Team Bob's Goes Down The Bob's Trail

Bob's did a Bob's loop (not named after the team) and it was my first time through it, so it was some good fun. Again, I prove that I need more practice and a new mountain bike. Slack -er, next time, I'll be giving you a run for your money!

Party, Party, and Row

Friday started things on the right foot, I guess. Drunken and tired just don't alway mix like you'd like em' to, but that was the case for me. Still, a good time was bound to be had when you've got the right crew together. We started at Gernika's and somehow we wound up at Hannah's and then the Bistro. None of which I had been to before and the second two probably won't be future destinations.

Next morning, wake up too late and head out for another party of a different kind. Mi Madre turned 60 on Thursday and a big surprise birthday party was planned for Saturday. My older sister Lianne did a lot of organizing to get a house on Lake Payette (McCall) all prepped and ready to shock mom. A limo picked up all of mom's good friends from all over the place. Most came down from Coeur D' Alene, but a number came up from the Treasure Valley as well. After picking up the ladies, they met up with mom and the first part of the surprise was uncorked. Us guys were back at the lake house to witness the second half of the surprise since she didn't know about the house either. It was a pretty cool setup. We packed that 4-ish thousand square foot house with people, presents, food and booze. One of the limited number of dishes that I can always seem to make without messing up went over pretty well, wish I'd made more of that herb and garlic marinated salmon and asparagus bake. After food, what do people break out? Beer! Ok, more beer wasn't what I had on my mind, but after spending time with friends and then a good nap, it was flowing down the hatch again. Good thing it's the offseason huh? I was unquestionably out of the "average" age bracket in the house and was saved slightly by my lil' sis and bro-in-law who made me feel like I wasn't the kindergartner amongst a sea of professors and teachers. Oh wait, my lil' sis and bro-in-law are teachers too. Where's Waldo? Something about a sore thumb? Anyways, here's the place, it's amazing:

Niece and nephew having some fun on the dock

The next morning, great pics abound:

The title did say something about rowing too right? There was a beauty of a blue kayak sitting in the garage just begging to be taken out on the water, so its wish was my command. Luckily there was wind and waves to make it a bit more exciting than pure flat water, especially since I couldn't find the skirt to keep the bigger waves from coming in and soaking my pants.

All-in-all, darn good weekend

Here's to more off-season! :B (beer emoticon)

Oops, I've Misplaced My MTB V-Card

Pop's gave me a mountain bike that he wasn't using to it's fullest potential and now I've decided that since it's named after the great John Tomac, I'd better give it all it can handle. That's not really happening, but I can dream. I went out and got real mountain biking shoes and pedals even! It might be 6 or so years outdated by todays standards, but it's new to me. Weekend before last, I gave it my best effort to keep up with some local downhill specialists down the Eastside and Sweet Connies trails. I didn't really do the best job at that, but I'll chalk it up to comparing a 5k downhill specialty bike to a 1K crosscountry bike. Well, maybe it had something to do with lack of experience. Either way, it was crazy fun. So Saturday I went out with the mission of developing some handling skills in the local foothill trails. Check.

Then tonight (Monday) my teammate Justin M. showed me a Reserve - Freeway - reverse Corrals loop and I realized that I can't decend, but I'm not too bad on the climbs. After all was said and done on the trail, I found out that 50+ psi in the tires isn't even kinda sorta close to optimal. Nor is the hardtail, but ya take what ya can get when it's free. This stuff rocks for some offseason workouts!

That's War Eagle Mountain way out there, with the highest peak (Hayden Peak) in the Owyhee's at 8400 ft just to it's south (left). Table Rock is overlooking Boise to the far left

If you're into finding new trails in Idaho (hiking and mountain biking) or just a GPS mapping fan, check out this link: http://www.gpstrailmaps.com/idaho/ Select a trail from the list and then click on the file that ends with .html

According to the GPS, this is where we went:

On a totally different topic, a complete double rainbow is something I'm pretty sure I've never seen before, so Sunday's sighting was kinda cool:

Cool Or Geek?

I got some new software on the computer and it's crazy cool for outdoorsy stuff. Here's an image of the drive into Deadwood Reservoir (red) and the hike into the hotsprings (black)


Also, on a totally different topic, the 2007 Southwest Idaho Best All Around Racer (BAR) points competition has been finalized. Bob's won as a team and we got first and second overall - results

The Bogus Report

On occassion, us Bob's guys are required to write an article about the races we do. It was my turn to write about the Bogus Basin (World Championships) Hill Climb. Here's my pre-corrected recollection of how the race went up, in third person:

The 2007 Bogus Basin Hill Climb began with an immediate surge to speed set by ever present and powerful racers Bob Hoene and Joe Savola. Within a mile of the start, strongman and former Master’s World Champion Richard Feldman (Durance Cycleworks) jumped the field to set his own pace. One by one, various riders went to the front and set pace to keep Feldman within striking distance. Not long after passing the 6 mile marker (5 miles into the race), Feldman was brought back into the now very select front group of six. The select group of six began splintering not long after the 9 mile marker. By the 10 mile marker, six at the front were now down to three, Bob’s-Bicycles Matt Weyen, Feldman and BODE’s Eric Slack. Another mile up the road resulted in Slack popping off and fighting to get back on, no more than 15 seconds back of the final duo of Feldman and Weyen. At the 14 mile marker and with only half of a mile of climbing remaining, Weyen decided that it was time to test the waters and throw in an attack. Around 30 seconds later, Feldman was back on and within the minute laid down a counter-attack. Weyen was on Feldman’s wheel immediately at which point both men knew that it would be an even fight right up to the finish line. All the while, Slack was still within range of catching if the two front runners let up, so the pace had to be continued without any cat and mouse tactics. The race finishes at the Bogus Basin Ski Lodge after a one and a half mile flat section and for the first mile of flat land Weyen and Feldman worked evenly, taking short but fast pulls. With around a third of a mile to go, Feldman attacked into a sharp right-hander, immediately gaining two to three bike lengths on Weyen. The speeds at this point were 35+mph through the last few corners before the final 200+meters of straight away. Not long after the straight away presented itself Weyen caught and passed Feldman, crossing the line with a small, but hard fought gap. Slack rounded out the podium in 3rd, 50 seconds back. In 6th was Bob’s-Bicycles Justin Mayfield and Tad Hamilton finished 10th with a personal record time at the young age of 38.

Okay, so I forgot to mention that I had a short lived gap on Feldman. Didn't attack, just put the pressure on for a bit and looked back to find a gap that eventually got nullified.

Yeah, beating a World Champion (note the stripes on his sleeves) feels pretty good!

Results can be found here. Select "by time" to see all racers placings.

BTW, The 2007 season is officially over!

Made in the U.S.A. on 9/7/1979 - best if used by date: uh....

Yes, I'm going to get 365 days older all in 1 day! I've completed this task 27 times previously and it's not getting any easier. So, in light of this amazing feat of physics, I'm going to let everyone out there in interwebs land be creative and draw on this provided picture. What will happen to my face tomorrow? Will there be a new wrinkle? A tooth falls out? 1st gray hair? Maybe I'll grow a beard and join ZZ Top on tour?

"And go get yourself some cheap sunglasses" BTW, that song was also made in 79. Best if used by date: timeless

side note: remember, I did enjoy a wild and crazy 3+ months of the seventies.
On another side note, mi madre turns 60 on the 20th. If you happen to see her, you can give her a hard time about it too, but she might disown me if I post a pic of her on here for you to draw on too.
Luckily, cyclists usually experience their best years between about 27 and 30.

p.s. Stu's most recent blog is hilarious, check it out (up and to your right)

annonymous posting has been turned on

North Fork of the Clearwater pics

Last weekend was spent in some of the more amazing areas a person could spend a weekend. A few pictures do it more justice than writing about it. The kokanee were running very heavily, but are not interested in eating when in spawning mode which makes them impossible to catch with a fly. Also, they are reportedly not very tasty once they've turned red/orange. I got a few good pics of them. I'll add more pics when the clearwire connection clears up. BTW, having only fly fished twice in my life means that I'm still not especially good at it, but I did have a good size cutthroat trout on for a while until it broke my tie.

Almost got a good picture of Baldy in flight too, but I blurred it just a bit too much.