Before we look into the mail bag, quick note on the weekend shenanigan's.  Drove up to Truckee on Friday evening with the boy pictured above.  Alpine was kind enough to loop Kangaroo for the ski team this weekend and Jackson got to meet his coach and teammates.  The coach is awesome.  He is super nice and has been skiing and racing for a long time.  Jackson loves his team immediately and based on my interactions with them, they are a chatty bunch.  And that's coming from a guy who knows his way around a good chat.  As the mountain isn't open to the public yet (due to open this coming weekend with some models showing some potential serious storm activity mid week), I was able to get my stuff organized which really means I took my jackets and pants to a shop in town to have them cleaned and weatherproofed.  I did catch a little bit of Jackson skiing when I walked up the hill to see him come down. What a difference a year makes.  He has grown a bit and he has been doing cross fit and the added muscle has him skiing like a man.  I almost didn't recognize him coming down the hill because instead of riding the ski, he is really driving it now and his body position which is naturally neutral, is more aggressive.  My jaw dropped a little bit.  I'm going to have to step up my game or this could be the year that he officially leaves me behind.

Sunday I hung out in the lodge while the boy did his thing and I watched some football.  In addition, I followed my fantasy team live and was pleased with the result.  None other than Griff was this weeks opponent.  There is very little left in this world where I get to compete with Griff, so this'll have to do. 

Finally, yesterday was my oldest brother Tony's birthday.  Got a call from Michael on the way down the hill seeing if we could join for dinner and to toast our brother.  He was serving ribs with various sides, and beer, so how could I resist?  Good food and a wonderful time celebrating a brother gone way too young. 

Good weekend, to be sure.  I'm out of time so I'll reach into the mailbag tomorrow.  Hope you are well and smiling at your riches and spreading kindness to those near and far.  And if you can wish me luck as I try to stave off the boy for one more season, I'd be grateful. 

Kindly,

Johnny GoFast

So I'm sitting here in the lodge at Alpine Meadows as my boy is skiing with his team.  As the two photos above might suggest, the mullet is gone.  Which can only mean my season is over.  My aspirations of coming back from my calf injury is all but a distant memory now.  I probably could have pulled off getting my leg back in order and developing a little fitness between now and January 9th, but the reality is that it would have taken a monumental effort that would have encroached on fatherly obligations regarding skiing and racing for the boy.  The boy has a race on the January 10th so flying to Texas and back and getting him to his race would have had me turning myself into a pretzel.  I was pretty depressed all week about having to give up the ghost, but it's been both an incredibly great year and ultimately my most frustrating. 

But the reality is, that I started racing cross as a bridge to get me through the fall and into the ski season and now that it's here, I have a lot of good skiing in my future and that makes the pain of calling it a cross season ebb just a bit.  And on a positive note, I learned a ton from my injury and I know what I need to do between now and my next race to prevent something like this from happening again.  Brightness in the future to be true.

Would have preferred to have let the mullet grow out a few more weeks but when people about town are starting to ask, "what's up with John's mullet?" (ahem...Courtney Dettlinger), it's probably time for it to hit the floor.

Hope you are well.  With this new found blogging habit, maybe we should reach in to the mailbag tomorrow and answer a bunch of letters I've gotten over the past week.

Hope you are well and be nice to one another.

Kindly,

Johnny GoneFast