I really could have used some choco waffles today. I finally got out to go to the bank, so that I can actually pay the mechanics when I get my bike back. But I ran out of things to do pretty quickly. I ended up riding my bike up & down the streets just for the hell of it.

Had a session at the local skatepark(indoors) Tuesday.

Heh. Wasn't bad. About 8-10" depending on where in town you were. This morning, woke up to near another 20", with drifts considerably higher.

Shoveling blows. However, I have a neighbor across the street with a very large and capable snow blower, who is easily bribed with beer and cookies.

i got hit by that storm today to. i rode the univega rover in my local cemetary for the fun of it. i had 20" also but i have a plow and my best kinda bribe is green and can buy me bike stuff :lol: and scrublover i agree with your signiature for my area. was surprised that they got it right for once.

We got about 15"+ here in west central NH. Good for the ski areas, not so much for biking. I'm hoping it warms up a bit so I can clean my bike from my last ride in early Dec...

Literally every single year, the news reporters warn us that 'this is going to be the storm of the decade, get ready for snow & ice & hell freezing over!'. And about once a decade, they're right. The last frozen-road ice storm we had was when I was about 10 or 11, & I'm 20 now. If you predict the same weather at the same time every year, you'll eventually be right.

Oh, I wasn't talking about yours; I know you're in a land of real snow. I was referring to that flocking that Geo-jah got. Although I'm aware that in the South it usually comes with some pretty insidious ice.

Shoveling does blow. Besides the paths and walks, I usually shovel garage apron - - even though I have the plow truck. Don't like to jockey in tight confines and risk taking out the garage door, a car or whatnot.

Yep. At this point, I don't mind the work/excercise - but am sure there will come a time when I saw #$&* it and pick up a small blower. I've got a small and level yard/drive, so don't need anything crazy big and powerful. I'm also just a half block off a main route, so things get plowed on the streets fairly quickly.

Shoveling off my back deck was more of a pain in the ass then the drive. We've been busy with other stuff anyhow. Grouting, caulking, painting, base-boarding, kick-boarding and the little bits to mostly be done now.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f1..._1764900_n.jpg
Plumber is coming tomorrow to pop an extension off our gas line up to the kitchen and get our stove up and running. I may actually be able to cook something not in the mocrowave or crock pot finally!

It'll be a while before I get a ride on dirt, but hopefully later this week on some packed snow!

Interesting mix of subway tile and glass mosaic on the backsplash. Came out nice. Is the countertop from Ikea? Had my eye on the beech for a while, if we ever change out.

It's not that any snow or ice we get is any worse (or anywhere near as bad) as say, New York or Washington. It's that spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to prepare for it is a waste of money, so our government chooses not to spend that money on snow plows & salt trucks. We can either spend all that money, & probably tens of thousands more maintaining the vehicles, or we can put up with the entire state shutting down about once every decade for a few days. For me & most of the people in this area, it meant losing 16 hours of work for one week out of my entire life. Nonetheless, I will always complain when we get snowed/iced in, because it sucks being stranded for any period of time, & we aren't used to that here in the south.

all this talk about snow is madness! Only thing I shovel is dog turds.

It was supposed to be 7-8" tall on the colored backsplash bits, but some communication errors (both directions) with our tile person led to this. We are going to leave it be, considering she did a good job otherwise, and is my wife's sister. Most of the room is white, with stainless and black. The missing wall sconce is going to get a fire engine red paint job, and we'll have some other random color bits in the room to tie in to the tile color.

Yep, Ikea counter, butcher block oak. Not crazy spendy, but should still last quite a few years so long as we treat it well.

After just buying the house, doing this was on a shoe-string budget, and we've not charged any of it. I'm happy with it so far. We've done all the work save for some electric and having the gas line run up from the basement for the stove.

It's a fairly stripped down and functional kitchen. Pantry area in the basement. We do a lot of cooking, and buy fresh often, so we don't need crazy amounts of food storage. When this fridge dies, it'll get a fridge only replacement, and we'll have a freezer in the garage.

The room is 8.5 x 12.5 but has the windows, opening to the dining room, door to the basement, opening to the landing to the 2nd floor stairs/step to the living room, and small opening/hall to the half bath, garage, and back door. It really limited what we could do to open it up short of knocking down walls. Wall to the dining room isn't load bearing, so it's a thought for down the road.

Whatever. It's loads nicer and more functional as a cooking space than what the prior owners left us. :)

That's what I marveled at the first time I was in one, was how reasonable it was for what you get.

Looks good. It's nice really that they did leave it for you to update the way you wanted. Seems so often people feel the need for a slap-dash "upgrade" to justify their asking price - - leaving a new kitchen that's not what you would want but too fresh to justify ripping out right away.

Or so it seems. I can't really say other than from observation; since we built new from scratch. Kitchen was entirely my fault from the floor up, including design, plumbing and all the cabinetry.

Ahem... before you two get out of control just watch the first few seconds!

his cigarette magically appeared at 58 seconds.

Well amidst all the snow talk I thought I'd drop in with my perfect-weather ride report (sunny, 53 degrees). I headed out around 1:00 and did the usual route, then at the 'turnaround' you can either take the trail back to the parking lot or continue riding into what I refer to as the Labrynth of Turkey Mountain (TM's the park name). It essentially spiderwebs into unorganized oblivion to those not intimately familiar the that part of the trail (it should be noted I am not intimately familiar). Since it was earlier than I usually ride since I had no hangover to wait out, I decided to venture into the unknown and see what I could find. Within 17 seconds I was lost and confused.

It seems like there is a group that is actively putting some effort into naming and marking the trails and putting man-hours into improving the entire place (yay!), but it's not complete and is still very easy to pass by the intended trail. The good news is I got to ride around some very fast and fun single track that I've never ridden before, which seemed to be all downhill. Then after realizing I had lost my trail I found myself in a huge crater with my only option as going up. I thought I was going to die on that damn hill. Biggest. Hill. Ever. I was passed by an older woman running and never caught her until the parking lot. I have been riding and running a lot more recently and thought I was in decent shape. Apparently not.

Finally, after I do all the climbing, I'm dizzy and looking around to see if anyone's about to watch me puke. I gather myself and slowly meander through the woods to find some place I recognize. I come up to the downhill right before the parking lot. Home free (or so I thought). It's a pretty steep section of pretty loose rock. Tons of fun but a little dangerous. My legs were completely spent. Exhausted. So I took a little break (again) to make sure I could still hit it with some speed and enjoy. Didn't break long enough.

I head down and all looks well, I hit the first of the two really steep spots and get thrown out of my line and off the main part of the trail onto some very loose rock in sort of a "V." My front tire immediately starts to slide out while my legs are essentially worthless and along for the ride. I lean in to the way my tires sliding and then my left foot suddenly comes unclipped unintentionally for the first time ever and my right leg can barely support the sudden increase in weight. So there I am careening down hill going very fast over very bumpy, loose terrain with my left foot floating into the air and my bike at what seems to be a 50 degree angle to the ground and me with no control. Had I been able to think only slightly more clearly I probably would have screamed. I'm trying to brake but each tire locks up each time I hit them so I'm essentially pulsating with my hands to get to slow.

Eventually I somehow get back onto the main trail after several over-corrections and my foot clipped back in. Almost until the end I was doing the manual-anti-locked-brakes thing hoping not to die. I got to level ground, slowed, and counted my lucky stars. Then off to Quizno's to drown my sorrow in Sobe and Mesquite Chicken goodness.

The days lessons: I'm really not in that good of shape. Learn the trails. Don't make stupid desicions.

I still have a snapshot in my head of the moment my foot came unclipped and I thought I was going to slam into a pile of rocks on my right. Honestly, i think it really would have hurt me. Close call.

Welp, no one saw me and I had no riding partners to tell today, so BF is my default audience. You may continue with your snow and kitchen renovations...

Thank you for the reprieve. I think that those of us in snowier climates enjoyed the story vicariously. Until your post, I was thinking of suggesting that we rename this the "weather report" instead of daily ride report ;-). I actually got to clean and lube my bike today as I was too cold and spent from the last time I rode it in early Dec. Unfortunately, right after I did this, I sadly hung it up in the rafters in my garage. Even though I am snowmobiling and skiing tomorrow I still miss riding.

^Our presence on this website through the winter months only shows most peoples' dedication to this website for continuing to visit it even when they can't ride (& for me, it shows my lack of dedication to MTBing for being too much of a pansy to go out there when it gets below 45 :P).

Had two real good street sessions today.

Went on my first mountain bike ride in maybe 13 years today with my new bike (posted in the rigs section). It was very awesome. A buddy and I hit a couple trails that we knew about near my place and we were completely wiped out by the end. As an avid racer ont he road, it was good to have a strong base fitness but i found that my arms are really tired, and I need to learn some good handling descending skills. I used some BMX type pedals until I get the hang of it, but to be honest it seems a lot of people use them so maybe I'll keep them on there.

Here's the Garmin data. I know it was a short ride but we fit what we could in. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63843839

I plan to ride maybe once a week right now and focus the other 4 days on the road. However, I can see this will get addicting :)

We'll spot you that. You're the one stuck having to live in Oklahoma.

2 days/5 posts later? Right on time. But another day or two and I would have had to believe you guys were starting to slip... ;)

Some of us were busy riding instead of posting on the interwebs ;).

Went to Beacon Sunday and rode with sscyco and his son. Snow was pretty much gone from the 'old' DH course (God bless south-facing slopes), so we got four or five good runs in. Then went over to the Zipper - - a trail I had not been on in years. The push up was worth it. A good day all in all.

It was nice to get out on the DH bike instead of one of those skinny road bikes (even though I did that 2 times in the last 3 days). D gave me a little Yeti envy - and a bit of bling envy, holy gold cranks. Great day - D does not disappoint.

im slobbering!