Best of 2009

Returning from a tropical vacation
to -20F commutes in Anchorage in January.

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Fun rides on snowy trails in spring sunlight.

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A spring road ride from Anchorage to Hope,
and the tasty burgers at Tito’s at the end.

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The Denali Highway.

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Team Muschi Schmerzen moving up to 13th place
and shaving more than an hour off our time
from the previous year, because this time
we actually had a clue what
we were doing in the Fireweed 200.

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100% organic bike racks.

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The usual big rides on the Kenai:
Devil’s Pass, Johnson Pass, Res Pass.
Spectacular, as always.

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Stickers.

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Riding the hell out of our new local trails.
(Or trying to.)

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Crashes.

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Falling into cow parsnip on the way to Crescent Lake,
then spending hours with my leg feeling
like it was plugged into an electrical outlet.

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Rain. Leonard. Enough said.

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Crewing for Monkee and Jules during
the Soggy Bottom 100,
and watching so many Faces of Death
roll through checkpoints
late in the race.

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Moab.

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Fruita.

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Tater, buddy.

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One word: Mankini

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Happy New Year

Memories of 2008

The cold-as-hell, way-too-fast-but-still-fun
New Year’s Day ride.

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The Frosty Bottom 50.

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The pain of spring road rides, and that
damned late snow that brought the fun to a halt.

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Riding Whitehorse with my daughter.

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The heartache of a ruined race, and the solidarity
that strengthened the local bike community afterward.

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The Fireweed 200 with Team Uranus Titans:
My throbbing achilles, the mutant squirrel,
the brutal winds, and The Bike Monkee’s screams.

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Construction of new singletrack
designed just for us.

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My daughter’s smiles
at the end of her all-girl rides.

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Seeing a lot of new bike commuters
when gas prices skyrocketed.

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Fingers. Many, many fingers.

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Clouds, rain and The Summer That Never Was.

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Arriving at Devil's Pass trailhead to find
all our gear soaking wet because some dumbass
leaked water all over the back of my 4Runner.

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Picking up my too-light Camelbak
and realizing the dumbass was me.

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Petra Davis’ beautiful smile at the end of July.

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The mud, blood and general carnage
of the Soggy Bottom.

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Being ready for winter, because
summer’s weather sucked.

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Happy New Year

Memorable moments of 2007

Building the Pugsley***

The fun of riding it
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Early spring rides on my new road bike.
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Making one bad joke
about dancing in my arm warmers,
and never hearing the end of it
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The cold rain during the Fireweed 100
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Making sure I remembered
a really foul joke all summer,
so that I'd be ready when I finally
ran into Leonard
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Heather actually showing up
for a couple of rides
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64 piles of bear shit in 22 miles
on Russian Lakes Trail
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The beauty of Lost Lake Trail
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My 13-year-old daughter
dropping me on a hill
for the first time
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The thick, slimy mud
of Johnson Pass Trail
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The young worker at the Kansas City airport
who rolled my bike case into the baggage-claim area
and asked, "Is this a gun?"
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The sound of a bike flying
off my brother's roof rack at 70 mph
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The guilty relief of realizing it wasn't mine
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Octaginta
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Riding en masse through Spenard,
in the dark, after a rainy game
of bike polo
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Beer and movies at Speedway
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Drinking beer around
the Frigid Bits Burn Barrel
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Watching my daughter ride ice and snow
on her first pair of Nokians
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The Face Plant
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Everyone who let me share a ride
with them.
This is the coolest cult
on the planet.
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Happy New Year, and thanks
for reading this little pile
of bike-related stuff.

See ya out there.