I did a fair amount of riding over the weekend. 52 miles on Sat, and 47 on Sunday. 126 road miles for the week, and two great MTB rides mixed in. I rode with Keith Thomas. He is 50, but can still hammer on the bike, road and MTB. He used to be a competitive Tri-athlete. he has had something like 3 invitations to Kona. Keith and I have gone on several adventure trips together over the years. Lets see, Back country skiing, climbing devils tower, summiting the Grand Teton, several day trips in the mid west. I consider him my mentor. he is a vast, and in depth resource regarding training. He has taught me most of what I know about biking. I included some pictures of the time we have spent together in nature, seeking the good life. Back country skiing off of Teton Pass was a religious experience. Waist deep dry powder was on tap the whole day. The experience is difficult to explain. You are leaning forward hard, and floating/ flying through pillows of snow. The only thing you need to worry about are the trees, which are blocked by all of the snow hitting you in the face. A decently long run takes about 3 to 5 min. After that you are breathing super hard, and the quads are on fire. Big time. That is the fun part. When skiing the back country, you earn your turns. At the bottom, you skin up and ski up hill. Trust me it works. We got about 5 runs in that day before we headed back to the car for some cold brews. Keith enjoys a cold one after a hard days play just as much as I do.

This is a Pic of Devils tower. I cannot find the pictures documenting our trip, but it was spring break 2002, my senior year in High school. My friend Ryan and my father where also along on the trip. We attempted the tower in late march, nothing like the conditions illustrated in the pic. it was cold (low 30's) and snowing. Our first day had us sitting pretty at the base of the rout at a good time. 7:30am. It was cold, it was windy. It was Ryan's first larger climb, and all of the conditions wore him down quickly. We bailed with a 200ft rappell, and some casual down climbing. Keith and my dad slogged on but where turned away with 150 vertical to go. The next two days brought a foot of snow and some skiing, while we waited for the conditions to come around. The 4th day, was low 5o's and sunny. We decided to split the team into two groups with two leaders. We fired the tower in about 6 hours round trip. Keith is a good man, I look forward to more adventure with him.

That pretty much sums up the weekend. It was the first time in a while that I have layed on the couch for more than 2 hours. The weather looks like it will hold for a C-wood ride tonight. I am unsure about Tuesday night worlds, this will be weather dependent. I have built in some rest time for the rest of the week. I want to be strong for C-wood on Saturday. This will be a good test of my fitness and recovery ability. I want to do well in this race, so I can get a good lead in the series, and have a good buffer going into the fall races. I am gunning for another jersey.