All done racing, now what??

   Well, let's see here... the Tara Llanes Classic was about a month ago now, and the following weekend was Northstar's closing day. That was also probably the best day of riding all season, with a newly rebuilt upper half of the Gypsy trail, and no agenda for practicing anything! I did so many runs I eventually lost count, always a good feeling. And, another awesome thing happened the previous weekend: apparently this guy flew into a fit of rage over Northstar's impending closure and the end of the racing season (or something like that) and dissected his bike right in the parking lot... fortunately a friend was nearby who heard me complain about my brakes dragging incessantly for the past 2 weeks, and snagged the brakes for me! Finally my bike could roll freely and it was amazing!! Thanks Sean, I owe you a few beers next season.

Stopping on the Flume on our Rose to Chimney ride

   A couple of weeks later I did a fun XC ride with some ladies on the TRT from Mt. Rose Meadows to Tunnel Creek and the Flume Trail, finally ending on the Chimney Beach downhill. That has got to be my favorite Rim Trail section of all time, and everything was in such good shape from the rainfall a couple days before, even Chimney Beach was all-time great traction!

   And I finally got my "new" Tahoe rocky trail XC bike, an '07ish Santa Cruz Blur LT off Pinkbike, such a good deal I couldn't restrain myself since I'd been talking about getting one for years. It fully lived up to expectations, shredding the rocks with no problem and inspiring me to catch air anywhere possible, plus being pretty darn light. It'll do for now, until I can afford the latest fancy carbon  thingamajig, whenever that happens to be. Keep in mind I've been riding a 10 year-old aluminum hardtail leftover from my XC racing days, so this is a huge step up! And then of course, it snowed. Luckily I can still take it to Moab in a week!

   Speaking of being able to afford expensive bike parts, my life for the past few weeks has been consumed by resume writing and mailing them off to prospective sponsors for next season. The easy part is putting together all the results and some pretty pictures, but being convincing as to why I deserve sponsorship over some other dude is for some reason the hard part... I really feel like I'm a lousy salesperson so it's kind of a frustrating time of year. Furthermore, between the internet in my house still not working and having to use Cline's computer, and not having a color printer readily available to make my photos look good, it feels like the universe is conspiring against me getting much done in that department.

Indian Creek

   On to more fun things: UTAH ROAD TRIP!! Although our departure date has been pushed back to this weekend thanks to Kit's work obligations, we still plan to head out there and stay until early December, bike riding, climbing, and just hanging out in the desert. Plans include plenty of time in Moab to explore bike trails, climb towers, and check out Arches National Park. Just an hour south of Moab, Indian Creek is on the list as well for some crack climbing and maybe a trip into Canyonlands to do a bit more...uh, climbing. Oh yes--finally, I get to jam my hands and feet into some desert splitters!! It's SO exciting! (Now you see why I'm so conflicted? I love bikes, but sometimes I just need to go climb a rock!) We may also venture to Colorado, New Mexico, or Arizona if the weather gets too cold later this month, looking for warmth in the sun.

   In the past weeks I've also been trying to whip my climbing muscles back into shape, both physical and mental, for leading on gear. A trip to Donner Summit kicked my butt when I tried the short but stout overhang on Firecracker Roof 5.10b (on toprope), but then cleanly led two 5.9+ cracks after that, before my arms went totally noodly and I was done. Last week I hit up another local spot for climbing cracks, the Crystal Bay Boulder, just 5 minutes away from me in Kings Beach. It's about 40 feet tall and has a .10a flaring chimney and a .10c hand-to-offwidth crack, both very physically exhausting; the chimney especially gives one the feeling of being simultaneously eaten and spit out. The hand crack gets hard about 10 feet from the top, where it requires either a careful transition to a lieback, or arm-bar and cram yourself in through any means possible, as it widens to just over fist-width. Most climbers, myself included, find this type of "off-width" climbing terribly difficult and painful, but for some reason I keep throwing myself at it... though I will probably stick to more friendly climbs in the land of sandstone.

   Here are a couple of photos from my last visit to Indian Creek, which was exactly 3 years ago at this time. A small storm blew through the night we arrived, and we went back to Moab for a couple of days to let things warm up. A week later, the weather was beautiful and the rock was warm, but I only got to climb there for a day before we had to return to Tahoe.
 

The Creek with a dusting of snow