Back in the swing

Dan's parents had a small party on Saturday night so I packed up some of my stuff to stay the night over there instead of driving home later on in the night. We decided to head out to Pontiac Lake (my favorite local riding trail) to go on a hike with the dog....since it was 60 outside! It was dark and foggy but it still brought back good memories of riding on the fast singletrack.

Patch loved the trail!




Sunday we got up and headed out to Indian Springs Metro Park which is close to Dan's place. They've got a nice 8.2 mile loop paved path there so we put the running shoes on and I got outside to run for the first time being back home. I have to remember that winter activities involve driving to some State or Metro Park and running on the roads or paved paths or being gym bound for most of the afternoon. Which I don't mind at all....at least there's places to go and things to do. If we move back we HAVE to get snowmobiles :)

Today it'll be more of the same but I'm at my parents place so it'll have to be a run around their neighborhood. We're going shopping today! And hopefully Dan and I will be able to get together with some people tonight for dinner.

First Born Dead Show

Last night I got to see my brother in a show! They were actually pretty good, even though their other guitarist was doing vocals instead because the singer quit the band. I was very very impressed.

Unfortunately Jimmy rarely stood straight up so it was tough to get a good picture of him :(


More pics here...


I'm now going to start calling him Jimmith....

Christmas Day

Nothing much happened...woke up, had pancakes, opened presents, went to the neighbors house, saw a bunch of people I haven't seen in years, ran, lifted weights, went over Dan's house, opened up more presents, played on the lake, came back to my parents house and ate WAY too much food!

A perfect day!

Tomorrow we get to see Jimmy's band play and hopefully watch the Red Wings on my parents super duper huge (I think it's a 58") tv.

It's great to be home and able to watch the Wings again! Dan actually met one of the new young Slovak players at his church this morning!

More non-bike related pics here

19hrs later

We actually made it straight thru from Boulder to Michigan in 19hrs, even with all the crappy weather! It really wasn't that bad, icy and cold thru Iowa and Illinois but pretty uneventful. There were cars everywhere on the side of the highway thru Iowa, some rolled over, some smashed, some just stuck in the snow...must have been a horrible scene a few hours earlier. We kept drinking Monster & Amp and eating bagels to help with the stomach rot and those things got us thru the early morning hours.

After a few hours of decompressing once I got home, I got a run in (on the treadmill since it was raining outside)and went to a family party.

My little brother Jimmy grew up a ton! Filled out pretty good and grew out his hair, which is absolutely gorgeous!


I was in bed by 10pm and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold!

It's great to be home :)

More pics here

A good start to the holiday weeks

On Friday, we had an impromptu happy hour gathering at Megan's house...Tracy and I turned it into dinner & drinks before Megan even got home from work :) It was all good. Many many glasses of wine were drank and 3 pizza's were consumed!


Saturday, we went on a 6mile hour long run in preparation for Carrie's White Elephant Party later on in the evening. We also had a lot to do for the trip home, we got the car all set, cleaned the house and wrapped the presents. Hopefully I'll be able to get Tuesday off so we don't have to leave for Michigan at 6pm when I get off of work...that will suck big time if I can't.

The Boulder girls thought it was a boot & skirt night :)


Tracy got back at me for always making bunny ears behind someone


Dan showed off his new haircut....he was still steaming in this pic after his cool flask got taken in the white elephant gift exchange.


More pics here


Sunday, we were going to go snowboarding up at Eldora but the temps were going to be in the single digits and that didn't sound to appealing to us. Instead, we slept in and went on a 1 1/2 hr run...we had planned on a 2hr run but the loop we did just wasn't long enough. We capped off the run with some hot cocoa and some super duper spiked egg nog!


Later we made mint vanilla chip cookies.


Then some shrimp & sausage jambalaya.


I have to work Monday...boooooooo! But hopefully I can get Tuesday off....finger crossed!

Unfortunately we won't be bringing our bikes with us to Michigan, just the running shoes and maybe the snowshoes. Lucky for us, there's plenty of trails to run on paved or dirt so we won't be missing out there. I'm so looking forward to hanging out with my family and friends and FINALLY getting to eat some good middle eastern food! The one thing I've missed living out here (besides missing everything else back home) is really really really good middle eastern food!

Happy Holidays and be safe!

-Kim

I think we clean up pretty good!

This is before my work holiday party last night

Time off

I've been driving into work so far this week. Sunday night we got blasted with about another 5" of snow and then got blasted with zero degree temps on Monday so I drove in...it was absolutely miserable outside. On Tuesday, we had our Christmas picture taken and I wanted to look more presentable than last year. Wednesday, was our holiday party after work so I wanted to get home in plenty of time to get ready. And Thursday and Friday I guess I'll drive in as well....just because :) At least we live close, my drive in is less than 4 miles.

I've been feeling like a grown up driving in and I feel calm and happy, I could really get used to this :)

-Kim

Merry Christmas from my work!

We took our 2008 Christmas picture today.

It's cold out

I think it only got to about 9 degree's today :(

We hiked for an hour with the dog, went for a 40 minute run by ourselves, came home and made cookies.


Then we sat around in our sweats and under the blankets for the rest of the day.

Now we're trying to get motivated to go to a hockey game....in a cold ice rink...it's not going so well.

Proof

That I actually commute in the snow!






-Kim

Cynthia's Bday Ride

We had to postpone Cynthia's birthday ride from last Sunday to this Sunday because the trails we were going to ride had gotten a lot of snow last week. Unfortunately, Boulder got hammered with snow on Wednesday & Thursday so most of the trails were either too muddy to ride or covered in snow. Luckily the last 3 days were warm and super windy so the open space trails dried up and were rideable, so we decided to head out to the North Boulder trails and ride. Not the super duper techy ride we were supposed to do but fun none the less...and it was an amazingly warm December day and it was just great to get out.

Dan and I did a 8.15 mile run the day before so this was just the kind of ride we needed to work the legs out.

Afterwards, we all headed to the Rio for yummy drinks and yummy food!

I wonder how long Cynthia can draw out her birthday rides :) I'm hoping we can do it all again next weekend!

More pics here:


-Kim

My new bike!

Dan's a really really good listener and can usually read my mind or know what direction I'm thinking of moving towards....especially when it comes to my riding.

Lately I've been complaining about the 6.6 and how it really hasn't been the bike I thought it would be. I thought I wanted a longer travel, more plush bike to ride but what I really gave up was my speed and climbing ability. In the beginning, I was okay with it but slowly over the course of the year it really started bothering me. I couldn't climb stuff I used to climb and I lost my motivation to ride....I think that was one of the main reasons I wanted to get a dirt bike. I was looking for another passion, and I love it but I missed the bliss and joy and exhilaration I used to get riding.

I found new hope when I got a hold of one of Jason's demo bikes, the Safire. I love the bike and I was totally amazed at how great it climbed and how great the brain rear shock works....absolutely brought excitement back into my riding! I was smiling once again!

In the meantime, Dan built up one of my all time favorite bikes that I WILL NEVER give up. My Litespeed Ocoee that used to be my singlespeed but now has gears on it. I rode it today and found the bliss and excitement and pure exhilaration that I have been searching for! I was able to climb and ride fast and I completely and utterly enjoyed pedaling it and it awakened all the reasons why I started riding a bike!

I couldn't stop talking about it! I told him that I wanted to try a hardtail 29er and have the best of both worlds...I think this is what I NEED to ride to awaken my passion for riding again!

Later in the evening, he showed me a picture of a Salsa 29er that a friend of his has and is interested in getting rid of and said I could ride it whenever. I loved the way it looked...it was sexy! I went to take a shower and when I got done, I walked into the kitchen and there was the bike that he just showed me a picture of....I was floored! He said he got a killer....super killer deal on it a few months ago and slowly built it up with parts off the 29er he used to have and was just hoping and praying that I would want to one day ride it....or he would sell it, no big deal either way.

I couldn't be happier and I'm DYING to hammer on this thing!


Carbon rear triangle is going to make the rear ride nice and plush!


The big wheels are going to handle the rocks like nothing I've ever ridden before! I'm giddy!

-Kim

Tagged

Thanks Jeny.....

6 Things about myself...and since this is Dan's blog as well, I'm going to make him tell 6 things.

1) I once dared a kid in elementary school to crack his head open on the bleachers for 5 pennies. He did it and to this day I can still see the blood dripping out of his head in huge round balls as one of the lunch ladies carried him inside. He never told on me and I never got into trouble for it, I can't believe he did it...I wish I remember what his name was, Scott something.

2) My only claim to biking fame was winning the Lumberjack 100 in Michigan on my singlespeed. Won it in under 9hrs and I beat ALL the geared girls :) I couldn't ride my bike for a month after that...I had really bad back and shoulder issues after that. I got one of the coolest trophies in the world and it sits on my mantle so I can look at it everyday.

(photo credit Tom Lining)

3) I'm the biggest chicken you'll ever know. I get butterflies every time I ride my bike! My palms are sweating right now just thinking about it!

4) I have a 15 year old brother....I'm 38

5) I can't keep peanut butter in the house because I'd eat the whole entire jar in one sitting. I have absolutely no control when it comes to peanut butter.

6) I once beat Dan in a local XC race in Michigan. I was racing in the singlespeed class and at the time there weren't enough girls that raced singlespeed so I had to race with the boys. It was a time trial so we had to do 2 laps on a 9 mile trail/course. On the last lap I knew I was either 2nd or 3rd in a field of like 10-15 guys, I came upon Dan off the side of the trail fixing a broken chain...I just looked at him in shock and said "oh it's on now!" and sprinted all the way to the finish line. I had no idea that he was the leader! People started coming up to me saying that I had won!


Enlightening stuff here!

Now it's Dan's turn....

1) I'm color blind. (not black, white, gray but red and green)

2) I've always wanted to race cars or trucks.

3) When I was 12 I broke my ankle crashing on my BMX bike trying to jump a stack of car tires. The only reason I tried it was because there was a girl there.

4) I am the shyest person you will ever meet! I have no trouble talking to people when I'm at work but when it comes to anyone out on the street I would rather keep walking.

5) I LOVE roller skating! And no not roller blading!

6) I almost lost a few fingers to a snapping turtle in the lake I grew up on but I moved quick and instead of losing some digits I caught the giant turtle and too every one's dismay I killed it and buried it in the yard. Only because it came back after I drove it to another lake a few miles away and because the snapping turtles would eat all swan eggs. After I killed that one turtle there were a lot more baby swans on the lake that year.

We now tag Carey, Paula, Eddie, and Jen.

Death Metal

My little brother Jimmy has been playing bass guitar for quite some time now...he's actually really really good. One of the many reasons I miss being back home :(

Not music for everyone, but his band is First Born Dead

He's also a total hottie :)

-Kim

This is what Dan does with his time

(photo credit megan)

He builds kickbutt snowmen! We'll probably have a whole family by next week ;)

-Kim

The first big snow of the season

Dan swears we got about 10 inches of snow yesterday....I never went in the backyard last night to measure the snow piled up on the table but I'll believe him. It snowed all day and was freakin' cold, just all of a sudden like that :( Blech...although, when there's snow on the ground I like it, I like running in it, I like snowshoeing in it, maybe I'll even get some skate ski's and ski in it. We can't afford to spend $80 bucks on lift tickets right now or we'd be snowboarding this weekend for sure.

Unfortunately, we woke up to single digits temps today....too cold for me to ride in and with it going to be in the 40's today....too sloppy for me to ride in as well. I'll admit it, I don't like riding when there's snow, ice and gross stuff on the streets. I'll ride in the single digits temps, but only when the streets are clear.

Oh well, at least we got up and ran this morning....I think it was 9 degree's outside!

Here's a pic of Dan and his frozen beard after our run :)


TGIF!

-Kim

Happy Birthday Cynthia

Cynthia's birthday was December 1st, we were supposed to have a huge ride on Sunday with tons of people but the weather turned bad and it was snowing where we were supposed to ride so Cynthia decided to postpone the ride for a week :( Big bummer!

On Tuesday the 2nd, a bunch of us gathered at Zolo's Grill in Boulder to celebrate Cynthia's birthday! Cynthia made reservations for 17 people but I think that 20 or 21 people showed up! Doesn't that make you feel loved Cynthia! I'm so glad I met you and all your friends and their friends! You've finally made me feel at home in Colorado!

Catching up

It was a great 4 day weekend for both of us. We didn't have any plans (expect for Thanksgiving dinner) which meant we didn't have to get up early, be anywhere early or do anything we didn't want to do!

It was awesome and relaxing!

We ran some small errands on Friday and then decided to hit up Betasso for a quickie ride. It was a bit chilly and Boulder Creek was starting to ice up but it was a good ride and a good test to see how the Safire could climb up the connector trail. Let me tell you it climbed great! I made it to about 10' to the top of the climb and messed up....I was actually shocked at how far I made it, lost my concentration and spun out on some loose rocks. I was so impressed though!

Dan of course made it all the way up with ease.


After the ride we came home, showered and hung out watching movies and drinking wine the rest of the night! Yay!

On Saturday we slept in, ate a huge breakfast burrito and I cleaned the house. It was kinda yucky out and we were feeling a tab bit lazy so we decided to take the dog for a long walk and then went for an easy hour long run. And that my friends is about all we did...we sat on the couch and watched movies the rest of the evening...it was heaven!

On Sunday, the weather was even more yucky than it was on Saturday so I decided to stay inside all day in my pj's watch some more movies and do some online Christmas shopping. I did that for the most part but Dan came home earlier than expected from work with some bad news...needless to say he's looking for a new job :( Oh well, onto bigger and better things! We went for a long walk, came home and made some strong drinks and hung out inside the rest of the day.

-Kim

Thanksgiving Day 2008

We started the day with a chilly ride out at Hall. I was riding a Safire demo which I've been dying to ride since Tuesday. I quickly found out that the bike's rear wheel loves to be on the ground, mainly because of the brain shock. It was pretty amazing! I also noticed how small the cockpit was compared to the 6.6, this helped with turning and tight switchbacks and just steering in general. I was able to ride through nasty rock gardens in my granny and still steer and not get bounced around the rocks like I've been experiencing on the 6.6. I haven't been able to use my granny gear in technical rock sections because the front end became so unstable mainly because the rear end was bouncing around so much! And climbing on the Safire was a breeze compared to the 30lb 6.6!

I cleaned everything except for the rock face....but I wasn't really trying. I was so impressed with the way the bike steered and kept it's rear tire on the ground! I even had better lines on the descent through the rock garden on this bike....granted it's not as plush as the 6.6 but I had way more control on the Safire.

After the ride, we cleaned up and headed over the Dan's brothers house for some turkey dinner. MMMMMM MMMMMMM good! And we didn't stuff ourselves into food coma like we usually do :)



-Kim

Looking for a new bike

So I finally admitted to Dan this weekend that the 6.6 is a little too much bike for me :( I'm still having problems climbing with the 30lb bike, problems that I've never had before and it's starting to make me sad. I love the way the bike handles the descents but the climbs are another story, it's really hard for me to get my front end up and over ledges and I'm totally sick of bashing my knee's on the top tube! Living where we do, the bike you ride MUST climb and I admit that I do not like having to walk up stuff I KNOW I can clean....so the search is on.

I'm going to demo a medium Specialized Safire (hopefully this weekend) and maybe a Trek and maybe a Yeti and maybe a Titus. I want to try something that doesn't use the VPP system.

Suggestions are welcome!

The bike must have 5" of travel and be under 30lbs and climb and descend effortlessly :)

No XC racer bikes....no spandex will EVER touch this bike!

-Kim

Moab Day 3 - Sovereign Valley

Our last day in Moab :( I had to rent a rear wheel because I broke my freehub body on Saturday and I quickly realized that I had almost no rear brake for this ride.

Oh well!



Thank you so much for inviting us Megan! We had an absolute blast!

-Kim

Moab Day 2 - Amasa Back

-Kim

Moab Day 1 - Moto's

-Kim

I'm such a dork

So, I run up to the grocery store at lunch to pick up a few things for home, including a 12 pack of pop.

I self checkout and pay for everything and get outside and put the pop on my rack. I put bungee cords around the 12 pack and tighten them down when all of a sudden pop is spewing everywhere! I punctured one of the cans with the bungee cord hook :0

All I could do was get on my bike with pop spewing out behind me....how embarrassing.

Worse yet, I know have sticky coke all over my rear wheel & chain...good thing it's a singlespeed :)

-Kim

Riding my singlespeed

Makes me homesick....all the fast, flowy trails in the woods....all the backwards night rides....all the short steep climbs....all the long widowmaker hills....all the hot humid days....


**sigh**

-Kim

The SSss Ride

The singlespeed striped socks ride :)

The girls hit up Centennial Cone for a easy going ride on Sunday, it was crowded and super windy....hurricane force windy. We had to either ride a singlespeed, wear striped socks or both.


(from left: me, Cynthia, Tracy, Megan & Carrie)

I dusted of the pretty girl for the first time this year.


Megan got bloody....sssshhhh....don't tell her doctor she's riding her bike yet ;)


Tracy battled the wind and being sore from Crossfit


Cynthia rocked the green shirt & matching striped socks


Carrie was too far ahead of me to get any pictures of her :) And she nailed all the switchbacks, including the ones with waterbars!

More pics here


This week we're getting ready to head out to Moab for a 3 day weekend for some fun in the desert on our moto's and mountain bikes! And to celebrate Megan's 30th bday!

-Kim

Saturday Night Out

With friends......

We hit up Tahona's and spent way too much money on food and drinks :)

(from left: Carey, Cynthia, Megan, Tracy, me & Dan)


(from left: Ryan & Craig)

-Kim

1st Snowy Commute

Today we got a dusting of snow in the am, nothing that stuck to the roads but it did stick to the grass and dirt and WOOD BRIDGES.

I have 4 wood bridges that I have to cross on the bike path, there's one that super short but on a turn and that usually gets me sliding when it's wet or slick. This morning all the bridges were covered in a layer of snow and on the first one I was sliding totally sideways down it...almost got my bars caught up in the side rails. That'll get your heart pumping!

I've been riding the old commuter in, only until Dan puts a flat bar (instead of the bull horns) and some hardcased treaded tires on the new commuter. I have slicks on the old commuter so that's part of the sliding problem...hopefully with the new treaded tires I won't be slipin' and slidin' my way across the bridges anymore....that is until it gets really cold and they're icy. Luckily the city plows the paths before they plow the streets...weird but they do!

TGIF!

-Kim

Screaming at me

My legs were screaming at me to STOP running this morning :( We ran up some steep stuff this morning and my legs wanted to be back in bed resting.

Guess I'm going to have to have a nice big steak tonight with a tall glass of beer to appease my legs....oh the sacrifices.

-Kim

Surprise!

Dan told me he had a surprise for us when I got home last night and that I would enjoy...I was hoping for food or wine or a new windshield on the truck (which we need!)

I walked in the door and saw a new bike in the corner of the room, thought it was Dan's new fixie but he said no....and I got mad. I don't need anymore bikes, I'm trying to get rid of the bikes I don't ride anymore and I just got rid of my CX bike that I NEVER rode. He said it'll be a good winter commuter because we can put tires with tread on it, I said I could just ride my mountain bike to work on snowy days or my singlespeed for that matter....the bike paths are cleared before the roads. I love my Bianchi flat bar commuter, it's comfortable and ugly and I don't have to care about it. I HATE people spending money on me and surprising me with things like that, I don't deserve any of it....give me a bottle of wine or a cookie or a cute pair of socks and I'm the happiest girl in the world!

But as it sat there in the corner staring at me...I wanted to ride it, the color is so cool! So we put my pedals on it this morning and I rode it to work......and I love it! I was so excited to ride it this morning that I walked out the door without my helmet :(

It's a Redline 925 CX singlespeed commuter...maybe eventually we'll turn it into a fixie but for now I'll be switching over to this bike for my daily commute to work. The rack & panniers will fit nicely on it and the full wrap fenders will keep my behind clean and my teeth free of grit. I'm going to swap out the bull horn bars and put a flat bar on it and put some hardcased tires on it but that's probably it.

I'm sorry I got mad for the nice surprise. Next time, just pick me up a cheap bottle of wine ;)

-Kim

The play it by ear weekend

I didn't feel like making plans for anything this weekend so we just played it by ear. Friday we me up with Jen & Jesper, Dave & Cynthia and Tracy for dinner and drinks at the Rio before Tracy met Jason for a showing of Seasons...needless to say Dan & I drank a little too much and stumbled and fumbled our way home and promptly passed out (I love the Agave Martini's and had 3 :0 and I think Dan had the maximum marg limit at 3 as well!)

We were able to sleep in a little on Saturday before heading out to do some long overdue errands. Tracy texted me while we were out that her and Jason were going to ride and wanted to know if we were able to go but there was no way we'd be able to make it...bummer:(

We were planning on riding Heil after our errands but by the time we got home, we really didn't feel like driving anywhere for a ride so we decided to go out for a long run. We left from our house, ran up the Sanitas Valley trail to the East Ridge trail that goes to the summit of the Sanitas Trail and ran down the Sanitas trail...awesome technical trail run that took us just under an hour! It's so amazing being able to run technical trails like this right from our doorstep.

After we cleaned up a bit we decided to go out to dinner rather than cooking because we were lazy...we walked down to the Hungry Toad for some steaks and meatloaf.....yummy! I got a call from Jen while we were eating inviting me on a ride they were doing tomorrow at Devil's Backbone, which was perfect because Dan had to work! Yay for friends that invite you on their rides :)




So Sunday morning I got up early to walk the dog and then headed out to meet Jen & Jesper for a day of riding. What an incredible day to be out! The weather was perfect, the riding partners were perfect and all in all it was an absolutely perfect day! Jen & Jesper were on their singlespeeds but I decided in morning that I wanted to be lazy and ride my geared bike....I'm glad I did because my legs were feeling it!

Jen & Jesper were killin' it on their singlespeeds!




We all even cleaned this ledge.


Jen cleaning it (photo credit Jesper)


Me cleaning it (photo credit Jesper)


Check out my cheeks (photo credit Jen)


Thanks guys for an awesome day on the bikes!

More pics here


-Kim

West Mag Lazy Sunday Ride

Cynthia, Jason, Tracy & myself met at 10am to go ride this morning but upon everyone's arrival it was very clear that we were lacking motivation. We were supposed to drive out to Indian Creek (which is an hour away) and then ride for a few hours but no one wanted to commit to the drive or the ride and we wanted to watch the Pro men at the Boulder Cup CX race. So with a little debate and almost a coin toss we packed up Jason's truck with all of our gear and headed out to West Mag.

It was a good choice, the climbs weren't that tough and we didn't have to ride for very long to feel satisfied with at least getting out.




More pics here


We also made it down to the CX race just after the Pro men went off.


After that we hit the Southern Sun for some beers and food. A good cap off to an another great weekend spent with friends!

Next week we may even get the singlespeeds out for a ride :)

-Kim