Mimi lays down her first mega skid

I have to say I don't think Amelia has ever been so proud as when she laid out this huge skid in front of Julian. Even he gave her a high five. That's my girl. Our shop bill for rear tires is going to be high this fall on our rides to school. :)

Mimi slays the Cello

Hmmmm. As if we don't have enough instruments I'm our home (it must be over twenty) we are likely going to get Meemers a cello. What would you do? Look at her. The cello rocks!

This pic is from the youth orchestra organized by Dana and additional music teachers in town as part of a summer music camp program.

Snow in the Mountains!!

Geothermal in place for new Daylodge

John from Hellbent Geothermal placing the last two tubes for the new heating system. The lodge is now finally underway. I'll keep updates flowing both here and on the GNSC blog as well.

Old CCM

This is was put behind at Derailed bike shop today and is in for a time before heading to burning man. Has to be early 50's. Cool sweeping stays with an equally bizarre fork. Sturmey Archer 3 Spd. Very fun.

Rogers Pass Day2: Balu Pass

We got up a bit late and decided to go for a longer trip up to Balu Pass. The 10km hike is much more gradual and does not feel like you are gaining elevation so fast. Julian did not ONCE complain. I was very surprised.

A method to keep Julian from getting bored came in the form of the 100m break dance. Every 100m exactly of elevation change (as displayed by my altimeter watch) we stopped and had a little break dance session whether people were around us or not. It was quite fun. This pic is from the way back down from the pass.

The views are spectacular from this trail. The mountains on the left hand side of the image are of Mt. Tupper and Hermit. It is fun showing all of these peaks to Julian as I have climbed the majority of the mountains in the area, prior to Julian being born. I asked if he wanted to climb some of them and he flat out said no. I think that will change when he gets his own mountain axe.

The hike back down with Ursus Major in the background. The trails are top notch up there.

Success...lunch at altitude.

This pic was taken on the way up. Amazingly there was no smoke lingering. By Monday the valleys were socked in once again. McDonald is in the background.

Rogers Pass trip with Julian Day 1: Marion Lake

Julian and decided to head off on a boys only adventure up to Rogers Pass, in Glacier National Park. The weather was fantastic if not too sunny and hot. The first day we hiked to Marion Lake and about half way up to Abbott Ridge before we decided to turn around. We hiked about 8 km on day 1.

Some cool mushrooms, ferns, devils club and berries adorned the side of the trail.

Julian became the proud owner of a new pocket knife and was very responsible with it. He has wanted one forever. This moment was staged, really...he is not a psychotic murderer.

At the end of the hike we celebrated with a Jiffy Pop treat.

The view from Marion Lake. No bugs either. Amazing.

The hike to Marion Lake is only just over 2km but it is straight up the whole way.

Cervélo News - Carlos Sastre will leave the Cervélo TestTeam after this season

Cervélo News - Carlos Sastre will leave the Cervélo TestTeam after this season

Julian

I need an iPhone app that allows me to take pics without cutting off my son's head. :)

Woke up to an Alien Destroying Zombie Ghost (his words) demanding a bike ride. Of course I said yes...would you mess with an alien Destroying Zombie Ghost?

Perseid Pics

Artwork by Julian (only one extra m)

Halley's Comet pic (love the smashing meteors around it)

Dusk at 8000 feet. Pretty nice view from the restaurant.

The Brewmasters Astronomy Event was sponsored by Big Rock Brewery. 3 courses of food with a glass of beer with each, along with an astronomy discussion in between each of the courses by yours truely. It was a fantastic time.

Our evening menu. Soooo good.

Jason Eastwood enjoys a fine evening meal with the Hudson's. Jason was the live entertainment for the event playing some incredible guitar.

Julian and Dana taking in a high altitude sunset with rainbow in the valley below

Beer, figs and blue cheese go very well with Big Rock Brewery Honey Brown.

Julian and I on the gondola ride to the top.

Perseids Meteor Shower 2010

The Perseids Meteor Shower event was a huge success this year with clear skies arriving just in time for a great display. While numbers of meteors were down for the year it was a dark sky with no moon. KHMR has hosted this event for the past six years now and I love being the speaker for the event. There were about 60 people this year in total and all seemed to be having a great time.

Here is the low down:

Viewing Time: 11:00-12:30

Visuals: 79 Total

Perseid Related Meteors: 71

Non Perseid Meteors: 8 (all but one from SW)

Fireballs: 2 both Perseid related

Golden Active Transportation: DIY Streets

Golden Active Transportation: DIY Streets: "I love this idea that streets can be created by residents. It would be interesting to see if this idea can fly in Canadian towns and cit..."

Back to normal.

The house is finally back together but am still finding saw dust
outcrops every once in a while.

New Old Floors

After many hours of sanding and finishing we finished our floors and came up with this. Not a bad looking floor for being 120 years old. It sure does look nice. And NO SPLINTERS!

Puddle Skids 101

Julian has mastered the puddle skid. This is one of the fine examples
executed in the rain this afternoon.

Rainy day cruising

With rain in the forecast for the next week we figured we had best get
past our blah felling toward getting on the town. We had to pry Mimi
out of the house but once we were on route the puddle hopping cheered
us all up.

Community Bike Program Becomes A Reality

The Town of Golden and key community members have been working for over 3 years to create a new community bike share program. Today, the town liaison announced that the project is in full swing with 25 being ordered and will be sending them to be custom painted in the next three weeks. The bicycles will be assembled and maintained by Summit Cycle, our local Kona dealer.

In the coming weeks a decision will be made on hub locations, payment methods, and locking systems (a few options are currently being considered).

This is hopefully a stepping stone for further developing an active transportation network of trails and on street commuting lanes.

There will be much more info in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Norco 2011 Commuters (I couldn't resist)

The Heart Fixie/Singlespeed offers the benefit of a no fuss drive train for the commuter on a budget. For under $400 you would be hard pressed to find a better deal. While the Spade offers more sex appeal, the price tag is considerably higher. Great beginner polo bike!

The Fiori folding bike is a new addition to Norco`s fleet and hits the urban apartment dweller market. I would love to test ride one. Do I need one...no. Are they cool and functional...Yes.

The Club is one of my favorites in the new Norco catalogue for 2011. They are really on to something here catering to the traditionalist cromo rider seeking a fast commuting machine or comfortable weekend century rider. I love this bike. Chrome pounded fenders, Brooks saddle, chrome vintage racks, a set of appropriately stylish panniers, and a silver bell...dreamy.

The City Glide Series offers sleek stylish European flare with good old fashioned comfort. These internally geared bikes are offered in a 3 and 8 spd drivetrain. Nice features such as the front wheel spring, colour matched components and basket make this a real off the shelf stylish commuter for the ladies. There is a blue step through model as well which I would gladly rip around on.

The Ceres is an internally geared bike which fills the techy commuter market. Nice bike with the belt drive and discs. I have to admit. I don`t really get who this bike is for?

2011 Norco Lineup

I have to admit, while I constantly am on the look out for new and exciting bike companies, small custom manufacturers and specialty brands I seem to always come back to Norco and spend my hard earned dollars on their bikes. Over the past twenty five years of cycling I have to say that about 90% of the bikes I have owned, which have been numerous, have been Norco's. From my very first mountain bike that my dad bought me back in 1986, a Black with white flecked Norco Bigfoot to the last Norco purchased, a CCX1 from 2008 I have always been very happy with their build quality, component packages and clean looks.

While Norco for me was never the company out leading the pack in frame development they have always taken the proven design characteristics of other brands and incorporated into their own. The best of all worlds you might say. This year they seem to have broken through their inhibitions and have created a truly stellar lineup, with great colours to boot!

I have had my share of snapped stays on my old Team DH and Team Shore DH bikes, but, I always had a replacement within a week and never had issues with attaining parts. These couple years may have set Norco back in the super lucrative and competitive world of the DH bike but now they seem to be rising again to super power status with their 2011 bike line up.

Perhaps the thing I have always appreciated the most is their valued front counter staff. While managing a local bike shop here in town for several years we established Norco as strong brand within the community. Placing two to three orders a week with Norco always was a joy. The staff and in house reps are magnificent and truly passionate cyclists. They shape the brand, design bikes they love to ride and always present exciting products from all over the world in their distributed brands catalogue.

I am looking at possibly getting back into the industry at some level and I really can't consider anyone else for our product.

Norco, if you are listening, perhaps you require a "Norco Addicts Anonymous" Helpline for all of us who are hopelessly in love with your products. Check out a few of my favs for 2011 and go check out the full lineup here.

The commuter range and urban bikes seriously kick ass this year. Perhaps though they would benefit from a couple more old roadies on staff to create a couple sexy vintage steel touring/commuting bikes.

The Club road bike...very Commonwealth. You're on the right track. I love it!

Italian Yumminess

It pays to have old Italian neighbors. Help out in their garden
receive these delicious Italian goodies. Dominica, I love you.

Bella Ciao Bicycles

I hope my life does not turn into wandering the internet seeking out bicycle beauty but this is an amazing shot of a small bicycle manufacturer from Berlin.

Bella Ciao makes Italian styled bicycles and are distributed solely in Europe.

Very classy, and the tile mosaic is quite fetching as well.

A bunch of HOT refits out there.

Click on the pics below for a super size image. Very nice indeed.

This is pretty much the exact bike with the same kit. Need a front rack, have a light.

Single Speed Conversion is quite nice too. Always a possibility.

This is the pimp version for sure. The paint job is definitely nicer than mine. Slightly different model. That is the PX 10 I believe.

This is what I'm going for here...

The original bike probably was pretty similar to this blue number below. Not terribly attractive. Exact same component package as mine though.

Here is a sample of a touring version of the bike with period components as well. A considering loosing the drop bar and putting on a mustache bar or something similar however for a more upright stance for winter and distance rides.