These are both interesting and overwhelming…  (Well, the first one is at least.  The second really just entertaining)

This one is true:

This one just for fun:

OK.  Another year of Teva Games is done.  It has been just over a week now and I’m finally starting to feel rested and recovered.  The Ultimate Mountain Challenge kicked my rear again this year but as usual I loved every minute of it.  What an event!  It gets bigger and bigger every year with the addition of some major world class athletes to every field.  The mountain bike race was basically a who’s who of elite mtn bike athletes.  It is a tremendously humbling experience for me to compete alongside of such unbelievable competitors.  The games offer an option of amateur and pro classifications.  Though there is no doubt I am an amateur, I race pro in this event simply be a part of such company.  My 190 lb butt has no chance of keeping up but I love the opportunity.  Here are some shots taken by a friend of mine, Scott Mcclarrinon, be sure to check out his website.  I guess I had better start training for next year…

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First let me apologize for having let my blogging ambitions slide as I got caught up in figuring out the balancing act that is having and supporting a family.  Thanks to my wonderful wife and great kids it has been a joyful process and one I look forward to sharing as our little family progresses through the ups and downs of life.

Alright then.  First off let me say to my dear friends Gina and Ethan that we are all thinking about you and wishing you speedy recoveries.  These two friends were both diagnosed with different forms of cancer recently and have begun treatments to rid their bodies of the terrible disease.  I have written about it before, but if you are looking for a great cancer charity please visit Professional Kayaker and Cosmos Magazine’s “Hottest” Bachelor, Brad Ludden’s charity - First Descents.  It does great things.

We are rapidly coming up on my favorite time of year in the Vail Valley, Summer!  I mark it with the coming of the Teva Mountain Games and my involvement in the grueling Ultimate Mountain Challenge.  The race begins tomorrow with a 3 mile Kayak followed up quickly by a 23 mile mountain bike race.  The next day consists of a horribly steep 10k trail run and a road bike time trial up Vail Pass.  I have done the race every year since its inception and continually wonder why?  The kayak is especially tough as it is not a sport I regularly partake in and thus it scares the crap out of me.  But it is first and out of the way quickly.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes and throw up some pictures if I get any.  My photographer, Trista, will be out of town.

Here are some pics from last year’s mtn. bike race taken by Bo Bridges…

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My second child, Blakesley Grace Sutter, was born on April 3, 2009.  She was just over six pounds heavy and right at 19 inches long.  She is beautiful.

The time at the hospital waiting for Trista to recover and Blakesley to be thoroughly checked out amounted to three days.  It was a blizzard here in Vail but given the circumstances I avoided the urge to take a few runs and instead opted to enjoy some time with my wife and family as we all welcomed the new little bundle into the fold.  During a brief moment of free time I discovered a recent study indicating 90 percent of couples with children admitted that having kids did not make their marriages better or increase their overall happiness?  90 percent?  That sure seems like a lot to me.  I could only think that perhaps most people associated “better” with “easier” in which case I would certainly concur.  A 20 month old son and one week old daughter have certainly not inspired a household of leisure.  But than again neither did marriage.  Trista and I are married because we know that if over the course of our lifetime together we could average out all the good and all the bad that the good would make up the overwhelming majority.  If not by time than certainly by experience.  I think the same holds true for kids.  Anyone who has them knows that the are hard work.  What in life worth a damn isn’t?  But to say that they don’t better your overall experience or happiness is very hard to comprehend.  Have those people not seen their children smile as a result of something they did for them.  Have they not felt the love of teaching and fostering a life?  Do they not see the abundant hope and promise a child possesses?  90 percent?  And if the parents do not feel a benefit from having children than what must the kids think?  How is this affecting their long term views on love and life?  Have we been blind to the results of a life focused solely on economic and social gain?  Perhaps the stimulis package we really need is one that encourages a reinvestment in our future through the acknowledgement of its most valuable resource; our children…

Shane McConkey died yesterday in a Ski-BASE incident in the Italian Dolomites.  He was 39.

Admittedly I am making an assumption here, but I bet the majority of those reading this blog have no idea who Shane McConkey is or what makes him so special.  I myself do not know him personally.  I have never met him nor have I followed especially close his career.  What I do know is reflected in the influence he has had on the mountain culture and the ski and adventure industries.  More importantly, however, what Shane McConkey represented to me was a man whom accepted the risks and the consequences of the choices he made in life.  These days it seems that big rewards are expected while risks are ignored or in the case of big banking, insured.  While bathing in prosperity we are quick to take the credit, but when the system fails, it must be someone else’s fault?  Shane McConkey weighed the risks next to the rewards.  Just as he knew the thrill of success he accepted the ultimate price that thrill could and eventually did cost.  He held himself accountable in life, displaying the courageous characteristic of a sometimes forgotten time.  Shane McConkey will be remembered for many reasons.  For me it won’t be for the effortless skiing I could never emulate or the outrageous stunts I would never attempt.  In my life Shane McConkey will be remembered not for his tremendous strength in sport but rather for his unwavering strength of character.

Shane would do it…

The springlike warm weather has given way to a major winter storm and with it a renewal of interesting calls at Vail Fire. One in particular involved a slippery Interstate 70, the jaws of life and a horse…

It was about 10:30 in the morning when the call came in of a motor vehicle crash on the interstate involving an occupied horse trailer that had reportedly rolled over. As one who often feels more empathy for animals than people, I was immediately concerned and fearful of the worst. The horse had recently been sold to a Mexican Ranch and was in transit from its previous stalls in Rifle, Colorado. Presumably anxious to get through the rapidly declining temperatures of the suddenly hard hitting snow storm and into the more relaxed climate of its new Mexican home, the poor horse’s heart must have sank as it found itself struggling to determine up form down while the tiny, once cozy trailer flipped backwards finally coming to rest pointed straight up towards the mockingly cloudy sky. I peered in to find an obviously shaken and upset animal. As I continued to scan the horse for what I was sure would be a fatal leg injury, it became apparent that somehow this lucky fella had manged to come out relatively unscathed. A happy ending? After a very deliberate and careful extrication using hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roof of the trailer, the horse quietly exited through the make shift opening, stood proud and tall with a look of confusion that seemed to beg as to what the fuss was all about? Truly one of the best patients I have ever dealt with…

For more on the rescue visit the article in the Vail Daily.

Because I actually watched the last hour of the Bachelor last night I thought I would jump into the popular conversation and offer my two cents. Prior to last night I had not watched a Bachelor series since the Bachelorette that I was on seven years ago. Why? I don’t believe the show holds a very high moral standard and quite frankly I don’t enjoy reliving a very stressful and exhausting time in my life. That said, I would not change my experience and find my personal hardships a very small price to pay for the resulting life they afforded me. You see love is not easy to come by. Sometimes it embarrasses you. Sometimes it humbles you. And sometimes, as in Jason’s case, it makes you look like a complete jackass. Jason took part in a show that preys on those of weak spine and spirit. He fell victim to a program of intense emotional overload intended to create a narrow tunnel of vision from which only rash and irresponsible decisions could possibly be made. I have no doubt he made the decision he felt was right when he chose Melissa. I’ll buy his explanation that when the real world with all of its real world influences and realities came back into play he had second thoughts. At some point, however, Jason needed to realize that the re-entry of the real world meant that he needed to resume his role as a real man. If his feeling for Melissa had changed he should have told her. There is absolutely no excuse for the savage treatment Jason laid on Mellisa’s heart. If he truly cared he would have disregarded the request of the show to hold a public break-up. Jason crumbled under the pressure of the production and in the process walked down a path cast with shadows of shame for which he will always be remembered. Jason had to know the consequences of his choices. His cliche laden explanations, though weak and uninspiring, are his attempt to justify a decision he is convinced he made for love. If that is truly the case, can we really blame him? I get emails all the time from people desperate to find love. It seems some people are willing to do most anything for a chance at the queasy stomached emotion. Still, I would like to believe that when it came right down to it, the majority of the broken-hearted would stop short of blatantly and quite publicly torching the feelings of someone they laid claim to caring for simply to further their own desperate quest for love. Love is a powerful force, capable of providing us with both the cause for stupid decisions and the strength to overcome them. For Jason’s sake I hope he found it.

There is a space of about 200 square feet that exists as an extention of the garage in the house which I currenlty live.  If you take out the area designated for the boiler and water heater than it is actually closer to 150 square feet but it is 150 sqaure feet that is all mine.  It is a workshop and a gym, a space that provides a critical habitat for all the things that make me who I am.  Perhaps most importantly, the garage supports the ability to escape for brief moments from an increasingly busy existance to a place of utter simplicity.   Benches and shelves made of raw wood give backing to a network of carefully placed nails upon which any multitude of tools, materials or gear hang.  The very tools which crafted the masterpiece remain housed within its boundaries, each given a special place of honor in which to reside.  The shop is a careful blend of trades.  In the small space exists a relationship between woodworking and bicycle maintainence, ski tuning and CrossFit workouts.  Each craft borrowing from the other in a perfect harmony of tools and gear.  In classic “form follows function” style, the shop’s decoration consists almost entirely of ornaments of use.  Backpacks, rope, snowboards and bikes each demonstating artistic value whether in use or in storage.  A mere closet by most mountain home standards, the garage presents itself to me as a room where creativity becomes craft and stress melts to peace.

Gymnastics day with Max at the Vail Gymnastics Center.  It really just a free for all but a great way for him to hone his foam pit skills!

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little.” — Sydney Smith

Over the past several years living in the Rocky Mountains near Vail, Colorado have given me an appreciation for the mountain culture, the kindness of the local population and the beauty of the natural environment.  It has become a goal of my family’s to support those elements in the way we live our lives and in the support of organizations that hold similar values.  The home that Trista and I are building will be the culmination of our individual investment into our future and the tool to which we support our lifestyle and the health of the planet.  Additionally, we support strongly a local Cancer Charity called First Descents and a National Environmental Education Charity called ERTHNXT.  Both organizations are purveyors of hope and promise, education and commitment.

In these times of economic uncertainty it is natural to focus on personnal security and financial frugilty.  However, it is equally as important to maintain a degree of hope for the future and to support those people and organizations that work hard to that end.  Both ERTHNXT and First Descents exist to create the promise of a better future for both people and planet.  Every Dollar committed to these organzations goes directly towards their important efforts.  Because of their dedication to effect positive change even the smallest of donations help.   I would encourage all of you to visit these organization’s websites and make a donation of whatever you may be capable.  You will be gifted with the immediate satisfaction that comes from giving for a good cause and the lasting knowledge that you have done something for the future of society and the planet.

Click on a link to make a donation.  Thanks in Advance…  Ryan