20 Miles on Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving....... Pup, Jay, Mark, Ryan, and I all went out bright on early on Turkey day for a serious ride. First off let me start off by saying that I was diffidently the Santa at the end of this Thanksgiving day parade (I have no shame in saying I was the slowest). As we rounded out the first 5 miles, my stomach decided that it needed to make some extra room for the big meal to come. After revisiting breakfast I was doing much better. The day was great and good times were had by all. I will say the Members of the Future 08' "Extreme Couture" Primal Quest team turned in a stellar performance. Big thanks to Pup for letting me borrow his Santa Cruz.

Dashing the Hope of 10 year olds at the Southern Highlands 5K

By the sound of title you may think this is a bit cruel, but don't judge me until you read the entire post. So there I was, a glorious Saturday morning in the south west side of Vegas. After meeting up with Ben, Laura, Anthony, Krista and Ryan we got our numbers and headed toward the starting line. There they were, our competition dressed in pumpkin orange soccer uniforms. A very intimidating force of 15 10-11 year old soccer players. Now most of you may not see this as a thing to fear. Let me explain my rational, it is very easy to be beaten down by your piers but not by a group of kids who have never seen an episode of ALF. Not to mention, I been doing old school Rockey Training (remember Rockey in Russia) by running with Sienna in the running stroller. So the gun went off and Ryan and I vowed to each other that no matter what the cost we would beat the kids. The first pack of kids were picked off in the first mile (much like wounded wilder beasts near a lions watering hole.) The last few proved a bit more evasive. At about Mile two we spotted the last two of them. Ryan and I decided we would push the pace and see if we could break their spirit. If our speed did not work we decided that we may be able to crush their will to run by letting the cat out of the bag about Santa. Lucky for them our speed carried us through and after a bit of trash talking we ran past them, thus overtaking the all 15 players. The feeling was sweet as we past the finish line. The field and the Glory was ours that day. Oh the sweet taste of victory!

Megan's Birthdaypalooza 07'

Megan Tearing The Trail Up!

At The Top After A Long Climb

The Brown family had a serious week of celebration for Megan's 27th birthday. We kicked it off with a surprise party last Wednesday and carried it through the weekend. My parents were in town over the weekend so we had free babysitting so it was time to hit the trials. Now that it is not 150 degrees out side you can ride in the middle of the day. We woke up late (7:30 that's how lame we are) and hung out on Saturday till we felt awake enough to ride. By about 10 we decided to head out to Cotton Wood and hit it. So knowing that my wife is not happy with a ride unless she climbs for over an hour I knew just the trail. So up the mountain we went until we reached the top. It was so much fun to get out and ride together again. We finished off the ride with a killer downhill and a few bumps and scratches. So with a good ride under our belts we loaded up chips and Diet Coke and headed for home. Happy B-day Megan!

Frampton, Snow, Blue Diamond=Blown Rear Shock

Peter Frampton Singing "Do you feel like I do?"

Blue Diamond, NV


Blown Romic Rear Shock

So, by the title you may wonder how all these things come together. Here it is------after a week of looking forward to going back up to Brian Head to ride with Ben and Anthony I found out that it was going to snow. Snow and bikes do not go hand and hand and besides there is nothing cool about being cold (mock me, I can take it). So bummed out beyond belief I decided to stay at home and just kick it. I decided around 3 on Saturday I would head out to Blue Diamond and do a ride (Blue Diamond sites about 20 min. from Vegas and has a trial system of about 200+ miles). As I drove out there I decided to enjoy Peter Framton's rock masterpiece "Framton Comes Alive". As I rolled up to the parking lot at Blue Diamond I was fully rocking out to "Do you feel like I do" (12 min and 53 seconds of 70's rock pleasure). With lifted spirits I got on the KHS and began to ride. As I climbed I could tell something was wrong with the bike. As a reached the second hill I looked down and noticed I had oil from the shock all over my legs and shoes. At that moment I realized the ride was over and the rear shock was blown. I must say at first I was really mad, then it came to me. No matter how bad things ever get at least Peter Frampton "Feels Like I do".

Desert Solitaire (kind of)

Dave and Jed

Keep on Keeping on-----Not quite what Edward Abby may of had in mind, but this Saturday we had a killer time ridding on the south side of SR160. Dave was in town from Reno this weekend, Vegas local Jed (super ranger), and my self meet up in the parking lot around 7am. Now to most you this may sound week because it was only around 50 outside, but it felt like Old Man Winter had come. It was really cold, but we made up for balmey temp by doing a ton of climbing. With my new bike coming in at around 40 pounds (she may be heavy, but there is allot of cushion for the pushing) I warmed right up. The cool thing about Vegas is you can be kicking it on the strip and within a short drive you can be in the middle of desert enjoying a bit of solitaire.

Adventure Xstream 3 Day Race In Moab

Fellow Sin City Dirt amigos Mark Jackson and Mark "Pup" Roberts are killing it at the 3 day Moab Adventure Extreme Race. This race is a mix of Running, Biking, Kayaking, Orienteering, Ropes, and serious sleep deprivation. They are doing this in order to get ready for Primal Quest 08' (a ten day race). They will be sponsored by fellow adventure racer Randy "The Natural" Couture and will race under the name Team Xtream Couture. They are currently racing under and sponsorship of Red Rock Running Company (team 440). You can track their progress in the Moab race at http://www.checkpointtracker.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.showLeaderboard&eventID=126

We Almost Had To Eat Dan On The Bunchgrass Trail

All smiles as Dan, Megan, and I started out on the White Pine/Bunchgrass Trial in Logan, UT. Not saying that the smiles faded, but it turned into a bit of an adventure. First off I was using my brothers Klien and I did not notice it had slicks on it until we were starting the ride. With that being said I ate S@#$ more then a few times. We were trucking down the trail, then the trail seemed to go away. There were actually a bunch of downed tress and due to the fact they free range cattle up there there were small trials going in every direction. So we followed the one with bike tracks on it. Well, whoever laid those tracks down went the wrong way. In fact as the trail basically stopped we found a bike out there that someone had just left! As we bushwhacked through the sage carrying our bikes, Dan offered himself as a survival feast if needs be (team player that Dan, good guy to have with you if you are flying over the Andie's or stuck on Donner Pass). We realized we were lost and it was then that Dan turned to his TV learned survival skills (Survivor Man) to get us out. He said lets go down the valley and follow the stream. I will say as we bushwhacked through the sage we finally heard cars and realized we would not have to eat Dan after all. As we got closer to the road we realized we had to forge the Logan River. By this time we were just delirious and we all sat on the bank of the river and laughed. Good times were had by all, sometimes getting lost can be the best part of the ride.