A Christmas gift from me to all of you!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5po1RGXLf4w

Last Few Days

Here is another recap from the last week or so.


I moved into a room in the hotel with a kitchen finally.  Same amount of room, but the kitchen is clutch.  I don't have to eat Jimmy Johns every night like I was.

I got some localish beer (I've had better).

I cooked my first dinner in the hotel room.  Porkchops, asparagus and rice (that was much better than the beer).  The $4 wine was actually really good too.

I dropped the front fork of my bike onto my toe while the front tire was off.  Bled a little. 

I rode the Buckskin-Morgan trail at Kelly Canyon.  Second time with the SRMBC; good time, it was pretty much on the verge of raining all night, so it was a quick one, but fun.

I bought some clipless pedals for my bike (sort of regret it, but can't return them).  I can't my feet out quick enough and just sort of fell over a couple of times.  Definitely going to take some getting used to.

Sunday we did some shuttle runs at Kelly Canyon.  Like 7 of rode down and shuttled back to the top.  We did the upper part of Buckskin (they called it Space Trail I think) and then rode Wolverine down to an awesome valley with the river running through it (I need to take Vanessa to that area).  Then we shuttled up and rode Creek Cross down to the trucks again.  Shorter, but fun as hell too.

PS.  This layout is a mess.  Not sure how to fix. Deal with it.

Chuck and Cara's Wedding

Saturday July 30th was Chuck and Cara's wedding.  It was awesome.  Everything went according to plan, no hiccups, just a blast.  Here are a few pictures from the night.  The first was from the Alexander's photographer who I think did an excellent job.  The 2nd was from the photo booth that they had at the wedding which I also think was run very well.  The pictures are all of the groomsmen and bridesmaids.  I want a pair of those glasses, I look like a 1950s NASA scientist.  Below that is my fiancé, Vanessa, giving me some sugar at the Ugly Oyster which the wedding guests totally took over and shut down.  Good night.  Congrats Chuck and Cara!

Craters of the Moon/Jackpot, NV/Shoshone Falls

This weekend was a little nuts.  Saturday we went to work til noon and then left for Craters of the Moon about an hour from work.  This place is an old lava flow area that has some crazy looking landscape.  Black glassy silvery rock everywhere and caves made out of lava tubes, some of them collapsed.  We spent about 3 hours or so here going through some of the caves and driving around the open half of the loop.  There were a few hikes, but we didn't do them this time.  Maybe if Vanessa and I go back.  http://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm

After Craters of the Moon, we drove to Twin Falls and ate a really good dinner at Jaker's.  We left and headed for Jackpot, NV.  The place is small, two of the four casinos are about the size of my house, the other two were respectable, but still pretty small (I was just in Vegas two weeks ago, so that's my reference point.)  I played some Blackjack, went up and then went down, as usual lost some money, but it was fun.

We stayed at Barton's Club 93 (creepy as shit hotel rooms).  Won't be going back there...

The next day, we went to Shoshone Falls back in Twin Falls, ID.  That was awesome.  Pretty big falls in a big gorge.  Saw my first double rainbow! I'll probably head back at some point to do the hikes there.

1st Group Ride with the SRMBC

Below is a video of the first ride I went on with the SRMBC around the FIsh Creek Loop in the Kelly Canyon area east of town.  I only fell over the handlebars once.

I didn't get any pictures, but I'm in the video below a few times.  I'm wearing red shorts, a black and grey shirt and a blue Camelbak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ezsschwnCk

This link is to the GPS route info from my Garmin watch.  It was quite a workout.  About an hour actual riding time, climbed over 1000 feet and burned 800+ calories.  Not bad.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100989324

Afterwards, we made it to the Heise Pizza Shop at the lodge of the Kelly Canyon ski resort.  Good pizza and they had Fat Tire on tap!

One Last Post for the Night

Actually Lifted.  Took like 15 minutes and I'm dead.


Then went for a ride around the Green Belt and had a sunset behind my hotel when I got back.

Untitled by jmc567 at Garmin Connect - Details

New Bike

I joined the SRMBC today (Snake River Mountain Bike Club).  Waiting to find out when I'm going riding again.

Hour Long Drive to Work

Today is a short one.  I took some pictures on my way back from work today.  I'll try to get some more of the sunrises, which are awesome most the time.  There are mountains in the background, I have no idea what they are called.  They are N/NW of the site.  The 3 buttes are labeled below.

View Larger Map

Big Southern Butte

Big Southern Butte 2

Middle and East Butte (Far)

Middle Butte

East Butte

Kelly Canyon MTB and Ririe Reservoir

Click to enlarge and see the cows.

Sunday July 17 - Today I got up, packed up all of my gear and headed for Kelly Canyon MTB trails.  My bike rack from Walmart held up good enough.  Made me nervous though.  I drove about 30 minutes, 70 miles an hour out of town to Kelly Canyon ski resort NE of town.  When I got there, I drove up the mountain until I hit some gravel roads.  Found the parking lot and hopped on my new bike (see below).  I rode 1 mile all uphill until I was dead.  I stopped to breathe again and happened upon the trail across from where I was panting to death.  I took the trail about a mile and a half until I turned a corner and thought I saw a black bear.  Turns out it was a damn cow.  With 15 other cows.  One was staring at me.  One was mooing sort of aggressively and then the staring one took a few steps in my direction.  There were 2 other cows on the trail itself with no way around.  I don't know cows and didn't want to get stampeded (brand new bike).  So I turner around back the way I came.  When I got to the car, I looked at the maps and I'm not positive yet, but I think that was the wrong way anyhow. So that may have worked in my favor.

Check out my tracks here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100181912.

When I left Kelly Canyon, I drove to the Ririe Reservoir.  It's a pretty good sized body of water with campsites and fishing.  Tons of boats were docked and cruising around the water.  Pretty nice area being so close to town.  I took some pictures and went home to do laundry.  End scene.