Snow Day

After a week of single digit temperatures, the warm moist air from the South Pacific moved into town. The 13.7 inches of snow that fell in the last 24 hours broke the single day record snowfall that has stood since 1950. And as Matt Chester points out, this aint the champagne powder of Utah and Colorado. For most of the day it was 31-33 degrees while it was snowing. This is the heavy snow that makes driving near impossible and biking just a bad idea.
This morning is a true snow day. The storm has passed, the blue sky is more than blue and all of the schools have closed. The temperature has dropped back down to 9 degrees.
Yesterday, I got a workout downhill skiing through 24+fresh inches at the local hill. Today I will bike get some biking in simply for the fact that I am out of coffee, but for the most part training is not in the cards. This is when I start wondering about my preparations. I always go through this.
I feel slow. I feel heavy. I lament the distractions. Everyone is riding more than me. I am procrastinating the work I need to do. I am not stretching. Time is ticking. Deadlines are coming. I won't be ready. And yet I find a way to do what I want to do.
I fall back to my mantras:
Don't train, practice- Kent Peterson
You can't train for a 1000 mile run, you can only rest- Yiannis Kouros
I am Buddha, not a Buick- Tom Robbins
Meditate when you can't perspirate- David Blaine

The Chili Ride

I am going to be riding up to the Kettle Falls area in February otherwise I would be participating in the chili ride. I like chili and I like the Fat Tire Trail Riders Club (they're the people doing all the trail improvements all over town). Not to mention Riverside State Park is my back yard so it is always good to represent.

Event Alert: Village Bike Project

Terry from Doma sent over this information about a great event they are having at North Idaho College. I have been hearing a lot about the Village Bicycle Project. John Speare from CyclingSpokane and Jon Fish from Mountain Gear have been putting a lot of work into this idea.


You are invited to a documentary film showing by Eric Matties and Tricia

Todd called "Ayamye". The film is about a grassroots project founded by

Moscow Idaho resident, David Peckham, called the Village Bicycle Project.

The project works to address the critical lack of basic reliable, affordable

transport for millions of Africans by transporting donated used bicycles,

teaching bicycle maintenance, and by providing tools for bicycle repairs in

African Villages.

The film will be showing at NIC's Meyer Health and Science Building Room #106 in

Coeur d'Alene on Thursday, January 17th at 7:00PM.



DOMA is supporting the efforts of the Village Bicycle Project because we

feel that bicycles are an important solution to economic stability,

pollution, energy crisis, and climate change.



Help us spread the word about this incredible film screening by forwarding

this invite to your friends and family. For any questions, contact us at

208-667-1267

First Ride Of 2008

New Years Day was sunny which around here in the winter means it was cold, real cold. Some of that Arctic air was blowing down which meant that the wind was blowing the wrong direction (of course the wrong direction on a bike is straight in your face). I had three people show up to ride with me but the brutal temps had them all making left turns when I was going right. An hour into the ride I was struggling along the drift covered Valley-Chapel road listening to the hum of the road signs as the shimmy back and forth in the wind. It took 3 hours to get to Rockford and I was rewarded with breakfast at the Harvest Moon. Things got better as I took back roads along Mica Peaks Western flank to the Saltese Flats.
I spent a lot of time thinking about potential routes connecting the many unpaved country roads in Palouse Country. 70 miles later I was pretty drained and called it a day. The best news from the ride was that my recent boo-boo from skiing did not bother me much. A good start to the year.