The open road

With the wedding season in full swing, my presence was requested as a groomsman at a wedding in Anaheim. Not wanting to miss a chance to see old friends, I was on my way.

Generally one would drive this, but I had bigger and better plans. I stuffed two bikes, golf clubs, camping gear, a guitar and a bunch of other junk into my car and hit the road. Along the way I made stops in Glenwood Springs, CO to mountain bike with a friend. The next day I hit the road early and made a pitstop in Moab to ride Slickrock trail. Note to self, the desert is hot in mid August. After the ride I got back on the road and made it to Vegas for the night. My jalopy made it to Anaheim the next day and I spent the next week hanging out with friends, watching baseball, and biking around the roads and hills of southern California before heading north to the SF bay area to spend some time with my parents. A new dirt jump park popped up next to their house and I was launching my Yeti as much as I could, but still being upstaged by kids on BMX bikes.

I'm guilty of not taking out the camera until I saw this floating mountain in the Utah salt flats on the way home.


I really enjoy the open highways of the west. I've driven through most of the US states and a few other countries and there just aren't many stretches like this. Certainly the plains have longer/straighter shots of road, but those are just hypnotizing. I was so happy to have cruise control and play a game with myself called "how far away is that hill".



All of the riding and fun on the jump track took its toll on my bike. It's needed new shock seals for a while, but I finally got the time to take it into the shop and have them do it. The great question of "how to you bike to the bike shop then bike home" question was answered with some bungees and zip ties to my old SS.

1 year later.

A year or so since my last post and I'm sitting in my friends basement in Denver. A lot has happened.

In the last year I've quit my job, worked the south pole, toured New Zealand, worked in talkeetna, Alaska, had surgery, and in relation to this blog, gained about 12 pounds.

Last summer had some great mountain biking, a trip to moab, some more 14ers, and at the end of September a call from the Antarctic program informing me that I'd be needed there should I choose to accept the job. Over the following months I packed up my house, rented it out, and flew south. My original plan was to spend 12 months at the south pole, but just a few weeks into my stay an old medical issue came up and I was told I'd have to leave at the end of the season to get it fixed. Below is the geographic south pole around the solstice.



In Feb I left south pole and spend a month or so touring around new zealand in a bongo van. NZ is the most beautiful country I could imagine. I could spend years between the islands and not see everything I wanted. Below is a shot of Wanaka, NZ from the top of Mt. Roy.


After NZ I spent 2 months tapping birch trees in Alaska for Kahiltna Birchworks, working for the legendary Mike East. We were put up at a small B&B called "the eye of Denali" just outside Talkeetna, AK from April 1st to the end of May. This was a truly unforgettable experience. Below: Delani, Hunter, Foraker taken from talkeetna.

After Alaska, a bit of the fun came to a halt. I had surgery at the end of July and have been more or less shut down for the last 6 weeks. Only recently have I been able to get back on my bike and start working out again. I'm up to a hefty 206lbs. My house is still rented out, so I can't move back in there right now. I'm currently working through the physical qualification process to head back to Antarctica. Seems like it hasn't been that long, I'll try to keep up with this before I leave, and if things work out well maybe I'll actually be able to keep up while back on the ice. Cheers.