Surly Bikes
Bikes are cool. You know what else is cool? Having other hobbies besides bikes.
I am very fortunate to have a job designing things that have to do with my current favorite hobby, but variety is the spice of life. Right?
Before working in this industry brewing beer was my #1 hobby, and before that it was snowboarding.
I lived and breathed snowboarding from the age of 10 through most of college. I had to retake a class after my first semester because the snow was too good.
I spent the majority of my high school homecoming dances shoveling zamboni shavings into a pickup and hitting rails in the backyard.
I think that was the better decision, pop music and awkward, sweaty grinding weren’t my thing (this was before I discovered beer).
As is the natural progression of things, my body started to wear down and the degree I was earning took precedence over the hobby that wasn’t going to pay the bills.
Plus, there is an inverse relationship between progression and age.
But just because you aren’t progressing doesn’t mean you hang up the boots. Now that I am gainfully employed I am able to spend a little more money and head west in search of powder.
Don’t worry, I’m still keeping the dirtbag vibe alive, packing in a car, rinsing off in the hot tub, etc. but the beer is a little nicer.
Last week I loaded up the car with 3 of my best buds and two more drove up from Utah. Destination…MANtana. Colorado can have their swanky resorts and lift lines.
Montana is unassuming and bad ass. Where else do you see a dude in a duster and 10 gallon (and probably nothing else) linking perfect turns? We rode hard by day and partied (probably a lot less hard than we used to) by night.
The trip in numbers
- 3 – Cases gone in the first 36 hours
- Repeated 3 times
- $0.00 – money spent on food in the first 2 days (the hotel had suspect breakfast and dinner…but what the hell, we’re dirtbags)
- 8” – official snow report on day 3
- 12+” – Actual snow on 3rd day
- 3 – chutes ridden
- 30 – Hrs. in the car
- -46°F – Lowest windchill experienced while standing still
- First – Tracks
- 1,456 ≈ Good times had
-Ben2.0
About Slippers Cortez
Well hello there, meet Ben, aka Slippers Cortez. Ben is one of the Engineers here at Surly. When Ben isn’t doing bike math and drawings, he’s likely enjoying a beer and playing the mandolin with his brothers in their folk/bluegrass band, The Thirsty River. If you don’t know what a mandolin is, there’s a google for that. If you meet Ben, you’ll notice that he’s the most Minnesotan person you know. We mean that in the best of ways of course. So the next time you're straddling your Surly, think of Ben, because he just might be thinking about you too.