Got Firewood?

The weather was good so it was another opportunity (albeit lackadaisical) to gather, split, and stack some more firewood. We had to hike it in because the snow pack's too high for the ATV nowadays and the only trunk-like pieces left in our piles were the big uns so we didn't haul too many away from our lot. I'm starting to work off some of the potential energy I collected from Thanksgiving as kinetic energy via (not so efficient) work.
Here's what we were able to bring up...

Here's what it translates to (three, huge, wheel barrow's worth) after splitting it; doesn't seem like much although it's better than nothing I suppose. Thank you maul splitter, axe, and Stihl chainsaw.

Note to self, this sucks, I'm gonna get an earlier start on this nonsense next year.

Happy Giving of Tanks Y'all (i.e. eating no riding)

Mount Sopris' perspective from their deck, nice to see everyday no?

Team M, plus Grandma went to visit Melissa's cousin (Grandma's niece) in Glenwood Springs for Thanksgiving. We headed out Wednesday and nary was there any traffic to speak off. On the flat spots out near Vail and Copper we were rolling pretty good, as good as a loaded 4runner with six people and cargo case up top could roll. Tanya and her husband's property consists of 6000 acres overlooking Mount Sopris. Very beautiful scenery for two cool people to raise their two very cool boys. It was quite an excellent time hanging out with them.
Their oldest son Chase is quite tall for a 7th grader so instead of riding/working out (like I could do that anyways), I played basketball with the kids each morning or played two hand, touch football with an all weather nerf football. Playing basketball at my advanced years is kinda hard on the knees with all the zig-zagging involved but it was still fun playing with the kids. I'd lift Mason over my head so he could "slam-dunk" too.
One time I got to ride Chase's 80cc motocross on the property with the kids hanging tightly to my ever-increasing waistline during eat-fest 2009 (aka Thanksgiving). Maricel particularly dug it, I would open up the little 80cc motor out here and she would say, "go faster Daddy!" Kids are cool. So now I have to work on Melissa in order to get our Team M motorcycle...
Any calories spent playing football or basketball with the kids were negated by the quality of food I'm stuffing down my gullet.
This was my first "Black Friday" experience too. The Glenwood Springs Wal-Mart was advertising a sweet, bundled deal on the Wii and another sweet deal on the iPod touch, 8 gig including a $50 iTunes gift card (for Chase from his Mama). I volunteered for this mission in unfriendly territory when they opened at 5 in the a.m. Of course they didn't have the bundled Wii as advertised so I got the regular sports Wii at the regular price but at least they had the iPod touch. Jeez! Y'all should've seen all the hominids out there just grabbing shizzle or lining up to get shizzle. I bought a three pack of underwear for myself because naturally, I forgot to pack it when I did my last minute packing and batteries for the digital camera with all the pictures I would be taking this weekend. As (bad) luck would have it, I found the trainee cash register person's queue. It was painful watching him struggling to find the UPC code on the boxes to be checked out. Painful y'all. Painful. 1 hour and 15 minutes later I was outta there! Seemed like I accomplished a lot though standing like a lemming in this line and that in order to show the true meaning of westernized Christmas-consumerism! Ooo-weee, but that's another blog entry y'all...
Saturday was spent on top of Glenwood Caverns. Absolutely fun family time. Firstly we did the Cavern walking tour (as opposed to crawling or adventure tours they have there).
Bacteria caused these reddish hues on the cavern's wall.

The stairs we hiked up and down

Cool stalactites...

Here's what we did after the cave tour: 2 rounds of laser tag, 2 rides on the alpine slide, and two 4D movies (where the seats move, I got kinda sea-sick on one show).
The line for the gondola ride down was long so we spent some time drinking the adventure park's eponymous brew-on-tap...

and taking pictures of the town from up top, 'round twilight...

...and the girls (in sepia tones)...

The absolute highlight of the evening after spending 4 hours playing with family and friends was soaking up the hot springs pool at night while watching the lighting and fireworks show of the historic Hotel Colorado. Parking was a beeyatch! There was this surreal moment when we were all hanging out in the deep end of the pool near the diving board. Maura climbed out of the pool to walk over to the diving board, tolerating the sub-freezing air temperatures with steam coming off her body in waves and as she ran to jump in the deep end, the fireworks exploded behind her. A sub-freezing, phantasmagorical episode y'all.
This results in some very tired kids (and adults).

Dreading the ride (and facing the reality of Monday morning) back Saturday after spending such a fantastic time with (extended)family.

Shnap! No riding outside tomorrow (or the next days)...

Here's some undisturbed, newly fallen snow from our front/side yard.

How come the weather's just absolutely peachy during the weekday but when the slightest hint of weekend shows up it turns absolutely ill?! It was in the sixties most of the week now it's snowing and sticking up here. Everywhere else it's just a mess. Some teammates and I were going to go for an off-road excursion Saturday morning but looks like I'm going to bust out the rollers in my living room instead. Ahhhh, how utterly mind (and crotch) numbing. Hmmmm should I do three, four, five, or six minute intervals (maybe I'll step up to them as part of the session)? Oh joy of joys!!! Then the joy of inter-interval cool downs whilst my heart is beating like a hummingbird in my throat. Wow, this is waaaaay better than Christmas. Ooooo-weeeeeee!!!!!! Looking forward to this in the morning!!! Hmmmmm? Which is more fun riding rollers or repeatedly hitting my frontal cortex with extreme velocity with a ball-peen hammer (technically it's called peening) inflicting blunt force trauma? Maybe I'll smack my mellon holding the ball-peen hammer with my non-dominant hand just for variety's sake? Decisions, decisions y'all....
Saturday comes and I'm on the rollers. Since I'm on this LP kick, I listen to the Smiths' Strangeways, Here We Come. First side's for warming up and kicking it to big chainring steady state; second side's for intervals. Did four (maybe five?), two-minute intervals with two minutes of forced recovery in-between.
Saturday night as we're coming home from a get-together with friends Mother Nature lets 'er rip again with some major non-blizzard quality snow dumpage. This of course begins on our journey home. All manner of people were going to ditches and emergency lights from vehicles coming to their rescue made for an illuminating ride back to the foothills of Denver. This one nitwit CRUISED by me in a fwd, Chevy Malibu when the roads were slushy but within minutes the temperature drops and the roadway's now this pebbly ice/snow obstacle course-see his taillights in a ditch. Doofus...
My Tundra kicks a$$ by the way. Can't live out in the high-country without 4wd or all-wheel drive. Some nitwit in a non-4wd, lifted truck was fishtailing in front of us; i though he was going to take us out! Punched the skinny pedal to get around his non-local self. Every now and again I see the arc of his headlights in my rear-view mirror proving to me once again that he's fishtailing and as well as being a nuisance to people with better judgement in inclement weather. My old Audi woulda ate these road conditions up! I miss the German handling and sportiness but not the repairs associated with S cars over 100,000 miles. This was the car where on a road trip to Moab, I would go 110 mph for ten minute blocks of time. The ten minute mark was when reason would kick in and say, "dude, if you get busted at these speeds it's straight to jail!" I would back her down to 90, see no cops, and spool her back up to 120 again. Ten minutes later the angel on my shoulder would parrot the jail statement again. This went on from the Vail Valley to Glenwood Springs when a 7-series BMW blew by me during one of my 120 mph stints (in Colorado, there's a bit of animosity between Audi and BMW owners). My Audi was electronically governed at 125 mph. After that velocity, the fuel injectors would slowly shut down...crazy.
Sunday we wake up to at least a foot of new snow. 2 hours later, the ATV with the blade attachment and good old manual labor with a snow shovel gives us maneuverable space on our driveway and dirt road.
later the sun tries to poke through but to no avail...

Maura loves riding the ATV with me but the winds at 16°F did her in early. Ite my son's asleep. Gonna run two miles for some cross-training on the treadmill.

64° F up at 8400' today!

Here's Maricel as a midi on a picture postcard day in November!

Awesome kids. After I took Maricel to her soccer game, I got in one of my favorite climbing loops up here. Speaking of her soccer, her team is soooo studly and the score was a little lopsided, that her coach in order to not run up the score, told her girls they had to kick the goal shots with their left foot. Maricel had three, non-offsides breakaways but couldn't close the deal because the opposing goalie could defend her left-foot kicks. My other daughter, supposedly scored multiple goals too (I'll take her word for it!), during her match and rematch due to the blizzard. As a poppa, I'm so proud of my chilluns!

The weather is nutty. One week it's a blizzard and the following week it's in the sixties. I'll take whatever I can take. Yesterday, I off-roaded with my teammates for a night ride at Green Mountain. We figured it's one of the quickest places to dry out but boy there was some pretty stout, muddy places out there. Still, it was an hour of decent riding at night. I was last on the choo-choo of teammates climbing up the steep fireroad, breathing like steam engine (and going just as slow I'm sure). I love my lighting system...

Today though was outstanding. Blue skies and a slight, pesky south wind but really I couldn't complain. Okay I can, here's the stuff that just made it a little tricky: the shady areas on the road when I'm blasting a downhill made for some wet, icy spots; and the sand from CDOT putting some traction on once melted snow. If you hit it as if you were hitting a railroad crossing in the rain, usually you roll right over it. The switchbacks kept me honest. I did a mental inventory on the gears I used to climb this stuff in and I was pretty much in my granny and couldn't punch through the rollers but it is the off-season so I just settled back to an intensity just below tempo on the climbs. One guy passed me on the first climb and that's cool but when they look back it's game on sucka. I hunkered down in a gear I could sustain but it was burning my lungs just enough for me to weather the short, steep climb. He had about a 20-car length on me at the start of the descent but usually my throttle's wide-open on the downhills. It took about 3 minutes for me to pass him and I could tell he was doing some heavy breaking in the icy spots. Plus I passed him in my preying mantis tuck (knees hugging the top tube, feet at the three and nine o'clock position, and hands on the tops of the handlebars with my chin resting just behind the stem) saying non-verbally, "Take that you fraidy cat of descending you and I'm not even pedaling." Curses to you testosterone!

Well the pictures do my ride justice. It was pretty difficult because I'm pretty much in the off-season meaning I don't ride regularly. In fact, it's been two months since I've ridden with any intensity. Running's not so bad I guess; riding the rollers absolutely suck!
In order, highgrade...

...pleasant park...

...more pleasant park...

...city view (we're getting higher kids)...

...altimeter check (2590.8 meters for my metric buds)...

...city view, finale...

My biggest goal in the off-season is to not balloon up in weight and I was pleased with myself that when I was flying the team colors I didn't feel like a stuffed sausage.

To finish up a lovely day, I did manly things before the sun went down. My perception is that of contributing to the familia. I changed my sweet Melissa's oil in her 4Runner with Mobile1 synthetic, washed her car, and changed out the kitty litter boxes (I hate that). As I'm making dinner--a manly dinner of quiche may I add--I'm drinking a lovely Spaten Optimator and have the LPs queued up on the record player. Listening to the Stray Cat's Built for Speed. Next up, David Gilmour's first solo LP-about face. Children, life is pretty sweet right now...