December

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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!