Bachelor

Here's a little teaser, we put together a ski movie every year from footage we get, already got some good footage so...I already edited a bit of Addiction 08-09:

Happy Holidays...

Been up at the mountain the last 5 days, the snow just keeps coming and the conditions just keep getting better and better.


This little forecast should make for a great christmas day...

Shunter in Belguim

Too crazy not to repost...Steven Hunter getting shoved by Richard Gronendaal at Scheldecross. Look for the Veloshop kit...Seriously hard.


Can anyone translate...they play it back in slow mo, curious what's being said.

opening day vid...

I wasn't jibbing any trees, better step up my game.

The snow was really that good.

Cyclocross Nationals...BEND Oregon!

It's gonna be either Bend or Spokane...One's driving distance and the other well, that would be sweeet.

From the Bulletin...

Bend on display for USA Cycling official

Published: December 17. 2008 4:00AM PST

Tom Vinson, national events manager for Colorado Springs, Colo.-based USA Cycling will visit Bend on Thursday and Friday to meet local tourism officials and tour The Old Mill District, which could be the venue for the 2009 and 2010 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.

Bend and Spokane, Wash., are the two finalists to host the event, which would bring 3,500 to 4,000 people for four days of hybrid mountain and road bike racing during the second week of December next year and in 2010, said Doug La Placa, president and CEO of Visit Bend, which has spent the past 11 months vying for the event...

Winter...

Is definitely here. It's cold and there is a whole bunch of snow in town and on the mountain. Yesterday was opening day...Ridiculous to say the least. There isn't a ton of a base, but there is a lot of fresh light snow and it's deep! hard to believe it was the first day and we were getting face shots. A bunch of runs on the front and then climbed the cinder cone just as the sun came through some clouds...sun and snowing, soooo nice.

Seems like it came fast just last week I was enjoying the mtb trails and sweating the long sleeves. Pretty cold now. They couldn't get the buses started this morning...two hour delay, same deal tomorrow. Sweet. It's gonna be vacation before we know it, more snow and lots of skiing. Gonna try and get out skating this week, preferably when it warms up just a touch. All those Portland winters made me soft. brrrrr.

Listening to:
- Andrew Bird
-Fleet Foxes

It's going to snow

A Valley Like This

Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this,
and suddenly the air is filled with snow.
That is the way the whole world happened -
there was nothing, and then...

But maybe sometimes you will look out and even
the mountains are gone, the world become nothing
again. What can a person do to help
bring back the world?

We have to watch and then look at each other.
Together we hold it close and carefully
save it, like a bubble that can disappear
if we don't watch out.

Please think about this as you go on. Breathe on the world.
Hold out your hands to it. When mornings and evenings
roll along watch how they open and close, how they
invite you to the long party your life is.

-William Stafford

Incredible...

pdxcross.com:
This site blows my mind...They manage to capture not just the action but the atmosphere so well. The USGP photos are top notch...Check it. Then buy their book.

USGP

It's gonna be a short post, it was a long and rainy drive back over the pass. A long weekend of racing, but some of the best courses of the season. I think I would venture to say my favorites...Rainer is right up there, but these were sweet. A good mix of mud, pavement, singletrack, grassy, a good length, just sweet!

Sat I felt good, had a good start, avoided all the pile ups and crashes on lap one and came out of the first lap sitting in the top 5...I moved back a little as the race went on (this has been a trend for me that I need to work on). There were some fast dudes on the downgrade program in my race. I killed it on the last lap trying to make up ground and I am sure it was one of my faster laps, made some moves when people bobbled and was happy with my effort, I don't think I could have gone much harder ...I vomited in the grass after the finish, so in the end I was happy with my 12th. I think I was the first Oregon rider in the B's and I beat a few folks who catch me in the crusade races.

Sun was a little shorter course with a run up and a lot of the same mud, just deeper...all good stuff. I didn't have the legs so much. Right off the start I was sitting in 15th or so and I never really left that spot. I didn't ride bad, I just didn't feel it. Super nice guy came around me on the last lap and was all encouraging telling me to grab his wheel which I did and picked up the pace a little bit (Which showed me I was having some mental issues, because I had no problem picking up the pace)...I stayed on his wheel all the way to the pavement and made a little move around him to finish...Kinda felt like a jerk for taking it in the end, but he was super cool and we had a good laugh about it.

Hung out in the pits on both days helping out Chris Sheppard, Scotty Carlile, and Carl Decker. It was cool to watch the races from that perspective.

Sunnyside was killing it. Don looked extra strong and pulled in two 2nd places over the weekend behind one of my other favorite racers out there, Ron Strasser. Karen and Renee were both hooking up top ten finishes. Lots of fun hanging out with a great group of folks. Can't believe cross season is over.

Here's to a great season, great friends, and looking forward to another "off" season...of course by "off" I mean, skiing, climbing, road racing, kayaking, mt bike racing...you know, getting ready for next cross season.

Photos...

I took some photos this season, mostly of the ladies and the A's. Here are a few of my favorites. I hope to get some more this weekend as well as some video!

I like this...

found on race.cx

Updating...

This blog is harder than I thought. Even with a week off for thanksgiving.

Well, here's how it went down. It was good to be back in Portland, riding up Saltzman in the rain, it was actually great. We headed over Sat for some food and racing on Sun, but had the whole week off, so hung out in P town for a few days before making our way back through Eugene to Bend. It was good to catch up with friends, get a stumptown fix, relax, ride. It was awful gray through...I don't miss the rain and fog after a few days of it.

Kreugers was fun, it was really hard to gauge how I did because it wasn't the usual crowds of the A race, regardless, I felt like I hung on. I was on my own a lot and definitely slowed down. Some of the fast Masters A's caught up to me at one pt and I was able to really pick up my pace with some wheels to follow...Not enough for Sager not to catch me, I was literally ten seconds from staying on the lead lap, but so it goes. It was a beautiful day (amazing pics over at pdxcross )and great to be out. Followed it up with a mandatory stop at taqueria santa cruz...dare I say the best burrito in Portland, actually the best burrito ever in my book, try it out, but keep it hush hush.

Back to Bend, back to the sunnyside, lots of riding and eating that was what has been up. Good food and good company. Had a team dinner on Sat, it was great to talk bikes and eat good food with good people. Looking forward to riding and racing with even more of the sunnyside folks. How lucky I was to find such a great group of people.We've been doing a semi regular Wed skills session, it just reminds me of how fun riding bikes with friends is. I do a lot of long or hard solo efforts, but I always look forward to riding around with friends.

The trails are in such epic condition, rode around the singletrack on the cross bike and had a hard time pointing it home. I ran into half the people I know and half the sunnyside team out at Phils on Sun.

USGP's this weekend, sooo psyched.

No pics, I'll dig up one of me hopping the pumpkin pile.

Here's what's been in rotation, a little heavy on the hip hop right now:
-Girl talk (so good for training)
-Santogold
-New Kanye
-Talib
-Spoon
-Bon Iver...some amazing podcasts of live shows on NPR, super chill.If you haven't listend or heard of Bon Iver...DO IT.