Winter Commuting and Pie

I got an email from Mom today.  She just bought some Nokian studded tires for her bike and some lights.  She's prepping for commuting on the bike a couple of times a week in the Alaskan winter. Good stuff.  Today was one of our first days of real winter commuting.  I rode to work in our first snow a couple of weeks ago, but it was relatively warm.  Today, we hovered in the low 20's as I headed to work and once again when I came home.  

As I was working my way home, I was thinking about why I like to commute in the winter.  I came up with a couple of reasons.

• Great light in the winter.  I love riding to work in the crisp mornings as the sun is rising behind me.
• It's quiet out there.  Even riding in the city, riding along is pretty quiet especially if the wind is at your back.  
• The coyotes I run into on the trail as well as a the occasional red fox.  I see the coyote every other week or so.  Yesterday, I scared him off the trail right in front of me.
• Watching snow flakes stream through the beam of my headlight.  
• Winter commuting is a little slice of adventure every day.  As the whether gets worse, the slice of the adventure pie gets a little bit bigger.  And everyone likes big slices of pie...right?

Of course, I came up with these and others as I sliced through the 25 degree darkness and did anything I could to take my mind off my two big toes which were gradually going numb since I misjudged my sock choice this morning.  (Teko Merino Wool only if the temp is above 35 - otherwise, SmartWool Ultra Thick)

We might get some snow tomorrow but I've got to make the trek to Boulder for class so I won't be on the bike unfortunately.  The mountains have been getting pounded so hopefully a little boardin' this weekend...

Congrats!!

Jay and I just wanted to take a few minutes and share our congratulations with so many of our friends!  With  so much excitement and happiness in the air, we have to share with everyone!  First, we wanted to say congrats to Cortney and Larry for baby E!  He is so sweet and cute, we can't wait to meet him!  Also, to Andy and Beth on baby Casper-who is also cute and cuddly!  On to Steph and Casey and Alli and Jeffery on your engagements!  We can't wait to share your special days with you guys!  Jay and I are so lucky to have such wonderful friends to share such exciting news!

Thanksgiving Prep

Kel and I got up this morning and started baking and cooking.  We're responsible for dessert and mashed potatoes.  I attempted a pumpkin pie from scratch (roasted the pumpkin myself), but so far it looks like it might be a bit soupy.  Oops.  It smells good.  We also made a chocolate pudding pie and the crust from scratch for both.  Kel took care of the mashed potatoes (garlicky).  

Our new favorite breakfast is french toast made from Seeduction Loaf (from Whole Foods).  I prepped myself for dinner by downing 5 pieces.  It's imperative to keep the stomach stretched and ready if you expect to do any damage at Thanksgiving dinner.  ;)   We also made Maggie a couple of the small end pieces.  She loves french toast...imagine that.  

Time to take Mags to the park.  Hope all are having a great Thanksgiving...

Twittering

I've seen too many references made to twitter to not see what the hype is about.  I'm now twittering and it seems pretty cool.  Whether it's all that useful remains to be seen, but it's kinda fun.  My twitter feed is twitter.com/jaserickson.  Check it out for updates...

Picasa 3, from Google, has a new feature that will automatically create a collage from selected images. Above is a sample from the Monarch Creast MTB ride. Pretty cool stuff.

Summer in November

We've had great weather all month and it looks like it will continue through Thanksgiving.  I've been able to get a bunch of rides in lately.  Case and I conquered Centennial Cone on Veteran's Day.   17 miles, 2800' of climbing, and one gorgeous day.  One of my new favorite Front Range trails.  

Centennial Cone

Flying By...

The weeks have been flying by. Winter is coming. We've had great weather up to this point, but it looks as if we may get some snow in the next couple of days. School has been pretty time consuming for both Kel and I. No big trips lately or any crazy adventures. We've gotten on the bikes a bit and I've been riding to and from work, but it's shoulder season in the mountains. Not enough snow to snowshoe or snowboard. I'm hoping to get a ride or two on the mountain bike before the snow flies tomorrow. I took Monday off to make a four day weekend with Veterans Day on Tuesday. Not a whole lot to report (hence the lack of posts), but big sigh of relief and sense of hope from Nov. 4th. Woot Woot!

Maybe some pics tomorrow...