crack a beer

sit back and think.
let the med rare strip
w/ baked potato, three
portors and chocolate
cheesecake settle in.

riding again. on the skinny
tires for two out of three.
lapping lifts in between.
centered again and confident.

today we earned it, rolling
sustainable softness. not
the experience of others,
but a quirky personality
trait revealed.

for Christmas, mom got
me the traditional weekly
calander. but changed it up
from the Far Side, to the 
Peanuts gang. Will be a nice
change for the journaling
of adventures.

I've always liked Snoopy.

tree thing.

expecting carvable hardpack/crud conditions.
step onto the Bro's, wanna really learn this ski.
legs still no snap, the wknd lingers. no snap
to the first turns, narrow defensive stance.
lack of power, not aggressive, these skis need
to be driven, not ridden. messed up let 'em run
then crash attempt off the RR headwall, try to
find a groove down low. round two, not following
thru, too much slippage for my taste, exit to Exhi
to find a two footed carve rhythm.

stick it tight to the snow gun crud,
snap from edge to edge,
do a little dance,
let these skis run tonight,
uh huh, run tonight.
open up into the falline a bit,
making a righthander and the
ski won't release, into the backseat,
don't fight it, don't wanna risk a knee
right now. ski loops out and I see my
trajectory into the slopeside trees.

fuck. me.

not going tooo fast, but ain't no
shutting it down. land sliding
headfirst, did spot a gap before impact,
definitely not hitting the blue barrel.
start trying to rotate my feet around,
feel some deceleration, wondering when
I'm gonna hit, and what and where,
sliding blind at bone breaking speed.

wham! shit, that fucking hurt. no sharp pain,
toes still work, arms still move, eyes still see.
shoulder is stiff, probably have some nice tint
to it in a day or two. confidence is rattled.


merry christmas everybody,
thanks for all the good times
shared, those to come.

dz nuts

dude is off the hook.

good movie.

sit back, relax, and watch this flic:

TEN ski snowboard film www.guidoperrini.com from guido perrini on Vimeo.

that was fun.

that's the spirit!

NWS three day record was accurate,
the post storm "freezing mist/fog"
resulted in a sturdy zipper crust. 

 Bro's dealt with it fine, as 

long I kept my end of the bargain.  

Search for that woodsy pitch 

where you can stay in the fall 
line, without hard edging speed 

checks.  Then hoot and holler.

Also skied off some waist to shoulder 

high rocks, once or twice.  Yet to stick 

a landing, gotta start somewhere.  Many, 

many pinheads out and about.  Glad they 

have concern for their gear, didn't have 

to hike much at all to get off the beaten 

path.  Lift serve singletrack stashes were 

best turns found.  Did take a core shot.....

all skis are rock skis.

Jedi mind tricks in the trees.

price of admission.

Impact from big hawk's would be dinner.

why? v7.4c

stumbled upon this last eve:

We must accept our reality as vastly as we possibly can; everything, even the unprecedented, must be possible within it.  This in the end is the only kind of courage that is required of us: the courage to find the strangest, most unusual, most inexplicable experiences that can meet us.  The fact that in this sense people have been cowardly has done infinite harm to life; the experiences that are called "apparitions," the whole so-called "spirit" world, death, all these Things that are so closely related to us, have through our daily defensiveness been so entirely pushed out of life that the senses with which we might have been able to grasp them have atrophied.

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

liar.

Heard a Bush excerpt this morn on the radio,
he was in Carlisle, at the Army College.

Said that we have not suffered a domestic
terrorist attack since 9-11....praise for the
troops, freedom, blahblahblah.....




Why are the anthrax letters always forgotten?

misery

NNN-bc

66/54/60

RT scraped hardpack and crud

like a flashback to 5, 6, 10 years ago.

tele whackin' clueless, hitting the deck 

hard, slow speed falls suck.

flailing like a total noob, constantly losing

the edge on any, any, surface that makes 

noise.  Maybe linked 6 turns at once,

such terrifying work to skid down the slope

in floppy hightops.  

fresh raspberries on the hip, hard

bone jarring slams to the ice.  

What ever made this seem like fun?

Force out a laugh with every spill,

no matter the impact, sometimes it

was actually silly, falling over from

pure exhaustion.  But also gotta keep 

the cool to those on the lift.

Really wanting to slam that pole 

into the snow a few times, and scream 

whythefuckcan'tImakeamotherfucking

teleturnonthesestupidmotherfucking

XCskistosavemylife!MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!

frustrating.

Basics, begin with wedge to tele, Michaux

seasoned steel edges find no purchase,

hit the deck. OK, try some meadow 

skipping foot to foot pop in the fall line,

tips cross, hit the deck.  Remember to ski 

more from the ankle, no plastic to transfer 

power from the shin. Reallllly find the ball 

of the foot, dig the freedom of the xc rig, 

so much feel for the snow.

Focused, gotta be.  Try again try to ski in 

that loose nord style, but the skis tangle 

immediately and down again.  Avoid the 

slowboarder scrapeage and finally able 

to dynamically link left to right skids

off the tops of the little crud piles. OK, 

that works, now let 'em roll off the apron 

and find a sketchy all but edgeless surfiness if 

in just the right spot. 

Find some speed and try to let the rock 

chewed waxless bases run, searching for that 

seam of softer snow to turn thru.  Get low, 

really low, so low that hands sometime drag 

as outriggers, plus it's not as far to fall.  Find 

the double camber sweet spot on occasion, 

actually rolling from turn to turn, be like a 

porpoise, really on that back ski and working 

it to shape the turn.  Actually turning where 

and when I want to. Then reality, and another 

slam into the ice.  

That's lap one, told myself I just needed to 

warm up.  You know, put yourself in a situation 

where you have to turn, and you'll figure it out.

So, over to the triple, and then a bunch of crashes 

trying to ski Ramrod from the top.  Who do I 

think I am, some mutant nord from WV?

  

Probably slid down 1/3+ of it on my ass,

lower section held some enjoyable turns

and slides.  Retreated back over to 

Minuteman and made a few more laps 

trying to dial things in.  Finally, after 

the umpteenth slam into ice preserved 

groomer tread, I gave up.  Already had 

4ish hours in me prior to this experiment

and my legs were fried. 

So, instead of heading home, I changed back 

to the big boots and skis for shit's n giggles.  

And those were the worst turns that I've made 

in a long, long, long, long time.  I couldn't feel 

the back ski, I actually caught myself wedging 

into a turn, edges felt all hooky and sharp, not 

committing to the inside ski.

It was freakin' weird.

Otherwise, the snow was pretty damn good

all wknd, lots of fun little lines and rippin' 

fast carves to be had.  Good to see everybody 

out gettin' it at the local hill.

goals n chit

The itch is beginning, the need to

find a new rythmn, growing restless.

Looking back, I see two holes from last year.

First is the unfinished MeeshowHundo.  That's

going down next year, might take multiple 

attempts, but I really want to finish the loop.

The other hole, the aborted double overnighter.

Just wasn't in the cards that wknd, weather 

conspired with slipping motivation to throw

in the towel on that one.  This one isn't really 

unfinished, it is what it was, a long ride that 

didn't pan out as planned.  

Do have sights set on extending the route in 

that direction.  Would like to ride to Raystown

as a three-ish day tour.  And also gather more 

firsthand beta from up north.  

Haven't said much about racing....basically, if 

ya'll are so kind to cast a vote for my dumb ass, 

I'll be hitting up the Breck stage dilly.  But if it's

something I'm throwing down mucho cashola

for....well there're other options, like SSWC

in Durango, with a Colorado Trail distraction

for a few days prior.....

No NUE series for me, last year was fun for sure,

but only so many vacation days.  Definitely hit up

the W101 and Shenandoah though, can't miss those

festivities.

trees.

A fishin' buddy once told me
that he prefers the east over 

the west.  

"The mountains are more intimate."

I'd never been out west at the time.

We were talking in the context of 

mtn brookies or rocky mtn cutthroats, 

and I think it applies to any pursuit 

where you spend time out and about.  

Leads me to think about our trees.  

Riding bike thru Meeshow vs the open 

hi speed of...say, big mtn VA or those 

expansive Rocky Mtn meadow trail shots 

that everybody drools over.  IMBA trail is 

CCC broadway, 20+ rippin' vs headwall 

techy bob & weave barely ever spun out 32:19.  

The tight sketchness comes from the speed.  

Then watch the ski porn, western GS turns 

thru the trees vs branch bangin' billy goat 

mid-A glade skiin'.

Imagine if our local forest were actually 

'old growth', not the remnants of a managed 

recovery from 3rd or 4th, 5th? generation 

clear cuts.  imagine huge canopies of Ents 

with two feet of hillside fresh over loamy 

love with freeform bambi path to follow

and flow in the warmer months.

just imagine.

or maybe I just don't like to go fast.

reward vs risk amplified by

skill/technique vs hudge cajones'

or just gettin' old?

cold.

two of three pics today.
Totem Pole to Snowy Mtn
& back, appropriate. 2 chilly
but comfortable hours w/ old man
Withers & Bobby'sBoy, no need to
push it, for now. Avoiding exposure
to NWwind was best.

Where were the 'cakes?



corner turned?
bike becomes novelty,
skis take over? too early
to make the call...good times
were had, tedious pinballing
rock to rock two wheel slip & slide,
snow and leaves, definitely not a
high speed day. (they were
happy to let the fixy lead!?!?!)



keep warm, keep an eye on the weather,
fingers crossed, please Ullr, pleazzzzze.

re post.

got yanked off U tube,
moved to vimeo.

heal up Bender.

WhiteGrass from Tomi McMillar on Vimeo.

yeah, I'm totally focused on bikes right now.

the gnar.

Ski Roundtop, FKNA!

meet a black guy.