtb ride on sunday and landed on my head right on a big ass rock. first time i've cracked a helmet in almost 20 years of riding and racing bicycles. had a bad headache sunday night, nagging headache all day monday, and today just a mild headache in the a.m. but in the p.m. i had some weird visual things going on when i turned my head quickly. i'm pretty sure i'm ok though.

..........................

so i bought some new xc skis for the backcountry. i am beyond stoked on this new lightweight touring set up. karhu dorados mounted with some NNN BC bindings i had laying around. and some rossi bc xc7 boots that i picked up late last year. this should be a very efficient bc touring set up that travels fast and turns very well when i stumble across some enticing slopes. not a full-on bomber set up like my tele skis (which equate to a full suspension dh mtb, in my mind), but more like a fast hard tail. these skis are waxable and double cambered, and relatively light for the full-on, classic kick and glide benefit - but, hmmm, the side cut also facilitates tele turns. no need for skins (i'll bring my old narrow johnnies anyway just in case). therefore, no need for the top of hill transition, which typically consists of: a. removing skins and folding them correctly b. messing with multiple boot buckles and levers and things on the boot c. adusting the cam on the cable binding d. stashing your skins and battening down the hatches (hood or collar up, goggles on, overmits on, poles shortened ... etc. and so forth). granted i won't be skiing the same type of terain that i normally ski on my tele set-up on these - but that isn't the point. covering a ton of varied terrain (different views, different climbs, different challenges) throughout the day and still harvesting some turns is the point. the transition from climbing to descending will be minimal. and still super fun. expect a trip report after the weekend. perhaps sooner. oh my god i can hardly wait.

..........................

work is work is work. i'm exploring some other options locally. not convinced its time to leave, but it seems like that point might not be far off. we'll see. good thing is i have a really full and happy life outside of those hours of the day, and that stuff sustains me. i don't loathe my job but i'm not exstatic about it either. its a job. and its pretty good. i shouldn't be down on it.

..........................

i'm gonna play some madden now.