Guess who decided to show up...

Winter. Lots of fun. Hopefully I can ski all week, and then it will start to melt when school starts again.

BIG weekend.

Yup. BIG weekend. This week took forever, so I needed to make the most of this weekend. One more week until we are on Vaca here in Vermont, and this weekend was an excellent opportunity to get ready for all the fun we will be having when school is out.

Friday afternoon was spontaneity day in the Lapierre household. This little known holiday, celebrated only in the Williston Lapierre household, consists of me buying a present for my wife and making her do something she hasn't done before. This is what I came up with.

Charlie's Vermont Angel

No, it is not a "real" gun. It is a Co2 powered bb gun. Nevertheless, Aliza has never shot any type of gun. She was so nervous she made me load it and shoot it first before she try it. We spent several clips shooting seltzer bottles and cans. We are pretty BA.

For Saturday, we started with some bike riding. The trails in VT are still luge tracks, thanks to the lack of snow, intermittent rain and the constant temps near 30 degrees. Marc and I studded our tires which helps with the ice, but leads to frequent flats.

Marc and Andy trying not to stab themselves.

We have become pretty fast at changing flats, which is good because it is pretty cold out there despite the lame winter we have been having. The trails are still fun, and it is really cool to ride on trails like this and have total control (except when Marc takes a corner to fast and slides into the woods)

After the bike riding, Marc and I decided to test out some new gear. Outdoor Research sent me a Bivy sac, and I really wanted to try it out. I am planning on using one this year in the CTR, and I thought that this weekend would be a good chance to try it out.

Marc, trying the bivy out in my kitchen. He wants one now.

Marc and I headed down to Stowe, where we hoped there would be lots and lots of snow. We were a bit disappointed when we found a solid 1/4 inch of fresh on top of firm, firm snow. We skinned for about 45 minutes to find the perfect campsite. We set up camp and gathered some firewood. Then we headed out to take a few runs.

Home, sweet home, for the night.

Marc, digging in.

After skiing for a bit, we headed back up to camp (in the future, I think camp should be low, so that you can end a ski run where you are going to cook and sleep) It started to snow for the last few minutes of the skin, and we hoped it would continue and make the morning skiing better than the afternoon runs. No such luck. I looked up into the sky after dinner and we could see lots of stars. It was very beautiful, but we would have preferred clouds and snow to cold and ambiance.

We were hungry after the skiing and set to work cooking and gathering more fire wood. I got a chance to try out my new esbit stove, which has little white blocks for fuel. It worked out pretty well and in about ten minutes I had my cous cous made. I threw in another block and boiled some potato pieces that Marc brought. It wasn't gourmet, but it was some of the best potato soup I have ever had. After dinner, our attention turned to burning stuff. For some reason, whenever Marc gets near a fire, it grows exponentially.

He also seems to enjoy fire quite a bit. We let the fire burn down, and then hit the sack around 8. I slept surprisingly well, and fell warm throughout the night. I do think that next time I will pack down the snow under my bivy a bit better, since I kept rolling into the tree next to me. In the morning we had planned to ski a bit, but Marc was rather cold and tired (he decided to try sleeping a 40 degree bag, which I don't think worked too well) I was easily persuaded, as I could meet Aliza and her dad for some warm, indoor climbing.

After climbing we had lunch, did some shopping and then headed home. I wasn't feeling tired anymore, and Timber the wonder dog was bouncing off the walls when we got home. So, I got dressed for a bike ride and decided to tire Timber right out. I wouldn't have thought this possible two years ago, but Timber is getting older and even he needs to rest after an hour and a half of running through the woods. It helps when the trails look like this and he has to run twice as far just to keep pace with me on the ice.

Got a lot done this weekend, hopefully this week flies by and we can do even more during our Feb. break.

Gettin' high.......

No, not like that. I am a good, law-abiding citizen. This summer I will be getting very high. The CTR starts around 6000' and has extended sections around 12.000' This may pose a slight problem when I try to breathe while riding my heavily loaded bike up lots of hills. In our past travels out West, the altitude has caused some discomfort while exercising, and I am sure CTR will be no exception.

The bright orange on the alti. profile is 12K and up....

So, I have a bit of a problem to deal with before July. I don't know how effective riding with a mask and snorkel on would be, and there is no way to spend a sufficient amount of time in Co. before the race. I do think breathing would be beneficial during the ride, so I need to do something to prepare for the paucity of oxygen in Colorado. This is where my wife comes in. My wife is planning to run the Leadville 100 this year, and she is an actual athlete, in contrast to my "aspiring clown-puncher" level of athleticism. One of her teammates hooked her up with a tent company, and we purchased an altitude tent.

You can get high by mail.....

It arrived and we set it up in a few minutes. I got home after my wife on the day it arrived, and she already had the bedroom rearranged to set up the bubble. Our family and friends were a bit concerned that we were going to suffocate in our sleep once we turned it on. The first night I woke up, realized I was still breathing, and then proceeding to have a slight panic attack as I convinced myself I couldn't breathe in my semi-concious state. I was still able to fall back to sleep though, so I guess I wasn't worried enough to unzip the side of the tent, which is all I would have had to do to save myself.

The chuck wagon.

So, we have been getting high every night for the past two weeks. 6000' high to be exact. And it isn't even April 20th.

Desperation

No new snow here in VT. Skiing was good for a few days, but it has since gone downhill quickly...(get it?) Ok, not funny. I have made a valiant effort to stay active this winter and avoid gaining too much weight. I joined a crossfit gym, and the workouts often leaving me wanting to vomit. It is a good option when the weather is absolutely suck-tastic, but when it isn't sneeting/snaining or just plain raining, I want to be outdoors. So, the logical solution would be to ride the bike. But, what do you do when the trails look like this?

Slip and slide.....

Well, I'll tell you what you do, whether you want to know or not. You get a friend who has a box of screws, a drill and two free hours. When you are done drilling and screwing, you have this.

Like a 60 tpi hedgehog.

Making these death tires is just half the fun. After spending two hours (two guys, two drills, two tires, all in two hours. Not a fast process) you get to mount these m$)#$*)%)($ sharp tires. It took me about a half an hour to get both tires on. It took me another half hour to get the tubes seated correctly.

It was truly something I never want to do again, until I think about how fun this is. With the recent thaw/freeze cycle, our local trails now have an inch thick glaze all over them. This glaze makes them quite treacherous if you don't have some type of spike on your footwear or tire, as I discovered two seconds before I took this picture. I was trying to get across the trail near the tree Marc is turning around, but I ended up almost sliding into the stream bed that is immediately to the left of the frame. Luckily, I was able to grab a small pine tree and get my camera ready before Marc cruised by. The glaze, besides being lethal, also smooths out all the rocks and roots that we typically deal with. It actually made the trails a lot of fun to ride, with quarter inch spikes biting into the ice. They bit so well it was almost like riding with resistance on a trainer. At the very least, I will be able to ride the luge track trails around my house until we get enough snow to get back into the woods.