Year of Awesome

It Takes a Village To Create Awesome

Archive for January, 2010

TGIF…I Guess.

Jan 29

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The awesome thing about being semi-retired is that it doesn’t really matter what day it is. Today is Friday. It was a good day. I went for a really fun ride that I’ve never done before (more on that later) and I recycled a bunch of old electronic crap. In my old life, that would have been a nice little Saturday. Now, it’s a nice little any day.

So, the only reason that I have to TGIF is because it means Mindy will only work 8 hours per day for the next few days and my other friends will want to play. Speaking of which, Mindy will be transferring from a plane to I-70 for a nice little drive to Summit County, where we will be staying for the weekend to ski and fraternize.

Here’s a couple of pics from the ride and the GPS data. No heart rate data, as the monitor was at the bottom of the bag and I had too much clothes on by the time I found it.

View From Top of Dakota Ridge Toward Red Rocks

This is one of several spots where my heart almost exploded.

My Ride

No Geese Were Harmed In This…..Goose Hunt

Jan 29

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I took Maggie (dog) up to the ranch on Thursday to see if we could get a goose. Now, if I was a serious goose hunter, I would have gone up the night before, slept in the cabin, woke up before dawn and put a ton of decoys out. I’ve had enough of early mornings for awhile, so we got there about noon.

As I’m sure you surmised from my title, the geese won. We saw some huge flocks but they were way too high to shoot. So, we wondered around the ranch and looked for some sitting on the water somewhere. Again, nothing. No big deal though, Maggie had a good time and I got some exercise trudging around in my hunting gear. Plus, Maggie got a chance to wear her new, custom, camo fleece jacket (courtesy of Connie Jaouen):

Where's Maggie?

Coincidentally (not really), her jacket matches my custom fleece sweatshirt exactly:

Where are Maggie and Brant?

Other than rescuing a goat from possible death by stupidity, the “hunt” was pretty uneventful. More like a walk in the woods, actually. Still, way more awesome than spending the day in a cubicle.

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Green Mountain Ride

Jan 27

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I rode Green Mountain today. The trail to the top was a bit icy in spots, but overall pretty dry. I took the Superfly, which was a bit of a stretch because GM is generally really rocky. The good news is that it performed quite well, and I posted a fantastic time, given that it’s January. I’m amazed at how the same amount of effort (lots) gets me to the top so much quicker on this bike than on my 575. Getting down was definitely slower though. This was my first real descent on the Superfly. I did not have the confidence that I have on my 575, but some of that comes from getting used to the setup. Some of it comes from tires, which aren’t especially burly on the Superfly. I have some riser bars on order, which should help as well. Overall, I’m really happy with the bike. It’s fast.

View west from the top of Green Mountain. Beautiful day. Nice ride.


My ride today (21:33 to top).
Same ride from June on the Yeti 575 (22:45)

Video Yoga and Road Biking

Jan 25

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Today I got the all-clear from the Dentist to resume YOA activities. In the morning, I did a 45 minute Yoga workout I found on demand. This is the first time I’ve tried yoga and I think I could get into it:

First, even on the video, there were a number of attractive young ladies in my class. Actually, the aweome part of video Yoga is that I seem much less creepy staring at the ladies on the screen than I would be if I attended a live yoga class.

Second, 45 minutes is pretty fast for something that is really supposed to be good for me. I’m going to need some stuff to fill my days and this fits the bill nicely.

Finally, it would be nice to have a little flexibility. As you can see from my day one weigh-in post, I can barely see my feet, let alone reach them.

I rode the road bike this afternoon on the Cherry Creek Trail. Not very exciting but a good workout. I’m going to post the GPS and heartrate data from my workouts from now on. You will note that my heart is about to explode at some points but I’m not going very fast. This is mainly due to some pretty strong headwinds on the route today.

Today’s Ride

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Updated and Updates

Jan 24

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YOA.com has a new look! Thanks to the efforts of Nick Jaouen, YOA now looks like a proper blog. The YOA Google Calendar is also available at right. We are still making improvements, but this is basically what it’s going to look like going forward.

As for the last few days, the wisdom tooth extraction was a success, however Talon’s Challenge was a no-go on physician’s advice. OG and I rode the middle section of Chimney Gulch today. Much more ice than last week, windy and generally not warm. The new bike performed well and would have been much faster had it not been encumbered by a fat dude sitting on it. My first impression of the 29er is similar to what most people say, i.e. rolls more easily over obstacles, and seems to soak up the small stuff. I’m running tubeless, which also helps soak up the bumps. Compared to the 575, the Superfly feels really light. A pretty dumb observation, considering that the Superfly is probably 6+lbs lighter than the 575. But, I’m not always sure that I can tell the difference between different bikes that are different weights. In this case, I could tell, big time. The other cool thing about a hard tail is the ability to stand up on hills, which I like doing on my road bike. In fact, if I had a way to describe riding the Superfly up Chimney Gulch, I’d say it’s closer to riding my Cervelo RS up Lookout road than riding the 575 up the Gulch. We didn’t ride down the trail/ice rink, so I did not get a good sense of how the bike descends.

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An Awesome New Bike

Jan 22

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The answer to how many bikes one needs can be easily solved through the simple equation n+1. Where n=the number of bikes currently in one’s possession. With this in mind, I decided that I would invest in a “racing” mountain bike. Granted, I didn’t “need” a racing mountain bike, but that has never been one of my criteria for purchases, so why start now. Anyway, here is my new Gary Fisher Superfly 29er Hard Tail – all 22.8 lbs of it:

Mmmmmmmmm.....Carbon Fiber.

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YOA Day 1 Weigh-In (SFW)

Jan 19

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I believe this speaks for itself:

218.6lbs.

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First Official Day of Temporary Retirement

Jan 19

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Today was the first official day of my temporary retirement.  My general plan for my days is to:

1. Wake up

2. Take Mindy to work

3. Go for a ride/run

4. Eat

5. Do something else productive or workout again (swim, lift etc.)

6. Make dinner

7. Chill

Today was the first day that I attempted to execute this regimen and I’d say to some success.  Most importantly I rode my bike. Specifically, my mountain bike on the Chimney Gulch trail.  It’s my first expereience riding a mountain bike in January and on snow.  Pretty fun, although I noted that the 15lbs I have gained since October made it hard to ride uphill.  Weight loss will have to be a big part of the year of awesome.  Here are some pics:

The top section of the ride was very icy, which made it slow going.  I promised myself on the way up that I wouldn’t ride down this section, as it would have resulted in YOA lasting exactly one day.  I have to make promises to myself like this when I’m going uphill because after I get to the top I feel like Superman.  I am not Superman.

Wisdom tooth extraction tomorrow.  Probably won’t ride again until Friday, depending on weather.  Talon’s Challenge at Beaver Creek on Saturday – more than enough of a workout.

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Toe Surgery

Jan 19

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Many of you know that I regret not being a doctor.  The good news though is that I’ve found a loophole in the law that could allow me to practice medicine and I won’t have to go to medical school!  It turns out, I can do all kinds of surgeries, as long as I only do them on myself.

I smashed my big toe while skiing on Saturday.   It hurt a lot all day Sunday, which lead me to believe that I probably needed “surgery”.  As an experienced toe jammer, I recognized that the blood buildup under the nail was causing pressure, which was leading to pain.  Most people go to the doctor when this happens and the physician uses some kind of tool to drill through the nail and relieve the pressure.

Normally in this situation, I would use a hot needle to create a hole in my nail.  I say, “normally” because this is what I did last year when this happened. The problem with the needle is that it takes a substantial amount of effort to penetrate the nail with the needle and you really really don’t want to go too far.  It’s a very delicate procedure and usually I stab my nail bed with the hot needle. The good news is that my parents bought me a Dremel for my birthday in November.  I’m sure you can see where this is going:

Minor Surgery

My favorite part of the procedure was when I finally broke through the nail, a geyser of blood spewed from the hole that I drilled.  Unfortunately, my trusty photographer nearly passed out/puked at the sight, so the only imagery that I have is this crappy photo taken after the fireworks were over:

Overall, a pretty awesome surgery and the nail will likely die, which should provide some more self-surgical opportunities and some great photos.

Incidentally, a real doctor (well, dentist) will be extracting my wisdom teeth on Wednesday.  I considered doing it myself after I noted that the dentist has the exact same tool for his Dremel that I used for my toe surgery.  Unfortunately, I would need a reliable assistant to complete this kind of procedure and Mindy is clearly not up to the task.  I’ll try to get them to take some pictures for the blog.

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An Awesome Christmas Letter

Jan 11

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My Dad’s Annual (sort of) Christmas Letter:

Dear Friends,

Unfortunately, I’ve waited too long to write my Christmas letter. Now it will be seasonal and no one will read it and I have too much time to cover. We’ve been busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger with crabs. I considered waiting until June to write and let people think that we just forgot to send them the 2009 letter. I figured I could do some brief references to the nonexistent letter to make it seem more believable; like”…and everyone will be relieved that Nicholas has been exonerated from that situation I mentioned last year and I think the restraining order will be lifted soon.”

Connie and I now have 3 years in Wyoming and it seems like 10. Somehow, Connie has learned to control the weather. She goes to see her mom in Colorado Springs every month and it snows every time. In October the earliest snow of the year trapped her in the Motel 6 in Wheatland. The November snow trapped her in Greeley. The grand dog got giardia and Connie had to drive to Denver to care for her. They got 14” of snow that time. Pretty neat. She’s like a Weather Goddess.

I like to hike as much as anyone. During the bowl games, I’ll trek back and forth to the kegerator 6-10 times. So when the kids invited me to a hike, bike and drink weekend, I naturally assumed I could emphasize any activity I wanted. Wrong! Guys dying on Everest felt better than me. Two feet of snow, blizzard conditions and we’re hiking up something akin to K2 to fish. Trout is $2.50 a pound at Safeway and frostbite is rare there. However that was just a warm up. Connie and I and our niece and Connie’s sister went on a plastic surgery cruise to Greece and Turkey. Connie, as our tour guide, had us hiking in the Greek sun in conditions that rivaled the Bataan Death March. I’m going to try to do 2010 with no hiking. Maybe I’ll get one of those Amiga’s. I had to leave Connie in Turkey as a hostage of an irate, non-English speaking cab driver. I’ll go back and get her in the spring. I wonder how many goats it will cost me. Maybe after 6 months with Connie they’ll give me some goats.

The real delight of the year for me was a reunion of Colorado gymnasts called “60 year olds that competed in gymnastics in the 60’s.” It was so fun to see all of the guys I competed with back then. We all had to send an autobiography in and I embellished mine a bit to make me sound more interesting. Luckily, no one asked me to prove that I was the surgeon general. It seemed strange to me that most people knew me but no one remembered me as a gymnast. The most popular misconception was that I was the guy that mooned their wife. I think they had me confused with my friend Cliff Gauthier. Anyway, it was a great time.

Now about the kids, everyone will be relieved that Nicholas has been exonerated from that situation I mentioned last year and I think the restraining order will be lifted soon. Nicholas was sent to India as part of his job. While in Bangalore he ate some bad chicken curry and became the first underwear bomber to fly into the U.S. I think he has superceded all expectations considering his rap sheet, and we’re very proud of him.

Remember, I can’t talk about Brant and Mindy because their active neo-rich YUPPY existence is an embarrassment to the family. They don’t want me to talk about them because they are stable, successful, smart and beautiful. No, not as stable, smart, successful and beautiful as your kids but all things considered they’re doing ok. …Or should I say were doing ok? Now that unemployment is at it’s highest, he, who shall remain unnamed, has decided to quit his job and do something called the “year of awesome”. He has a fishing boat, a road bike and a mountain bike and he is going to stop working and try to wear them all out. He may augment his income of zero by building bicycle wheels. I can’t believe he can do something that stupid…err, genius. I may have to quit my job and help him through this tough time. I know how to build bicycle wheels and I’m good with beer. I’m the perfect guy to be around when somebody says,” Here, hold my beer.” I’m sure that’s going to be the “year of awesome’s” mantra.

You may be wondering about Brant and Mindy’s friend Ryan. Ryan was shot in the left testicle breaking up a gang fight in Aspen. It was the rich attorneys against the rich actors. Ryan thinks he was shot by Charlie Sheen. Anyway, he turned in his badge and took a job as a rough and tumble property attorney in Aspen. He figures it will be a safer job now that Hunter Thompson is dead.

Uncle Steve is back from Antarctica. It seems like he never left. They said he was one of the best front loader drivers they ever had. He was lost for several weeks in the dark frozen ice and was able to stay alive by joining a penguin scrum. He feels he has now found serenity. Instead of the lotus position, he stands quietly holding a soft ball on his bare feet to meditate.

Have a great year everyone and Happy Holidays!

Rich and Connie

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