Is it Friday yet?

This weekend was kind of a downer. Dan had to work all weekend since the store was having a huge sale and it was their grand opening as a Trek Concept store. They had a nice party at the shop on Friday with food and beer...unfortunately, the food was gone in about 10 min so we didn't get any. Larry the Trek rep was kind enough to walk over to Taco Bell after all the people left and fed all the hungry employee's who had been standing around for about 14 hrs.

Saturday was super nice with temps in the 70's but I had a ton of running around to do and after taking Patch for a walk, the wind had picked up and getting on the bike to push through the wind wouldn't have been fun so I just went for a long run instead. We stayed in because Dan was beat and margarita's went down a bit too fast and we were out cold probably before 10pm.

Sunday, we were supposed to go on a ride before the shop opened at noon but we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground...big bummer. After Dan left for work, I decided to take Patch up to West Mag for a hike. Man, the snow was so deep and heavy that not even snowshoes made the hike enjoyable. The trail was not visible at all and it looked like no one had been up there in months...I ended up going in circles a few times and decided to call it a day after finding Patch huddled under a tree shaking. He couldn't move without sinking in the snow leg deep and he didn't want to move anymore.

I was in bed around 9:30 last night....ready for next weekend already. And there was another couple inches on the ground when I woke up...grrrr, not a good way to start the week.

Luckily the weather should get better by the end of the week and we'll hopefully hit the trails again, the talk of doing some shuttle runs up in Ft. Collins was even mentioned!

-Kim

Spring is here!

Another awesome 70 degree day yesterday! It was a bit windy but who cares...it was 70! Dan didn't have to work so when I got home we got the bikes out and set out for Marshall Mesa. I love this ride because we can ride from our house, ride mostly on open space trails and dirt roads, hit Marshall Mesa and do a nice loop on some singletrack. It's a good 2hr ride and by the end, I'm always ready to get off my bike and have a beer.

Woke up this morning to rain, which is good because it's not snow! And the rain will help melt the snow!

I got my haircut again yesterday, got rid of the boooooring bob. Mom, I think Jimmy and I have almost the same haircut now :) I hate posting pics of myself because I take the absolutely worst pictures, but this one is for my mom since she's in Michigan and I'm in Colorado.



And sadly this is the only pic I have of my little bro....mom, you're slacking!

-Kim

New Tattoo

Well, not really. Just a stupid move on my part, not paying attention as usual and I ended up going off the trail. Only problem is that off the trail was a canyon and as my tires were slipping off the side of the trail, I had to lean really far right and just ended sliding down the side of the canyon a little while the chainring dug into my calf.

Beside that happening, we had an awesome day at Devil's Backbone. We went out with our friend Chuck again and ended up with a 3hr ride. I rode some ledges that I wasn't able to clear the last time we were there on the SS and Dan had a great time on his new Fisher Superfly 29er. He couldn't stop raving about it yesterday after riding Hall and insists that I have to give it a try....I think he's fallin' for the 29er thing....

Happy riders



Hike a bike


The boys


Crusty


Hopefully we'll be able to get out and ride again tomorrow after Easter breakfast at his brother's house but it's snowing right now...so my fingers are crossed that it doesn't stick.

And I'm going to try and get out Tuesday and do the Tuesday Night Girl's Ride.

-Kim

Date Night

Dan decided to not go to Sunlight for the race this weekend...just too much driving.

So, he is meeting me after work at Hall Ranch! We're going to get a ride in and have dinner and beer here. A perfect date night :)

-Kim

An Awesome Night For A Ride

Dan got home early last night so we headed out on the XC bikes for a spin on the open space trails near our house. We got to the point where we usually turn around and head back but we still had a lot of daylight left so we decided to go further, then further and further until we found ourselves at Marshall Mesa. With the sun just starting to set behind the foothills, we decided to go further and do our normal loop there. It was just one of those days we just couldn't get off our bikes, it felt so good to be out after work (a rarity these days), in shorts, just riding! We ended up getting caught in the dark on the way home but since we were just riding open space trails that weren't in the woods or trees and with an almost full moon popping out it wasn't that bad.

I love spring, the time change, the warmer weather....just feels good.

Today it's supposed to be in the 60's and I hope to get an hour ride in at lunch on the CX bike but their calling for high winds in Boulder (gee, imagine that) so we'll see. If it's too windy, I'll just go for a run.

Dan's going to Sunlight Fri/Sat for a snow bike race but I decided to stay home and have the house to myself. Hopefully the weather won't be as crappy as predicted on Saturday so I can get a nice long ride in somewhere.

Happy first day of spring today! It only gets better from here on out :) Maybe tonight a full moon ride....

The pic isn't one that we took, I just found it and thought it looked like the perfect warm spring sunset.

-Kim

Patch's Bad Habit

So this is what Patch likes to do EVERYDAY when I let him out when I get home from work. He rolls around in the dry grass and gets it all over him...this is dry Colorado grass that just sticks to his fur no matter what. It takes me about 15 minutes to get it out!

I think he does it on purpose just to get brushed....

-Kim

Happy St Patrick's Day

From our beer to yours!

Calm before the storm

It was an awesome weekend in Boulder. Kinda warm and sunny on Saturday, perfect day for riding. Unfortunately, Dan had to work all day and I had a ton of running around to do and since I was still recovering from the flu a little, I settled for a long walk with the dog and dinner and drinks with Dan at the Waterloo in Louisville. They have great burgers!

We knew it would be colder and maybe rainy on Sunday...which it was in the morning. But lucikly the ran stopped and the roads dried up. We decided to head up to Heil for an easy ride with our friends Chuck and Niina.



They just moved here last October from upper Michigan and are still getting used to the altitude....we look forward to riding with them many many more times this summer. Good news is, Niina also rides DH so I'll have another girl to ride with and we're all planning a trip with a bunch of people to Whistler at the end of August!!!

Heil was in great condition and Wild Turkey has turned into a nicely packed trail.


Dan decided to go "retro" today and ride the IF...I deciced to go in comfort and rode the trusy 5.5.


Tomorrow 4-6" of snow are predicted and it's snowing right now....big bummer. But today, we were happy!



-Kim

Cutting Edge Sports transformation

The shop Dan works at in Boulder went through some major renovations over the past month and has now emerged as a Trek Store. The transformation is amazing! I don't have any pictures of how the old store looked but it went from a dull, dark, cluttered store into something pretty amazing.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

A cool lounge area at the front of the store.


A cool kiddie section with bike set up like trainers so they can try out.


The women's section



The front counter




The back service counter with cool wall mounts displaying some Intense frames and misc forks


All the hard work and long hours that everyone put in really paid off. I wish Dave luck and I hope this year is a really successful year for them!

I went to a babyshower and all I got was the flu

On Saturday we went to co-ed babyshower at the Lefthand Brewery. I drank about 4 of the Chainsaw Ale's and Dan drank the same in Widdershim's (spelling is incorrect as it's not listed on their website). Both at around 9% that was plenty beers for the both of us. Unfortunately there were lots of small children there and I don't have small children immunities....so I went to a co-ed babyshower and all I got was the flu. I've been sick since Sunday night and haven't been able to really eat anything since.

Kinda sucks! But those beers were yummy!



Took the dog for a walk yesterday and thought I was going to die!

-Kim

Goodby XJ

We decided to sell the XJ since we're building up a YJ specifically as a trail rig. We didn't think it would sell as fast as it did and had to scramble to get another car but I think it was the right decision. Hopefully selling the XJ will light a fire under our arses to get the YJ built up for Thanksgiving in Moab this year. We've got all the part sitting in the garage, we just need to figure out what to do with them.

Having the YJ will be good, we won't have to worry about putting it into some sticky situations on the rocks since it won't be one of our daily drivers. We can beat the heck out of it and not have to worry. I'm excited but I'm still trying to convince Dan to get rid of it so we can get some dirt bikes instead....it's not going that well.

The YJ pretty much still looks like this. So we've got a looooooong way to go.


This is what we got (not the actual one we bought but the same color) to replace the XJ as my car to drive around. A 98 Volvo turbo V70 AWD wagon...Patch is going to love this car! It already has the Thule crossbars mounted so all we have to do is put the trays on...we've got 4 sitting in the basement right now so that won't be a big deal. Phiszy....you won't have to drive us to the trails anymore! It gets about 24mpg which will make a huge difference since the XJ only got about 11mpg. I'm excited to drive it around, finally a car that has some power to it when you hit the gas :)

Hopefully Dan won't lift the Volvo since he can't seem to keep a car or truck stock. Our Nissan Frontier got a lift and new tires suddenly one day during the summer, hopefully the Volvo will stay nice and girly for me....maybe just some window tinting.

Freeridefoundation.com

My friend Allie and her friend Jackie Baker both pro DHers have started a new website dedicated to women and freeride. You can get all your women's specific freeride gear from them!

Freeridefoundation.com

-Kim

74 on Saturday....snow on Sunday

It was 74 degree's on Saturday...needless to say we didn't do much except ride. We decided to stay away from the trails that were dry on the front range fearing the masses of people that would be there. Instead, we hopped on our CX bikes and connected open space trails and roads together to put in a 3hr ride! It was absolutely amazing....I even had tan lines to prove it. We barbecued and had the windows open until about 10pm, it felt like we were on vacation.

Sunday morning we woke up to about 3" of snow on the ground, wind and almost white out conditions in places. Sucks but I guess that's March in Colorado.




At least daylight savings time kicks in next Sunday so the evening rides will start again.

I'm taking a break from commuting in and will do more lunch rides and running. I'm going to mix up my routes and not ride with a pack on my back (yeah!) and reconnect with my love for riding.

Think spring!

-Kim