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12/31/03 A nice snowy commute on the single speed today...should've swapped out the slicks for the conti's but didn't get around to it. Sketchy descending down Denny, but a good time sliding around the corners. I finally got a few pictures up from last weekends trip to the Methow 12/30/03 Absolutely stunning, saturated orange sunrise over lake washington this morning. Icy cold streets were forgotten as I stopped down by the arboretum to watch for a few minutes before riding off to the bagel shop for a little breakfast... 12/28/03 Due to the unhappy meeting of Roger's ski and high dollar carbon poles today at cabin creek(Busted excel pole), we finally got in a little low heart rate technique work without the poles. The snow was pretty soft for skiing without poles, but after multiple Christmas gatherings it was just what I needed and it was also the ticket to keep my mind off the GRE which I take at 8am tomorrow. Wish me luck as my future may depend on it. Then it's off to the Lord of the Rings at Cinerama after that. Life is good this holiday season. 12/24/03 happy hollidaze..... 12/23/03 Mike has a few pictures and quicktime movies from the weekend. Hopefully I'll add a few more in the next day or two if last minute shopping doesn't get me first. 12/22/03 Back from 3 days of perfect skating in the Methow Valley. We left Seattle on Friday and stopped in Leavenworth for 25k's at the fish hatchery. Temperature was 27 and the tracks were pretty firm and fast with brilliant sunshine. Saturday we skiied off a few bottles of wine near Mazama under cloudy skies but excellent skiing. Sunday, Roger and I put in 30k's on the Methow community trail while skating from Mazama to Winthrop. These were the best conditions that I've had on this skate. Pure pleasure. In between the skiing was multiple bottles of wine, cheese, big meals, uno and hide-and-go-seek. A fine weekend that allowed me to ignore the fact that I've still got plenty of shopping to do before Thursday. 12/16/03 I was browsing Roger's site to get a look at his new Ionic Johnny Rotten singlespeed and followed another link of his to bluejake.com where after 30 seconds of browsing I came to this picture It was a pleasure to see that playground again in NoLIta in a different light. I miss NYC.Should look familiar to all two of my readers... 12/15/03 Perfect day skating up at Cabin Creek yesterday. Grooming was a little chunky, but not unusual after 15' of snow the day before. Lots of work without the poles and a feeble effort to keep my heart rate down and work on technique. Early season giddiness soon took over and I was gasping for breath....wore myself out so thoroughly I had to come home and take a nap. 12/13/03 A tough start to the winter season. A woman is presumed dead near Source Lake today from an avalanche and a WWU student died near Mt. Baker on Friday.Be careful out there! We tried to go up skating, but were stymied by the chains required and 15" of new snow on the tracks wouldn't make for fast skiing. 12/12/03 Eyesore of the Month I can add nothing to this, thanks to Summer for forwarding this gem. Be sure to read the text. 12/12/03 For your Friday afternoon browsing pleasure a few eye-pleasing website's They are at Lars Holst's Blog Finally the skating should be good this weekend, fresh snow and tracks opening up at the Pass-get in a few K's before going to Mazama next weekend. 12/8/03 It hurt to turn down not one, but two invitations from Roger to go up skating this weekend, instead I sat in front of the computer working on environmental planning projects and powerpoints. Two good runs this weekend including the Madrona stairs hopefully mitigated the lack of skating. Legs have finally adjusted to running so I can go two days in a row, but I'd still rather be on my bike or ski's. The long stairs do come the closest to mimicking hard uphills on the skis, so I try to hit them every time. It doesn't hurt that some of the stairs are in the woods, away from cars and concrete. 12/3/03 As seen in today's Tidepool. Somedays you read things in the paper and wonder what the hell is going on....this week we get glow in the dark fish.... From the San Francisco Chronicle. Glowing fish? When pigs fly, state says A state commission on Wednesday denied a Texas company's plan to sell genetically altered, glow-in-the-dark fish in California pet stores, calling fluorescent fish an example of science gone wrong. The decision by the state Fish and Game Commission makes California the only state to ban GloFish, which will be available for aquariums in the rest of the country next month. Despite conclusions from several scientists that the new breed of fish posed little threat to the state's natural resources, three of four commissioners said genetically engineered pets are simply too scary to endorse. 11/28/03 Roger and I hit opening day at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center...it rained for about 3/4 of the time, my legs were soft, the snow was slow but there wasn't really any other place I would've wanted to be. Felt good to be on the skis. From www.gristmagazine.com Consumption is one of life's great pleasures. Buying things we crave, traveling to beautiful places, eating delectable food, owning every Stevie Wonder album: icing on the cake of life. But too often the effects of our blissful consumption make for a sad story. Giant cars exhaling dangerous exhaust, hog farms pumping out noxious pollutants, toxic trash heaps nudging into poor neighborhoods -- none of this if there weren't something to sell. But there's no need to swap pleasure for guilt. With thoughtfulness and commitment, consumption can be a force for good. Too long have we consumers played the part of a blushing bride overwhelmed by business suitors. It's time for the bride to assert herself. We've got the dowry; we have the purchasing power. We can require our suitors to comply with our vision of environmental stewardship -- or we can close the door behind them on their way out. Through buying what we need, produced the way we want, we can create the world we'd like to live in. To that end and for the future, a Consumption Manifesto: Article One. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This brilliant triad says it all. Reduce: Avoid buying what you don't need -- and when you do get that dishwasher/lawnmower/toilet, spend the money up front for an efficient model. Reuse: Buy used stuff, and wring the last drop of usefulness out of most everything you own. Recycle: Do it, but know that it's the last and least effective leg of the triad. (Ultimately, recycling simply results in the manufacture of more things.) Article Two. Stay close to home. Work close to home to shorten your commute; eat food grown nearby; patronize local businesses; join local organizations. All of these will improve the look, shape, smell, and feel of your community. Article Three. Internal combustion engines are polluting and their use should be minimized. Period. Article Four. Watch what you eat. Whenever possible, avoid food grown with pesticides, in feedlots, or by agribusiness. It's an easy way to use your dollars to vote against the spread of toxins in our bodies, land, and water. Article Five. Private industries have very little incentive to improve their environmental practices. Our consumption choices must encourage and support good behavior; our political choices must support government regulation. Article Six. Support thoughtful innovations in manufacturing and production. Hint: Drilling for oil is no longer an innovation. Article Seven. Prioritize. Think hardest when buying large objects; don't drive yourself mad fretting over the small ones. It's easy to be distracted by the paper bag puzzle, but an energy-sucking refrigerator is much more worthy of your attention. (Small electronics are an exception.) Article Eight. Vote. Political engagement enables the spread of environmentally conscious policies. Without public action, thoughtful individuals are swimming upstream. Article Nine. Don't feel guilty. It only makes you sad. Article Ten. Enjoy what you have -- the things that are yours alone, and the things that belong to none of us. Both are nice, but the latter are precious. Those things that we cannot manufacture and should never own -- water, air, birds, trees -- are the foundation of life's pleasures. Without them, we're nothing. With us, there may be nothing left. It's our choice. 11/20/03 An ambitious strategy for the Americans at the Nordic World Cup in Norway this weekend...."àŠ¨£Take it out hard, increase the speed as they go and then sprint in.....it is a pretty tough course" from the www.fasterskier.com website. Now that's my kind of stylish game plan but I rarely seal the deal. 11/19/20 The single is the ultimate winter commuter....riding home from class at night it is unbelievably quiet with 1.5" slicks and a shimano freewheel that is silent ...I scare the bejesus out of everyone I pass. 11/18/03 What a commute this morning,....standing water was hub deep in spots and it was absolutely pissing down cold rain. Reminded me of the Tour of Willamette back in the day except my commute was only 20 minutes, not 4 hours. 11/17/03 12" overnight at Alpental....could still be hope for Thanksgiving skiing. Tele skis just got tuned up and I'm on the list at Nordic Ultra-Tune for the skate skis. Now we just have to hope that it stays cold. 11/16/03 click on over to www.nosephone.com for some nice Pictures of the eclipse last weekend and Roger's new toy. 11/9/03 I could be racing cross' today but instead I'm sitting at Top Pot partaking in a pumpkin spice donut.....winter weight gain is assured. 11/6/03 Feeling prolific today--check out the article on Japanese small-scale architecture (averaging around 700-800 sq. ft) 11/6/03 Another stunningly clear, cold day. No signs of snow yet and only 3 weeks to my thanksgiving skate camp....fingers crossed and doubt growing 11/6/03 Finally got around to posting a few pictures from last July's STP (Seattle to Portland) in case you've forgotten it was 210 miles with a nasty head cold that had me cranky/moody all day. 10/30/03 Timmy's got it so right on his October 29th entry--I too love that moment when your coffee is that perfectly drinkable, yet steamingly hot. Made even better by the cold crisp rides into work the last couple of days. Makes me want to dig out the skate and tele gear and do a little tuning so I'm ready in a few more weeks. (fingers crossed) 10/26/03 Another fine idea from our neighbors to the south. Portland's freecycle.org takes setting your junk on the curb with a sign on it to a much larger audience of people. For all those things you don't want to throw away but still don't want kicking around the basement. Read more 10/21/03 A first look at the new belkin memory card reader for the ipod is up. A must have for my next vacation as that will completely solve the need for more storage on longer trips. With the adaptor I'll go from 512 mb on compact flash to 15gigs... 10/20/03 Even though it's only been two weeks since the Methow---I could feel that all semblances of fitness had slipped away during a road ride around Mercer Island yesterday....and today brings torrential rain--a soggy slog home on the re-geared for winter single-speed. 10/9/03 A short recap of last weekends Methow Valley MTB festival-Summer and I drove over late Thursday night, a coffee from Victrola to keep me going. Camped under a billion stars on the Chewuch and remembered why you go through all that hassle of packing up your shit and getting out of the house against all odds. After a lazy breakfast at the duck brand we headed up to Sun mountain...put in almost 3 hours of blazingly fast singletrack. Hooked up with the gang that night out in Mazama (Lost River) Saturday we rode Pipestone Rim- a short technical romp on dusty, loose cow track. We returned to the cabin to find out Lost River was under a "level II" evacuation alert due to the driveway butte fire raging less than a mile away. It was an awesome sight to see trees bursting in to flames and listen to the sounds of rocks and trees rolling down the hill. A great picture of the fire by Roger Wittmann is here Sunday we rode Buck Mountain before returning to Seattle and reality of work, class etc. No epic rides for a change but you can never get enough of fast, fast singletrack. 10/6/03 There were two short sections of singletrack yesterday that I can't get out of my head. Seemingly simple, straighforward and not very technical--yet they invite you to go faster and faster until supressing the urge to reach for the brakes requires all of your concentration. 10/2/03 Off to mtb nirvana tonight. The pilgrimmage to the Methow Valley mountain bike festival. 3 days of delicious singletrack. Still deciding where the epic should be on saturday but I'm kinda partial to a return to Starvation mountain... 10/1/03 Who owns the view? An article in the Christian Science Monitor explores different opinions on viewsheds and how development can affect them. A good overview on an issue will only be come more contentious as we sprawl ever outward. 9/30/03 Pictures from Northern California vacation are up....check them out 9/28/03 Vacation pictures are still in the works, but too busy this weekend. A fabulous ride at Crystal yesterday. Warm sun and fantastic fall colors along with drop-dead views of Mt. Rainier. Summer and I groveled our way up 3000 vertical feet and then dropped like an anvils on sweet singletrack that was in perfect shape. A few rock gardens, root drops and tight switchbacks to keep you honest. Easily my favorite ride on the West side of the cascades. It's only drawback is it's way to short.
9/5/03 Stressful week at work wrapping up loose ends before a 2-week vacation/road-trip in N. California. Rough itinerary would be Seattle, Bend, Tahoe, Yosemite, Lone Pine/Bishop, Seqoia/Kings Canyon NP,Lost Coast, Santa Cruz, San Fran, Big Sur, Seattle. We've got the backpacking gear, the singlespeed, trail-runners, the ipod and a few good books along with pounds of French Roast......What more could you ask for? 9/1/03 Itunes: Technology that matters. The pleasure of sitting in Victrola drinking coffee, surfing wirelessly on their network and replacing my missing Bjork "post" via a quick download...while I was at it I also picked up "the devil went down to georgia" by the Charlie Daniels band and "house of bamboo" by Southern Culture on the Skids. How could you argue that those aren't worth 99 cents each? 8/31/03 Trying to save the weekend with a trip to Miller peak over in the Teanaway valley. Kind of a rugged, loose moto-trail that was dusty and long. The descents were steep and loose and the climbs were made for throttle twisters who could power through the scree and bottomless moondust. 5 1/2 hot hours of riding, pushing and route-finding. It was purty, but pristine it wasn't and it lacked a certain rhythm that makes long summer rides so much fun. One nice thing was that I saw only 4 motorbikes all day and zero other users out on the trail-impressive for labor day weekend. A few photos are here 8/30/03 PARANOIA WILL DESTROY YA... A 2 dollar piece of plastic derailed the best laid plans for my weekend. The sound emanated from the front of the car and sounded expensive and dangerous so I turned back for home lest I get the car stuck in the North Cascades the week before vacation. It turned out to be broken piece of plastic on the inside of the wheel well that would bang on the wheel and steering linkage, but wasn't visible when you stopped to seek the source... 8/29/03 Suffering through the last few hours in front of the computer before leaving town for the methow....nothing but three long days of riding on the agenda. If all goes well maybe a we'll find a route connecting Starvation mtn with the Tiffany mountain road...I've spent probably about 20+ hours over three years working on this problem with no results to speak of. If it wasn't so damn remote it would help... Other options will be running N. Twentymile down Smarty creek as well. Should be fabulous. Got the single and the gearie for maximum options. 8/27/03 NY Times ran an article today on a design firm working on refugee housing. Similar to the Rural Studio, AFH designs easy to assemble housing for refugees and dispossessed citizens around the world. Read the whole shebang here Designing for the Dispossessed 8/23/03 Benchmark. Curious as to my fitness level, I struck out for Kachess Ridge on saturday. A 2700 foot climb in around 5 miles would give me a good idea of where I stood. I labored, cursed and heaved myself to the top and then enjoyed the long, sweet descent on rooty, twisty singletrack. As to where I stood? Hard to tell, I can turn the pedals but only at one speed and without much style. The first part of the climb I had to stand about 80% of the time whilst turning about 8rpm... After awhile the grade relented and I was able to sit and turn the gear. Once on the trail it was all good. The MB-1 is built for switchbacks and I enjoyed every single one of them. Another nice road-ride on Sunday and the rust will start wane.
8/22/03 A new, must read, blog has sprung forth from Nederland ....Today's entry strikes a note with anyone who's commuted by bike every damn day over the years. Check out the Mongolia Chronicles 8/13/03 An absolutely perfect camping trip to the Methow Valley last weekend....swimming, singletrack,sunshine were all present in abundance. We finally visited a long-rumored swimming hole with a natural water slide that was incredible. We rode Lightning Creek on saturday morning and swam in the afternoon. That evening I took a little spin up over Pipestone on the single and had the best ride of the summer. Completely alone with the sun setting in the west and a 3/4 moon rising above the canyon. Immersed in silence and gathering darkness I just let the pedals turn and the bike flow. After being in a slump for the last month on the bike this was the day I waited for all year long... Finally- a few of the zillion pictures are posted. 8/6/03 As usual Moab is at the epicenter of the land-use debate. I've never been to an area with such issues in terms of resource developement/preservation. With its spires, arches, balanced rocks, and jutting fins, Utah's redrock desert looks - from the air, at least - like rumpled elephant hide with prehistoric stegosauruses lumbering about. Depending on the weather and the angle of the sun, the earth moves through countless shades of red and brown. Down on the ground, saltbush, Pinyon pine, Utah juniper, and Indian rice grass tell of aridity and blast-furnace heat. What look like black, stony lumps on the desert floor really are "cryptobiotic crust," a fragile microbial world of bacteria, mosses, lichen, fungi, and algae. The hand of man is here, too: Anasazi petroglyphs etched into flat rock by a civilization that disappeared 800 years ago. Seismic lines bulldozed through the desert where geologists hunted oil and gas. Lonely oil pumps - "nodding donkeys" clank up and down, creating eerie night torches as they flare off their extraneous gas. Hundreds of miles of jeep trails. Mountainous piles of tailings from old uranium mines, some of them toxic Superfund sites. Potash drying ponds, cool green and azure against the hot desert red. From the Christian Science Monitor "Freeride Entertainment was recently on location at the Tour de France where Kona Clump rider Dave Watson jumped the tour peloton during the Alp d'Huez stage of the tour," read the release. "The jump took place just before the summit of the Col de Galibier. The set-up and preparation had to be done in secret, as the reaction of the fans and organizers was unknown. Showing up several days before hand, Watson and some of the staff at Big Bike, a French freeride magazine, built the jump and cleared the landing before fans showed up. "With three 16mm cameras rolling to catch the action and a photographer shooting stills, tension was high as the helicopters appeared on the horizon marking the arrival of the lead group. The amount of police and the mayhem created by the fans on the take-off and landing meant that jumping the lead group was out of the question. With communication hardly possible due to the noise created by the fans, a group of about 12 riders was sighted in the distance and the jump was on. Frantic preparations were made to clear the landing of spectators and take-off jump. From Velonews.com 8/1/03 I plunged into the digital age today with an apple powerbook and my very own ipod. I'm pretty excited about having a computer that isn't five years old for the first time ever. 7/30/03 For the literary aficionado's in the crowd you can get your own Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll.... from www.antipixel.com 7/24/03 How could you not admire Tyler Hamilton's gutsy 142km breakaway yesterday....my favorite quote from the coverage, "Hamilton tries to find a more comfortable gear to ride in - but there isn't one. It's just pain at different cadences." 7/15/03 210 miles with a cold makes for one irritable cyclist. It was windy, crowded and mentally draining, but Corey and I rolled into Portland in ten and a half hours, about 19.4 mph. I don't think I'd do it again, if I'm going to ride for 10 hours I need more scenery, more hills(whatever you go up, you can coast down the other side) and less people. Highlights included a massive rainstorm at about 175 miles, a turkey wrap filled with mayo and two or three bonks. Meanwhile Roger and Brent were down at the deathride in Markleeville, CA. 130 miles and 16,000 feet of climbing over 5 passes on a tour of the California Alps. That's where I'll be next year if I can get a entry via lottery(didn't get picked this year) 7/11/03 Riding out the front door tomorrow at 5:00 am for the 338 km pull to Portland (kilometers sounds better) Hope to be sitting in Portland ten hours later...that would be about a 20+mph average for the 206 miles. We'll see. 7/11/03 Ecotopia no longer. An article in today's Christian Science Monitor about the decline of the Northwest-post dot.com- is required reading. And if you've never read Ernest Callenbach's Ecoptopia and Ecotopia Emerging, you should. Check it out here 7/10/03 Nice story by Matt Chester (aka flexiflyer) in the new Dirt Rag about just grabbing your shit and heading out the door.... check it out here 7/9/03 A few pictures from the long 4th of July weekend on the Chiwawa...Mojitos, singletrack, bbq, frisbee, homemade ice-cream and swimming. Pretty damn American(except for that subversive Cuban drink) if you ask me. Trails were fast but pretty dusty for this early in the summer. Chikamin Ridge was in tip-top shape though. The theme was "Know Pain" or "No pain, No pain" depending on your personal take. 7/02/03 I loved the July 1st entry at www.offcamber.com The image of a long climb interspersed with rhythmic beating of a tibetan drum seems absolutely perfect. 7/02/03 A cool link I saw while surfing www.antipixel.com yesterday. A link to a site that features 1-minute audio vacations. Very cool-give yourself a break and listen to a few here 6/23/03 As if being ugly, depleting open space and leading to a car-based society wasn't enough, sprawl also might make you fat! (driving to Krispy Kreme and then stopping for a 64oz Big Gulp, Mmmmmm breakfast) It all makes sense.... check out battling the bulge in the burbs' 6/22/03 After way too much lazing around this weekend I finally rallied and headed out to Tiger Mtn today for some muddy, rooty riding...It was a rather uninspiring bit of singletrack, but a nice 40 minute climb and it felt good to get out of town for a few hours...A couple of images are here 6/19/03 As federal policy stumbles and lurches in regards to the environment and public health, we can take a little solace in the fact that some cities are resisting the lead of the federal government and striking out on their own. San Francisco will become the first city in the country(of course the Euro's are already all over it) to embrace the precautionary principle as a framework for policy decisions. If you're not familiar with the principle you should read Better safe than sorry 6/18/03 It seems the smoke from the prescribed burn up Cub Creek that I mentioned below(Methow Valley) has unleashed a firestorm(pun intended) of commentary from Valley residents. I'm slightly sympathetic, but in reality you're trading short-term air quality issues for long-term health of the ecosystem and its residents. A fire like the 30-mile blaze closer to town would effectively shut down tourism for months not days. 6/16/03 Summer graduated on Friday night and after a nice reception, much red wine and a little karaoke(none for me thanks) we headed for the Methow on saturday morning. Temperatures in the mid-70's with a nice breeze made for perfect conditons. We climbed up through a still smoking controlled burn to ride Buck mountain on saturday afternoon/evening and then lounged around the campfire reading magazines and living the life of leisure. Sunday after a lazy breakfast at the Duck Brand, we strung together cow tracks, roads and doubletrack to do a sweet ride around and through pipestone canyon. It was the first singletrack run for the MB-1 as a singlespeed and it passed with flying colors... Pictures are here
6/9/03 The base
miles are finally starting to roll in a few months late, but
nonetheless. Fantastic ride yesterday from Leschi out to Issaquah
and then Falls City. A detour up to Snoqualmie Falls and then out
to Carnation. Up the Valley and climbed out over Union Hill,
which is one of the better climbs around, rising, rolling and
constantly threating lactic overload if you don't manage your efforts
well. Then we dropped down into Redmond, over to Kirkland and up
over Juanita via Holmes Pt. before cruising down the trail. 95
miles or so on the day under warm sunshine.... 6/6/03 Bidding to protect the west...breaking the stranglehold of subsidized ranching on public lands. Read How the West was Auctioned 6/5/03 Was
trying to figure out why the Singlespeed was so slow this week....turns
out I'm senile. Thought the brand new Spot SS Hub/Mavic 517 wheel
I picked up was running a 17 freewheel and I was running a 36 up
front... turns out I was running a 34x18 and spinning out on
anything short of a steep-ass climb. My mission this weekend is
to track down a 16 or 17 tooth freewheel. Surly hooked me up with the
breakdown(no pun intended) on gear ratios in a simple chart here 6/4/03 fasterskier.com had a report of doing the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP in one day up on their site.....not a bad read. We did it back in 99' 105 miles of off-road pleasure in one day completely unsupported. Brent and I saw more scenery that day than some people see in a lifetime. It was 24 degrees when we rolled out and I had a splitting ice-cream headache....by the time we dropped down to Mineral bottom it was about 55 degrees and we got down to business. We each carried about 2 gallons of water (16 pounds!!) A no-brainer for any aspiring endurance rider... Read about the faster skier story for their take...
5/30/03 Fire in the West-always a hot topic: From High Country News ... ... the firefighting empire and the
National Fire Plan amount to a massive case of denial. The painful
truth is that wildfires — arguably, even the recent so-called
"catastrophic" fires that turn vast acreage into smoking ruins — are a
natural force that belongs on the land. The strongest evidence of that,
ironically, is emerging right in the forest above the Fire Center
headquarters, in the work of a lone researcher, who wears turquoise
earrings and Carhartt overalls as she digs in the dirt. When word of
her discovery spreads, the long denial may finally end, and there may
be little left of our current wildfire policy that you’ll recognize. Read the whole article here 5/27/03 Ski to
Sea pictures of Team Toutonghi are up......no crashes, mechanicals or
other bad luck, but it was a lot harder than Pole, Pedal, Paddle in
Bend(and the logistics are much more complicated). I should
have been worried about the incessant hills and my faltering technique
more than the mass start in hindsite. Photo's are here Sea-2-Ski Photos Results We're Team #377 if you're looking for us...... 5/24/03 Off to Bellingham this weekend for the ski to sea race.
I'll be leading off for our team on the skate ski's....400 people mass
start...so if I don't lose an eye, break a pole or become maimed by 800
carbide tipped ski-poles in the first 300 meters, I'll have a full
report with plenty of photo's on Monday. 5/23/03 Tough
ride last night....rode the single-speed home and switched to the road
bike so I could race at Seward Park. Flatted on the way to the
park-patched it and promptly flatted again....tearing the tube.
Rode the flat to Il Vechio and got a tube, but it was too late to
race. Rode a hot lap of Mercer Island and then flatted again 3 blocks from
home. Neeedless to say I'm tire shopping at lunch today..... 5/21/03
Christine Whitman resigns as head of the Environmental Protection
Agency.....GW will need to find someone else to distort environmental
issues for him. She often seemed at odds with the Bush
administration and many of the EPA's decisions seemed to favor the economy more than the environment. More info here nytimes.com 5/20/03 3 hours riding
in a cold, pissing rain tonight. It sure didn't feel like June is
only a couple weeks away. After the beating I took last weekend
on the bike, I figured I better start racking up some
miles.....Also got the singlespeed back together--my secret weapon in
the battle for crackin' leg speed & power. 5/16/03 Read this on MikeGerhardt's blog this morning, but it was too good to not duplicate.... Check out Mike's site at mikemedia.com 5/14/03 The simple life yesterday(actually everyday)....wake up watch the Giro d' Italia
live for 30 minutes with my breakfast, ride to work. Then after
work I rode the lake loop and came home and watched the racing
highlights with dinner. Switchback descents on smooth
pavement.....mmmm, dreamy. And the big questions remains.
When will Super-Mario haul himself to the front and win a beautiful
stage in the World Champions jersey? Nipped by Petacchi again
today after Lombardi's questionable lead-out. 5/9/03 Urban Ecology is back in the news and a few of my co-workers are at the forefront of investigating how sprawl, urban planning, geography and wildlife interact on the wildland/urban gradient. A nice article in the Christian Science Monitor this week details their work. Read it here BTW: the CSM usually has excellent writing and story selection and is always worth checking out. www.csmonitor.com
5/04/03 The Spot Brand blog delivers the goods on all the action at Fruita Fat Tire Festival....Troy then calls out that we must stop at the Fat Tire trailer and pound
a beer after the next lap. Pilot Webber and I are up and over the
fence like gazelles with a cheetah on our tails. I finish first and am
back in the lead. Pete (Pilot Webber) is second out of the tent and
sees the mass of riders coming in to get their beers. It's a log jam.
There are three people out without a scratch (me, Pete, and a local
bike mechanic). The next lap, Troy calls out that we must change an
article of clothing... Read the whole sordid story at the spot blog 5/02/03 Seward Park
debut last night--well racing a bike is just like riding a bike; you
never forget how. Form was certainly lacking but I staved off the
humility of getting dropped which never feels good your first night
out. It was a sure sign of spring to be riding down the boulevard
on warm Thursday evening... 4/30/03 How come we (the US) get stuck with 12mpg Hummers and a bunch of other ludicrous SUV's and the European's get decent looking hatchbacks like this Honda Civic? Well besides the fact that it's our God given right to consume as much as possible during our time on Earth. 4/28/03 We Win!...Washington State has the most regressive tax structure in the country. Good if your rich, not so good if you aren't. So much for our liberal, progressive reputation. Read the report here With more user fees coming online(King County Parks) and a 2.4 billon dollar budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year, it promises to only get worse. Why soon you'll need a NW Forest Pass, a Sno-Park permit(with groomed trail fee for Cabin Creek), a King County Parks pass and possibly some I'm forgetting to get "back to nature" on your ski's or bike. 4/26/03 I wanted to get out on the tele ski's this weekend, so ignoring the rain, I headed up to Alpental to ski Pineapple Pass. It was raining lightly in the parking lot, but started snowing after a few minutes of climbing. After skinning about 500 feet above Source Lake , I decided to abandon since I was skiing alone in heavy wet snow and thick timber. Cruised back to Alpental and climbed up through the area to Lower International and then called it a day. I was hoping for some corn snow,but the turns were in horrible sticky snow. A nice hard workout though. A couple pics are here and a map 4/25/03 A little housekeeping: It looks like the NYT is now charging for archived links, so you may not be able to reach any New York Times links that are older than one week. 4/23/03 France next??? It's disturbing how the US swaggers and scolds with regularity now....From the BBC NEWS American Secretary of State Colin Powell has said France will suffer consequences for having opposed the US over the war with Iraq. Read the whole thing here 4/17/03 RIDE REPORT: Nothing sucks worse than a fierce headwind, ...until it starts raining, ...and you bonk, ...and you live on top of a big hill.Fortitudine Vincimus (through endurance we conquer) 4/16/03 An excellent historic map site(who doesn't like maps?) www.davidrumsey.com has top-notch scans of historic maps that you can view with a standard or GIS browser. The site includes a collection of Lewis and Clark maps and a series of historical Japanese maps. It's a gorgeous site and the software allows you to zoom in and really examine details and geographic representations. 4/11/03 Last weekend Alpental is open. I hope we get some sunshine so I can spend a last day riding the lifts. After that it's all backcountry or cycling....UPDATE: I woke up at 7:00 am Sunday and logged onto to the computer to find out that it was 42 degrees and raining at Stevens Pass(the ski season in a nutshell)...lucky for me cyclingnews.com had live coverage of Paris-Roubaix, so the big cup-of--black-coffee and early morning ambition wasn't totally wasted... 4/08/03 As my cold stretches into it's second week, I've tried to fight off depression and that vague fear that I'll never get back on my bike and in-shape for the epic rides of summer. When I saw the pilots were off to do an unsupported trip on the Kokopelli trail the pangs of jealously were acute, compounded by the fact that this is the first time in many years that I haven't spent the first week of April in Moab/Fruita piling on early season miles/smiles in the high desert. Check out the full intergalactic mission from the space conquerors themselves I had made plans to tick the 142 mile Kokopelli trail off the list after we did the White Rim in one day back in 99', but never got my act together. 4/3/03 Been enjoying Hurl's tales of Vietnam by bike this week as I've been home sick for the past two days...check out the sporadic updates at the Cars-R-Coffins website. I'm guessing riding across Vietnam and Cambodia would be a damn good adventure... 3/31/03 Back from NYC.... A week of great food, galleries and museums along with plenty of incredible architecture as well. I couldn't comprehend the urban density until witnessing it in person. Some random thoughts on what we did while there are here along with photos. 3/21/03 Getting ready to catch the red-eye tonight, bound for New York City for a week of coffee, culture and kicks.... Planning on hitting museums, a few architectural tours, possibly a show and plenty of people-watching.... Should be an excellent trip although the long shadow of the war casts an edgy feeling over the journey. 3/20/03 THE WAR BEGINS...hmmm, not my usual topic but pretty damn hard to ignore. It isn't removing Saddam that I've got a problem with, it's the arrogance and alientation the Bush administration has shown the international community and the continued efforts to create a common perception that 9/11 and Iraq are one in the same. Blurring the lines for the average citizen and drumming up support by confusing the issues and stating inane things like, "you're either with us or you're against us". It will be interesting to see the mood in NYC when we arrive on Saturday morning. I came across an interesting article on possible scenarios in a post-war middle east that does a good job of explaining the complex regional relationships. Read it here 3/15/03 6 weeks later than normal and 3 kilos(sounds better than lbs) over fightin' weight I started back on the bike for the 2003 campaign. 2 hours of easy riding marks my first on-the-bike training(i.e. non-commuting) ride since cross ended in mid-december. It felt good to be back in the saddle... 3/14/03 Ed Abbey died 14 years ago today-I've posted a link to an article by Doug Peacock, who fans will know as the inspiration for George Hayduke, about his friendship with Ed and a recent trip to Himalayas. The article is here. Peacock also has a fabulous book, called Grizzly Years. January 29, 1927-March 14, 1989 No Comment 3/11/03 With the generally poor tele and skate skiing conditons I've spent my free time this winter in the computer lab taking a class in GIS(Geographic Information Systems)...for my homework yesterday I downloaded and converted various USGS data sets and precisely located bridge camp in the Methow Valley...which reminded me that it's only 5 or 6 weeks until we can start heading over for some early season riding and balsam root viewing at buck mountain, pipestone and beaver creek. 3/06/03 Ouch, that stings....just another anecdote of America's misguided priorities. From the NYT---"There's something surreal about the fact that the United States of America, the richest, most powerful nation in history, can't provide a basic public school education for all of its children. Actually, that's wrong. Strike the word "can't." The correct word is more damning, more reflective of the motives of the people in power. The correct word is "won't." Without giving the costs much thought, we'll spend hundreds of billions of dollars on an oil-powered misadventure in the Middle East. But we won't scrape together the money for sufficient textbooks and teachers, or even, in some cases, to keep the doors open at public schools in struggling districts from Boston on the East Coast to Portland on the West." (03/06/03) New York Times 2/28/03 On the road with Ed Abbey, one of my all-time favorite authors, simultaneously crass, caring and funny. Anyone that ever met Henry Holyoak Lightcap would be a fan forever....a juicy, little nibble of life with Ed from High Country News last week...read the essay here and then go buy a copy of Fool's Progress 2/28/03 Surfing on a rainy Friday afternoon??....then check out the 2002-2003 Photobloggies--some great sites with clever pictures and concepts. Cuz' who doesn't like a little voyuerism... photobloggies.com then scroll down to see the winners of various categories. 2/24/03 Tony Blair-while all for the war takes a jab at George Bush on the environment and its link to terrorism, "Global poverty, deteriorating relations between the Muslim world and the west, plus environmental degradation, were as devastating in their potential impact as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction - some more so, he said." Read the whole article in the London Guardian 2/19/03 Tom Ridge is joking about duct tape now,(while still saying to keep it around) but you should still read "The Smart Way to be Scared" 2/17/03 Just back from skating up at Hyak....slow, slow tracks under mixed sun/snow and absolutely empty... Summer and I had the place to ourselves this morning. 2/14/03 "It's part of the game" Courting avalanche slopes that is, according to a snowboarder at the Mt. Baker ski area. A semi lite,and slightly disturbing article on avalanche deaths and the booming numbers of people heading into the bc. From the NYT 2/14/03 An addendum from Dougie, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on yesterdays blurb. "..haven't read the whole article yet, but that picture of a man and bird in china brings back memories... i met a guy in S. China who took me out on his little canoe/skiff while he fished with cormorants. they'd dive into the water, pick up fish into their mouths then bring them back to the boat whence the man would commence strangling the bird until it coughed the fish back up into his boat. i think he tied a little fishing line around the birds foot so it wouldn't swim/fly away or so he could pull it back - i forget exactly but pretty cool... " 2/11/03 Finally scanned in a few pictures from last years trip to Mt. St. Helens (9 months later). I think I need a new dress for 2003 with a little more sass...check out the pics/story 2/09/03 Gorgeous day skating the Mt. Catherine Loop at Hyak...conditions fantastic with firm, fast snow in blinding sunshine. As a bonus the grooming was excellent, quite a contrast to the week before. A few pics are posted here 2/7/03 Cory Smith's search for the perfect XC ski town visits a place near and dear to my heart, the Methow Valley. Tragically he discovers while it's close to heaven on earth, it's damn hard to have a career(not that I have a "career" in Seattle). Read the article from www.fasterskier.com here. |
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11/26/03 UPDATED 11/28 with a great picture from today's New York Times, taken at a Toys R; us. What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Holiday shopping season than an article on (over)consumption? 
11/24/03 A short trip up to the pass yesterday to check out snow conditions. We planned on skinning up Silver Fir and making some turns but were chased out of the resort by security... It looked pretty spartan so we crossed over to Gold Creek and went for a hike/snowshoe. Close but not quite, but the forecast looks good for the coming week.
10/13/03 800 sq ft. of gorgeous eco-friendly house....only drawback is that cost was no object. I did take comfort that although well out of reach of mere mortals, it isn't 5000 square feet. Read the article from the 
9/21/03 Back in the PNW after two weeks of Nor-Cal road-trippin... We rode the flume trail in Tahoe-I struggled mightily pushing the 2:1 gear ratio at 9000 feet after being at sea-level the day before. Then down to Yosemite where we did a backpack trip. Camped right across from half-dome and could watch the climbers with the binoculars, now that's exposure! After Yosemite we continued down the east side of the Sierras through Lone Pine, Bishop etc. Then back up through Kernville to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park where we did another backpack trip into a high lake. After that the living got easier as we headed to the Coast and up Hwy 1 through big sur to Santa Cruz, SF, Arcata and Redwoods NP before making the drive home. Should have photos and details in the next few days.
8/05/03 Gap jumping on Alpe d' Huez at the Tour... a pretty incredible shot. 
7/21/03 A mini-vaction/backpacking trip to Mt. Rainier this weekend. It felt good to escape the city. We managed to sneak away from the crowds and get a great tent site with no else around. We went for a couple swims, a nice 3 hour day hike after setting up base camp and some good relaxing. We were just south of Chinook pass on the PCT-near Dewey lake. 
6/30/03 Tired legs today after yesterday's "climbers delight" Had planned on a long group ride down by Paradise/Skate creek at Mt. Rainier, but that fell apart. So I drove(slightly ironic that you drive 80 miles to ride your bike) out to Crystal Mtn. and cruised up Cayuse Pass and kept on climbing to Chinook pass at 5600 feet. After gazing towards Yakima I dropped back down to Cayuse and turned south descending about 10 miles and 3000 vertical feet to the Stevens
Canyon entrance to MRNP. I turned around here, ate a Clif Bar and climbed back over Cayuse pass and enjoyed the long, fast descent towards the White river. Finished off the day with a final climb up to Crystal mountain. About 60 miles and around 8000 feet of climbing on the day.
6/9/03 A cool new building for the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center. An interview with the Architect, Zaha Hadid is 
5/05/03
Only days after my return to racing I'm on the podium--but it was
for go-karting at a bachelor party....I've got the trophy, the bruises, the pictures
and the hangover to confirm my story.
4/13 Cabin lust as I read the Home Design magazine in the New York Times
yesterday. A cabin made of cinder blocks,with 20x30 foot window that
opens with a giant gear....it was everything I dream of, hip, practical
and not made of nearly unobtainable materials.....It sure would look
good in Mazama. Read the article 
3/16/03 46 degrees and snowing at Hyak???...we started
under warm sunshine, endured heavy snow and then back to sunshine. The
tracks were painfully sticky and slow even on the downhills but it felt
good to be out skating for possibly the last time since we'll be in NYC
next weekend. Hmmm, maybe a few k's in Bend in May if we're lucky
though. A few pictures are 
3/09/03 Just another day skiing the fresh powder at
Alpental, which has received about 50 inches of snow in the last four
days...making up for a poor winter in a big way. After having to
chain-up and navigate a slalom course(luckily getting through before
they closed the pass for avy work) to the upper parking lot, we skiied
laps off of chair 2 in heavy snowfall and limited visibility for hours,
our tracks filled in by the 10 inches of fresh snow that fell while
skiing. Ahhh, bliss. A few photos are 
3/07/03 26" of snow at Alpental in the last
24 hours...we're heading up to make some turns as soon as the workday
is over.........and it was worth the drive, tons of new snow and
fantastic skiing conditons kept us going top to bottom until the lifts
shut down at 10:00pm. Lift lines were non-existent as well 
2/23/04 UPDATED PICTURES A fantastic day skiing the lift served backcountry at Alpental. Bright sunshine, 10-15 inches of new snow and fresh tracks made for a fabulous day. Summer, Stephen and I rode until our legs gave out...Makes it hard to go to work today. Check out the pics of the 
2/13/03 In rural China the camera becomes a tool of conservation, both social and environmental through a project inspired by