It is a very busy time of year for me, and I struggle to keep a place for getting out under the big blue sky to keep my priorities in perspective. Slow is smooth, smooth is efficient, and efficient is fast. Making time to get out into the great wide open spaces keeps the balance that makes all aspects of my world thrive. It all feeds itself. In a busy schedule sometimes you need to be creative to make the time. My pro ski career and vast adventures also require that I am in top physical condition, which doesn't happen without putting in the time. That means finding that time to put in as well. My latest push included some gritty creativity. I had a lot of work to do in the morning on this particular day. However, I had scheduled a rendezvous with Willard Bay in the northern Wasatch at three o'clock in the afternoon so I had to get everything done on time. I was all over the show in south Salt Lake City, but managed to wrap everything up down there in time to sprint north to make it to Willard by three o'clock. Once I arrived, my good friends, Ben Geiger and Rob Harris were right behind me, and it had begun. We were about to make a 24-hour push that would leave me torn up from head to toe.
^After making it to Willard right on time, we were in business. Ben Geiger is in the water, and ready for his first roll in the wake of his big retro beauty, Brown Sugar. The large old boat sits deep in the water and throws up a rather nice wave at roughly eight miles per hour. It is a slow deep wake that rises up out of the lake to give just enough push to surf the wave.
^Ben is making a little cutback in this photo. Wakesurfing is a surprisingly incredible workout in balance and smooth dynamics. Ben makes it look easy, but I can assure you it harder then it appears. It also works me out in a big way. Check out this video I shot from my iPhone of just how easy he makes it look. Looks like a lot of fun too, doesn't it. It is.
^We put the wraps on the surfing session near sunset. After a drink on Ben's front porch I was back home in bed with my wife by eleven o'clock at night. I flopped all around trying to force myself to sleep because I had an early rise the next morning to complete the 24-hour circuit. The same crew had a seven-thirty rendezvous at Rob's house near North Fork Park. We were going to finish off our weary bodies with a mountain bike rip through the park.
^While slightly behind schedule, and a lot more sore from the surfing then I thought I would be, I made it up to North Fork. The good thing about the northern Wasatch is that there is no one else around so it doesn't matter what time you start. We met up at Rob's house and finished our coffee in the morning with Rob and his lovely wife and family. He has a gorgeous home nestled in the woods overlooking the park. We parked at his house, and rode out into the great wide open of North Fork Park.
^We all did get some sleep in between, but it certainly did not feel that way. The climbs were steep, and we were putting the last of ourselves into it. We had a pretty grand ride ahead, and we were determined to finish strong.
^The shady loops at elevation helped keep the temperatures down. That was a blessing. We were all digging deep to find the strength to push through. Our final loop is a rigorous trail that our friend, Paul Wright, had built in the park a few years back. It is a smooth and steep ascent that flows up the hillside very well. Each one of us were laboring through the steep climb, but none of us were willing to get off the saddle and have to report to Paul that we had to jump out of our pedals on his trail.
^We sent this photo to Paul to thank him for the great trail, and probably prove to ourselves the milestone we had put ourselves through as well. The downhill was the icing on the cake. We rallied back down through the park. The downhill had great flow and smooth transitions throughout the finish. Which was nice because I did not have much left in me to be able to rattle through anything loose and rocky. I was starting to loose my legs. The forested terrain offered smooth buffed out ground to wrap up the ride. I have to train hard to make it through all the wild adventures I encounter, and this 24-hour push was no exception. The natural spaces are inspirational, and the laboring efforts are the training I need to keep on top of my game. It was quite the adventure of it's own when I put the whole event all together. It makes it all more fun when the training becomes an adventure all of it's own. A cold beer at Rob's house at about three o'clock completed the 24-hour crush session in proper fashion. I'd like to thank Rob's wife for sacrificing her last three beers in the fridge for us. They were a delicious way to put my body to rest because it was officially toast. Rest and stretching were all that would be on my training schedule for the next couple days. With the timing of the session though I did not really miss a beat in all of my other work. Also the nature of the push replicates my wild winter life at times rather well. Sometimes I have to push through long periods of time with little sleep or rest. I often find myself traveling through the night and pushing a sunrise shoot or rushing around for some sort of nature induced session of trying to get it done while the conditions are lining up. I love every minute of it, and ripping out an epic like this with Ben and Rob is all part of it. I've got to be able to perform, even when I've got nothing left.