Real Life in Jackson, Wyoming

Better Weather.

After a few freezing days and snow/rain mix, the weather is steadily improving here in Jackson.  Tomorrow is May 1 which means the bike trail along the national elk refuge is going to reopen.  I don't know who is responsible for that fucking stupid seasonal closure on that bike path but they should be forced to crawl ten miles in broken glass and eight inches of rubbing alcohol.

Fickle Weather.

Cold again last night with temps in the high twenties.  Good thing I didn't take the bait last week and plant anything in the ground; I think it would be dead now.  At least the geraniums I kept over the winter and put outside are now free of these little aphids (I think the cold killed the little bugs but the geraniums should be fine; they're pretty hardy.)  Sounds like things warming up tomorrow and Monday.  It is still nothing like last April so even with this brief period of snow and cold rain, our weather has been much better.  No tours yet but that's fine.  I have a lot to organize, clean, and store for the summer (all my winter crap.)

La Nina = La Fizzle.

That's right Lingus, I thought we were supposed to have a La Nina this year.  Guess it fizzled out.  Our weather has been great the last week in Jackson; probably the longest stretch of good weather I have ever seen in April.  Mid sixties on April 25?  That's like June.  It was raining hard last night and the forecase did say it would get cold again so of course there is a fine dusting of snow on some of my lawn and in the taller grass.  Nothing on the pavement; too warm to stick even with the colder temps.  And it is still nice this am with some clouds over the Tetons and that is it.  All in all a great spring, but I hope it doesn't mean we burn up in July and August.

What a Difference...

a year makes.  Went for a short ride up Cache Creek yesterday to gauge the snow and mud situation, and there were only a few muddy/snowy patches until you got to the old parking lot, then there was lots of snow.  The sidewalk and a lot of Putt-Putt was clear but larger snow patches still linger in the trees.  Tiny Hagen is probably two weeks off before it is clear of snow.  All in all, we are probably six weeks ahead of last year in terms of snow melting off the trails.  Hell, my lawn is clear of snow and for the first time since I moved to this house I haven't had to shovel snow off it.  I just hope we don't burn up this July and August.  Today is supposed to be a stellar spring day with temps in the high sixties.  Then it is supposed to get crappy again for most of the week.  Go figure; spring weather.

Back At It.

Fun and games back home now.  The weather has been all over the place: raining cats and dogs all day Wednesday (lovely for delivering papers), partly cloudy on Thursday, and bluebird clear and in the sixties on Friday and Saturday.  Not a cloud in the sky at 7:45 am and supposed to get into the mid-sixties today.  Whole lotta folks gonna be out on bikes, thats for sure.

Saw this little beauty on the Oatmeal website.  Too true.

Whats great about farting on airplanes is it is usually so loud on the planes nobody hears them but they are all carpet bombed.  Hee hee!

All This and $ Too.

It's that time of year at the Kaiser when we all go over the edge and suffer from a mass psychosis brought on by the fumes of unburned race fuel, cheap cologne, hair gel, Bud Light, and puke.  And that is from the ladies.  Yes, it is the Snowmobile Hillclimb again, Hillbillies on Ice.  It has been a tough course with quite challenging conditions but these jokers wouldn't have it any other way.

Shot from Friday am.

Later that day.

Post race debrief on Saturday.

And I get to do it all over again today.

Back to Winter.

After lamenting the end of our season on Saturday, things turned around on Sunday (naturally.)  What was the reason?  Simple:  a downhill race was scheduled so of course the weather was cold, foggy, and snowing hard.  The temps over Saturday night dropped to just the freezing mark but cold enough that the course held up, and it snowed off and on again all day.  The new snow was needed but made for difficult skiing; hitting a patch of the new snow was like hitting glue:  very, very grabby conditions and you had to ski carefully.  This am it is in the low twenties so I think our season is saved.  We will probably reopen Bearcar, Exhibition, and Belly Roll tomorrow and so long as it stays cold the Hillclimb should go off without too much trouble.  Crossing fingers and all that.

Photo from this am:

Happiness and Sadness.

Happiness is bottling your latest batch of homebrew: a nice German Bock at 8.8% abv.  Good stuff.  I hope to put an Imperial IPA in secondary fermentation today with an infusion of high gravity yeast (it is stuck at 1044 so lots of leftover sugars to ferment out).

Sadness is realizing that it hasn't gone below freezing since Sunday morning (there have been brief periods of below freezing at the top of Snow King but only for a few hours and only to 31 or so).  What was excellent skiing last week has degenerated into mashed potatoes and super punchy snow that is downright dangerous.  Anything that has't been groomed extensively over the winter is now bottomless.  Not fun skiing.  Even Cougar run, which is mostly man-made snow, has been groomed a couple dozen times, and even had water injected into it for a race series is now shite;  you need powder skis to stay on top.  Supposdedly it will get into the twenties tonight and tomorrow night but I think our ski season is cooked.  At least most of the roads are clear now so perhaps time to break out the road bike.

Spring is Here (Maybe.)

It has been quite warm here since last week, and especially since Saturday.  It didn't freeze last night or the night before at my house, and it doesn't sound like cold weather will return until sometime near the end of the week.  Suits me; melt out the driveway and roads, break out the bikes, and enjoy spring.  Only poopy thing about spring (and this seems to be the norm in the last five or six years) is lots of rain.  I love bike fenders.

Snowbikes Part 3.

My friend Dave sent me some info on snowbikes and how to carry them on roof racks (thanks Dave) and a plug for an Alaskan bike shop designing it's own frames (the frames are made by frame builders down in the lower 48).  Thanks for the links Dave.  The Alaskan company has nice complete bikes and really nice titanium frames but kinda spendy.  If I will only be able to ride a snowbike maybe a dozen times a year, I think I will go a cheap as I can go so the Surly Moonlander is top of my list.  Plus, I can get it for cost through Quality.