More snow fun

Since I seem to not be adept at taken pictures of my own, I steal them; from my friends or from the Internet.

Today's pictures are from the Meriwether.  They are from yesterday's backcountry ski.

When we got to the top, you could see the trestles on Rollins Pass.  That was cool.

 Also on the top, this cool tree.  I didn't think it was that cool until The Meriwether sent us this picture.  This is my most favorite picture of the day.

Seems my favorite word of the day is cool.
Hopefully next ski day will be just as cool as yesterday's.

Old Stomping Grounds

Today, by surprise, I happened to find myself in my childhood neighborhood. I knew we were headed to Aurora, but it's a pretty big suburb.  What were the chances?

All of a sudden, by way of a new road, we were driving by my old middle school.  Then Utah Park, then on to my old house, followed by my elementary school.  Wow.  It was cool.  All the roads even had bike lanes (good job City of Aurora).

Needless to say, today has been a fun "tour of the memories".

Yes, Mom, my apple tree is quite big and looks healthy.  Yes, the plum tree is gone.  Actually, all bushes and shrubs are gone.  No more jumping off the roof into the snow covered bushes.  They took the basketball hoop down (why?)  The house next door is for sale.  My Elementary school doesn't look as big as it did when I was 7.  The playgrounds seem smaller.  The "long walk to school" isn't actually that long at all.  Everything looks different as a "grown up".

I'm happy to have lived there when I did, but I'm also happy to not live there anymore.  Each home builds different character and different memories.

Ski boots + snow = Fun?

It's been a long time since I've had fun skiing. I've tried my best to avoid it due to various reasons. Ski boots make my knee hurt, it's boring, I'm over sitting on the chair lift being cold, it's not a "workout", I need to ride my bike, it's boring, etc.

Other than standing on the side of the hill coaching kids, I have not really skied for several years.  No desire...at all.  Until recently. I kept being left at home while friends would go backcountry skiing.  They would come home with funny stories, tired bodies, and great pictures. I found myself wanting to be part of that.

So, it happened.  Thanks to "He Who Shall Not be Named on the Internet", I got all the necessary equipment needed for the backcountry and off we went.

 And DANG it was FUN!

 I laughed, I got an amazing workout (i.e. "training day"), and I had fun.  A lot of fun.

 Next time, along with my Dr. Vie SuperFoods bar, I'll need to bring my own flask.

Thanks Meriwether and Heyride for the photos!

No quitting

This time of year, it helps to have a "ride goal" in mind because riding in December can be cold, lonely, and boring.

Yesterday, my ride goal was to ride to the town of Eldora to stalk a little border collie puppy I've heard about.  On my way there, I wanted to quit and turn around several times. After 6 weeks off the bike, not only is my fitness lacking, but a hour ride feels like forever to me right now.  But I kept on, knowing that the way home would be much faster than the ride there.

I made it to Eldora.  I never found the little puppy, but I did feel a huge since of accomplishment and I was proud of myself.  And, sure enough, what took me an hour to get there, mostly due to head wind and uphill pretty much the entire way, only took me 30 min to get back.

Ride accomplished, goal accomplished, guilt free couch time earned. 

Ride Time

Looks like I'm going to have to find a new hobby.  You see, this week something weird has happened.  On Tuesday, after almost 6 weeks of injury, I started to ride my bike. This is not the weird part, but it is exciting. The weird part, it seems, are my taste buds.  Thursday night, I poured myself a small glass of wine to drink with dinner.  I took one sip of it and, ew, it tasted yucky.  Second sip, same.   Friday night, I poured myself one of my new favorite drinks, a Ten Fidy.  I couldn't finish it.  It didn't taste that good.  Weird.  Beers and bikes are supposed to go to together, aren't they?  Looks like not for me.

One a side note, yes, I have been riding. Not much, but a little bit. 4 days on the trainer this week (2 hrs total- I may have surpassed my winter trainer allotment).  Today, I rode outside.  I was wonderful.  I s'pose I'm back.