memorial day weekend

Sarah and I began our Sunday with an early morning paddle around Annapolis.

We headed up to Patapsco and met Chris for an afternoon ride. It was my first mountain bike ride of the season, and I felt really out of shape, but it was great to be in the woods riding.

In our absence we taped the Indy 500, and then stayed up way too late watching the replay. Way to go Helio!

We slept in Monday morning and then took off for a short road ride.

Attention Smokers...............the road is not your ashtray!

Sarah & I navigated the garbage on the roadways and headed out to Sandy Point State Park where the Memorial Day bar-b-ques were in full swing.

We rode back towards Annapolis and and stopped by the Maryland WWII Memorial.

To all that have served, and to all those still serving...................Thanks.
Happy Memorial Day.

got da blues

GO NAVY!
One of the cool things about living in Annapolis is getting the to watch the Blue Angels perform during Commissioning Week at the Naval Academy.

I had a lady in the shop on Tuesday complaining about the waste of money, and the huge negative impact on the environment. She has some valid points, but yesterday when I slipped away from work to watch the show and saw the look of pride on the Midshipman, the excitement on the faces of both little kids and adults, somehow I think the cost is worth it.









Congratulations USNA Class of 2009!

ben on the water

So far, 2009 seems to be (with all due respects to Robby, Laird, and all) the year of the waterman. Sailing, windsurfing, surfing, stand up, I just can't get enough.
It is hard to believe it is mid-May and I have barely been on my bikes. I have not even had the mountain bike out of the basement.
The bikes beckon, but Mother Ocean keeps calling louder.
I took two winter trips to Florida to surf. Sarah and I have already had the boat out several times. I have windsurfed in Annapolis a couple of times, and I had a killer windsurf/surf trip to Hatteras last week. I paddle my SUP before work every chance I get. I didn't get out this morning, I think I'm having withdrawals. I keep re watching the "Endless Summer" for the millionth time. Sarah's nephew Dan thinks we are going to Beaufort next month for his wedding. Really....I'm heading down there to surf or sail, it just happens I will stop by the ceremony and hit the reception for some free food!

It is windy today. I want to be on the water. It is calling . Unfortunately WORK is calling too. Better go.

I love playing in the frozen snow, but some reason, right now it is all about the unfrozen snow. I'm not going to fight it. Might as well roll with it.



Aloha,

MB

ben to hatteras

Just returned from Hatteras. It was good. Windy, warm, sunny, and Windy.






........more coming soon.

got spring butt!

I thought about calling this "ben training", but two days of riding hardly qualifies. I could have called it "why is the seat so small, and my bike shorts so tight?" It could have been called " why did I have to ride the last mile standing up?" But(t) the bottom line (pun intended) is that after just over 20 miles yesterday with Sarah, and 28 miles this afternoon on my own, I have a grand case of Spring Butt. Oh the joys of pedaling ones bicycle in the spring. I guess it is a small ( well maybe not so small) price to pay for the great rides, challenges, and adventures that lay ahead this summer. Boy, it is hard to type standing up.

Speaking of challenges; much earlier this winter (in a display of machoism) I challenged a certain young lady to race against me in the sport class at the Greenbriar Challenge Mountain Bike Race that takes place in two weeks. I told her we could ride the course together and then sprint the last hundred yards to the finish for bragging rights. Loser buys pizza after the race. Christine........what do you want on your pizza????? If you want to race, I'm game. It won't be pretty. In fact I'm pretty sure it will be butt ugly.

MORE SPRING SHENANIGANS

It is hard to believe that just a week ago that we were playing in all that pow in Steamboat, but yesterday after going to Easter Services, I dusted off the windsurfing gear and got in a short session on the Severn River. It was gusty, puffy and shifty, but I got in a couple of good runs back and forth across the river. Water is still really cold and I worked hard not to fall in and keep my head dry.




Last weekend were playing in the frozen snow, this weekend we play in the un-frozen snow!

ben boarding

Last week Sarah and I wrapped up our snowboard season at Steamboat.
We checked into the Steamboat Grand Hotel and then took the shuttle back in to town to meet up with our friends Doug and Mary who had driven in from Ft. Collins. It started snowing on the way to dinner and pretty much didn't stop snowing until we left a week later.














Deep.




























Deeper!















17 more inches..... Holy Sh*#! Really Deep.














Sarah goes deep.















Sarah goes too deep! oops!!











The Grand.










Wednesday evening we soaked in the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. Clothing optional after dark. We left just before sunset!















It stopped snowing just long enough on Friday for us to spend the day riding fresh groomed on the telemark skis. There were a ton of really good tele skiers on the mountain. Unfortunately we were not among of them. It started snowing hard (again) and by the time the chairs stopped running there was several inches of new snow on the mountain. Shucks!














Sarah surf'n more fresh on our final day.














Big fun near the big white trees.














Bye Bye time to fly.

The week went by incredibly fast. We have never had that many powder days in a row.
I ate too much food at the the breakfast buffet, my quads are burning, my knees are killing me (and look like grapefruits), but mostly all the muscles in my face still hurt from all of the big smiles from the trip. Can't wait til the next time.













Powder Rules!

ben up to my ya ya's

ben snowboarding up to my ya ya's in powder. 17" last night. Might be up to my ta ta's today.
No blogs on a powder day.....got to go tram starts in 20 minutes.