Snowbasin at sunrise

Paige and I have discovered a new playtime activity: skinning up Snowbasin before they open. You are allowed to do this since it is Forest Service land; you only need to be off the mountain before they start the lifts at 9am. However it's not recommended on powder days when they are doing avy control. But, on most days you get to access the creamy corduroy goodness on wide open trails before it gets too crowded and skied out. This past Saturday we went up with Seth Wallace and it was a beautiful morning.





It's a great way to start the day!

Cali

We spent some time with Chris' brother, Joe, his wife, Andrea, and their 4 month old, Stoddard. It was really nice spending the day in the sun at the beach when it was snowing back home. We were there over Halloween so we had round two of the pumpkin carving.

The other half.

Chris and I finally went to Michigan to meet his sister Barbie her husband John and thier family - a.k.a the Other Half. I say this because they have six kids with one more on the way, which doubles the nieces and nephews from the rest of the siblings.

We had a great time with everyone carving pumpkins and getting to know everyone. From the odlest to youngest is Holly, Jack, Michael, Sally, Markee and Jimmy.

Is it strange that I like to run in cemeteries?

Look at these pictures from a cemetery in AnnArbor Michigan, can you blame me? If you can handle the eeriness give it a try - it's peaceful, very few cars, and only the occasional person. Is it creepy that the squirrels in this cemetery are the biggest and fattest squirrels I have ever seen.

Someone spilled the powdered sugar

No, not powdered sugar over our entire backyard...SNOW! We couldn't believe that the white stuff hit so early.

Where to begin...

We have finished off the summer in typical "Bell" style doing races and hanging on to the good weather as long as it will last. Here is a roll - not in any particular order - of some of our final races and activities (and yes, I know they all look the same). Go Roosters!


SNOWBASIN 50K


SNOWBASIN WEDNESDAY RACE


THE SPUDMAN





BEAR LAKE CLASSIC TRIATHLON






All I have to say is why doesn't Chris do this for me?

XTERRA





POWDER MOUNTAIN HILL CLIMB

The Most Brutal Race EVER (Leadville 100)

Ben Wallace, Paige's uncle Steve Hunt, and I naively signed up for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and actually were picked in the lottery to participate. Mike Scheuller was also on the team but we unfortunately did not get any pictures of him.

On our way to Leadville we had Steve and Ben's bikes loaded on the rear bike rack and when we stopped for lunch we discovered that Steve's bike was hanging precariously off the back, only attached to the rack with 2 bungee cords:

Gotta love the bungee cords. Otherwise Steve would have either not ridden or would have had a new bike just for the race. He was actually hoping that the bike would fall off so he would have an excuse to get that new carbon-fiber, full suspension 29'er. Alas, we discovered the problem and securely fashioned it back to the rack, and it survived the rest of the trip (and the race).

On our way we drove over Independence Pass east of Aspen; it tops out at over 12,000 feet.


Here we are at the top of the pass:


We stayed at a former brothel in Twin Lakes, a beautiful little hamlet on the other side of Independence Pass from Aspen. Such gorgeous surroundings. Check it out:





Registering for the race:


We had to get there early to get our bikes in line for the start:





Some pics before the start:




We had some Lance sightings as well:





While waiting for us to get to the feed zone Paige took some stunning pictures of rainbows:


Some pictures during the race:




Ben wins the award for best facial expressions:




Some pictures of the finish:





If you finish the race under 12 hours, you get a hoodie with your name and finishing time on it and also a silver belt buckle. We all met our overall goal of finishing under 12 and here we are with our just rewards:

Paige was a rock star one-woman support crew, supporting all 3 of us and taking all these great pictures. It was one long-a## day for her and we appreciated it so much. She was especially great at the finish when we were all dazed and hypoxic and worthless.


It was such an ridiculously difficult race and everyone we talked to said it was the hardest thing any of us had ever done. And many thanks again to my wonderful wife for all her hard work and patience not only for supporting us during the race but also for all the time i spent away training for it. You rock!!