Just When You Give Up...

...the snow comes.

When Ed suggested we go mountain biking in February, Brandon thought this idea was 'blasphemy'. "It just feels wrong to be biking in winter. We should be skiing!", he huffed. Given that we had three sunny days and no new snow, I thought biking sounded fun. So we met Ed & Julie after work on Friday for some riding on the Black Diamond (town, not difficulty) trails.

Ed is always way ahead of us...

It was as if I completely forgot how to mountain bike; I fell a lot and now have some great bruises. After our ride, we enjoyed some beer and good food at the Swinging Arm Bar & Grill. A great way to start our weekend...

It seemed like we would never get snow again. Just in time for the VertFest Randonee Rally @ Alpental,  we got a few inches of fresh snow to make it a bearable course instead of a slip session. And, by God's grace, the sun also came out and we had blue skies for the race.

The Traslin brothers and another Canadian led a brutal pace. 

B is the last guy in this group at the second boot pack section.
[photo taken by Mill Creek Multimedia]

Ryan (the late Monika's boyfriend)
showing his "remember Monika stuffed kitty support" in a big way!
[photo taken by Jason Hummel Photography]

Mike Traslin (2nd place) showing off Tim's T-shirt, nice.
[photo taken by Jason Hummel Photography]

Heather accepting her first place winnings in the womens 1 lap race
[photo taken by Mill Creek Multimedia]

Post Race

We both had a lot of fun, if you call sweating, coughing up blood, and panting fun, which we do. I finally got first place, which isn't a big deal, but was a long time coming (I came in 2nd multiple years) so I was excited. B was disappointed in his performance but I think he did great and will keep improving.

As I type this post, it is snowing steadily outside and there is more to come, the weatherman says. Welcome, Winter 2.0, welcome.