My 1st Day as a 40 Yr Old

Has been rather mundane, but that's ok, we are all recovering from the past week.

The backpacking trip down the Iditarod trail in the Eagle River Valley was good. I really love it back there, it is SOO BEAUTIFUL! It's different than the valleys here, more wet, different vegetation. We saw only 1 black bear on the hike in, it scampered away quickly when we started telling it to go away.

It was gently raining on the hike in, which was fine because it helped keep us cool. Muddy trail in spots and slick rocks, I was glad I had my new hiking poles (an early birthday gift from Capt'n Balance). After settling into the Yurt, we continued on a nice 5 mile hike down the trail, we decided to go off the main trail onto some smaller trails and found some really beautiful spots along the Eagle River. I didn't get may pictures because I forgot to put the memory card back into my camera before leaving, I only had room for 12 pictures on the camera's internal memory. I bought myself an REI Venus backpack, it's great! Much better than the pack I used last year. I think I could get into backpacking a bit more but Capt'n Balance isn't for it. Why walk and carry a load when we can ride? This trail doesn't allow bikes so hoofing it is the only way.

Friday night we went into Anchorage and had dinner with my parents at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewery. Good food, beer, views of Cook Inlet and wonderful Alaska themed quilts and stained glass.

After dinner, we are driving down 9th Ave and we see a guy walking is reindeer. Yep, a reindeer, that's life in Alaska


We stayed at my parents house that night and after breakfast we went for a ride at Hillside park. The bears and spruce hen's are out and about







Last night after getting home we started finishing up Capt'n Balance's new road bike. He found a pretty nice road bike in the dumpster where he works, he got it out and it looks exactly like Bike Boy's Navara. This bike didn't have any labels on it so we don't know what the brand is but it has all top quality components for it's day. It also had tubeless, sewn tires. I got new rims as we just didn't want to mess with sewn tires and the freewheel was seized up anyway. Capt'n Balance stripped it all down, it had red paint flaking off, underneath it on the fork and chain and seat stays were nice, shiny chromed metal. He then repainted the frame using a paint that looks purple or green, depending on the angle you look at it. Really pretty. He then had a friend make him some label. He has named the bike after his favorite drink. It is now the Crown Royal Duck Fart Limited Edition. I got it all back together last night and all that is left is to wrap the bars. He couldn't wait until the bars were taped to test ride it. He's happy with it! I have 2 new commuters in my family, Bike Boy rides his Navara road bike to work at the golf course and Capt'n Balance plans on riding the Duck Fart to work. I knew I would get them into it sooner or later. They are both new to road bikes and are amazed at how fast road bikes are compared to mountain bikes on pavement. Yeah, baby!




And if you are interested in trying a Duck Fart, this is how to make one. It is a layered drink, in a big shot glass, gulp down as a shot.

1st layer: Kahlua 1/3 of shot glass
2nd layer: Bailey's Irish Cream. Pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer it on top of the Kahlua
3rd layer: top with Crown Royal whisky. Again, pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer on top of the Bailey's.



The best thing about my actual birth day was spending it with my family (minus my daughter in Montana, of course - I miss her greatly!). Capt'n Balance, Bike Boy and myself spent the evening hours in my bike shop, all of us working on one bike or another, talking and joking, then all going out together for the Crown Royal test ride. I thought to myself that biking is such a great family activity and thank God that cycling came into my life or none of the day's events would have happened.