Snow!

The fat front is finally done and needed testing. So I conned F into coming (never hard) and S came on XC Skis, and we headed up to Grand Mesa....

They say when the skiing is bad, the snow biking is good.... well, today the skiing was good...... thankfully I brought them. One of these days I'll get up there in good snow bike conditions, but for now I'm glad to have had a little taste of real winter weather.












Thanks to a few great deals I got this fat front setup rolling for about half off retail. This Surly hub last saw hard labor in Alaska, so I got a killer deal on it - with half dead seized bearings - from Mike Curiak.

The rim is a 44mm Echo Trials rim from Webcyclery. Sure its a touch narrow for fat tires, but it is light AND cheap, plus a tougher, narrower rim will be better for rock riding with it. Works for me.

While out skiing today a realization hit me - an idea so incredible for bikepacking bag development I might just have to try it. Classification: Top Secret for now. Prototypes need to be designed and tested.

Back to the books. This is gonna be a fun semester.

Winter Canyon Exploration, bikeless and glad for it.

Way back in October, I had to pull the "Mission Abort" lever on a Tabeguache thru-ride.... but managed to find a fun canyon to explore on the return trip, that quickly turned into full on no holds barred hike-a-bike.

So after plotting to go back with bikes AND climbing gear for months, I finally got back up there, this time with a Quality Girl friend instead of bikes, which was an excellent choice. Much more fun. She even wore out my smile muscles! Bikes would have been completely and utterly useless on this one. Even on the dirt road section, there wouldn't have been very much riding between the sugar snow cover and mud.

There were a few fun little downclimbs

And the back to bagk rappels were easily dispatched with. Great tree anchors, easy take offs, not too big or scary.

Then afterwards, we just had to go to Denny's for some dinner. It was a Siriusly fun day! Thanks Lady!

In other news, C.M. is back sewing again, school starts again Tuesday, and I might just be bored stiff this semester with only 13 hours of classes, tutoring, sewing, talking to a great lady, and once in a while riding a bit.
Bring It ON.

Over break in NY my dad and I got up to Chimney Bluffs for a bit of hiking! Tons of fun, and a lot warmer and less windy than last time I got up there...




Thanks to you all for making the first full year of C.M. a lot of fun, and thanks for your support of American Engineering Education DOMINATION!

Don't forget to let your inner six year old imagination come out once in a while