30th year of Jack Frosting

I headed over to West Virginia with a load of wood and lots of anticipation to see friends at the White Grass Jack Frost party. I decided to try "Corridor H" otherwise know as Rt55/48. It is a bit of a hassle getting there from Harrisonburg. I went through Fulks Run, Matthias and then Lost River. I picked it up in Baker. It is a highway with gorgeous scenery and not many curves. There aren't many cars on it. I guess that will take some time and before we know it, there will be too many cars on it. It goes all the way to Knobley Road and then stops.You can see construction of the next sections in the distance It will go to Davis one day soon. I get that bittersweet feeling between making life easier and then destroying beautiful mountain land. It doesn't make the drive quicker from the burg, at least not yet.

We brought wood into the basement for our "cross training"...squat, load, lift, squat, lift. To bad, it was all split because using an axe would definitely give my core some sore! Donna and Brett are new iceboxers and they like "sleeping cold" so they will be great new additons to the co-op.

Tomi and I had skifever, so we went over to White Grass where the snow is there and it has to be used. White Grass where it is always skiable. White Grass where if your sliding, your smiling. White Grass where they farm snow. We got some rounds in on the snowfarm. Sliding and skating on a ribbon of snow, with brown all around us. It was fun to get back to that ever entertaining idea of kick and glide.

The Jack Frost party is the opening party for White Grass. It is always a big party because the fun of nordic skiing and Chipper are infectious. Chipper and his family are american nordic royalty with genuine mountain hospitality. It always great to see old friends at the party and then see them later in the winter after a big dump.

The crew went biking the next day. It was wild with snow on the ground and us in short sleeves. The mountain biking in canaan is so fun and very unique. It has something for everyone. It was wet and muddy, though. What do you expect with 75 inches of rain so far this year!

And of course, riding a fixed gear mountain bike up in Canaan is a blast!

Oh yea, I'm 40, too!

I turned 40 on October 9. It was a great week(s) of partying and celebrating a great life and super fun friends. It is a little daunting turning 40 but I never want to be one of those people who complain about being old. It sounds so negative. Its way more fun to think about possibilities and experiences.

Happy Birthday Tim!

O

Tim and Ruby

He can ride some hairy lines

He is super smooth

He has won one Six Pack Invitational

He loves me lots

And he is a real good dresser

Matt and Katy's Wedding

Matt and Katy walk in to the party

They danced

And people danced

The cake was yummy

The bride can dance!

Kyle was en fuego

Fresh D and White Wine

Things got hazy


It was so fun to celebrate with these two sweet people. Stokesville Campground has been the place for so many great memories. Including this weekend's annual Shenandoah Mountain Bike Festival.

September luck

Shine On!

Elk River Touring Center offers awesome Ladies Singletrack Weekends

Canadians are funny and fun to ride with

How a Canadian washes his hands

WOW!

People are already complaining about the colder temps...but I love the seasons. Change is good and it fuels progress. Enjoy!

Summ, summ, summertime synapsis

The summer of 2011 has been really awesome. Obviously, since I haven't posted since June and the Tran-Sylvania Epic. Its been sad not having my dad around to tell about all these cool things. My mom has been really strong and staying healthy in body and mind, so that is really inspiring.

CANAAN MTB FESTIVAL

The 3rd annual festy was a great weekend of riding. The friday Ladies Day had over 20 female riders laughing their way through skills drills, tough singletrack, a lovely lunch and more singletrack. It was a big group and that is how we like it when it comes to women and mountainbiking.

We had some really nice folks come out for the group rides. We had three different rides go out: The Nature lovers ride with Chip Chase, The Moon Rocks loop with MR jeff and Rob S and then the Adventure Ride with me and Chaga. Epic ride with a lunch stop at the Trail Mix.

Sunday was split between work and play. We did trail work in the am and built a bridge and then the chaotic Bike Hash. It was nice to see more folks come out for trail work and our leader Ken Dzaak was very impressed with what we got done. Thanks to Luke and Catherine for the awesome bike specific scared vessel.

Tim and I got to go to the BEACH at Emerald Isle and hang out with special friends. I love the beach!

TOUR DE BURG

What a crazy, cool, tough, funny, hot, cheap, epic blast of an event. Put it on your bucket list. Its that good and that intense. Since our Director was out with a bad back, he put the screws to us with lots of tough climbs and burly singletracks.

BETTER RIDE CLINICS

I've been teaching a few Betterride.net clinics this summer. These 2 day mini camps are a great way to learn to mountain bike, as well as unlearn some bad habits that you probably have picked up over the years. I like Gene Hamilton's curriculum and his website has great tips, videos and resources to expand your mind with regards to mountainbiking. I'll be teaching another one in Harrisonburg on October 22 and 23rd.

RACING AND RIDING

I got to do some cool races like the IRON MOUNTAIN 100k in Damascus, Virginia. This southwest part of Virginia has some bigs mountains and beautiful rivers. This race has some good singletrack and hometown feel. The Blackwater Epic was a muddy one, but so fun to race over the moon rocks, not once, but twice!
And I even got to do some road racing at the Tour of Page County. I got to mix it up a little with the strong roadie girls who were very friendly.

A couple of us rode to Spruce Knob from Harrisonburg and back. There are so many epic back roads and big climbs around here, the road riding can get really big and rough.

There isn't a ton on the slate for the next couple of weeks, just lots of riding and still working the Landscaping Gig with Great Outdoors Landscaping. We had a great outing on the mountainbikes on day when we played hookey from work.

And even got out with the Local Tuesday Ladies Ride.

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and I'll try to write more. Ride on!