It's been a long time

I have no excuses. Sure I've been working, trying to buy a home, "training", spending time with KMAGA, and living. So why the hiatus? It just felt like time to take a break. So now it's time to make my daddy happy!!! Here's a photo-blog!!!

A day in the life......

Our dogs have it rough.

Lay out in sun, chase birds, rest in shade, and chase each other.

Have you "MADE IT" when your profession gets it's own action figure?

Time to go hit some trails MK.

The Weekend In Review

The little brother's graduation went well considering he was the only person to walk without a tassle (fashion statement or Z-Pooh moment?). It was great to see the grandparents and parents again. We had a nice little BBQ to celebrate.

The race: I had a great first lap and then imploded. Looks like I need to work some sustained efforts. I ended up rolling in 5th in the SS class. It felt odd not to crash during a race, during cross season I managed to pull off at least one good crash per race. I'll be missing this weekends racing action due to work. Good luck to the revolution squad!!!! Well, I've got to get up to the ER for some quality Male Nurse time.

Real Estate Boom!!!!!!!

This week has been eye opening. Katie and I are seriously considering purchasing a home, but have run into a little problem with the current real estate market in SLC. It's out of control!!!! The magic number for a house in our neighborhood is $259,000 for a thousand square feet and house with many "minor" repairs needed. It's been a challenge to find houses closer to the $200,000 mark that aren't falling apart and are close enough to the Hospital for bike commuting to be possible. I'm not about to move to the burbs because the prices are no better, there are no trees, and I hate driving.
While we could afford to buy a house in our neighborhood at the current prices, we don't want to spend that much money. We like to work the minimum and squeeze the maximum out of our days off. Our lifestyle would undoubtedly change if we were to pay full price for a house in our hood. We don't want to limit our time together just to own a home. So we'll keep looking and hopefully we'll find a deal.
Also, this is a big week for my little brother. He graduates on friday!!!! Congrats Brother!!!! It should be a blast. Both sets of my parents will be in town as well as the grandparents. There's also a mtn bike race on saturday. I'll get some pics up soon.

Titus Demo Day

Today was the Titus Demo Day in Red Butte. I rode my Rig up there and cruised around on shoreline for about an hour. I'm thinking of going fully rigid as I ride with the fork "locked-out" most of the time. Once I made up a good demo loop spun in to do a head-to-head comparo of 26" vs 29" wheels on the Racer-X. After goofing around on my demo loop it became clear to me that I prefer 29ers. I spent 3 hours and 40 minutes mtn biking today and only 35 minutes were on a 26" wheel, compared to 2 hours I spent on the Ti 29er Racer-X.
One bad thing did happen today. I am now considering purchasing a geared bike. My two more wallet friendly options are pictured below.


Today was a great day. Katie, sunshine, bikes, and soft tacos.

It's Casual!

I have a little loop that I ride on easy/recovery days that takes me by this truck. Not sure how many times I've passed it, but every time I roll past it captivates me. Bikes provide such an interesting perspective on things. I'll try to take my camera out on more rides.
Katie and I are off work till tuesday. Have we got any plans for the weekend? Yep. Running, biking, and enjoying our time together. We'll probably also get out for burgers. Time to walk the dogs!!!

According to the Humane Society:

If you mix one of these.....


With one of these......


On a good hair day you'll get this......


And on a bad hair day you'll get this......


Let's review: German Wire Haired Pointer + Aussie Shepherd = Buckley

aka "Broccoli"

Who was Sam Sloan?

Those google image searches are fun. Apparently there's a Sam Sloan rail tycoon. Who knew? It's been great here in SLC. Looking forward to a weekend of 12's and some mountain rides next week. Later.

Rest Day

Yep, a rest day. With my head cold still lingering, I decided to take it easy and do some cleaning/prep-work on the bikes. Rig: new cables/housing and some fresh stan's. Old Road: overhaul and a big money 10 speed chain.


So what's the plan for the week? Trauma nursing class thrusday and friday with some mellow afternoon spins. Saturday will hopefully be a pre-ride of the point blank race with Team Revolution. Sunday looks to be a long strength/endurance road ride.

Now that we are engaged it's all buisness all the time!

Wilson vs. Wookie

Time Flies!!!!!

It's been a while since I've done any updates. Time flies when you're working extra shifts, sick, going to moab, training, and getting engaged. So, after a nearly two month break I'm throwing down an update. There will be words and pictures. Please enjoy.
We went to Moab for the Canyonland's Half Marathon. Katie and Geno ran. I made pizza, cheered, and busted out some classic Moab rides on my single speed. Katie battled an tough head-wind to finish in the top half of her age group. It was a nice mellow weekend spent with family.


The moab digs. This condo was twice as big as our house!!!


Katie about to execute a near perfect hat drop.



KMAGA & GNO! GETTING IT DONE!



Porcupine at the start.


Top of the climb


Southern Utah. It's allright.


Rig on the trail.


Me on the trail

Katie celebrated her birthday this March. This birthday put Katie past the upper age limit for dating. I love her too much to kick to the curb, so I asked her marry me.




You really can't do anything at our house with the mutts involving themselves.

The Weekend

My weekend really started on Thursday. That's when I realized that I was not getting over my stupid head/chest cold. So I took another day off from training, decided to lay low, make some awesome pasta, and hopefully recover in time for my weekend of working. I didn't get any better, but I did have a great weekend at work. The ER emptied out just before kick-off and filled up again shortly after the end of game. If you're feeling well enough to put off going to the ER during the game, should you really be coming in after the game?
I'm going to order my new mtn bike this week. The trick will be picking the lucky bike. There are several options from Yeti(team sponsor) and one from Salsa(dos niner). I don't like spending money so I've been putting this off for a few weeks now. Wish me and my tight-wad self luck.

Jelly Beans, Bikes, and Boredom

Things have been going great. Katie and I have fully embraced our "boring" lifestyle with a new zest. What did you do this weekend? We got in some runs/rides, home cooking, reading, and movies. It's a crazy life!!!


Got some nice long, wet, and cold road rides in. It feels good to outside and on the bike again. There's only so much trainer action a man can handle. Also, I got yelled at for trespassing while trying to find a new route out into the valley.


Katie and I prior to enjoying some home made BBQ chicken soft tacos. It's a rough life.
On different note. I will stop flaking on road rides with the guys.

Inversion City, Utah

The air quality in slc was so bad today that they issued health advisories. That meant another day on the trainer for me and running around the short track at the gym for katie. On most days you can the foothills and a few mountains clearly from our house, just not today. This wonderful inversion also deposits a fine layer of dust on everything.

Being outside right now is sort of like being in a smoky bar. On the positive side of things tonight is Pizza Night at our house. I'm only making two kinds: BBQ chicken and fig & gorgonzola. I'll get some pics up later.

New Furniture

So we've got a new fixture in the house. Some people have video games, not me. I've got this:

This is where I attempt to get it done when it's cold outside. Like a piece of art, the trainer set-up has also been an excellent conversation starter for us. Also, this is what's going on behind the scenes when the mail gets dropped off or we get a visitor.

Taos, New Mexico

Katie and I went to Taos for our first trip of the new year. Most of Sloan side of the family met up there to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday and hang with the four 80's. It was an awesome trip!!!

The Sloan boys back together again


Chimayo, the place Katie likes to go for holy dirt and burritos. I'm upset that we have no pictures of my polish sausage burrito or a dog doing a hand stand and pooping on a wall.


I was a little worried about the 4 of us crammed into a hotel room together, but nobody seemed to mind


Zack and I at the kids table. At what age do we become adults?


Altitude poisoning?


Half of the four 80's

Happy Belated New Year!!!

We went to Kamas, Utah for the New Year. What did you do?