10/10/14 to 10/12/14 - Moab, UT

To see the video chronical of the weekend click here:  MTB Moab Fall 2014 - GoPro

Goofing around at the Porcupine Rim trailhead

I love being back in Colorado.  The Alps are amazing, Chamonix is spectacular, but I love being home.  After 100 days abroad, by far the longest I have ever been away, coming home was oh so sweet.  To top it off I made it back in time for the Mighty Mighty Skier crew's annual fall trip to Moab!  This trip was going to be a little different than any other Spring or Summer trip we have done.  The crew has now expanded to include four young boys and one girl, all under the age of five.  Many of these spirited youths have never been camping before; most notably 7 week old Bradley!  With mild trepidation we hit the road.  Since my employment hasn't started yet I was one of the lucky ones who was able to head down early on Friday and get an extra ride.  We started the trip with a mellow warm up on the Pipe Dream trail.  Always fun, technical enough to keep your attention, and mostly downhill, the Pipe Dream trail is always fun.  The rest of the crew joined us Friday night and we made our plans for the weekend.  Saturday started with the Upper and Lower sections of Porcupine Rim.  Unfortunately there was too much snow to undertake the Whole Enchilada, but the lower sections are a great compromise.  I managed to win the Rambo Award by being the first person to draw blood on the trail.  During the crash I also managed to break my (borrowed) helmet, so now I have to buy two new bike helmets.  Besides my early wreckage, everything was going well, everyone was riding strong, we had a shockingly low number of mechanical issues and flats, when Hailee's

Hailee's gash, post cleaning

injury curse struck again.  Somehow Hailee bounced off a couple of rocks and managed to get a 5" gash right down the middle of her shin!  Her current streak of six injury free days was quickly reset!  I carried her on my back while Earnest and Nicole followed with the bikes until the Advil took effect.  Once the pain started to subside she walked the rest of the way, slowly but surely, down to the trailhead.  Since the urgent care center in town was closed, Hailee decided to go with a more rudimentary butterfly bandage and Ace wrap solution in lieu of stitches.  Needless to say it took us longer than normal to gather the group at the trailhead so we skipped a second ride.  On Sunday we got up early and headed for Amasa Back.  The descent of Amasa Back down the Captain Ahab trail is one of our group's absolute favorites.  Hailee and Melinda stayed at camp and babysat the kids while the rest of the crew had a great time overcoming challenges and riding stuff they had never ridden before.  We grabbed lunch at Milt's Diner, a Sunday afternoon tradition, and headed out of town.  Before making it home, however, we got one more ride in the Klondike Bluffs trail system.  I can't say that Klondike Bluffs is my favorite trail system, but we had a good ride without any injuries or mechanical issues.  Over the course of the weekend all of the kids did remarkably well.  I, for one, did not get woken up once by a crying child in the middle of the night!  With yet another fun-filled Moab weekend in the books we made the long journey home and promptly passed out.

Midway on the Porcupine Rim Trail

9/25/14 to 10/3/14 - New York City and Washington D.C.

I decided to finish off the Europe trip with a blog about my final week abroad, which was spent in New York City and Washington D.C..  Unfortunately the plan to climb with Bucky in the Gunks was derailed by a last minute trip by Bucky to the West coast, but he left me in the capable hands of Ainsley and we managed to have a great time.  The biggest highlight of my first stint in Brooklyn was the Hash run.  If you haven't done a Hash run before, you should.  We got an email saying where the race was going to start and just showed up and waited at the intersection for the race organizers to arrive.  In the meantime we got the lowdown on the regular's nicknames which were all vulgar, and all had funny, non-vulgar stories behind them.  Once the race organizers showed up they explained the rules of route-finding and we were off.  We ran around Brooklyn following arrows that were marked on the sidewalk in chalk.  Every once in awhile we would come across a circle with an X in it rather than an arrow.  At these intersections the route could go in any direction and we just had to guess and check.  Sometimes we guessed correctly the first time and found three subsequent arrows in the direction we chose.  Sometimes we guessed incorrectly and would find only two arrows before the route would disappear and we would have to backtrack and try again.  There were also backcheck markers where we would have to backtrack a few arrows and then guess a new direction to run in!  At about the 3/4 mark of the run there was a drink station, which consisted of a gatorade/vodka mix.  We finished the approximately 4.5 mile run at a bar where we gave the organizers $20 and proceeded to drink and eat until the money was spent.  It was a really fun event and lead to a very lively night where we ended up dancing to a live (and awesome) country/folk band until we were ready to pass out.  Ainsley also brought me to my first ever yoga class which was more physically demanding than I would have guessed.  After spending the weekend in Brooklyn I caught a bus for the four hour ride to Washington D.C. to meet up with some old friends.  I kept myself busy until they got off of work on the National Mall at the Museum of Natural History, which was fascinating.  Once Erik got off of work I met him at Dupont Circle for a lovely oyster bar dinner, followed by smoking pipes on the roof of his apartment building into the wee hours of the night.  The next day I went back to the National Mall, this time visiting the Museum of American History and Botanic Gardens.  The "America at War" display in the museum is incredible.  I think I spent two hours in the Cold War display alone!  After joining Erik we met up with another old friend, Kate, and had a great time of reminiscing and updating on our lives.  Of course, with three people of such diverse political leanings, in our nation's capitol, we couldn't help but get into a short political discussion.  It was a great time getting back together with some of my best friends, but unfortunately I had to cut the trip short and head back to New York.  Bucky had come back from the West coast in the meantime and he, Ainsley, Dan, Charlie, and I went to a concert at a bowling alley.  I didn't have any information going in to the night, but when I learned that it was the Eli Young Band playing at a bowling alley in Brooklyn I freaked out!  I love Eli Young Band!  And bowling!  We didn't bowl, but the music was first rate.  After Eli Young Band was done there were more treats in store.  Questlove, from the Roots Crew showed up and DJ'd the rest of the night!  I met Charlie, with whom I had a great time talking and dancing.  Dancing to country music and DJ music in a bowling alley in Brooklyn on a Thursday night hit all my fun buttons!  A few thoughts on the differences between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Washington D.C.:
After spending the week in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and D.C. these are my rankings based on general layout, architecture, and atmosphere.
1. D.C.
2. Brooklyn
3. Manhattan
I had so much fun in Brooklyn last weekend that I could see why people enjoyed living here. It has a really awesome energy. But D.C. takes the cake because it is so open, with parks everywhere, and the architecture is so grandiose and striking I could (and did) just walk around for hours checking out all the different buildings. Manhattan is really hit or miss, I feel, depending on where you are. Central Park and the surrounding area is really cool, but then you get to the office park areas where everything feels dirty and claustrophobic. Just my two cents.

Enjoying Eli Young Band at Brooklyn Bowl