Soapbox

I've had a few random thoughts kicking around my head that I have to get out.

First off, you may remember my feelings on the repair job done by the county road crews. That post was only a year ago and as per my prognostication the chip seal is not holding up. I rode up to Veyo this morning thru Gunlock, from now on I am going to refer to that ride as the Veyo-Roubaix. If you don't get the joke, go here to be enlightened.
This is part of the same track used by the St. George Iron Man, a world class event. I would think the county would be ashamed to show the world how good they are at ignoring road conditions. The Iron Man allegedly brings in millions of dollars to the local economy but they can't seem to spring for 30 miles of new tarmac.
Thumbs down to you Washington County Road Dept.
Feel free to send Wendell Gubler a piece of your mind, he already has had some from me. He is the man in charge of saying "we don't have any money."  Wendell.Gubler@washco.utah.gov  


Secondly, runners. This may offend a few of you but I don't care. Sometimes a little tough love is the only way. 
This time of year it seems as if 1/4 of the population in preparing for the St. George Marathon. They train by running down the course from Veyo to St.G via highway 18 or down Snow Canyon. 
Running to me looks like agony. Plodding, slow, jarring, joint destroying agony. Maybe that is why most of the folks I see are so zoned out of their minds that they can't seem to behave like we have rules in our society.  In Snow Canyon on Thursday I passed approx 35-40 people, It was dark and 50% of these fools were not using lights or reflectors of any kind. 
They was no rhyme or reason to where they were running either. Some were running against traffic (which is the recommended method) some were running with traffic but the majority were right in the middle of the road running 4 abreast. 30% of them were startled when I got to within 25ft of them, again so zoned out that they failed to see my bar lights baring down on them.


Now for my biggest complaint, litter. 





The runners are of course training for a long event and they don't want to carry all the necessities i.e. water, fuel, supplements etc. So they leave little stashes along the road way so they can pick it up as they need it. In theory I understand this and agree with the idea. However in the application of this plan they fail to do the necessary clean up after the fact. There are hundreds of used water bottles right now along the side of highway 18. Every runner that I confront about the problem says the same thing, "we always pick up our trash after the run." LIARS! If you all picked up your trash then there would be no trash.


Thanks for listening and please keep America beautiful.  




One more thing, congratulations for finishing a tough event ladies. 

Saints to Sinners

I few months ago I was able to reconnect with my Dad's brother John. I think we were both surprised to find out that the other was an avid cyclist and we made some tentative plans to get together for a ride.
About a month after that he emailed with a question, " Do you want to ride in the Saints to Sinners relay"?

The Saints to Sinners ride is in it's second year and put on to raise money for ALS. This is a road ride so I am deviating from the normal mountain bike drivel you usually see here. The route looks like this;

The team was put together with a rag-tag group from So-Cal, Utah, and Colorado.The group was very cool and for once I was not the oldest guy riding.  We also didn't have any of the Uber aggressive, "in it to win it" guys who just need a punch in the face.... so that was nice.

The race is split into 30 legs and each team member has 3 legs of their own to complete. The team is able to ride together for moral support or drafting purposes, the only regulation being that you cannot ride the leg directly before or after the leg you are responsible for.
We split up the effort as much as possible, helping out where we thought it was needed.

I didn't take any pictures the whole trip so I had to rip these from Emily's blog. If you visit her site be sure to take note of how men should wear scarves. It works Pete,    it    just    works.

Two vehicles are a must have for an event like this and a the motor home was invaluable. Not that you get a lot of sleep in there, but having room to move around and lay down if you want is really the way to go. The constant moving was an interesting twist and you need a guy or two to be on top of the logistics. Big props to Brian for keeping us all between the lines. In fact I would highly recommend at least one person on your team be an MIT graduate, they don't seem to mind the extra workload.

The most memorable leg for me was the midnight ascent of leg 13. It looks like this;

In the moment the ride was a grind, but as soon as I had recovered from the oxygen debt and had warmed up from the rain at the summit the recollections were more enjoyable than painful.  The smells of the damp forest, the dark solitude, the lack of oxygen and sleep all contributed to a terrific ride.  I am calling my shot right now and saying that I would do again if we do the race next year.

I need to make a comment on Emily's last leg through the Valley of Fire state park. It was hot, really hot and the profile provided by the race organizers did not seem to be accurate. There was a lot of tough climbing but she pounded out the 16+ miles like a trooper.

If you are looking to do this race next year I would highly recommend it. You take a route through the heart of Utah that you normally don't get to see. I could write an entire do's and don'ts scenario for you but that would take some of the fun out of your event.
Suffice it to say that as the miles pass under your wheels memories will be made, the sun will set and rise again, relationships will flourish, pain and suffering will be felt, sleep will elude you and you will test your physical limits.

Sounds like a recipe for a quality time, every vacation should have some of that.

Cocina Poblana

I had to make an entire post dedicated to a restaurant we frequented while on vacation. After getting of the plane in Oakland we were both hungry so I headed over to Jack London Square which was more or less on the way. There was a plethora of eateries to choose from but nothing catches my eye or my heart like a well presented Mexican establishment. We ended up hitting a home run with the first swing.

As I opened the menu my eye went straight to the mole, I have searched for nearly 20 years for mole that could rival those that I had on my sojourn in No Cal during the early 90's . The mole happened to be the house specialty but there were four to choose from. They were listed thusly;

Mole Poblano

$15.00

Authentic mole poblano from our family recipe. All of our moles are served with broiled chicken leg and thigh, poblano rice and handmade corn tortillas.+More

Mole Mama Luisa

$15.00

Authentic mole de Jalisco. Our Mama Luisa's specialty. All of our moles are served with broiled chicken leg and thigh, poblano rice and handmade corn tortillas.

Mole Mama Elena

$15.00

Our Grandmother's personal recipe. Mole negro in the Guanajuato style. All of our moles are served with broiled chicken leg and thigh, poblano rice and handmade corn tortillas.

Mole Pipian

$15.00

Our Grandfather's specialty. Pumpkin seeds with the essence of chile guajillo. All of our moles are served with broiled chicken leg and thigh, poblano rice and handmade corn tortillas.

I was torn, which one to choose. Then I spotted this;

Cuatro Moles

$20.00

A sample of each of Chef Lito's delicious moles. Sserved with broiled chicken leg and thigh, poblano rice and handmade corn tortillas. Perfect for sharing!

All four moles on one plate, with home made corn tortillas! I had to have it and my Bride, going against her norm, was up for the challenge.  We were not disappointed, it was the best mole I have ever had not actually sitting in an old lady's kitchen.
We ate it the way it's supposed to be done sans silverware, just rip that tortilla into quarters and use the pieces to pick up the rustic, spicy goodness then lick your fingers clean.  I caught the waitress eyeballing us, her quick smile told me that she could appreciate our technique.

Bottom line; if you ever have the chance, do not pass this up.  I am glad we don't have a Cocina Poblana in my town or I would need to add a "Mole" line to the monthly budget.

Vaya con Dios chef Lito.

Day Tripper

I spent last week in the North of California, my bride had a 3 day conference in Rohnert Park and I was able to tag along. We left the kiddos at my parents so from 8 am til 4 everyday I needed some way to entertain myself while she was Moodling.  It may come as a surprise but I decided to ride my bike.

The first day I headed to Annadel State Park just outside Santa Rosa. On the way there you have to pass through the Rincon Valley for which one of my companies is named.

I saw this and had to stop, hoping I could pick up a new lid or maybe a T shirt......no luck, pretty lame store.

Annadel is much larger than I thought and has an extensive trail system.

I ripped off about 18 miles the first day and saw about 1/2 of the park. There is a little bit of everything on these trails smooth, rocky, roots, woods, lakes, golden fields of grass, you get the idea.

Day two found me in the Napa Valley at the Skyline Wilderness area. Lots of climbing and old structures. 

Old house foundation.

Me getting artsy

Old Grainary?

At the far end of the trail system it almost becomes a rain forest. Everything was slippery and made for tough riding.

Day 3 I had planned to go to Tamarancho or maybe down to China Camp but Annadel was singing it's siren song and I could not resist. I hit some stuff that I did not get to on day one and I was not disappointed. The Ridge Trail was the best thing I saw all trip. I looped it twice I liked it so much. 

Only one picture, I didn't want to stop the fun.

All day on my bike and then spending the evenings with my sweetie made this a vacation to remember but it was not over yet.

I shipped my bike home and we spent the next day and half in San Francisco staying at the Palace Hotel.  I really like that town and we had a great time. Our flight home did get canceled due to mechanical problems and we had to fly home out of San Jose but it could not ruin a great week.

BEST.  VACATION.  EVER.

Rainbow Revisited

For the last three years, on the weekend after Fathers Day I usually plan on riding the Rainbow Rim. This year was no exception.
This year there will be no long explanation of where it is or how incredible the trail is. Nope, this year I am going to show you the new guys who have never ridden there before, (three of which had never seen the Grand Canyon).  And I will end with a list of the fools who had something better to do than show up for a once a year ride that I plan months in advance.

So first the newbies.

Congrats to the first timers, especially to Luke for lugging that 40 lb rig the entire day.

Now for the slackers;

Dustin
Duane
John- Your off the hook because of your old man's service and the Utah Hill death march.
John
Curt
Brandon - You get a pass because you manned up on the White Rim
Marshall
Matt

Missed you guys.........the rest of you are this close [  ] to dead to me.

Lifestyle Choice

H. G. Wells:

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."

I purchased a bike for commuting to the new Verdi office. (that may be a post for another day) I don't do this to save the environment or save money on gas, I do this for two reasons; 
I now have real reasons to ride a bike every day of the week and secondly I am looking forward to the challenge. You all know that I get bored easily so the effort involved in planning out the day, battling the elements and my own laziness seems like a worthy effort.


She may look flashy but I will tell you that I spent a whopping $418 on this steel miracle of Chinese ingenuity.  How they can produce and sell this bike for that dollar figure may be whats wrong with American commerce.

Google Machine

Have you ever googled yourself? I have done it a few times and realized each time that I have made little or no mark on the cyber world. (no pun intended)

This time I ran across something extra special, I give you The Mark Weston Band.

To be brutally honest here, I am a little disappointed to have a group so devastatingly mediocre using my name.

To quote their site, "The Mark Weston Band is a Cutting Edge, Mainstream, Cross Over Pop Alternative Rock/New Country/Classic Rock three piece club dance band."

Is it even possible to be all of those things? I don't think MAINSTREAM means what they think it means. Exactly zero of their mindless tunes will be placed on my I-pod.

What's really interesting is that they have the same number of #1 hit singles as me and I don't even play an instrument.

So get out there and google yourself today but be prepared for the disappointment.