No camera but some words

As much as I hate to admit this the past two days I have been riding my road bike. The reason behind this craziness is the recent moisture has made the trails in Sedona slick and muddy and here in Flagstaff everything is still under the snow but the temperature in Sedona yesterday was 70 so I went for a road bike ride in red rock country. Today I decided to ride the road connecting Sunset Crater to Wupatki which the SCA at the visitor center was sure to point out was 2000 feet elevation change. The ride was good, views of the Painted Desert on the way down and incredible views of Humphrey's Peak on the climb back up. Humphrey's has so much snow on it right now it is amazing. The condition of the road beat the hell out of 89a out of Sedona. The road in connecting the parks is pretty new so it is soooo.... smooth. No pictures because Anne is in Colorado skiing with friends and she has the small camera with her. I was slated to go but the puppy getting parvo and the need to kennel her if I went was out of the question. She is over it now and not contagious but the chance of her getting something called distemper is high in that setting so I am at home living bachelor style, just me and the dog.

You have got to be kidding me

Yesterday was filled with promise. The sun came out right away in the morning and it warmed up into the mid 40's and the snow melted off of the roads pretty quickly so all in all it was a really nice day. Then it happened. I woke up this morning to take Yampa outside and it was sleeting a bit but nothing major just really cloudy. When 7:30 rolled around and we leashed the dog to walk with Anne to work it was dumping snow again. I still maintain that when spring rolls around it is going to be amazing outside but for now a bit of cabin fever is setting in. Skiing is always an option but just about the only one that saves me. I would actually rather be riding but that is not an option. Sedona is an option when it warms up but when it is snowing up here it is raining down there so we have to let it dry out a bit because all that red dirt becomes nasty mud during rainy times. Yampa is still unruly but she is pretty good when she gets a morning walk because it tires her out and she gets home and is pretty mellow before she falls asleep. She does go through periods when she is like a little kid. She whines and is restless and you know that she is super tired but she can't just lay down and relax she has to be cranky for a little while before she crashes. When she is asleep she is the best puppy in the world, ha ha ha. Hope everyone is well and enjoying whatever it is they happen to be doing.

Sick, sick, sick.....

Today is Anne's birthday and she wanted to go skiing so we left the dog outside for the first time with her new dog house (in hopes that she would know to get into the dog house when she got cold) and headed up to Snowbowl to kill it for a few runs. It has been dumping snow up there for the past couple days and there was probably 2 feet of freshie fresh for our pleasure and no lift lines unlike what it is going to be tomorrow when the Phoenician's invade the high country. The snow was awesome as was the skiing so we took some runs and came home to check on Yampa who was sound asleep in her house snug as a bug. I am still hoping for spring but it is hard to complain about days like today.

Haircut and a shave

Now that the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo is all finished up this year and I rode a measly 65 miles I figured a shave and haircut were in order to renew my spirit and recommit to some harder training and better eating. I have to be ready to ride the Cream Puff at the end of June and the road race from Durango to Silverton that is part of the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic over Memorial Day. I need to get on the ball with a bunch of miles and dropping the extra weight to race. It has definitely been more difficult this year being in Flag and not Tucson because of all of the cold and the tons of snow. Tonight the eating aspect might be difficult due to the fact that we are going to try Jackson's Grill at the Springs for Anne's birthday. It is pretty shi-shi but has gotten some really good reviews and a couple of bad ones so we'll see. Last night I was surprised but a visit from my friends Ed and Josh who live about 4 hours from here but were passing through so I made dinner and we drank some beer and got caught up. Well it is time to change real quick and go get some grub.

24 Hours of the Old Pueblo done and gone

We got back home last night from a snowy/sunny time outside of Tucson for the 24 Hours of the O.P. The weekend was a lot of fun and the course was in surprisingly good condition considering all of the rain. I realized pretty quickly that I was going to be riding a couple of laps and taking some time off and riding a couple more. My time off the bike when I was sick and not being used to the pounding of the dirt took some toll on my body and was really bothering my neck so I just stuck to 2 laps on the first day and 2 on the second day and slept at night after a couple of beers. Over all it was a fun weekend and pretty crazy for the puppy with all the people and other dogs around. It was good for her to get some socializing in and getting to rough house with other dogs. I added some photos from the race include one from the start where I walked up and you can tell that I am not in too much of a hurry. The other pictures are from the rock drop where a bunch of people hang out to see if there is going to be any carnage. None on my end which is good. I finished my two laps on Sunday and was pretty happy with my times for both. I don't have any big race plans until the summer after the snow is gone here and there is much more opportunity to ride outside. On a different note it may be time for the beard to go after all I did say that it was going to be 24 Hours to 24 Hours and that has happened so we'll see....

Happy Valentines Day

Anne and I don't really celebrate Valentines Day too much we are more interested in our anniversary at the beginning of Feb. and Anne's birthday coming up here pretty soon. She is working tonight anyway so the shot at romance was null from the get go. It is dumping snow here in Flagstaff right now so it should be interesting to see what a mess it is tomorrow when we hit the interstate south to the Old Pueblo. At least it is only about 40 miles until we are off of the plateau and then it should only be rain. It is supposed to rain in Tucson until Saturday evening with a chance of snow at the race venue and we are taking Yampa the puppy with us so there are many things that should be interesting this weekend. Since I have been sick prior to this week I am only going to ride for fun and am taking some beer with us in case it just dumps rain and the race sucks. We know a bunch of people going down and my friend David will be racing so it can't be all bad. I have a nominal goal this year but I am not making it public knowledge so I can change it after the race is over hahahaha..............!

Grand Falls, Arizona

Today we ventured out onto the Rez east of Flagstaff to see what Grand Falls is all about. It is located about 1 hour from here along the LCR (Little Colorado River) and with all the snow and warm temps the LCR actually has a lot of water flowing right now. It was our first outing with our puppy and it went well until she got car sick on the way back too much speed and bumpy dirt roads I guess. The waterfall is about 190 feet tall and was pretty cool. Who would have thought that was so close to Flag. The LCR flows through a little gorge just after the falls which is pretty neat sandstone and other volcanic rock as it makes its way toward the Grand Canyon.

Cough drops, pretzels and diet coke

The title just about sums up what I have been living off of today. I still feel pretty crappy and the cold air makes it tough on my cough. I believe that I know what asthmatics feel like on days like today. We got another 12 inches+ of snow last night so I was outside shoveling this morning and trying not to die at the same time. I took a picture of a monster icicle that I have been grooming for about a week now right before I knocked it down. Today is Anne and my two year anniversary which is pretty exciting. Much has happened in those two years but it seems like only yesterday that we were in getting married down in the Old Pueblo. Yampa is doing well pushing through her antibiotics and various other parvo treatments. She is finally learning that hands are not chew toys but she still likes checking most things out with her teeth.