2009 Review

Um, yeah, a bit late. I'll start with my plans for 2009:

• Get Mark to Moab - It took 2 years but last September was Mark's first Moab. We rode Slickrock, Sovereign, Klondike Bluffs and Slickrock again. And I had my best recorded crash on Sovereign.
  
• Ride with Alex - I had a great time riding Guacamole with Alex and his friends Cory, Rick and Colin. 4 weeks later I did another ride with Alex, the JEM/Hurricane Rim/Goulds loop. It was my first time riding both of these trails so that made it even better. Later in the year I did a few Park City rides with Alex.
  
• Little Creek - The day after Guacamole, we (Jolene and I) rode Little Creek with Alex and his friends. I've had Little Creek on my list for years and it did not disappoint.
  
• More Park City - So many good trails in Park City, and many I haven't done. Five enjoyable rides in 2009: 1 2 3 4 5
  
• RAWROD (White Rim) - This year I rode a hard tail, seemed like a good idea, and in general it worked OK. What a fantastic ride.
• LIVESTRONG Challenge - Thanks to generous contributors I was able to raise $682 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in support of Team Fatty. I raised most of that with my LEGSHAVE Challenge.
  
• Complete a Triathlon - Third time's the charm. The other two triathlons were rained out, this one I finally got to do all three events.
• Do some road riding - Not a good year for the road bike. The annual Salt Lake Century was fun. A few Alpine Loop rides. Fantastic solo ride of the LaSal Loop near Moab. I still like the road, but I like mountain biking more.
  
• Have fun riding - No major complaints, 2009 was a good year for me.
  

Other 2009 highlights:

• Steamboat Springs - For our anniversary, Jolene and I went out to Steamboat Springs. The mountain biking was fantastic and we enjoyed all 1, 2, 3, 4 days.
• Jackson Hole - The sweet single-track in the mountains south of town was one of my favorite rides of 2009.
• 3rd trip to Arizona - Last February I escaped with Mark to Phoenix again for a few days of riding.
  
• Crest Loop - The Wasatch Crest / MidMountain loop has to be one of the best rides in the state, and riding it with Mark last year was a good time.
• Blackhawk Loop - Another best-in-state loop ride, with Jesse and Patty.
• Hard tail 29er - I bought a 2005 Gary Fisher X-Caliber last January and rode it almost exclusively in 2009. I love the big wheels and the hard tail has been a fun throw-back. The bike has been great for almost all the local trails and for short rides.
• 24 Hours of Moab - Jolene raced it with a team, I just hung out at the awesome Mad Dog compound. I rode the course before the race started and rode a night lap with Jolene. A fun event.
• Hell-O-Ween - This costume ride was a riot. Thanks for making it happen, Rick.
• Fall Fruita - 2.5 days of riding with great guys and amazing cyclists with such a good vibe.
  

I also cleaned up the sidebar. I removed the blog list since I use the Blog Buzz for keeping up with the blogs I read. I also removed the Fighting Like Susan section because that fund raising year is over. I'm a lousy fund raiser so I'm not sure if I'll do it again this year, but I will donate for the fight against cancer.

Reviewing all the fun I had in 2009 has inspired me to make the most of 2010, even though this winter is driving me nuts. I'll post about my 2010 plans soon.