Photos from Ninko Cabin - finally!

My friend Sarah put some photos of our trip to Ninko Cabin earlier this year up so I snagged a bunch of shots. I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures but she managed to snap several so I'm going to share with you. Enjoy!

Dear Bikes,

I've missed you two.

Took my bikes out for the first time this week after having them tuned up at the shop. I gave in this year and got them professionally looked at since I've been doing my own repairs/tunes for the last 3 years. I figured it was about time; I don't need my bike falling apart on me in the middle of a ride. I do enough damage to myself as it is...I don't need the added risk.

It felt SO good to be riding again! The stationary bike just doesn't cut it. The cool thing is that I went on one of the uphill rides I did last summer and felt 10 times better doing it this time than when I did it last year, so that's promising. Mountain bike race league starts up in July and I want to race in the sport class this time, not beginner. Gotta get those legs and lungs ready for it. The nice thing is that I've been living at this elevation (about 3,000') for a year now so I'm finally acclimated enough that it doesn't burn when I do things anymore. This should be a good summer!

Smells like summer.

This week has been amazing. Sunny, warm, and beautiful. I haven't felt this good in weeks! There's just something about the smell of warm grass and bark that gives me such a good energy...I just can't explain it.

Kyle came over after work last night, and after barraging him with all sorts of thoughts going through my head, he finally said, "Is this how it's going to be all summer?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

K: "I mean you, being all giddy."

I guess I get a little excited about being outside on gorgeous days like yesterday and today...

I took the kayaks out for the first time yesterday. Ben and I wheeled them down to the beach, hopped in and paddled down the river to the park down town and then back. I wasn't expecting the water to be as not-frigid as it was, though I certainly didn't test it by getting in... It's pretty low though, so unless we get some good precipitation between now and July it won't take long until it's swim-able. Oh man, I can't wait.

Oh, and I took the road bike out for it's first ride of the season. Already averaging 15-16 mph, which is significantly faster than last year at this time. Triathlon, here I come!

Oh the weather outside is... confusing??

Welcome to Montana, where if you don't like the weather, stick around for 5 minutes. No, literally, that's how quick things change around here.

It's spring, which apparently means sunshine and blue skies one minute, clouds and bean-sized hail the next. Take this afternoon, for instance. Here's what it looked like about 20 minutes ago:

And here's what it looked like about 10 minutes ago:

This will go on all day, too. I just can't keep up! Puts a damper on my outdoor exercise plans. Just when you get think you can get ready to go out and take a run, it clouds up and you're stuck inside. Such is life, though. The good news is that summer completely makes up for it -- weeks of sunshine at a time, I can't wait!

What HAVEN'T I been doing??

Now that spring is upon us, I thought I'd jump back into the blog writing and see if I can't catch you up to speed on the goings-on in my life, once again. As I sat down to write, I asked myself, "What have I been doing?" My first response... "What haven't I been doing lately?".... (hang with me, this is going to be a long post...)

Cross country skiing has become a staple in my winter activities menu. I love going out on a trail and gliding across the snow instead of trudging through in boots. And you get a fantastic workout without even really realizing it. AND you can get a little sun on the cheeks (don't worry, Mom, I wear my SPF 615). I plan on purchasing a xc get-up in the near future.

I learned to snowboard. Officially. I'm an official snowboarder. I can make it all the way down the mountain with total ease. Ok, I still fall of course, but I'm finally comfortable and can make nice turns and I don't get scared switching from heelside to toeside. So that's pretty awesome to me.

Hiking Big Mountain is now my workout of choice. There were recently some restrictions placed on uphill travel (hiking, snowshoeing, skinning) up the Big, so instead of having all access, those who don't want to ride the lift can only go up a designated route and have from 6:30 AM to 4:00 PM to do so. So on the last night before the restrictions went into effect, Ben, Kyle and I put on our snowboard boots, strapped our snowboards to our packs and started up at sunset. It was a perfectly clear night, and as we reached the last crest the moon was staring right in our faces. It was like a huge spotlight on the trail and probably one of the coolest moments since being here. We celebrated with a Kokanee tallboy toast, and then boarded down with the moon lighting the way. Since then, I've hiked up twice during the day, and have plans to do so every week until mountain bike season starts up. You just can't get much better of a workout than walking straight up the side of a mountain for an hour...

Also to be added to the wishlist: backcountry set-up. Skins, AT bindings, avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. I spent a weekend at Ninko Cabin, one of the forest service cabins available for rent in the winter, for Scott's wife Erica's birthday with some friends. Again, another fantastic workout, skinning up the side of a mountain and skiing back down. We had such beautiful bluebird weather that we were in tank tops by the time we reached the summit. An experience I won't forget for a while. Well, I have no choice considering I have the remnants of the blister I got from wearing borrowed ski boots for nearly 3 hours of skinning and then 5 1/2 miles of skating (mostly uphill) out from the cabin the next day on our way home. Did I mention that this cabin is 13 miles in from the road, 3 miles of which I mistakenly drove and managed to get stuck in a ditch which took 3 hours, 3 shovels, 2 stuck cars and 2 times being pulled out by a chain? Yeah, that happened too....

But alas, spring has sprung and the snow is melting away and it's time to start thinking about Thursday Night Race League and getting my hike list in order and breaking in my backpack and all that good stuff that comes with warm, sunny weather. It's been fun, first winter in Montana, but I'm not gonna lie, I can't wait for summer again!

Something new for the new year

I may have a new tradition, though I imagine it's something people have been doing all along without me realizing it.... and that tradition is doing something new on New Year's.

What inspired me, you ask? Well, this year I went cross-country skiing on New Year's Eve for the first time. It was fantastic. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to catch on, but once I got the rhythm part figured out it was so - much - fun. Ben, his friend Sarah, and her friend Cody all skied through town (we got a bunch of snow so all the roads and sidewalks were covered) to the golf course, then through the golf course on to Grouse Mountain Lodge to listed to a funk band and mingle with some friends who were there. We managed to get the fire pit outside to ourselves just in time to pop open our champagne bottle for a midnight toast. I couldn't have asked for a better time, though my legs and arms were awfully sore the next day after skiing for about 5 hours... I think one of the best parts was that I managed to score a couple of full-body ski suits from the 80's in one of the local thrift stores, and Ben and I wore them out. They kept us warm, but man we got some looks! It was classic.

So anyway, I had so much fun this year that I decided I want to try to do something completely new every year. The whole going out to a bar and waiting until the clock strikes 12 is not really my idea of an awesome way to celebrate, so I'm going to try to find something different to make it interesting from here on out.

Happy 2010!

Mountain-top islands

Man, I could really get used to this skiing every day thing. Having a 3 day weekend for 2 weeks in a row is going to spoil the heck out of me!

Today and yesterday I spent a few hours up the mountain putting in some runs. I must say, I've already seen a pretty significant improvement in my skiing ability, even if it's just a result of being more comfortable with the runs after going down them a few times. But the stuff that I would have turned a timid eye to before is looking more appetizing now. Pretty cool stuff! And I'm glad I invested in a helmet cause I'm gonna need it with the sort of skiing I'm starting to explore (you all know how clumsy I can be, and we don't need me to go bonking my noggin on any tree trunks...)

Yesterday and today I got to see what an inversion is. If you're not familiar, it's when the clouds are low and it's clear at the top of the mountain. It's pretty crazy because in town it looks completely socked in, but you get to the top and it's clear as a bell, sunny, and you can see for miles. The clouds below look like an ocean, and only the peaks of other mountains are visible, so they look like islands. Really neat to see in person, but I'll give you a peek at what it looked like yesterday and today.