I just found out that Bozeman’s neighboring Ultimate team, the Mental Toss Flycoons from Missoula, Montana beat Shazam Remains 15 to 11 for the Club Ultimate National Championship in the mixed division earlier today.

In case you aren’t totally familiar with competitive club Ultimate in the states, there are three divisions, Mixed (co-ed), Open (basically Men), and Women’s. The Club Championship, a four day tournament held once a year in Sarasota, Flordia and, has teams from all over. The two other teams to win national championships were Jam (Open Division) and Fury (Women’s Division), both from San Francisco. Shazam, the team the Flycoons beat in the finals, is from Seattle, Washington.

Montana Ultimate is the bomb! We (the Bozos) played the Flycoons in September and lost a close game 13-10. The Flycoons are a spirited team with some excellent chemistry. They play super hard every point, but still seem to manage to have fun, which I definitely appreciate. For some teams, an intense desire to win can block out what is great about Ultimate.

Beating a team from Seattle is especially impressive, given that Seattle is one of the premier cities for Ultimate in the nation and therefore have a much bigger pool of talent to pick from than Missoula.

Another key feature of their National Championship is that no less than three local Bozeman Ultimate superstars, Emily Kimmel, Camas Key, and Dominic Benincasa joined the team late in the season and helped bring this one back to Montana.

Oh yeah, not only did The Flycoons win a National Championship, they did it in impressive style. With seven wins and only one loss over all four days, against some of the best teams in the nation. They won their last three games (where a single loss eliminates you) 15-5, 15-11, 15-11.

As a tribute I scoured the archives for a couple more pictures of their game against us at sectionals. (Pictures already posted can be viewed here)

**Update** For a much more in-depth account of the tournament see Flycoon player Tim Murray’s blog here

The Bozeman Ultimate crew got together after their fine performance at Northwest Mixed Regionals. Joey took some video at the tournament and along with her husband Camas, had the team over to her house to watch it.

Towards the end of the night the bag game was played (This is when I realized I had my camera with me). The goal is to pick the bag up off the ground with your mouth, with only 1 foot on the floor. Every round the bag gets cut so it is shorter and shorter. I am not very good at this game.

It was a great evening though, thanks to the Key’s for having us over. And thanks to Cyn for making the most epic spinach-artichoke dip ever.

This was the scene in the middle afternoon out in front of the library at MSU Bozeman last Thursday.

It makes me feel old to wonder why these kids are wearing what they are wearing. The gnome look seems to be in this year.

I believe this was put on by a fraternity..(Sigma ????) to raise money for cancer.

On Thursday Jeff and I took advantage of the nice weather and managed to get out in the evening on a bike ride to Belgrade.

I have a big test tomorrow but the weather this weekend was too nice to stay inside under the fluorescent lights all day.

My boy Jeff and I did a road ride up Hyalite Canyon today. It was phat yo. Check out these sweet pics. Bozeman rulez.

Fall goes by quickly in Bozeman. School has been keeping me well occupied these days, but I have managed to take a few pictures of the season on occasion.

Bozeman Ultimate played at the Big Sky Sectionals in Missoula this weekend. We went 4-1 in pool play, losing a close game to the number 1 overall seed, the Missoula Flycoons.

Sunday we went 2-1, losing to Pyschopastique from Edmonton, Canada and beating Boise to earn a spot to go to Northwest Regionals in Corvallis, Oregon in October.

Click on the photo for a gallery of some shots from the weekend.

These pictures are mostly from my last summer evening in Asheville for a little while. Rebecca and Scott were kind enough to walk around with me in a slight rain.

Been playin’ some disc golf.

Went downtown last night. Holla

I miss disc golf at the Richmond Hill course in Asheville. I played 2 rounds today and it was a good time. There was an excellent sunset that stuck around for a while during my bike ride to meet my sister in west Asheville.

I was glad to have my little point and shoot camera. I like the concept of always carrying a camera with you.

I was biking up our driveway and right before I got to the house I looked up and saw a black bear right in my way. I knew there are bears around the Beaverdam area but my only previous encounter had been a passing glimpse at night once. I stopped and watched it walk across, then I hurried into the house to get my camera with my best lens.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to see it again but as I was walking down the driveway, there it was in the neighbor’s yard just sitting and munching on this tree like it didn’t have a care in the world.

It looked right at me and went back to eating. I was able to watch it for a good little bit before it walked into the woods and I became worried about being responsible for making it go somewhere it definitely shouldn’t be. It was the best view I’ve ever had of a bear not in a zoo, but I wish it was in a less populated area.

I brought my bike back to North Carolina with me in the hopes of doing some riding. Davy and I managed to get out and do one of my favorite rides a couple times. You start up Elk Mountain Scenic Highway and continue to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Turn right and go down a little ways and then back up Town Mountain Road, (going down Town Mountain is hella fun) and finally back home via Kimberly Avenue.

Davy and I did some rock climbing during his brief stay in Bozeman. We climbed Gallatin Tower, 3 fun pitches in the Gallatin Canyon. It was only Davy’s second time climbing outside (the first being when we went the day before) and he handled it like an old pro.