First a note about the name: sugarpotpie. It’s a nonsensical nickname I gave my wife a few years ago. It’s got a whimsical sound to it that I like and it was available. It’s that simple. She’s worried that when I put a dot.com after the name, suddenly it sounds like a porn site. But that’s not what this is about.

What it is about is decidedly unspecific. You see, I have far-ranging interests and a short attention span. If you like mountain biking, MX, skiing, music, running rivers, reading books, technology, social criticism, adrenaline, food, wilderness, movies and outdoor culture, then I hope you’ll enjoy my blog.

This is where more than a few moon scenes have been shot for movies

I prefer to ride on it. Caineville, April 2008

Now just because random lists are interesting and everything else I write in my life has to make sense, here’s a list of loosely related factoids about my year that was 2008:

• 19 ski days at Alta with my boys
• 13 runs down High Rustler, the last two with my boys (nice!)
• Hosted one $19,000 dinner for 50 of the world’s top technology executives at The Setai in South Beach, Miami (try the lobster tail, but bring your Am Ex!)
• Three calls from the Principal at my two oldest sons’ jr. high school
• Attended the first-ever night race in AMA Motocross history at Lakewood, CO
• Seven trips to my company’s HQ in Santa Clara, CA
• Nine trips to Portland, OR, on business
• Drove over the highest paved road in America (Rocky Mtn N.P.)
• Visited the house I grew up in in Golden, CO
• Linked a new 25-mile cross-country mtn bike route at Fishlake with my boys, twice
• Rode Porcupine Rim and Gold Bar Rim to Poison Spider Mesa on my single speed with my crew (see the pics)
• Was recruited for a top campaign mgr post at one of the biggest brands in the world (complete with a $45M ad budget)
• Didn’t get the job, but wasn’t ready to move anyway
• Rode my dirt bike on the moon (see Caineville Mesa pics)
• Learned to love 2-strokes all over again
• Built up, fixed up and cleaned up four nice mountain bikes and donated them to people who needed them
• Rowed my homebuilt dory across Otter Creek Reservoir in gale force winds
• Separated my right shoulder skiing that I’d already dislocated twice
• Learned that shouler separation and shoulder dislocation are two different things
• Ate at Red Iguana, the best Mexican food imaginable, countless times
• Declared The Last Season, by Eric Blehm, to be my favorite book of the year
• Sold my treasured Bianchi and all other bicycles that still had gears
• Grew a bumper crop of the best tomatoes I’ve had in years
• Realized that being a father to three boys gets harder the older they get (still not great at it, but I love it)
• Reconnected with a long-lost climbing and kayaking hero and friend after 10 years
• Was invited to relocate back to Nor Cal or Portland… or leave the company I’ve worked for for the last decade(still chewing on that one)

Not an exhaustive list, but that oughtta do for now. It was a good year. Now bookmark my site and check back once in a while. Happy new year.