This past weekend, we took a trip down to the Salton Sea area. Below are pics from the Sea, Salvation Mountain and Slab City… all beautiful in their own way.

With the divide already checked off and the baby on the way, the excitement keeps coming!

Next Wednesday, I’m giving a presentation/slideshow here in Idyllwild. there’s a local recreation council that has asked me to speak and is having a wine and cheese gathering before the event followed by my presentation and then dinner. I feel pretty honored to be asked, so I won’t let them down. I’ve got friends from out of town coming – including another divide racer – Cannon and my best friend – Carol Ann, from Orange County. It should be a great event and is open to the public and free! (Dinner isn’t included free, but you’re all invited.) Here’s a link with the details, or check out this week’s Town Crier.

Then, next Thursday, we’re going to a showing of the Leadville 100 movie (Race Across the Sky) in Palm Desert with Cannon. He got tickets for us and we’re really excited. It’s a one day only screening that is happening all around the country – check it out here and below is the trailer.

Other exciting news on the baby front. Today, I’m expecting the new little baby trailer/jogger/stroller to arrive. We did a little bartering with one of our super-cool customers and this should arrive just in time for my birthday – thanks Brad and family!

It’s a Chariot Cougar 1 and can be used as a trailer (which is essential), a jogger, and a stroller (while he’s really little.) This thing is pretty rad; it even has leaf spring type suspension and you can get a cross-country ski kit for it. Whoah!

So, this weekend, we may go down to the Santa Ana River Trail or some other paved path in SoCal for a little birthday ride/trial run of the trailer. We’ve got another trailer that Dave (our dog) can ride in so Brendan can pull Dave and I’ll throw a backpack or soemthing in the new one. This way we can start scouting trailer-type trails and see how the new trailer handles before putting the little guy in it.

I’m convinced that when I’m having a good time, so is the little guy. That’s what Sunday was all about. Brendan said I had that ear-to-ear grin the entire time. This was our first time back down Palm Canyon since it’s cooled off and the weather was PERFECT!

We started out at 7:30 (a little later than we intended, but Dave was asleep when he got here anyways.) This big shuttle ride necessitates quite a drive, but we definitely keep the drive/ride time ratio healthy. The rule is that we have to ride for a longer duration than drive. Heading out of Idyllwild, we dropped down into a cottonball blanket of clouds by Garner Valley.

We dropped one of the matching Explorers in Cathedral City and headed back up to the trail.

We started riding at about 9:30 in the sun, but could see Idyllwild, still in the clouds. The start was windy and chilly which helped us to make haste at the car and get on the trail in our efforts to drop down into the canyon. The upper section nearest pinyon has a bit of climbing and some good tech.

The only mechanical of the day was my flat – which Brendan hooked up with some Stans sealant. It was a quick easy fix and somehow the guys had stopped in a place where they don’t normally, which was right where I had the flat. Normally, I fix it myself, but these days, I don’t mind taking help since I’m carrying the extra load for us. The deal is, I carry the kid and he carries the extra tools and takes care of the bikes – not a bad deal on either end.

The lunch spot where we normally sit in the shade. It was chilly enough, though, that we took the sunny side.

Sometimes we take the Art Smith route, which is a bit shorter. Dave and I have cleared the trail that way in 4 and a half hours, but the longer route takes more like 6.

The Art Smith route is nice and techy, but the views on the full-route are very expansive.

(above) The guys are out on the ridge there, but hard to see.

We ended in Cathedral City with Pollo Loco and a chill drive home.

I’d forgotten how much good trail there is on the full route and just how tiring it would be. The worst part, when you’re 6 months pregnant, is that it feels like  you’re carrying an extra 20 lbs in your pack – which makes everything harder! Needless to say, I was pretty fatigued by the end. The baby and I slept good Sunday night.

You can also read Brendan’s post about our Vegas/St. George/Hurricane trip but here are some pics from a few days off. We met some pretty cool people, hung out with some old friends and shred some new trails.

It started with Vegas Thursday morning. We helped out a little in the World Bicycle Relief Booth and also met up with many good friends. At the Magura booth, I met Nadine and Martin who are just about finished with their around-the-world ride. They’ve been riding since 2003 and cover between 50 and 80 miles a day. They live off of $3,000 USD per year, camping and cooking on a little stove. Nadine said their gear weighed between 130 and 150 lbs at any point. They’ve seen temps between -1degree and 120degrees F. and ridden between -1,292ft and 17,500ft and canoed about 2,600 miles of the route.

Here’s Nadine and Martin’s website – www.weltenbummler2003.de (click on the british flag for the English site.

I also met up with Tour Divide aficionados Matthew Lee and Jay Petervary at Cross Vegas. Matthew had ridden from Salt Lake to Vegas with a Cannondale crew and a Mercedes Unimog as a sag vehicle. It was good to meet Jay and catch up with Matthew.

Cross-Vegas Craziness – always fun to watch!

The other Vegas Spectacle that we indulged in was a VIP RaceFace party at some beautiful estate north of Vegas. RaceFace is a sponsor of mine, so they sent me an invite. How I got mixed up into this downhill/freeride crowd, is a little of a mystery, but they know how to throw a party. The party was sponsored by pinkbike.com and RaceFace and was hosted by Tippie and Wade Simmons as a preview to the new freeride flic – What’s Next? – a film by Aaron Larocque. There was a waterfall spilling into the pool with a hot tub behind the waterfall and a huge movie screen to watch the premiere. I felt a little old at a party of big-bike guys and gals, but it was a fun scene.

Cameraphone pic, but you get the idea – RaceFace limos out to the premiere

View from the balcony looking down into the pool with palm trees and the big screen.

After LV, we headed to St. George to catch up with our friend and fellow beautiful-bike builder Jon Hanson of Sabrosa Cycles (he models his own softgoods because he and the bikes are beautiful.) Somehow – we’re still not sure how this good fate fell upon us – Jon scored a tour of the supersonic test track on Hurricane Mesa wher Brendan’s great uncle worked in the 50’s. Jack was excited to show us around the largest privately owned test track in the U.S. and they still do ejection seat testing for private companies and the military. Jack said the track is “rated for mach 2, but we try to keep it around mach 1.”

The end of the track – where they used to fire things go off the Mesa (in ejection seats) – including pigs and chimps!

It was great hanging out with Jon, his wife Daleena and daughter Noelle in St. George. Wonderful people with beautiful bikes and VWs, an awesome garden, chickens and pomegranate bushes.

We headed out to Gooseberry Mesa for the night, only to end up back in Hurricane Saturday morning to meet up with friend and divide racer Dave Nice. He works at Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane. He had to work in the morning, but then we were able to get out for a ride on “Guacamole” with a group of good guys.

Need Coffeeee……

Ride leader – Dave Nice – super sweet guy and great rider

Saturday night, Over the Edge hosted “afterbike” which is an annual event with Dave’s chili, beer boiled brats, and lots of locals who brought potluck dishes. I also met Lucy Ormond, a local nurse, at the bbq. Unfortunately, no pic of Lucy, but she just finished riding coast to coast on the northern tier. We talked a little about that readjustment to every day life, which is what she’s going through right now. It was great to hear her stories and there are more to come on her blog “Lucy’s Big Adventures” http://clucygo.blogspot.com I always love meeting Lucy-types. She’s done lots of other long distance tours and has plans for future escapes and is working on a book.

Saturday night we headed back to the mesa for camping. I was feeling a little under the weather, so in the morning, when Brendan met up with a bunch of guys for a ride, I decided to go for a hike instead. I figured it’s good practice for when the baby comes and I’m wearing him around in a sling or backpack. I was also able to get lots of great pics that we normally wisk by when riding.

This past week has been a lot of fun with a little bike riding and outdoor adventures. We’re headed off today to Interbike and for some more shreddin’ either at Smith Mesa or Gooseberry.

Saturday, we had a visit from Matteo – long time bud from Tucson – who was out here for WFR training. He’s now headed to the Grand Canyon as a backcountry guide, but we were able to get in some car camping up on Thomas Mountain while he was here. We found some sights that we didn’t even know existed at the top where you can see over both sides of the ridge from one site – very beautiful!

We also went by the Hurkey Creek 24 hour race to see how people were doing. Wendy and Timari were having a fun close race while the guys threw in major laps. Wendy also brought me a super cute little fleece vest for little so-and-so. She’s gonna be another local badass grandma for the little tyke.

We’re packing up for Interbike and I’ve made some small changes to the fifty-five. I’ve been running the Raven (superlight, fast Stan’s tire) on the back with a 1.9 Karma on the front. As my center of gravity shifts (and  I worry more about the consequences of wrecking) I’ve decided to beef it up a little. I don’t want to go to huge tires as I’m afraid it’ll be difficult to get used to race tires again. So, I’ve put a 2.2 Karma on the front and 2.0 on the rear. I’m excited for the extra shreddability and am thinking a little more weight is only a drop in the bucket for these next few months.

OK, never eat sweets right before going to an OB ultrasound. Last night was my 19 week ultrasound when we were aiming to find out the baby’s sex. I ate a cupcake with lots of frosting not too long before the appointment and the baby was bouncing off the walls!

Fortunately, the little booger sat right down on top of the ultrasound wand to show us what he had before showing off with somersaults.

We got to see little hands and feet and a little muscle tone in his legs (he’s getting built up for his first push-bike.) It’s just amazing how far he’s come since the jellybean ultrasound at 6 weeks.

The last few weeks have been fun and exciting. I’ve been learning a lot about this pregnancy game and there are many different ways it can be played! Fortunately, I’m in the second trimester, so I have more energy for this stuff.

I’ve read so much about cesarean rates, different types of intervention (pain relief, inducing, etc.) and different birthing positions and never realized there could be so much to consider about that special day.

We have visited two hospitals – they give tours, which is really cool. You get to see a few newborns and ask lots of questions and they usually have cookies on hand (which Brendan likes!) We have also visited two traditional medical offices (they do intake appointments which is an opportunity to interview them), a midwife birthing center, and talked extensively with a local midwife and doula. We’ve watched many videos of births (they’re not like the ones you see on TV by the way.) We will be starting hypno-birthing classes with the local midwife soon. It’s a self-hypnosis method that you and your partner use to help relax and aid in a natural childbirth (She said she’s even used it in the dentist’s chair.)

The tiny pamper and beanie they gave us at our recent hospital tour

I also had another checkup last week and learned more about the little tyke. Everything is normal and going well and the doctor who I visited said that the baby is right where it should be for this stage. We heard it’s heartbeat again at 147 beats per minute. I think the little one is having an fun ride/swim.

I started feeling movement last week, which is very exciting. The first time, I thought that my jacket seam was just rubbing me funny and that couldn’t have been baby movement. Then, when I felt it again, I recognized it. It’s such a light feeling (like a butterfly tickling you from the inside.) It comes and goes. I find that for a while after I’ve been active (running around a lot or going for a good ride) the baby is active too. I’ve also really started to show, which makes me feel better than the initial stage where I was just a little thicker! Now people understand right away why I’m growing.

At this stage, the baby can hear. It’s really crazy to think that for the next few months, it will hear EVERYTHING I say and will become very familiar with my voice. I find myself singing more, because I think that has to encourage the production of a peaceful happy baby. Brendan has also taken to telling my stomach good morning and goodnight. He’s been so involved and excited and wants to make sure the baby knows his voice too.

We’ve also received some gifts that raise the discussion of birth weights and size. Brendan thinks the clothes are small, but after the birthing videos that I’ve watched they don’t look that small.

Craig gave us this little shirt and it looks like the cow got hung up on the moon!

Brendan’s aunt MaryLou gave us this outfit complete with socks, a beanie, and a bib with a cute little lion.

Many of you have probably noticed that my blogging has been lighter than usual for the past few months. Well… I’ve been spending some time and energy with this little guy.

It’s the sweet pea, there between the cross hatches. This ultrasound was done a couple of months ago when the little guy was just over 6 weeks old. Now that I’m past the first trimester, I am a little more comfortable sharing all of this, plus it’s becoming obvious!

Brendan and I are elated at this big change in our lives. I think every day of something I’d like him to make in the shop. It’ll be a little while before the Siren push-bike, but a musical mobile made at the Siren shop will surely be beautiful

My biking hasn’t needed to change much. During the first trimester, they say that you should keep your core temperature and heart rate down so you don’t cook the little guy but other than that and of course you can’t wreck. I’ve definitely reeled it in on the technical stuff but I’ve still been able to do some overnights.  The baby has already covered a good number of trails in the area, to include climbing up San Gorgonio and exploring the Idyllwild area extensively.

In the last couple of weeks, the guys have been feeling more fit as I slow down a little. The tables are turning as my strength to weight ratio isn’t exactly what it used to be. Even though the guys are catching up, I still have a lot of fun shredding for two!

This will add a new dimension to my blog and a new chapter to my life. Last year’s story was about the Tour Divide; this year will be about training and exploring with a Baby on Board. I will continue to share pics of the beautiful places that we explore, but also share insights into this new realm.

May Valley

This weekend’s adventures took me up and over the mountain on some sweet singletrack and out into Garner Valley exploring dirt roads. I’ve decided to primarily share this adventure through photos – so… enjoy the trails and views.

First Brother

More Hombre

Missing Link Trail

Homemade truck-sawmill conversion

Garner Valley

Stock Pond

Horse Camp

Faint doubletrack

Afterwards, Brendan picked me up and we headed to Anza in the ghia for Ice Cream. There we met Martha and Ron (a super sweet Swiss couple in their 80s) who invited us over to see Ron’s machining shop at their house and we ended up staying for over an hour getting to know them. They are retired and were happy to have company. What a great unexpected finish to our evening – we’ll have to stop in and hang out again some time.

A little tune-age while you read.

What a great weekend – and right out our back door. Idyllwild and the mountains here never cease to amaze and impress.

This past weekend, Brendan and I headed out to Black Mountain with Dave, Yumi and the kids for a fun weekend and some good exploration. It’s a little warm down here at 5500′ so camping at 8000′ under the stars felt pretty crisp. We even got a little rain.

When we got there Saturday afternoon, the kids already had horse shoes warmed up for us. We had some Sonoran-Style hot dogs, which Dave already had cookin’, then played a few rounds of horseshoes.

Sunday morning we hit the Black Mountain trail – our highest Mountain Bike Trail in these mountains, really. I can’t believe we hadn’t explored this yet. Dave scoped it out the weekend before and informed us that it was kind of like a bobsled chute with a number of waterbars and some soft stuff. It’s a pretty steep techy trail so descending was the way to ride it!

The views were beautiful the entire ride and when it wasn’t expansive, it was lush.

At the bottom of the Black Mountain trail, we headed up towards Pine Cove, exploring along the way. We rode the highway up to the Lawler Alpine Lodge, where we spent a little time.

After exploring around the Lodge (which was actually about 20 cabins connected with singletrack) we headed up the highway to Pine Cove hitting the old highway for a brief spell.

Weekends like that are what keep me going through the week. Thanks guys for a fun weekend!