Monday, March 30, 2009

Road Riding

yep, rode on the road yesterday with Pat and Al.  I think it was about 40 miles, going hard
coming back.  Al had cold feet.  I used chemical toe warmers, stormtrooper socks, thick booties,
and had warm feet.  Still it was pretty darn cold going out against the North Wind, that broods
ill.  Tomorrow it is supposed to snow again.  Enough snow already.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

TRAIL RIDING

Yes, I hit the trails today on the Klein with front and rear fenders.  The River Trail, Jim's Trail, Al's Trail, and Patrick's Trail (south of the Fire Station), well, you know these trails, are all ridable.  There were a few patches of ice/snow which I rolled over no problemo.  Also I descended the Pump House Hill onto the last bit of the Plumb Creek Trail which went OK, although it is sort of nasty where the Compost Workers have trashed the trail.  The ground is sort of semi frozen with the result that it is not really very muddy.  So I guess the trail riding season has begun.
Ride On. 

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Back in St. Cloud

Yes, we came back from Idaho.  We skied every day, beginning with Teton Village aka Jackson
Hole Ski Area.  They have a brand new tram which is pretty cool taking you up to the top of 
Rendevous Peak (I think).  Greg (nephew) was with us.  He is a snowboarder likes to go fast
and get air (Air Bear).  Elena proved once again why she was a top ranked national alpine
racer, while I just made big easy turns.  Next up was Grand Targee where we stuck to the groomers.  Elena was almost killed by a snowboarder (Sorry Dude!).  Then we did some
backcountry on Teton Pass including State Line Bowl (steep, good powder, long slog to the
car), Christmas Tree Bowl (skier right of Eldleweiss) which was quite good all things considered.
I got some good turns in fresh pow in the steep trees.  Also went down Thanksgiving Bowl;
it was good in the gully but above and below it was breakable crust requiring survival turns--jump, stem, snowplow whatever.  We did a little "track" skiing (that is, cross country) at
Teton Ridge Ranch, the private resort owned by Paul Allen, you know, the guy who started
Microsoft with Bill Gates.  
The bad news is it took us a week to get back.  First the fuel pump failed, then the highway in
North Dakota was closed for two days.  Today we did the North Loop four times and it was
great!  Thanks to Matt for grooming.  It looks like this is the end of skiing however.