Item's of note:

First: my really, really, super-good friend from Cali ran and completed the Western States 100-mile Ultra Marathon yesterday. That's her pictured above. It's from the back side of Timpanogos during a training run we went on last year in the days prior to our running the Squaw Peak 50-miler.

Here's a link to her blog: http://turborunz.blogspot.com

She is just so freaking awesome, I can't even begin to express! She finished in 29:43:38, and has had nothing but good to say about her experience. I was invited to be on her crew, but life and work and a lot of BS got in the way of my going. Maybe next time.

Secondly: Father's Day was a week and a day ago. All four (yes four) of my kids showed up at my parents for our family dinner. That in itself is not only a miracle, but it was pretty darn special to boot. My kids gave me a teddy bear. Very cute. And it talks to me: tells me Happy Father's Day and says how much it loves me. (OK, so it's a recording of my kids that got stuffed into one of the hands of the bear. Still very cool.)

Thirdly: I've been riding my road bike quite a bit lately. Well, maybe not quite a bit. But on Wednesday last week we (we is a few people from the hospital that go on a ride once or twice a week during lunch) headed on up Provo Canyon and South Fork. At the turn-around point, I suddenly got a flat--a rip in the tube near the valve stem. Fortunately, we managed a fix and we all got back safe and sound. Prior to my flat though, we had two of the other riders come unclipped somehow. One turfed it right in the middle of a major intersection in Provo. The other one managed to stay seated but busted off her bottle cage somehow. It was quite the afternoon.

Today I rode my bike up AF Canyon from Grandma's place. Eighteen plus total miles. I only rode up to the Timp Cave Center and then back. AF Canyon is a tough canyon to ride up!

Mountain Biking without the boy...

Yeah, I went without the boy.

It was Monday night--I had gotten work off at the theater and headed up the canyon at 5:30 after finishing my day at the hospital.

Up AF Canyon again to the Timpooneke Road and from there I pedaled around to face of Timpanogos. It's a rather rocky and bumpy road, but I still like it. And I wanted to see if I could reclaim some of the items I lost back on June 02. No luck there, but I did have a good time. Total time for the ride was just a bit over two hours.

Here is a panoramic pic of the view north (AF Canyon and northward):


Here's a pan-pic of the south end of Utah Valley from the north end of Timp--the point I turned around:


And lastly, here's a pic of the northern-most end of Timp:


It was a nice ride. That is until I took the trail down Bear Canyon to Mutual Dell where my car was. Steep, rocky, steep, and rocky. I won't do that again. I had a good time.

Mountain Biking with the Boy

Corbin and I had planned to go mountain biking over Memorial Day weekend but a warped rim spoiled those plans. But we got that fixed this week and headed up American Fork Canyon this morning for a ride along the Timpooneke Road.

Just me and the boy up in the mountains on our bikes.

It was a bit warm, but we didn't care much. And Corbin, being 13, wanted to show his old man a thing or two right off the bat; so for the first couple of miles all I could see of him was his back side from a distance. He was in one of the mid-range gears and was out of his seat putting way too much effort into climbing up the road. Eventually, just as I knew he would, he ran out of steam.

We rode about 3 miles up around the north end of Timpanogos and then turned around and rode back to Mutual Dell. At the turn-around, however, we stopped to drink some water and eat some peanut butter crackers. We chatted a bit and headed back down the road.

Corbin has little fear. He was always a good distance ahead of me and moving at a pretty good clip, rocks-be-damned. Me, I'm a bit more cautious. OK, a lot more cautious. Eventually we made it off the dirt road and onto the pavement--and we both turned on the after-burners the remaining distance.

Upon arriving at the Dell, I noticed that my wedge (under-the-seat bike bag) was open. "How did that happen?" I asked myself. But what really chapped my hide was the fact that everything that was in the wedge was gone! And to think, I almost threw my brand-spanking-new cell phone in there. What happened, I think, was when we stopped to eat the crackers I just didn't zip up the bag. And I'm going to beat myself up for 3 weeks for being such an idiot! Total loss in terms of dollars? Maybe $15. Nothing much, but still.

Anyways, the end result of the afternoon ride was positive (and a distance of only 9 miles). I don't work next weekend--I think we might just go and do it again! Fun!