ATHENS TWILIGHT & ATLANTA

I ventured back to my old home, Athens, this past weekend for the 2008 Athens Twilight. It was, as usual, an amazing weekend in Athens. Pretty much everybody I have met in the past two years in the cycling industry was in town so it was amazing to get to catch up with everybody at one time. My only complaint is that two of the girls I wanted to see the most were swamped with putting on Twilight so I didn't get to spend much time with them. All in all it was a great weekend and I am so thankful for everyone that was in town. I've been looking forward to this weekend for months now and it did not let me down. They only way it could have been better is if one of my friends had won the race instead of Rock Racing.

Computrainer finals on Friday night...John Murphy (closest) of course dominated everyone.

Right before the start of the men's race.

The video on the left is the start of the men's race and the video on the right is the finish.

On another note I went to Atlanta on Sunday to watch the finish of the Tour of Georgia bike race. These are photos of some of the damage to the buildings down by Centinnial Olympic Park form the tornado that hit a couple weeks ago....crazy

Birthday Celebration #2......

Thanks to everybody who called and sent me birthday wishes online....I truly appreciate it. As most of you know I came back to Atlanta for my birthday and have had a wonderful trip so far. My mom took off for my birthday and we spent the day shopping and dining on fajitas and margaritas before going to see the Braves play the Marlins later that night. It was the first and probably the only Braves game I am going to get to go to this year and it was a ton of fun. I am getting ready now to head to Athens and cannot wait to see all my friends up there.....

Lexi wanted me to take pictures of Chipper Jones, so......

Playing around with some of the color filters on my new camera.

My mom and me at the game.

Lexi (my little sis)

Jeff with his rally cap on....it didn't work

Birthday Celebration #1.....

Finally after 4 months I got to go back home to visit my family and friends....unfortunately though I was going to be gone on for my 25th birthday. Luckily for me I have such great roommates that they threw a birthday celebration early so that I could celebrate in Jackson.

Blowing out my candle on my birthday dessert.....which was AMAZING!!!!

Hanging out at 43 North for my birthday...

Cake, candles, balloons and jumbo birthday card the night before I left Jackson

SERIOUSLY...THE LAST DAY OF LIFT SKIING

This past weekend was one of the best that I have had in Jackson. Saturday morning I got up early and headed out the Grand Teton National Park where the roads are only open to cyclists and pedestrians right now. I rode about 30 miles on perfectly paved roads with zero cars...that in itself would have been amazing but add in breathtaking views of the Grand Tetons and it becomes the definition of epic. A great ride on Saturday could only be topped off with one of two things....1) another great ride on Sunday or 2) a great ski day. Since the number of days I have left to ski are numbered and I have all summer to ride I opted to go lift skiing one more time. So Sunday morning we made the 1.5 hour trek to the other side of the mountain to ski the final day at Grand Targhee. As you may remember this is where I skied my first day of the season since they opened a couple weeks before Jackson Hole did and it was my last day of lift skiing this season. I hope to "earn my turns" and do some hiking this spring for a little bit more skiing. We had already heard rumors of the crazy warm temperatures on the other side of the mountain and were stoked to FINALLY be able to shed our heavy winter coats and ski in t-shirts and sweatshirts. Once we arrived we realized the rumors we had heard were true and most of us skied in t-shirts, no long-underwear, light hats, and sunglasses instead of goggles. Needless to say it was AMAZING to finally feel the warm sun on my skin after such a long winter. I do think that this is the most I have ever appreciated Spring and sunshine in my entire life. Don't get me wrong I am in by no means complaining about the cold and snow because I seriously just got done with the most amazing winter of my life. Nothing beats skiing fresh powder almost everyday of the winter....except maybe the warm sunshine after a long record-breaking winter.


On another note, I fly home on Monday and cannot wait to see my family and friends and really get into some warm (and humid) weather. I never thought the day would come when I would crave humid weather but I actually do. My skin is the driest it has ever been in my entire life and is in some desperate need of moisture. This is really odd considering there is MASSIVE amounts of snow evaporating everyday....I know that the snow is evaporating into the sky so one would assume that with all the snow melting it would make the air a little less dry....but nope, it's drier then I have experienced all winter....go figure!

Megan and I about to descend our last Ski Resort run of the season....A wonderful end to a wonderful season

Megan and I at the base of Targhee for the last Apres Ski event of the season.

The Grand.....I want to climb the middle peak this summer!

Goofing off before our final descent

I love that my final fall of the season is while trying to get into position to take a picture....can we say graceful!

Yep! There I am facefirst in the snow...lovely

Still trying to maneuver myself over to Megan

More end of season pictures....

Did I mention I bought new skis a week before the mountain closes?? Nothing like waiting till the very last minute....view of my new skis on my last Gondola ride of the winter season

View of Sundance Run from the Gondola

Apres Ski party outside Nick Wilsons and the VC on the last day of ski season.

Rachael and I on the last day of the season....I am dressed like this on purpose! Rachael is dressed up too but you can't tell b/c of her jacket.

First sighting of SPRING!!!!! Green grass outside our office!!

END OF A SEASON....

This past weekend marked the end of an epic winter. Not just epic in the amount of snowfall we had but epic in the sense that it was the best winter I have ever had in my entire life. Below is an account of how we ended up by the end of the season....
1. one torn ACL
2. one pair of stolen poles
3. two pairs of lost goggles
4. one lost glove
5. nothing lost off the ski lifts...which is surprising considering how many times we took pictures or used our phones on the lift. I thought for sure that someone would loose their phone by the end of the season.
6. 1 ski patrol escort down the mountain
7. 1 time having to hike out of a cliff area we accidently got into
8. a million memories that will last a lifetime

Check out the article link below regarding Jackson Hole's epic record breaking season in Freeskier Magazine
http://community.freeskier.com/articles/article.php?article_id=2260

Although Jackson Hole is now closed our ski season is not quite done. Megan and I hiked up Snow King yesterday morning to ski down and we have plans to go to Grand Targhee this weekend to partake in their season closing festivities and skiing.

More Pictures from Gaper Day....

Megan, Rachael and I goofing off before getting on the Thunder Lift

Rachael and I on the ground after Jay (the guy in orange) pushed us....total Gapers!

Rachael, Megan and me outside Nick Wilson's at the Gaper Day Apres Ski party

Nice face Megan

Gelande Quaffing World Championships

Only in Jackson Hole is this what the Ski Patrol does once the mountain closes......atleast we hope the mountain is closed at this point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiBWWPbYZjo

GAPER FOOL'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

April 1st in a ski town = Gaper Fool's Day ...... oh how I wish there were words to describe the spectacle that I witnessed at the mountain on Gaper Day but unfortunately words do not do it justice. Imagine a couple thousand ski and snowboard bums dressed up in their finest ski attire (circa 1950-1990) and acting like the most ridiculous tourists you have ever seen all while drinking.....lovely mix as you can imagine. Not only does everyone dress up on Gaper Fool's day but they also act and ski like a Gaper (tourist) as well......It was by far the funniest and most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Below are some picture and video that I took on Gaper Day. Be sure and take the time to watch the videos....they aren't too long.

Hanging outside Nick Wilson's at the end of the ski day.

Some guys from work heading up the mountain early. Mike (the guy in the white) didn't even make it to the lift before he split a hole along the but of his pants and had to tape it back together with electrical tape.

Rachael and I on the Gondi heading up for our first one of the day....little did we know what we were about to experience.

Rachael and I atop Thunder Bumps

The view from Casper Restaurant at mid-day

Nick Wilson's Apres Ski Party

Crazy guy running across the base of the mountain. Good summary of how people were acting all day. We even saw a girl ski down topless and a guy in a girls 1 piece bathingsuit

View from the bottom of Thunder Bumps run....everybody just did laps on this run all day. Be sure your volume is turned on.

A crazy stupid guy jumping off the roof of Nick Wilsons......The mountain ended up closing Nick's early because it got too rowdy.

Mountain Festival

In conjunction with the Hill Climb was the Jackson Hole Mountain Festival which was a week long festival at the base of the mountain that was topped off with a free outdoor concert by Michael Franti and the Spearheads. Everyday there was live music, races, and various other activities. The best by far though was the free concert Saturday night. The stage was set up against the base of the mountain and when the sun set it reflected off the snow and looked amazing. I wish I was able to get some better pictures of it b/c the ones I have don't nearly do it enough justice.

Megan, Rachael and I at Nick Wilson's Cowboy Cafe for the Mandatory Air concert.
View of the stage with the Mountain in the background.
Jenny, Megan and I at the Michael Franti concert. One concert where I did not mind being in the middle of the crowd......much much warmer

Megan and I goofing off at the arch after the concert before going out to the Tavern.Brief video of the concert.

Snowmobile Hill Climb

This past weekend was one of the biggest weekends in Jackson during the winter. Just two blocks down from our house Snow King held the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb which is a 4 day competition where people race their snowmobiles up Snow King. This didn't sound too hard to me when I first heard about it but once you see how steep Snow King is you'd understand why it is supposedly such a big deal. People kept trying to tell me that I was going to be amazed at all the rednecks that would roll into town for the weekend....that is until I reminded them where I was from and then I'd hear "oh, well then you'll fell right at home".... and they were right, it did remind me of being back in the south and made me miss home....everywhere you looked this weekend there were big trucks and rednecks. Quite a change when I have gone all winter without seeing any rednecks or mullets....oh, yeah I forgot they aren't called rednecks here...they are called "Slednecks". If you have time I highly recommend you check out the video HERE....it is a video from last years hill climb and has some amazing crashes in it. Keep in mind these sleds they are crashing cost around 10 grand a piece.

View of Snow King from our favorite bar, 43 North. This is where we watched a good portion of the event because we could sit on the roof of the bar.

Megan, Jenny, Rachael and I standing outside our "2nd Home".

What redneck weekend would be complete without a snow sculpture.

Rachael, Jenny, Megan and I at the base of Snow King

One good thing about winter here is that you don't have to carry a cooler around with you at events......You just put your drink in whatever snowbank you happen to be standing by. This happens to be on Megan's back porch while we were watching the X-Gamer snowmobilers doing tricks......and yes that is Megan's christmas tree in the background.

This is a video I filmed from Megan's back porch. Many of the guys who participated in the X-Games came to Jackson this weekend as well to do some shows at the fairgrounds which just happen to be in our back yards. Megan's porch had the better view though so we watched from there. Be sure and watch the video all the way through (it's not long) so you can see the backflips......these guys are crazy!!!