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.

...And we're back!

After a short hiatus to allow the swelling to go down and to reasses my goals it's time to step it up a notch. Week 8 is the new week 1, I received my meal plan from Casey the trainer and I got support from Schmess(she bought me the remaining parts needed for the Franken bike).

Going to start incorporating some of the Crossfit techniques into my routine, todays crossfit:
"Twenty-One"
Complete the following for time:
20 push-ups/1 sit-up
19 push-ups/2 sit-ups
18 push-ups/3 sit-ups
17 push-ups/4 sit-ups
16 push-ups/5 sit-ups
15 push-ups/6 sit-ups
14 push-ups/7 sit-ups
13 push-ups/8 sit-ups
12 push-ups/9 sit-ups
11 push-ups/10 sit-ups
10 push-ups/11 sit-ups
9 push-ups/12 sit-ups
8 push-ups/13 sit-ups
7 push-ups/14 sit-ups
6 push-ups/15 sit-ups
5 push-ups/16 sit-ups
4 push-ups/17 sit-ups
3 push-ups/18 sit-ups
2 push-ups/19 sit-ups
1 push-up/20 sit-ups
Push-up standards: Body stays planked whether you are on your toes or your knees. Chest touches the deck. Arms to full lockout.

Sit-ups on an Abmat with feet unsecured

I will report back tomorrow how it feels and some more planning on this weeks training.

Suicidal Squirrels

So the knee is feeling a little better and I have been biking to work to keep it loose, I will be back in the gym tomorrow but no running this week. But as I was riding along yesterday a squirrel popped out of a bush and ran into my back tire. Luckily I didn't run the little fella over he coulda would up like this guy had I been going faster and if I had disc brakes perhaps.

#'s from last week and possible setback...

Bike = 3hrs
Run = 1hr
Ski = 4hrs

While on the skis saturday I came to a hard stop and I think the pressure to the outside of my knee caused me to strain it a bit. It's a little sore and swollen and I'm not gonna push it too hard this week. It feels ok on the bike and I have the ace neoprene brace on my knee for now. We'll see how it goes and possibly get back in the gym by the end of teh week.

Lesson learned, lift more and be in more control, don't go to hard to fast yet, your knee is not ready...

And there was celebration in the streets!

Even here in Boulder, I could hear the shouting from my window. At approximately 8:45 PM MST it was announced that Barack Hussein Obama would be the 44Th president of the United States of America.

There was plenty of whooping and hollering from the locals in my neighborhood, people were even setting of fireworks and dancing in the streets. I never expected quite that reaction but then again it is a momentous occasion.

"Yes We Can"
-Barack Obama

502

That's what the mileage read on the cyclometer this morning as I locked my bike to the rack out in front of the building I work in. That's a pretty good feeling knowing I have put that many miles down, almost all commuting. I bought it about 8 weeks ago so that mean I am getting roughly 63mi of commuting per week. Not bad but I expect that number to increase as I lengthen my commuting trips for training purposes.