Turkey Day and the Snow - Max Houtzager

Looks like Winter may have come a little earlier than planned, meaning no Downieville or Ashland shredding unless the snow spontaneously melts. That just means more riding other sick spots and SNOWBOARDING! Thanksgiving break this week = only two days of school, so I made the most of it.

I can’t not go snowboarding when it is supposed to be clear skies, 90” combined of fresh from one storm, only 16ºF, AND no school. So Tuesday night I finished off the WA team night ride, scarfed down a burrito from Mi Pueblo, and drove to Grass Valley to stay with David Lowe and the rest of his friends. Although the traffic getting to and from Tahoe the next day was the worst I’ve ever been in, I got a solid amount of pow pow in without tiring myself out for the Turkey Day Ride the next day.

Getting ready in the morning for the Appetite Seminar was interesting, since it was 32º out. I thought, “Now I am going to go biking, not snowboarding, in similar temperatures, except I have use layers of spandex?”.

It ended up not being too bad although I got really hot. Besides the fact that it’s a nice change to rip fireroads as fast as possible, the traction was like velcro where there was no mud (especially with Bronson-Nano as usual), and you get to see every mountain biker you know -about 1000- in one ride (whether racing around them on downhills or saying hi while stopped), most of the WA team was back together which was cool. We also finished off with the end of Tamarancho, and I was in the zone. I couldn’t of clipped in any faster on corners or slid around switchbacks more perfectly. Fireroads are fun, but singletracks are what it’s all about. Now to finish off the rest of my break, maybe race CCCX DH on Sunday, hopefully not spend too much time on UC apps... Oh yeah, and Turkey Day Dinner was amazing. I spent all afternoon cooking/baking and am now a pie master. Check it out HERE