Whatcha been up to? Keystoneslopeside.com.

I've been up to a little of this and that. Some projects around the house, some work on the car, a bit of running (Philly Marathon's just a month away), and some work on a new website. Haven't done the latter in years, and it has shown.

With the downturn in the economy, the western ski resorts are having a pretty good drop in bookings (up to 30%), and we're feeling it - we own a condo in Keystone, right at the base of the resort's brand new Gondola. Bookings for this year? Zero. This time last year? Filled.

So, to try to get more bookings, my friend John and I decided to put up a website to hopefully increase our visibility (we're currently renting through VRBO predominantly). Here's the address: www.keystoneslopeside.com.

Want to come out this winter? Great! We've got specials! We'll beat anyone's advertised price for a similar property by 5%.

...so apparently I'm up to marketing my place a bit. Please feel free to refer us!

Tension

A bit of a photo blog entry - "Tension" - for these economically tense times.

Meet Mr Jack the Dog. He's actually a very nice lil' fella, but he does like chasing squirrels (don't all dogs?)...

Squish Squash

The Sun's south of the equator.

Here's a touch of Colorado's parting shot.

While it's tough to see summer go, autumn will bring good squash soups, apple pies that permeate the air with cinnamon spice, comfy sweaters, a new president, and pretty colors on the trees...

Happy first day of Autumn....

Monarch Crest Trail

Mugsy and I rode the highly acclaimed Monarch Crest Trail yesterday, a 32-mile section of the Colorado Trail, right in the peaking fall colors. With all this you'd think I'd be ready to capture nature's best. Nope. Left the camera at my condo. Left my phone (with camera) in the car. Therefore, no pictures from yesterday.

While only being 32 miles, the ride felt a whole lot longer. It took us about six hours to complete, with a few hiccups along the way. Mugsy had a flat with about two miles left on the trail, and I spent the day occasionally pumping up the Pugsley's rear tire due to a slow leak.

This was the Pugsley's first trip onto an actual trail. It drew a ton of attention - "Look at those tires!!!", "Sweet wheels!!!" ... etc. - and while it perhaps wasn't the best for single track, there were a few sections of scree and creek riding that it cut through like a hot knife through butter.

While the Puglsey has no active suspension, it does have a lot of ability to soak up bumps, rocks, logs, etc., due to its 4-inch (3.7) Surly Endomorph tires. I started the day running at about 20psi, but kept tweaking until I was down to around 10psi. At 10psi, I had a good combination of control and "squishiness" in the tire to soak up the obstacles on the trail.

While Mugsy felt the trail was "Girl-Scout Technical", I don't know if I'd want to take the Pugsley onto a trail any more technical. That doesn't say it couldn't handle it - I'm sure it could - I'm just not the most adept rider on mountain trails. It really amazed me how quickly people were bombing down the rock and cobble strewn trail at significant grades. I seriously wonder how anyone could actually be in control! With rocks and trees everywhere, it seems just a little bit risky.


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Herding Cats

Now that Ironman is over, I've had some time to be a bit more productive.

Karen's always has had big issues with how the basement's store/bike room has been organized. The bikes were leaned up against the wall and one another, making it difficult to get to the one you want to ride, not to mention running the risk of scratching paint jobs.

Before shot:


I decided to re-live my dorm room days and visit the local big-box hardware store to pick up some lumber, screws, and stain to build my own free-standing rack.

Here it is. Seven bikes total, even the Pug-baby will fit on it. After shot: