Cherry Cherry Pow Pow

3 of the past 4 days have been spent surfing the frozen curl as I like to call it. Thursday was 2'+ at Beaver Creek, Saturday was Copper with some EC friends, mostly in the trees searching for the goods and Sunday was spent at A-basin. With the pass being closed for Haz-Mat cleanup everyone was at Keystone and when we got to the Basin there was hardly anyone there, we spent the day mostly in the land of the giants avoiding rocks and jumping off the unavoidable ones. Registration is open and today marks the start of week 3 of the 12 week high-intensity part of the 25 week training program.

Avalanche Death Shocks the Ski Community

After the latest series of storms pounded the West, the ski community was hit with tragedy on Sunday when two people died in separate avalanches: Heather Gross, a 27-year-old grad student at the University of Utah, was buried while skiing High Baldy at Snowbird, Utah; and Cory Brettman, a 52-year-old father and former ski patrolman at Aspen, was killed in a slide just out of bounds at Aspen Mountain, Colorado. The deaths were a sobering reminder that the euphoria of skiing deep powder can quickly turn to tragedy—and that such accidents can happen to anyone at anytime. The following account was sent to Powder.com from Jake Kirshner, a friend of Heather Gross. The report was first posted on Jakecast.com.

Every time I read a story about a skier who has died doing what they love it makes me think about what I'm doing everyday and with my life. Today, like yesterday and tomorrow will be spent in a cubicle with some biking and running to look forward to at the end of the day, when all is said and done is this what I always wanted?

Heather Gross was a grad student working towards loftier goals than harvesting fresh pow lines everyday but when she got the chance to do it she went. And she died doing presumably what she loved, if you got hit by a truck on the way home did you die doing what you loved? Did you at least take the risks inherent in going for it all? They say the only people who have found the edge are those who have crossed it, well there is a reason so many go looking for it, and tomorrow when i tell my boss I am 'working from home' I will double check my avy safety equipment, take a moment to appreciate where I am and who I'm with and go searching for the ever elusive 'edge'.

Back in the saddle

Got back on the tele skis for the first time since surgery and they felt good, got 2 days in this past weekend for #4 on the season. Prett weak start to the season snow wise but we got around 2ft over the weekend with more coming this week. Training kicks into high gear next week and now with my nutrion plan in place I am set to attack.

I only got an hour of biking and about 5 miles of running over the last week and half, traveling to Charlotte for Thanksgiving can do that to ya. So far this week its been biking and weights, a nice long run will come tomorrow morning.

The final pieces to the Frankenbike will be arriving Thursday and I will have everything ready to go before then. A quick breakdown of what went into the Frankenbike:

17.5" Gary Fisher Marlin Frame
80mm Rox Shox Judy TT front fork
Race Face Evolve XC X-type crankset w/ external BB
Shimano Dual Control BRK/SHFT levers
Avid BB7 front disc brake
Avid BB5 rear disc brake
XT front deraileur
LX rear deraileur
SRAM 990 9SPD rear cassette
SRAM PC-971 chain
Rhynelite disc rims
Panaracer 2.1 tires
Oury grips
Handle bar and riser off Jamis Dakar XC sport

This project has taken a while to come to fruitition by once I get my first test ride in this weekend I will know a lot more about what goes into a sweet bike build and whether I was succesful or not.

End of the week training wrap on Friday.