Phife and I

Went skate skiing yesterday. Ididn't think I was going to have time, but last minute I decided I had a little extra time after finishing grades and prepping for the new semester on Mon. I am certain Phife got more of a workout than me. Went to the intersection 6 miles out, a good little out and back 12 mile skate. It was a perfect afternoon. I had the trails totally to myself, they were perfectly groomed, and the sun was shining...didn't even need a hat. Don had a post about a similar experience...not many places where you can ski and bike the same day this time of year...here are some pictures, you can see how pristine the trails were. I didn't see one other person after the first 5 min. Just Phife and I.

Skatin'

How nice is it to live in a town where you can get off of work at 3:30, swing by the house and be skiing by 4:00. I feel really lucky, and that is just a part of it. We can walk to restaurants, bars, parks, ride a bike to work...It's pretty amazing here. Tonight we'll walk down the hill and go see a movie...Oh yeah, it's sunny and there's snow everywhere.

Here's some video from my phone (poor quality) of Phife skate skiing with me...

A couple great causes...

In case anyone is reading this here are a couple of great causes to support this week...

Tomorrow, backcountry film festival to benefit the bend backcountry alliance and support the backcountry recreation zone at Tumalo...details

Fri, fundraiser for meissner grooming. Food, music, and a great cause. Details at Sunnyside

I've been skate skiing a bunch...

It's nice to mix it up and get outside when it's too cold for biking and the downhill isn't so good. It's usually like this video which Mike describes as an emotional roller coaster.Sadly, minus the sweet sunglass google combo

Had a great ski today up at Wanoga, skated up to Edision and back, something like 14 miles. Ruth ran for a while and phife came along. Nice day.

I came across this...

on the internets...It's not cyclocross season and this is an old video, but I like it. Alpenrose is such a fun course!Like I said, I'm having a hard time not thinking about next cyclocross season.

Cross Crusade 2008 :: Race 1 :: Alpenrose Dairy from Jon Manning on Vimeo.

The Sunnyside

It really is nice to have a little bit of sun in the winter. I know, I know, it should be snowing on the mountain, but it was really nice to get in a ride after work. Sunny and 60 today. Beautiful! Did a good road ride and still had some daylight to burn so climbed pilot butte at sunset...very nice.

Getting out...

Busted home after school to get out, only had about an hour and a half of daylight to burn, but it was sweet to get outside and ride. Some photos from the rides:
Mt. Washington/Skyliner/O.B. Riley loop-













Sat day rode with some teammates out by Horse Ridge on cross bikes. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day, beautiful out!










The mountain got hammered with the recent stroms so no skiing today, they'll hopefully have it a little more cleaned up for some skiing on Sun.

It's January...

And still I find myself thinking a lot about cross. Yes there is certainly skiing (both tele, and skating) to keep me occupied, but still. Folks asking about natz. Making the jump is going to be big. I may need to look into to some more serious training and coaching...I really want next season to be a competitive one, I want to be realistic, but I also know I have a lot of room to improve with some structured training. Gotta just commit to set aside some $. Something to think about.

Been getting on the trainer fairly regularly, I think I will bust out the rollers too, just to mix it up. Tonight rode the trainer with some teammates which was a welcome change. It's great to have folks to laugh and suffer with. Thanks guys.

Ruth got a cross bike and we have gotten out for one road ride while it wasn't too windy or icy, but I let her borrow all my warm gear and we didn't make it too far before I froze, just a mt washington loop. The bike seems to fit great and she did well and had a good time...she was definitely more comfortable than me. We'll get her into sunnyside for a proper fit one of these days before the weather turns warm.

Got my garage all dialed in. Ski tuning, bike tuning, tools all set up, bikes hung, good spot for a trainer/rollers and a fan, music, tv/dvd... It's nice!

Been Listening to:
Two really great Portland Bands...
-Blitzen Trapper
-Blind Pilot

NORTHWEST!!!!!

Skiing's been good, that's about it on the update front for now. Northwest finally got rolling, lots of good snow, a bit of a pain in the ass to traverse to it, but well worth it. Good runs hiking the cone, some sunshine, riding with friends. SWEET.

Back to work, not so sweet.

I found this online, shows days I rode, how many runs, and the vertical. Doesn't count all the hiking up the cone which is why some days show only 4 or 6 runs. It was a good vacation.

PGF

Happy new year!

I'm an uncle as of about 3 am EST.

Happy Birthday Parker Grace Fox




More Photos:
http://tinyurl.com/a5xbd9