“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot have both.” – Brene Brown
“Don’t try to win over the haters. You’re not a jackass whisper.” – Brene Brown
Life is good and I cannot complain too much. Wow what a start to ski season!! Some of the best early snow conditions for the Central and Northern Mountains of Colorado. I have already been up 5 times this year. A few times to Loveland and a few times to A-basin. Very nice indeed. Now, only if the conditions can continue. That is a big if and it remains to be seen how much moisture will fall in the next 60 days or so. But for now, I am going to enjoy what is there and not worry too much about the future.
LOVELAND SKI AREA LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
FROM THE LAKE DILLON BIKE TRAIL LOOKING WEST ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
A-BASIN SKI AREA THURSDAY 8TH, NOVEMBER 2018
I spend a lot of my ski time in Summit County. This is a great place in Colorado. I like to think of it as an outdoor mecca but with all the conveniences of a modern city. The major towns which are all somewhat close together are Dillon, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge. The county is home to 4 major downhill ski resorts, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and A-Basin, not to mention a few cross-country areas. Add in a little backcountry access and you truly have an outdoor playground. If you like the outdoors it is a fun place to be anytime of the year.
Finished up another book this past week called “Democracy in Chains: The deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” by Nancy MacLean. I found it an interesting book. The book is about James McGill Buchanan, Charles Koch and the Libertarian Right. Buchanan was a Nobel Prize Winner in economics. He won the prize for what is known today as “Public Choice Theory” – the ideas on how people make or don’t make decisions in the political realm. MacLean’s book does not really go into this too much. She was more concerned with the idea that Buchanan saw a conflict between economic freedom and political liberty. She paints a picture of Buchanan being secretly racist and wanting to suppressing economic freedoms and democracy for the poor to benefit the rich. Charles Koch, a billionaire – 8th richest person in the world as of June 2018, comes into the picture when he discovers Buchanan’s work. Koch is painted in the book as what I would call an advocate of the “Super Libertarian Right.” The old story that less government, less corporate welfare, less government spending on social programs, health care, etc.… is the best way to improve things (but mainly for the rich). MacLean feels that Koch saw his ideas overlapping with Buchanan’s work quite a bit and because of that, Koch and the “Libertarian Right” have been able to push their ideas forward in government based on that work. As an example, she points out: recently passed laws designed to cause problems with unions, the increase in privatization of schools (school vouchers), the defunding of universal health care, and threatening social security to just name a few.
The part of the book for me that I found most worrisome and disturbing is that the wealthy “Libertarian Right” does not seem to care who gets hurt in the process. Can’t get health care for your Cancer, well too bad, better luck in the next life, need an education, well if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it (even at the grade school level). All this does not benefit the majority of people in the country. Just the wealthy. I have a few friends that persistently believe in the erroneous “Deep State” conspiracy theory ideas. What they really need to do is read this book by MacLean. Here is a true conspiracy that will only benefit the rich and not the majority of people in the country. You can find the book on Amazon at:https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/B072J2MTWT/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542005455&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+in+chains . I got the book as an Audio Book but I think it might have been better to do the kindle edition or paperback so that you can go back and easily reread sections.
Did my first Rando race of the season yesterday (Tuesday), at A-basin. It is part of a five-part series called Rise and Shine. It is an uphill challenge. Yes, you ski uphill with skins and take them off at the top and race down. Then repeat. This race was timed for an hour to see how many runs you could get in. I improved some and was able to get in 3. Last year I was only able to do about 2 in that first hour. A chilly start for this race – the temperature in the parking lot when I arrived was 4 degrees F. But lucky in that there was no wind.
WARM UP BEFORE THE RACE.
A CHILLY START THIS AM – 4 DEGREES F IN THE PARKING LOT!!
At the basin it is a very low key event and really you are mainly racing against yourself. Especially at my age. I think that it went pretty well. I am happy that I am just able to do it at my young age of 56.
Well I am thinking that is probably about all for me this week. I hope every one has a great rest of the week and weekend. Take care and hope to see you out on the trails or the ski slope!!