Off the Edge

This summer, I have decided to try to park my car as much as possible. Currently where I am temping is 35 miles away. 70 miles each day starts to add quickly. In order to get around town I needed to pick up a solid bike. I started my search this spring and my luck turned up a great deal. I found a 2010 Kona Paddy Wagon for a great price. So far I love the bike. Not a big fan of the handle bars, but that can be changed for a small amount of money. I am also riding this bike with a single gear, not ready to ride fixed yet.

When I say park my car, I mean I will not use it for trips to the grocery store or to go grab frozen yogurt. This even means riding my bike to a coffee shop or else where to get out of the home office. To help with this, I picked up the Mission Workshop Vandal backpack. This bag is HUGE! I can even carry a gallon of milk, 2 bags of hash browns plus lots of other things with no problems. There is a section that zips out so the bag can expand. Lots of padding on the back and the straps help. I ended up having to get this bag due to the size of my laptop.

It might not make a huge difference in my carbon foot print or a big dent in my gas consumption, but I am having a blast getting around town on my adventures. I wonder just how many miles I can get in on my bike this summer?

A few weekends ago, I went out on a little hut trip to break in my new Scarpa Gea boots. Now I do not recommend breaking in your boots with a 7ish mile skin in to the Eisman hut but they worked like a dream!

Photo - Mike Bean

They are marketed as the lightest 4 buckle boot (2 lbs. 15 ounces per boot). For people with a narrower foot, this is a perfect boot! The cuff rotates to 24 degrees past vertical, which is great when you are skinning along. This makes it easier to take larger steps. Once locked down for the decent they ski great.

Photo - Mike Bean

The flex of the boot is a perfect mix of stiff and soft for an alpine touring boot. These boots do not have interchangeable toe blocks to make this an alpine boot for inbounds use. But, I am OK with that as this is a great boot! They retail for $599, not to bad. To read more about the hut trip, check out Mike Bean’s blog, Through Polarized Eyes.

My latest adventure has been to get my body in shape. After I finished college, I stopped walking all the time. I drove every where and after my knee injury I gained lots of weight, not a good thing when I am so active. So I decided to do something about it. I decided to do P90X.

Talk about a hard work out. I never thought I could do what I can do now. So many push ups and pull ups. I feel the best that I have ever felt. Good thing that I work from home, otherwise it would be a BIG challenge to do this plus go into an office every day. The best moment for me so far is when I was doing my 1 armed push ups and Mike walked in and I “smashed my face”.

So far I have lost about 5% of body fat and I am down from a size 10 to a size 6. I am now on my last phase and I am excited to see just what I can do when I am done.

I hope that other people can find it in them selves to make a change. Physical activity is so important. It keeps you young! My friend Larry just turned 60 and I had no idea he was that old. Yet he is in excellent physical condition and can out ski almost everyone in the Loveland crew.  I just hope to be that way in 30 years from now.

Anything is possible, if you just try. This is true in business and in life. I challenge you to try to do something you never thought possible, it will change your life.

Recently my parents came out to visit. Nice thing about being a freelance designer is that I could spend lots of time with them. A wonderful surprise from them was a taste from home. I grew up in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Not to far outside of Milwaukee, but far enough. One of my favorite things growing up was to go to Patterson Orchards. I remember being so excited to go there with my Mom and Dad. Maybe it was the joy of getting a caramel apple or the adventure of finding just the right apple. One of my favorite things was getting their apple cider. Some thing about their cider, makes it hands down the best cider I have ever had. The other thing I remember is my Mom and Dad making the cider into spiced cider. I have always known and used the Aspen Mulling Company for making spiced cider.

When they brought me the cider, I knew right away that I would make spiced cider. I knew if we went to Boulder, CO there was a good chance I could find the Aspen Mulling Spices. Found the spices at The Peppercorn. Great store in Boulder, CO that is all about the kitchen. So many cookbooks. When I go there, its like a cooks heaven. So many different options for tools. Also, the colors in the store make one excited.

After my parents left for home, I made the cider. The taste alone put a huge smile on my face as when ever they leave, I get sad. The smell and the warmth of the cider brings me back to when I was a kid. Not sure what I will do to get my fix when my parents move. But at least I can still get this taste every once and a while.

To download an adobe swatch file, click here.

Last Sunday, Mike and I rode in the Urban Assault Ride . What a FUN race. It started out a few days earlier with having to figure out a mystery check point and a very difficult quiz. The quiz helped with which position you were to start in. We were lucky. Got a score of 80. This got us in to the first wave. To give you an idea of what the race was… watch this!

I think the person that made that video summed up the event quite well. The rubber duckies and the ride at Eliches (we did the water ride) were my favorite parts of the day.

Once we finished the race it was on to the beer and watching the silly contests.

And really enjoying the beer

AND you can’t forget about the bike WITH a beer tap!

This weeks color palate comes from the UAR logo, beer and the rubber ducky

As many of you know, we lost a dear friend this last weekend in a skiing accident in Rocky Mountain National Park. We knew him as an avid backcountry skier, mountain biker, and great friend. Passionate about everything, Lacy lived and loved life to the fullest. May he RIP. July 24, 2010.

These stickers are being produced by myself and Brittany Walker. We are asking for $1 per sticker to help with the cost and mailing. Any extra money that is made will go to the family. These stickers can be used outdoors and on cars. Please email your requests to Brittany at walkerba@gmail.com

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Paonia, is about an hour away from Crested Butte and Aspen. In the mountains. It is Beautiful.

Last Friday, I went out to visit Alison Gannett, who is the mastermind behind the Rippin Chix ski and mountain bike camps. This was an adventure in its self to get out there. I thought 4.5 hours was not that bad and I could do it in one day. This was a perfect day to drive. Not a cloud in the sky. I found a cd in my car that was perfect for this drive. Yonder Mountain String Band. Here is a taste of what I was listening to.

The drive is just what I needed. It was SO hot in Denver over the last few days. Although it was only a little cooler in the mountains.

The meeting with Alison was wonderful. We got to talk about the Rippin Chix brand and how we can make the brand a true brand. I also got to take a look at her farm. Some of the cherry trees are the original trees from the 1890′s. The barns were such a beautiful red with blue accents all over the place.

This was on the drive towards Carbondale, CO

On the way back, I decided to drive through Aspen, CO and go over Independence Pass. One thing I noticed on this drive was just how blue the sky was.

This weeks color palate comes from some of the buildings on Alison’s farm along with sky.

I just finished an illustration for Brittany Walker of 14erskiers.com