Suffrage

Before long, this man will be making my life very miserable but the reward at the end of it all should be worth it.

I will spend several hours hiking up a mountain similar to this one in order to make one run on my snowboard.

After that, however, I will be enjoying some relaxation and icy cold beer.  It will be well worth the pain and suffering I will endure.  I guess that's why they call it earning your turns.

Stank-olia

Over the past weekend, the SC saw a solid week of chilly temperatures.  When I say chilly, I mean wicked cold; like highs in the low teens.  These were the kinds of temperatures that made it hard to breathe if you were outside and made you not want to be outside at all.  It was also the kind of weather that is ideal for keeping (and making) snow on the slopes.  Luckily for me, the was my weekend to be on shift (trying) to keep all the patrons safe.  

My schedule called for me to be at the mountain from open to four pea em on Saturday (a seven hour shift) and the entire day on Sunday (plus two hours of training after) which made for an eleven hour day.  Luckily, conditions were ideal, which meant I was on my board for a majority of the time.  Also however, to keep things interesting, I hiked for a few turns too.  This, unfortunately meant that I was sweating; a lot.

I'll put it to you this way: I really only have one solid set of base layers that I wear when I'm on the mountain.  When the conditions are good I ride my board as much as I can.  This also means that I'm going to get really warm in my gear, regardless of how cold it is.  When you add in the hikes you only increase the bodily warmth by a factor of three (at the minimum).

So there I was, wearing the same kit for two straight days, for eighteen hours on the slopes, for (at least) four hours of before and after time, for way longer than I should have without any semblance of cleaning in between wears.  As you can imagine, I was/am beyond ripe.  Luckily, I have a girlfriend that doesn't care about how (bad) I smell.  And fortunately for me, she spent her first day on the slopes and didn't hate it.  

What's in a Name

Lately I've been feeling like this blog is kind of a sham.  It started out as one thing, but really never materialized in that regard.  Instead I've talked about just about everything other than stacking cheddar (or any variety of cheese for that matter).  I don't know if this is because I just don't have the energy to come up with new topics that revolve around the snowboarding radicalness that I like to portray, or some other reason.  I have a few thoughts so in no particular order, here is a list.

01 -  I'm too old to really be "hip" in the snowboarding world

02 -  The snowboarding industry isn't quite as lame as I once thought

03 -  I have a girlfriend that doesn't let me have fun

04 -  I lie about my girlfriend not letting me have fun

05 -  I just don't care enough to spend the energy

06 -  There hasn't been enough snow for me to consistently ride

07 -  I don't like cold weather

08 -  I'm too slothy to pull off radical maneuvers

09 -  I'm too scared to try radical maneuvers

10 -  My gear is too old to be radical

Anyway, I could continue with a boring list of things but I'm not.  I just know that this blog is going in a different direction.  If this continues, maybe I'll have to change the name to "Stacking the Couch."  Fortunately though, there has been good snow lately and it actually feels like winter in that it's been wicked cold.  Hopefully it keeps up so I can get in some quality slope time and maybe get back some of that awesomeness that I once had (seriously, I really did).

Equations

So I've never been very good at math but I do enjoy it.  Specifically, I like the word problems.  Here's a little equation that I recently found myself working on.  It goes something like this:

What do you get when you take a lot of snow and add a lot of warm air and rain?  While the answer might seem obvious, it's not as simple as you would think.  In some cases, the product of this little problem is different depending on who is trying to solve it.  For me, the result tends to equal depression.

See, the weather here in the SC was just getting to the point where the slopes were open and operating nicely.  It was plenty cold and we had some help from Mother Nature with a bit of early season snow.  Now, all we get is mud, bare spots, limited slope availability, and a season that almost was.   

Sure there is cold weather on in the forecast and the slopes will bounce back, but it's tough to really get motivated about a ski season when your standard February warm spell hits in January.  Granted, it's still early and there are plenty of weeks of possibility for another coating of natural but at this point, I would just take an extended cold snap that will allow us to get back to what we all look forward to in the winter; skiing, snowboarding, and building the occasional snowman.  

Digging Trenches

After a nice long summer and a festive start to the new year, it's been plenty cold for the past several weeks and the local ski hill has enough snow to cut some serious turns.  Of course the ten inches of fresh that Mother Nature provided wasn't bad either.  With that in mind, I spent my first few days on the slopes patrolling.  In fact, this past weekend was one of my shifts and, as the sun was slowly sinking beyond the hills, Ieva managed to snap a few sweet pics.  This is one of those.  I don't really see the need to clog up the rest of this post with a bunch of pointless words so I'll leave you with that.

30 Dees

This past Saturday was the 30th running of a little known "race" up thirteen of the steepest hills in Pittsburgh.  The reason I put the word race in quotations is because the Dirty Dozen is only a race for about ten people and a day of survival for the rest.  This year was my third running and, in true DD fashion, there were cold temperatures, lots of windy spots, and snow.  Fortunately for me, because of road construction one of the hills was not on the route so we were down to only twelve hills, but that was still going to be about eleven more than I actually wanted to do.  

Like all good DD mornings I was a basket of nerves.  The day itself was going to be no different than the previous two years except I was on a new bike with different gearing, I was well under prepared physically, and the road conditions due to the weather were a general unknown (when a significant portion of steep riding is on slippery or icy roads, things can go seriously wrong).

The long and short of the day was this:  It snowed on and off almost the whole day and the temperatures hovered in the mid thirties (so it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick).  Riding as hard as you can to get up a hill makes you hot and sweaty.  Standing on top of a hill when you're hot and sweaty makes you very cold.  Slippery roads lead to lots of falls and wrecking (fortunately not for me).  

I learned a few things on this ride.  The first thing I learned was that I need to be in better shape if I plan to ride my current bike up these hills again next year.  The second thing I learned was that riding up really steep hills wears down your arms almost as much as your legs.  The third thing I learned was that mustaches are not as warm as beards.  The last thing I learned, and possibly the most important, is that if you're going to fall over in a slippery corner, make sure Jerry isn't there to see it because he'll yell at you loudly to go back to the bottom and ride the hill again.  After all, those are the rules.

More of the Same

As I reported last week I'm full-on in the throws a significant electrical project in my house.  This weekend brought on more wiring, more drilling, more crawling through insulation, more second guessing myself, more investigation of existing conditions, and best of all spending more money.  Thankfully, I have the day off tomorrow so I'll continue with this wiring habit I've developed and maybe even tear out a wall or two.  On the upside, I did get in my first road ride of the year and had all the free salad I could eat so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Statements of the Day

Today was cold.

It barely got out of the 20’s.

Fortunately the sun was out so that helped.

I rode Scotia with Jeremy, the Nixtreeme, and Seb-dog.

My toes were cold until the end of the ride.

I cleared a big log; with an audience, and it felt amazing.

Winter without snow might not be that bad after all.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in…

Where Are You?

Finally, after a long hiatus, the ski season has officially opened here in the SC, kind of. We had a few days of cold that allowed the local ski hill to make enough snow to open with limited slopes. By limited slopes, I mean one, but it was still something.

This has been an uncharacteristically warm winter and this weekend was no exception. Ski hills everywhere have been taking a beating as Mother Nature has been stingy on providing piles of the white stuff. In fact, here in the SC we’ve seen a scant dusting at best. It’s been so bad, I’m starting to wonder how much of a ski season there will actually be. On the plus side, this warm weather has allowed me to stay on the bike much longer than I usually would but honestly it feels like winter has mostly passed us by.

Granted, there is still plenty of time for a significant amount of cold to settle in and we could still get crushed by a winter storm or two. Of course, if the warmth continues to hang around I won’t be too upset, but it would be nice to spend a little time on the slopes this year. After all, I did tune my board and I would hate for that fresh wax to go to waste.

Hang on Tight

If Saturday night marked an end then Sunday morning had to bring along a beginning. We’ve officially turned over a new calendar year and my 2012 has already been highly eventful. To close out 2011 and officially start two aught one two, I managed to drive 1,600 miles in three days, attend a funeral, and experience what it’s like to be in one of the shows about driving in a blizzard. You know the ones where a string of cars are driving real slow with their hazards on and some jag-off rips past them all going way too fast only to end up in a ditch? Yeah, that kind except in this case I was NOT the idiot driver but there were plenty of them in ditches. I’m not sure if this is a sign of things to come but if it is, 2012 is going to be one hell of a ride.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Fair Weather Fun

As many of you know from reading this little distraction, I like to ride bikes. This started during an extended stint in Georgia when there really wasn’t anything else to do. Also, people already looked at me funny since I was from the north so I figured wearing spandex several days a week while hauling down back roads with several other like minded people would really blow their minds. We pretty much only did road rides; flat road rides. The temperatures were never much below fifty and that was in the middle of our winter. We could ride all year long without much to worry about.

After I moved to the SC I continued to ride my road bike but got back into mountain biking. Even though I continued to ride for as much of the year as I could, the riding season was always much shorter for me because the temperatures got much colder and I had no interest in freezing my bits off just to turn over the pedals. Sure, plenty of other people I knew were riding in temperatures that seemed crazy but that’s what they did. I don’t want to say I was soft, but I definitely grew accustomed to the warmer climes.

Over the years, however, I’ve continued to ride later and later into the season. I typically prefer to stay off the road (except the DD) because it’s usually too frigid and wind-blown for my tastes. Instead I choose to get out in the woods, on a bit of single track, where you tend to stay a lot warmer because you’re working more and moving around on the bike a lot more. It gets to the point where you are almost overdressed in little more than a jersey and wind jacket.

What’s the point of telling you all this, you might ask? Well, this weekend I was out riding my mountain bike on both Saturday and Sunday. Jeremy wanted to get the Seb-dog out for some exercise and I decided to tag along. Saturday we rode some of the new trails on the south end of Raystown which were super fun and flowy. Then Sunday we rode some of the Cooper’s Gap stuff in Rothrock. Both days I wore the same thing (literally) and was plenty warm. I’m not sure if this means I’m getting acclimatized to the cold weather or just getting bored with staying inside on the weekends. Either way, I’m feeling less like a fair weather rider.

Enough Already

I assume it’s the time of year but I’m starting to hit a breaking point. I’m getting completely fed up with being cold. I realize that’s kind of a sissy thing to say, but it’s true. We’re midway through April I would have expected things to start warming up by now but it’s not happening nearly as fast as I would like. Sure we’ve had a few teaser days of real warmth but nothing that says, “Put on the sandals and sit outside all night long.” This lack of warmth bothers me for several reasons but mostly it’s about the bike.

Since the beginning of March I’ve been in that mid-seasonal funk where the slopes are closed, yet it’s not warm enough for a gilded-lily like me to regularly be on my bike. I’ve taken advantage of the few warm days but that’s just enough to make me mad and also realize that I need to ride more. Between the ridiculous amounts of rain and the less than warm temperatures, I haven’t been able to get out much and it’s driving me crazy.

I guess if I was tough I’d be out riding regardless of the conditions. Then maybe I’d end up like Jared taking first at the Steel City Showdown today or like Vicki crushing every event she enters. I, of course, am woefully less disciplined and don’t like riding when my water bottles freeze. If my pleas for warm weather to ride aren’t enough, I would at least like to see the grass I planted back in March start to grow.

Passing Time

This past weekend marked the anniversary of my arrival on this earth. As has been the case for the past several years, my birthday included a casual evening spent with friends. I had a nice dinner (thanks Cathy) and a few drinks with some truly wonderful people and yet, even though it wasn’t a wild night, I managed to have a ridiculous headache the next day. I hate to admit it, but I think it means I’m getting old.

See, in my twenties, I could rage all night long, get about an hour of sleep (if I was lucky), and function like a normal human being. Now that I’ve added a few years to my resume of life, I have a much harder time bouncing back, even after just a few pops. While I would have preferred to spend the weekend lounging around the house sipping coffee and recuperating, I didn’t have that luxury. I had to shake the cobwebs out and head to the mountain for some fresh air and early spring mashed potatoes.

I’d like to say digging trenches in the unseasonably soft snow was the highlight of my weekend but that wouldn’t be true. It was really nice to receive phone calls from my nieces and nephews (including you Josie), and the ginger cookies were better than ever. What really put the icing on the proverbial cake though, were the humorous messages and birthday wishes I got from Jeremy who was in Missouri celebrating in his own special way.

Training Weekend

As the saying goes, sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. This past weekend I’m pretty certain I was the bug. See Jerry and Colin came into town for a weekend of bike riding in the hills around State College. I, being a fool, decided I would try and tag along for as much as I could and maybe learn a thing or two from them. That, as it turns out, was a bad idea.

Jerry and Colin rolled into town on Friday afternoon. Since it was an unseasonably warm day I decided to leave work early and join them for an “easy” afternoon ride to loosen the legs. It was a bit windy but overall it was a decent day. We were out for about two hours which was plenty for my first outdoor ride of the year. Saturday, however, was a different story. Not only was it cold, there were gale force winds and snow. It was brutal to say the least. Jerry, Colin, and I started out riding together but I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to hang on with them and decided to cut my ride short.

The winds were swirling every which way and I almost got knocked off my bike on several occasions. It was like being punched in the face over and over. Then, I hit the wall. I don’t know if it was a serious bonk or just the weather conditions but I had to throw in the towel and call for a ride. It’s the first time I’ve ever given up on a ride but for some reason I didn’t think I was going to finish in one piece. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but while I was riding home in the warmth of Cathy’s car I realized I made the right choice.

Death by Wood Stove

This has been an interesting week for me with many epiphanies occurring. Some have been personal, some professional, but the most significant one is about me and my future plans for greatness. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve thought about being a lumberjack (of sorts) where I go out into the forest every year and cut wood to be used as fuel to heat my house. Well, this past week may have slightly altered those plans.

First, I have to say, I really do enjoy my wood stove. It provides a ridiculous amount of heat and does a decent job keeping my house relatively warm (at least by my standards). The big drawback, however, is getting wood from the backyard into the basement where the stove is located. My current method of lumber delivery is to load up my arms with timber, walk down the outside steps, and stack everything next to the stove. It’s not the most convenient method but it’s the best I have right now. Well, this past week I realized a significant flaw in my system.

The day after transporting the requisite load of oak to get me through the week, I noticed a bit of discomfort in my lower back. In this instance, when I say discomfort, I really mean excruciating pain the causes me to lose the ability to bend at the waist. To make matters worse, a giant knot decided to form in the middle of my back as well. It’s like someone is beating me about the back with a broomstick only this broomstick is made out of pointy rocks and sized for a twenty foot tall person. Apparently my method of wood delivery may not be the most forgiving on my joints and muscles.

You would think I’d take this as a sign and do something about it. Well, you’d be wrong. I continue to use my current and foolish method to bring firewood into the house. I know I’m not doing myself any favors but I don’t want my house to freeze. It’s a vicious cycle and the outdoor temperatures aren’t getting north of about twenty. My new plan for heating the house is to hope for an early spring (not you Spring, the season).

Fresh Tracks

And so it begins. Enough snow has finally been created for the latest installment of what will hopefully be another banner year on the slopes. Last year we had one of the best seasons in recent memory so it will be difficult to top, but it’s been wicked cold the last few weeks which, if it continues, should ensure a proper base stays around. This weekend marked my first turns of the season but I was woefully unprepared.

While I knew the season was starting, somehow it snuck up on me. On Sunday morning I scurried around my house in what appeared to be an explosion of gear. I was running from room to room locating stuff that I had methodically stored away at the end of last year. The hard part was not only remembering where everything was, but trying to remember what I needed.

When I finally left my house I had two bags loaded with just about every piece of cold weather clothing I could get my hands on. Fortunately I loaded my snowboard in the car the night before so I wouldn’t forget that critical implement of the day. I also made sure to leave my boots by the back door so they would make the journey as well.

Overall, the conditions were decent for man-made pow. I got in a goodly number of turns but didn’t over do it because let’s face it, there’s a lot more season to go. I’m already planning some big trips out west so that will help extend my season. Finally, I figured I should give some love to my skiing friends so enjoy the picture while you can.

Red & Black Plaid

Well, it has finally started to get cold in the SC. I think this time the cold is finally going to stay around for a little while. We’ve had a few days of flurries but nothing to get too excited about, at least not yet. It’s been more of some playful eye batting then a full-on date, but hopefully that will soon change and the slopes will be covered with a deep blanket of white stuff, even if it is man-made.

Since the cold has decided to stay around, I thought this weekend would be a good opportunity to get the house in “winter mode.” That means putting in the storm windows, putting plastic on windows, cleaning the garage to make room for the car, and stacking as much firewood as possible in the hopes that I will actually have enough wood to use the stove this winter and keep my house at a cozy 62 (instead of the standard double nickels).

See, I have this crazy notion that each winter I’m going slog off into the woods and fell a bunch of trees; then cut, split, and stack all this lumber to use as fuel to heat my house all winter long. Sure, it can be fun to run a chainsaw and swing an axe but let’s face it, I’m no lumberjack. With any luck I’ve got enough wood to last me through the hardest part of the winter but next year I might just have to break down and buy a few cords of wood like most normal people do.

Refreshed

Don’t let the title of this post fool you. While I’d like to tell you a story of how I had a relaxing and casual weekend; the reality is that this weekend was no different than most. However, instead of spending time out in the woods being radical, I was spending time being “responsible.”

This weekend marked the annual refresher that I must attend to maintain my position in good standing with the Nation Ski Patrol. That basically means that I had to get up crazy early and drive an hour and a half to run through various scenarios that I might encounter in my day-to-day while patrolling the local ski hill. In reality I may never experience most of these scenarios presented, but there is definitely a lot of value in learning the variety of medical situations that could arise throughout the course of a season.

While I truly do appreciate the fact that this is a necessary evil and I whole heartedly admit that I need all the help I can get in having the basics drilled into my head, it would have been nice if this wasn’t a 70 degree weekend with abundant sunshine. See, we’re getting into mid October and that means that weekends like this are few and far between. It means that I’ll need to start changing my yard work schedule from mowing grass to splitting wood. More to the point though, I don’t feel like I’ve had adequate time to get in all the riding I’ve wanted, and that’s what really keeps me refreshed.

Build Me an Ark

I think it’s safe to say that this weekend was wet. A nice healthy rainstorm came in late Friday night and decided to stick around until early Sunday evening. Now that we’re into mid March the temperatures have warmed up but we still have snow on the ground. Well, I should say we did have snow. Thanks to the rain, what snow was left disappeared rapidly.

Normally the rain would put the kibosh on any type of outside activity but Herm and I thought it would be a good idea to go and explore the forest to see what kind of damage was being done by all the water and how badly the trails were getting washed out. We planned to do a short hike on the Owl Gap Trail to see what kind of condition it was in for riding and then drive around to assess the flooding. It’s safe to say we got more than we bargained for.

The roads getting into the forest were almost completely clear of snow and ice which was a bit of a surprise to both of us so we had very little trouble getting into the trailhead at Owl Gap. Of course, we did encounter a few downed trees across the road that needed to be moved and we had to pull one yokel’s car out of the mud but other than that things were just a bit sloppy but easily passable. We hiked the Owl Gap Trial in a mild rain. It was a little difficult to navigate the trail as it was now a stream running down from the ridge but we managed to make our way to the top. After we explored around on foot we decided to get back in the car and cruise some fire roads.

The amount of water running down trails, along roadside ditches, busting out of the hillsides, and raging through normally mild stream channels was mind boggling. It was so spectacular we decided to go back on Sunday to check a few more places. It’s was incredible to see what a healthy dose of rain mixed with snow melt could do. Hopefully the trails will dry out soon because it was nice to be back in the woods. However, next time I’ll be taking my bike.

Hitting a Wall

So the last few weeks I’ve been feeling very drained. I’ve felt physically and mentally rundown to the point where I haven’t been motivated to do much especially writing interesting blog posts. It’s been easy to recycle the same blog post about snowboarding because that’s what I’ve been doing. Riding on the weekends and going on trips to ride were helping me get through the week but eventually that wasn’t enough. Everything caught up with me yesterday when I was out at the mountain on patrol.

It was an amazing spring weekend with bluebird conditions and soft snow that was easy to edge. I was working the morning shift so I was at the mountain shortly after eight. The only problem was I didn’t feel like riding. I had no motivation to strap into my binders. I took a few runs to try and shake out the cobwebs but I just didn’t have it. My form was all over the place which usually leads to injury. I had no energy or desire to continue riding so I just sat back and waited until my shift ended. I was just happy to get home and settle into a quiet evening.

Sunday started off similar to Saturday with another early trip to patrol at the mountain; however I woke up with a little more energy than the day before. The conditions were firm and thin so it was difficult to set an edge, but the forecast was for blue skies and more warm temperatures. Instead of waiting until later in the day for the sun to soften the snow I just kept riding. I didn’t want to stop.

As the conditions improved so did I. Throughout the day some friends showed up with their kids so I tagged along to help keep an eye on their shorties as they attempted to hit every kicker on the mountain (even if it wasn’t really a jump). I also met some new people and rode with them for a while. Sunday was the complete opposite of Saturday and also turned out to be very cathartic for me.

As the weather continues to warm up I’ll have a larger variety of activities to occupy my time and that will definitely be a good thing. At the end of the day though, it doesn’t matter how hard I stomp a booter or how deep a trench I dig. What really matters is that I’m having fun and getting rejuvenated for the 9 to 5er that lies ahead and that was exactly my Sunday.