Guns in National Parks

Our fantastic government is considering allowing guns in National Parks (currently they're prohibited). A NRA lobbyist had this to say:
"Law-abiding citizens should not be prohibited from protecting themselves and their families while enjoying America's national parks and wildlife refuges"

I don't spend that much time in national parks (they're not dog friendly), but do you really need firearm protection in a national park? How about a little bear spray instead?

(sources: Get Outdoors and Dallas News)

Bike report and bike fit

Verdict on the new bike - Love it. Prior to getting the new bike, I did some back-to-back test rides against the Felt. At the time, I wasn't sure if the bikes really felt different or if I was suffering from some placebo effect. After last Saturday's long ride, I am 100% happy that I got the Tarmac. It feels like it fits me so much better. I love it and it looks great.

I got in for a bike fit with Andy Pruitt on Monday with my new bike. I've seen him before and it really helped so I decided to go in for another evaluation to take care of some knee pain that I have been experiencing over the winter. He made some good changes. A fair amount of work went into my shoes (which sucks because my new shoes haven't arrived, so I'll probably need to go back and have them make the same adjustments on my new shoes). He also wants me to switch pedals. Again, that sucks since I just got these pedals. Other noticeable changes were my saddle height and reach (distance to the handlebars). I doubt it's helping me produce more power, but it should help prevent me from getting an overuse injury.

Beer on Sunday

Coloradoans are one step closer to being able to buy beer and liquor on Sundays. Hip-hip-hoo-f-ing-ray. I've never understood the reasoning behind that dumb law that "prohibits the retail sale, service, or distribution of malt, vinous, and spirituous liquors in sealed containers on Sundays." For some reason it is okay go drink at a bar on Sunday, but not purchase alcohol for your own home. Mind boggling. Senate Bill 82 passed in the Senate and now needs to go through the house before the governor signs it.

In related news, the Colorado house also voted down a bill that would allow grocery stores to sell wine and full strength beer. That's great news too, because I have no doubt that the grocery stores would stock crap. And since the majority of people will choose the convenience of buying their beer with their groceries, it would hurt the bottom line of the liquor stores that actually stock good stuff.

Here's to more accessible beer in Colorado. *hic*

New new bike

After about a week, that old Felt I bought had lost its magic so I replaced it.



Okay, that's not exactly what happened. I finally got the Felt F2 out on the road this week and I didn't like the way it felt. The geometry is similar to my Trek, but it must be different enough to change the characteristics into something that I didn't like. It's a good bike, but I didn't like it as much as I had liked the Tarmac I test rode last summer.

After much internal debate I decided that I would get the bike I wanted in the first place: a Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL. I bought the frame from my favorite local bike shop and moved all my components from the Felt to the Tarmac. They did it for me quick too, which is nice because I have an appointment for a bike fit on Monday.

All in all, it works out to be a good deal. The shop gave me a great price on the new frame, and I'll be selling my Felt frame. I'll get a chance to see just how much I like the new Tarmac tomorrow because I'm supposed to go on a ridiculous 100 mile ride.

I know Owen is disappointed because I didn't take some good bike porn type pictures, but it's the best I could do tonight. I'll take some glamor shots later when I get my good Ksyrium SL wheels back on. Speaking of the Ksyriums, the rear hub looks totally sweet:

Office Toys

These Monty Python toys would be funny to have around the office:


I think I like the Trojan Rabbit the most because it is so obviously Monty Python.

xkcd

xkcd makes me laugh:





And for the Harry Potter fans:

Home alone

Christine is off to Paris again for work so I'm living the bachelor life. I wish I could go hang in Paris too, but Colorado isn't all that bad. I spent this afternoon on a bike ride with my cycling team. We didn't go really hard, but we put in about 60 miles. Afterwards, I ran some errands and did some house work. Cooking for one sucks; today I made a simple blackened chicken salad. I always see Belgian endive in the produce department, so I decided to give that a try as well. Sometime soon I'll have to try braising it, because that seems like a popular option. After dinner, I drank my loneliness away with a Belgian Trappist ale while I installed some new cleats on my cycling shoes. While not the best Trappist ale, it was still damn tasty. Those Monks can brew.

Ultimate Recipe Showdown

Jenni must be too busy in Hawaii to remind remind everyone, but my Tivo says that Sunday at 7PM (MST) is the premier of the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on the Food Network. The first episode features chicken, including our Colorado Springs chicken diva's Chicken Katsu. I can't wait to see what made-for-TV story the Feed Network producers have come up with.

New Bike

I picked up my new bike last night:



I can't wait to get it outside for a ride, but having it on the trainer last night gave me some time to tinker with the fit. The frame geometry is nearly identical to my Trek, but I think I'll need to get a new saddle and a shorter stem to make it fit just right. I go in for a bike fit in Boulder in a couple weeks.

(And since I'm sure JD will want to know - it weighed about 16 pounds with my pedals and PowerTap wheel last night. I need to add a couple bottle cages and saddle bag still. I couldn't justify buying a couple $40 carbon fiber cages so I'm going to pick up some cheap aluminum ones.)

Something's fishy...

We hadn't been eating much fish lately...until this week.
Sunday: Salmon with mango salsa
Monday: Sushi with Livia and Ti-Fou
Tuesday: More fish at our "beat-the-crowds" Valentines dinner

I think I'll take a break from fish tomorrow.

Eating in Crested Butte

Vacation is a great time to do some eating. We mostly ate in our condo to save some cash, but we managed to get out in Crested Butte a bit too.

• The Secret Stash - 303 Elk Ave : Great pizzeria with some normal and unusual pizzas. The drinks aren't half bad either (Christine and Jen were liking the KP-resso Martini)


• Sunshine Deli - 214 Elk Ave : When our first breakfast choice was closed (to go skiing) we found the Sunshine Deli. Really good breakfast. I had banana battered french toast.


• Crested Butte Brewery - 226 Elk Ave : I feel like most brewpubs are around just because they are a hip and trendy sort of thing for a ski town to have. The beer usually isn't terrible, but it's rarely impressive. Same goes with the food. (One notable exception to this is Snake River Brewing in Jackson, WY.) The food at the CB Brewery pretty much meet my expectations of a typical brewpub. Eh.

Gutbuster

My favorite burrito place (Big City Burrito) sells three sizes of burritos: regular, super, and gutbuster. For comparison, here is a regular and a gutbuster side by side:


(The hand in the picture is Jonathan's, and at 6'9", he's got a pretty large hand.)

It's a monstrous thing that is made by putting two super shells together. I didn't think I'd ever see somebody eat one, but Petro stuffed one down after a bike ride when he was here for my wedding. He then proceeded to lay in bed and moan for hours. On Friday I got to witness my second gutbuster eating when Jonathan devoured one. When you're 6'9", it just doesn't look as impressive though. He didn't even make it look challenging. It was more like just any other meal for him.

Snowboarders on the T-bar

Riding a T-bar is pretty simple when you're on skis, but it's a real pain in the butt on a snowboard. If you're good, you can situate the bar between your legs just right so it's not killing you the whole way up. If you're bad, you end up tumbling.

Funniest sight of the Crested Butte trip:
On a non-powder day, you can get away with riding the T-bar alone, which makes things a lot easier when you’re on a snowboard. On a powder day, you can be sure that nobody is riding up the lift solo. Petro and Jonathan are both snowboarders; one rides regular (left foot in front), one rides goofy (right foot in front) and they were riding up together. If they had thought about it in advance, they would have situated themselves so that they were riding back to back. Unfortunately, they didn’t figure this out until it was too late and ended up riding face to face, practically hugging. It was hilarious to watch. If Jonathan weren’t a foot and a half taller, they would have been making out the whole way up. Tragedy struck part way up the T-bar when they got entangled and had to bail off the t-bar and walk the rest of the way, post-holing in the powder. I felt for them, but I still had a good laugh at their expense.

Crested Butte After Hours

I've never been at a mountain resort after the lifts close and the crowds go away. It's beautifully silent. In the evenings I would walk Kuzca along the base of the mountain and enjoy crunch of the snow under our feet after all the hustle and bustle of a normal ski day had long since disappeared. It made me wish I had my touring gear with me, so I could skin up and make some turns in complete silence.

Another advantage of being so close to the mountain was that it meant we had an awesome sledding hill out our front door. And lucky for us, our condo came equipped with sleds. Kuzca enjoyed running around the mountain and chasing Christine and I on sleds. She spent most of the time bighting at us because she thought she was saving us from the evil red plastic of doom that was making us fly down the hill.

Crested Butte

When you plan a ski trip a few months in advance, it’s pretty much a roll of the dice as to whether or not the weather will cooperate. Sometimes (usually), it doesn’t work out. Other times, it works out better than you could imagine. Our Crested Butte trip fell into the latter category.