If The Shoe Fits...

I'm married to a lunatic. It's true. I even have proof (as if I need it). At this site you read that most people ride the 103 mile White Rim trail (Canyonlands, UT) in 3 to 4 days, with a support vehicle. If you ride it in 2 days you are a monster, 1 day a lunatic.

Darren and his biking buddy, Lance Armstrong (OK, not THE Lance Armstrong, but if we had to pick a Lance Armstrong of Twin Falls, this guy would be him) headed for Moab Wednesday morning, camped, and took off on the trail at 7:00 am Thursday morning. 9 hours later, they finished. Finished! Not without pain, not without a little bonking around mile 50, and certainly not without huge bragging rights! Darren said it was like riding LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson) then turning around a riding right back to Logan! If only this were the end of it - they then drove home to Idaho arriving at 1:30 a.m! If the biking shoe fits.....

A Day Off From School

The kids were out of school today. Justin went swimming with friends, so Brady and Darren were trying to decide whether to go duck hunting or mountain biking. When they drove away they had bikes and guns in the truck. I'm not sure how that goes together, regardless, they rode some singletrack, worked on clearing and bettering trail, and drove canals on the way home looking for ducks.

We are so lucky to have so much awesome stuff close to us. The South Hills have so much to offer - you just have to get out and explore! Adventure is only minutes away!

The Whites of their Eyes

I searched for my camera as three boys sat on the back deck spotlighting six sets of eyes out at the base of the cliffs. Justin had turned on his "dying rabbit" tape (it sounds disturbingly like a distraught newborn). The sound had brought in six coyotes. Oh the excitement! I made them swear not to tell Paige, as this is the exact spot where she bee bops up to her friend's house on a regular basis! Darren took off like a bat out of you-know-where-on the four wheeler in their direction on his way to retrieve Paige from the neighbor's. The boys hooped and hollered and gone were the eyes, but large have been the plans for tomorrow night!

The similarities between Halloween and politicians? Things aren't always what they appear to be... at least we can always hope.

Halloween

Justin was "Everyone" for Halloween. I have to add that he came up with the name tag idea Thursday night before we saw "The Office"! Brady was a recycled "duct tape man" from last year. Aren't we green!

Think about it

Darren asked me this the other day and I have been thinking about it ever since...

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

Fat is better than Skinny

The love affair I once had with my mountain bike had become a distant memory, brought to my attention only when Darren would mention casually that he had taken my bike out (he loves my bike too). I spent the summer on my skinny tires, road biking. It's been all good, until now. I finally got out on my fat tires, climbing up Dry Gulch, mind you the NEW Dry Gulch, oooooh so much better now, made this way by tireless trail builders, including my kids. I remembered quickly how much I LOVED my mtn. bike- the angle of the frame feels like it's a part of my body, the suspension is a dream, and the brakes, ooooh the brakes! This is the kind of stuff I love to do with Darren, we even color coordinated, you'll notice. He was patient with me, since LOTOJA training I'm sooo far out of his league, and as for the downhill, I still hear his mantra in my head as I feel like I'm flying out of control - NO BRAKES! NO BRAKES! I dare to stay off the brakes for one more second ........ and then I have to brake or I feel like I might die! Meanwhile he's a speck at the bottom of the gulley. Plus I have MAJOR target fixation on a mtn. bike (like when you tell yourself over and over "don't go over the edge, don't go over the edge" and the next thing you know you're going head first over edge... it works the same with large rocks and bushes - a story for another post). Anyway, after today, I agree more and more with Darren: road biking exists to keep in shape for mtn. biking. So, fat is better than skinny after all!