.....................A day in the life of the Wiz...

Bye Bye Super Duty

2012-02-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

I sold my truck this week. I really haven't used it since October and it didn't make much sense to keep it around. If I need a truck bigger than our Tacoma then I can borrow or rent one, it would be cheaper than owning it. I am looking for a sprinter van that we can use as a family camping wagon and work truck if needed. I have my eyes on one, I should know within a week if I get it. I will post it up if I do.

Our house - 23" Winter Park - 1"

2012-02-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's usually how it goes in Colorado. If there is good snow in the mountains then it will be dry and sunny in town. And, likewise, if there is a big storm in town then you may as well stay home and enjoy shoveling because there won't be any on the ski hill. But this year I picked up a great pair of snowshoes at the Sniagrab and am using them right here in town!
Mandy and I out snowshoeing this morning.

I took this photo last night of our deck. I like how the snow is hanging on the top of the chairs.

Logan went out yesterday too but only across the street to play at the neighbors house while Matt shoveled. He can't move when he's in his snowsuit but he can still smile!

Lately Matt has been spending some time fixing up his dirtbike. I would say it is to get ready for the coming dirtbike season but in his world, it is always dirtbike season. I can say that with confidence because the last thing he said to me today is "I think I need to go outside and do something crazy on my dirtbike in all this new snow..." then he disappeared into the garage. Here is Logan helping him get ready. He even gets his own hammer.

We have managed to get up to Copper Mountain twice this year for some skiing. The first trip we each went on separate days so the other could stay home. Then we decided to try it family style. Here is Logan hanging out at Copper Village with daddy. He was a big hit as they walked around to all the shops while I was up skiing.

After a couple hours of skiing for me then we traded and he got to eat and take a nap in the truck. Overall, it was a great day for everyone.

Up until this weekends storm, the weather has been exceptionally warm here. We try to get out for walks and ended up walking around the town and neighborhoods of Morrison. Here we found some pretty horses for Logan to check out.

What We've Been Up To

2012-01-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

After visiting our friends in Laramie over Christmas, I decided that Logan might benefit from having tummy time on the wood floor so he could get a little more grip and maybe learn to crawl. Well, no crawling yet but he has learned to spin in circles pretty well to see what is going on all around him!

I've also discovered that it's true you don't need fancy toys for your kids because they find the simplest things so much fun. He loves this plastic cup and always wants to drink out of it. I don't put anything in it but he drools so much that every now and then he gets a little drink of, well, you know...

It also leaves a great cup mark around his face!

This January has been particularly mild so we've been able to go on a couple of hikes near our house. It's too muddy for the stroller but he enjoys being carried in the pack and waving his arms at everyone who walks by.

Awww, do we have to leave so soon!

When it's not warm enough for a hike then we'll just sit outside in the back yard and play in the dirt.

Yep, he likes the dirt!

Pictures over Christmas

2012-01-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

Logan has found it lots of fun to play in the mirror. We have a mirror on the floor in our bedroom that he likes to sit in front of and bang on. I'm sure he can pass hours at it if we let him.

Logan in his moose hat. He seems to enjoy it. And he always has something dangling that he can put in his mouth.

Over the week of Christmas, we traveled all over Wyoming. First we went to Cheyenne to stay the night with my sister, Theresa, and her family. From there we went to Casper to Aunt Sharon's house for Swick family Christmas, then we went up to Worland to Pam's parents for a few days, then on our way back to Denver we stayed the night in Laramie with our friends Christie and Mark. Christie has a daughter just a week younger than Logan whose name is Lily.

My nephew, Lane, got his grass camo for Christmas that he has been wanting. I think he just needs some shoes to go with it.

For Christmas all the Swick kids were together with their mom. Pam's dad is Chuck, front left and his mom, Lucille is in the front row too.
Back Row: Bill, Chancy, Sharon, Jess, Ann. Front Row: Chuck, Tom, Lucille, Jim

Four Generations here. There were about 10 cameras flashing away during this pose, so we didn't know where to look.

Logan wants to be like his daddy, pounding nails. Except at this stage of the game he is just chewing on the hammer.

It's easy to keep an eye on the little monkey when you keep him close and confined. Here he gets to help Grandma Debbie out with cooking.

Logan has lots of fun unwrapping presents, but we need to be quick with snatching the paper away before it ends up in his tummy.

Logan is trying to play twister with Lily, but she thinks he is just trying to tickle her foot.

And at home Logan was happy to play under the tree and try to grab the lights anything else he could get his hands on. Notice the drool dangling from his lip, that is a pretty common sight with him. He still doesn't seem to be having any teeth coming in, but he sure makes everyone think he does with all the puddles he leaves behind.

Moto on Donner Pass

2012-01-10T22:35:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday we had the bright idea of heading into the hills to find some single track to ride. We went about 30 miles west of Loveland. It had been warm in Denver and much of the snow had melted, so we thought it was worth a shot. As soon as we parked the trucks it started to snow. There by the time we left about 3 or 4 hours later there was about 2" of snow on the ground. I met up with 3 guys I had never met before, but they were friends of my buddy Ken and I had heard good things. We had a great time, but as you will see, there wasn't much single track to be found.

There was hope for a brief amount of time for some descent trail riding.

But it didn't last long. We soon found ourselves in 6" or more of snow pretty much everywhere.

As were were riding up a jeep road we found some hidden ice! It took 2 of us out in a hurry. It turned out that the whole section was covered. It was about 10' wide and 50' long and on a slope. Chris made it up without falling, but Jared and myself weren't so lucky. Jared fell at least 4 times and I had about the same luck. Every time we would fall we would slide down past the bikes and down the hill.

Here is a view looking up at the long slide Chris took on his butt.

All in all, it was good to be out riding and a fun time. But I think that might be enough snow riding for the season, unless I have spikes on my tires.

Pictures!

2011-12-11T21:04:00.001-07:00

Life always seems to be so busy that we forget to take pictures so now I have determined to try and keep the camera in close proximity and capture a few more of the fun times that we are having.

In the last week or so Logan has started sitting up on his own. He can sit there for about a minute or so before he gets distracted and topples over but I think he likes it!

We have also started feeding him a little bit of cereal. I think he wants to hold his own bowl already!

He seems to enjoy eating but sometimes I think he would be just as happy chewing on his toys!

Aunt Elizabeth has been a fantastic babysitter!

And I just love this picture of our handsome little boy sitting in church!

Thanksgiving in Nebraska

2011-12-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

We had a a fantastic Thanksgiving trip to Nebraska to visit my grandparents. We met my parents in Cheyenne when they were headed out there. They hadn't seen Logan in awhile and were pretty impressed with how big he is now. He weighed 16.75 lbs after we got back from our trip which means he's already in the weight range for 9 month clothes. Yikes!

While we were there we took a 4 generation photo from my mom's side.

Bike Trip to Fruita

2011-11-12T20:28:00.001-07:00

Our next biking adventure was to Fruita. This trip we also took along Matt as the babysitter. He could watch the babies while Christie and I rode bikes and at the same time shuttle us to the top of the trails so we didn't have to wear out too much pedaling uphill. It made the trip so much more fun for us!

We also rode in Grand Junction for the first time. Matt took us to some really great trails.

Christie has a mattress in the back of her truck so the babies could play in the shade.

Lily is already good at rolling over so she would roll to Logan and check out what he was doing. Looks like they had a pretty good time together.

Once Christie and I were done riding then Matt was off the hook and he could spend the rest of the day riding his dirt bike.

We originally planned to camp this weekend but the weather didn't work out so we went for the Motel option. Since we had all packed our food for camping it just seemed to make sense to cook it instead of spending the money to eat out. Nothing like setting up camp in the motel parking lot!

Bike Trip to Winter Park

2011-11-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

Our friends Christie and Baby Lily made it out twice this fall with us for some epic bike trips. The first one was to Winter Park to do some downhill biking. We had several other friends who went on the trip but it was especially fun for us to see if we could have a great day with biking, friends and babies.

Here's us at the start of the day. We set up a nice spot in the parking lot for hanging out, grilling and babysitting.

Logan and Lily had a great time hanging out in Lily's peapod. It has an air mattress in the bottom of it so you can set it anywhere and the little ones can play and nap. Lily was born one week after Logan so it's fun to see them together. I'm sure they will have many more 'play dates' while their momma's have their outdoor fun!

And, of course, us girls had a great time getting out on the mountain for a couple of sweet rides.
Laura, Christie, Pam, Maddie. Wayne took the picture and shortly after that he wiped out and spent the rest of the day at medical getting stitches!

Visit from Pam's parents

2011-10-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted but when I went back to work it seems like the only things I can accomplish in a day is dinner and laundry. But, I will try to get a few more pictures up here today.

My parents came for a visit over labor day weekend.

Logan was a huge fan of my mom! He was putting on his best smiles while she was here.

She was really good at keeping him entertained during tummy time by reading books for him too.

Tummy Time

2011-08-27T12:20:00.007-06:00

13lbs! Yep, I weighed him again last thursday and he is still growing like a weed. He still fits comfortably in the car seat but this photo makes it look like he's about to explode out of it!

Logan is 10 weeks old today and is definitely becoming more active and smiling at us a lot more. I've also been trying to do more tummy time with him but usually he is not too fond of the experience. Today he got some diaper free tummy time and that seemed to keep him from getting tired of it for a little bit longer!

This picture makes him look like he lives in a world of colorful hanging toys. I guess that's what it looks like from down here!

Meeting More Cousins

2011-08-19T08:41:00.005-06:00

Last week my brother came with his family on their summer road trip vacation. The house was stuffed with toys and kids and we had a great time! Each day was something fun at the park, pool or hiking. Then in the evenings it was playing cards or Angry Birds! If you haven't played the game, it is really popular and Jason and Josiah were hooked.

Matt teaching Josiah how to play. Amanda is probably doing something productive while her boys are preoccupied...

Matt with Josiah, Jaron and Logan. Looks like trouble!

New Toys

2011-08-08T16:38:00.002-06:00

I'm never quite sure when it is time to add new toys and things that Logan might like but yesterday I decided to get out the play mat and see what he thought. It was an immediate success and it gave me an opportunity to capture some of his smile!

Anniversary Weekend

2011-08-08T08:12:00.001-06:00

So much has happened in our lives in the past year but it has gone by so fast. Saturday was our one year anniversary so we made a wonderful and very relaxing trip up to Beaver Creek for a night. It was Logan's first trip and he did great! I particularly enjoyed being in the mountains again and going on a hike. It made life almost feel normal!

We also were able to spend an evening with Matt's uncle and his family from Texas when we got back. It was great to finally meet them and their sweet daughters!

Click the picture below to see more photos of the weekend.

August 7, 2011

Six Weeks

2011-08-04T11:35:00.003-06:00

We have finally made it to the six week mark. Everyone told me that six weeks was sort of magical because he would start sleeping longer at night. Not too sure about that because he seems to be sleeping much less and I am once again heavily sleep deprived! But, he is now working on giving us an occasional genuine smile and somehow that just makes it all worth it! It's hard to capture on camera but we've attached another round of recent photos.

We also had a great weekend visit from Chancy and Teresa Swick. They really enjoyed Logan and I really enjoyed the extra hands so I could get things done!

There is no doubt that Logan is eating well and gaining weight. I weighed him on Tuesday the 2nd and he's 11lb, 9oz and showing no signs of slowing down!

Click the picture below to see more photos.

Logan August 2, 2011

Baby Pictures

2011-07-20T15:08:00.003-06:00

I have bought two houses in the last month to fix and flip. I have some pictures of those that I can post up here sometime, but other than that, I mostly have Baby Pictures. That's why most people are checking here, isn't it!?

Logan was up over 10 lbs at 3 weeks, now he is 4 weeks, but we don't know how much he weighs this week yet. Aunt Elizabeth pulled a short babysitting shift last night while Pam and I went out to Bonefish for dinner. It was Pam's first time away from him so far. Everything went smooth and mom didn't freak out at all. We had a fun time.

Here are some more pictures from the past week or so. They are all baby pictures, so if you are looking for dirt bike pictures or things blowing up, you will have to check back later and I will see what I can do.

Click on the picture below to get to the photo album.

Logan Jul 19, 2011

More Logan

2011-07-09T09:37:00.002-06:00

Today Logan is 3 weeks old. He has lots of visitors and has been lots of fun for most everyone, there are a few that stopped by just to see him sleep. We are doing pretty good adjusting, unless you ask Pam at a 3am feeding, but by morning, all is pretty well again. Here is a link to some more pictures up thru July 4. click here

Logan up to July 4

Logan Alan Wisniewski

2011-06-23T10:51:00.003-06:00

Yes, we finally picked a name. Below is a link to the photo album with added pictures.

New Baby

(click on photo)

Brand New Baby Boy!

2011-06-19T17:41:00.003-06:00

Just picked one up from the factory!

Pam gave birth to our son June 18th, 2011 at 3:41am. He was 7lb 14oz and 20.5" long.

Because we didn't know what the sex was going to be, we had to come up with a few extra names. We had girl names we liked, but never quite made it there with the boy names. So we are still working on that. I will post up the name when we figure it out.

Here is a link to a web album to view more pictures. click here

We seem to startle him with a flash, so we have been avoiding using one. Some pictures are better than others.

Day with Aurora SWAT

2011-06-14T23:35:00.002-06:00

Last week Friday I had a chance to go to a SWAT demonstration where they let us shoot a bunch of their guns and ride in their armored car and see their training facilities. A friend of mine bought this demo day at a charity fund raiser event and I got to tag along.

They had their K9 drug sniffer and bomb sniffer dogs there. They offered us the opportunity to put on the suit and let the dog attack us. Of course, I had to get a part of this. It was pretty cool to see and try it, but the darn dog let go of my arm and then took a good nip at my leg. It didn't get thru my jeans, but it did bite hard enough to tear the skin and cause bleeding, so they made me go to the ER with them and get it cleaned properly and get a tetanus shot.

Below we have the video of the dog attack and the quick bite at the end. Sorry, you will have to turn your head sideways to watch it. I don't video edit and there is no easy fix that I know of.

SWAT limo

2011-06-10T23:49:00.001-06:00

This was our ride for the day. It has 66 mm thick glass. Weighs 40,000 lbs. Gets 4 mpg. And max speed of 75 mph. The armor can stop multiple 50 cal rounds. It is just crazy. A 50 cal round can go thru 13" thick concrete!
The scrape on the bumper is from a raid where the had to ram a house to get in.

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SWAT M16

2011-06-10T23:44:00.001-06:00

We also got to shoot an M16 automatic. That was cool but over to quick. Then they had a semi-auto to shoot as well. I don't remember what it was, but those are a lot of fun too. A person could be real dangerous with one of those.

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SWAT

2011-06-10T23:38:00.001-06:00

We got shoot lots of guns. Glock 9mm. Glock 40 cal. 1911. 357 revolver. 44 mag revolver. Super fun, but that 44 was tough to shoot more than 3 rounds with. I did confirm that I can at least hit a Target @ 15' !

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Visit in Laramie

2011-06-05T18:13:00.005-06:00

To take a break from our messy house and get out of town, we decided to go visit our friends Mark and Christie in Laramie. She is due one week before me so we figured we had to get a couple good photos before the babies arrive.

Going for a hike by their house:

Nope, I'm not pushing out the jacket with my hands...

Trying to see if we are wider than the tree:

Pam is taking over Matt's Blog : )

2011-06-05T17:51:00.007-06:00

Not really, but I thought it would be fun to post a few pictures of our recent activities. We have not been very diligent at taking photos but have a few to share anyway.

In our pursuit of fixing up the baby room, we ended up buying enough carpet to do the rest of the house. Well, if we're going to do that we should probably paint the walls, and the trim, and the doors, install ceiling fans, fix the stairs and now we have a big remodel project underway...

The Mess:

The remodeling:

Matt is pretty motivated now that I'm 37 weeks pregnant and baby could be coming any day!

The colors in the baby room:

And hopefully soon we will have the carpet installed, the furniture in and we'll be able to post some finished room photos.

Hog Heaven

2011-04-11T22:13:00.001-06:00

Gotta love Costco...Pam let me get 4 pounds of animal crackers today. I wonder how long it wil take new to devour them all. I think if less than 4 weeks I am a pig.
The other problem is where do you store a 36 roll pack of TP?

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New Baby Mobile

2011-04-03T20:06:00.003-06:00

With baby on the way, we needed a new family truck that would fit at least 2 adults and a car seat. So, Pam is a little sad to see the old Tacoma go, but she likes this new one too. This one is a 2006 just like the last one we had.

Hiking Mama

2011-04-02T16:28:00.002-06:00

Hiking at Deer Creek. Pam at 28 weeks.

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Back on the bike again

2011-04-02T13:49:00.004-06:00

Went out on the dirt bike on Saturday with Aaron at Rampart Range. We had a great time and got in about 3 hours of ridinig. Here are some pics from the day. Due to a non-cooperative blogger, the pictures are out of sequence, but still a good collection from the day.

loaner bike in Tenn.

2011-03-17T13:40:00.001-06:00

On my latest trip to Tennessee I was able to borrow a loaned bike from Clint. It was a super fun bike to ride and even managed to not crash it. However, it was barkbuster deficient which led to a few games of bloody knuckles. It was an excellent 3 day weekend of riding.

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Catch up on trips since...

2010-10-21T23:45:00.012-06:00

I seem to never have a chance to catch up on my blog. First I had many excuses, such as the wedding and such. Now I can only say that I have been working some and taking lots of trips. I have found that it is easier to just put in a link to a picasa photo album than it is to put up a bunch of pictures here. This blog is only so user friendly then it just gets annoying. So here are some of the adventures since the wedding...

Shortly after the wedding, Pam and I headed to Moab to meet up with 12 guys from the New Orleans area, including Scuba Steve and Cannondale Tim. That was a super fun trip with lots of friends and riding. On their way back to Denver they took a day of riding the Chair Lifts at Keystone. I was just coming from church, dressed vacation church nice and took Tim's bike for a run. That was a pretty fun time.

Click the link below the below picture for the photo album.

Moab over labor day with Scuba Steve

Some time after the trip to Moab, a bunch of friends thought it would be fun to go tubing in Ft. Collins on the Poodre River. It was fun, but it was also freezing cold, even in September. Me being me, I was too cheap to go buy a tube, so I just used a tube from my dirt bike. It worked, but it left me pretty much submerged up to my chin the whole time. So by the end of the float, I was almost suffering from Hypothermia, jaw chattering and chicken skin everywhere. But it all turned out good and it was a fun trip. But next time I will have a tube with larger air volume or a wet suit. I found out that Big Five Sports had $5 tubes, better than $17 tubes at a tire shop. (Below, my sister Elizabeth is on the right in a black top, white skirt.)

The day after the float trip, we went to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. I almost was tossed out of the park for dropping a dime off of the power tower, but I played dumb and didn't own up to it and they moved on. No pics from that day.

Pam later had to go to Maryland for work for a week, so I took advantage and picked up my niece, Claire, and nephew, Lane, and took them up to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.

That was a lot of fun. We went to Mt Rushmore at night to see it lit up then were going to come back the next day to see it in the daylight, but ended up going to see the buffalo and donkeys instead. So we ended up with no pictures of the monument. After Custer State Park, we went south to the wild horse sanctuary to see the wild horses. They really loved that part of the trip. I think feeding the donkeys carrots and the wild horses were their favorite part of the trip. Ohh, that and making ice cream at the camp site both nights. Photo album below...

Mt Rushmore

After I dropped the kids off in Cheyenne, I drove back to Denver and picked up my truck and dirt bike and headed for some riding in Steamboat and later in Rand. That was a pretty fun trip.

Photo album below.

Moto in Steamboat and Rand

The day after I returned from riding in Steamboat, I headed south to Colorado City and to San Rafael National Forest to do some shuttle rides on my xc bike on St. Chuck trail and Snowslide trail. Those were some fun technical trails. I want to go back and ride them on my moto when I get a chance. The trails were about a 2.5 hour drive south. Photos below.

Mt. Bike in San Rafael National Forest

I think I took 2 weeks off from any major trips, then this past weekend Pam was taking a girls Mt. bike trip to Fruita and Moab. So was escaping on a boys dirt bike trip to the same places, but I was stood up and ended up riding 4 days alone. But since camping space was limited out there due to a busy weekend, I ended up camping with the girls, which was nice, they cooked dinner and breakfast. Other than a bunch of girl talk the first day, it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun. Photos below.

I should really comment on the trails that I rode. Peach Valley by Montrose has some good trails and some REALLY GREAT trails. Dark Horse and Eagle Vally are really challenging and super fun, well built trails. The hill climbs are pretty sweet too. I think I about wet my pants from excitement all day. It was hard to eat my lunch before riding when I first got there.

In Grand Junction, I went for a short morning ride in Bang's Canyon. There I did the Butterknife trail which was pretty technical and great single track. Then I came up a nasty jeep trail rated a 9 out of 10 for difficulty. That was a pretty hard trail, but it gave me a chance to work on my bike maneuvering skills. Such as stuck in a pile of rock and popping the clutch to put a wheelie and move the front tire where I needed it then bouncing up a pile of big ol' rocks. Fun fun, but it made me work.

Then the 40 mile loop in Rabbit Valley was super sweet, it truly felt epic. A trail I would love to do anytime I am out there. Excellent terrain and views.

And Moab was fun, but not as much as the rest of the trip, but it was fun to check a bunch of trails off my list. I did do Prichett Canyon, a 5 of 5 star jeep trail that is suppose to be just hard. It was challenging but not as much work as the jeep trail in Grand Junction. I think in a jeep it is harder but not on a dirt bike.

Here is a short vid of the first hill climb I did in peach valley, I found much bigger ones later, but this was pretty exciting just off the truck.

Moto in Montrose, Grand Junction, Fruita, and Moab

Wedding Photos!!

2010-09-02T00:45:00.001-06:00

What so many of you have been waiting to see...

Wedding Photos

Honeymoon in Costa Rica

2010-09-02T00:40:00.003-06:00

Well, I am finally posting something. It is a link to our pictures from our Honeymoon in Costa Rica. We had a great trip and spent 12 days there. Let me know if this link doesn't work for some reason.

Honeymoon Photos

Flat Landing

2010-03-03T23:21:00.003-07:00

I tried skiing off the roof.

Ripped Pants.

2010-03-03T22:28:00.006-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting up the results of this one...

We went to Steamboat Springs for a 4 day ski trip. While we were there, they were having a winter carnival. I entered in the Dual Slalom . There were 33 racers, top 16 advanced. I was in the top 16. Then I beat the guy in my heat and advanced again (top 8). Then I lost in the next heat. I ended up losing to the guy who took 1st.
Shot of the course and the jump near the bottom.

There were lots of people wrecking on this one.

There are few pics of me here, just the videos at the end of this post.

Some other guys wrecking.

Me and Pam. Medals for being awesome.
Unicycle dude. He didn't make any of the gates. He also crashed off the jump after his tire dug into the snow.

Handle bar surfer dude. He ended up taking out the orange coat down below him.

Endo.

I'm not totally sure how much the spikey tires helped. As you can see there were pretty good ruts down the course thru the gates. They probably did some. When all was done, I had a rip in the back of my pants leg due to getting too far behind the seat.

Here are some videos that Pam took of my runs.

One is the quarter final where I was close for a bit then the other guy went down in my lane and I had to dismount, go back up around the gate then take the win. I'm the guy on the left.

The other is where I was smoked by the champion. I'm on the right.

Spikey Tires!!

2010-02-03T19:06:00.003-07:00

Doug called me the other day and said he never knows what I am up to in CO cuz I never post. Well, it will be a bit before I can update for what I was doing in Janurary, but I can at least tell this story.
Thre are 18 of us headed up to Steamboat for 4 days of skiing. They are also having a winter carnival up there and one of the events is a mt bike dual slolam race on the ski slope. So I heard that best way to stay upright was to put some spikey tires on your bike. Too cheap to by some real ones, I made some. I tested them a bit on the frozen snow patch by my house, I think they will work pretty good. The race is Thrusday night, so I will let you know after the weekend.

On the single ply tire I could turn it inside out and put the screws in pretty easy. I just picked a random pattern that should allow at least one screw touching the snow at all times. I would prefer more, but that would be too many screws and too much weight. This one will be my rear tire.

Bling Bling 2.35 for the rear. One of the trashy tires I had laying around.

Insert a liner so the screw heads don't cut the tube. The liner is an old tube sliced open.

Slide the tube inside the liner.
The front tire is a Swamp Thing 2.5.

This is Front tire 1.0. I felt it needed more traction so I added another row of screws on each side.

Front tire 2.0.
In the end, I used about 160 screws. About 100 in the front and 60 in the rear.

December

2009-12-30T23:48:00.004-07:00

December in Colorado was a little more disappointing than usual. There was just enough snow on the ground to make dirt biking and mt biking not too fun, but not enough snow to offer any good skiing.

Usually, we have a B-day ski day for Wayne's birthday, but this year it was a B-day hike day on Bergen Peak outside of Evergreen.
From the peak I could use m 8x zoom and see downtown Denver.

From the same place without any zoom, downtown is behind the dark ridge in the middle. Pretty crazy zoom.

Then after Christmas, Pam and I headed to Winter Park to meet up with her Aunt and nephew and niece. Her Aunt fell and twisted her knee pretty good and took the ski patrol toboggan ride down. I think she is mostly ok now, she was suppose to get an x-ray today to make sure things are as they should be.
Today brought 8" of new snow to Winter Park and we were lucky enough to get a piece of it. We didn't even know it was suppose to snow, so it made for a great surprise.
We made our way into the trees to find that it was almost waist deep, but with no bottom but rocks and down trees.

Wayne, working his way down over the rocks.

Pam, showing us how to keep our tips up in sketchy terrain.

Me. What happens when you don't take notes from Pam's technique.

Crack Pipe

2009-11-19T22:49:00.002-07:00

After my adventurous ride last week, I found a good crack in the expansion chamber on the exhaust pipe of my dirt bike.
I called Wayne to ask about the best way to fix the crack. He said bring it over and he could TIG weld it.

Good as new. Then I put 500 degree clear enamel on it to keep it from rusting, hope that helps.

Then I put studs on my rear tire for snow riding this weekend. #8x1/2" metal screws. I hope they don't puncture the tube.

Sideways

2009-11-10T22:34:00.004-07:00

Ever since I put the trials tire on my bike I have been dying to get back up to Left Hand Canyon and try this gnarly trail that Wayne took me on last year. We had to push and pull our bikes up over several sections. But now I have a new bike with longer wheelbase, better tires, and more power. Since everyone seems to have a job or a broken bike, I figured I would very carefully try doing the trail by myself.

A few shots of the trail.

The trail goes to the right, with lots of exposure pretty much the whole way.

Since this trail starts and ends at the top with the middle the low point, my approach was to work my way down the way that we went out, and each time I came to an area that we struggled with, I would turn around and try it. That way, if it was too much I would only have to deal with one of the problem areas, not all of them. This approach worked pretty well. I ended up making it past all the obstacles and making it to the bottom of the trail. Then I went up the way that we came in, and to my amazement, it was easier than the way that we went last year. After reaching the top on the other side, I went back down and up the way that I had come from. Me and Wayne had 3 areas that we really struggled with, this time the first area was much simpler, but still took some pushing. No problem with the second area. The third area, well...
(notice the little piece of white fluff below the bike, that is some of the foam from the seat where I ripped it open on the fall.)

Same result as last year.

So, lots of pushing and finally made it past. Only to struggle with one that I had made just fine earlier. This one was pretty tricky, it was so far to the side of the trail I could barely get it back onto its wheels without losing it down the hill.

The line was in the notch to the right. I had to lower it off that big rock and down to the left.
Once I had it back on stable ground, I started it and stalled it and fell over again to the downhill side. I was so tired by this point I could barely see straight. But, I finally made it back out.

Chicken Coop

2009-11-10T00:52:00.003-07:00

Figure that I don't take the time to post as often as I should, so tonight is mass post night.

I went back up to Theresa's again this week and finished the Chicken Coop. I didn't do anything to the inside. That maybe in the spring.

Lane putting his head out the chicken door.

Still needs to be painted.

Barn behind the house. Angled to best shield the crazy constant wind of Cheyenne.

For Sale.

2009-11-10T00:48:00.003-07:00

Pam's neighbor has had this car under a tarp since before she moved in 5 years ago. The tarp has been flapping in the wind since day one. It is a '77 Roadrunner that he used to drive back in the day. Today the tarp ripped open in all the wind. He sold the engine years ago and had plans of restoring it someday. I'm not sure someday will ever come. So I was thinking of putting up a Craigslist ad to maybe help the neighborhood out.

Moto Day

2009-11-10T00:27:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago, before the snow, Jeff and I went out for a day of riding. It was super fun and good temps. Probably Mid 40s.

Here is me at the bottom of a big rock slab getting ready to climb it.

Jeff rippin' the trail.

Climbing another rock slab.
These things felt way steeper than they look here.

4-wheelin' in the creek.
The way we unload the flat bed. Waitin' for one of those boards to break.

Trail work

2009-11-10T00:25:00.003-07:00

Went up to help build DH trails on Saturday. We had about 16 people show up. Just think of what we could have done at Windrock with that kind of man power. We put in 3 jumps and some berms.

Snow

2009-11-09T22:38:00.010-07:00

So, the southern Denver area got about 28" of snow just before Halloween. We were able to measure 22" in the table in Pam's backyard. Of course, Pam had to bury me in the snow.

Then I took a bunch of trashcans full of snow and stacked it up to build something. But at this point I still wasn't sure where it was going. I got about 12 cans into it and went in for dinner and didn't come back for 2 days.

Just after playing in the snow I went out to verify the snow depth...barefoot! I think this was the 22".
Then I had to go skiing, of course. Here I ducked the rope as usual for the better snow. This was at Loveland.

I was up there with Jay.

Then I came back to work more on my statue. This was Halloween afternoon and I figured with the warming weather and the holiday that night, I might as well turn my mound of snow into a Pumpkin. I think I put in a total of 4 hours.
Makin' Bacon!
Then I put candles in it for the evening.
Then, of course, we had to add gas. This was largely due to Jeff's prompting. But I think it only took one nudge and I was all over it. I did manage to burn some of the hair off my hand in the process, but nothing major. It was as fun as it looks.

Then after all the gas, probably about a gallon or so, it looked a little long in the face.

And by mid afternoon the next day the neighbor kids were putting it to its grave.

Then about a week later most of the snow was gone in town so Jeff and I headed up to do some riding. We quickly found that it wasn't as warm at the trails as it was in town.

Jeff, stuck and pushing it backward.Finally, making it thru.

Some parts of the trail were fine, no snow. Lots of mud and water. Some parts had 12" of snow still on them. Here my bike could stand up on it own.

And, as to be expected of someone on a 4-wheeler, no matter how cold it is out, they will still play in the mud holes.

Stepping off the trail, I found it up to my knees.

We did find some dry rocks to play on.

Walking speed...in 2nd gear!

Paint

2009-10-29T00:19:00.002-06:00

Here are the before and after shots of the house I painted. It took way too long to do this job, next time I would probably let the pros do it, they are much faster. Also note, it takes at least 2 coats and maybe more to change the dark trim to white.

Before.
After.

Barn

2009-10-28T18:12:00.005-06:00

Spent a several days over the last two weeks working on a 13' x 36' loafing shed for my sister, Theresa, in Cheyenne. She is hoping to get some horses next spring for the family.

The barn will go just to the right of the Skid-Steer.

All the materials needed to build the barn and an 8' x 8' chicken coop.

All the holes dug and string layed out to tell me where the posts go. The holes are all 18" wide and 4' deep. Done with an auger on the Cat.

Posts all set and braced.

All the 2x4s and such set and ready for the metal.
Almost done, still needs some trim over the exposed wood on top.

Barn with her house in the back ground.
I also had to put up about 150' of fence. Here is the 9" auger. It truly makes life easy.

In all, the fence was under 5 hours to set and the barn was about 60 hours. Pretty much all by myself. I had about 4 hours of help from Theresa and 2 hours from Mike and a few hit and miss from the kids.

Finally...

2009-10-28T17:46:00.004-06:00

Edit...as of 11PM Wednesday night, 17 inches and still falling. I took a tape measure out in the yard to check it. It has been real fun driving around in the truck.

We are finally getting some good snow here. There was at least 10" by lunch time and much more now. Over a foot at my house and it is suppose to keep snowing til thursday evening. Then 50 degrees on Sunday to take it all away.

White hat for my Truck.

Bed is full up to my 2x10 rails.

60 mph ice crystals on my hubs.

Dougie Fresh...

2009-10-08T00:17:00.002-06:00

That's who's on page 57 of my new Bike mag!

Ohh, and I saw this on one of my excursions a while ago.

Where did September go?!

2009-10-06T00:16:00.007-06:00

Well, it has been quite a while. I guess I can sum up September as another good month of getting around. I spent 15 of 30 days gone on the road. 10 of which were on a rode trip out to Oregon with Pam to visit her brother. I had 15 days on the bike, only one day moto, 2 days hiking, and 3 days of work. Here are just a few pics to sum it up.

Sold the Honda.
Sold the trailer.

House I am currently working on painting the exterior of.

Hanging Lake in Glenwood Springs. Pretty cool hike just off of I-70. These falls come down into a pond in the middle of a huge canyon. You can see fish all over.

Walking out on a down tree on the lake.

Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

Free ride stunts and trails at Black Rock in Oregon. Pretty fun stuff, but most of it was too big for my XC bike.

Sweet step up.

Tree too big to bunny hop on Mary's Peak outside Corvallis, OR. We also road in Bend, OR. We only had one evening there, but it was a fun trail that was cut short by sunset. But I didn't get any good pictures there.

Fat tree's. Skinny kids.

Pam wins the race at the Pacific Coast.

Pam's nephew, Josiah, showing off his new tricks while wearing blackberries on his face.

Bishop's Castle outside Colorado City. Hand build by one man over the past 40 years. It is quite the place to see. The sweetest part is that here I think he put safety third. Definitely no codes that he has to follow here.

BBQ!!

Steve, Melissa, and Banana in Fruita, CO.

Joe's Ridge.

High above Steve's loop. That loop you see below on the cliff line was a lot of fun. Good trials all over here.

Rainbow Trail in Grand Junction. There is lots of slick rock on this trail. I took a good tumble head of heals down a good steep rock face that I was trying to traverse. My bike came tumbling behind and ended up on my head. I wish I had a picture of that one.

That is a pretty good summary of my September. October may be a little slower with the cooler weather moving in. Plus, I have a few jobs to work on. Finish the paining, build a barn and chicken coop, kitchen remodel, and pour a back patio. I keep you posted.

Pam's Favorite Pictures...that she wishes didn't exist.

2009-08-31T23:52:00.002-06:00

Pam was leading the way down one of the sections of the Deer Creek trail when she came upon this little water crossing. All the other crossings have been no big deal...until this one. Her front wheel got stuck in the muck and she went right down face first. It was pretty fun for us to see her all covered in it and listen to her go on about it, but I don't think she thought it was a funny as we did. At least we have these pics to help her find the humor in it now. Hope this helps heal the sting.

I wonder how many cows visited this place earlier in the day...mmm?!?

Crested Butte

2009-08-31T22:58:00.010-06:00

I'm a little behind on posting up pics. I have been traveling almost every weekend and some weekdays too. On top of that, my camera zoom stopped working, then I lost my camera, now it is found and on its way back to me. I hope to ship it off to get fixed soon.

Drove out to Crested Butte a few weeks ago for 3 days of biking.

Taylor Park off in the distance from Cottonwood Pass.

The victims, Wayne, Christie Jo, Pam, me.
Lake on top of Kebler Pass. I took this pic while driving, causing some of my passengers to get all wide eyed and squirmy in their seats.

Christie, leading the charge on Trail 401.

Accidental picture while riding with my camera in my hand.

Wayne, Christie, Pam waayy off in the distance.

Late night Brats n Beans.

Breakfast time in the camp kitchen.

Christie, relaxing before the climb up Deer Creek.

Christie, relaxing at the top of Deer Creek.

Aspen trees everywhere.

Tight and twisty.

Cows! I think it is pretty fun to see cows on the trial, but not so sweet to ride thru their mess. I still have some of it on my shoes a month later. I suppose I could wash it off, but I figure it will come off by itself on the next ride, or the next ride, or...

They told us that after a real good lightning storm, you can come up here and find a lot of dead cows and see bears dragging them off into the trees for dinner. That would be pretty neat to see.

Huge milk shakes after a good ride. Nothing like it.

The twistiest river I have ever seen.

Wayne, leading the shuttle.

Dropping down the Dyke trail.

Wayne's peg leg.

The marker leading back to the truck at the bottom, parked at the "Jorse Ranch." Guess, the author was Mexican.

Dirty South in Colorado

2009-07-26T23:27:00.007-06:00

Only a month after the invasion and I finally get some more of these up.
The places we will ride, notice the Private Property sign next to Ziska. "Honestly, Officer, I thought we were on public land."

Peatie came along for a few shuttle rides. We made him do all the driving.

Loo...aero visor mode. Camera...shutter too slow for Loo's madness.

Loo, so fast that he had time to read the paper while waiting on us.

The boys with local CT and John after a dirty day at Keystone.

Loo.

Loo could always send it at least a bike length further than most.

CT.

The hot tub. Where else would 5 men hang out in a condo. Good think Karl wasn't there.

We saw fox all over the place. They were all pretty scruffy looking, so Loo tossed one of them his left over PB&J. I'm sure the peanut butter was a real treat, especially on the side of a mountain with no water around.

The entry...

...the fallout, front tire over the berm.

Sweet hip jump to session, Loo later went so big he almost landed flat.

Me, still need more work on the hips. I think I just launched straight and about ate the bark off the tree in front of me.

After dinner I was still hungry, so I got a loaf of bread to go and sat out front munchin' it.

I was the first out of the truck into the condo, then when I came out later I found all the doors wide open. Go figure.

Loo, in his uber hip, cool weather riding kit.

Scuba.

Traveling...

2009-07-21T07:18:00.002-06:00

I've been on the go too much to post up the pics from when Loo, Scuba, and Ziska were here. I still have some good ones to put up. This blogspot isn't as quick and user friendly as I think it could be when uploading photos.

I made it up to Laramie, WY a few days after Loo left for Jubalee days, rodeo, street parties, and some good biking. Then camping this past weekend camping outside Colorado Springs. Now I am in Michigan with family.

This past weekend was the Nationals at Sol Vista. I wanted to head up there and see some of the racing but I booked too many things. I saw the doubles they were building for the pro course and they were huge, I heard one of them was 48' lip to lip and they put makers down the landing out to 90' so see how far the pros were landing. I found this clip on youtube that showed the course pretty good. It looks like Gerritt got 5th place. I would like to hear what he thought about the course. Winning time was around 2:11.

I post up more stuff when I get back.

Marathon

2009-07-02T22:25:00.009-06:00

This past few days and the ones to come are what I always figured that I would be living out here in Colorado, but haven't fully utilized yet.
Fri - XC ride cut short by rain at Deer Creek with Pam
Sat - 25 mi XC at Buffalo Creek with Pam
Sun - 30+ min DH runs with Pam, Postin and Sarah
Mon - 25 mi XC with Postin and Sarah at Buff Creek
Tues - work on sprinklers at Pam's house
Wed - DH with Loo and Ziska
Thurs - DH with Loo, Z, and Scuba

Then Fri, Sat at Sol Vista
Sun, Mon at Keystone
Tuesday maybe a rest day.
Sweet weeks. Here are some pics from the past few days.

IMBA rated Buffalo Creek as an epic ride. Me and Pam headed there on Saturday for a 25 mi loop. The trails were all super fun, buff, and twisty. The trails took us thru dense woods and forests and the remains of the 1996 fire.
Pam at the beginning of the day.

Pam, not keeping both hands on the wheel.

Me on some turns.

Over head on Pam.

Me, practicing my whips.

Left...

Right...

Left...

Brian Postin at the top of the 30+ min downhill. He was riding with Pam and Sarah, but Ziska, Loo, and Scuba got the time down to 25 min over the 2800 vertical feet. The trail was super fast and sorta smooth, not too technical.

Brian.

Sarah.

Sarah and Pam.

Here is a shot of what we just went down, we started up by the clear swatches that makes up Echo Mountain ski area and came down 2800 vertical feet into the valley below.

Then I took Brian over to some way more technical trails. Here is Brian on a trail that Cole built.

Brian riding what some would walk.

Brian, walking what most would ride!

Dinner afterword.

Brian showing off his awesome table manners.

Then I took Brian and Sarah where me and Pam has just been, at Buffalo Creek. It was a sweet ride. But, Pam had to work that day.

Dragging the foot again.

Brian, about doubled over after the huge effort up a technical section. Sea Level to 9000 feet in 2 days takes a lot out of a man.

I thought I was the only one who puffed my cheeks out when I did something that I had to put a little effort into, like jumping. But, apparently Brian is that way too.

We traversed the bottom area of those two peaks you see in the background and wrapped around to here.

Straight from the airport with Loo and Ziska, we went up DHing on some of the gnarlier trails around. I was a wise guy and didn't wear my upper body armor and went over the bars and slow speeds and still got pretty scratched up. But not enough to slow me down. We were back at it the next day.

Morewoods loaded up and heading to the airport to pick up Scuba Steve.

First stop, Scott's back yard in Evergreen. This place was so over my head I need a 10' snorkel just to breath. I think we only tapped about 5% of what was here. The grand daddy was a 20' blind step down, it was super crazy. His place was built up top notch with doubles , berms, wall rides, gaps, step downs, some wooden stunts, duel slalom course and more. I would progress there so much if I only could ride there everyday for a month.

Loo on the wall ride right off Scott's back porch.

Ziska.

I did a horrible job of taking any more action pics, everyone was so huge I was cutting heads off in the pics. In the back ground you can see a HUGE double behind the wood platform. It was the finale to the 6 pack before it. We never hit that stuff because we ran out of time, but it would have been right up Loo's alley.

Part of the 6 pack before the monster double. Scott even had his irrigation hooked up to water all the jump faces at the flip of a switch. It was set up 1st rate.

Then back to shuttling. Loo, Me, Steve.

Elk crossing on shuttle road. There were two Does and two fawns.

Look over hucking the small road gap.

Mark, making a super smooth transition.

Figured I better post some of these up now, or I never would. I'll put up some from the bike parks when we get back.

Never Trust Women

2009-06-23T07:06:00.004-06:00

So...my sister, Elizabeth, moved out a few weeks ago into a house with 3 other girls. They were having a house party with a Mullet theme. They encouraged mullets and said there would be wine and cheese in the front and beer in the back, along with some flip cup stuff.
Well, I get there to find that I am the only one in a mullet and the girls are all dressed up and the pony keg is in the front and they don't even know how to tap it. What kind of mullet party is that?!
In the true form of my family, even the youngest members show up to keg parties. My sisters grew up doing it and now my nieces and nephew are learning the same. (Actually, they just happened to be there for a bit in the beginning but not the whole night. And they didn't try to steel the keg and run off like on of my sisters did back in the day.)

My family of little Joe Dirts.

Triathlon

2009-06-23T06:35:00.006-06:00

Saturday was the Buffalo Creek Xterra Triathlon. It was a sweet day with good temps and overcast skies, the way I like it. Sometimes, the direct Colorado sun is more than I need when biking and such. Christie did the full tri, 1 mi swim, 20 mt bike, 5 mi trail run. Me and Pam did half that. It took me and Pam about 2 hours and Christie about 4 hours.

Pam thinking..."We are going to do what? I thought we were here for pizza!"
Smooth water, 61 degrees. Not too bad at all.

Christie and Pam in their shower caps getting ready.

Not quite Aquaman.

Pam, asking what I think of her with a shaved head.

All those birds on the water are actually arms. Mob swim time. It actually wasn't too bad, only a few feet in my face. The hardest part was swimming in a straight line. I think I covered a about a 100 extra yards zig zagging.

Pam summing it up.

Pam thinking of a smart answer to another one of my smart questions.

Christie, heading out for her 5 miler. It started to rain right after me and Pam finished. Lucky for us, not so lucky for her. But it wasn't too bad. Just another day in the life.

The widest bars with bar-ends on them. I think this guy was from Texas and used to the long horns.

...and DONE.

My swim was better than I expected, the bike should have been a few minutes faster, and the run had my guts all twisted up and having to walk a bunch. I didn't feel so good for a bit after the run, but the cramps finally passed and I got a free lunch, well it was included in the entry fee anyway.

I'm thinking about the full Xterra next year, but that is also a long ways away.

On another note, I was trying to think of how to create my own type of triathlon. I was thinking of a white water swim, trail run, downhill bike, something maybe like Downieville, a 18 mile DH/Super D run. Then Christie found this, guess I wasn't the only one thinking of such things. I will have to get some more info on this one.

http://www.usmultisport.com/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=2089

Then for yet another alternative, there is the Beer-Bike-Bench that is held in Golden each year.

Timed Road bike, Bench press as much as possible, then timed malt liquor chug. Wayne was there this year and said it was pretty sweet.

http://www.beerbikebench.com/

Sol Vista

2009-06-23T05:23:00.005-06:00

I went to Sol Vista on Friday with Jeremy and met up with CT and some other buddies. It was a great day of riding, no one was there because of the race at Crested Butte. Intense was there doing bike demos, so I took a few runs on their new 951 and an Uzzi. The 951 felt pretty crappy due to soft rear shock and stiff fork, terrible combination, not to mention the less than stellar Kenda tires on it. I wasn't impressed, but that was hardly the conditions to be evaluating a bike frame, but none the less, pretty lame of intense to not have any other setups available. But it was cool to get a few runs on someone else's bike. The Uzzi was a ripper. I felt like the bike was WAY faster than I was, it was ripping the berms and floating the doubles. Definitely a fun bike.

Me on the 951.
Jeremy on the 951, he said he didn't really like the suspension either, but he really liked the bike.

Here is what not to do...misload the bike rack and cause the chairs to stop and damage your bike and the one next to you.

CT on the ski jump.

Jeremy on Ski Jump.

Same dude that misloaded bailing on Ski Jump. (He is getting famous here.)

CT.

Jeremy.

Finally, had a chance to hit the jumps on Cougar, they were always there under the lift but I never made it there til Friday and CT helped me through them. Here is Jeremy on Stiletto.

Me.

CT, setting it down smooth.

Jeremy on Edgar.

Me on same.

CT, making the long double into left berm look so easy, but I still haven't sucked it up yet and tried it. Maybe when Loo and Ziska are here provoking me.

Jeremy clearing the table at bottom.

Shock Rebuild

2009-06-18T06:55:00.003-06:00

I sent my 5th Element Shock off yesterday to get rebuilt and remove the SPV for a shim mod.

http://www.thebrokenbike.com/progressive_fifth_coil_rebuild.html

His sister site is pretty good too...

http://www.mtbshock.com/shock_info.html

...but still under some construction.

Pics of me

2009-06-18T06:52:00.002-06:00

Well, I guess I need to hand off my camera more or get Pam to actually send me some of her pics that she takes. Everyone mentions it, I finally really saw it when I went back to look at my blog, there are not many pics of me in it all. But, I guess everyone reading this already knows what I look like and can figure that I am doing pretty much the same as everybody else in the pictures, except for crashing, I do it even more!

Laramie, WY

2009-06-17T12:01:00.009-06:00

At the beginning of June, me and Pam headed up to Laramie for some biking and some skiing. We went to Curt Gowdey Park which built about 25 miles of new single track since I went to school there. The trails were all pretty fun and flowy and a few of them were pretty technical. The best of these for me was riding EL Alto counter-clockwise. There plenty of huge rock slabs to ride on as well.

Trying to ride one handed and take pictures, like I have seen Wayne do. Not a good idea when things get technical, but I managed to survive.

They even put cows on the trail for us to ride through, but they do leave a few obstacles behind. Pam yelled at me for chasing them so I had to turn around and leave them alone.

The corner assist.

Waterfalls.

The western way of keeping 29ers on the trail and from making go-arounds.

Wyoming Vultures.

Sweet car on the side of the road on the way to Christie's.

The next day we headed up to the Snowys and hiked on Meadicine Bow Peak. There were some crazy snowmobilers high marking on Old Main, which is pretty steep and they were up pretty high.

Then we got some hail on our way up.

We did two runs, one we had to hike the rocks a bit, the other was straight up the face in the snow.

Pam is in this picture hiking but hard to see, center leftish.

We were able to ski all the way back to the car which is on the road at the top of the picture below, but we had to do a lot of zigging and zagging and a few small climbs to stay on the snow.

The exit lead us thru a few bushy sections, but it was better than hiking out.

Super fun trip. I always look forward to these in Wyoming at the start of summer.

DH XC

2009-06-17T11:42:00.004-06:00

I have been wanting to put Pam on a DH bike for a while now. I finally gave up looking for a good frame for here and decided to save some $$, so I built up my ASX for her. The frame might be a bit big for her, but the price was right. I put the Fox 40 on it with the light spring, ordered a new 350# for the rear and sent the 5th element out to get a rebuild, they are going to take out the SPV and put in a custom shim stack. Should be back next week, and get to test it all out. But before I sent it out, I took Pam out for a XC ride on it, one where I rode it up and she rode it down. Pretty fair right. I found it super fun on the downhill when I rode it. A super plush 7" fork for XC makes the rough stuff real nice. I felt like the pros look in the DH races, no brakes, just jump in the rock piles and let the fork do its work. I later put the fork into the 8" position, but it wasn't nearly as good for the XC stuff.

We also to it up to Sol Vista for a day of DH. At first she thought it felt funny and wanted to ride my Morewood, which she thought felt better. Then after a few runs she switched back to the ASX and thought they both felt similar and it was all in her head. I found that 8" of super soft fork isn't so good for me off the lips on the jumps. It would compress too much and pitch me funny into the air. We had a good day and she is looking for more DH when the shock comes back.

Pam with ASX at Three Sisters.
My favorite part of the ride, when I was on the ASX I came into a turn way too hot and started a two wheel drift, to a front wheel skid, to a rear wheel hop to washout with a foot down. I thought it was so fun I had to take a picture of my track.

Weekend Ride

2009-06-17T11:17:00.005-06:00

Saturday we went down to Mt. Herman, between Denver and Colorado Springs. It was a great sunny day with cool temperatures, the trails were all pretty flowy with only moderate climbs for the most part. Deb and Pat and their friend Frenchie from the Springs, Jay and his son Nick, Me and Pam. Frenchie rode my Blur, so I got to ride 2.5 hours on my ASX with my Fox 40 on it. It made the downhills fun, but a little extra work on everything else, but it was still a great time.
Since they let me lead and I didn't know where we were going, I was sure to lead them up a few good hills.

Push, push.

But it all lead to several good twisty rocky downhills.
Deb and Pat.

Nick.

Pam and some dude going thin on top.

Deb and Pat.

Frenchie, I don't think I can pronounce his name right and for sure I can't spell it. He is here from the French Air Force for a few months working with Deb.

Supa Star.

Memoral weekend.

2009-05-26T10:02:00.006-06:00

I had a good weekend of biking. On Friday and Saturday I went XC biking with Pam and on Sunday and Monday I went DH with the local boys.

Friday at South Valley.

Saturday at Three sisters.

Outside Colorado Springs. Here is Jared on a pretty good step up. He over cleared the lander and went straight into a tree. He didn't ride anymore that day. Then another guy tried it 2 seconds later and did the same thing, even after we warned him about it.

After a few runs, the rain came.

We took a few muddy runs.

After the sun came out again, the dirt was perfect for good traction and great riding.

Here is CT on a good 20+ gap. I still need a few more days of riding before I am ready for this one.Some other guy.

Jared, on the trails outside Denver.

The ladder drop I plan on hitting soon. Its not a bad drop, but it has a steep lander and a hard right a few feet after it.

Sunday, we did some trail scouting and some Boone-dogging' thru the mountains, it was my kind of riding, no trails, just making it up as you go. I think we will be working on a new trail this week. Should be ready by the time that Loo and the boys make it out here.

New moto!

2009-05-14T12:18:00.002-06:00

I've been listening to Devin, Doug, and Ben all winter about all their dirt bike action and it has been making me drool. I have been wanting a bigger bike. Mine was a little too small and under powered. So this week I picked up a 2006 KTM 300 XC. I took it out for the first ride yesterday and it proved to be everything that is should be. On paved roads it feels stupid fast, but on dirt, it handles great and the power is just where I wanted it. It feels great.

Local DH

2009-05-14T12:08:00.004-06:00

So I finally got hooked up with some local DH riders here. I posted up on mtbr.com and put out a petition for some local guides. Most people around here keep their trails secret, either because they are on private land or because they are questionable trails on public land. Luckily, a few had pitty on me and invited me along. They said it was because I was from Windrock and they knew it to be steep and rocky there and felt I could handle my own. Plus, they learned I had a shuttle truck to help matter out. But when they asked to see a pic of my shuttle truck to determine if the bribe was worth it, I posted this...

I guess it didn't scare them off.

So Friday I hooked up with a couple of guys and did some trail building. Then Sunday we headed up with our bikes. It rained all night and snowed in the higher elevations. The trails were super tacky about an hour after it stopped raining. The riding was great. I felt it wasn't anything harder than what I had ridden in TN, but they had more fall line trails and less open speed sections than Windrock. But they were still all really great trials. I will try to post up some pics eventually.

Here is what it looked like from up high on sunday.

Cameron Pass

2009-05-14T11:35:00.008-06:00

Last Saturday Wayne, Pam and myself drove up to Ft. Collins then West to Cameron Pass to meet up with Christie who was driving down from Laramie for a day of back country skiing. It was a great time, weather was good, but the snow was pretty crusty at the top, in fact, it was near bullit proof in some places.

Wayne, Pam, me on the drive up.
Christie.Mokie and Bandit.

Wagon train on the way up.

Lunch break midway up.

Throwing snowballs for Bandit.

Switchbacking the steep stuff.

The snow was so hard it was easier to take the skis off and boot pack it.

Pam slipped out on the hard snow.

Christie took to the boot packin' too.

At the top, looking off the back side.

Wayne and Christie getting ready to go down. You can see the road and parking area below, where we started.

I love my 5x zoom on my camera, the above and below pix were taken from the same place.

Then we all came down...some harder than others!

UP!

And DOWN!

Sweet trip despite the snow conditions. 7 hours of driving for a long hike and one run. But still all worth it.

Busy week

2009-05-08T09:44:00.003-06:00

Been staying busy this week.

Mon - Road ride with Jay.
Tues- off
Wed - Ride Apex with Jay.
Thurs - Ride Lair of the Bear with Pam.
(scheduled)
Fri - Moto at rampart
Sat - Backcountry ski
Sun - DH with locals
Mon - either street or DH

I was prepared to make an offer on a fixer upper house this past Tuesday but it went under contract with someone else on Monday. So I missed out on that one. Still looking for a house to fix and flip or rent. Figure I need to create my own job again. I seem to be well qualified for only a small handful of jobs. Concrete or entry level engineering. Not stoked to go back to the 40 hour work week. So trying to get self employed again.

Rode yesterday at Lair of the Bear. 13 miles of somewhat rolling trail. Good speed sections, but not too technical. Pam below.

Pam.
Trying to add all the excitement that I can. I don't know why, but I always seem to hold my breath and puff out my cheeks when ever I do something on my bike. Doug has some pictures showing the same. I don't notice it til I see it in the pics.
Here, I feel that they over paved this part of the trail. It looks like Mark and Brian made a visit here. Pam walked it, I only was able to clean the fist half of it. Here in CO the dirt is so dry that on a lot of trails the rock are covered with a dirt/dust layer and make them pretty slick. Probably due to so many riders but not really enough trails considering.
Jay at Apex. He managed to fall off the low side of the trail on a climb and bloodied up his knee in the first 20 minutes.
Enchanted Forest.
In my family, we seem to be able to talk each other into doing many stupid things. Like trying out the new dog shock collar.
Yup, I did it too. But we only took it to 3, that was enough, we will never make it on any show with Jonny Knoxville. I am ok with that.
Karly, the niece.
Lane, Nephew. He was more than happy to pose for at least 5 different shots of this. He seems to be good at it.

More snow

2009-04-28T14:49:00.004-06:00

Ringo flew into town Sunday night with the hopes of getting in a Monday morning bike ride, but it was raining pretty good when he landed. Then we woke in the morning to find this...and it is almost May. What the heck.

So, on the theme of snow, I thought I would post up some pics from a few weeks ago, probably the last powder day of the season for me. There are only 3 places still open. This was A-Basin on April 17. They had so much snow up there, they closed the interstate down just after we left and didn't open it til noon the next day. There was about 3' of snow in the foothills. Pam carried the camera most of the day, so there aren't any pics of her. Jay and Nick were there too, but we split up at the parking lot and we never saw each other til the parking lot at the end of the day.

Trip to Colorado Springs

2009-04-28T14:14:00.004-06:00

After selling my old Blur LT last month, I finally got a new one. I test rode about 6 bikes and finally came back to what I knew I would probably end up with after all, the new version of the Blur LT. The bike feels super comfortable for my type of riding and super tight, especially after my old worn out bike. The bike feels perfect to me, so I don't even notice the frame much, but what I do notice the most is the wheels. I finally have a nice wheel set, Mavic 819 laced to Hadley hubs. They are so light, I can just roll forever. Pam kept pedalling along and I could just pump the bike and coast with ease. It was a sweet discovery. I finally realized how Devin was able to just coast when I had to pedal so much on our old rides. He had a pretty good secret that he wasn't even trying to keep secret, I was just to cheap to invest in it then. The next thing that I loved about the bike...was the adjustable height seat post. It was super sweet, totally worth the extra weight.

Me and Pam headed down to Colorado Springs to say with Deb and Pat. We were able to get a 2 hour ride on Friday and Saturday, and an hour in on Sunday. It was a great weekend.
Pam at Palmer Park.

Testing out my wheel build on a small drop.

Finding the flow of the trail side features.

Saturday we woke up to a misty 37 degree morning. After stalling around as much as possible, we headed up to Waldo Canyon. It was a bit warmer by then and not misting anymore, but it was pretty foggy.

Riding in the clouds.

I had to borrow a sweet hat from Deb to keep my head warm. I was expecting warm and sunny all weekend. I definitely found something otherwise.

Pam dressed for warmth.

Lost in the clouds.

The fire danger in Colorado is either High or Extreme, even in the rain they still seem to rank it as High.

Sunday we snuck in an hour at Mt. Hermon before the rain started falling.

Brownie Points.

2009-04-28T14:08:00.003-06:00

I have been putting some time in over at Pam's house. I finally finsished painting her room and got the carpet installed. Then I rototilled her garden to boot. Note to self, next time get a bigger rototiller.
Before.
After.

Madness.

2009-04-22T15:24:00.000-06:00

Check out this video. Crazy.

Too much fun

2009-04-15T14:04:00.008-06:00

I guess it has been a while since I have posted here. Most of you have probably given up even checking in. Well, here is a brief update on what I have been doing over the last month.

I spent a few days working. We had to cut these 400 pound stones into smaller pieces that we could use as window sills on the outside of the house. It was kind of a pain in the butt. Here is Jerry doing the cutting.

Here are two windows done and two more to the left yet to be done.

The front side done, we had a few more to do on the house after these, then grout them in place.

I did some cooking for Pam. Here are some sweet steaks off the grill.

Then, of course I did lots of skiing. Here is Pam in her new ski jacket at Beaver Creek.

Here is me in my new ski jacket. I wasn't able to have so glorious of a picture taken of me.

Pam in the trees at Vail.

Pam trying to ski over rocks at A-basin. She came completely out of her ski on this one.
Sweet powder day.

Gaper Day at A-Basin. April !st. I was wearing my jacket from high school.
More gapers in costume.

Then family came to visit. Lane celebrating his 7th birthday.
He got a compound bow. Pretty sweet gift.
And a sling-shot. I wish I was so lucky when I was 7.

Claire had to have 4 baby teeth pulled to make room for her big ones.

I also spent a week in Michigan with the family. Here is my youngest sister, Christina.
I got another birthday cake. I had 4 cakes in all for this past birthday. This is my mom and dad.
Pam got to play some Wii. She is working on her ski jumping on the Wii Fit.

And now, I am helping Pam fix up her room. We ripped out her carpet and here is new pad going in. Last night we were painting the ceiling.

Now, I am headed out for a bike ride when Pam gets off of work, then more painting. Whew!

Traveling...again.

2009-03-19T14:12:00.002-06:00

I know it has been a while since I have last updated this blog. I have been running around, Wyoming, Rocky Mts, and Denver. Then I had a few days of work, concrete work, but still not a job yet. Now I just finished packing my bags for a week in Michigan with the family. I will have a bit to catch up on when I get back.

B-day ski weekend in Telluride

2009-03-03T23:32:00.004-07:00

For my birthday, Pam, Wayne, and myself headed down to Ridgway, CO to stay with Jasmin and Levi and use there place as basecamp for a weekend of skiing at Telluride. Just for the record, that place has the most awesome views of any ski resort I have been to, it is surrounded by huge mountains on all sides.
Pam.

Me and Pam doing a token pose for Wayne.

Me making some tele turns, probably getting ready to crash soon.

View from Jaws, over looking Telluride.

Pam, after she lost her way on Crystal. This slope is about 45 degrees with some tuff snow to get a footing on in places.

Pam stuck in a tree on Crystal from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Me, on the same slope as Pam, hanging upside down with my foot caught in a tree. I couldn't get out, Pam had to hike up and release my boot from the binding to set me free. I didn't think I was going to stop sliding. I tried to grab a tree as I passed but missed. I came to terms with sliding all the way to the bottom and bouncing off all the moguls on the way, but then I got lucky...well, I think this was luck.
We didn't know it at the time, but at the top of this run, Wayne dropped his phone out of a hole in his pocket, and on the next run down to look for it, we found it all the way at the bottom where it flattens out. He thought he saw something dark moving through the snow when he was up there, lucky for him we figured it out pretty quickly after that.
On top there were parasailers...

And hang gliders.

Pam, Wayne, Levi, and Jaz.

Wayne, on the first run of our second day, tearing down La Rosa, another 45 degree slope next to Crystal. You can hear his snow chunks hitting my poles.

Wayne on La Rosa from matt wiz on Vimeo.

After Wayne found his phone at the bottom, I caught Pam coming down.

Pam on Crystal from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Pam tearing up the wide open spaces.

Pam in revelation bowl from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Pam and Waying making thier way back down to the bottom at the end of the day. A few days prior to us coming there, it actually rained at the lower elevations there, and this run was nothing but ice, you can hear them sliding all the way down.

Pam and Wayne on ice skiing into Coonskin from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Bday!!

2009-03-03T23:28:00.001-07:00

When I got home Monday night from my B-day ski weekend, my sister Elizabeth suprized me with some of my favorite treats...sugar cookies!!!

Sneekin in a sunset ride

2009-03-03T23:20:00.004-07:00

It was about 70 degrees in Denver today. So after Pam got off of work we met up at Matthews Summers for a sweet ride. I felt real good climbing, not the big sack of potatoes I usually feel like.

Pam coming into a rock pile on the upper loop.
Over look on top. Pam's hiding in there somewhere.
Pam, cheating again, putting her foot down just above the good stuff.
After it was all done, I asked her how she felt...

video from bootleg

2009-02-24T23:21:00.004-07:00

Here are some vid shots from the weekend.
Ringo banging his head off a rock on middle ginger.

Ringo on Ginger from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Loo gapping on Diva

Loo, Gap on Diva. from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Matt gapping behind Loo.

Matt, Diva Gap 2. from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Loo hitting the step down.

Loo, Step Down from matt wiz on Vimeo.

Bootleg Canyon

2009-02-24T11:51:00.007-07:00

We had a great time riding at Bootleg, just outside of Las Vegas. Here are some of the pics that help tell the story.

Our rental shuttle truck, '08 F250 twin turbo diesel. We were pretty spoiled on this trip.

I failed to mention to any of the guys anything about the hike to the top, once you get out of the shuttle. It was like a 10 min push. It pretty much sucked, especially near the end of the day. I think we could have gotten in double the runs if we didn't have to make this push.Loo, showing us how to turn a roller into a hucker on snackback.Hiking beyond the gate to get to Elevator Shaft. Notice the spikes on the gate to keep rednecks from raming it. Top of Elevator Shaft, you can see lots of trails out in the background. Scuba getting ready for a dicey run. The huge radio antenna above elevator.Notice the size of the chunder in this pic on elevator, it was easy to get your front tire bucked around.What not to do on the DH trails...wear lycra and ride a 4" travel bike. Gerritt, who lives nearby had never ridden the DH trails, we told him his superlight would be fine, I think we were wrong. He said, "I feel like I brought a knive to a gun fight."

Ringo, dropping on Snackback.

We took an evening excursion to see the hoover dam. They are building a crazy concrete bridge over the canyon above the dam. Here they are working on the arch support underneath.

Next to the Subway we went to for lunch.

Ringo had a ruff second day, he did a lot of bike chasing. Here after a crash on Diva.

Here after another crash on Diva.

But he did pull off this tuff drop on Ginger.
Loo rockin' the steeps on Ginger.

The final day. 3 of us road, as Ringo did all the driving. He took a header off the top of Poop Chute and bruised up his hand too much to hold the handlebar, along with injuring his other hand, his left knee and right ankle. He pretty much covered it all. We pretty much covered all the trails, mostly riding, but we did have to walk a few sections of Kavorkian and Ginger. We were joined by many of Loo's other riding buddies as well. 4 from Nor Cal, Bill and his girl from San Diego, and JP and Ryan from Flagstaff. We had a great trip. I have some video footage as well, but that will have to be a later post, vimeo is backed up right now.

bike soon-to-be-in-action

2009-02-19T18:22:00.003-07:00

I have been working a little bit each day the past few days, getting my bike ready for Bootleg Canyon in Las Vegas, NV. http://www.bootlegcanyon.org/

I have new fork, new brakes, new rubber, recently rebuilt shock, clean bike, clean drivetrain. I'm ready to go. I even got it all to fit in the bike case with the air still in the tires. Plus a few extra things. The case weighed in at 95 lbs. There is a 100 lb limit, so I am just squeekin by.

I'm heading out in few hours on a plane. Will be back on Monday. Meeting up with Ringo, Scuba, Loo, JP, and a few others from Cali.

President's Day

2009-02-19T18:06:00.003-07:00

On monday I went skiing with Steve and Melissa, there wasn't any new snow that day, but it was still a good day none the less. We mostly did mogule runs. I think we got in 10 or 11.

In the morning in the shade it was pretty cold. Melissa said, "I am smiling!"

It warmed up in the next 30 minutes in the sun, making it a perfect day.

Steve, demonstrating excellent speed control in the bumps.

Melissa motoring along.

Too much motor, not enough brakes. She actually crashed into me, knocking her ski off, then tumbling down. I was nice enough to take a picture.

Trying out something new

2009-02-17T07:48:00.003-07:00

I'm trying to figure out this Vimeo thing that Doug and Ben have been using.

Untitled from matt wiz on Vimeo.

This was me in the back country on tele skis. We'll see if it works or not. Looks like it worked. That is Geoff in the background playing his harmonica trying to give me a little theme music.

Early Birthday

2009-02-12T17:05:00.002-07:00

Well, I took a picture of all my new goods for my mt. bikes, but it didn't work when I tried to upload it.
The highlights are, for XC new hadley hubs (to build up with mavic 819s), xt brakes/shifters, advantage tires, chain, chainrings, casssette, rear derailer. For the DH rig new minions, xt brakes, boxxer fork, and a backup derailer. There were some other goods in there too, but not as good as the above.

Getting ready for my trip to ride DH in Vegas with Ringo, Loo, Scuba, JP, and a few others that Loo knows from Cali. Gunna be sweet.

Work ?!?!

2009-02-12T16:34:00.005-07:00

So, I have been actually working this week. It was just a small job. Basically cut out a 5' x 16' slab of concrete, drill holes in the perimeter, insert rebar, tie it, then pour new concrete and smooth it out. The old concrete had cracks in it and they needed a sturdy foundation for one of the lift racks in the garage.

After 2.5 hours of cutting. The first piece to pull will be the small rectangle in the center. I used two pieces of stiff wire that I bent the last half-inch of at 90 degrees and insterted into the crack on each side, twisted and then pulled straight up. Came right out, then pried the rest of the pieces out. After pulling all the pieces out.

Lay out plastic on the ground then place and tie the rebar.

I didn't get any pix of pouring the concrete.

Here is the final product, the next day. Looks almost like it did a few days ago, but with a little mess around the edges. Add some oil and grime and no one will notice.

More ski pix

2009-02-03T09:41:00.006-07:00

I finally had to download some of Pam's pics myself. Here are a few of them from the past few weeks.

At Mary Jane on 'Tophers Trees, had to drop this rock then stop in about 6 feet or eat tree. Pam's birthday ski weekend.

The landing right before I fell on my backside.
Wayne, showing us how he lands on his backside at Vail.

Jason Webb at Vail on New Years Day. Another sweet powder day. He's doing the backwoods boogie on his board.

Jason showing us the proper technique for entry on Lover's Leap

Me, on my monoski, at Mary Jane on Wayne's birthday ski day.

Secret stash in the trees at Keystone. Pam had a good trigger finger on this one.

Family Invasion

2009-02-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

Spent part of the weekend with my sister Theresa and her 3 little munchkins.

Here is Clare working hard at playing internet games.

My sister, Elizabeth, niece Karly and 24 toed Baracuda.
Lane, wearing his crash helmet. His favorite thing to crash into...me!

Pam's day off work

2009-02-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks off the snow, Pam finally makes a return. Just for the record, we had warm temps that turned everything to ice, then finally cooler temps and lots more snow, that's why it took her so long to return. Pam has been bumming quite a bit because of it. I have in 20 days so far this season and she has only about 10. I guess it pays to have a job, but it isn't always as fun.

Pam with questionable anticipation on our way up the first gondola at Keystone at 9am.

Since I didn't have to go alone this time, I actually had a subject that I knew that I could take pictures of. Pam finding her groove after a few warm up runs.

Further down the same run...her luck running out. Her left ski ran under a down tree and put her down. This one took a good 5 minutes to get out of. It was pretty funny, at least from my perspective.

Tree run later on, I think the snow was getting the best of her on this one. It was getting late in the day and her tank was running low.

Unexpected Suprise

2009-01-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

I just happened to wake up yesterday morning, expecting to stay home and take care of a few things, like creating this website. However, during my morning ritual of checking the snow report, I discovered that Vail got 10" of new snow on top of 33" that they already had from the previous few days. I could feel it all over my body, I had to be there. It took about 30 seconds to make up my mind. One of the hard parts of not having a job, trying to descide what to do with a free day. Stay home and take care of business (or lack thereof) or make some fresh tracks.

I was in the car by 7 and on the chair lift by 9am. Looking down at the snow and tracks from other below it looked like only 3 or 4 inches, I was thinking, "Those liars!" or "It must have all come yesterday during the day and everybody ruined it!" But on the back side it was a whole nother story. My furst run was way over 10" deep. I just leaned back and let go, full speed, busting thru piles from others or carving hard in the fresh and watching it spray out and up in my face. Within 2 turns I knew this was going to be one of the best days of the season for me.

The whole day was more sweet snow everywhere, cornices, rock drops, trees, plugging up my nose and getting down my shirt when I crash. Since I had to go by myself, I wasn't able to get any good pictures. I did get this one of someone else skiing below the lift and someone else flailing in the trees, but that is about all.

1st Day on New Board

2009-01-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

I just bought a new snowboard, Ride Fleetwood 161, and Burton Cartel bindings this week. I have new boots on order too, Burton Sabbaths. I have been on the same old boots and bindings since '97, they were the K2 Clicker step in bindings. They were, how you say, pretty clapped out and sloppy. So now the new gear is tight and responsive. I waxed it up and broke 'er in this week. I went up to Keystone to give it some abuse.

I always felt pretty comfortable on my old board which was the same size, but I tried mounting the bindings an inch farther back, thinking it would make it float better in the powder and crud. It felt ok, but not quite as good as my old board, so after a few runs I moved the bindings up an inch then took it down the same run I just did prior, much different. It was so much better underfoot carving on the groomers, way more nimble and more effortless in the trees. So I guess I found out what too far back on the board is like. I am totally stoked to take the board out some more.

Here is the final result of going too fast and out of control through the trees. I was almost back out into the open, just rippin along and couldn't make the last zig-zag and had to pull back hard and jump to the side to dodge the head inplant into the bark. Another move to just barely keep body intacted so I can go try it again.

Found my glasses.

2009-01-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what random things you can find a drawer in someone else's house.

This is also my first post, so I am just sorting things out.