Duathlon Day

I suppose bad weather can be approached one of two ways. This week, I tried both. The approach that involved powder skiing was definitely a lot more fun than the other.

Winter just won't leave the Tetons.

It has been a crazy winter in Jackson Hole. Technically, it's spring. But seeing as we've gotten 10 feet of snow in the mountains during the month of April, it appears mother nature is not yet finished with winter. The skiers and the farmers definitely think better late than never.

Seems most of Jackson Hole/Teton Valley
also thought skiing on May 2 was a good idea.

Nate had been out skiing almost every day this week and until yesterday, I had resisted his invitations to join him even though he had been saying that he had been enjoying some of the best powder days of his year. (Keep in mind, this man skis A LOT.) I was still exhausted from Cohutta and from the cold I had been battling all week. The couch had proven to be the more responsible option for my recovering body. However, by Sunday morning I had turned a corner. My cold was long gone, I had put a solid workout in on the trainer the day before and felt recovered.

I was comfortably reading on the couch, lamenting waking up to yet another few inches of snow on the deck when Nate came in and said "Come on, Glory hike, Herb will be here in 20 min., you should come."


A quick run down in my head...A hike to 10,000 feet could be a great altitude training day for the Firecracker, XC Nationals and Leadville. Today's my running day, hiking's the same thing, right? The sun is shining, but the roads won't be dry for a ride until the afternoon anyway. I LOVE skiing. I love spending time in the mountains with these people. But, where the heck are my tele boots? Does my beacon even have batteries in it? Do I still own skis? Where's that 3rd cup of coffee?

Bikes or skis, me and best adventure buddy.

Thankfully, I had packed all my ski gear away in one place back in March so that was easy. Nate has been steadily selling off our ski quiver this spring to make room for next year's stuff so finding a functional setup for both of us was a challenge. He went back to an alpine set up and I used his banged up rock skis.

It was strange to see the valley so green
while the skiing at 10,000 feet was so white and fluffy.

It turned out to be one of the best ski days of the year. The sun came out half way up, I ran into lots of pals and we had a great run before the sun affected the snow. And, it was DEEP.

On the walk back up, I was seriously thinking
" I could ride up this later today..."

By the time we got home the sun had melted the snow off the roads and it was time for a ride. It was my first test run of my new set up. Team Kenda/Felt recently got hooked up with some sweet new wheels from Sun Ringle: The Black Flag Pro Tubeless 29ers. Not only are they light, stiff and come tubeless ready, they are gold. Well, gold colored.

The Black Flag Pros have a much wider rim profile (24mm) than the standard Black Flags and made setting them up a breeze. They have a direct pull spoke pattern, will allow me to run much lower pressures and just look hot. Even though I stuck to dirt roads yesterday the difference was noticeable immediately.

Classic Teton Valley back roads

I also recently got the parts I needed to complete my Wobble Naught fit. A flat bar and a negative drop stem has finally provided me the angles and drop I needed for it to all come together. Thanks to Nate, Tom at WN and now Sun Ringle, my Nine is dialed!