Tuesday, May 20, 2008

a good bike sesh

well today i went to work on a weird shift; 10am-6pm. it was pretty lame becuase i came in right after the busy time in the morning and i left during the busy shift at night. i also had to pay for all 8 hours of parking today which normally i only have to pay for 3-4 hours of parking. but it did allow me to enjoy the last part of the day. since the sun stays up till about 10:30p here in alaska right now i got a good riding sesh today. i rode down at the chugiak ski trails. the trails are starting to dry out but there are still some mud bogs at the bottom of hills. i enjoy the mud and judging by the photo you'll see the proof.

Friday, May 9, 2008

a good spring day


today i was able to accomplish many things. i woke up this morning to get a good invite to go skiing up in arctic valley with Dan Hill. we hiked up the face of the mountain and had a good day skiing. we ended up taking only one run due to the time limit we were on and the quality of snow wasn't at its prime. so we ended up taking one food run on the face. i skied on straight skis which i havent skied for 5 years and i was quickly reminded of the hardness of turning with straight skis do to the lack of the parabolic shape.
once i got home i was able to finally track down a really good deal on craigslist.com for a mountain bike. i found a 2006 kona cowan which is a dirt jumping bike/mountain bike. it can be used on all trails from calm to rugged. it is a very good bike, good quality and it has some very nice components. i'm very excited to go out and use it. i rode around all day in my yard with it and even tonight my dad was able to take it for a spin on the road. i dont think i've seen my dad on a bike since i was a kid. i could tell it reminded him of being a kid again and biking the west oregan coast. today was a good day and i'm excited for this weekend. i want to take my bike to the lake and see if i can find some trails down there. tomorrow i start work at the marriott and we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Ninilchik Clamming


well monday lat night we decided to drive down to ninilchick, a 3.5-4 hour drive, to hit a -5.5 tide on tuesday morning. this is one of the largest low-tides for the month of may and we thought it would be fun to go clamming. we arrived at the cabin at 2am and stayed up till 6am playing risk. the beach was perfect for clamming, there was a lot of people there for the clams. clamming is an art, and i was able to master this art within the firsts two or three digs of the day. the clam gun was the perfect way to dig for a clam. first you locate the clams by looking for small breathing holes, then you use the gun. with the first layer of sand out of the way you dive into the sand with your hand and you can normally find the tongue of the clam. it is with skill and precision that you start the pulling process. you have to pull the clam out and when you do you get to finally see the size of the clam that you got.
this was a way fun day. it was warm and sunny and it was a great time.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Cabin Breaking


every spring my family and i find ourselves making the good trip to the cabin to break it in for the summer and to prepare it for use. we have to make sure the water is working and make sure the heater still works and most of all we just need to check whether or not there was any vandalism over the last winter. one year we actually had someone break into the cabin, i think it was just for shelter sake not for stealing purposes. this year we went down with jared and lacie. it was a mighty good trip.
something i have noticed and jared as well is that no matter what the outing is, if there is a fire they usually always will call upon an alaskan to build this fire. at school my roomate and i built many fires and everybody always assumes that since i'm alaskan i can build a fire. i'm not sure why this assumption is but here is evidence that once again alaskans can build fires.