linda morgi

I will be expanding my hobby, the bike photography even further. As stated in my review of 2009 I want to have at least one picture in print this year. To do so the first step was to build a portfolio site. It was launched this weekend and can be found here:

http://photo.morgi.ch

I hope you like it. You will find many pictures I have never published. Now the next step is banging on doors to get a cover or picture-page print. I'm considering any magazine you might know that fits the style. Any hints or contacts are welcome and very much appreciated.

You can get regular updates about the pictures on Twitter (as photomorgi) or become a Fan of the page on Facebook. I thank you in advance for helping make a dream come true - and hopefully enriching the world with some nice pictures.

You know the deal: when the days grow short on you, daylight savings reverse steals another hour of light, snow covers your favorite trails in the mountains and it's freaking cold outside. Your bike is rotting in the basement and you put on christmas holiday flab... the off season blues hits you and you are about to go into a winter depression... Then you need to get your ass up and do something!

Here are my favorite things to fend off the blues:

1. Find an off-season activity or project to dwell in. Make it big - learn something completely new or start a time-consuming project. Want a new homepage? Clean out your garage? Learn how to properly handle your DSLR? Or be more productive at work?

2. Review the old season. It's time to dig up all your pictures, throw a bike-friends party and have a slideshow. Then share the wildest stories of the season. This could be done after a night/snow-ride together (see #5)

3. Think about what you liked and didn't like this season. What mistakes don't you wanna repeat next season? A face plant? An injury? Overtraining? Telling yourself it was too hot to ride until in September you realized you had only 1 month of bike season left? - You might want to write the main points down. No use in making the same mistakes again!

4. Start planning your new season and get all excited about it.

5. Just keep on riding. Seriously, it's not as bad as you think. Wear more clothes, throw on tougher tires, get some decent lights (there are far more foolish ways to spend a $150) and just keep on riding!! Learn from wearing too little or too much clothes for your next ride - you will find your comfort zone pretty soon!

6. Decide on what things you want to learn before next spring. Still can't Wheelie but always wish you could? Now's the time to crack out some training hours! Can you imagine the look on your friend's faces next Spring if you can manual past them? The good thing about snow is: it makes for a soft landing. So find a parking lot or football field and practice those skills.

7. Work too much and desperatily believe that the extra hours you put in this Winter will come off the clock in Summer.

8. Buy new gear. Or at least dream about cool stuff you could add to your collection.

9. Find yourself a Winter sport you like. Cross Country skiing, indoor climbing, swimming, jogging... find something that will be "your sport" in Winter. It should be fun and motivating to do it, whenever you don't want to or can't bike.

10. Fix up your bikes. Give them a thorough cleaning, a check-up, tighten all the screws, replace wear-and-tear parts - make it spanking and ready to hit the trails as soon as the snow melts.

And before you know it, the Winter is over.

You might have been wondering what's going on lately. Not much posting here about bike rides... The reason is simple: My bikes are hanging and having a break. Can't really ride them with one arm in the bracelet. And typing is actually really bad for it too... so I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts and my un-ability to post.

It's funny, with all the biking I do, the ~2 big crashes per season nothing big ever happened, but from working at the computer I get an inflammation. Oh well, looks like that is just how life goes. I'm not calling for anything worse to happen ('cuz breaking a bone could be way worse then six weeks in the bracelet...).

So I just sit it out. The trainer works because I don't need to hang on to it with my hands, so I'm spending a lot of time on it. The rest is stretching, mobility training and core work as prescribed by Bike James. He also throws in some high intensity sessions (HIT) after strengthening that really get you sweating. Compared to HIT the easy spins on the trainer are a piece of cake. Got another 4hr session on the trainer planned tomorrow. And yes, I am looking forward to it.

But since Winter has fully evolved it's a waiting for what's to come anyway. I see it as a way of preparing for the next season. I enjoy planning my bike trip to La Palma in March and I was stoked to hear that Seb is doing another photo course in August. So I'm busy working out a plan for that as well.

Downhill racing is still on the schedule. In 108 days I'll be launching myself off the starting ramp of the first race. So, that's the short personal update from my side. I'll try to dig up some substantial posts or illustrations in the next days. Meanwhile you can get my micro-blog, if you follow me on Twitter. Later.

How can you spend 4hrs on an indoor trainer? And why would you anyway? Well, here's a cartoon or picture illustration on the how to...

So outside the weather looks like this:

Or waist deep snow and *brrrrrrrr*:

You hate to go out and ride... but somehow you should ride or workout...

...you have very good resolutions, a summer trip to look forward to. For me it's the trip in March or the day tours in Summer - the boys ALWAYS drop me... so Winter is the time to prepare and limit the dropping distance...

The training geeks call 'em base miles: the long, slow miles you eat in Winter to be nice and spanking for Summer. Base miles my ass if you are living in a Northern country!! How are you supposed to do the longest rides in the coldest months?

So here we bring in this:

Stick your bike on the trainer. Put it somewhere where you've got good company, a TV, DVD, music...

 Be nice to your partner and beg for a spot next to your couch. Or take advantage of your own place..

...and then suck the miles and kill the time with this: 

Why do you wait until New Year to make resolutions - and to decide about your intentions and goals? Just to lay 'em out for next year because everyone else is doing it? How many of the resolutions will you ditch on the way? - The reason why 95% of New Year resolutions won't stick are: one makes too many resolutions, wants too drastic & unrealistic changes, formulates imprecise goals (or no goals) and puts too little heart into it. Here is how you avoid these mistakes:

MISTAKE #1: Having 10 and more resolutions.

GOOD: Focus on 6-7 "projects". (I think a "resolution" is something you think about doing, a "project" is something you are in the middle of). It's best to even take only one at a time - so 6 of them for 2 months over the year. Focus on the most important ones. The less you want to do, the more likely you will succeed in the 6 you have focused on.

- Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

When you look back on the year 2009, what comes to your mind? I mean personally, not general stuff like the Hudson river landing. What was your most important change this year? The best 10min? What are you proud of? - This end of the year, instead of diving deeper into the world events and throwing a general review with stuff like the economy at you, here is a more personal review of the year that is drawing to an end. Thinking about these questions made me realize a lot, I can only recommend you go through them yourself and give your own answers.

In 2009...

The best idea...

...was to move to W-town in April, where I now live. It was basically a "thrust a dart on a map"-decision. The guys at the local bike club instantly became my friends. I have never feeled so quickly rooted to a new town and haven't feeled so at home in a town since St. G. I also love the logistics - the store opening hours until 20:00, the store reachable by bycicle, 15mins to work (by bike!)... And as always a lot of things fell into place with that move, if I hadn't moved I hadn't joined this bike club, I hadn't met those people, I wouldn't have gone to Zermatt with them, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend...

The most eye-opening experience...

...was to live car-free for 8 months. Since I got my license I had access to a car in some way. It was hard to change the "bad habits" back, but great to realize how many times we use our car when we don't really need to. But I admit, I truly enjoy having a car again now though... but I now I have a sense for when I really need to use a car and when not!

The worst idea...

...was that I quit Paleo eating after February due to strange comments from others and the need of explaining myself... eventhough I was feeling the very best I had been since I can remember I gave up this nutrition because of how others viewed me... Luckily someone kicked my ass and since August I am back to full primal mode again! Never felt better and more full of energy!

The best new gadget/tool/thing I got was...

 I risk sounding very materialistic here, but that would be either Twitter, my waterbed, my downhill bike Freddy or my car. And I think that's in an ascending order of importance...

Most epic trip...

...the 2 days in Ticino with Markus and René. During that trip I realized what I need to be happy: lots of nice trails downhill, a camera on my back, willingly posing bike friends - and wonderful days and nights with good friends, laughing tears and talking. I came back after two days and felt like I had had a week of vacation!

What I am proud of...

@Work: Pulling through a 3 month period where our team of 2 was
understaffed by 2... and managed not to loose or f* up one single
contract or delivery.

Whom I helped in 2009...

Ehm... hard to say... a guy I met in a seminar course and a co-worker who had lost his mother. Spontaniety and not caring how it would look like if I ask them directly what's wrong and if they want to talk did the trick.

What I got through, that was really tough...

...a break-up and seperation of a common household. It was the first time I had to split an apartment during a break-up...

Have nice festivities and don't eat too much:

Don't drink too much either...

Don't let Santa fool you - not all that glitters is gold.

I hope you get many cool presents:

Don't feel bad if you gave yourself the best presents early. Remember the many pitfalls the presents under a tree do have...

Be honest - as far as your fellow eggnoggers can bear...

Keep cool in heavy traffic, in order not to run someone over...

Remember, we all have our own stockings...

Take a time-out just for yourself. Mull things through, relax and enjoy the time off work.

...and I hope you can squeeze in a nifty bike ride with long lost friends:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! - Truly Yours, Linda

(Pictures from: www.coloribus.com, www.christmasmyspacegraphics.com, www.bikehugger.com, tathsing.wordpress.com and www.funandmusic.biz) 

"Is he on my tail? I am so going to blow up in the next 20s if I haven't lost him..." - or something in that range. It looks like it hurts.

The whole Sixdays was a big showdown, the last home appearence of the 20+ year allstar Bruno Risi and made for a couple of pictures.

It's always the same, every season. That first sub zero ride just gives you the chills. I do admit, the choice of clothing has gotten better over the years, but it still catches me cold-handed. Over the summer we seem to forget how a frozen face feels...

And we forget that the water in the camelbag freezes without this:

5min into the ride I had to save it with a last minute blowout. 30mins into the ride even the small remains in the tube had frozen...

I was so busy staying warm, I would not budge to snap a pic. Sorry, next time when I get used to this cold. I will lay low biking the next days anyway, since all the typing in a wrong position gave me a tenosynovitis and has me wearing a nice bracelet. :-/

How often do you check for new email? I just ran across this startling fact:

Put that into perspective. I know I do it and I know there are other things I check on way too often...

Spend some time thinking about it: unclutterer may help.

Actually this is probably only going to take you 45min, but 1h just sounded cooler... So why should you learn to unicycle in the first place?

It's fun. It improves your balance. It's fun! It can be done anywhere. It's cheap. It's a cool Xmas present. You can impress your friends. You could quit your job and go work for a circus. It makes your cycyling rounder. It gives you more feeling for the Wheelie... - oh, did I mention it's fun yet?

So here's how you learn it:

• WHERE: Find a flat place with something to hold on. A fence, a wall or such. It should be straight and a couple of yards long. I choose the wall of an underground parking.

• You should also have an open space you can roll into after hanging on to something. So if there's some room next to the wall that's great.
  

• Standing firmly on the ground place your butt on the saddle with the unicycle in front of you and put one foot on the pedals in an 8 o'clock position like this:

• As you kick the foot down the unicycle rolls back and the saddle will come up right under you. Hang on to the wall and place your other foot on the pedal.
  


• Make sure you position both feet evenly and clear away from touching the cranks.
  

Can you bend down with straight legs and touch your toes? Or are you missing 2 inches? (No cheating!) - I've been there the last 20+ years... Until three weeks ago that is. In the past I tried several things, including frequent and excessive stretching. Now in just 3 weeks time I am able to bend down and touch my toes! What did I do? It's simple: I did my new MTB strength training.

This is not a strength training in the traditional sense (if you are imagining pushing weights on those machines you are falling way too short!), it is a well rounded concept that approaches the specific needs of mountainbikers. It incorporates a mobility routine, which you can see here ("warm up sequence) to which I attribute 95% of my toe-touch success. The routine takes about 8mins and I did that 5 times a week along with the strengthening (2x per week), the cardio (1-2x), some stretching and the other aspects (like rest, self-massage and nutrition) and here I am 3 weeks later - 2 inches closer to my toes! No magic, no pills, no everyday stretching till you cry. I wouldn't even say it was hard work. And this is just the first, most striking difference this program made. What will it do in a few weeks time? I am sure the missing flexibility did play a role in the past concerning my biking and my injuries...

I can only give you the advice to try the mobility routine for yourself. It takes little time and can have a big effect. Stick around to hear more about the progress and what I think about the system as I go along. If you want to get your hands on the program before the off-season is in full swing go here.

Do you ever get overwhelmed with all the stuff you need to do? Drowned in errands and little tasks like cleaning...?

I feel kinda swamped these days. To do lists in the office, to do lists at home and so little time TO DO what I want to. How can anyone enjoy doing what you like if a whole mountain of to do's waits right beyond? I owe a bunch of people stuff - mostly pictures on CDs or such... then again I really want to try and sell some of my sports pictures to magazines next year and should get that organized... I should water my plants, clean out the broom cabinet, backup my files, study, BLOG (yes, I'm feeling kinda guilty), do the paperwork, pay the bills, swing by the post office, return lent things to their owners...

Priorities help to keep some control: After long days in the office I have my training schedule, I try to sleep 8 hrs each night and cook and eat 3 decent meals a day. Then I have a boyfriend and half a dozen friends I'd like to see at least twice a month - not talking about my family! Sometimes it just doesn't add up! Besides - every other day I just feel like slumping on the couch, popping a beer and watching Bones and Booth solve another murder... or pick one of the unread books out of my piles and dive in... Don't you ever feel like just turning it off and pushing the errands far away? Plan everything for the weekend and end up on Monday morning with the same list?

It's been over a month since I set foot in a normal grocery store - I have an online ordering store that brings the stuff. And I keep looking for more time savers. This christmas I even decided to kill the cookies (can't eat much of them flour-things anyway) and save me that time. But what I really want for christmas is the day to have 26hrs. Or 25... Anyone in for that? Any hints on accomplishing that?

Two days outside - but somehow I felt the temperatures were twisted - I froze my a** off biking and sweated my head off skiing...

Saturday - 2-4°C and 4 hours in the woods taking pictures of the bike club doing circus tricks (bunny hops, wheelies, side hops...). For a change I'm not posting the said bike pictures, but the one of the nosy horse that passed by and decided to pose for a picture.

Sunday - 7°C I grabbed the two skinny skis and headed for a (partial voluntary) muscle beating across frozen water. My expectations for the first cross country ski-run of the season were very low: Muscles on the limit, various head-on encounters with the snow and devastating form... But the snow was slow enough to dampen the balancing difficulty while descending and the balance was behaving like it had only been 3 weeks off the skis... Looks like all the balancing exercises are starting to pay off! The form was ok - but I do have a whole winter ahead of me. So time will tell. The sun could not really break through the clouds but that was a favor since I had misjudged the temperatures and had warm enough. But it was a little strange to have warm in the snow and freeze in the woods. Click right for a pic of the skiing => .