Music Season

So, now that the tri off season is in full swing, I have shifted my training to from swim, bike, run to guitar, giutar, guitar. Hopefully with some climbing mixed in during the fall and winter months. Instead of spending my 2 hours a day on my bike or in the pool I am spending 2 hours a day in my music room beating on my guitars. It will take a while to get the touch back after not playing very much the last year or so, but it feels really good to just sit down and play. Here is a picture of my baby. It's a 2002 Martin D-42.

I started playing in 2001 with one of my dad's old guitars. It was a 1975 Alverez Dove. A beautiful copy of the vintage Gibson Dove, but it had better tone than any Gibson Dove I have played. Anyway, the Martin was the firts guitar that I ever bought. I figured that if I was going to do it, I should do it right. Since picking up this guitar I have played many other high end guitars, and I am yet to find one that can match this one for full range tone.

Here's so more good guitar pickin'. I can't play this style at all, but it sounds so cool. Again, Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins pickin' Jerry's Breakdown.

Off Season

So now that my off season is fully under way I will be changing the tone of my blog a little. I will still post any and all tri info and tips that I encounter but I will also be posting a lot more on many of my other hobbies and interests. You can expect to see some random ramblings on the world of climbing and mountaineering along with some music and video posts.

So, to start the off season off right, here is a great clip to end the summer on. A little "Summertime" by Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins. Also, to any musicians out there, check out Chet's way cool fretless guitar.

Rain, Rain Photos

I finally got some pictures to upload. I tried yesterday, and appanrently sent a bunch of photos out into cyber land never to be found.












The Wife and the dogs ready to begin the night trek.












Jackson Daniels and Gemini Beam looking very stoic while we try to dry out from a wet morning.












Jackson the water dog. Lake Superior is cold and rough, but that didn't stop him.












The falls at Temperance River.












The Wife and the Racer in Canal Park Duluth, MN.

Rain, Rain...

So it was off to the north shore of Lake Superior for a weekend of backpacking and climbing. At least that was the plan when we left the house. It all started with the drive up. Road construction added a little over an hour to our already 4 hour journey to the begining of our hiking. We finally reached the parking lot around midnight and began preparing for a short hike to sleep out in the open on top of a large rock dome.


The walk in was beautiful. It was about 65 degrees and windy. There was a slight fog in the air which gave a very eerie appearance with our headlights shining ahead. We made it to our destination in a little less that an hour and began to look for a flat place to sleep for the night.

The sky was incredible. There was a small cresent moon with some clouds meandering across the sky. The stars were extremely bright. I forget how amazing the stars are when you get that far away from a major city.

We finally got to sleep around 2:30am. I never really sleep all that good when I am out in the open. I usually wake up and look around a lot to make sure that if there is something ready to eat me I at least see it before it happens. I woke up about 7:00 am to rain falling on my face. It was just a slight drizzle, so I just pulled the ground cloth I was lying on over my sleeping bag and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:00 am to find my bag totally wet. Apparently my ground cloth is no longer water proof.

The rain caused us to change our plans for the day. So we decided that we would hike out and stay at Temerance River State park instead of staying in the woods when we would not be able to climb anyways. After hiking out in the rain we were able to check into the park and set up a tent. Very soon after that we were off to the store for some soothing barley based beverages. Lake Superior Brewing Co. is my friend. Limited release IPA and Sir Duluth Stout can help you to cope with the changing plans and the shotty weather.

Sunday also got rained out. We decided to pack it up and head for home. the rain let up for a while so we stopped at a marina to walk around and let the dogs swim for a while. I you have ever tried to go for a swim in Lake Superior you know what cold water feels like. I wish I could swim with the blind determination of my yellow lab. The best part of the afternoon was my wife decding that she was going to swim with the dog. She was going to race him to the stick. Well, I through the stick and she didn't go. We were standing on the large marina dock. Anyone want to guess what happened next? Yep, I pushed her in. Whe came up with a rather suprised look on her face and began panic swimming to the shore. She stopped when it was about waist deep and played with our lab for a while, telling me that the water was not that bad. Ya right, her lips were blue. We tried really hard to get our husky to swim, but he just wasn't having it. So, does anyone want to guess what happened. Yep, I threw him in too. He was more pissed off about the deal than my wife.

All things turned out good. We finished our weekend get a way with the traditional stop at Little Angies Cantina in Canal Park for food and a drink before the long ride home. All in all it was a good triop even though there was not chance to climb.

I can't get any photos to load, so I will try to add some pics later.

Where the Buffalo Roam

Ok, so they don't actually roam, they are fenced in. But, we saw buffalo. We have just returned from a camping and climbing trip to Blue Mounds State Park and it was great. The weather could have cooperated a little better, but we made it through. We had to sit out some climbing due to on and off rain, but that gave us some time to explore the rest of the park. The climbing we did get in was really fun. The rock down there is very different from the rock I have climbed in the rest of MN. It is very smooth with very little friction, and the cracks offer little help to those people, myself included, that can not crack climb very well. All in all, the climbing was good, and I even made it up 5.10a route that had an evil hand crack crux at the end. After finally getting on the rock for the first time this summer I am now itching to get out more. Hopefully I will be able to get in a few good days later this fall.

Now the ride home was another story. Have you ever tried riding home in a car for four hours with two large dogs that have been playing in the mud, grass, weeds, and whatever else they got into. WOW. We had to roll with the windows down the entire ride home. The dogs were ripe. My wife will have some serious work to do to get that smell out of her car.

So, now it is back to the daily grind of work. I am going to try and start my 5k training this week in hopes of running some good times later this fall. It will be nice to have shorter workouts, but the plan I am looking at has a silly amount of speed work with it. Looks like I will be spending some quality time on the track this fall.