Friday, August 15, 2008

Gone Hunt'n

It's been a busy few days with Erin's return and mission report, racing and getting ready for the bowhunt. I'm heading out the door for a week of solitude in the mountains chasing deer and elk. Should be good times. I call it hiking with my bow because I've yet to actually shoot something. Maybe that will change this year.

Tanner and I completed a great MTB season Saturday with less than stellar results. I was good for about an hour and then blew to finish 4th (way to go Karl on the 2nd place finish). It is an unforgiving course if you blow up or have a back day. When things go bad, you just hope to make it back alive. Tanner was off as well and went backwards the whole day. However, we had a good time at the after-party and enjoyed being around our racing buddies. There are a bunch of great people that race MTB's and I'll miss seeing them for a few months.

Tanner did end up winning the 16 - 18 Sport/Expert ICUP overall points. It's a huge accomplishment for him. He's improved more in a year than anyone I've been around. The kid can climb, that's for sure. His technical skills took a big jump and he'll leave the old man in the dust next year. I've had a great time riding and racing with T-man this year. These are times we'll remember all our lives. Tanner's putting his climbing skills to the test Saturday at the Snowbird Hill Climb. I'm bummed I'll miss it. Since I can't climb, I'd be on the side of the road yelling for him.

My hunting adventure will keep me from the Tour of Utah the next two days. However, I did make it to the finish yesterday. Very cool. Like Adam, I'm huge standing next to these guys. The top 12 were all a buck 135 or less. Tyler Hamilton is a midget. Those boys can climb though. The exception is Treefarm. He's skinny but super tall. Just like at cross nationals last year, I stood by his bike and can't believe a human can ride that thing. It's ridiculous. The seat is chest high on me and the seat to bar drop is about a foot and a half.

The Canyon / Utah All Stars set up was sweet. I got to talk with Dave for 15 minutes right after his finish. He had a great day and finished 23 minutes down. He had some good stories about riding most of the day with Fast Freddy. He said Feddy is scary fast downhill. Dave's going to try to make some noise in tonight's crit. I've never seen him look more fit, so it should be interesting.

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