Scheels in Reno!

So a few weeks ago I was in Reno, and my sis and Chris took me to this cool sports store that just opened up in Sparks. it is HUGE!!!! Has just about everything you could want for just about any sport. Took some photos, as I was like a kid in a candy store.



A family that shoots together, stays together. :D I especially love that mom has a baby harness and was plinking away at the targets without fail.
$6,399 dollar mtn bike. WTF!?!?! I'll stick to my 500 dollar hard tail for now. hahahaha
Full size cars, that you get into, just to play the NASCAR fully interactive game. Cars are on hydraulics that raise themselves and simulate actual track banking, etc. pretty cool.
A carousel. REally!? Why!? hahahaha
Jump plane hanging in the kayak section...just becasue.
And this one is for Smut Mutt. Mountain bike, fully rigged with a set up to carry your bow with you into the wilds. :)

At the entrance they had a sick ass fish aquarium that double arched over the entrance to the store. I gotta go back and pick up some stuff. Their gun department alone was stocked full of anything you might want. They even had a "High end" guns department for big game guns and one of's.

It beat the shit out of the new Cabela's store that is on the west side of Reno.

Just ran a nice 4.2 mile trail. Tried out my forerunner 305 from Garmin. Worked cool, and uploading it to my computer and seeing the mapped out trail was awesome.

averaged 7.21 min/mi for first half and slowed down to 9.38 total average by the end.

weight is down to 219 lbs. still. :D

No more soreness from this last weekends run. I'll put more miles in, and I think that there is a 50k coming up in socal as well. Tempted to do the Austin Marathon now.

Willie Motherflippin' Nelson!!!!

So last night I went to see Willie Nelson at the Fillmore in SF. I've seen Willie once before in Austin, Tx. at a nice outdoor venue. Needless to say, there was a lot of extra curricular activity meds being handed out and I was feeling good last time. Well, SF doesn't disappoint, it was pretty cool, after some quick dinner at my favorite Korean joint around the corner, we headed up to the Fillmore and got in to have some beers before his son, Lukas Nelson went on to open the show.

It was pretty cool to see Willie's kids playing in the band. Son Micah on drums, "little sister" on piano and Lukas jamming on the guitar. As always he opened with "Whisky River" Damn, it was awesome. I saw a hippy that I felt like punching, till he started passing around the biggest flippin doob in the world. Figured he was doing a great service to the rest of the crowd. hahaha No need to partake, as the contact high from everyone smoking in the place was enough to make the world right. hahahaha

I got some shitty photos on my phone, but I'll put one up.

It was a great night, the place was sold out. As I was picking up our tickets at the box office, the guy in front of us bought out the last ticket to the show. Posters were handed out, and what was even better was that this was Inauguration day, and a one of poster to go with it.

Cool thing about Willie, is that he is in his 70's, and still jams on the guitar non-stop. The man is a machine. I'll definitely go see him again.


And on the way home we stopped off and grabbed some In&Out burger (double double cheeseburger) with a shake. Just for shits and giggles.

On another note, a friend of mine let me borrow a new cd of hers, the Kings of Leon. Pretty good stuff.

Calico Trail run...Day 3: Perpetual Motion

So, day of the run we got up pretty early, 0530, bleh, I hate mornings. Drove out to Calico Ghost town, parked and got our stuff together, picked up our packs and pinned the numbers. Milled around and ate some grub. Not much to do for the 20 min before the start. We shot this photo just before taking off. Down in the parking lot we chugged beer before going up to the start of the race...just to take the edge off. hahaha

The start was uneventful, just headed down off the hill that the town is on and ran on the road for about 3 miles, then onto hard packed dirt road for another 2 miles....up to the first aid station, it was pretty easy, just some mild climbing, with an even upslope. No biggie. Stopped at the first aid station (at mile 6.8), and had some baked potato, pbj squares, and some gatorade, moved on.

I'll have to get different things as I do this more. Nothing is major, I'm just running, and it's a short one. Hands frozen, could use some different shorts, but what the hell, right? Next aid station 5.1 miles. Took off, with the sun rising fast, and temps warming up a bit.

Nothing major, loose silty areas in the creek beds, and some more climbs. Ate more of the same at the next aid station, and trying to make sure I take swigs of water as I go, without going to long, I guess. I think I'll try those hand held water bottles next time.

On to aid station 3, and the split for 30k and 50k routes. I made it in to this spot, and I'm just now feeling a bit sore in the hips. Not bad, not out of breath at all, which feels awesome.

I'm now about 3 miles from the end. Had about a miles worth of canyon running, very tight, very rocky with a good downhill incline. I think I did well in this section, thanks to hashing, as I was running downhill here, passing a bunch of folks that had passed me in the previous miles.
They were making their way gingerly through this section, as I was working down it very fast. Felt fun.
Came out of the valley below and to the left on this photo above. Lots of motorcross bikes out, and it's getting warm, but not a problem.
I'm just under 2 miles from the end, and I ran out of water in my camelback here. I should have refilled it at one of the stations, but hell, it's close to the end, so no biggie.

Just moved on, ran the downhills, and walked the uphills fast.
Final section through the parking lot, still had a very steep climb at the end, and I sprinted the last section into the finish line. Fucking awesome. 18.5 miles. Just a start, but I am wanting a 50k now, badly.
Popped a natty light, to celebrate, and it was GOOOD, nice and cold. My official time was a slow 4:21.58 total for 30 k (18.5 miles)
I see it averaging 14.10 min/mile
My goals for this event were:
Not come in last: check
Finish: check
Not get picked up by EMS: check
Finish under 4:30 hours: check
Have a good time: damned straight.
The biggest bit of advice I got from C.R. was "perpetual motion", always keep moving forward.

I never stopped moving. Whether it was running, jogging, run/walking or just flat out walking.


Here is the other retards 2 hours later coming in. I get a call from Jasper on trail, says they're just out "fucking around" hahahaha, and already drank 5 beers on trail. Nice. He's only at this 50k to run it as a training run for his next 100 miler (The Rocky Racoon 100 in Houston, Tx in 3 weeks) Nice.
Here they are jamming together at the finish line, just under 7 hours for the 31 miler. Decent pace. Good times had by all.
Beers waiting for us at the end, and here we are celebrating a fun as hell day and weekend. We'd hashed and rode since Friday and now time for the free lunch. a Hot Dog, chips and a coke. hahahaha and an 80 dollar key chain. :D
(l to r) Jasper, Me, Dave, Jimmy (btw: Jimmy is a kickass motorcycle rider as well) and it was super cool meeting him.

A view of the parking lot. I have to admit that I was pretty damn sore after the run, and after cooling off. Dropped some motrin, and a couple beers and felt way better. But going up and down these stairs sucked.
The drive home wasn't the greatest. Left at about 3pm and had 400 miles to drive home to the Bay Area. Not bad. A couple red bulls and made it in with good time.

That was by far a great weekend. And can't wait to move up to the next goal. 50k.
It's funny cause I think CR's ex holds the current record for most 100 milers in a year. Used to be "Fucking Crazy" (hasher from seattle) who held that record some time back.

Trail run weekend...day 2

So Saturday we were just lounging around, mostly watching Cockrider try to not throw up from the hangover, although he'd ridden his body of all stomach contents the night before. Then he fell asleep in the tub, as it was filling up in the bathroom. I only know cause he came out laughing nervously. hahahaha dumbass!

An hour later we got a call from another hasher, who said that there was an L.A. hash going on at 3pm. hmmmmm, fuck it, why not. So after mapping it out, getting some breakfast, asking for late checkout, we got moving down the road (and not quite "on the way to barstow" as we thought) haha

Arrived at the start of the hash, and hung out for a while as people arrived.
In this first photo, the gentleman in the forefront with the white t-shirt on is "High quality asshole" if memory serves right. He is 85 y/0. holy shit. and still running trail. not walking it. Some of the L.A. hashers, just said they figured he'd die on trail. Honorable. Cool guy, and great to see that you can go forever in the hashing world.
I

And then I ran into Sin-D Bare, who I always run into around the world. (Thailand, Toronto, Costa Rica, random hashes around the USA as well) it's funny, we never plan it, but we always run into each other. He got a hall pass for the day, so came out hashing. He was telling me a story about how he tells everyone about Thailand and running into me there, and then says "Everytime I tell people about Thailand, I tell them about you getting stung by a scorpion on the ball buster trail in Chiang Mai" which is funny in itself, but then he says "First thing out of their mouth when I say that is, 'wait! What was Gaylord doing on the ballbuster trail?' " hahahaha

yeah, i didn't use to run a lot.
Good beer stop.
Running in the L.A. hills.

Was a good 5 miler, just to get the legs loose. We stuck around for a bit at the end, and then took off for Barstow. Stopped for some Mexican food and then arrived about 9:30pm. Took it easy and got stuff ready for the next morning. Great day. Met a bunch of new people, and saw some old friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

Calico Trail run weekend....day 1

So this past Friday morning, hungover like hell, I drove down to Anaheim, Ca. after talking to my buddy Jasper and signing up for the Calico Trail Run 30k , he told me there was a mountain bike hash going on in Anaheim on Friday night, and to come down for that. Sweet. Mountain bike in the truck, a few red bulls and little sleep. bleh.

Arrived in L.A. around 3:30pm, and hit that famous SOCAL traffic, which btw, sucks balls. 15 miles in 1 1/2 hours. the suck. Finally made it to the hotel where we're staying, and Jasper is 2 large beers into it, so I drop one, throw some food in me, and we go check in. Get the bike ready, and call for a ride from the hashers.
Seems the start was about 1/2 mile away. After about an hour of milling around, there was about 30 people who showed up, and all kinds of bikes. Had a few more beers and then the hares took off.

Was great, once we got on the road, I'm in shorts and a t-shirt in January. God I love this weather. hahaha it's probably in the low 70's at this point.

The ride took us into some brush and down the rail road tracks, around the stadium and eventually a few miles down the road, we hit our first beer check. After about 20 min, some hoser in a truck rolls up yelling about riders going through a construction zone, and if there were anymore in there. hahaha apparently the hares, laid trail through a large construction field, and caught the guy sleeping. He saw them as they were heading out, got bent and tried to take it out on us. dumbass. whatever, dude, go back to sleep.

Beer truck of the BOHICA H3 mtn bike hashers.
Rolled some more, and was fun outgunning most of the riders, we arrived at the Flamingo Showgirls strip joint, which was a full nude joint, so no alcohol was served inside. :| oh, well, just having fun. it was a bit nasty, and I have to say I kind of prefer the ones that keep their bottoms on. Not that I have been to a strip joint in like 4 years...but I'm just saying.
After the hour long delay at the strip joint, because all the bashers came out and saw that half of their tires were flat, we went on. Two of the guys went out of their way and managed to change about 12 tubes, and fix about 15 tires with some slime and hand pumps. hahaha doesn't that sound good. :)
The trail took us into this 2 mile long storm drain tunnel. They're huge here in Southern California, what with flash floods a reality. Right now, just a bit of water trickles down the center, nasty ass water, so you hug the sides, and hope you don't have to pass anyone and go over the water. Some self portraits as I try to keep the bars steady, and see ahead with the tiny light on my bike. (note: time for a new headlamp)
Beer stop #3 in the middle of the tunnel. That's Weed Whacker in the blue shorts, moments after he ate it hard. hahahahaha the dude, was coming up to the beer stop, thought it'd be funny to ride through the water and splash everyone with that nasty ass water. Well, as soon as he started yelling out and laughing, he lowsided his bike and slid about 10 ft in the nasty water. HAHAHAHAHA kinda what he gets. He was laughing his ass off. You can see the bike where he left it up ahead. We downed a few pbr's and on we went.
Beer here!
The rest of the pack caught up and finished up the beer.
We finally made it into the end, and ended up being the FRB!!! Wha!?!?! Gaylord an FRB in whatever capacity?! no way!!! yep, that's right. it's a different era. Here is Cockrider, a harriett who's name I can't remember and myself. Peep the cool shirts, courtesy of the BOHICA portable shirt maker. (a piece of cardboard and a can of spray paint...always green paint)
Then on to the "Stripper dogs". Damn good hotdogs wrapped in bacon. Did I mention we were not on a nutritional strategy regimen for this weekends race? :D haha damn they were good.
The BOHICA started doing these, after they found them at a strip joint at one of their beer stops some time back.
Here Cockrider, demonstrating what should be done, according to his "announcement" which no one was expecting. It was along the lines of telling girls how to suck cock the proper way. Something about not fucking around and go for it...he was much more descriptive, and will wait till he streamlines his PSA and then post it. haha

We floated the keg, stuck around till about 1am, then back to the hotel to watch as Cockrider was so drunk he could barely walk, managed to puke and eventually pass out.

Good first day.

Shit...almost forgot!

Been running around with work and all so much that I forgot I hadn't caught up on the previous weeks happenings.

I went to Reno for my sisters reception (as they got married in Texas, they decided to have a reception in Reno for their friends from Reno and Alaska)

It was a great long weekend. First shot is us at my sisters new place, on a very long night of catching up and drinking as much beer as we could.

Chris and I went for a long run on Friday, which was good, as it helped me check where I was in conditioning for the 30k coming up. I like running at altitude, and is the only downside of living in the bay area, that I don't get to do much of it.
Saturday was a lounging around kind of day, we finally headed over to Harrah's around 7pm, and made sure that everything was prepped for the nights activities. It was a simple event. Just to get friends together, have plenty of booze, some food to snack on and dance our asses off.

Apparently very few of the guys like to dance, cause there was like 15 girls on the dance floor...and no guys. So I went and made my presence known, with my "humpty dance" hahaha went over very well.

My friend Rachel and I, at the wedding reception. Was really great catching up. :D
A few drinks in the bride, and watching her do the "running man" in her wedding dress was flipping hilarious.
Here we are on the street somewhere, as we go to the next bar, after we'd finished up at Harrah's. Good thing about Nevada, is you can get your drinks to go, and take them with you. :D We ended up at Silver Legacy casino, where I got kicked out of the bar for taunting a few guys into a fight. Not sure why, but I'm pretty sure it was cause they started it, and were messing with Chris. Either way, it was funny watching them get all bent out of shape when I wouldn't throw the first punch. I mean, come on...I may be a dirty Mexican, but not a dumb one. It's a casino, there's cameras everywhere.....I figure I can take the first punch and just "defend" myself from there. Eventually they left, and we laughed and went to the next bar. :D

The morning after was great, found a great spot to get some Mexican Breakfast at El Adobe.

I ended up going back to the bay area a bit late in the day, but finally got in, and worked on cleaning up, and had dinner with a friend of mine. Before prepping for work.

Didn't get to snowboard, but the snow has been a bit shitty the last 2 weeks. Everyone is hoping that they get a good snow storm soon.

Nighttime in the Marina.

Definitely not my favorite of places, as I usually end up punching some douchebag, but after a nice quiet dinner at the Park Chalet, we decided to head over to a bar where a friend of ours works. Didn't pay for any drinks, but did pay for it the next morning with a gnarly hangover. hahaha
Had to cab it back to my truck from their house to get on the road for southern California. Perfect way to start a long weekend I figured. Even though I'd be missing out on the Tex-Mex hash in El Paso.


Don't remember taking this photo, but apparently I was double fisting at this point. hahahaha

I need to remember not to drink like I used to when I was 30 lbs heavier