Super Sunday February 5, 2012

Another travel day. Today I chauffeured BT from Vegas to Telluride. He rode like a Prince today. I would have let him ride in the back like a VIP but he brought too much luggage and there was no room for him. I had a great time in Vegas this weekend. Good fun and great food. BT and I had a lot of fun at the fights last night. Unfortunately I couldn’t pick a winner and the guy I was there for got robbed with what I am calling, “the worst fight decision ever no matter what my weird half Asian friends/salesmen might think even though he is wrong”.

Vegas was both fun and successful. I did lose my ass on my fight bets. I only picked 1 of the 5 I bet. Luckily that is only the second time I have lost on fight bets and the fight bets were paid for with casino money. BUT, thankfully I am the sports betting champion. I have now officially picked and bet on the past 7 or 8 Superbowl winners. Thanks to the Giants and my keen insight I made a 300% ROI on the Superbowl alone. I took them with the points, without the points, and a parley with the under. When I tally the Superbowl win and the fights losses I netted a cooooool $65 in sports book winnings. A win is a win and I keep my legendary status alive. Other than the sports bets I dominated on the table games. I left with plenty of their money. I kept looking in the rear view mirror from I-15 to see if they were shutting the lights off behind me as we drove away.

Tomorrow hopefully start our days back on the slopes. They got a little snow here the other day when the storms passed near Denver, but not a lot. The forecast isn’t too promising either. Hopefully that changes, the weather is a fickle SOB. Maybe BT has brought the winter weather west with him.

Big fight tomorrow night. I can’t wait!!

I had a fun day in Vegas, as if anything else is possible. Went to a Q and A with GSP. He is pretty boring and vanilla, but I already knew that. The weigh ins were pretty undramatic also. I made all my sports bets for the fights and the Superbowl. Have to see if I can keep my streak intact. I have won my bet on the past 6 or 7 Superbowls, pretty amazing. The best part is that I used all house money to make those bets. So far I still have all my money, and a lot of theirs. That could all change in a couple days…or minutes. We were crushing it on a dice table tonight. I had a ticket to go see the Joe Rogan Super Spectacular Comedy Show. It was so hot on the table that I didn’t leave. I assumed I would miss some or all of the show. When I left the table I went over to the House of Blues. I guess they started the show pretty late, and I sat down in my seat LITTERALLY as the show was starting. Pretty good timing all round, kind of them to wait for me.

Looking forward to the fights tomorrow. BT should be landing any minute now. UPDATE: BT’s metal tube that was hurtling through the cosmos did NOT, I repeat, NOT, plummet into fiery ruin.

Here is another picture I saw today and liked. Can you guess which one is Nick Diaz?

Wednesday February 1, 2012

Everyone knows that my family and I have been huge supporters of the Keurig® Company since the beginning. I am happy to announce that they are returning the favor. Keurig® has come onboard as an official sponsor of the Winter Carnival 2012. We are more than pleased to have them involved. The board of directors for the Carnival thanks the lovely people at Keurig® and hope this is the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship.

Now that the hard core facts have been presented, time for some daily gibberish. I think this must be my first time staying in a “true” ski in/ski out location. I have been lucky to stay in some nice locations, but this place is pretty fantastic. If I wasn’t staying on the second floor I could ride right into my room. I rode right up onto my downstairs neighbor’s patio this afternoon.

I think I am going to make today my last day here. I am scheduled to make the drive to Vegas on Friday to meet up with BT (name kept anonymous until I get a signed waiver agreeing to appear on WC12 website). I might leave a day early and have a much more leisurely drive. I had a blast on the mountain in Steamboat this week, but there is only so much riding I can do on that hard packed powder before I get wounded, frustrated, or worse. I can’t believe it is already to this portion of the trip. I never thought it would happen at all, let alone get this far!

I did get some great news from home. Wife told me she is going to finish ranked #5 in her graduating class at law school. I’m not being modest when I say I take a lot of credit for that. My plan has come together nicely. I leave for the winter, and she has plenty of time to focus on school, graduation, law review, and the bar exam. She was not as happy about her news as I was. She actually screamed “colon open parenthesis” at me when she told me the news. I could not be more proud of her. I love telling people on the gondolas about my wife back home finishing law school just because she wanted a challenge in life.

Monday January 30, 2012

It got windy at the top of the mountain today so I called it quits around 3pm. I had some things to do/get caught up on, so I took this early day as the opportunity. It was time for the Winter Carnival Cruiser’s first oil change. I found a local joint downtown called Grease Monkey. It went smoothly, I was in and out in a jiffy with a fresh lube. On my way back driving through downtown I realized what a phenomenon this trip really was. I was shocked, I knew they were happy to have me here in Steamboat but I didn’t expect banners and a parade. Luckily I am never one to shy away from the spotlight.

I spent most of the day in the woods again at Steamboat Springs. I took my video camera out again today. Once again to anyone else this is extremely boring. But this time I am personally happy with some of what I captured. Some parts are actually quite good.

Oh yea, look how pretty my wife is 🙂

Welcome to Steamboat Springs. Today could not have started out much better. I was standing in line to purchase my lift ticket and was approached by my new best friend in the whole world, a handsome man named David. He informed me that he had a 2 for 1 coupon for lift tickets and asked if I wanted a half price lift ticket. What a wonderful man and gesture. It must have been some kind of cosmic karma connection David and I had. I hope to be able to return the favor.

It was a beautiful day out today. The sun was shining all day and the temperature got into the mid to high 30’s. Quite warm at the end of the day. They did get some snow here the other day and are expecting some in the next few days. I didn’t see a whole lot of the mountain today, I found what I liked and hung out there all day. I found some really good snow and powder as well as some great tree riding after a little hunting. I went up and down the same area around 20 times. It was delightful. I was feeling as confident and comfortable as ever, and then I got my first flesh wound of the trip. I got a little too close to a busted tree branch and it reached out and grabbed me. Luckily it’s just a flesh wound.

I saw one of the neatest things today. I am pretty sure I met the actual Beastmaster.

That’s right, this chick was feeding birds out of her hand while she was riding on the lift in front of me. Pretty cool. She either rules or is a witch.

Since it was a beautiful sunny day I snapped a few photos.

Friday January 27, 2012

Last day, for now, in Telluride. What a beautifully perfect day. It snowed all night last night and all through the morning. I think they got 10-12 inches, every little boys dream. As soon as the snow stopped at midday the sun came out in all its glory. Today was as close to a perfect day on the mountain as I could ask for. A true fresh powder day all around. There were fresh tracks to be had all day long. My hours were spent either tumbling through trees or floating on clouds. It was the kind of day you wish you could somehow share with everybody.

I had my second celebrity sighting of the trip today. I road the lift with Mark Miller, he races off road rally cars all over the world. Dakar rally racing is what he does. He claims to be famous in his world, I believed him ;-), really nice guy. He was not quite as recognizable as Avril Lavigne, but way more interesting to talk to.

Once the sun came out I decided to try to make a nice video of whizzing through the trees. I both succeeded and failed all at the same time. I had a blast buzzing through the trees but then somehow ended up where I didn’t belong. I thought I was doing OK, I was following another set of tracks. I ended up at the base of a tree line that stopped going downhill. I knew I was in trouble when the other set of tracks vanished. When I realized I definitely had to unstrap and walk out is when the real trouble began. When I took a step and sunk in up to my knees is when I comprehended this might take a while. Then I took my next step and sunk up to my armpits…yep, my armpits. I ended up having to “body surf” to safety on top of my board. I crawled probably over 100 yards laying on my board using only my knees to skooch. Obviously I made it back to safety. It was definitely a trip. As I sat for a few minutes catching my breath I watched 2 other snowboarders come crawling out of the same tree line. Turns out they were following me through the trees. That’ll teach them, silly New Yorkers. The whole thing is caught on video. I’m not sure if it will be released or not do to The Embarrassment Act of 2012.

I am out of here tomorrow and off to Steamboat Springs. It will be hard to leave these plush accommodations, but I can hope that tomorrow’s location will do its best to compete. I can’t wait to be back in ‘Ride in a few weeks, I love this town!

Yesterday during my peaceful drive from Jackson Hole to Telluride I was listening to my favorite talk radio show Ron & Fez, featuring my hero, the funniest, smartest genius, Ron Bennington. He is so great that I named this voyage after something I first heard him say, Winter Carnival. They had a detailed conversation about the video below. (More nonsense from me after the video)

The discussion went into the area of how excited these people were to see this giant truck tire roll down hill, hitting jumps, staying on course, and finally splashing in the water. The video itself is fun to watch, but the point of the conversation was the excitement of the people in the video. That is truly a once in a lifetime moment. All it would take was for one rock or one wobble and it would have thrown that tire completely off balance and never finished it’s magnificent decent down the mountain. The topic of childhood excitement was discussed and how we used to be able to find the joy in such nothingness as kids. We all have those moments. For me it was playing in the woods and finding porn mags and an old car. How and why in the world did either of those things end up in the woods?! There is no way the car was driven there because of all the trees, and why would someone dump perfectly good porn tied up in a trash bag in the woods? Simply for some dumb kids to find? Whatever the reason it was magnificent. It was just completely incomprehensible and exciting at the same time. Somewhere along the line we can lose the excitement for those moments.

They started taking calls about what other peoples “truck tire” moments were in their lives. Mr. B talked about how things were so exciting as kids. One of his quotes was to be “a traveler in life, not a tourist”. It was such an appropriate conversation to listen to during my drive and at this time of my life. I try to live by that theory. Life is short, I have never been closer to the end then I am right now.  I am lucky enough to travel a lot and do my best to experience where I am and not just be a tourist. Right now I am going out of my way to drive all over western North America on back roads and through the small towns. My “tire story” is happening right now, today. Every vista, snow covered mountain, valley, and landscape is being seen with the eyes of boyhood wonderment and astonishment.

Much to my chagrin there is nothing but nonsense going on at my house. If I would have known things like this were going to happen I never would have left. Looks like I may have to end The Carnival early, get home, and attend to my duties as man of the house. Thanks Ben & Jerry’s.

That is a world famous quote from my long lost friend Bob. He came up with it just last week. I understand what he means. Wife sent me the below pictures today. She was showing me what I was missing out on. Seems like everything is status quo at home. I am not surprised that I miss my family, but how much has surprised me. By family I mean my chosen and extended family, but mainly my chosen family. I can never be accused of homesickness. But I sure do miss my peeps more than I thought I would. Wife and my extended family really are the greatest for allowing me to pursue this ridiculous trip. I can’t put into words my gratitude. Seems like I should be posting a cat picture now, since this is the internets and all…

Right now there is a guy in my office screaming that is his nickname. Whatever Murray.

Sunday January 22, 2012

Oh, Jackson Hole, how I wish you really had a hole somewhere. What a beautiful place. I keep hearing from the locals how this place is much more of an attraction all seasons outside of winter. That makes no sense to me right now. Many national parks, the Snake River, and tons of outdoor activities are available here year round. I had a great day on the mountain again. I was completely back country today. I was in areas where it looked like no human had been before, or at least not since the most recent snowfall, which was only yesterday. I got completely stuck a few times today. I am assuming that was payback for teasing people with shovels yesterday. They still deserved it.

The day started with what I was told was “avalanche delay”. I wasn’t familiar with those, we really only get a few per year in Maryland. At least that is why I tell people I was late for something…”No, seriously I’d have been here on time but there was an avalanche delay.” There was dynamite steadily going off. The booms could be heard for miles. They have controlled avalanches on these giant mountains. I guess if they control them there is less of a chance for an untimely avalanche. I wasn’t even going to go out today. Somewhere back home on the east coast the prettier half of my family also went skiing today. I didn’t think we should both be on a mountain at the same time. Probably for the same reason that the president and his wife don’t fly on the same airplane. I decided to not wait around on avalanche control and headed to another lift that simply did not go up quite as high. It was a great decision. I ended up finding untouched powder and made completely fresh tracks for 2 runs. Sexy. After that something bad almost happened. I got off the lift and started down a trail. The sun was coming out so I decided it was finally a decent day for some snapshots. I pull out my phone, grabbed the picture, and then fumbled the phone into the snow. At the time I was in waist high power. I didn’t panic because the phone sort of rested on the top layer of snow. I calmly went to grab it and the phone just slowly sank…disappeared like it was in quicksand or when those people from the “left behind while scuba diving” movie finally gave up. I still did not panic. I unstrapped my board and threw it off to the side. Within 10 seconds my mind was whirling. It is sooooo sad, but in 2012 if some people lose their phone it might feel like the end of the world. I was already figuring out how fast I could find a Verizon or Apple store. I started scooping snow away slowly and methodically. Thankfully it only took about 1 or 2 minutes and I had retrieved the phone. It was completely covered in snow and soaked. I assumed it was ruined. Again, thankfully, it never even shut off. I stuck it in my pocket and have yet to have a problem. the entire thing is on video. I really am the luckiest boy alive. I just remembered, Open Water was the name of that terrible movie.

I have been meeting so many nice people and informative locals. The people in the know are giving me the tips on where to and where not to go. It has been helpful, and also nice having the company and conversation. I think I am picking up on some of the local and mountain lingo, but I will refrain from using it here. I still don’t know what most of it means, just when to use it. I keep thanking people for keeping me company when we get off the lifts. I was having a pleasant conversation with a guy from London and another guy from Austin when it almost happened again. I looked around while on the lift and thought what a lovely day it was with the sun out, maybe I should take a few photos. This time I reached for my real camera. In my own head I jokingly noted the pole number where we were at on the ski lift just in case I dropped the camera, ha ha, that’ll never happen. As I was getting the camera out I juggled it. It made it down below my knee, but luckily I grabbed it just in time before it plummeted to the ground. My 2 best friends at the time gasped and then laughed. A lost camera would stink, but it’s no phone.

I was only out just over half the day; it was much colder today and for some reason I wanted to watch the football. Oh I feel so bad for the Raven’s fans. I went hard for the morning, then had a nice smoke break for myself with this amazing view, then did a couple easy groomed runs, and then called it a day.

Since the sun was out there are a few pictures here.