Stranded in Colorado Springs!!!

How to make life a little more interesting if you're stuck in Colorado Springs:

I've never been good at following directions!

Winter Wonderland

Ahh, winter.  My bikes are officially "up" for the season.  In fact, last time I biked to work it was 28 degrees in the morning when I left my house.  Halfway down the street I vowed it would be the last bike-to-work day until warmer weather.

This year I've committed to learning to ski.  What a lesson in humility.  I'm days short of 32 years old, and nearly everything I do at this point I've been doing long enough to be fairly good at (like snowboarding for instance). So to pick up skiing at first seemed ridiculous - why suck at skiing when I can already snowboard well?  But so far so good, I actually like it! 

Jenny snowboarding and me skiing

So far this year I've skied/boarded Santa Fe a few times, made several trips to Wolf Creek, and boarded Taos for the first time ever.  Next on the list is the front range in Colorado, perhaps Breck or Monarch in the next few days. 

When the snow stinks for skiing, go snowmobiling!

I hope to give my skis and snowboard several more runs this year, and also want to get out for some snowshoeing and cross country skiing.  We'll see - I seem to have eaten up quite a bit of my vacation time already! 

Biking White Mesa

Once again, I thought I had put the mountain bike up for winter hibernation and the sun continued to shine.  When winter will get here and my skis and board will get a chance to come down from the rafters is now beyond me. 

Last weekend Liz and I went to bike White Mesa here in New Mexico.  White Mesa is named for the color of the gypsum that forms much of the mesa and the majority of the bike trails - that much I knew.  The rest I looked up: Gypsum is a white mineral consisting of hydrated calcium sulfate and is commonly used in cement, plaster, and fertilizer. This gypsum formed as a chemical reaction from evaporation of an ancient water body.  So in other words, this area was once covered with water - too bad, I would have rather experienced that!

It was a fun afternoon.  The biking is technical at times, mellow at others, and we took it easy and had a nice day of pedaling around. 

That little dot in the lower left corner is me.

My backside going up a hill

My front side going off one...

Liz coming up.

This may be the longest blog about a bike you'll ever read.

Kahlil Gibran once said, "If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours.  And if they don't, they never were."

Does that apply to bicycles?

Pictured above is a Trek 520, and this 520 has a story.  In the summer of 2000 my mom purchased this bike for me for an adventure across the country.  I would say that I pedaled it from the Pacific Ocean in Washington to the Atlantic Ocean in Maine.  The bike, if it could talk, would say it carried me.  That's just the kind of bike this is.

This bike was not the bike I'd always wanted.  However, for the 4000+ miles of riding while towing a BOB full of gear, it was the clear bike of choice.  The trip was amazing in many ways, but I will spare you the details for those of you who know me (and read this) already know them.  

When we dipped the front tires into the Atlantic Ocean, a symbolic gesture performed by many who ride across the country, I about tossed the bike in the ocean and walked away.  The 520 had done a great job getting me from point A to point B, no doubt, but I was finished with that kind of riding and therefore, done with the bike.  I went off to Arizona to start my work with Mexican wolves, and my mom returned to California and sold the bike.

My mom still had her 520 and rode it at home. My parents were traveling quite a bit in their RV, and my mom decided she wanted a bike to keep in the RV... it was as easy as contacting the gentleman my 520 was sold to, and she purchased the bike back (this would be the second time my mom purchased this bike).  My 520 traveled around in the RV for another year or two, and then that idea fizzled out and my mom sold the bike to my sister's friend.  

Another year or so went by.  My sister's friend was not using the bike much, and once again (the third time) my mom purchased my 520 back.  She was getting into bike mechanics and this bike was to be used as her guinea pig.  Not to mention it could double as a clone, and be used for spare parts for her 520.  

About a year ago I started looking into commuter bikes.  As is the case with most of my bike shopping experiences, I was going overboard.  Buying bikes is something I can get really carried away with.  I was looking at all different models in all different price ranges, but I think I knew from the beginning what I wanted.

I wanted my 520 back.  A bike I had dismissed and nearly tossed in the ocean to rust away, I suddenly wanted back.  She was perfect.  First off, I would be recycling a bike which made me feel good.  Secondly, I had a history with this bike... heck, the bike alone has a history.  And thirdly, the Trek 520 is debatably the best touring bike available and she would make a kick ass commuter.

I bit the bullet and my mom shipped me the bike.  I changed out the drop bars for a more upright commuter type ride (saving the drop bars in case I decide to tour again).  New shifters, new brake levers, new cables, my old rack and a new chain and my 520 was ready to go.  She's nearly perfect and for the first time in our 8+ years of an on and off again relationship, I love this bike.

Perhaps I will not keep her until the end of time, or perhaps my mom will purchase her (would be the fourth time) back from me someday.  Whatever the end result is for this 520 with a story, I hope in the meantime she will carry me on my errands, get me to work and back, and hopefully tow a kid or two when the time comes.  When she is no longer able to roll her tires on the pavement, maybe I will take her back to the Atlantic and set her free.

Good Days, Sunshine...

We took a week off at the end of October knowing we needed to go on vacation, but even in mid September we were still debating where.  Debates ranged from Australia to Sedona, so you can see the difficulties we were having with where to go.  We waited too long to make a choice and flights anywhere were getting expensive.  A family condo happened to be available, cutting the cost of the trip down tremendously.  So we "settled" for Maui.

This is a photo taken off the balcony of the condo.  It was right on the beach.  Well, actually a pool just barely not pictured here separates the condo from the sand.  Rough life.

I thought this bamboo forest was amazing.  Bamboo as high as you could see, and blocking so much light!  The stalks would clank together in the wind sounding like an enormous wind chime. 

I had some fun playing on the bamboo and enjoyed the break from the sun.  We were in a National Park and I was disappointed to find out later that the bamboo is actually invasive.  So much for being able to enjoy yourself.

This is a photo of just a regular ol' beach there.  Actually, this beach has a reef out where the waves are breaking, and from there to shore is only about 5 feet deep at the most.  Great place for kids. 

We rented surfboards for the day and had some fun in the "waves."  The waves were quite small that day.  This is a photo of me on one of the smaller waves of the day, but don't go thinking they got too much bigger than that.  :)

We also paid to go on a private but guided kayak/snorkeling trip.  That was pretty fun.  We snorkeled around for quite a while looking at all the fish and coral, and kayaked a small ways too.  We were in a tandem (aka "divorce boat") and had no quarrels. We even got to surf it a bit when we were done snorkeling.  I'd have to say the highlight of the snorkeling was the sharks.  Our guide fished a couple of sharks (black tipped or black finned - can't remember) out of a small cave.  They were pretty good size, at least 4 feet long although I want to exaggerate and say longer.  They had the scary shark appearance - like they looked like they could attack at any moment.  But they were actually quite calm despite our disturbance.  Really cool.

We did the "Rode to Hana" where you drive to a more remote side of the island.  It was beautiful.  Unfortunately the road is really a one lane road turned into two way traffic, and with 50+ bridges and over 200 hair pin turns, it was pretty gnarly.  We almost ended up like this car above.

Liz and I at a waterfall we hiked to off the Road to Hana. 

It was a pretty good week.  Lots of reading, sitting on beaches, kayaking, snorkeling, surfing, hiking, etc.  It's pretty safe to say that I am not that excited to be back.  

:)