The Morris Monkey Works

Snowbird

2010-01-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Last spring my mom came out during finals week and we hit snowbird.
All together it was not the best day I've ever had on the snow. It was
one of those days when you realize that the riding is officially
better than the skiing. A "local" yelled at me for ducking a rope
which I did not do that was not pleasant.

However my brother Caleb streaches in the strangest places:

2010-01-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

My birthday is this week. Arthur gave me an incredible present. So as an expression of my gratitude i make my first post on our Blog. I love you babe. Thank you

Santa

2009-12-20T20:52:00.001-08:00

Santa came and confused me. Ups came handed me the box. I hadn't
expected any thing but it had my name on it. At first glance it looked
strange.

Cyclocross nationals!

2009-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

It was great to watch Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers, and Ryan Trebon throw down at CX Nats last sunday - It was like the super bowl of American cyclocross. Maybe someday it will get TV coverage and the spell checker will know the word "cyclocross." Till then I'm glad Cyclingdirt.org sent a couple guys to run around with a camera.

But the biggest news in my opinion is John Burton. The kid is 17 and drops us in the Single Speed category every week. Super nice and a really positive kid to race with. He put gears on his bike and headed to bend and ended up 5th beating a lot of well known juniors!

Winter training

2009-12-18T22:24:00.001-08:00

Right after the race season it seems like it's a good time to just
ride hard when you want to. To let your mental energy return. Just
ride because you love it for a bit. Call that the off season.

Backcountry

2009-12-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

Work has been insane. Gotta get bindings on the rock board and get
some space.

Back country

2009-12-18T09:00:00.001-08:00

Even though things are unstable above 8000' things are looking good
for a little Morris dawn patrol action.

For sale:

2009-12-17T21:08:00.001-08:00

$200

our house has no minute hand

2009-12-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

Our walls have no clocks but one and it has no minute hand.

On our wall there is no difference between twenty minutes and thirty. We are never two minutes late. We tell time only in parts of hours and our moments are longer.

Possibly predictably we seem to have a little more patience.

The no longer ambidextrous clock seems to have tipped our scales from results to experience – the fact that we have food now seems to matter just less than it’s quality and how we got it.

That I washed our bikes in 25 or maybe forty minutes is no longer a column in our ledger, while the enjoyment of the long moments of concentrated quality work with brushes and warm water no longer need a ledger column to justify.

Cyclocross

2009-12-13T13:15:00.001-08:00

We did it! We raced hard for a whole season. No illness no injury just three months of good hard racing.

Amazing. I learned a lot - even caught my self finishing a a very tactical third at the last race before we went to the midwest for thanksgiving!
Here are some of the lessons:
I'm really good on courses where you need power.
Tire pressure is really important.
Warming up on a trainers isn't just for pros and guys in the C race who think they are pros.
Core strength is essential to my survival - because my back has a hard time supporting the power from my legs (especially on a single speed)
Jessica is really fast!!
I really love just being at cross races - I never want to go home!
Perpetum is good for my stomach
I'm way heavier than everyone I finish near - if I loose weight this winter and get a geared bike... I bet I could do pretty well in the B's, and if I get my skills in order for snow I might even make a good showing at the last call race.

Highlights of the season:
The first race riding from the back of the pack to sixth place.
Watching Jessica get progressively more confident until she crushed the field in the B's.
Having another racer tell me that trying to out sprint me was like trying to out sprint Mario Chippolini.
Using my sprint abilities to get third out a group of three strong riders.
Spending weekends at bike races with Jessica, and all the other awesome crossers in Utah.

Goals for next year:

Have a full summer of racing in my legs at the start of the season
weigh 175
have a light geared bike
light wheels w/ tubulars
kill it in the B's
help Jessica have a good season!

Bike Blogs

2009-12-08T08:01:00.001-08:00

I love reading bike blogs. Friged mornings before I sear my lungs with
salt lake county's cold polluted air I read. Famous blogs like the fat
cyclist, red kite prayer, and Bike Snob NYC. Blogs by local Heros like
Bart, Ali, Racer, and the Subrosa Cycles corporate blog. I read Kyle's
blog and wish he wouldn't study for the LSAT and race BMX so we could
race cross. I read Rick Sinderledfe's blog and wish I still lived near
Provo canyon and some of the wold's best single track. I feel
connected with other riders, and stoked to get out the door and on the
bike.

Sent from my iPhone

More lone peak

2009-08-18T18:36:00.002-07:00

Weekend in the lone peak wilderness

2009-08-18T18:36:00.001-07:00

The San Rafael Swell

2009-08-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

A Water tragedy

2009-08-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

Moab's best spring is now contaminated.

Atlas Mill Tailings

2009-08-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

Atlas Mill Tailings Moab

2009-08-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

Moab Breakfast

2009-08-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Utility bike

2009-08-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

On Twitter!

2009-07-21T20:20:00.001-07:00

For good or ill I'm in charge of taking our organization in to the
echoing cave of social networking/media so I'm going there too!

Caleb's Report

2009-07-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

>
> My blog is currently blocked so I decided to blog by e-mail today.
> (Jenni Thanks for the Idea)
And Arthur emailed it to his blog which happens to have an email
address and then the blog posted it all on it's own.
>
> Recently I have been watching doctors take care of really really small
> babies, the kind that look more like cure aliens that little humans.
> It is really cool watching how they manage the preme's meds, oxygen,
> temperature and nutrition to help it grow, it is exciting to think
> that through knowledge and diligence they can help these infants that
> should be dead grow into self sufficient human beings. It has also
> been interesting learning about all of the things that can go wrong
> with the human body, and at the same time it is cool to see how much
> abuse it can take.
>
> Everytime you go out on the rode in China it is sort of like entering
> The Need for Speed. There is just something about dodging between
> taxis and buses in spandex on a travelors check cross bike that makes
> your heart beat that much faster. The other day my usual riding
> partner had to take his boss to dinner so I headed off on a trans city
> sprint during rush hour and ended up playing chicken in the yellow
> lane (this is the fifth lane on a two lane road, which is to say it is
> the little bit of space left in between opposing directions of
> traffic, on a road that alread has to many people and cars.) Mom,
> don't worry I was wearing my helmet...:). And Arthur thanks for making
> sure I had good brakes and a good bike.
>
> Two weeks ago I rubbed the toe of the biggest buhda in the world and
> meet two kids from virginia, one of whom had hiked the Y in Provo.
>
> Last Monday, Luke and I sprinted 38 kilometers up a mountain trail to
> look at a famous bhudist monestary only to find that you could drive
> up to kilometer 32 then take a tram up to kilometer 37.5
>
> Wednesday tried to call the english service line to change my flight
> back to the states, waited for 5 minutes twice, called the chinese
> line and got immediate service... (I will be back in the states July
> 23rd,)
>
> Thursday hung out with the coach or the hearing impaired basketball
> team at Sichuan's school for the Deaf and Blind, he told me that there
> is a need for research in disability sports medicine.
>
> Yesterday went to see some sichuanese opera variety show in the 顺兴
> 老茶馆
> and saw face changing.
>
> Today ate some really good pita bread at a chinese turkish restraunt
>
> I was just thinking about life and how good it is. A lot of times my
> coworkers tell me how jealus they are that I get to go out and travel
> and it is true I have been given tons of opportunities. One of the
> biggest things that I have realized watching people while living and
> traveling in China is that everyone can be happy, not all day and not
> every day, but we can be happy. Even though many of the people I meet
> here seem to be jealus of the american lifestyle I watch them and see
> people smiling in so many different circumstances. The doctors I work
> with work a ton and are tired but they laugh and tease each other and
> go out to eat hot pot and life is good. The other day I chatted with a
> construction worker on his way home from work while I was biking and
> he was on his dianping che, he was smiling. On my way home from work
> one day, I saw to day laborers racing of curbs, laughing as they road
> home. For each of us life is hard, but it feels good. Sometimes it
> hurts like your lungs as you ride up a steep hill, and sometimes it
> tickles like the wind as you ride down through a meadow.
>
> I am grateful for the added blessing of knowing, throught the gospel
> of Jesus Christ, why we ride up hill!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> arthur@cxmagazine.com
> 801.472.0827
> Cyclocross Magazine
> http://cxmagazine.com
> Join the CX community:
> http://cowbell.cxmagazine.com

Vegitable Miracle

2009-07-06T19:08:00.001-07:00

Jessica was out with the sisters learning about the birds and the bees
in the context of the gender of Kim and Clay's baby bump... Which is
a... You'll have to check their blog. It was pretty cool to share in
the excitement over the phone while they watched sonagram reruns. For
dinner I had a garden burger under a bed of beet greens (from craig's
garden) and onions which I sauteed together with apple cider vineger
garlic and salt topped with tomatoes. Great. Jessica coached.

Lance in third!!!

2009-07-06T09:37:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's sideways - holy cow what a finale!!

Good news from china!

2009-07-03T12:16:00.001-07:00

Here's an exciting excerpt from the nyt on wind power growth in China. The point is that if we want to we can change our energy grid or anything else we just need to develop the political will.

In March of last year, as power companies began accelerating construction of wind turbines, the government issued a forecast that 10,000 megawatts would actually be installed by the end of next year. And now, just 15 months later, with construction of coal-fired plants having slowed to one a week and still falling, it appears that China will have 30,000 megawatts of wind energy by the end of next year - which was previously the target for 2020, Mr. Li said.

Sent from my iPhone

Emancipation proclamation

2009-07-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

In the shower this morning I was thinking about the eggs that I used
last night, and how much they cost. They were locally grown and cage
free. I thought man that's alot of money that we can use for other
stuff.

But I stopped and realized that my all- American deal addiction was
pushing me to buy stuff that sucks. That's over. We're going to buy
quality not volume. Quality is harder because we don't know enough
about our food as a culture to judge it by any thing other than size
Sent from my iPhone

Pretty good thanks

2009-07-02T21:59:00.001-07:00

A bumper sticker on the way to a meeting said "how's that hope and
change treating you?" i didn't like it's tone. I think it was being a
little patronizing. I'm glad I didn't get to talk to the guy in the
car. I would have felt compelled to point out that his obesity is
pushing up my health insurance premiums and that his car that he is
driving by himself is polluting the air I depend on when I ride my
bike to work where I try to protect his state from nuclear and toxic
waste because he votes for people based on party rather than policy.
But that conversation would have been more of a rant and would have
obscured how I really feel.

I feel more peaceful now that I'm pretty sure that our president isn't
going to start any new wars, believes in god and science, realizes
that god was as serious about our stewardship of the earth as he was
about us reproducing when he was handing out jobs as we were leaving
Eden.

Is it everything I'd hoped well actually yeah. I'm lucky because I had
pretty realistic expectations of our political system and Its ability
to cope with change and hope.

So how's that change treating me? Great never better in fact.

Sent from my iPhone

On Iran

2009-07-02T07:51:00.001-07:00

An invitation from move on dot org you may not agree with all of their progressive politics but it's hard to side with the Iranian gov at this point. This is way worse the bush stealing a close election:

The situation in Iran is getting worse, with the regime using
escalating violence against protesters. The regime needs to know that
the world is watching and expects it to respect the protesters' human
rights.

That's why I signed a petition standing with the protesters in Iran
and with people all over the world in opposing the crackdown and
pressuring the countries with the most influence over Iran to get
involved. Can you join me in signing?

http://civ.moveon.org/irancrackdown/?r_by=16437-9490656-dwmB6ux&rc=confemail

Thanks!

"Save Rock Canyon"

2009-07-02T07:45:00.001-07:00

Here's an excerpt from an email I got from the save rock canyon folks. It's good news and it illustrates some of the difficulties of grass roots organizing. It's like starting a cooking fire in a dry pine forest. Easy to start and hard to control.
Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

THE NEWS YOU ALL WANTED TO HEAR!

The focus weve all been working on is to "Save the canyon."That focus
is now going to be "preserve the canyon."

A meeting was held in recent weeks by key officials concerning the
issue.The resolve out of this meeting was that Rock Canyon will not be
mined.Two major things are in the works – private negotiations with
the mining company and a court case regarding ownership of the mining
claim. Either one of these may result in a resolution of the
conflict.

Grassroots awareness continues to be very important. We would like to
encourage people to get onto the
http://www.facebook.com/l/;PreserveRockCanyon.com website and learn
the facts of the issue still. Also, take the Rock Canyon Usage Survey
available on that site. The survey will be a valuable tool to
document usage and notify people if other attempts to resolve the
conflict are not successful.

Getting bloggers and Facebookers to LINK to the
http://www.facebook.com/l/;PreserveRockCanyon.com website will help
get surveys completed and collect email addresses for needs down the
road. It will also provide a way for the public to get access to the
history, mining permits, and what issues to address when writing a
letter.

SO WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP

Currently, information about the conflict is being distributed from a
booth at the Provo Farmers' Market and through "pass-along cards"
given to people using the canyon.

If there's breaking news, it will be placed on both the Facebook site
(Save Rock Canyon) and the website.

Recently a few other grass roots organizations have sprouted in the
canyon issue.The Rock Canyon
http://www.facebook.com/l/;Alliance,PreserveRockCanyon.com,
"Save Rock Canyon" on facebook.com <http://facebook.com> are the main
voices in this issue.If an event is planned up the canyon,we will
notify you through here.If it wasn't sent to you through a message on
here from the group,we have no part in it.We will not support any bad
publicity in the cause of this canyon.

A rumored event on July 5th has sprouted.WE ARE NOT INVOLVED.there
seems to be some bad press concerning the nature of the event planners
and when more information arises,we plan to contact them so they might
be updated as to what is happening now."Save Rock Canyon" is not the
war cry that needs to be spread now.Weve all worked hard on this
issue.and we need to maintain a positive direction.Were doing what we
set out to do so let's continue to work hard on this!

Sorry for the long quote. I think this is an important issue. I think it's interesting that John valentine Utah senator and "key official" mentioned above is possibly showing an environmental streak. Hopefully he can come to yearns with this. Before we build a bridge accross Utah lake.

America is not the great Satan!

2009-07-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Dreams of winter

2009-06-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

After a week almost exclusively indoors this catalog shows up and
reminds me that it's time to change my winter ways. It's been two
winters since Jessica and I rode more than ten days. We've decided
that we are done with lift serviced terrain and ready for the big

NYTimes.com: The Green Revolution(s)

2009-06-24T08:44:00.001-07:00

This page was sent to you by: arthur@healutah.org

OPINION | June 24, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist: The Green Revolution(s)
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Iranian reformers don't need praise. They need the United States to end its dependency on the oil that finances Iran's Islamic dictatorship.

1. Well: How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains
2. Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears
3. Well: Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?
4. Despite Recession, High Demand for Skilled Labor
5. Refreshing by Definition

» Go to Complete List

500 Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. This is not a love story. This is a story about love.
Watch the new trailer!
Click here to view trailer



Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company \| Privacy Policy

Looking for food in tacoma park

2009-06-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Sleep

2009-06-16T21:52:00.001-07:00

Last train to downtown Beck on the iPod

2009-06-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Gear for a mostly indoor odessy

2009-06-16T20:46:00.001-07:00

DC

2009-06-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

On the ground in the metro station
Ps trax is not urban

Atlanta

2009-06-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Smog on the way to a confernce on energy policy

2009-06-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

More information

2009-06-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

So the conversation I overheard may have some more substance. More
info to come.

Sent from my iPhone

Death by Taxes: Obama and Corporate America

2009-06-13T17:36:00.001-07:00

Political debate is kind of like the twilight zone.

Here's my latest moment:
-an overheard conversation "If Obama's corporate tax plan goes through all our jobs are going to India." Being the trusting sort of guy that I am I wanted to know what they were talking about so I looked up some articles on the tax plan. I found a pdf from barackobamam.com which of course makes it look really good, and I like what it says, its from the campaign so promise stigma aside it is old and "pre-crisis." But then I came accross the following,
-Newspaper headline "Obama’s Plan on Corporate Taxes Unnerves the Indian Outsourcing Industry"

Wait... What?

I proceeded to read arguments from India about how unfair and anti-trade the plan is! while I think both are probably exagerating I did turn up this comment from the article

"According to international tax experts, companies do not move jobs to India because the tax rate is lower; they do it because labor costs less."

Or tax rates are not high enough for changes in them to shift labor demand back to the US in a meaningful way. That's too bad because that seems like it was the intent of Obama's corporate tax policy, but it also makes the part of this debate that I overheard even more curious.

Then I found this article over at the Wall Street Journal which doesn't have anything to do with this converstation other than that it was about taxes. It rails on Obama's tax plan for being "welfare" because it has fully refundable tax credits. Fantastic! that means that my taxes that I'm paying now are going to some poor college coulple like jess and me last year so that they don't have to take out student loans.

"But most of the people getting these tax credits are just the 'poor by sloth' demographic that I see laying around in parks." maybe some but the best data i've seen on American Poverty shows that most poor are mobile. Over 75% of people who are "low income" now won't be by the end of the decade, because they'll graduate from college and start making money!! or they'll climb the ladder where they are and start paying taxes. So playing fast and loose with these numbers I'm going to brazenly assert that 75% of the taxes that he's mad about go to people who will be less in debt for schoo/training because of the credits.

Now lets talk about the people who are trapped in a "cycle of poverty."

In summary: If you hate Obama then Yes he is trying to destroy your life... if you don't hate him then may it's not so bad... unless you are in Bangalore... then it really seems like you have some thing to share about hate (although I think Barry doesn't really seem like a hater).

Something cool in Mormon land

2009-06-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

We have an Apostle who is a convert and who was not born in America, and as of last conference there is a seventy from Kenya! It's exciting to see the Church leadership reflect the growth of its membership.

712

2009-06-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

The link

http://www.pizzeria712.blogspot.com/

and a little mouthwateringness

Comments

2009-06-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'm ecstatic!

Somebody I don't know read my blog, and Brad is still reading my blog.

Brad suggested I give a shout out / patronage to Pizzeria 712 in Orem Utah (address 712 state st in orem)

Local ingredients, skillful preparation, friends of the shop I work at sometimes!! The future of food that we pay others to prepare is brighter because they exist. Then future of your evening is brighter because you are going there... if you are going there.

My prayer for Zion

2009-06-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

may this never be paved

Putting life back together

2009-06-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

After a week in the trenches

2009-06-12T13:03:00.001-07:00

2009-06-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

A view

2009-06-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Seeing this makes your commute not so everyday

Busten up the gumbo

2009-06-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

Wow local responsibly grown and rippen the only thing flat is the
breah but never the flavor

A little lunch and organizing

2009-06-12T12:50:00.001-07:00

The food was good but nothing compaired to the stuff in the next post

NYTimes.com: This Time, We Won't Scare

2009-06-12T09:44:00.001-07:00

OPINION | June 11, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist: This Time, We Won't Scare
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
What one woman's medical experience in Canada can teach the United States about health care reform.

NYTimes.com: The Big Hate

2009-06-12T09:40:00.001-07:00

This page was sent to you by: arthur@healutah.org

OPINION | June 12, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist: The Big Hate
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The rise of right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

That’s Gotta Hurt

2009-06-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Sent to you via Google Reader

That's Gotta Hurt

As you might have noticed it's been a slow week at CYCLING TIPS since I haven't been out riding much. The quality of the content I produce seems to be directly proportional to the amount I ride. Therefore I figure it's time to resort to cheap laughs and write a post about a few not so famous cycling crashes. You should be ashamed at yourself for laughing at some of these!

Revolution 2, 2007:I was there for this one and it was incredible. Luckily no one was hurt.

Kui Song of the China Merida team loses control as he takes a bidon from his team car during Stage 6 of Tour of Quinghai Lake in 2006. Song wasn't seriously injured, however he did retire from the race. Photo: Mark Gunter

A car collides into cyclists participating in a race in Mexico's northern border city of Matamoros, Sunday June 1, 2008. One person was killed and 14 injured when a driver slammed into a bicycle race.

You don't need to feel guilty for laughing at these…

...

Sent from my iPhone

2009-06-11T07:56:00.001-07:00

2009-06-11T07:55:00.001-07:00

2009-06-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

2009-06-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

2009-06-10T16:52:00.001-07:00

2009-06-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

NYTimes.com: Ballots Over Bullets

2009-06-10T09:30:00.001-07:00

OPINION | June 10, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist: Ballots Over Bullets
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Lebanon's government is far from being stable. Nevertheless, on election day, the Lebanese mainstream, armed only with ballots, not bullets, won.

Dv pre ride

2009-06-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

Deer Valley

2009-06-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Is for skiiers but there are no skiiers here

X men and Guantanimo Bay

2009-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Remember that last scene from the first X men movie? "Charles, you
can't keep me in this plastic prison forever," says the convicted
terrorist Magnito.

Even as he spoke you'll remember that other mutants continued to carry
the torch.

What we need to understand is that the torch is the issue not the
individual. We can kill the terrorists or just inter them but that
will not change the culture of discontent that breeds violence.
Sent from my iPhone

Obama on Islam

2009-06-04T17:13:00.001-07:00

Good speech. Hopefully we can transition away from the thought process
that let's us think we can be at war with whole ways of life. "We are
not nor have we ever been at war with Islam."

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More Spring Skiing: Pedal Powered

2009-06-04T08:03:00.001-07:00

Sent to you via Google Reader

More Spring Skiing: Pedal Powered

This post, written by Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson of Ember Phototography and first appeared on The Karhu Where Will You Ski Today site.

Pedal Powered Skiing

Earlier this spring, with our options for skiing out the back door melting away, we loaded our skis, poles, day packs and boots into our bike trailers. About an hour later, we'd be stashing our bikes in the woods and skinning toward the base of our local Mad River Glen ski area. We'd spend several hours skiing a mix of lift-served and sidecountry terrain, catch up with a few friends, and when the shadows chased us off the mountain, we'd enjoy a bonus off-piste ski descent to our bikes in the woods.

Back on the bikes, our soon-to-be-cycling-season legs appreciated the early spring warm up. We'd spot crocuses in the valley blooming along the edge of snow patches, hear our first peepers of the season and watch the sun dip behind the Green Mountain Divide along the final uphill approach to our home. More than anything, it just felt good to spend the afternoon out skiing in the big mountains, without having to drive.

On the bikes, the trip (60-70 minutes) takes approx. 45 minutes longer than it does by car (20 minutes)… no big deal. We once pulled off a three-day pedal-powered ski trip in the Rockies, biking a little, skiing a lot. Now, with gas prices climbing (finally!), glaciers melting (not cool) and fossil fuel combustion causing all sorts of global problems (oil spills, air/water pollution, war), it's time for something different…

Imagine… 2 weeks, countless peaks and a great variety of ski descents, pedaling bikes primarily to move to new trailheads and terrain every so often, or to roll into town for some supplies or a lil' culture. A SKI trip, not a bike trip… starting and ending right here at our home in Vermont. It would be an epic, human-powered skiing adventure.

For now, here are a few images - from a...

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Innovation through regulation

2009-06-03T16:32:00.001-07:00

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Innovation through regulation

Why America's corporate innovation beats Japan's

THE most important factor that led to America's stunning success in information technology was not the free market but government regulation. Federal trustbusters made AT&T lease its lines to others and eventually broke up the giant telephone company. Later they forced IBM to separate its hardware and software businesses. These actions opened the door to competition and lower prices. More important, they changed the industry's structure, replacing monoliths with smaller, specialised companies which have to work with others with complementary skills. The result has been tremendous innovation.

That good regulation is more important than simply freeing markets in technological industries is one of the main ideas in a new book* by Peter Cowhey of the University of California, San Diego (who recently joined the Obama administration) and Jonathan Aronson of the University of Southern California. Counterintuitively, fragmenting these industries helped common standards to emerge, they say. Such standards allowed businesses to become "modularised" so that, for instance, Microsoft's operating system and Novell's applications run on IBM's hardware while an AT&T internet connection can be used to access Google's search engine. ...

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One-Legged Fun Hog

2009-06-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe gradschool isn't the only post injury option

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One-Legged Fun Hog

I'm not a first ascent guy.

I've done first free ascents, second ascents, but firsts are just not my thing. I don't have a problem with them, some of my best friends love to do them, and I love to go check them out after, just not first.

But as I ride up the hill near my house, past a very large block, I feel the tug.

It's like it has a magnet on it. I stop and look, gawk is more the word. I can see the line, a blind man could, an overhanging arête that scrapes the sky open and is calling my name.

I've ignored this for over a year, like I said, I'm not a first ascent guy.

But finally, Friday, I give in.

I walk over and this time I'm doing more then looking. I look at the line, it looks clean and tight. Not a lot of loose stuff, but I can't see the top out, 15 feet above me. I just figure I'll cross that bridge if I get to it.

I sit in the landing zone as I bolt on my climbing foot, and look for anything that can mess me up if I come off.

Then I shoe up, chalk, and set off into the unknown. The first moves are easy so I get off the ground fast.

About halfway, it really steepens and I start to trust all the holds as I approach the lip. It is much more rounded then I thought, and as this is my warm up, I'm pumped already. The good news is it's steep enough that if I come off, I should fall straight, the bad news is, I really don't want to come off.

It hurts too much to land with a body like mine.

A hidden crimp gives me the key to the top out, and with a high left foot, I pull over the top.

The problem is not hard, most likely V2 or so, but for me, its fun.

I look around the valley, there must be 25 or 30 blocks strewn up the hillside.

All unclimbed, all waiting for the right hands to find them.

It's a good thing I'm not a first ascent guy.

Craig DeMartino is one of Cloudveil's Inspired Mountain Ambassadors.

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The wrong debate

2009-06-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Kimball Rassmussen (I don't know how many s's he requires), the head
of one of Utah's power companies and I think father of one of my
friends in high school - I'm pretty sure that I've been to thus guy's
house - gave presentation disproving global warming. As far as I know
his only qualification is that he is in the power industry and has a
large incentive to make facts go his way.

As far a serious science I haven't seen anything credibly questioning
global warming, in the short term, however I don't think that climate
change is our most urgent foe. Air pollution kills people(see the
article I just shared, if it worked.)
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They who wait

2009-06-01T20:59:00.001-07:00

The rising generation is in danger of loosing an essential skill:
patience. When I grew up we had I wait through commercials to see how
each episode of our favorite educational programming would end. Today
our youth are deprived of this training as they tevo or buy on DVD
their instant gratification forgoing the essential values based
training of traditional TV.

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A recession breathes life

2009-06-01T20:01:00.001-07:00

Global warming it's hard to argue against babies... We're prolife right... or is Utah prochoice when it's pollution that's killing kids and prolife when it's sinners. Maybe that compairison was a little out of line, but there are a few kids who missed being born that don't think so.

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A recession breathes life

Less smog equals more toddlers

WHEN glam rockers T-Rex released the song "Children of the Revolution" in 1972, the revolution they had in mind was not America's Clean Air Act. But two economists later calculated that about 1,300 extra one-year-old Americans were trying to stand up and walk at the end of that year. These babes survived because the 1970 law led them (and their mothers) to breathe in fewer sooty particles than they otherwise would have.

The analysis by Michael Greenstone, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Kenneth Chay, who is now at Brown University, in Rhode Island, was based on their previous study of air pollution and infant mortality during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s. After an all-time peak in the number of American manufacturing jobs in 1979, the "total suspended particulates" count fell dramatically in the subsequent two years. Because it dropped more precipitously in some parts of America than in others, Dr Greenstone and Dr Chay were able to show that it caused infant survival to improve. They were then able to identify how many lives had been saved by the Clean Air Act. ...

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Irony?

2009-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Cruel irony or cruel reality...

Get the incentives right

2009-06-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Carbon tax and not cap and trade! I guess the kids that I taught in
econ 110 were smarter than most of the united states. I blame gun and
border patrol... Because they had nothing to do with it.

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Animal Vegitable Miracle

2009-06-01T06:25:00.001-07:00

Part of committed efforts at sustainable living always seems to be
rooted in a leftist distrust of big business. Sustainable farming is
no exception. Mega farms lower biodiversity and do a ton of other
compleatly evil things that I won't go into here. Let's just say that
if chickens have souls (and Joseph smith seemed to think that they do)
then corporate farmers are going to have some akward moments in the
afterlife.

But whether you think useing locally grown food is moral or not, it is
a matter of national security. Corporate farming requires large
amounts of petrolium based fertilizer and huge amounts of fuel for
processing and transportation. These requirements tie food prices to
oil prices. Buying locally from farmers commuted to sustainability
minemizes the role of oil in our food suppy making our economy less
sensitive to oil prices. Sorry Texas maybe someday we'll need you less.
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The Sundance Spin

2009-05-31T10:43:00.001-07:00

I upgraded to expert. They are fast! I don't think there's any danger
of me fineshing on the front any time soon.

My goal was to go as hard as I could to see if I could hang with the
first accelleration. I felt good for seventyfive percent of the climb
bit then I blew up struggled to get to the end of the race without
just riding home and going to sleep. I thought I was going to get
lapped but I ended up last by ten minutes and a half hour
Out of first.

It was probably the hardest day Ive had on the bike.

The only way I'm going to get faster is by chasing the fast people.
And the expert category is fast.

Hopefully we'll have a new bike for Jessica by the next race at deer
valley in two weeks. And maybe I'll close the gap to last place.

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The view from our office

2009-05-28T11:37:00.001-07:00

Can't compeate with this guys office

Draper race tomorrow?

2009-05-25T22:22:00.001-07:00

My guess is no it's been raining like crazy for two days

I rode today and almost lost my deraillieur to the mud.

I went out just planning on spinning out my legs because they were
feeling heavy bbut ran into chuck and cassidy

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Energy policy

2009-05-23T11:24:00.001-07:00

The republican energy policy speech is trobling. The picture they
present of energy policy is disengenious at best. First I was mad.
Then I thought that it's people like this that give me a job. Then I
was mad again because I'd rather be working at a bike shop.

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My desk

2009-05-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

At heal Utah before it was invaded by people desirus to move their
clutter into my space

Notes on the news

2009-05-20T07:24:00.001-07:00

The insurance industry is so concentrated that the Obama plan will
actually create more competition and a more free market in the
insurance industry. This is good if you are a democrat because it's a
time when having a bleeding heart actually makes economic sense. It's
good if you are into free markets as well... Which I think republicans
are. At least I was when I was.

Paul Volkler on Obama's recovery committie. Not an inexperianced
choice, he helped turn a downturn into a rock star recession,
hopefully he realizes that he knows what not to do.

When are we going to call Stiglitz.

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Office

2009-05-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

One hour per day!

Bikes waiting to move in

2009-05-17T22:22:00.001-07:00

A A movers

2009-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Paragon time

2009-05-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

Concert was awesome look up the band at shake your peace .com great
music message and show I got to pedal for most of the set loved it

After the show we saw the newly minted fairchilds reminded me how
lucky I am to be hooked up with jess for a good long time!

Sister kim called during the show in need of some emergency sister
time so I'm in the shop for some much over due paragon time

Pedal power

2009-05-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

A bike commuter needs a new chain

2009-05-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Something for the almost graduated

2009-04-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

I want to grow up to be like Jens!

also:

Help out CX Mag!
if you like 'cross and appreciate what Cyclocross Magazine is doing (year-round news, live coverage, in-depth, content-rich print mag, sponsoring races, online community) then you can help out by voting for them here

jack

2009-04-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

so i'm not a huge fan of jack johnson... not because I don't like his sound. it's just that all of his songs sound the same and i'm tired of that song.

but i'm rocking a little pandora action at the moment and i'm listening to holes in heaven by jack himself and ... welll I like it!

Wait what?

2009-04-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

crazy news for crossers every where an olympics? Trebon to a new team? Sidi saddles? gotta know? follow the link

wow

2009-04-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

http://velonews.com/photo/90093

click through for some amazement

A little weekend hike

2009-03-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Jessica and I rocked up a little canyon in sandy on the way to sunday dinner

Great sunday walk! It was cool to see lots of families in the lower canyon, but it was even cooler to be in the upper canyon.

some of the rock in the background here looks to contain several pitches of climbable wonder!

What's Dry?

2009-03-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know what's rideable other than the race course?

Old Peublo: Pictures etc

2009-03-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Amazing weather!

I got to do the first lap - it was a blast - we started out with a run, which went very well. I passed the venerable Tinker Juarez near the end of the run and found myself trying to hang with the pros.

Before the ran started I worked my way up to the front of the group lining up for the start because I knew that my run would be pretty strong. I ended up hanging around with Nails, the Viking... and then this really really really tall dude walked up. It was Ryan TRebon the reigning cyclocross national champion!! We chatted for a little bit. Then some crazy lady let off a shotgun and we started rocking. I finished the lap a few minutes behind mark!

I'm moderately tall and moderately skinny. As you can see Ryan Trebon is VERY TALL and VERY SKINNY.

Other famous person sightings included Tinker, Barry Wicks, and Katie Compton.

Jessica threw down some very hot laps as well as her first night lap. Additionally the laps she did totaled more miles than she's ever done on a bike!

Kelly, Aaron, and Shae put in some great laps as well (I was the only person who missed a start). And we did well enough to win by an HOUR!!

The amount of gear we crammed into the suburban was almost as cool as the snow storms that made us pull three all-nighters for the weekend.

Big thanks to Jen and Mike for taking care of us, to Aaron for the company, therapy, and for being the anchor leg of our little driving relay, and to the whole racer's cycle service camp for making the race amazing.

I still have cholla in my hands feet and butt.

Going Tubeless Part III

2009-03-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

Going Tubeless Part III

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UCI Bans Tubeless Tires and Zertz Inserts, Considers Banning Barriers

2009-03-11T08:02:00.001-07:00

UCI Bans Tubeless Tires and Zertz Inserts, Considers Banning Barriers

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This isn't that interesting to most of the public, though I am opposed to all of the changes. The real reason I'm posting this is for this quote from Sven Nys (I know people always say so-and-so is the Lance Armstrong of such-and-such so I'm sorry but in my opinion if Cyclocross had a Lance Armstrong that wasn't the real Lance Armstrong it would be Sven Nys), which I think that even the 'lay' reader can appreciate:

Sven Nys, who famously hops many 40-cm barriers, sees the rule as an attempt to break his dominance. Nys laments the change, saying “The UCI thinks my victories are bad for the sport, and thinks banning barriers will stop my wins. Tell the 10,000 spectators that scream in ecstasy each time I hope the planks that barriers are bad for the sport!”

Going Tubeless in Cyclocross - Part II

2009-03-11T07:41:00.001-07:00

Going Tubeless in Cyclocross - Part II

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Going Tubeless in Cyclocross - Part I

2009-03-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

Going Tubeless in Cyclocross - Part I

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surf on over

2009-03-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hey there's a new post authored by me on the bike to work blog

unfortunately its not as funny as the last one

I've got a pretty funny story... but i'm not sure who I should share it with even though really want to post it here... but I'm not sure I want everyone to know that i'm insane

2009 Races

2009-03-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

I've decided what and when I'm going to race!
Endurance Races:
12 Hours of Sundance: September 13th
Perfect 10: if they have it.
Leadville - The plan is to go for support and get some high altitude riding in
24Hours of Moab ... maybe
24 Hours in Old Pueblo For sure
Cross Country: I'm making some pretty aggressive goals with this part of the season
Intermountain Cup: I'm going to race expert for this!!
25 May: Stan Crane Memorial Draper:
30 May: Sundance Spin:
State Championship:
Sundance Race Series: I'm going to use these races as training for cross (when I want to dominate) so I'm going to race pro - my only goal is to hang the winning will come but not soon.
6-May Soldier Hollow Mountain Biathlon
13-May Soldier Hollow Soldier Hollow ICUP Course Pre-Race 3
20-May Sundance Regular Race and Kids Race
27-May Sundance Sundance ICUP Course Pre-Race
3-Jun Soldier Hollow Mountain Biathlon and Kids Race
10-Jun Sundance Regular Race
17-Jun Soldier Hollow Regular Race
24-Jun Sundance Regular Race and Kids Race
1-Jul Soldier Hollow Mountain Biathlon
8-Jul Sundance Regular Race
15-Jul Soldier Hollow Regular Race
22-Jul Sundance Regular Race
29-Jul Soldier Hollow Mountain Biathlon
5-Aug Sundance Regular Race
12-Aug Soldier Hollow Regular Race Race-Double Points)
19-Aug Sundance Regular Race - Season Finale DrawingSingle Speed State Championship: September 6th
Cyclocross: (I plan on racing B and SS so that I can really improve)
Saturday, October 3
Saturday, October 10
Sunday, October 11
Saturday, October 17
Saturday, October 24
Saturday, October 31 - Halloween Cross!
Saturday, November 7
Saturday, November 21
Sunday, November 22
Saturday, November 28
Saturday, December 5
Saturday, December 19

Old Pueblo

2009-02-11T17:17:00.001-08:00

Jess and I are finally going to get some good mile in on our mountain bikes!
Tomorrow at four we're rolling to the 24 hours of old pueblo.

A big crew from the shop is going down, and we've been fighting off colds and things are looking pretty good.

Even though school has been crazy we've been getting out and are in better shape than we've ever been at this time of year.

We're stoked to see how our training has been and also to see Jen mike and tanner in Tucson.

Speed Over Style: Bart Wellens Barrier Photo Sequence

2009-01-20T05:17:00.001-08:00

Speed Over Style: Bart Wellens Barrier Photo Sequence

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