My backyard is riding really nice right now!

Me n the fellas (well, some of the fellas) gathered for an assault on Corner Canyon last Friday afternoon. The results? 3 dudes grinnin from ear to ear with joy. See for yourself. We rode all over Corner Canyon. We closed the place down. Should have packed our lights. It was a great time. We should do it again. Soon.

Corner Canyon by night

Finally dusted off and charged the lights for a little night assault on Corner Canyon. Had 6 of us total. Justin, Banks, Bright, Tyler, Gordo and myself. Good times, can't wait to get out again. Enjoy the short video.

Justie chases me up Clarks

Here is part 2 of my video post from a few days ago. I couldn't fit it all into one video so I thought, why the hell not make 2? Pretty smrt right? I thought so. I introduced Justie to my latest favorite loop. Jacobs climb, Jacobs DH, Ghost DH, Rush 3 DH, back up Clarks. 2 really good climbs, 1 long decent. 2 loops of that is pure money. Enjoy Justies ugly mug on this vid.

Summer Solstice 2012

I dusted the camera off for the Summer Solstice early am ride with Justie. For some reason, the new Smashing Pumpkins song I used in the middle of the video didnt work. Not sure whats up with that.

Anyways, if you watch the videos only for the music, you will want to skip the middle. We need some rain bad. The trails are soooo dusty right now. Dear mother nature, a little rain would be great right now. Sincerely yours, Earth loving Mountain Biker.

Enjoy the video

Gettin Dirty in the early A.M

Go away pervs. Not what you think. We finally got out of bed super early for an early A.M dirty session in Corner Canyon. 18 miles of pure freaky goodness. Home before anyone hardly misses me. Love the summer. Enjoy the video. I think I am getting a little better at the videos. Still can't edit it down under 5 minutes though. But then again, why not watch more? More is good, right?

R.A.T Justies Charity Ride

This Memorial Day, we decided to do a longish road ride instead of suffer and get our ass's beat at the ICUP race. I'm still recovering from a head cold so, it was for the best. We had a crew of 9 riders. Our plan was to roll down to the mouth of Provo Canyon, up the bike path, up the backside of AF Canyon to the summit and back down the front side. It was a bit chilly but, it was a great ride with excellent company. Enjoy the video.

From the Archives-Open Letter to Cowabunga Bay

From the Archives-Open letter to Cowabunga Bay- This was originally posted in August, 2010.

So, let me start this by saying this. Hannah has been looking forward to going to Cowabunga Bay for months now. Everytime we drive by she says “WATERSLIDE! IT’S NOT OPEN YET” thats what we have been telling her. It’s not open yet. I figured if we were going to make it to the waterpark this year it had to be soon. They start closing during the week starting September 1. This was our week to do it. 

After a brief discussion, we (Lindy) decided that it should be a Daddy/Daughter outing. I was cool with that because ya know, I’m cool as a cucumber. I can handle it. And besides, Lindy didn’t have any interest in riding any slides so we would be paying for her to just chill at the crisp refreshing pool. More about that later. 

Hannah and I arrived just after opening. 10 a.m. Hannah was PUMPED! We got our wristbands on, entered the park, and found our chairs. 2 nice chairs by the crisp refreshing pool. It had a nice large canopy overhead and I chose the chairs that would optimize our time in the shade. 2 chairs that just barely entered the shade thus giving us hours of shade by the crisp refreshing pool. 

I lathered Hannah up with sunblock, got her life vest on and wait for it.......peeled my shirt off to expose my sexy bike ridin physique. Of course it was accompanied by a sweet cyclist tan. Awesome! Calm down ladies, I’m taken. 

We decided a stroll through the lazy river was a good way to get loose for the slides. We entered the lazy river and went around the loop a few times. Then it was time for some slides. We made our way over to the slides and started out with the small ones. I have to admit, even the small slides were fun for me. It’s been years since I went on a water slide. We rode the 2 small slides in the Kiddie area first. Then we quickly moved on. We rode all the slides that Hannah could ride with me several times. Dad needed a break so we made our way back to the aforementioned crisp refreshing pool. Dad pulled up a chair and let Hannah play in the pool. It was a small pool that opened up to the lazy river on the other side. It was mostly a few feet deep so Hannah could roam around and play. I know what your saying. This is getting boring to read. Get your hands off that mouse. You do want to keep reading. This is where it gets a little dicy. 

Get this picture in your head. Nice warm August Friday. Sun blazing, kids playing, adults lounging. I was comfortable on my chair, hand behind my head feet kicked up, all I needed was a beverage. Hannah, happy as can be playing in the water, trying to make some friends with some “older” women that were lounging around the pool. They seemed disinterested. Thats cool. You’ll get whats comin. Next thing I know, I look up and Hannah has that look. All you parents know the “look”. The look of panic. The look of I got a turtle head pokin out and there aint a track fast enough to get ya to the bathroom. My first thought was OH #$%*! Well, that pretty much says it all. Hannah, crying with one hand reached around grabbing her butt. The other well, I don’t really remember what the other hand was doing. So, I make my way out into the water to get her and take her to the potty. This is where I see it. Yep, you guessed it. DOODY! OHHHHHHHH MY! So, I do what every dad would do. I put on my superhero cape and became SUPER POOPER! I jumped into action to try and save the day. I noticed a little “doody” oozing from her swim trunk bottoms, I scooped it into my hand hoping nobody would notice that it was MY kid that doodied in the pool! Got her out of the pool and seriously wondered what the hell do I do now? I glanced to the left, glanced to the right, looked straight ahead. Nobody had noticed yet. Do I tell someone or just beeline it to the family bathroom? Yea, thats what I did, I beelined it to the bathroom. Hey, I had a cryin kid with a swimsuit full of peanut butter and I of course had a handful of it. I made my way to the bathroom, shut the door, click and locked it up. Oh boy! So here I am, handful of doody, a crying 2 year old with pants full, I’m barefoot in a bathroom (nasty). Then I remembered that I was wearing my cape. I got some paper towels, got the poop out of my hand, put it in the garbage. HA! Just kidding, I put it in the toilet. I got Hannahs pants off and sat her on the potty. She was upset, I was upset, we all were upset. Especially whoever noticed the Doody in the pool. I am positive they didn’t laugh. Althought it would be funny as long as YOU weren’t in the pool. 

So, I scrape the turd that has turned to peanut butter due to the excess of water. (sorry, I got to be extra descriptive here so you get the picture) I get her swim trunks somewhat clean. I then washed them with soap a few times, then wash my hands, get Hannah cleaned up, wipe her butt, wash her hands a few times, got her swim trunks on. I then had to clean up a little poop that was on the floor. I did a good job, don’t worry. I then stood there. Wondering. What is waiting on the other side of this door. Remember, we left the pool and it was a fun playful environment. Kids playing, adults lounging. Our chairs were RIGHT next to the pool. I approached it like taking off a bandaid. I opened up the door. Again, I glanced left, right, then straight to see if anyone started pointing fingers at us as we emerged from the bathroom. So far so good. The pool was completely cleared out. As well as the lazy river. You know, they were connected. All I saw was 3-4 lifegaurds, a few “official” Cowabung people. You know they gotta test the water. One dude had rubber gloves on and a red bag that he was holding gingerly. Yep, there’s Hannah’s turd. Do I go say sorry? Nah, I took the opportunity to just slip out to the OTHER side of the water park. We started climbing stairs so Hannah could play and I could keep my eye out for any finger pointers. You know, I felt bad but I’m sure its not the first time that it has happened this summer. 

Ok, enough fun looking at pictures. I guess thats pretty much it for my adventures that day. We hung out for another hour. The pool and lazy river opened up after about 45 minutes or so. I actually chuckled watching from afar. The life gaurds pacing back and forth to keep people out. Kids standing at the edge of the pool all pissed that they can’t swim. Comical I tell ya. I couldn’t make this stuff up. I guess wehn I say Nate’s Adventure’s it doesn’t always involve a bike, skis or something else I have gotten myself into. Sometimes its an adventure with Hannah. Most of the time those are great adventures. This one was a little scarred. We still had a blast and I think I made the best of a shitty situation. 

Cowabunga Bay 

I am truly sorry that my kid decided to dookie in your pool. She has just recently been potty trained and well, I guess she isn’t quite 100% yet. I guess I decided to stay because your entry fees are a little steep so I felt I had to stay to get my money’s worth. I guess its a good thing you don’t have a no poop guarantee. I will however come again. Not this year however. We will return next year when Hannah is fully potty trained. I can only hope that I don’t poop in your pool. If I do however, I apologize in advance. It was simply just a shock at how expensive water parks have become. 

Yours Truly, 

SUPER POOPER

Rush part 3

Justie and I sent out to ride the ICUP course in Draper. I must say, its the best course yet. I'm afraid that the rain we are supposed to get, there won't be a race on that course this year. My guess is it will get rerouted and will be much less awesome. Anyways, I shot some footage of Rush. I can say that with each section of Rush it has gotten better. The last section is going to be a blast. Enjoy the video.

The Trailer Life

So, I finally have a place to hang my hat and work again. The long awaited Trailer. There are still a few things that need to happen to finalize everything but I have been spending time there trying to get back in the swing of things. Heres a shot of the trailer.

Pretty pimp right? Check out those rims! Anyhoo. This is very much unlike any other sales trailer I have worked out of in the past. You know, the typical double trailer that smells of stale sweaty carpet, single paned windows that breath with the wind flow, the creaking as the trailer shifts etc. Nope. This is state of the art. TV, Fireplace, DVD, CD, Kitchen etc. You name it, this thing has it. The one thing I DON'T have yet is permanent power. 

I get to pull two large 70 lb generators out of the trailer, connect em together (parallel) pull a huge cable out to connect em to the trailer, primer em up, start em and wait an hour till the trailer cools down. The bad thing is, its a pain in the ass. This takes me about a half an hour to get things all set up. Suppose to get 7 or so hours out of a tank of gas. Nope. 3-4. So, I get to go get gas and fill em up. Yay me! 

Today, I was filling it up with gas. All of a sudden, my foot felt cool. I was being very careful not to get any gas on my pants or shoes etc. Well, I failed. My right foot was soaked with gas. Yay me again! The new gas can didn't have quite the best seal on it and it was leaking down the front and off the bottom where I couldn't see the leak. Only feel it. 

Awesome! My hands already smelled like gas. The trailer doesn't have running water and now my foot is soaked in gas. I had a headache from the fumes, I wreaked of gas and I had an appointment in a few hours. So, I finished filling the generators, cranked the AC up and left. 

I needed shoes stat. Wasn't really in the mood to go try on shoes. Especially since these shoes were really pretty new. So, I went to REI. 

I decided these would be great. I wouldn't need to wear socks (it was soaked in gas too), they are comfy and don't look half bad with dress slacks. 

My trunk still smells of gas, my headache is gone and the day is winding down. 

I shoulda known when I took this picture earlier and sent it to a friend with a mocking caption that I was tempting the gasoline gods. They pissed on my shoes. At least they didn't light it with fire too! 

All of this happened today. After I got pulled over in Draper for speeding. I did get off with a warning. I guess I used up all my good luck first thing this morning. I knew I should have rode my bike today. 

The day is winding down. Comedy of errors today. The sun sets and tomorrow is a fresh new day. Thanks to friends for helping me laugh about all this shit. 

I'll be back for more tomorrow. 

Mothers Day Quickie!

Ha! Not what you think! I had a quick moment for a little ride Sunday afternoon inbetween  Church, Shopping (sorry judgemental neighbors) and visits to the Mothers of the day. I took it. It was a quick 45 minute ride. I took my camera to mess around with the angle and such. Turned out pretty good. Easier to see where the camera is pointing when its on your handlebars. Sorry, the video is a bit on the long side. Don't be confused by the title. Watch it if you want. I enjoyed it. I suck at the editing side of things.

Zen Love

A few months ago I took a solo day trip to St. George to ride some trails that I would be racing on in a few weeks. I really needed some red dirt therapy. I couldn't find anyone to go with me so, I ventured out on my own. Contrary to what I was saying during the Grit 50 Epic "There is nothing Zen about Zen". This is true when your trying to race it. Its tough, technical and demanding. But, when you are all alone and seem to have the entire trail to yourself, it actually is quite Zen. Maybe thats what they had in mind when they named it. I was eerily all alone for the entire day.

I am just now sifting through the footage from that day due to a corrupted file that kept crashing my Imovie. Its fixed now. Enjoy this amateur video.



Since it snowed last night, and Im not able to take advantage of the fresh snow NOR get on my bike. I thought a video would make me feel better. It did, just a bit.

Rush with Justie

Another day in Corner Canyon while on my "sabbatical" produces another video. I chased Justie (Justin Thomas) down Rush. Trails have been awesome lately. I have been on lots of rides. I'm ready to go back to work. Enjoy the vid.

P.S Can't wait for the last section of Rush to open up. Hopefully soon!

My love for CC runs deep

So, the chains finally dropped in Corner Canyon and along with it, the floodgates of joy were opened as well. Got out for 20 miles yesterday afternoon with Banks, Jdub, and JT. It was a great time except JT was trying to kill me via cardiac arrest. I will get my payback sometime. My heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my ears.

Anyways, heres a video of Jacobs. I need to adjust the camera up just a little. Otherwise it would have been a great video. I loaded it anyways. I also have one of Ghost DH. Justin was trying to show off for the camera and unclipped his pedal. He almost ate shit. That would have been awesome. (for the video sake not Justins)

It was a blast to get out, the day was perfect and the trails are pure money right now.

Enjoy-

Hannah rockin Moonbeam

I finally got this thing figured out and posted it onto vimeo. Its kind of a long video. Watch it if you like.

I took Hannah up to Solitude last week and we rode the "big lift". She was unsure of it but whats a dad to do? Push their kid outside their comfort zone. She got the hang of it. Fun to watch how much better she has gotten this year. Still a ways to go but its been a fun winter watching her ski. Enjoy.

Grit 50 Epic

I decided to take advantage of the generous offer from the promoters of a discount on this years entry after last years insane race. I of course was nervous and apprehensive as I think most were that attended the inaugural race. I thought, no way could that happen 2 years in a row. I signed up and hoped for the best. The few weeks leading up to the race I checked the weather, checked it again, then checked it again. Hoping for the best. It was looking iffy but, we were committed to going down. Hannah was pumped to finally get a vacation. She's 5, life is pretty stressful at 5 so she needed a break.

Friday's weather was great. Sunny, warm and in the 70's. Saturdays forecast looked to be pretty good until about 2 or 3. It looked like I might have a little rain towards the end or hopefully it holds off. Well, it held off. The weather was almost perfect. There was a little bit of a strong breeze on a few spots but for the most part it was great.

I started out pretty mellow. I felt good, never felt like I was going to hard. Finished the first section feeling good and moved on to Zen. Don't let that name fool you. Not much peaceful about this trail. Super technical, no rest on the ups or the downs. It tests you both physically and mentally. Slip up and you will be picking yourself up off the desert floor. Of course, there were a few sections I walked but I felt good about the trail and finished the first few sections faster than we had finished it the year previous by about 15 minutes. I was pretty happy to have Zen behind me. I rolled into the first aid station with Tyler Seamons, he was riding strong all day. He left the aid station a little in front of me and I didn't see him for a few hours. Banks and Tanner were behind but I figured they would catch up before long.

The climb out Stucki was decent. I paced it fairly slow up that climb and had some headwind, crosswind and tailwind. Tailwind was the best. I got to the top, stopped to stretch a bit and Tanner caught up. We started the decent together, I pulled away on the decent, finished the reaper lap, missed a turn and ran into Tyler who also missed the turn. We met up at the last aid station and Tanner caught back up. I scarfed a half a banana down and refilled some water and we headed off to the first of 2 laps on barrel roll. 2 laps was tough mentally. I felt like garbage on the first lap. Tyler dusted us on that first lap so me and Tanner kept each other company. Tanner was having an issue with his fork so, I lost him on the decent. The 2nd lap I felt much, much better. I felt as peppy as I could at that point. I didn't see Tanner again until the finish area. I finished the 2nd lap filled some water up and made my way towards the return wash. It took longer than I expected to get back into Green Valley, there was some headwind making my way back and I was tired and just wanted to finish. I made another wrong turn and had to backtrack just a bit. I felt like they could have used a few more trail markings but all in all it was pretty good.

I rolled into the finish area a little more than 6 1/2 hours. I was pretty happy. I didn't get sick, felt good for about 80% of the race. Rode strong, and finished with a smile. Lindy, Hannah and Lucy were all waiting for me at the finish. Great way to finish a good, long day on the bike. I will be back next year.

Tyler finished just before me, Tanner rolled in just after and Banks pulled the plug after Zen with some serious dizzy spells. Took him a few days to recover from some nasty illness. Don't worry Banks, I'm already in for next year.

Here are some photos I poached from the race.

Good times in the desert. It was good to see a lot of cycling pals that I never see all winter. It was also good to meet a few new ones. Worst part of the race was a little bit of a sore ass (to be expected) and two nasty big toes. I stubbed them while walking a few of the technical sections. The last one almost had me in tears. Going to lose that nail in about 6 months. Other than that, all good.

Say a little prayer

So, I ask that you all say a little prayer and ask that the weather holds out for all of us slow bastards that will be circling the desert singletrack tomorrow. The pros should be done around 1 and Im thinking I will be done around 4. Please bless us with good weather. Hell, after last year, I will be happy with 50's and partly cloudy or even cloudy. As long as the clouds don't open up like last year.

After all, tomorrow is St. Patricks day and I AM Irish. Well, Im part Irish. That counts. Pray for us.

Time to rock n roll. Lets do this.

The Desert

I made a day trip to St. George this past Monday. I couldn't talk any of my pals to join me so I went solo. They missed out. The weather was fantastic, maybe even a little too warm but nonetheless it was great to get out and ride in shorts and short sleeves.  I wanted to do a little Grit recon so I parked at the Zen trailhead. This made sense so I could stop and refuel easily. It worked out pretty good. I tried to find the first part but I got lost and rode some of the trails but not sure in what order. I think I cut that part in half or so. After that, I moved on to Zen. Zen is such a cool trail. Its hard, super technical and pretty demanding both mentally and physically. There are parts of this trail that I walk and Im not ashamed. Its a tough trail. I finished up Zen, headed to the car to refuel before heading out Bear Claw to Stucki. Stucki Springs climb while not steep or particularly long, it just beats me down. Each time I have ridden it it has put me in a dark, dark place. I made it although it felt like a furnace out there. Would it kill em to plant some nice big shade trees out there along the course? Come on, throw me a bone here.

Top of Stucki looking at the climb up. No Shade!

Looking at the descent towards Santa Clara. Still no shade but its a downhill. 

I made it to the top and took in the view for a minute. Then took off down the decent. Its a pretty fun decent, not long enough in my opinion. I got to the gate and continued to get lost. I wasnt really sure where the trails connect but I thought I could figure it out. I rode along some dirt roads and stumbled upon Rim Reaper/Rim Rocks. I saw some pink ribbons out there but had no idea if they were for Grit or something else. I was starting to get short on time so I rode around out there then headed back towards the car. I cramped up a few miles from the car. Nothing severe, I was able to stretch for a minute to loosen it back up. It was hotter than I was expecting it to be and I think I wasnt drinking enough. All in all, I felt decent. Not as fit as I felt last year at this time but not bad considering I haven't been skiing much due to our awesome snowpack.

Top of Zen looking towards Stucki

this car had 3 dudes in it. Going to Disneyland!

Red bull was nice after Zen

Top of Zen looking towards Snow Canyon

Carborocket was on board 

Good day in the Desert

Great trip, even if I had to go by myself. Next time, someone should come with me. I have tons of video from the ride but Imovie decided to take a big shit on me so I haven't been able to do anything with it. Kinda bummed. Till next time,

Sloppy Seconds

Last week, I tried to go to Solitude or Brighton on Sunday. It was a zoo. I have never seen it so busy up Big Cottonwood. I guess with Sundance and the Outdoor Retailer event going on it put alot more heathens up the canyon on a sunday than usual. I pulled the plug and returned Monday for some sloppy seconds. Not what I had in mind but better than nothin.

Powder Blueballs

So, I got up this morning knowing it was going to be tight to make it up to the resort before the whole world. I needed to help lindy get the girls ready for church before i could head up the canyon. Well, I was too late. Traffic up the canyon was ridiculous. Slick roads and people in civics holding things up. By the time I made it up there the parking lots were full and cars lined the road with powder hungry skiers and boarders. I decided to pull the plug and try it again tomorrow. After all, it's posed to snow tonight. That really only makes me feel a little better. I'm sure it was pretty sweet for those that made it up there. Here's to tomorrow! 

expectations lowered

So, I have not had many chances to try out this camera while skiing so far. It snowed a little this week and I sneaked up to get a few turns in before work. Here is the video. Its nothing too exciting. The snow was heavy, manky powder. It was still softish. How fast our expectations get lowered. Anyways, here's to hoping more light fluffy Utah powder is on the way. It looks like I need to shift the camera up just a titch. It was still great to get out and you will never hear me complain about getting some decent turns in before work.