60 Degrees in February?

Good day for a commute to work. High 40's on the ride in and high 50's for the ride home. The Raccoon River is flooding and the Bill Riley Trail is underwater, the rest of the trails were clear of snow and in good shape. It's supposed to go back near freezing which is probably a good thing for the rivers. I'm going to try and commute as much as possible from here on.

09 Guys Ski Trip - Seattle edition

Another great trip in the books. As posted before, this one was a last minute affair. The tickets were booked on Monday, I left Wednesday and we skied Thurs, Fri and Sat. I returned on Sunday. It was actually the perfect amount of time. We skied hard, partied a fair amount and caught up on each others lives.
Tom, my brother Tim and David, my high school skiing buddy. This pic is from the top of Crystal Mtn. Yes, this was a picture perfect day. We made 4 or 5 laps from this top lift. The runs are in yesterday's post.

David (Fluffy) is a big guy that has a laid back persona. It is evident in this picture.

It was snowing on Friday at Stevens Pass. Most of the steep North facing runs had some good snow. We had it to ourselves all day.

Fluffy can be an imposing figure.....at speed......in a steep chute......above you.

You don't want to miss the 1st turn at the top of this section. Look how quickly the chairs are dropping away :)

No injuries, which is fairly rare for our ski trips. We played it smart and quit before the legs were jelly. Always saved it for the next day. However, we didn't take it easy while skiing. No more major cliffs or jumps for us old guys, but the GS turns on the groomers were quit fun. I brought the GPS to pay with. 55.2 on Friday and 63.3 on Saturday. I always knew we skied fast and used to estimate 30-40 mph was common. After feeling checking the speeds after several runs, I think we will have to up those numbers to 40-50 is fairly common with these guys. Disclaimer: Not with crowds around and only in wide open areas.

More pics on the flicr site, here.

Crystal Mtn.

Another great day of skiing. More people on a weekend, but uncrowded on the steep stuff. This is a picture at the top of Crystal Mtn. We've been making laps through the chute in the middle of this picture. It was icy this morning, but the sun is out and it is now spring conditions.

Stevens Pass

Up at Stevens Pass for the day. Decent snow but foggy. No real good pictures due to the fog so I took one of this avalanche puppy in training. Her name is Neva.

Guys Ski Trip

Last minute decision to join an old friend and my brother for a ski trip in Seattle. Tonight we are skiing at Alpental on Snoqualmie Pass. Just working on getting the ski legs back under me. There can't be more than 100 people at this hill tonight. Which is nice because we can make high speed laps without worry.

Saturday's Gravel Ride

Fuller, Sumpter and Will met at my house for a 7am gravel grinder. It was a warm 28 degrees and we headed south towards the booneville loop. We met Rick and Squirrel and pushed into the wind. I was off the back all morning, but Will kept me company. We did one loop for 40 miles. The others did two. I saw Sumpter later in the day and feed him beer & pizza so he could finish with a hundy.

So my hundy streak ends at twelve. I actually feel good about that. At one point in the ride (when I realized that I wasn't riding a century), I looked over at Will and told him how I was relieved that I didn't have to keep track of pavement miles any longer. At that point it seems like the ride became more refreshing.

Sunday Breakfast

Curly haired Hannah loves chocolate milk.