It's looking a bit like Christmas

• If finally snowed in Jackson. Quite a lot actually. 18 inches this morning and there looks to be more on the way. I've been working a bunch and the skiing is still abysmal so you'll have to wait awhile for reports. I did nordic ski up at Targhee on Friday and had a jolly time. If you have not skate skied at -20 with a poorly groomed track at 8000ft you haven't really lived. I made it 8k then though my lungs were going to prolapse out my mouth. Oscar 50K is going to be a real challenge if I keep training as little as I've been. Tourist are starting to move in and it looks to be a busy season. I just hope the folks from Jersey stay out east, they tend to be quite rude. No offense if you're from jersey, I'd be mad if I lived there too. That's all for now folks.

Dale

First update in nine months

Dear loyal readers (If I still have any?). It has been awhile since my last update. It seems in the summer there is too much to do and I'm with most of my readers so there is no need to write. I think from here on out I'll keep this a winter blog.

For those new to the blog a quick history lesson on the name "Old Man Coffee Chronicles." During the abnormally rainy month of June 2008 a group of aspiring entrepreneurs started meeting at the break espresso every morning to wait out the rain. As we grew in size we noticed the old men sitting at tables next to us. They would talk about the weather, their wives, and future plans. We found ourselves talking about the same things as the old men sitting around us. Before long we named the morning meetings "Old Man Coffee." "Old Man Coffee Chronicles" is just an online version of "Old Man Coffee" where anyone can talk about the weather, future plans, and noteworthy events of the day. I encourage anyone to send me posts and I will post them. As always, no subject is too crass or offensive for OMCC!

An update on Doug Dale:

As many of you know I left the great community of Missoula last week for my new wintering grounds in Jackson Hole Wyoming. Having spent my last two winters in the mountains of Colorado, Jackson has been quite a change. The first thing I noticed is the bone chilling cold. This place is an ice box! Wild Rockies Landscaping 1 (my 96 powerstroke diesel) has had a tough time adjusting. Every morning her 16 quarts of 15W-40 is frozen in the oil pan and she spits and sputters to life just pissed off as hell. Twice she's left me stranded at the ski area after a long day's work. I wonder if the ol' powerstroke makes it through the winter? Having a real job with real hours has been the second big adjustment. At Wild Rockies my hours fluctuate with the season, but here at the ski shop we rent skis day in and day out, all day long. It's a bit monotonous but once the season picks up I can see it will get quite hectic and should be quite exciting. That's all for now but I'll have much more in the near future.

Doug Dale

Adam hits the stupid button..........and crashes

It's day three of the Doug and Adam ride all of California trip. Turns out I'm in awful shape and it's making Adam kind of grumpy. Adam's mood is directly correlated to his heart rate and apparently I haven't been riding fast enough to get his heart rate up. In his defense I'm riding really slow, almost embarrassingly so.

We're currently squatting at a buddies house in San Luis Obispo, which is a richer warmer version of Missoula that has traded skiing for surfing............this place rocks. Mountain biking along the coast of California has been quite a treat. Santa Cruz offers butter soft single track with large hips and stunts integrated into the trail, while San Luis is more exposed and rocky; think 100 Mt. Jumbo's in every direction, all lush and green, and you'll get the idea.

Today we met with a British fellow who offered to show us some local trail. The top of our first climb left us with two options: 1) Go down the fire road we had just climbed or 2) Blast down some super hair ball rocky single track/erosion path to the fire road below. Of course only a fool would descend the fire road so we pointed the ridgid 29ers down the sketchy path and held on. About half way down I started to lose control and hit a rock all cattywhompis, sending me into the brush. Not two seconds later Adam comes blazing by me, bouncing around like a rag doll. Anyone who knows Adam knows he can climb like a homesick angle. Unfortunately his descending prowess is akin to molasses in the freezer. To say I was surprised would be an understatement and as I watched him get close to the fire road all I could think is either he just got really really good at descending or he's completely out of control. As the last three feet of trail dropped straight vertical to the road it became apparent the latter was true. It's an awful sight to see someone go from 25mph to 0 in two feet, and watching it happen on a road full of football sized boulders only heightened the experience. Adam hit the road with such force that it cracked his helmet in two and made mince meet of his left arm and hip. I'm really surprised he got up and that neither he nor his bike suffered any catastrophic injuries. This is a warning to all of you out there, even the most calculated careful people a.k.a Adam Jensen, can be influenced by the primitive subconscious powers of the stupid button and fling themselves down a rocky slope for no apparent reason. There is no explanation for a man who normally descends in total control to suddenly try some Wade Simmons shit down a trail no ridged bike has any right to be on, let alone at the foolish speeds he was hitting. It just goes to show the stupid things men will do if given a goofy contraption (bike) and a steep hill. Personally, I'm kind of glad he fell because now he's really sore and has something other than my slow ascending to complain about.

Doug Dale

Timmy Tuck Under

Often I hear a term I'm not familier with and have to look it up on Urban Dictionary. I heard this on the streets of Santa Cruz today

Timmy Tuck Under

A recommended way to deal with a NARB (no apparent reason boner) that won't go away. Tuck your hard on up under your belt and tighten down. If you don't have a belt, tighten your draw string. The NARB is most prevelant during a male's middleschool years. DO NOT USE this method if you aren't wearing a shirt......use the larry lash down instead.

Ex. Little Jimmy got a narb in geometry class and had to perform a covert timmy tuck under so his classmates wouldn't see.

West Coast Goofery

I've been completely absent from the blog for no good reason. I take that back, i've been too busy skiing and surfing. Since the last installment of foolishness a lot has happened. Currently we are getting pounded into the ocean floor by waves too gnarly for novice goofs like us to be dicking around on, but oh well. Our accommodations consist of squatting in a friends back yard in Santa Cruz, CA. I picked up a mangy spring break traveler by the name of Ben Ruffatto complete with 20 stitches in his hamstring from a recent fall down some cliffs at bridger bowl. Funny story about those stitches; I had a bad sunburn yesterday and what else does the dingbat do but slap my back as hard as he could. In a rage of furry I retaliated with a roundhouse kick to his leg. He keeled over howling in pain and I realized I nailed him square in the stitches. Five minutes later he realized that if a swift kick in the leg couldn't open up the wound then he must be good to surf. I should start kicking people in their stitches more often.

Current injury report

Matt Johns: Fell biking home drunk from the bars last night decked out in st. patties green. Landed on his shoulder and head and thinks he may have a broken collar bone.
Treatment: Took a bunch of pain killers and tried to surf. Made it worse

Doug Dale: Reinjured a dormant shoulder injury having a snowball fight with some kids at Mt. Rose. A combination of surfing and beach volleyball has exasterbated it to the point where I can't paddle the board very well or spike the volleyball.
Treatment: I'll worry about it when I get back to missoula

Weasel: Sore from being a pussy.
Treatment: Nutting up

Ben Ruffatto: Twenty some stitches from a nasty fall at bridger bowl.
Treatment: Neosporin and a lot of surfing and beach volleyball. Good chance they will open up before the end of the trip

The end of our roadtrip adventure is near and it will be nice to be settled in Missoula for a bit. It looks like matty ice (i think that's his new name) is dominating the TTTT..........what a gnarly human specimen/lady magnet. I hope the team doesn't prematurely ejaculate and burn out by MTB season. We skied squaw last weekend and it was seventy degrees and sunny. The lovely Terry's made the trip from Missoula and we spent half the day skiing sketchy slush and the other half drinking corona's on the patio.......it was really fun.

Other stupid news

Matt Johns got bored one day and built a life sized naked woman out of snow on the porch of the rental property; he continues to be a constant liability.

A bear got into the cab of our truck and rummaged around. The sheriff had to get the shotgun out to scare it away. It didn't do any damage. Matt was headed out the door to beat it with a snow shovel but we warned him against such tom foolery.

Gabe Karenza is with the team and it's just a matter of time before he does something stupid.

I'm meeting up with Adam Jensen next week and he will make me ride five hours a day until I can't turn over one more pedal. He thinks shit like that is fun.

Tore my right binding out of my ski at full speed, still not sure how. Later that night I won a rock paper scissors contest at the bar and won a new snowboard........wtf?

Weasel got his first vericose vein and freaked out. I have some too. We think they're from sitting too much in the truck but really we have no clue. I don't like them one bit.

I could go on and on but I want a nap. I'll have pics soon.

Doug Dale and Crew

A lot of Snoooooooooooooooow

I think this is Eddy's long lost brother. Mick is a true backwoods Vermont dude.

I've been skiing world class powder on the east coast..........wtf? It's been snowing so much I haven't had time to do much else. Wi-Fi is about as common in Vermont as a sunny day in January so I'm having a tough time catching up the blog. I'll be in NYC tomorrow so if I don't get mugged I'll catch everyone up on the foolishness of the last week. Word on the street is Adam Jensen likes a girl in Seattle.

Mad River Glen Video

I'm too beat up and too whooped to finish a mangy review of Mad River Glen but let me tell ya, this place rocks. We got some serious video time on their website. Ryan Frey a.k.a Weasel is in the yellow jacket and white helmet and the one sliding backwards down the ravine, our Vermont buddy Mick is in the blue jacket and I'm in the red jacket making the occasional tele turn. A shout out to Eric, the marketing director at Mad River. He took the whole day off to show us around and did an amazing job. A full review is coming Thursday evening, going into a backcountry cabin so I won't get it out till then. Click on link then choose the video from Feb 17th called Fast and Firm. Enjoy



http://www.madriverglen.com/gallery_public/