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Overly Angry Lately

2011-12-15T16:00:00.000-08:00

As the weather is changing, I find myself getting angry more often and a lot easier. It's not really an emotion that I prefer to be taken over by, but for whatever reason, it's been a struggle to not be set off by the littlest things.

A couple weeks ago, I hung up a heavy bag in the garage and I've gotta say, I wish I could be pounding on that thing allllllll the time! Time in the gym hitting the weights feels amazing too. I just want to kick the living s#!% out of something most of the time.

What's eating at me? Not really sure, things should be fine and dandy. I've got a fantastic and beautiful woman in my life who is pretty much just as happy as can be and is a great influence in my life. Physically, I keep feeling better and better. Focusing heavily on fixing my postural issues that caused all that back pain is working for sure. Maybe my body is uncorking a couple years worth of pent up testosterone now that all the systems are working better? All this aggression is what I used to take out on the bike all the time in the past.

No matter the cause, I've gotta figure out how to chill out a bit more when I'm not at the gym or the heavy bag or on the bike. For the time being, thank goodness for the heavy bag!

It's A Matter Of Balance

2011-12-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

Life is composed of so many choices that have long term effects on who we are. Sometimes it seems like we have to specialize so much in one area to stand out from the crowd. Eventually, the repetition of performing whatever it is you do will get anyone out of balance. Spend your whole life studying one subject and you'll probably lack skills in other fields. Spend enough time doing one activity and your body will find its way right into imbalance. Imbalances create stress and eventually pain, be it physically or from social awkwardness.

We all wish we were talented and stand outs at everything. As it turns out, that is impossible. It takes specializing to create talent. Specializing creates imbalances though. The answer to this dilemma? Don't ask me... but I have chosen to obliterate my previous goals of specialization. 20 years of bike racing left my body with very specific issues that will effect all cyclists that don't work hard to counteract the imbalances created by the sport. Just to name the big ones: tight neck extensors, weak neck flexors, tight upper trapezius, weak rhomboids and mid and lower trapezius, tight erector spinae muscles, weak abdominal muscles (transverse and obliques), tight hip flexors and adductors, weak gluteus medius, maximus (my ass) and abductors, weak tibialis anterior muscles and tight gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

Yup, I just nerded out. As it turns out, these imbalances are really common for a majority of everyone out there since we sit so damn much. Some muscles are just more prone to tightening than others too since certain muscles are posture muscles and others more explosive, power muscles (tonic vs phasic muscles).

To fix all those imbalances, the gym is my new best friend. Oh and don't forget the foam roller. And then there's my new found love of the "old man" positioning on the road bike. I said it, full on "old man" positioning is my new gig. "Old man" positioning by my yesteryear standards anyway.

All told, it's starting to work in my favor. Special thanks to some of the trainers at Axiom for some great tips!

Life After Bike Racing

2011-11-02T19:56:00.001-07:00

For a limited crowd out there, bike racing is a way of life. First you get hooked on the sport by the challenge and simplicity of seeing roads and places you may not have ever been before. Even the places you'd been a hundred times seem different when rolled passed on a bike. Then comes the desire to go up that hill faster than the last time you were on it. The few of us that continue to push that envelope sometimes find that the sport is a pure addiction.

It consumed me entirely for many years; all hours of the day, every day, all week, every month, every year. Lining up training programs that might eek out another percentage of improvement. Finding ways to get onto faster equipment that might take a few seconds off up the hills or in the time trials. Reading countless number of articles of what might make the tiniest of gains for the sport and following through on all of them to the perfect T. Then you give up all of your vacation time (and maybe a sick day or two thrown in), to get to all the races you need to be at.

After years of advancement and improvement, I had actually earned some results to be happy about. Not really the ones that I set out to get in the first place, but it's better to set the bar too high than too low right?

In 2007, a couple things happened that started my snowball rolling in a different direction. First, A long term relationship melted down and my perspective on life altered. Not too long after, my back gave out on me in a way that made me wonder if cycling was doing my body right.

For the next three years, my back continued to give out from time to time. About the time I thought I'd figured the problem out, it would give out again. Each time worse than the time before. By the last time it popped out (September 2010), I had scaled back my cycling so much that I was pretty much not effective as a cyclist anymore. Muscle imbalances from a life of intense training and racing had pushed my back into a real case of lordosis and a tipped pelvis.

Little by little, the reality of being a regular guy who does regular life stuff (well, sorta anyways) was sinking in. Outdoorsy adventures took cycling's place as best as I could make it. No amount of adventuring could quite fill the void of competition at a top level though.

My body proved time and again that the whole muscle imbalance was for real and no amount of stretching, myofascial release, or antagonist muscle workouts would put me back in the game enough to be where I was before. Profane words here.

So I moved on... or so I tell myself to this day. Battling my muscle imbalances has kept my attention quite nicely luckily. Weight lifting (upper body even), hitting the punching bag, yoga, paddling the kayak, pilates, and others can all be attributed experiences that I wouldn't reverse now. No longer do I have to follow a very specific time line all year long. If there's a concert in the middle of the season, I can go to it. If there's a reason to get drunk in April, or May, or June or... who the hell cares when, I can!

The roads are still paved and I can ride them anytime I choose with the addition of a few spacers at the stem. Although, there is a significant difference in riding them as a top form cat. 1 racer versus a "only technically a cat. 1." It's tough to take a step back and let myself be an average person. What if I got caught on the dump loop or going up Bogus? My ego can take that hit I suppose, but it doesn't want to! I used to get to beat guys down on a regular basis on the bike. The punching bag on the other hand never shows me the pain face as I drop it's ass a minute back. Guys need that affirmation that they can kick some ass at something sometimes. Cycling was that something. Right up until it kicked my ass, or should I say my L4/L5 disk.

Luckily, I found myself a hot lil' woman that helps on the ego front on a daily basis. Oh and I can still be obsessive. Now it's just about learning how to correct posture, protect my back from ever going out again and make myself more gym rat worthy. Having another 15 to 20 pounds of muscle in the upper body hasn't hurt the ego, that's for sure!

For you hardcore cyclists reading this, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of correction. Get your ass into the PT and pay attention before you do what I did.

Escalante - An Addiction Is Born

2011-05-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday May 5th:

Anjuli and I pack all* of the gear into my Subaru Outback Sport, make a quick stop for some food and gas and off to I-84 we go. The goal for day one: make it to a campground at Bryce Canyon where we can set up tent and call it a day. 11 hours after hopping in the car, we arrive at Bryce. The national park gate unattended by 8pm with no drop box or any sort of required payment slip available, we saved ourselves $25! Next stop, the campground. $15 for a campsite on a Thursday night wouldn't be too bad of a deal for camping so close to such an amazing feature. Wait, no drop box or camp host to collect here either. We pull up to a nice camp site and dig through all the gear to set up camp. Very first thing you need to set up camp? A tent* right? Well.... somehow that didn't make it from my basement to the back of my car. Oops. Luckily Anjuli had an aluminum emergency blanket that we could throw on the ground to keep our sleeping bags dry and protected. Get in a meal after the sun sets and hop in the bag for a good nights rest at colder than expected temps.

Friday May 6th:

We had set big goals for day one. First, a 6.5 mile loop through Bryce Canyon to start the day could simply not have been any more scenic! Start at Sunset Point, go down the Navajo trail to "Wall Street," to the Peek-a-boo loop (unreal, do not miss!), on to the Queens Garden and up to Sunrise Point back to the start.

Next up, drive to Escalante, check in with BLM to let them know what our plans are and get a permit to pack into the Fence Canyon area, and get to Lower Calf Creek Falls Campground. We had more than enough daylight to do the 5.5 mile hike to the falls and back. This is very worthy sight in the Escalante area; not to be missed! As there were no campgrounds left, the camp hosts said it'd be fine if we set up shop in the sandy area down by the creek. A late night party group down by the creek seemed like fun to join in on and set up camp near, but we had bigger goals for the next day than too many beers and being up too late would allow for. Camp was setup directly in front of the Suby in the parking lot on the brand spankin' new tarp. A near by fire had taken out power to the restroom so the shower was extremely make shift via a five gallon bucket of creek water. It's been a long time since getting cleaned up has felt so good, especially given that it was from a bucket.

Saturday May 7th:

First thing that morning, the camp host tells us that we slept right next to a popular scorpion hang out. Good news, we didn't wake up with any uninvited guests in our sleeping bags. I wasn't overly freaked out by the idea of scorpions liking warm places, being nocturnal and our sleeping bags being directly exposed to the lil' crawlers, but I must say, Anjuli seemed even less perturbed by the possibility.

Day two of exploration was another packed day. The first two days were the most jammed packed with hiking, driving, organizing, eating... you get the idea. Thus I figured these days the most likely to gum up our plans to see nine canyons, an arch, a giant water fall and a whole lot of other random wonders of southern Utah.

Before getting into the meat and potatoes of the day, we stopped in for a quick bite to eat at a rustic restaurant (Kiva Koffeehouse) built into the hillside near the campground. Once done with our last non-freeze dried, warm meal for a couple days, we got on the road towards the ultimate destination area, Hole-In-The-Rock Road. Goal one, find the pull off for Halfway Hollow and make our way into Harris Wash. Zebra and Tunnel Slot canyons, here we come! Eight miles down Hole-In-The-Rock Road, there's a pull off just after a cattle guard. Cross the road, find the trail and head off towards awesomeness. That's my interpretation of our guide book. Although I must forewarn anyone looking into going to Escalante that "Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau" by Michael Kelsey is written in an extremely arrogant and not as easily to follow fashion. You may want to avoid it and go straight to "Canyoneering 3" by Steve Allen.

Anyways, enough on the book rant. We made it to Harris Wash and headed up wash towards Zebra Canyon. Along the way, we came across a section of Moqui Marbles, way cool! After an extended hunt for and discussion over the rocks also known as Shamans Stones, we made our way on up to Zebra. That place is mystical... and this coming from a pretty rational, level headed dude that doesn't typically use the word mystical. The place is unlike anywhere I've ever been. It was both of our first real slot canyon experiences and it was really impressive! There were Moqui Marbles in the canyon's swirling orange and white canyon walls even! To get into the good stuff, we had to take our first dip into the cold Escalante canyon waters. If we weren't feeling alive already, that did the job! A little further on up, we met up with the first real canyon challenge. A eight or so foot wedge climb that I decided to tackle and got up over. Shortly after, there was a pothole of unknown depth (potentially a keeper pothole) followed immediately by a 20ft sheer rock face. Time to turn around and see the amazing canyon one more time.

Once back to Harris Wash, we headed down wash towards Tunnel Slot. On the way, we came across all shapes, sizes and colors of rocks, including both white and pink chalk rock. It was a giant jumbling of rocks from far off places as they clearly didn't come from the surrounding red rock. Upon finding the entrance to Tunnel Slot, it felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie. The sun's reflection off of the cold, cold water danced on the canyon walls as we waded in to see more of what resembled a keyhole to another world. It was one of those rare moments that I felt like a kid again. You know back when your imagination ran wild around every corner? Being in this canyon was the closest I've felt in a loooong time! The canyon is short and sweet, a lot like my memory of being a kid.

When we got back to the car, a much needed lunch break with the best tasting grape juice, tangelos and pudding packets ever ensued. The red dirt at our feet seemed to sink in more. Maybe it had something to do with my sitting right in it. Sometimes, if you put away your notions that being dirty is a bad thing, sitting right down on the hard ground puts you in a much closer connection with our primal selves. Forget about the rat race for a time and let yourself enjoy being your basal self. It does wonders for a person. Sitting right down in the red soil while packing away the most amazing tangelos somehow brought out that sensation for me.

Next up on our agenda, the Egypt trailhead. We started by organizing the packs in a blustering wind that pushed out over the 1,300ft edge we were to drop over shortly. Mind you it wasn't a sheer drop off, but from the vantage point at the top, it looked like it almost could be. In the first half mile, it dropped around 700ft. This was our route down to Fence Canyon which feeds into the Escalante River very near other incredibly beautiful canyons. After the first half mile descent, it leveled out with sections of sand that left the trail sometimes difficult to follow when rock cairns were further apart.

By the time we reached camp, we were more than ready to get the stove going and get some Mountain House meals in our bellies. Luckily, Fence Creek runs clean and clear enough to pump water from without clogging up the filter as the Escalante River very much so would do. If the Escalante was all we had available, allowing the water to settle in my small cooking pan first would make for a very, very slow process!

After filtering, cooking and plowing down some mad calories, I decided to go chat it up with our neighbors. Turns out they had completed the south fork of Choprock Canyon that day, my current fixation and extremely high priority on my bucket list! One of the members was named Scott Patterson who claimed to have named Zebra Canyon. Anjuli later found a link that confirmed it true, but my first reaction was to call bull s***. Not directly of course, only in my mind, as they had just completed one bad a$$ canyon. This same canyon claimed the lives of two men back in 2005. Sometimes, this canyon becomes e xtremely challenging when high water, big log jams, and the silo effect combine. For this trip though, neither of us had anywhere near enough experience or equipment to tackle such canyons. So after picking their brains on some of the intricacies of the canyon, I headed back and hopped in to the mummy bag and crossed my fingers that the local scorpion population didn't feel so inclined to join either of us in our slumber.

Sunday May 8th:

At some point in the night of perfectly clear skies, a little mouse came to check out our garbage bag. The first two times, I couldn't shine my headlamp on him fast enough to figure out what was coming to visit us. The third time was a charm though. He froze immediately, holding an energy bar wrapper like a kid who's been caught red handed with a candy bar that his mom had said no to. I turned the light off and let the little guy enjoy whatever leftovers he could find from the wrapper.

The next morning, we woke to find scorpion track every which way all around us, even leading right up and onto the tarp. We were probably walked on by scorpions over the night. Upon inspection, neither of us found any little friends in our bags. I was kinda hoping to see one, but never got the chance, even though I shined the headlamp all around a couple times in the night.

After packing up camp and stashing the backpacks, we headed over to the Escalante River for crossing numero uno on our way down river to Neon and Ringtail Canyons. The trail was very lush and almost jungle like. Little lizards darted about left and right everywhere we went with the occasional snake to say hi. We never ran into a rattler, but they are around.

Up first, a trip up into Neon Canyon and it's treasure, the Golden Cathedral! This place was absolutely surreal. Peaceful, beautiful, stunning, unreal... words cannot do right what this place is. We had the whole canyon to ourselves on a Sunday morning. I suppose that could be considered fitting for some, at a cathedral on a Sunday morning. As for the name, there was never any doubt once we stepped foot into the canyon. The trees seem to radiate the brightest green you'll ever see from a plant and the walls are a glow with orange. The contrast of dark and bright is everywhere you look.

Another mile down river, much less explored Ringtail Canyon beckoned to be ventured. The name comes from the seldom seen, but clearly prevalent friend of the area, the ring-tailed cat. The canyon quickly turned extremely dark as the top of the canyon is extraordinarily narrow. Not too far in, I found that the required gear to go much further was not in my current possession... or maybe I just didn't know how deep the potentially keeper pothole was and wasn't really ready to find out given that I was already alone at that point. Someday, I'd like to see more of this fascinating canyon.

On the way back to camp, we made a point of trying to find both sets of pictographs along the section of the Escalante that we were covering. One being between Neon and Ringtail on the east side. The other being about a quarter mile up river of the mouth of Neon on the east side as well. The one just up river of Neon was, by far, the most amazing! Hundreds of figures of all forms of the imagination. Mormon pioneers from the late eighteen hundreds made a few of their own, which luckily wasn't overly destructive of the originals and were cool to see as well.

We managed to over shoot our trail over to Fence Canyon and continued on up the Escalante a bit too far. At that point the trail is on the opposite side of the river and the trees kept us from being able to see the gaping canyon that is Fence. After a short bout of feeling mildly lost, we flipped it and found our way back to camp via some bushwhacking. Oddly, immediately upon getting into the camp area, we came across a severely lost woman who was in dire need of slowing down, getting her whits about her, eating, drinking and somebody to help her out. Perfect timing as Anjuli and I were nearing our breaking point on need for water, food and some time out from the go, go, go that had been our day up to that point. After an hour of filtering water, cooking up a giant Mountain House, guzzling the Nalgenes, and finalizing the packs, we started packing back on up to the cars. During this time, an incredible story came out from our new found friend.

Paula, a 60yr old lawyer from Alaska, had come to this point via an inflatable kayak that she submerged early on in her second part of an epic adventure with the friends she'd came down with. The first part had consisted of seven days from Hells Backbone on down to Highway 12 along the Escalante River and then through Death Hollow. She told of canyons that they'd gone through that were supposed to be non-technical, but proved to be very technical. She had the proof too! All ten of her finger tips were missing significant amounts of skin and maybe even some flesh, it was hard to tell. After that section of the river, they were shuttled to the Egypt trailhead and packed on down to where we'd stayed. A couple days later, she'd hiked back after she'd lost her group when she submerged the kayak. She was able to snag the kayak out of the river and packed back to the Fence Canyon area, but was unable to follow the trail on out. We helped her pack the raft on out and proceeded to drive her back to the town of Escalante, where her group had planned to meet on Thursday if anyone got separated. Not really the plan that I'd set for a group if I were captain, but at least it was a plan.

Once back in Escalante (a place we'd only considered going if we were out in time to get a good steak for dinner, which we knew it would be too late for once we'd packed out), Paula covered our hotel room at the Circle D hotel, the nicest place in town. Score! An especially welcome event as that night was to be rainy and we lacked a tent. A hot shower was extremely welcomed as well! Oh man does warm water and de-nastifying ones self improve life a whole lot sometimes! Turns out it poured pretty solidly that night. Enough so that we were concerned about getting to do our last days worth of canyons, the ones I looked forward to the most.

Monday May 9th:

Breakfast at the Circle D took foreeeeever, but it was delish and Paula compt it too! Anjuli and Paula had a whole lot of international travel stories to share as I thumbed through the Escalante area books the restaurant had while simultaneously concerning myself about the days ventures. A quick stop in at Escalante Outfitters to check in on their opinion on canyoneering on this potentially rainy day gave me the go-ahead that I was so hoping for! It also resulted in my being the proud new owner of an Escalante canyons t-shirt.

Run back to the hotel, repack everything in the car and hit the go button back to Hole-In-The-Rock Road. Upon reaching Dry Fork trailhead, we were pleasantly surprised to find only four cars. With such popular canyons in the area, I was expecting far more fellow canyon fans.

Once down into Dry Fork wash, we quickly trodded on up a slot section of Dry Fork before moving onto one of the main attractions of the Escalante area, Peek-a-boo Gulch. This proved to be an amazing playground, even for us adults! The canyon zig-zags every which way with potholes, double arches (technically bridges), fin like structures, hollowed out walls, mini-bridges to go under or over as you please, all sorts of jungle gym features!

Towards the end of the canyon, I decided to stem up to the top of the canyon and drop off the backpack as it was really more of a pain to pack along given how narrow the canyon was. It was my first time stemming to any height (15ft) that could result in injury. Upon dropping off the pack on top of the canyon, I looked back down and had a mild, short lived, mini-panic. Coming back to my senses, I just stemmed back down and we went along our way to the exit of the canyon, where I hiked back down along the top of the canyon to grab the backpack.

As is the normal way of seeing both Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulches, we found the trail on over to the top of Spooky Gulch. The start involved the biggest challenge of the whole canyon, a jumbled pile of boulders that block the entrance to the canyon. There are small holes in between the giant boulders and we picked our way through them to get into Spooky proper.

The canyon didn't take long to live up to it's name. After going through a few narrow sections, I went to take a photo of one of many unreal beautiful places along the canyon. The camera promptly died on me. Given that I don't have a backup battery for that camera, it was kaput. Batteries have a rough life. They're either working or their dead (yeah I stole that line from Demetri Martin). Anyways, I went to turn on the GoPro to at least get some footage of the area. Batteries died immediately. Yeah, Spooky Gulch is a correct name. Thankfully, I'd bought a back up battery for the GoPro before taking off. Popped the new one in and batta bing, off we go. Spooky Gulch has all sorts of fun sections to it. It changes from dark and "spooky" to bright and glowing to twisting and jungle gym like. It was Anjuli's favorite of the canyons we explored and was right up there for me.

As for favorites, we saved the best for last in my opinion. Brimstone Gulch, the tightest and debate-ably the darkest (Ringtail got super dark too), went on for quite a ways through more awakening and semi-challenging parts that brought my senses to a pinnacle. Maybe it was that I was alone through most of the canyon. I must say, being back in there hans solo was a bit more of a thrill since I had no idea what was around the next bend and I wouldn't have someone there immediately if I hurt myself. Sometimes that is a thrilling feeling for me. A rush, if you will.

While making my way through the depths of Brimstone, I stayed warm, fueled by a quick snack before going in and the desire to venture into uncharted territory. Once out though, that last section of chest deep water really took a toll on my comfort. I had packed a pvc rain jacket in case it rained while we were out and also had thrown in some gloves in the event that the canyon walls got rough. Both were on and we were hiking fast, but a strong shiver overtook me and I was more than a little eager to get to the car and get it warmed up! Sometimes, the heater in your car seems to be the single most important feature a vehicle has.

About half way back to Escalante from Dry Fork, there was one last objective. We stopped in at the Devil's Garden for a quick peek at some toadstool rock formations and Metate Arch. Along the remaining section of the road back to Escalante, we decided it appropriate to pull up along side some free range cows and moo at them. If you've never taken the time to moo at a cow, you'll need to remind yourself that this is an important thing to do before your eternal dirt nap. There's just something about seeing a thousand pound animal blankly looking at you for fifteen seconds before it decides that it is scared of this strange creature in a car making their best rendition of it's own call. That old saying "if you're going to be dumb, you'd better be tough," seems extremely fitting when applied to cattle.

Later that night, we went back to the Circle D and ate our cow friend's mother in burger form. Might I add, our cow friend's mother was delicious! As was non-3.2 beer followed shortly by cheaper 3.2 draft beer. We had a fellow patron sitting near by who must have mentioned how good his double burger was at least 20 times. We debated if this fellow was drunk or on drugs, but decided against both as his breath didn't have alcohol on it when he stopped by to tell us directly at our table. Nor were his eyes dilated or any other tell tale signs of drug use. At any rate, he was friendly and left on his own accord when said double burger was completed.

Earlier, when I had stopped in at Escalante Outfitters, they said it would be fine if we camped out under their pavilion. Given that it rained that night, it was a fine idea to stay covered.

Tuesday May 10th

In the morning, we snuck quick showers from the facilities that are for the bunkhouse guests . Cleaned up and ready to go, we hit the road and reversed our course back to Boise. 11 hours later, we ended a fantastic vacation. I'm dying to go back sooner than later!

In Red Canyon along highway 12 towards Bryce and Escalante

Bryce Canyon from near the start of the Navajo Trail

Along the Navajo Trail

Anjuli and I along the Peek-a-boo trail

The Wall of Windows along the Peek-a-boo Trail

From Sunset Point

Lower Calf Creek Falls

Doing pull ups on an old fence cable in Halfway Hollow

Grass in the sand where Zebra Canyon's wash meets Harris Wash

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon with Moqui Marbles in the walls

Down climbing from the upper sections of Zebra

Tunnel Slot's keyhole view

Headed out from Egypt Trailhead

On the way down to Fence Canyon

Fence Canyon from above

A monster at camp

Scorpion track was everywhere

Going into the lush jungle along the Escalante River

The Golden Cathedral

The bored out potholes of Golden Cathedral from below

A tough spot in Ringtail Canyon

Peek-a-boo Canyon's double arches

The start to Spooky Canyon

The two part video from Escalante:

Mo Videos

2011-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Rafting the main Payette in April

Hiking through Jump Creek Canyon

Spelunking Smith's Crack

Five Days In Jackson Hole

2011-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

New Years in Jackson Hole was one to never be forgotten! In five days, we back country skied Teton Pass, skied at Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee, ice climbed at Grand Targhee, cross country skied into Huckleberry hot springs and threw down one crazy night at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village!

The tram holds 101 people! You get packed in like sardines and people start mooing. You couldn't fall down it you tried.

From the top of the tram. The sight was unreal!

It dropped one more degree and then started blowing on top. Insta-wind burn

Jeff and Andrea on their way to a good time

The whole crew livin' it up on New Years at the condo. Front row: Jeff, Rachael, Adam. Back row: Andrea, Me and Mike

The Grand Teton's at sunset. Spectacular!

-20 degrees. The high we saw over the whole trip was 12

Mike ice climbing

My ice axe broke loose shortly after this shot and I went swinging and flailing. Adrenaline RUSH!

Jeff showing us how it's done.

From Targhee's highest point.

Skiing The Canyons And Swimming In A Crater

2010-12-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

My ol' racing nemesis, college drinking buddy and general mayhem creator, Rusty Beat-all invited me down to SLC for a weekend of powder shreddage, bar hopping, snow shoeing and crater exploration. Twas a damn fine time! Joining me, DJ Jazzy Jeff Brown of Wazzu racing history, got in two full days of skiing and is likely now nursing a bout of post amazing skiing depression. Luckily, a few of us have a five day trip to Jackson Hole coming up to counter balance such things as w-o-r-k.

Loftus Hot Springs, Snowshoeing Banner Ridge, And Skiing Brundage Mountain

2010-12-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

Alice - Toxaway Backpacking Trip

2010-11-30T10:03:00.000-08:00

My lil' sister and brother-in-law were in the states for just over two months this last summer and over one of those weekends, we all got to go visit the Idaho mountains. A fantastic time ensued.

Headed into Alice Lake

The White Cloud mountain range in the background with Josh on the trail.

Tara and Josh

Laura and I

Raina, Dad, Laura, Tara, Josh, and I

Alice Lake

Josh and I split raft carrying responsibilities

Dad and I

Josh and Tara

Toxaway Lake

Jeff, Mike and I Take On The Bruneau Sand Dunes

2010-11-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Turns out, this isn't too terrible on the skis. I wouldn't suggest taking your new pair, but still, worth it with some old beaters without any doubt! What we learned is that it would be better shortly after it's rained, for sure bring a backpack that you can attach everything to, the furthest dune away from the parking is the best, don't wear shoes to climb the dunes, and be prepared for a stellar workout!

Bear Valley, Three Forks Hot Springs, Middle Fork Of The Owyhee, Mt. Borah, Seven Devils And A New Bike

2010-11-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is the blog to cover many of last summers trips. Yeah, I kinda lumped them all together, but summer is too nice to be blogging right?

Bear Valley Lake

Jake, Ashley and Laura at the entrance to Minnetonka Cave

Laura and I

The stairway out of hell? Turns out it's cold

I think I saw an alien back in there

Be prepared for extreme winds at night at Bear Valley Lake! Many tents were blown down

Bear Valley hot springs, highly recommended!

Three Forks hot (warm) springs. It's an entire creek and extremely beautiful!

Lucy, Joey, Ozzy and Laura crossing the Owyhee River

And to think that is all nice and warm at about 95 degree. Best soaked on a hot summer day.

The mouth of the canyon along the Middle Fork of the Owyhee River. Watch for rattlesnakes before the canyon on warm days! We saw three

Crawdad warfare

It's a small creek in the summer with deep sections!

Just outside of Arco

Starting the ascent of Mt. Borah

After climbing 2,000 ft, only 3,000 to go

Starting Chicken Out Ridge

The Lost River Mountain Range

Mike on the class three scramble of Chicken Out Ridge... and then add snow.

The view from atop Mt. Borah

Tired and ready for dinner and a beer

The new Karbona Elite with Campagnolo Chorus! Finally, a nice road bike that is alllll mine.

The view of the Seven Devils from Nut Basin

4th Of July Family Camping Trip On The North Fork Of The Clearwater

2010-11-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Camp fires are so serene

The fam on a hike to find crystals, but the trail disappeared into overgrowth

The bridge to Weir Creek Campground

The view from Clark Mountain Lookout

Memorial Day Weekend At The Honeycombs

2010-11-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Echo Rock Hot Springs, a perfect place to soak away the stresses of life.

On the boat back from the hot springs.

The front side of the Honeycombs at sunset

From camp, a fantastic way to spend an evening

The other side of the Honeycombs, where it got really impressive! Unfortunately, the camera suffered a heart attack and died before the good stuff.

We Were The Highest Of All

2010-10-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Dear blog, you have been neglected for quite a while now. So here's to at least a minimal return to the blogosphere.

On September 12th, Mike and I decided we would attempt to conquer the highest peak in Idaho, Mount Borah. At 12,662 feet above sea level, this behemoth presented a number of challenges including a mile of vertical elevation change, a class three scramble with severe drop offs on both sides (Chicken Out Ridge), and snow deep enough to sink waist deep into. Two days prior, a friend had attempted it and got into far too much snow to reach the top. We were lucky enough for at least half of that to melt by the time we got there. Knowing not entirely what was in store for us, here is what happened:

If I Could Make Time Stop

2010-07-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ah summer, to you I owe some of the greatest satisfactions in life. You allow me to walk out the door in virtually any combination of clothing or, hypothetically, none at all. It takes so much less effort to prepare everything. To top that off, the sun is up just the right amount! You give me exactly the right amount of darkness. Eight hours and we're back for another round of fun.

Just about now, the back country is opening up entirely. Way back destinations that require a backpack are my favorite! A mountain bike and/or car camping are tough to beat as well. Miles upon miles of pine trees, endless kinds of plants, flowers, valleys, rivers, creeks, lakes, ridges, saddles, peaks, mountains, wildlife and wide open blue sky as far as the eye can see.

Not only is the back country opening up, the rivers are dropping and warming up enough to float them in comfort while the sun builds up those big stores of the happy drug, vitamin D! The rush of a few big rapids going back to back or an hour or two of slow moving laziness are pure bliss on a blazing hot day. Bring it on in all of it's glory! Or maybe a rope swing in a lake is more your thing? Maybe even it's a jet ski or boating the open waters of the big lakes that get your engine running. It's all so do-able right now and we have that great big glowing globe in the sky to thank.

Soon the freshest fruits and vegetables will be giving us their best as well! A juicy peach with the powerful flavor punch that just overwhelms the taste buds or a ripe tomato that leaves you drooling for more. Mmm, these first few boxes of ripe cherries will have to hold me over until the masses come in in droves here shortly.

To top things off, we get September, the single best month of the entire year! Steady highs in the mid eighties and lows that let you sleep like a baby. The weather is usually the most stable of the entire year, not too many storms and typically not overyly gusty. Leave the windows open the whole month and forget about utility bills. Ah yes, thank you September, it is our one month that we might actually compete with California on the weather front. Is the ocean an absolute must when we lack millions and millions of angry drivers to contest with in return?

So here's to summer time! Raise another frosty cold one and stay out late for an Alive After Five or a barbeque with friends and family.

All Sorts Of New Stuff

2010-05-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

A couple trips out in the mountains and the pictures accumulate rapidly! There are a couple mountain bike videos at the bottom to top things off.

1st, a camping trip to Spring Bar along the Salmon River with family

Kathleen, Rhett and Mark held still for 16 seconds! Impressive!

The family hiking up Box Canyon. Rhett and Kathleet must have collected 20 snails.

The raft trip across the Salmon River was an adventure! We hit an undertow section that lit up our eyes for a second or two.

On the hike up to Cable Car (or French Creek) hot springs

Cable Car hot springs

The hollowed out log is said to be over 100 years old!

The mine shaft hot springs had some tiny bats in it. They were yawning and stretching every now and again. Sleepy lil' fellers.

Lucy was more than willing to take a dip in some warm water

The mine shaft went back maybe 35 feet, although I didn't go past the bats.

A couple views out from inside the mine

That's one strong tree! Okay, maybe it grew up around the rock

Lucy decided to take a quick dip in the Salmon. I followed suit shortly after.

Lianne and I crossing Wind River Pack Bridge

The salmon dinner. Mmm!

2nd, a hiking trip in the Owyhee's with Mike that resulted in watching the UFC fights in a small town bar (The Y-Bar in Grand View) and getting a few free drinks while we were at it. Top it off with HUGE, delicious burgers and it made for a pretty darn good day!

Camel Falls

A poptart break

Ha! Was going for a creek shot and caught Mike grabbing a barb on a fence post.

Pole Creek

Pole Creek Canyon

100+ft drop off view

A herd of antelope on the other side of the canyon

Jason and I's video going down Hull's Gulch

Jason, Mike K, Mike S, and I's video of riding the Wilson Creek/Reynolds Creek loop

A Few Shots That Slipped Through The Cracks

2010-03-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

A few shots of trips to Brundage and the Kuna Caves. The good times just keep on rollin'! Wished I'd gotten some shots of Rusty, Mike and I's night on the town! Ha
Also, another amazing video by Jason with our riding highlights in it!

Rusty and Mike headed down into Kuna Cave

Mike and I blurred out a bit

MTB Video and Bruneau Dunes

2010-03-16T14:03:00.001-07:00

Jason's GoPro Hero video of a ride that Jason, Cody, Mike and I did from Military Reserve on up to Watchmen. Good stuff!

Dad, Raina and I went and checked out the Bruneau Dunes. Next time I'm there, skis will not be forgotten!

Where the original Indian Bathtubs Hot Springs used to be along Hot Creek

Believed to be cichlids in Hot Creek

Here's How To Make It Through Winter With A Smile On Your Face!

2010-01-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here's to a slew of good times that need to be displayed! This winter hasn't been too harsh lately and has awoken the outdoorsy urge in this ol' boy!

Last minute addition of some chain lube. Mountain bikes eat that stuff for lunch!

Mike and I early in the ride out in the Wilson and Reynolds Creeks area

Really, it was THIS big! Note the giant pile of crap in front of my wheel.

Taking in some sun and views

We conquered some serious rocks!

Okay, maybe not really this one.

Daryl, Cody, Me, Mike

Daryl sizing up The Rock!

The Rock Drop! Yup, he made it and showed us all up. The price for failure was going down a pretty nasty drop!

The China Walls, built to speed the development of a ditch to irrigate the land further down Reynolds Creek. Just as we popped out of the canyon, we saw Josh and Jennifer.

The machine in it's element

Mike "Jordan" Shaw post jumping during a hike up to the ridge on the east side near Hilltop

Flying Spidy Matt

Rocketing Rayl skydiving from 5ft

Mike and I skiing Bogus

Cody looking over Jump Creek Falls

The ladder

When push comes to shove

This place always reminds me of a slip 'n slide... or maybe it's a bit Goonies style

The Crew: Me, Darin, Mike, Kelsey, Ben, and Shirley (Cody got to be the photographer)

The second water fall

Should Have Brought The Camera Out More

2009-12-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Until subzero temps hit, Mike, Jason and I had been out mountain biking a lot! Sadly, I don't have too many shots to show for it. I need a point and shoot camera again that fits easily into a jersey pocket!

A while back, I was asked to be a model for some cycling shots. Obviously I couldn't turn that down! Here are some of the resulting shots:

If you like the shots, take a look at some of the rest of his stuff http://www.andyandersonstock.com/home.php

Yesterday, I got to model again, but this time as a runner. An interesting turn from cycling I suppose. When they get to me, they'll be here.

At Bob's, I've been keeping their Twitter and Facebook accounts plugging along. Check 'em out http://twitter.com/BobsBicycles and http://www.facebook.com/bobsbicycles

I've also been hitting the gym to gain something my body has long forgotten about... muscle above the waist. I used to say that the goal was a T-rex build and it seemed to work. Now it's time to have some level of balance.

In other news, the amazing mountain biking here in the valley seems to be coming to a close with all this melting snow. Jason and I did hit the trails after one of the recent snow storms with around 25psi in the tires which proved to work pretty well!

Soon it will be time to hit the mountain in a completely new way... skis!

Jason and Mike hike-a-bike'n it up trail 4 when we did a reverse Stueby's Death March. I can't claim to have made it up the trail without a little shoulder time too.

Into The Snow We Go

2009-12-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

Mike and I decided to hit up Pilot Peak a few weekends back and it was a bit more of an adventure than I originally thought it may be! We had planned Julie Creek Trail for some mountain biking, but the new snow clearly put that trail out of commission without even having to see it.

Moores Creek Summit

On the way up

It got slick on occasion which made things just that much more fun!

The final 3/4th's of a mile was unpacked... hoofing it we did

Eventually we decided it was safe to leave the bikes behind

Mike running the last bit

It's good to be king of the world for a moment :)

Catch Up Game

2009-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

Mountain biking, running, and weight lifting have filled my time in the last how ever many weeks. Loving it too! In reverse order, here are the adventures that I've been getting into lately.

Where do Boise's lights end and the sunset begin?

A great view from the top of Stack Rock!

Climbing this in cycling clothes was more difficult.

Yup, it's a good size rock

The costume looked more like a safari guide/tourist with the camera around my neck. Good times!

Kai can throw a good party

McCall knows how to carve pumpkins

Lucy at Boulder Lake

Dad near Granite Peak

Jared and Derek after going through the rock garden at Table Rock

If Only All Of Life Could Be So Perfect.

2009-10-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

This may be the first time that I have posted too many pictures. Well worth it though. What a trip! These are all with Mike's camera.

Mike feeding the 5x6 buck with Lucy very curious and nervous.

Lucy and Sadie eager to get going

Sadie over heating already

Starting out

Frazier Lake... Mike foreground

Tired but determined to get to Glacier Lake

Seth taking in the views

Lucy doing the same

Glacier Lake, worth the extra effort

It gives perspective a bit huh? And that was the smaller end of the lake.

Saving it for the next go around

Coming down off of Glacier Pass

We met up with a good group of fellow backpackers from Portland who shared their wine in exchange for some of our Redrum and Vodka.

Never pass up a chance to have fun!

The morning after, a few hung over people in there.

On the way up to Eagle Cap

Near Eagle Cap

Headed out from Mirror Lake

There Is Always Something To Look Forward To

2009-09-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

Mountains are an inviting and challenging place to visit. The feeling of being vulnerable to nature brings about a feeling of being alive. Rather than be protected by the technologies of modern society, placing yourself into a way of life regarded by many as foolish gives a sense of strength. Add to that a group of good friends, some Redrum, and a couple cameras and you have a mix for a fantastic time.

37 miles per my gps

The 3D version

Seth and Mike with a brew at Wallowa Lake

Horsing around never gets old

Almost to Glacier Lake. The eyes were treated to much beauty.

Glacier

A campfire somehow mesmerizes one into a calm

My lil' beagle Lucy had to stay warm too! A sleeping bag's bag turned into a dog sleeping bag

Ride the wave out of Glacier Lake

Nothing wakes a guy up like hopping into a cold mountain lake.

Mike, Seth and Sady at Glacier Pass

20+ footer at Mirror Lake

Seth, Mike and I at Mirror Lake

Mike on the way up to Eagle Cap

The view from Eagle Cap! Top notch!

Lucy enjoying the view too

Moccasin Lake

Tree, Daisy, Red

2009-09-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I earned my first concussion at Moscow Mountain Madness. After multiple rides on the new mountain bike, I decided that going back to my origins and racing would be alright. A little prior to the mid point, my chain decided to break and send me to the ground. Not that I remember exactly what happened, but given that when I came to I had a broken chain, that's got to be what happened. For around 15 minutes, Ted Chauvin walked along the trail with me and I only remember the last little bit of it. He told me that we had walked around one and a half miles, but it seemed more like a few hundred yards. Coming to felt very much so like waking from a dream. As for the title of this blog, I was asked to remember the words tree, daisy, red and then randomly required to recite them after the race. Sure enough, I remembered it waaay too well.

Before downhilling at Brundage on my 30th birthday

Bry, Tim and Jim going through the easy stuff

Me, Jim, Bry and Tim

Hopping a log along the Fischer Creek Trail

Matt Hibbard going over the same log

Me, Jason, Derek and Matt

News And Rambling

2009-08-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

September 11th, a group of guys are going to take off on a trip in the Wallowa Mountains and venture through some amazing terrain. Fish will be caught, booze will be consumed, and tales (fibs) of greatness will be told around campfires far from the civilized world.

A few other peaks and lakes will have to be visited as well while we're near by.

Of other news, the State Time Trial went alright. I was satisfied to have posted my first sub 52 minute 40K (24.8 miles) time trial. It was close to 29mph average, but how cool would 30 be?!
Up next, the Bogus Basin Hill Climb. I'm not expecting anything more than a good hard effort and catching up with friends, although I wouldn't turn down a good result.
Outside of that, I just thought that I'd mention that I don't want the summer to end. Fresh fruits and vegetables at their peak can't be beat. Enough sunshine to make a lot of the happy drug, vitamin D. It doesn't take half an hour to put clothes on to go outside. The mountains are venture-able (feel free to use my new word). Rivers are tube-able (I did it again, but it's not patented either). Please, speak with your local congressman about making a new law that winter does not come around but for a select few locations to ski/board at.

Better Pictures Than Results

2009-08-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Nationals was too hot. I melted down and didn't finish well. Some kind of stomach bug got me the Sunday before and felt to be gone by go time, but who knows. Excuses are like A-holes, everyone's got one. Luckily, I produced a 19:29 Thursday night TT (course and personal record since the chip seal was put on in 04) before the fan and the poop met.
Immediately after Nationals, I met up with my Dad and Raina for some backpacking in the Sawtooth Mountains.

A campfire at Redfish Lake

The next morning at the lake

After hiking into Alice Lake, we were treated to this view

Heading from Alice Lake to Toxaway Lake, we saw Twin Lakes from the pass.

Toxaway Lake

Laying down once at a mountain lake and dropping pack is always a good thing.

A Seven Devils And Hiawatha Break

2009-07-11T07:31:00.001-07:00

A break from the real world is a great way to keep an even keel. The same ol' same ol' gets old and everyone knows that the spice of life is variety.

Charlene and I met up with my Dad and took off to Echo Lake in the Seven Devils

Echo Lake at sunset after a solid eight or nine mile hike in.

The following day, Triangle Lake lost a few fish, one by hand!

Charlene caught two of the three biggest fish. Thanks for feeding pops and I.

Echo Lake before heading to bed as a few thunder clouds veered away from our camp.

We followed up backpacking with a ride on the Hiawatha Trail. My long lost lil' Sis Tara decided to come back from Kazakhstan for the summer and join us and have a good time.

Many trestles needed crossing and big mountains gazed upon

and a few big tunnels were ventured, including a 1.3 mile behemoth

A fitting end shot.

Elite National Time Trial

2009-06-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

What I've been up to lately can be summed up pretty quickly; training hard for Nationals. Approximately five days a week are spent going hard on the time trial bike in preparation for one event. To break down muscle, I do dump loops. To develop the lactate threshold, I do 20 minute efforts on Bogus and Thursday night time trials. To get the endurance and efficiency on the bike, I do Emmett Horseshoe Bend loops. Go and go and go day after day until the heart rate starts to drop at full throttle, then give it an easy day and repeat. In my free time, I cook and work on the bike. Oats cooked with almond butter, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg for breakfast. Last nights dinner consisted of a big dutch ovens mix of elk burger, a steak, asparagus, radishes, golden yukon potatoes, broccoli, green bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, turmeric powder and some mole verde with a couple slices of swiss cheese to bulk it up. I go to bed on time and sleep in to whenever I need since I don't have to be to work until two.
I've had the best wheels offered up to me to borrow for the big event as well. A Zipp 808 on the front with the new Zipp Sub-9 disc on the back, both with Tangente tires should do the job.
As for the position on the bike, the seat is pegged right at 5cm behind the bottom bracket and the middle of the shifters are at 78.3cm (requiring the morphological test, which I will pass easily).
None of this will mean that I make the podium, but I sure as hell hope it does!
Current registered athletes

A Thursday night time trial

Juntura Hot Springs... a trip to the desert provided new terrain to train on and an amazing new hot springs to soak!

Next Time It Will Be Me

2009-06-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we drove the Mud Flat Road and then went back into Three Forks of the Owyhee River. When we were at Three Forks, we walked a ways up the North Fork of the Owyhee. Before that, we had crossed it along the drive. A recent marijuana bust was found approximately three miles away from the Oregon border by hikers. Upon a closer look, it turns out that we were extremely close by. That red line right next to the bust is Mud Flat Road. Take a look:

LP 200

2009-06-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Lyle Pearson 200 put the hurt on my legs last Saturday. I ended up doing 110 miles, 98 of those on the time trial bike. That beat my previous record of 63 miles on the TT bike by one million miles.

It's time to keep kicking on the TT bike! Bogus has been my playground on the TT bike some lately too. Nationals is only six weeks away.
For those of you who didn't know, I've been posting 33hrs a week in a new way lately... at Bob's. So if you need a bike or some parts, come on over and b.s. with me for a while, but not so long that Vern gives me the above look.

May I Get Out

2009-05-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

Stack Rock divide at sunset

The road to Stack Rock

Along Mud Flat Road

Hardesty-Cherry Creek Lake along Mud Flat Road

Near Three Forks of the Owyhee River

Looking out of the Owyhee Canyon as a system passes over

Tight squeeze in Squaw Creek Canyon

Another tight spot in Squaw Creek Canyon

First Night In A Tent This Year

2009-05-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

A one day weekend is tough to utilize very well, but we did our best this last go around. Kirkham Hot Springs and Jackson Peak was enough to feel like we had slipped society for a little bit.

Kirkham Hot Springs

Near Jackson Peak, snow kept us from making it the last half a mile to the peak.

This shot had intentions of being a run of the mill hiking down the trail shot, but as luck would have it, I got this.

Thank You Victor Lebow!

2009-04-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you Victor Lebow for pointing out how to make me happy! I would have no clue how to make myself happy if you hadn't came along 34 years before I was born. Without your "Price Competition in 1955," I would be a depressed drunkard meth addict. Here is my all mighty commandment:

I reiterate your statement over and over and over and... without your wise control over society, I would be nothing. How could I ever survive? To you I owe a tithing. Oh, wait, I can't tithe you, I need all the money I can get for my ego satisfaction.
Alright, so maybe I can't thank just Victor Lebow, but the entire American society. Thank you for buying into the greed system. I find that my quality of life goes up substantially every time I get some new product that proves that I'm a better person than my fellow American! Who needs true friends who you share time with and do all sorts of fun activities with? Not me! All I need to be happy is material goods! That way I'll be better than anyone else without having to do anything! When I push down on the gas pedal of my Hummer, it proves that I, myself, am more powerful than you. I have control over a bigger engine than you do and that makes me more powerful than you, which makes me a better person than you. Since all I need in life is material wealth that proves my superiority, I'm extremely happy! I'm so happy that all I need to do is keep proving that I'm better than you and you should keep bowing down to me and giving me more money because of it. Who needs valuable time with friends and family when time is money and money is all that is needed for happiness. Why can't scientists come up with a way to keep us from needing sleep? I'll be the first to buy into it so that I can work 168 hour weeks and feel pure bliss. It will be heavenly to forget about other people and relish all of my material wealth once I own all of the goods that the earth can produce! Gimme, gimme, gimme!!!!

Misadventures

2009-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Next time I ride and/or race a bike, I would really prefer to not flat. Five flats in four rides gets ob-f-ing-noxious! Especially twice in a race! After one flat, I chased back onto the field and caught on at the base of the hill, only to have to chase again after a minor breaking up of the field that I wasn't quite prepared to handle just yet. When I was getting close to reeling in the splinters, the rear wheel went flat and took out all odds of my finishing as I hadn't put in my spare rear wheel. Nuff said.

The next day, Charlene and I took off to Leslie Gulch to hike into Echo Rock Hot Springs. By the time we got about half way, the temps were too warm to consider a hot springs soak. As we approached the springs, we decided a soak in a near by creek much more appropriate. I dammed up a little pool and we soaked away an hour or so in a sweet lil' creek (Willow Creek). If we try this one again, it will be with lower temps and kayaks. Kayaks would really be the way to go! That might even motivate me to put the racks on my car and buy a kayak or two when I get a job.

A 4.5 mile hike or a ~3 kayak trip

The hot springs are just past that big rock (Echo Rock)

The sights are worth the trip into the area, even if just to see Leslie Gulch (none of the shots did it justice)

A perfect place for a kayak/hot springs adventure

A Few Days Out

2009-04-15T12:47:00.001-07:00

A few days away from the city does a person good, or at least it does me good anyways. I did a couple intense rides up and down a whole bunch of the Kendrick grades, a few hikes, shot the breeze with the family and then visited a classmate in L-town. It was a much needed break from the norm. It's amazing what a few days away from the incessant sound of combustion engines and neon lights can do for a guy!

First Bedrock Canyon Falls

Second Bedrock Canyon Falls

From the log seen in the previous picture

Dad and I hiking near Rock Creek

Dad taking out a tree stand from above the South Fork of the Clearwater

Motivated Again

2009-04-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I've felt like life has been put on pause. No job and no real focus that seems to be lucrative. I've been needing a change! Something that is self fulfilling. This is a funk that I've never really experienced in my past as there has always been something to motivate me (cycling, outdoors, computers, ideas about how society should advance, etc). Those things that motivated me didn't pan out to any degree of financial security and, to some degree, I've felt a bit like a failure.
I've began to hate that feeling and, oddly enough, the hate towards that feeling seems to be returning my motivation. I've began redistributing that anger to a pair of pedals. Anything that happens to be pissing me off and guess what? Redirected to a pair of Speedplay X2's! Visualizing the plume of crap from the retarded redneck's huge diesel truck being floored off of a red light -> X2's. Greedy AIG pigs -> X2's. No response from my 10th application this month even though I have a degree and experience -> X2's. Heatseeker by AC/DC on the iPod at mile 90 of an Emmett-Horseshoe Bend + Dump Loop -> X2's.

My punching bag

Anger reduction method in action

Not only is it doing wonders for my perspective on things, it's making me a faster cyclist in a really big hurry. Saturday, even with an ache in my back that kept me from standing straight or driving properly, I was able to bust out a 3rd place TT. Sunday, I impressed myself even more. With around 10 miles left, I'd helped break up the field and was in the remnants of maybe eight guys when my front derailleur decided to slip completely loose and grind on my chain. I had to stop and adjust without an allen wrench (it was that loose). After all was said and done, I was around 80 to 90 seconds back and was pounding it out in the little ring. Eventually I decided to attempt a jump to the big ring. When that succeeded, I was able to go full bore. Not too much longer and I'd brought back the front group, very much to my surprise. When I got there, Stu went off the front and I wasn't about to consider chasing just yet although I could have. An attempt to bridge just brought along enough baggage that I wasn't going to do more work. Again, Stu off the front. This time I sat in for a while and let Stu steadily build a small lead. With around three miles to go, I attacked and really went with the fury of a jobless, disgruntled and remotivated raging cyclist. I took along Remi and Kai (Stu's teammate). When I reached Stu, I wasn't going to give him a free ride, so I attacked again. By now, Remi decided that he'd add some horsepower to my attempt to rip the field to pieces. In return, I promised to lead him out for the win, as long as I got the chance to keep tearing the field to shreds. And that's how it played out. I lead Remi out and the field got tore up (at least the 3rd time that's happened between he and I - him going for a stage and me going for GC). I took third, but I felt absolutely amazing after having vented some of my pent up anger.

Did You Just Uhh Call Me Kramitt??

2009-03-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

If there was any virtue left in my blog, I thought I'd drop it to the way side in the desire for humor...

Do you remember all those tv shows you watched as a kid? How wondrous it was to see the different worlds they all lived in. As you get older, that wonder sometimes disappears. Here's how such famous athletes as Michael Phelps bring back the good ol' days. Some say it may also assist in forgetting things like the bags of vinegar working at AIG.

As for the usual second topic, here it is:
I waxed my car today.

My Bike Misses Me

2009-03-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

When a long time cyclist cuts back the hours significantly and picks up the time on the weights, something odd happens. Efficiency on the bike isn't too bad and power is fine too, but endurance takes a major hit! In the first race of the year, I found myself in the winning break, only to sputter late in the race and lose over seven minutes in around 18 miles. Huh?! Really? Seven minutes?! Yup, endurance at race pace is gone. I was helping power it along effectively with eventual winner Sam Krieg, but lost everything with a lap to go. It went straight from being fine and powering along to nothing left in a really big hurry. Typically the only thing that would do such a thing to me is a bonk, but I only had a partial bonk. The majority of the problem was just a lack of big glycogen stores, mixed with overworked hamstrings that I now know haven't gotten enough work in the gym. Time to hit the bike a bit more.

Topic #2.... I need a job.
Anyone who might be interested in employing me, here's the important stuff:

EDUCATION

Lewis Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho: September 2000 – May 2003

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Minor in Information Systems

SKILLS

·        Currently hold a USDOD (Department of Defense) secret clearance.

·        Provided time critical support to over 500,000 customers in a fast paced environment working multiple problems at a time documenting incident-response issues in BMC/Remedy/AR System database.

·        On-demand customer support services include; desktop and laptop software and driver installations in Windows XP/2000 and Windows Server 2000/2003; system configuration, maintenance, and peripheral hardware support; active directory management; Terminal Services resolution; MS Exchange 2003 troubleshooting; network remote access via broadband and dialup.

·        Network+ certification

EXPERIENCE

2004-2008 Service Desk Analyst Navy Marine Corp Intranet (EDS), Boise, ID

Navy network user administration, software troubleshooting and documentation in various databases

2002-2003 Detailer Musselman’s Rental & Sales, Lewiston, ID

Maintain organization in a large scale mechanics shop; detail heavy machinery

2001 Pool Technician Clearwater Pool Service, Lewiston, ID

Build and service pools

1998-2000 Landscaper Moscow Landscaping, Moscow, ID

Install sprinkler systems, lawns, ponds and plants

Doin' The Series

2009-03-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

So it's game on for the George's Series! I hadn't made up my mind if I wanted to do it or not until Cooley made me an offer I couldn't refuse. You'll find out in early June what the offer was. For all of you who are thinking I might be a threat for the overall, I can't say one way or another. My lengthy rides are extremely limited thus far (3 rides at 80 miles) and my intense aerobic efforts have been limited to only maybe 2 a week if you count running. It's going to be a lot tougher without the horsepower of a major team!

On a completely unrelated topic, here's a kinda cool shot:
State Street after a bit of rain

A Bed & Breakfast Birthday

2009-02-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

My Grandma Reidhaar turned 80 last Saturday and to celebrate, we got most of the family together for a dinner at the St. Joe Riverfront Bed And Breakfast. It'd been too long since I'd seen some of the family and it was bound to be a good time. Some of us were scheduled to stay at the b&b, while others would stay out at my Grandma's place. I was originally slotted to stay at my Grandma's until I got on the topic of photography. The owner invited me to stay for free as long as I got a lot of shots of the b&b. Hopefully she liked the shots, because I sure enjoyed those breakfasts!

Most of the family... getting everyone in the shot, to look and smile just didn't happen.
Me, my Sister Lianne, Grandma (Rose Mary), my Mom (Cathy), Aunt Barb, and Uncle Steve.

The trail of the Coeur d'Alenes bridge over Lake Chatcolet. I also hiked up to the Indian Cliffs which was a great view.

The B&B at night

The main dining table

The fireplace

Ever Feel Like People Are Getting Dumber?

2009-02-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

Does a worse diet, more fumes to breath in and too many people around have an affect on quality of life? My vote is yes. Last night, while listening to professor Coors about increasing the number of ears of corn on a plant, I got another reminder of how quantity and quality are typically inverses of one another. Quantity (of ears) goes up, quality goes down and vice-versa. Our population (quantity) keeps going up. Sure, we keep adding information onto the previously understood, but do you ever wonder if the percentage of people with some degree of common sense might be going down? Have you ever walked around in Walmart? For a real trip, try it late at night!
There just so happens to be a great movie out there that didn't get too much financial backing on the advertising side of things, but I hightly suggest! Odds are you've seen it. If not, watch it! If you've seen it, watch it again!

Honest Abe & Disturbing Darwin, Happy Birthday!

2009-02-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today is the 200th year since the birth of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.
Mr. Lincoln... you set the U.S. in a direction that allowed us to succeed extremely well as a society! Thank you for your amazing insight! Hopefully our newest leader has a similar ability to lead our nation in such a direction.

Mr. Darwin... you disturb society since you came across some information that just can't be proven incorrect, but directly conflicts with the information in a book written by men thousands of years ago that tells us exactly how and why we need to live our lives. If the facts set forth in this book can be proven incorrect, why would we ever follow all of the other rules in such a book? It can't be wrong in any part or we have a major problem right?! We live lawlessly as anarchists and we revert to being middle of the food chain animals again, right? Well, maybe not. We still have knowledge, motivation, morality built by the need for teamwork, and enjoyment of life. Isn't the most central part of living happiness?

An excerpt from Susan Jacoby's Darwin the Disturber:
"It has been almost a year since I watched the person I loved most in the world move inexorably toward death, his great mind shutting down as a result of the inevitable, degenerative, entirely physical process of Alzheimer's Disease. Now he lives only in the memories of those who loved him--and our memories are as dependent on the physical health of our bodies as his were on his body. It does not enhance human dignity one bit to find a "spiritual" explanation for our higher mental functioning; nor does it decrease human dignity to look upon our highest achievements as part of nature, inexorably tied to the body that is ours for a finite period. This finiteness renders life more, not less, meaningful: we are enjoined to use the brains within our bodies to leave as much as possible to those who will inhabit the material world after us. Darwin faced reality, and that is why he was a human as well as a scientific giant."

If per chance you are interested in hearing more, here's the info:

What
Darwin Day Speaker James G. Coors, PhD

When

Thursday, February 12, 2009 7:00 PM

Where

Education Bldg Rm 110
Boise State University 1910 University Dr
Boise ID 83701
(208) 426-4249

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth Professor Emeritus Department of Agronomy, James G. Coors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be speaking to us on Feb 12, 2009 at 7:00pm in room 110 of the Education building on the BSU Campus

The Photographers "Hello World"

2009-02-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

An entry level trick to writing code on a computer is to pop out a program that displays "Hello World." An entry level trick to photography is to make cars disappear at night.

It's like a set of electronic eyes flying through the air

Star lights without a filter

Shots From Wildcat and Squaw Creek Canyons

2009-02-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

Calvin and I took off to check out Wildcat Canyon in the Owyhees. Wildcat proved to be a little shorter than we'd hoped for so we headed over to Squaw Creek Canyon, just across highway 95.

Wildcat Canyon had a lot of sections where the water level had dropped enough that there were places where the frozen surface level was all that was left of old pools

An eerie sound coming down the canyon mixed with fog made a strange feeling going back to the car

A little climbing required, but well worth it

A small cave along Squaw Creek Canyon

An umbrella of ice

Anderson & Higby

2009-02-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple days, we've ventured to a couple new places that have been on my list for a while. Anderson hot springs have been run down until this last summer when some kind person(s) cleaned it up big time! Next up was Higby Cave. This wasn't the first time I've tried to get to this cave, but it's the first time I've been successful. The first time was without gps or very good directions.

Anderson hot springs, right around 100 degrees

Even with 16 seconds, our lighting could have been more powerful

Charlene and I. It's tough to get the flashlight photography right

but it's still worth seeing. Mom and I

We thought that my sister Tara might appreciate this piece of graffiti

Given the blog a few back, this light clearly isn't "the light"

A Bit About My Racing Experience

2009-01-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

Over the years, there have been a number of moments that make me want to race my bike forever. When I moved to Boise and a huge opening to my racing world was presented, I couldn't have enjoyed anything in life more! Real racers to compete against all the time, none of whom I had figured out how to race against. That drive made me fairly good at what I did and within a couple years, I was racing more and more and more and... eventually found my physical limits and I was going to races that I didn't really stand a chance of winning. Until that time, all I knew was that, with enough persistence, I could find a way to beat anyone that I'd encountered. When the likes of Svein Tuft came around, I thought that I just hadn't had enough time to figure out how to beat him. Turned out that after trying for years and years, I couldn't beat them and my physical limits glared back at me in the mirror of truths.
At that point, I looked back at what I'd done in the sport and realized that even if I wasn't numero uno, I'd had a great time trying! The sport brought comradery, taught me to max out my physical limits, showed me new places and gave humility to a cocky little punk (that tried hard not to show it).
I Made The Grade was goal number one for many years. It's a citizens race that not too many USCF guys showed up at, but enough that it was what I aimed for. In my first year of USCF racing, I won my first juniors race ever with a solo breakaway. It qualified me for a series of qualification races in California to make it onto the regional team. Surprisingly, my family decided to take me to it! Many racing families today would think nothing of such a trip, it happens all the time. That wasn't the case for me. This trip was my ONE chance to shine! Don't blow it 'cause this one's big. Sure enough, I barely squeaked in with third in my age bracket and made the regional team. This meant a free trip to Colorado Springs for the U.S. Olympic Festivals, an event that was at the time, similar to nationals. At the age of 15, I was eighth in the time trial on a road bike with aerobars, racing against guys that were up to 18. Since I was the last guy to start, I knew my placing as I crossed the line. Eighth was an unreal amazing feat to me. There is no real way to explain the joy I had!
From there, it's been ups and downs from race to race. Some stick out in my mind as better than others for various reasons. The reasons that I've found to enjoy certain races more than others always seems to be linked to a feeling that the race is neither easily won nor do I have zero chance of doing well. Also, the hardest races seemed to place the biggest pressure on me to perform, I enjoyed them less. I always performed better out of my own desire rather than when there was a feeling of "keep pulling better results or lose sponsorship." Once I began feeling pressure, the enjoyment was diminished to the point that I no longer really wanted to race. It felt more like a job... perform this action better than anyone else or you lose the cash that you need to survive. Push rather than pull response.
If every race could be like those in 2004... every course new to me, every racer with different skills that I didn't have preprogrammed in my memory banks. Going to regional races that year was the greatest time I've ever had in my life. Columbia Plateau, Elkhorn Classic, Walla Walla, Cache Classic, Eugene Celebration... if every race could be like those, I'd race 'till the day I turn to dirt. Those races were more than just big egos butting heads. Seeing the old pictures of a graduating class of five in the halls of a school in Fossil, Oregon where everyone stayed the night in the gymnasium between stages of the C olumbia Plateau Stage Race is a memory that will never be erased. Lining up for a meal with all of the other racers in a school cafeteria... what other race does that?!
Big money races bring fans, big roller teams and great organization behind a race, but they do little to bring about a feeling of community. My experience in cycling has shown me that, it too, goes the route of chasing the all mighty dollar. Those chasing results only and not a good time hopefully won't destroy the sport.
So here's to you bygone days of great regional races. Rest in peace Columbia Plateau and Cache Classic. Lets hope that other such races as Walla Walla, Elkhorn and Eugene don't disapear as well. Remember to thank the promoter of your next race. They make these things happen because they know it's a great thing. I regret that I haven't thanked more promoters, even of the races that weren't planned out so well. When I hear people gripe at promoters, I wonder, do they really want this race to not return next year?

It's not always just about the results. Sometimes it's about being camped out on a small eastern Oregon town's tarped gymnasium floor.

Mixed with a few hundred top end bikes in a school hallway

Other times, it's about hanging out in the Waitsburg fire station because the race was called due to lightning.

And then there's those times that a not participating teammate will hand up a bottle full of beer for inspiration. For the record, Chris did finish it!

Sometimes the race even starts by downing a bratwurst and two beers.

Then the team jerseys don't come in on time, but we all have to start in the same uniform... note Rusty's U size and placement.

Clear Night At Bogus

2009-01-26T19:56:00.000-08:00

Charlene and I braved the four degree temps for a few hours. There was a little fresh snow and Charlene is getting a lot better!

Charlene's third time skiing

From Pioneer Lodge

Boise with no brown haze or inversion for a change!

Religion

2009-01-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

Yep, I'm going to blog about it, but before I do, I'd like to put in a foreword. If you are religious, this will enrage you. That is not the purpose of this writing though. It is to inform you about how religion is extremely socially divisive.

Religion has messed up too many things in this world for me to not be absolutely furious at it! Religion creates very large divisions in social behaviors. One religion (doesn't matter which one) says "we're the best because we do things this way" (whatever "way" their religion practices) and another religion says "we're better than you because we do it this other way." That means that no matter what religion you believe in, the closer you follow it, the better you feel about yourself in society because it has convinced you that you are now superior for following the religion very strictly and blindly. Since you are superior, you must have the right to push down inferior people, which is anyone of another religion and especially non-believers. Repression of other people is the root of all evil! Religion is evil! Diversity of all sorts is a good thing! Just so that you can comprehend what I'm saying, maybe consider this... the only thing you can eat for breakfast from now on is Wheaties. For lunch, a turkey sandwich. For dinner, McDonalds Big Mac and fries. This might sound appetizing to most and you could handle that no problem for a long time. Eventually, you're going to want a big burrito or a steak for dinner. Then you'll want fettuccine alfredo for lunch. And why does it always have to be cereal for breakfast, what about omlets, yogurt or oranges? You're going to want to try something different! Diversity of foods in your diet, what a concept!

The closer you become in your religion to fundamental (meaning you believe and follow through with every last word their book has to say), the more dangerous you become to society. The people who flew jumbo jets into our Twin Towers were as fundamental to their religion as it gets. All other contries have their own version of fundamentalism to whatever religion they practice most. The U.S. loves violence on t.v., but hates nudity in any fashion (although they obviously get hooked on pornography when nobody else is judging them for it). "The Passion Of Christ" was the extremely violent version of the story of Jesus and it outsold all other movie versions of the story by leaps and bounds. What does that say about our society? We're hateful and violent... the same thing we hate about those stupid terrorists in the middle east. Lack of intellect is what causes this problem. The less women in the middle east have access to schooling, the greater the number of Al-queda members (consider reading Three Cups of Tea if you don't believe that statement). The more people in the U.S. fundamentally believe in their religion, the more President Bush's we have. Do you fully comprehend what he has done to our economy and way of life?! No more will I sit back and be quiet about this bullshit. Religion's divisiveness has thoroughly pissed me off! Oddly enough though, I'm not anything that really pisses off religious people until they find out that I'm an atheist. I'm not gay, I've got better morals than 95% of society, I'm as physically fit as possible, I eat right, I consciously mull over the good and bad in every decision that I make and I give everyone a shooting chance to prove the quality of their character. In return, the moment I've been determined to be an atheist, I am judged as some sort of Satanic being. As the original George Bush put it: "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." If there is a way to irritate me, there it is! Arrogance built from ignorance is unacceptable!

Go ahead and give your comments to this, I know beforehand that they will be with hate and anger since you feel like you have been ripped on unfairly. You the reader is not the intended target. The religion that you have been pulled into via social manipulation throughout your life is what I'm attacking. The attack is on ignorance brought forth by blindly following an old set of rules that is extremely black and white with extensive divisiveness.

Post script
Did you know that there were a minimum of four decades between Jesus's death and the beginning of the writing of the Old Testament? And that Old Testament, it had to evolve into the New Testament as it was just too violent to do the job in modern times

Loftus Hot Springs

2009-01-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

We got even more time out of the inversion by heading to Loftus.

The Middle Fork of the Boise River at the pullout for Loftus

It was just barely warm enough for a soak, but it did the job

Loftus could use a bit of patch work with some concrete. It's about a foot low and I'm sure that the leak won't get any smaller on it's own.

Seven elk hanging out in the river at Twin Springs Resort. The seventh is that set of ears you see on the far right.

Stolen From The Griller

2009-01-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this can't be 100% accurate since search results pull up all of TWO Matt Weyen's in the U.S. The other is a golfer in Illinois.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

More Getting Out Of The Inversion

2009-01-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

A weekend with the family in McCall is a great getaway this time of year! Saturday: hit the tubing hill and play bingo. Sunday: skiing at The Little Ski Hill and then hot springing at Goldfork. Charlene and my nephew Rhett have recently taken up skiing and are making leaps of improvement each time out! All-in-all, a great way to break out of the grip of death that the ocean of nastified air has taken on the valley!

Upon reaching McCall, the time machine was showing signs of extensive use

Maybe I should have taken a few more steps to avoid the port-a-poopers. We witnessed a really little kid, maybe four yrs old, narrowly miss losing his fingers. He held onto the cable and then proceeded to continue holding until maybe a half inch before hitting the giant pulley at the top. He slipped out of his gloves and dropped maybe ten feet! Initially, some people feared that he'd lost the fingers on the first hand towards the pulley causing the release of the cable. Luckily that wasn't the case and he'd made the right decision at the very last moment.

And I couldn't leave out a shot of good ol' Goldfork Hot Springs

Bogus Basin Evening

2009-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

Getting above the inversion has it's benefits. Here they are:

A Tribute To Beer

2009-01-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here's to you Arthur Guinness. You've made what's considered a healthy concoction that treats my palate to a welcomed break from the same-ol', same-ol'. Upon ordering round one of the frothing happiness is the breaking point that my brain knows without any doubt that it gets to roll back a little maturity. As I hoist beer one, I'm your common 29 year old, semi-sophisticated, mostly politically incorrect yet moral, farm town raised, city slickin', outdoors adventuring, unemployed Idahoan. Concerns about anything that a functional adults mind goes through begin slip slidin' away. The switches in my brain that are normally connected and working properly to protect me from being swindled or ripped on for some sort of a slip up begin being unplugged. Rows 4,986,884,122 through 4,118,436,994 of Matt's neuro connections have been scheduled for temporary deactivation. Somewhere around neuro connector 4,588,975,124 being disconnected, the waitress brings round two. Neuro connections 4,118,436,993 through 3,855,433,801 know that they're about to get a break too! Continue this trend for as long as is necessary to maintain a safe "happy zone" without going into "tomorrow sucks zone." Once the happy zone has been met, leave it at that and enjoy. At this point, Matt usually has the concerns of a 12 year old, but the functional thoughts of about a 24 year old. Thank you beer, you make me temporarily dumber. "A little non-sense now and then is relished by the wisest men" -Ronald Dahl.
Eventually it's bed time since the remaining connections are worn out. The next day, you wake up with most or all of the connections going full on again, but don't worry, you didn't drain the reserves. It turns out that there are enough people who enjoy this process that the reserves don't ever go dry!

On a totally different topic... take a look at the local news article about Kip Ramos. Pleading not guilty to an action you can see plainly in the video on the same link. Just another example of accountability going out the window!

The Hot Springs Adventure

2009-01-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

A trip to a hot springs is virtually never a disappointment. How many things in life can you say that about? Alright, you can stop counting now. Why is it that such a simple thing like hot water in a pool makes a person feel so much better? Here goes the answers:
A drive into the woods takes us away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Immediately stress starts to diminish and that's just the beginning of the story. Some hot springs require a trip in and others are road side, so once you get to the end of the drive, your adventure can go a few different directions. Personally, I prefer the harder to get to hot springs as substantially less people venture to these. Cross-country ski into the hot springs and odds are that you'll have them to yourself! Whatever method you use to get to the springs, you will likely be rewarded once you get there. The moment you submerge yourself into water that is warmer than your internal core temperature, you know that you've got something good going on! You're typically out in the wilderness, free from insecure judgment by your common man to boot! The question as to why hot water is beneficial has been pondered for centuries (maybe millenniums) and some have presumed that you sweat out toxins, but even that has more or less been proven wrong. Here's my "theory." When you raise the internal core temperature in any fashion, the body goes into cooling mode, increasing circulation to every part of the body in an attempt to get the heat to the skin surface and release the excess heat into the environment around the body. Circulation is key to keeping the body functioning properly. The bodies goal is to get nutrients into all sections of the body to make sure that the cells tasks are completed as scheduled. During our day-to-day life, we have a tendency to over and under emphasize various parts of our bodies. If you sit at a desk all day, your butt gets too much pressure on it and fresh blood isn't pumped in enough. If you stand all day at your job (i.e. hair dresser), the blood in your legs has a tough time pumping back up to your heart often enough to keep up. The list of examples goes on and on; even your job probably fits in there somewhere. When you sit in a hot springs, the muscles of your body aren't being taxed, but circulation kicks up big time! Big win situation if your body is beat up in any way. It would even be a win for people who aren't stressed (have you ever met any of those?) as there's no limit to how much increased circulation helps the body function better.
There's one other method that a hot springs soak may be beneficial to the body. It's an off-shoot theory of the toxins theory. Think of it this way, when your white blood cells can't fight off some sort of infection and your body knows that it's getting tanked, what's the next line of defense? It forces everything out however it can! Fever, tossing cookies, diarrhea... all the things we don't like, but eventually fight off danger and we (usually) survive. What could hot springs have in common with any of that?! A fever increases our internal core temperature and increases circulation which helps boot out the offender. A hot spring increases our internal core temperature and increases circulation which helps boot out the offender. Basically, when we aren't sick, we don't have some huge amount of offenders to begin with, but getting rid of whatever may be in your system feels good anyways. It's similar to getting a massage when your body isn't sore. Sure it feels good, but a massage does the job waaay better when you are sore.
Increasing circulation is a win-win no matter what situation your body is in. Sure, there's lots of ways to increase circulation (saunas and hot tubs come to mind), but how could it get better than sitting out in the woods away from society in mineral water?! Workouts increase circulation and even make your muscles function better, but there comes a point when the muscles need to recover. When that point comes, how's about a trip to some hot springs?

2005 Emmett Roubaix Video

2009-01-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

Here is the Action Sports Idaho coverage of the 2005 Emmett Roubaix. I cut it into seven pieces to make it easier to share on Youtube.

Catching Up After Getting Not Free Internet

2009-01-05T15:51:00.001-08:00

Ugh, the perfect neighbor moved out. No more free internet! It took a while to decide to go back to paying for the web again. It was a tough call between CableOne for cheaper and some degree of monitoring or Quest for more and no monitoring. Cheap won out the head-to-head. Also, a different neighbor decided to drop my cost per month by $18, all in exchange for a password!
I'm a little behind on the blog, so I'll just try to fill in the gap with pictures. Also, I managed to get in a three and a half hour ride on Saturday in 21 degree temps with the LAC/Bob's group ride. Thanks to six layers (two shells), I even worked up a good sweat.

XC-skiing near the Boise ridge line:

Charlene headed up the tracks from Kendrick

Dad too... sorry Raina, somehow the camera wasn't out at the right time

Me too

A trestle over Bear Creek

A Kazakh vodka New Years. Thanks Tara, that's the best vodka I've ever had by soooooo much!

We went to check out the Indian Bathtub hot springs, but they were too cold and the top pool hasn't recovered from the drought. Instead we went to the Bruneau Canyon Lookout

The other direction was more impressive, but the lighting kept me from getting any good shots.

One Tough Kid!

2008-12-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a tough guy. When I was six, I did a "superman" over the handlebars that quickly turned into what I like to call going down a rock water slide. I still have some rocks in my hand from it, but that's absolutely NOTHING compared to this kid! When this kid gets older and is drinking with friends and they start telling their stories of how tough they are, he might avoid telling this one because nobody's going to believe it. If I were him, here's how I'd go about telling this one... wait for everyone to tell their stories of "rock water slides" or getting into fights with the school bully and then bust it out. "So when I was nine, my Mom got in a car wreck and I was decapitated, but it was no big thing. I just roll with the punches that life throws at me and keep on rollin'. If you can't survive being decapitated, then you're just a sissy-man!"
Alright, at this point, you're probably wondering how the words "decapitated" and "survive" just fit into the same sentence! Here's the answer.

This Helps To Go Fast!

2008-12-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

Jon Lajoie really nailed it in this one! He should be a coach to all cyclists... maybe even all living organisms. Be forewarned, if you don't understand sarcasm, please avoid watching! Hopefully it's not on the list of banned substances for racing next year!

Flickr Slideshow

2008-12-15T10:00:00.001-08:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Back To Skinny Dippers

2008-12-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

A little snow and Skinny Dippers hot springs becomes an even better place to visit.

Adjusting the temperature as it was too hot when we showed up

Hot water and great views

With the snow comes the opening of Bogus! Wednesday is the official transformation from riding to skiing day.

Come And Get Your Caste!

2008-12-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Do you like what you've been given in life? Why is it that the nice guy finishes last?
To start this one, I thought I'd tell a true story about a good samaritan. A friend of mine found a wallet on the street, called the owner and handed over the wallet. A short time later, my friend gets a call from the cops having them come in to dispute a claim that my friend stole $50 from the wallet. The cops would not let my friend leave without admitting the action. After hours of arguing my friends innocence, being young and inexperienced with law, finally agreed to sign off that they'd taken the money. The cops made a number of insinuations that my friend was in a tough situation and needed the money. My friend should have said that the cops would have to speak with an appointed lawyer. After signing the papers to get out of the cops custody, my friend had to pay $350 and do a weeks worth of community service with your common law breaker. It is still on my friends record.
Does that make your blood boil? It does mine!! A good deed doesn't pay off. Financial well being is all that matters in this messed up society known as the United States. We hate the idea of one ounce of socialism because the person on the other end will milk the system for everything it's worth without any accountability. Basically, what comes around doesn't necessarily go around. When accountability and morality break down, the entire system breaks down. If the current economic situation doesn't prove that, I'm not exactly sure what does?!?! The pure capitalist believes that Americas morality and accountability is flawless and will take care of itself. Again, look at the current economy. If you let "the man" run wild, greed will take over and the desire to climb the social ladder can and will affect everyone! Your companies CEO will tell you one month that your company picnic has been put off until another time. The next month, they cut back on the paper plates and free coffee in the break room. Soon you'll be hearing that they've frozen raises for the entire coming year. No matter how much of a performer you are, your ability to advance is gone. Then the company fires 10% of it's work force, demanding the other 90% pick up the slack. A few months go by and they do the same thing again. Eventually, everyone is working like a slave. Barely getting by since raises were cut out but the cost of living keeps going up. Guess what though, the people at the top love this situation! The money has filtered up and they can now pay for their eighth vacation house and the upgrade from their old Learjet 45 to the new 60 has really been quite the treat! You're back in corporation land wishing that one of your 8,000 applications to a slightly better job will get noticed, but it turns out that six percent of the workforce is out of work entirely, so you're grateful that you have an actual income. Those CEO's and higher up managers are loving the situation! They chant go Bush! Go McCain! Go capitalism! Whoo hoo!!! We love being rich! Who cares about those slaves?! How in the world did the North ever win anyways?! Hey, hey, I know the answer to that last question! My hands up! Teacher, teacher, call on me, call on me! I know, I know, I know!!!! It's that the people got sick and f***ing tired of getting nothing in return and rose up and said it's about time that those greedy, slimy pieces of sh!t get knocked down a notch!
Then there was this other problem that completely ruined liberals (socialists right?) street credentials. They let accountability go right out the window too! Just hand over the money from the rich to the poor for doing no work at all. Heck, at least the rich were working for it right? Most people resort to muttering the letters w t and f at this point and just give up the idea of being politically involved. It turns out that there's a simple answer to it all. Take that taxed cash from the rich (who are, by the way, still very rich) and make jobs out of it. Those jobs have accountability held to them. Don't maintain your accountability and the job goes out the window. Wait, that still doesn't fix it all does it? There's this other side of things. People getting benefits since they aren't physically able to work. There will always be somebody more than willing to milk the system and get something for nothing and there isn't anything that makes peoples blood boil more than messing up that system we talked about earlier. You give and you get. It's a trade, bartering if you will. My time for your time. My effort for your effort. When that system goes out the window, the person on the short end of the stick gets grumpy.
To be completely honest, I don't know how to handle that problem. People need to hold accountability. We all hope that education will help teach people that fundamental part of society. Religion makes that element a key part of its teachings. Religion is the only form of morality teaching that most people get. Numbers vary, but approximately 88% of all people in the U.S. are religious. What does religion let you do though? There's a loophole known as an Act of Contrition. It lets you say sorry and all is forgiven. That's code wording for do whatever you really want to do, then say sorry and all will be right. That means, go out and plunder other people financially, say sorry, keep the money and all is good both on earth and in your afterlife. Where did the accountability go? Right out the window! Do you suppose the owner of that wallet got on their knees and said I'm sorry God, for I have sinned...? My thought is that it doesn't really matter. My friend got the short end of the stick no matter how you look at it.

Council Mountain Hot Springs

2008-12-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

The plan was to hit the hot springs and then a lookout. Both No Business Lookout and Indian Lookout were in close proximity and were valid options. After making it out from the hot springs, the weather turned a bit and started snowing on us. Not much of a lookout kind of day. Still, we found what turns out to be a place with amazing potential to have a very well built hot spring pool. The amount of hot water going through Warm Springs Creek is overwhelming! It's such a strong flow of hot water that the whole creek is warm in places! Currently, it's just a small pool that is likely rebuilt each year after spring runoff. The temperatures are fantastic and could maintain at least a couple very large pools.

In separate news, the weather has been good enough for a couple Bogus climbs in the last week. Unbelievable since it's supposed to be close to opening day for Bogus in a normal year. Since Sunday, the hill is starting to look a bit more like it's supposed to this time of year, so the hill may be turned over to my other hobbies soon.

This Time It's A Square

2008-12-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

I know, last time I said life could be described with pyramids. This time it's with a square. Not a bunch of squares either, just one. This one didn't take too much effort to make either. Less mental stress that way.

Everything we do in life can be put into these boxes. Some things make us better people and some make us worse off.
Here's a few examples.
Positive physical stress: working out to the point that the body bounces back in a way that it's stronger than it was before. You gain better circulation and feel better in general.
Negative physical stress: Falling off a ladder and breaking a bone or running so much that you over exert a joint causing long term pain.
Positive mental stress: Reading a good book, learning something new about the world or a new way to eat healthy.
Negative mental stress: Fear of being unable to make ends meet, being belittled by people who matter to you, crystal meth (okay, that's a negative physical stress too).

In some way, everything you do in your day-to-day life fits into that square. Many tasks that we do are repetitive (just ask my feet if they know how to go in circles) and have what seems like little to no affect on us, but they do. Just writing this blog keeps me fresh in my writing skills and hopefully creative thinking skills as well. It also reminds me that I should not start doing crystal meth, fall off a ladder or rip on friends.
Alright, I've said my piece. Hopefully you can use this in your day-to-day.

The Materials Economy

2008-12-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

Need a little education?
Wake up call to EVERYONE!
Here it is: http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Recent Endeavors

2008-11-30T17:26:00.000-08:00

Two days before T-day, my Dad's new wife, Raina, shot a cow elk and the next day I got the chance to go see some great country while packing it out. On the way up, I ventured out to Last Chance hot springs just to find out it wasn't really warm enough right now for a good soak. Then Thanksgiving at my sister Lianne's new place. As is tradition, it was a smidgen of overkill in the food department. On the trip back, Charlene, Shealynn and I visited another new hot springs. Trail Creek hot springs did not disappoint in any way! Well designed and perfect temperature!

I probably didn't need to take this, but it seemed cool

Near the kill, an old eagles nest

The Seven Devils from near Chair Point

Charlene and Shealynn at Trail Creek hot springs

Morrison Knudsen Nature Center

2008-11-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

It's small and geared more towards teaching kids how nature works, Idaho's in particular. In reality, every adult, no matter how educated and confident in their knowledge of how things work, could benefit from a trip through every now and then. These are the things that make Boise a fantastic place.
Also, the free speech by Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) at the Morrison Center was well worth a Tuesday night! Did I mention free?! Yeah, it was free... and good!
On a totally different note, Kai and I did a full Bogus on Saturday. If you needed a "Matt perceived temperature gauge" from beginning to end, here it is:
1. Start: cold outside at base, but feeling good.
2. Mid section: colder, but feeling good to be able to say I'm actually climbing Bogus in November
3. 12 mile marker: hands starting to feel chilly even while climbing, typically a bad sign.
4. Top of the climb: Kai consumes a banana and puts on layer seven hundred and ninety two, Matt zips up three layers.
5. Couple miles down: brrr... getting colder, but pedaling hard keeps things okay.
6. 6 mile marker: where did Matt's hands go? Did I leave them on the road somewhere?
7. Little climb back up to Corrals: oh, there's Matt's hands, just a smidgen of a tingle though.
8. Flat section before getting home: meet up with Jonathan on the road and do my best to pretend that there are still rational thoughts going on in my head.
9. Home: place hands near space heater and go through pain of bringing back feeling. Explicative, explicative, explicative, explicative, explicative...... repeat. Hot bath.... all better.
Must I always make some bad choice in clothing at some point when temps are changing before I take a hint and overdress rather than risk under dressing?
Anyways, here's some pics from the MK

No Scuba Steve gear required

Does Our Current President Use Tarot Cards?

2008-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

The information is everywhere. It's been available to people for the last eight years. Now, it's being revealed to everyone who has to read it in plain ol' black and white to take a hint:
"Tell-all books from former Bush counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, as well as accounts from other administration insiders, shed light on President Bush's decision-making style. Critics say the flip side of the legendary discipline at the Bush White House is a near-complete disregard for alternative opinions that sometimes leads to trouble." More
"'George Bush tends to make decisions on the basis of hunch and intuition, and then pulls together groups that confirm his decisions," said Paul C. Light, the director of the Center for Public Service at the Brookings Institution, a center-left research center. "The only people who are invited to be on the team are people who agree with him.'"

Hmm... "hunch and intuition?"
Is "W" going to be on Montel anytime soon?

I see it going about like so:
Montel:
What happened to the economy?
W:
I funneled all the money up to the rich because it seemed like the right thing to do since I come from a rich family with a lot of self interest.
Montel:
Did you think that would help the country as a whole?
W:
Yeah, I was pretty sure of it. I had a dream one night and a lady bug was telling me that if I just let people do whatever they want, it'll all work out.
Montel:
What actually happened?
W:
McCain still thinks the fundamentals of the economy are strong, so that must be right, huh?
Montel:
Do you think that Obama can clean up your mess?
W:
What? You mean the black guy who I was shaking hands with the other day? Oh crap, you mean to say he's going be our next president? Why didn't the lady bug notify me about this?!

Pushing Your Limits

2008-11-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Your body is the most powerful instrument you will ever own. Some of us push it to it's limits. I mean really truly push it to its 100% honest to goodness limit. Not just its one day limit and let it bounce back. What I'm talking about is the point where you're doing damage to it that is irreversible just because you want to know what it can do. A marathon runner doing hundreds of miles of running each week or cyclists that log 25 or more hours in a week of full throttle effort, you know what it is to push your limits. Oxidizing your body to the point that it screams at you all of the time to stop. It screams at you "quit this insanity now!" and you just tune it out with desire to know who you can overtake in your prized event.
The average life expectancy of a Tour de France racer is 15 years less than that of the average person. Over training on occasion is a must to really know your limits. Over training has known negative side effects on the body. None of that matters though to the athlete who HAS to get ahead. That has been me for a long, long, long time. After having done just that for long enough to know that my true physical boundaries are just a little bit off of what is needed to get a decent pay check, I've decided that the journey to determining that piece of information has been worth more than any kind of damage it could have done to my body. Really living has it's risks.
Barreling around extreme switchbacks during the Inner Loop stage at the Tour of the Gila, hoping to keep contact with the pavement, with multiple pounds of green guck in my lungs, maxed out from a massive effort to stay on through a few early climbs, sore from a wreck and extreme dehydration the day before, I was REALLY living! I've never felt more alive. The rational side of my head told me I was crazy for skidding my rear wheel on that last switchback at 45 miles an hour. The rational side of my head told me that I shouldn't be racing with the green guck that was coming out of me. The rational side of my head told me that I shouldn't put my body through such hell to keep onto the tail end of an amazing field that would almost assuredly beat me to the line anyways. Luckily, the little devil on the other side of my head wouldn't let me lose contact with the tail end of that amazing field and that, then and there, was top notch living.
I didn't win the stage, not even close. In fact, I probably didn't even impress anyone with my 36th place finish on the stage. Frustrated that I couldn't do what I came to do, yes. But, I was living!

The pulse was, without any doubt, there!

Need A House?

2008-11-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

A blog can be anything you want it to be right?!
Well this time it's a plug for my house that's for sale.
Pass it on to anyone that might be interested please.

Random Fall Photos

2008-11-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Juliaetta from the top of the Genessee Grade

A greenbelt bridge

Using the rule of thirds

And a different perspective

Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area look out

Jump Creek

Old man of the Owyhees in Jump Creek canyon

The second falls in Jump Creek canyon

Mattslow's Hierarchy

2008-11-06T17:02:00.000-08:00

I had no idea that life could be summed up with pyramids alone...
Here's about how mine has gone so far.
Start with the following:

Which lead to paying attention to:

Eventually, I heard something about this in college:

Finally, I came to the conclusion that the following must help somehow:

Just A Quick Thought

2008-11-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Greed is the selfish desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.

Not that I promote pure socialism, no way. Nor do I promote pure capitalism. Without the desire to produce goods and services, an economy dies. People desire to get ahead from their hard work. The downfall of pure capitalism: A select few take everything and everyone else loses motivation to keep working hard. The downfall of pure socialism: Even everything out so that nobody can get ahead and motivation to get ahead is gone.
The last eight years have been too close to pure capitalism. It's tough to pull yourself up by the bootstraps without boots.

The Text

2008-11-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

This morning, I woke before Charlene and decided to start cooking breakfast while booting up the computer. A little while later, my phone went off. Who could possibly need my attention so early?! It's not like I'm answering to any boss at the moment.
Upon picking up the phone, I determined that the culprit was about 10 feet away. The message was simple, yet very clear:
"cuddles"

Most Of 2008 In A Picture

2008-11-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here it goes, Johnny Cash style:

I was totin my pack along the long dusty Winnamucka road

When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load
If your goin' to Winnamucka, Mack with me you can ride
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand
And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"

I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Brundage
Granite Mountain
Banner Ridge
Jump Creek Canyon
Loftus Hot Springs
Dump Loop
Bear Creek
Boise River
Salt Lake City
Boise Desert
Puget Sound
Walla Walla
Stack Rock
Bike Park
Snake River
Portland
Mt. Hood
Lucky Peak
Nampa
Squaw Creek
Camel Falls
Ste. Chapelles (winery)

I'm a Killer
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Curtis Lake
Susitna River
Mt. McKinley
Alaska Railroad
Aialik Cape
Spencer Lake
Anchorage
Fish Lake
Rhoda Creek
Moose Creek Landing Strip
Selway River
Huntington Beach
Knotts Berry Farm
Deadwood Reservoir
Bogus Basin
Elkhorn Byway
The Depot
Juliaetta
Silver City
Stack Rock
Foothills
Rocky Canyon Hot Springs
Williams Peak

For Pete's Sake
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:

Pocatello
Baker City
Kendrick
Kuna Caves
Orange
Camels Back
Idaho City
Silverado
Las Vegas
Denali
Emmett
Moscow
Skinny Dippers Hot Spring
Kings Valley
Enumclaw
Shaffer Butte
McCall
Olympia
Payette Lake
Lohman
Sugah Hot Springs
Bonneville Hot Springs

What A Pity
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

William Has A Fantastic View

2008-10-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Charlene and I headed to McCall Saturday for a day in the woods. First, a hike to Williams Peak Look Out with Mark, Lianne (brother-in-law and sister), Dad and Raina. 3,100 ft of climbing in around three miles. It was Mark's first hike with the family... and possibly the last. Maybe we should have taken him up a little less of a mountain the first time around, but we initially thought the climb would be around 2,000 ft.
As we headed back down, water was scarce. By the time we got to the bottom, we had to fill up in a spring coming out of the mountain. That's possibly the best water I've ever had! No, I'm not scared of getting giardia when it comes directly out of a great filter (mountain hillside) and have done this many times before. Just gotta watch out for where it comes out and how much it's falling over rocks.
We followed that up with a trip to some nearby hot springs along the South Fork of the Salmon River that had been on my list for a while. Sugah (a.k.a. 16 mile) hot springs were a welcome visit after a day of hiking.

On the way up

A swing seems like a fitting addition to a look out
Luckily we didn't break it

The view from a look out never disappoints

Sugah hot springs... the previous soakers decided to soap it up, but that wasn't a bad thing as we weren't super clean after a mountain climb (I know, double negative, but you'll get over it)

Since it's that time of year, we followed through with an old tradition

Greenspan Concedes That T-shirt Sales Are Down

2008-10-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJ8os6vTknLk&refer=home
Highlights from the article: (only partially onioned)
Former Treasury Secretary John Snow says:
"The U.S. needs ``one strong national regulator'' to oversee firms and fix what Snow called ``a fragmented approach'' to regulation. ``Steps to restore transparency and responsibility in the marketplace will go a long way towards restoring stability and confidence,'' he said."
Category 1 cyclist Matt Weyen reacts:
"So you're saying corporations should actually 'trickle down' their wealth? Maybe stop firing even the best employees one year before their retirement kicks in? Should the 'employer/employee contract' still mean anything?"
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan answers:
"Yeah, pretty much, it's a simple process. We thought we'd go against it anyways. The way we knew the U.S. had a problem was that our slogan t-shirts haven't been selling very well. If you want to buy into it anyways, here's the link:"

It's Time For Hot Spring Visits Again

2008-10-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've been to a fair number of hot springs in Idaho now. Rocky Canyon hot springs have been the best so far... at least as far as the free ones go. Even up against the pay for places, these springs are extraordinary. They were an especially welcome trip this time around since I've been doing what most cyclists have been doing lately, pumping iron.
Mom fording the river

There are at least 12 pools. I didn't check out the top since the lower pools were the perfect temperature.

Charlene and Shealynn

Pomejesugodallah

2008-10-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

(Pronounced Pom-a-jeez-a-god-all-ah) Try saying that 10 times fast.
Alright, it's time for me to make some big cash the easy way. Over the years, one method has proven to work very well! So today, I unleash a new and improved deity!!!
Since healthy eating is a big deal and it's staying power in most peoples minds and wallets is unquestioned, I've decided to combine two fields of interest. God and Allah have been big names over the years in different parts of the world, but if I'm to make big money, I've got to go international.
Here is my prototype deity, unveiled on October 15th, 2008.

I couldn't find many options for God, so Morgon Freeman in Bruce Almighty was the closest thing I could find... don't forget, this is a BETA release, so please let me know if it's fitting.
Also, I had difficulty finding any information regarding what Allah looks like too, so I borrowed some attire and traditional facial hair. Last, but clearly not least, the Pomegranate. We all know the anti-oxidative capacities by now right?! If not, here you go.
Did you see that?! Micromoles of Trolox!
Now bow to me and give me whatever is left of your savings after the stocks are done taking a restroom break.

Weird Weekend

2008-10-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

It all started with snow Friday night... October 10th in Boise, Idaho. I knew the weekend couldn't possibly be normal with such a strange beginning.

Give it two months and I'll expect this.

Next, for some reason or another, I decided to show Charlene how to make a funny face that pops taught me waaaaaay back in the day. Turns out she's pretty good at it and told me she'd kill me if I kept the picture... hmm, wonder what she'll do when she finds out it's on my blog?

To perfect this, place your tongue over your top lip while pushing out the bottom lip as much as possible.

Sunday consisted of a different activity... hiking to find a thing I'd heard was a mini-Stonehenge.

Once we found it, the question of what it's used for came up immediately, any guesses?

After such odd events unfolding, I decided to try my hand at something else... turns out that I can walk on water! Eddie Money could have used this trick back in the 80's to get his woman back. Maybe they'll put me in Joe Dirt 2?

Job Satisfaction

2008-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Could corporations that treat their employees like expendable piles of dirt be at the root of economic problems? An economy is based on how much a nation produces of both goods and services. Unmotivated employees being pushed to produce via fear of losing their jobs mixed with stagnating wages rather than desiring to produce out of their own accord may reduce that overall production, right? The push-pull idea's as old as dirt.
Check out these reports:
http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressdetail.cfm?press_id=2582
and
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060724005163&newsLang=en

Maybe companies should focus on job satisfaction? Seems to be working for Google... and Europe.

I promise to write a more happy-go-lucky blog next... I just thought I'd put in my 2 pesos in the midst of an economic melt down that is likely to affect my, and your, future.

If you needed a warm and fuzzy this time too, I'll finish it off with a great photo of the East Fork of Moose Creek at sunset.

Once Wasn't Enough

2008-10-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Sam's blog listing wasn't enough... feel free to add it to your blog too.

The Dumbies Guide To Being A Tough Guy

2008-10-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

What makes you a tough SOB? Is it being able to race a bike at the top of the sport against some hardcore athletes that can push their physical boundaries well beyond anyone else's in society? NO WAY!!!! Anyone with half of a brain knows that makes a guy as gay as a three dollar bill!

What makes a guy tough is being able to destroy things! Show your control over everything living by destroying it! HELL YEAH!

If you can't do this, you're not even an average joe in the book of tough guys. You get a C for effort.

This might make you a little tougher than mr. average joe, you'd get a B- with this.

Now we're getting somewhere! You, my friend, are getting much closer by being the Harvard graduate of tough guys! B+ to A- depending on how the professor of tough guys is feeling that day.

You rule the world, literally! You inflict stress to billions of people just by letting them know you can destroy every last one of them! A++++, 110% complete domination by current day technology! Never forget though, if you are the one that designed it, you are a loser, a dork of great magnitude. It takes way too much brain power to create something like this and that amount of brain power is not cool! The only tough guy here is the one who pushed the button to let it drop!

Controlling any of the above devices takes no more than maybe eight watts of physical capacity, but creates anywhere from a few million watts of destruction to who knows how many watts an atomic bomb makes? Maybe something like a octillion watts? Ah crap, I just used a word that proves how much of a nerdy wimp I must be... crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!!!!!!!

People seem to like the idea of destroying other peoples physical capacity via their own, which definitely shows domination! If you're going to be putting out a physical effort, it had better be to destroy someone else. Examples of super tough guy sports: football, boxing, ultimate fighting, and WWF (or whatever it's called today).

A good hit, but it'd be way more impressive if he'd actually knocked the other guys head clean off.

What the hell?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Huge physical effort, frequently going over 1000 watts and averaging many hundred watts all day without causing any permanent damage to your competitors? You get fit and strong without destroying joints or brain cells? Why would anyone ever want to do such a thing? F-, negative one million percent in the book of tough guys! The guy on the motorcycle, he might get a D- in any other conditions, but by this comparison, he gets a B+.