Arizona Trail Race

Scott Morris has put together what looks to be a really exciting route from the border of Mexico to Utah. The route will run in to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and then require the rider to portage through to the north rim of the canyon (about 20ish miles) and then on to Utah. It's about 750 miles and 80,000' of gain.

Unfortunately, I still have some unfinished business here in Colorado. This looks really interesting and it's getting a lot of attention.

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,607.0.html

Homecoming

As I opened the door to my humble home after work, I was greeted with what could very well be described as the most offensive odor in the world. Right away I knew it could only be one thing. I took off my coat as I ran up the stairs. I put my bag down and hustled up to the spare bedroom where Bodhi spends his day in the kennel. Oh yeah. This is where the description will stop and you're welcome. After a bath and mopping the bathroom floor, cleaning the tub, and hosing out his kennel (thankfully it's above freezing right now) the house is finally getting back to a normal smell. He has been asleep since then. He's had more intestinal issues than any other pup I've had. So far he's put down a little bit of Propel and hopefully he'll be better off tomorrow morning after a bit of rice tonight.

Needless to say......there will be no photos in this entry

Finally

The weather was decent enough today to get out. I was out for about 2.5 hours on my mountain bike. My Reba fork has been giving me issues lately and now it's entirely blown and the lockout isn't working. The ride was still good and I think tomorrow is supposed to be nice again so I'm hoping to get out for about 3 hours on my road bike.

I almost came home with another puppy today. While I was riding along on a gradual climb, I thought I heard something behind me. I looked and thought I caught something out of the corner of my eye but it went to the other side. I kept looking back and forth for probably 5 times until I turned all the way around and saw a yellow lab running along with me. It followed me for about a quarter of a mile. Then took off down into the ditch and popped back up with a 3 foot long branch that was about 3" in diameter and ran along side of me again. Obviously I was worried about her getting hit so I stopped. She dropped the stick and then ran 10 yards away and just stared at me. I went over and started petting her and noticed she had a tag but it was just a rabies vaccination tag so there was no address. It really bothers me when people aren't more responsible with their dogs. I know that sometimes dogs are crafty and can get out of the yard but isn't making sure that the area is secure part of being a responsible owner? Heather and I went looking for her a while ago but didn't find her. Hopefully she's sleeping on a couch in someone's warm home. Surprisingly, I don't think Heather would have been all that upset with me. We could have had 3 puppies!!!!!!!!

New Team

Not me silly.....Ken Block. He's decided to leave Subaru and he's now in a Ford. He will be stepping up to do some WRC stuff with the big boys. He's going to be driving the same car that Kenny Brack and Brian Deegan have been in. It's a Fiesta with a 2 liter motor that's putting down 800hp on 50lbs of turbo boost!!!! This thing does 0-60 in about 2 seconds. I hope he makes it out for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb this year.

Whoa....

I stumbled across this while browsing another VW/Audi site I frequent. This is a B5 RS4 with a lot of really cool goodies. I don't know much about this car. The guy that built it is somewhere overseas. I'd love to see more pics of the suspension, brakes, and interior. I can't even find any video of dyno runs but I bet they're violent.


Sorting through the nightmare of a wiring harness.


Yes that's a V8 and 2 turbo's.


So just below the turbo's you can see the frame rails. These now also serve as the air runners. There's a hole in each rail on the inside and towards the bellhousing. More plumbing is attached to these and the air goes up and into the filters.

That's a Subie WRX scoop. A huge hole was cut in the Audi hood and this was grafted in.

At the risk of sounding like a Nancy boy...

So yesterday Heather and I were going to head down and run some errands and I grabbed a pair of pants to put on because it's always nice to do that. I got them buttoned but it was not comfortable. I looked down and saw what appeared to be some extra baggage. So I stripped down and stood on the bathroom scale (which I haven't done in eons). 174.6lbs!!!!

When we were in Mexico, there was a guy there that was skinny everywhere but the belly. It looked like that dude was in his 8th month and ready to pop at any moment. I had a dream last night that I was going to be lugging that up all the passes this year. Let me just say that the image of THAT trying to be kept in and giggle free by a medium sized bib was enough to cause me to wake up in a state of utter panic. I actually considered bangign out some extra crunches right there in bed. So that's it. I'm a strict plan that actually started the 1st. No more beers for this guy. I gotta get back to fighting weight.

Yes!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Rick up at JDB Imports about the fate of my van. He said he had successfully exorcised the demons from it. He also said he had been driving it around for about 45 minutes and was impressed with it. "It's got power," were his exact words. I said, "Dude...we're talking about the maroon 88 right?" The biggest culprit turned out to be the relay that controls the ECU. It was sending intermittent power to the computer and this was freaking out everything. Rick also installed one of his patent pending kits that takes care of the dreaded "Vanagon syndrome" (slight loss of power and bucking that can show up every other day or every 6 months). Years ago VW offered a pigtail harness that was supposed to cure this issue but it doesn't. If you know what I'm talking about...I no longer even have that harness that goes to the air meter. I drove Ron home last and fell in love all over again.

I am also very proud to say that for the first time since I've known Heather...I pulled off the New Year's eve thing. I must say that it was all worth it. The fireworks reflecting off the Peak were beautiful. I did have one of Woodland Parks finest pull up my street while I was taking in the fireworks. He stopped and started in on what I was doing and where I lived. I told him there was nothing to see here officer. We only have half a dozen or so officers in this town but I never saw him before so they musta brought in the big guns last night.

Off to the gym and then I'll squeeze in a ride later.