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12.30.05 Random Year in Review... A few pics spanning the year that was 2005 (tragically nothing photogenic happened in November) Culled through iphoto and tried to find some that I hadn't posted before and others that deserved a second look. Wrapping up 2005 and starting 2006 on the skis this weekend. A core group is meeting at the Chiwawa clubhouse to ring in the New Year with long days in the snow, and long nights probably in the snow as well....
January: View from the hot tub after a New Years Day 2005 ski, Methow Valley, WA.
February: Skating the Mazama circuit with our posse, hours before getting married. Just the way we wanted our wedding day to start...
February: To win you must have lucky, today I had lucky... Getting Married to Summer, February 26, 2005.
March: Random Poster, Brooklyn, NY--Baby Hippo Skin? What does that mean?
April: Alan suiting up for an epic day of 16" new at Mt. Baker, WA
May: Somewhere high above Devils Gulch....a mtb dream
June: Happy Hour at the Beaver Creek Bar....(b. mccord photo)
July: Stopping to smell the flowers, North Cascades, WA
August: Earn Your Turns, The Captain somewhere high above Ketchum, ID
September: Clouds swirl around Mt. Olympus while backpacking in Olympic National Park, WA
October: Roger & Puffy Cloud on the way to the Twisp Brewpub, Balky Hill, WA
December: Scoping new backcountry lines during our Avy course, Kangaroo Ridge, North Cascades 12.27.05 Can we find a happy medium? I wanted to ski yesterday but it was 40 degrees and pouring down rain up at the pass, the nordic trails hadn't been groomed since X-mas eve and it sounded like a mess.... Bummed out a bit, but managed to enjoy the day, working on the cx bike which had started to resemble a jalopy. New brake pads, switched out the crank and BB for the tireless ritchey logic from the old mb-1 since the q-factor of the ultegra cranks on the kelly was super-wide and bothering my knee. Finally found the piece of wire in my rear tire that had caused a few slow leaking flats. Today it's dumping at the pass and the roads were closed for a few hours this morning...back to work in the warm rain this a.m., but at least I had working brakes and air in the tires. Along with a nice warm,dry spare pair of smartwools socks to put on once I got here. Makes all the difference in the world. We're finally returning to a snowy pattern in the mountains after a few weeks of either dry and cold or warm & rainy. Hopefully a good sign for the New Year. 12.24.05
Wishing you all the best this season.... 12.23.05 How bad could it be? Went to the gym last night to make room for a little holiday cheer and get a little core work to help with the double poling... Decided to run home since I didn't have my bike, hmm, could leave my pack at work but maybe I'll just wear my pack, and it is raining kind of hard, How bad could it be? Answer was: Miserable--cold, windy, dark and pouring down rain. The hypno knickers were soaked through, rain jacket was breached, sweating from the inside, puddles I couldn't see and that damn pack bouncing up & down with every stride. It seemed like a long, long 4 miles up the hill the shortest way possible to the warmth of dry clothes, homemade soup and some last minute wrapping... 12.22.05 Move to the light.... we gained a minute of daylight today and it will keep on increasing til' June... Weather's got me messed up, last days of fall east of the mountains below zero and the first days of winter back in Seattle we're in the low 50's and wet, wet,wet. A nice 55 degree swing for my wake-up temps this week. 12.21.05 Back from the mountains--cold temps this weekend, dipping to -7 on Sunday in Mazama. Chilly since we were up at 5:30 am to get ready for our avalanche field trip to Washington Pass. Weekend was super nice. Nordic skiing at the Leavenworth Ski Hill on Friday afternoon. A rolling 8k loop loop that was a little icy made for sweet skating and my first good tempo skiing of the year. Plus, when you're in Leavenworth you've got to have a braut (or a veggie braut) outside by the fire with polka music blaring from the loudspeakers in town before driving up to the Methow, having dinner and sitting in the hot tub. Saturday was in the single digits and a full day of Avy class with Summer & Stephen, 8:30-6:30. Ton's of information, beacon practice, flux lines, wet sluffs, windslabs, concavities, convexities and all that jazz. Sunday we were at the Silver Star gate on highway 20 at 6:55am for a sno-cat trip up the pass..temps below zero. I had a crazy amount of clothes on, two hats, softshell jacket, down jacket etc. Early Winters spires were glowing all day in the low-angle sun. We got to do shovel shear tests, compression tests, rutschblock tests, dig pits, survey layers, practice multiple burial rescues and the whole nine yards. A few sweet tele-turns in fading daylight on the way back to the sno-cat finished off the day. A visit to the hot tub warmed our toes up nicely after being out in the chill all day. Mostly too busy for pics all day, but I fired off a few from Sunday which I posted below... Monday and Tuesday was more beautiful skating up at Rendezvous and Sun Mountain. Trails were fantastic and we skiied until the legs and sunshine waned...perfect winter vacation. Winter Solstice today: Sunrise in Seattle is 7:55 and sunset 4:20, leaving a measley 8 hours and 25 minutes of precious light...although it's pouring rain today which means it will be light out for about 7 hours.
Summer in deep blue winter shadows below Early Winters Spires, 12.18.05 (tragically I cut the peak off with poor framing)
Olivia, one of our guides, demonstates the shovel shear test (pull, don't lever the shovel) 12.15.05 Just emailed my final paper---which means that we're leaving for 5 days of skiing in the methow tomorrow. Skate ski tomorrow, 2 day avy course with ncmountainguides on the weekend and the we're staying for a couple more days of nordic. I've been looking forward to wrapping up school for the quarter and running away to the mountains for the last few weeks. For now I'm pretty content just lazing on the couch tonight, beer in hand, watching shitty tv. My brain needs a rest. chat with ya'll after many k's clicked off, tele-turns earned, hot-tubs visited so on and so forth... til' Tuesday. 12.14.05 Whoa.... (sounds like a Zilly book) Almost fell on my ass a few times riding to work today. Was lucky the first time, 30 feet from the front door when I washed out the front end of the super-cx-cycle on a left hand turn and was only saved by clipping out and putting a foot down. Hmmm, that thick, thick fog last night combined with sub-freezing temps has coated the roads with the ever-evil black ice. After another near miss and some laughable corners I gingerly made my way down the hill where the roads dried out and the speeds could increase. I don't ride much in the ice, but you feel kinda silly going around corners at 3mph. I guess the only thing sillier would be laying upside down in the gutter after sliding across the road. BJK sent me a link to a blog that linked to the Short History of America... seems like I've seen or posted this before, but it's good enough for another go around. R. Crumb is always disturbing/funny 12.12.05 A day closer to freedom....after work I got in a quick trip to the gym to work on the core strength plus a little upper body for the skate skiing. Then straight home to the laptop where I'm struggling through a term paper. It's getting closer though. Couldn't sit in front of the computer all afternoon without getting outside again for a short run--keeps me from being to antsy while I try to write. Time to get back to it, sooner I finish the sooner this quarter is over. 12.11.05 Today a final paper for class is on the agenda so we bailed on the drive to the mountains and went for a long run instead...should be studying/writing right now, but I needed a little break. 12.09.05 Random Friday Sighting: Saw a guy on way home tonight, sitting in the sun, ipod in his left hand cranking tunes, drinking a quart of egg-nog straight from the carton. He looked pretty damn happy... 12.08.05 Short days mean it's pretty easy to catch both sunrise & sunset. Goes to show Seattle isn't always dreary in the winter. Sunrise over the Montlake cut as I pedaled into work and sunset on Mt. Rainier as I snuck in a run just before dark...
12.08.05 Another sassy sunrise this morning, rising just as I came across the bridge. Not much else going on but schoolwork, It is the final week of class next week and I've got to turn in a paper this afternoon and another one next week. Yearly Nagging--be careful out there in them thar' hills-- Snowboarder dies at Alpental. Check out the Seattle PI article on a cool undertaking. The Urban Archive project at the UW...(pic stolen from www.seattlepi.com)
photo: josh trujillo/pi 12.05.05 "Cycling is the New Golf...", according to a story in Sunday's New York Times. Lets hope that's not true. The article also claims that business people are making deals in all kinds of "extreme" sports in addition to cycling, even during long-distance open water swims which seems a bit fishy (pun intended). 12.04.05 Season opener-- I made it up to the opening weekend of nordic at the pass today with Summer & Roger. Plenty of new snow and some nice grooming made for good skiing under sunny skies. Went slow, working on the balance with plenty of no poles skating and a little V2 which always seems to exploit any balance issues I'm having. We put in about 2 hours and 20 minutes with only a few stops and no real hills, keeping the heart rate low and thinking technique. I felt pretty good (and the conditions didn't hurt) Came home had soup for lunch, took a nap and then popped over to Victrola for a coffee and the sunday paper.
Roger & Summer ready to start the 05' xc campaign
Roger clickin' off the k's 12.02.05 A big tease... snowing hard all afternoon yesterday, but by the time I got on the bike to go home it had stopped and not much was sticking to the streets. Did get a slushed covered climb up the cobbles on the way home, but it wasn't the winter wonderland I'd been hoping for. I need some old skool knicker socks on these cold days, serious shin throb on the downhills when it's below freezing... 11.30.05 Been waitin' the last few days for snow, a rare occurence in the city but its been threatening for 3 days. Was hoping to leave the cx bike at home and pull the single off the rack and romp through the snow but we can't do better than 30-something and damp or 20's and clear. Alpental and Stevens Pass nordic are both opening this weekend, so somehow,somewhere I should be on ski's this weekend. CRAFT: I came across this essay from Mark Jenkin's the other day. It talks about skiing in Yellowstone, Karate and all kinds of other things, but ultimately stressed patience and mastery of craft. Something to think about for sure--maybe one reason the single is so fun to ride, cuz' it's swift, it's not a shortcut and when I'm skiing I realize I have many, many years of apprenticeship to go. The excerpt I liked is below and the whole story which centers on a monthlong backcountry ski tour in Yellowstone can be found here From The Path of Apprenticeship ... Swiftness is just the opposite of hurrying. To be swift you must be efficient. Efficiency in the outdoors is a form of mindfulness. It's about focus and having the knowledge and ability to make the right moves’Äîwhich requires experience, which, alas, requires time. Cross-country skiing is a craft. Kayaking is a craft. Mountain biking is a craft. Mountain climbing is a craft. To become competent takes us all years of practice. So why do we climb the bump in a our backyard and immediately want to take on Everest? Climbing Everest without actually having developed the requisite skills is like putting a quarter in player piano and pretending you are a pianist. Who're you kidding? So here's another rule I'm trying to accept: Shortcuts are pointless. If you're engaged in an activity because you truly enjoy it’Äîthe motion of the body, the skills you are acquiring’Äî’Äîwhat's the sense of skipping ahead. It's like skipping the middle of a novel or the middle of a song. The power of any experience is a function of its depth, a depth which can only be fathomed through dedication and discipline. And. Hidden inside the nut of discipline is a secret message: to apprentice is to accept the unfolding beauty of progression. To become at ease with where you are in the spectrum of expertise. I have a good friend who has killed the simple, visceral joy of cycling and climbing because he never believes he's good enough. He sets his sights so high that his personal performance is always a disappointment to him. Being covetous of what you are not is corrosive. Enjoy the slow blossoming of your own skill. This is the craft of developing a craft. Last rule: the process is the point. It's a clichˆ©, I know. It's also what Woody was trying to teach me so many years ago. Mastery is an illusion, grace a momentary gift, apprenticeship endless. 11.28.05 Brrrr, a chilly 26 degrees this morn'--frosty corners and a stupendous sunrise was the consolation for heading back to work...(cold weather brings a new banner--skating mt catherine) 11.27.05 The end of a long, good thanksgiving weekend. Spent a lot of time with friends & family--ate tons of food, drank wine etc.. so on and so forth... The blog mostly centers around my riding ramblings and rants, but in the background are many friends and family that make life what it is. Spent time as well trying to get rid of those calories by getting outdoors all four days and enjoying the sunshine (and rain), mostly running the trails, but considered pulling out the roller skis until I remembered they need bindings.We're still waiting for the local areas to open up and get some day-trippable nordic k's in. Since the end of the year is rapidly approaching I decided to cull through a years worth of photos on the harddrive and recap the year with a fav' photo from the each month of the last year.... should get that going next week and continue through December. I glanced quickly through the archives today and was reminded of many good days in 2005. 11.23.05 Makin' me laugh...(sort of) David Horsey's editorial cartoon from this mornings Seattle PI
11.21.05 FFS--(Fine Fall Sunday) Copious quantities of coffee, Sunday NYT, some scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, a long, (for us) hilly 8 mile trail run on the bluffs, beaches and trails of Discovery park, a stop at gorditos for soft tacos, some reading for school, a short nap, some more reading etc.... Short of having the nordic trails open we couldn't have had a much better day. foggy ride in this morning--almost like being inside the clouds, making it hard to wake up. 11.18.05 Picked up the new Doug Peacock book this afternoon--some of you may know him as the author of grizzly years or as the character "hayduke" was based on in Ed Abbey's monkey wrench gang He's got a new memoir out about enviro-meddling in the west and such called "Walking It Off". Looking forward to spending a little time working on it this weekend... Since we're still waiting for a little more snow before Alpental opens and the blog has been a little sparse lately, I dug into the archives for a classic javasport shot of Stephen,a few years ago, deep in the alpental backcountry to set the proper tone for the weekend.
11.17.05 Seems like all Avy all the time this week. Just came across a cool web tutorial produced by the Canadian Avy crew that includes multiple streaming videos to refresh your avalanche knowledge. They state, rightfully so, that its no substitute for hands on training but nonetheless a great resource. Check it out here: Avalanche First Response Training Program It's a pretty impressive website (including rumbling sound affects when you get to the homepage) 11.14.05 Summer and I just signed up for a Level I Avalanche course next month in Mazama. North Cascades Mountain Guides are putting on a two-day class and I've been meaning to freshen up my skills for a few years now. Get a little more confidence/respect for the backcountry. Hopefully we'll be able to stay an extra day or two and get some skate skiing in as well. It's been about ten or twelve years since I've taken an avy course so it should be a good weekend. Enjoyed a nice three day weekend--some running, some riding, some resting, some rain.....stuck in that gap between much riding and the opening of the nordic skiing...hopefully by thanksgiving we'll have some local nordic action lined up so I can balance the eating with activity. 11.10.05 Hah, must be ironic for those republicans who tried to sneak through the ANWR proposal in the budget bill instead of the energy bill where it should've been. In theory the GOP assumed that a budget bill couldn't be fillibustered AND (that's a big and) would have to be passed by the dems. But much to their chagrin it turned out to make the whole budget in peril of failure by more moderate republicans and they had to remove it from the house version of the bill... Although don't be surprised if this comes back again--it's been twenty years in the making and it won't go quietly. More info in this ANWR story from this mornings Seattle PI. I bet Ted Stevens is in a pissy mood this morning... It only takes a few seconds to make my day on the bike. Even though much riding has been curtailed by darkness and classwork there are a few gems in every commute. The second sweeper on interlaken is a thing of beauty--tight right hander, compression in the apex and a fast sweeping exit. Always fun, always different depending on rain, leaves and how awake I am. When you hit it spot on, as I did this morning life is good. 11.07.05 Two-count'em-updates in one day! Must be putting off something... A cool project I blogged about a couple years ago and had forgotten. Photovoice and the nature conservancy had given cameras to villagers in China to document ways of life that were fast disappearing... some fabulous photos and more info on the project is here along with a link to a slideshow The New York Times also featured a review of the exhibition and has links to a different slideshow as well. 11.07.05 Picked up the new offpiste mag yesterday and it got me all excited about getting out on the tele skis in the next week or two since it appears that we actually might have winter this year (fingers crossed) In addition to the bc ski coverage they have a nice little photo-gallery in the center of the paper that featured a couple classics quotes from Ed Abbey, of whom I never tire.. "Society is like a good stew, you've got to stir it up occasionally to keep the scum from floating to the top" "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell" I opted for simplicity this morning (and I already had one bike at work) and walked into work. It's about an hour and 5 minutes with a stop at Victrola for a coffee to keep the hands warm as I work my down the hill on the direct route. You see a lot by bike, (especially as compared to a car) but walking is a speed that allows you to see all kinds of things you miss on the normal commute and soak up an early morning in late fall. 11.03.05 Peer pressure... got an email from Geestik inviting me up to silverstar for 3 or 4 days of skate skiing since they open Friday morning...but even though I could get the time off from work I can't get away from school deadlines so as much as it hurt me--they'll be going without me. The xc ski vibe is strong at silver start and the trails are fantastic, but the 8 hour drive tends to make you think twice unless you've got a few days. ...the driving rain has resumed again this morning. Cold, wet, dark and in serious need of installing some new brake pads--barely managed to avoid the 3 racoons that crossed in front of me and ducked under the guardrail on interlaken this a.m. 11.01.05 Cold, cold November rain....could hear it all night long, falling in fat heavy drops, could hear it while drinking coffee and editing a paper at 5:55 in the morn, and could feel it all the way down the hill as the cx bike navigated pools of floating red & yellow leaves, tricky slickery cold corners and with manhole covers right where you exit the turns and slimey leaves in the all the wrong places. It felt like November. ...now sitting dry and cozy at work as the rain still falls outside the window. (glad I remembered to grab an extra pair of socks before heading out the door) 10.31.05 Happy Halloween--fitting that it's going to be a dark & stormy ride home from work... 10.28.05 Snow level is supposed to drop to around 4000 feet tonight, snow in the passes means it won't be long until the atomics are pulled out, scraped down and waxed up for another season of chasing effortless glides... Onthe other hand after we "fall back" to daylight saving time this weekend, the sun will be setting at 4:55 or 5 minutes before I get off work. 10.26.05 I think these projects are pretty cool, rephotographing the west A series of images based off the original USGS survey photographs in the late 1800's that have been rephotographed in the 1970's and and late 1990's. A cool website with a bunch of locations around the west to view, along with notes on the process. ...tweaked the commute last night to take in a nice cobbled uphill section to power through, tis' short but the sensations of a power climb are present and accounted for. 10.23.05 Gorgeous fall day yesterday--cup a coffee in the morning and then a we felt the urge to get into the mountains so we took off to Ingalls Lake in the shadow of Mt. Stuart...gorgerous blue skies, yellow larches and perfect hiking temps up above the Teanaway. We got to the lake and just sprawled on a big boulder at the lakes edge in the sun and lazed around for an hour soaking it all up. It felt so good to be wandering about in the high country on one of the last few days before the winter strikes. Topped off the day with a goodbye party for Nick, a good friend of ours--where Stephen put together a top-notch slideshow of 10 years of Nicks adventures and we were introduced to Myslewicz rules "danger" pong. Not only do you have to win by two, but you must always wear a hat and if you are at game point the diving mask and snorkle need to be in place. Twas' fun. Sunday morning a french press full of coffee and a little NYT in the morning before homework as the rain is pouring outside...
mt. stuart framed by larches
summer & i waiting for the self-timer to click
reflection
...later that night-game point!--myslewicz pong (that's the rulemaker on the left) 10.19.05 Cool rain on the ride into work this morning, roads slippery with leaves, gravel crunching under the jet's through the park and the quick shot of gravity down to the bridge before the long false flat leads to the BB--where espresso and bagel await--tonight crunching through dry leaves blowing around the neighborhood, the smell of woodsmoke for a few seconds and a tremendous sunset, wondering if this winter will be better than last years dry, dismal winter. 10.17.05 Outside Magazine had a sidebar on mountain coffee shops and I'd done pretty well on the list, 3/4 places they mentioned (Java on 4th in Ketchum, Oso Negro in Nelson, B.C. and Camp IV Coffee in Crested Butte) I hadn't heard of the place in South Lake Tahoe they mentioned, but that could be cuz' the two times I've been to S. Lake Tahoe I've usually been trying to get out of that trafficky hell ASAP. They were talking skiing, but it seemed the Mondo in Moab would get at least an honorable mention... Oso Negro was by far the best cup of coffee I've ever had--we went back a couple of times to see if it was just because I was on vacation or had come back into town from backpacking. But nope, just perfect black goodness. We also don't know whether they're looking only at coffee or whether it's the hub of the all the outdoor action? I probably mentioned it last year, but every fall you should sit down on late saturday afternoon in the sun and read John Nichol's, The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn All the best things about fall in a short memoir. 10.16.05 finally got around to putting up a few shots from last week's trip to the Methow--check'em out 10.12.05 A good time-waster from the BBC, Rockface Rescue!! Use your helicopter to pluck stranded climbers from the jagged cliffs... so far I've crashed about 12 helicopters and haven't rescued a damn thing. ...and I just put up a little more info on the glorious weekend below, should have a few more pics one of these days.
After struggling to get out of town, (gas, coffee etc..)we hit the road in a torrential downpour which lasted about 9/10 of the 4 hour drive...finally rolled into the campground on falls creek at midnight and dropped off into happy dreams of a 3-day weekend. A little breakfast friday morning under clearing skies, a little more coffee and our group of 10 (3 dogs, 7 people) took off for a mission to buck mountain, Potter panted, Bella beamed and Boomer reveled--the rest of us two wheeled travelers had a pretty damn good time as well. Logistical snafu's on who was bringing food and what time they were arriving resulted in a rich dinner of multiple varieties of fancy cheese and beer--topped by birthday brownies. UPDATED Saturday morning trail run with Andy & Summer was pure bliss, quiet along the river, changing colors followed by a gigantic breakfast. Then off to Lightning creek, one of the trails from my first mtb trip a long time ago, in fact the one that hooked me on cycling. A fast start down through the pines was all covered in snow, slickery good times for a few minutes until we dropped below the snowline and let go of the brakes. Twisting and turning up above the creek with a permagrin. The only downside is that it ends to soon. But.... we rode back over to town on some prime cowtrack through the sage up above death valley and pipestone. Then the kamikaze downhill towards town. After a huge meal we sat around "tasting" although I'd like to think we were inspired by timmyp with our black butte porters, pacifico's and blue heron's, I think we had a little less sophistication and a little more drunkeness, who brought that tequila??? Sunday a small group of us rolled pipestone rim and the singles finally outnumbered the gearies 3/2. When Stephen snapped his seat bolt and had to ride standing for the next hour, we bestowed honorary singlespeed status upon him as well! Tough ride, Roger dented a rim, Stephen busted a seatpost bolt and I had two flat tires... I did get a chance to check out GeeStik's new Voodoo Dambala 29'er--a pretty sweet ride and with sliding dropouts it can morph from single to gears....
Group ride at Lightning Creek 10.8.05 (A. Martinez photo) 10.06.05 Rolling eastward over the mountains tonight. Trinkets are charged, bike is prepped, maps are stowed, french press is ready to dole out coffee in copious quantities and most important, Summer and I are ready to bust out of town and hang with a good group of 10 or 12 friends at a cabin in the mountains. The larches should be peaking in all their golden glory along with the aspens. Hopefully many pics next week. 10.05.05 Lost! An interesting article about people just casually wandering off on hikes and never returning.... Check it out,In the Beartooth Range, it's disappearance season (May require a NYT login) First ride home in the dark,dark last night has me thinking I need a little more firepower on the commute. Interlaken is too dark for my little light I was running most of last year. Might have to Liberate Summer's niterider for a bit until I decide what I want (and more importantly what I want to pay for) 10.04.05 Rolled in on the cross bike this morning, didn't realized I'd missed its "do-it-all" style and silent running until I was back in the saddle... also a few minutes of quiet time at Victrola drinking coffee before rolling down the hill didn't hurt this morning as well. Tweaked the commute a bit last week to take in some twistier quiet roads and couple of gravel paths through the park--trivial in length but a gorgeous ride to work with a fast, twisty downhill to wake me up. 10.03.05 October--time to put the road bike away for the winter and start riding the orange cx bike--wrangle the 42 x 18 around for the winter months instead of enjoying the gears and quickness of the road rig. It's time, given the wet leaves and slickery turns of interlaken, for the switch. Methow mtb fest coming up on Friday--so looking forward to a night drive over the mountains and into the land of sage, steppe, larch and rock. 09.29.05 The Middle Fork Trail finally opened last month to bikes after 10 or 15 years of wrangling with local hiking groups and the Forest Service over access. Probably the biggest victory for semi-local (40 minutes from Seattle) access. The Seattle PI did a pretty good write-up on the Middle Fork trail today... Fingers crossed for the next three years to see how it works out. Off to an environmental policy class--school starts right now! The blustery wind of this morning has given way to a steady rain--don't think my wind-resistant jacket will do the trick on the way home. Every fall I need to re-learn the lesson that I should always have a rain shell in the pack. 09.27.05 Nice commute last night an hour up North to pick up the car...some old roads I hadn't ridden much in the last few years brought back a few memories of old commuting routes from 5 or 6 years ago. A couple of miles of dirt on the road bike livened it up as well. I love that slightly sketchy feeling of on dirt with 25mm tires pinging off of every rock & ripple. 09.26.05 Feels like fall this morning, clear and crisp on the ride into campus--a time to savor since school starts on Wednesday and the easy-living of just work will overwhelmed by the work/school combination. Can't say I'm looking forward to it right now, but will be ready to plunge into the fray in a few more days. Best laid plans were derailed to take the single into the mountains this weekend, so we stuck close to home and sampled the local roads. Ahh to be able to ride singletrack without touching the car -- would be a dream come true. That's one of the reasons I rode myself into a stupor in Ketchum last month, when it's ride outside your door (or tent flap) you better take advantage. 09.19.05 A true java_sport moment this morning. Coasting across campus, coffee in hand, looking down to adjust the cup in my hand and I look up to see a vw passat in my lane and a bus in the opposite lane stopped at the crosswalk right in front of me for a pedestrian. A full-on skidding stop with a drift around the passat gets the adrenalin flowing at 7:45 in the morning. No coffee spilled, pedestrians,buses or cars were harmed in this monday morning incident. 09.16.05 The rain returns.... we got lucky last night on the ride home around MI,but this morning I awoke to the steady drumbeat of the fall rains--where's that fender? What did I do with my rain jacket and all those other things you take for granted when it's dry. It did feel good to cruise in through the cool rain though--just not quite ready for summer to be winding down. I stumbled across a training article (for mountaineering) on the web the other day and admired its simple philosophy for beginners--"get vertical". It continued this theme into the more advanced training as well with a second tenet, "get vertical" along with a few diversions into specificty & duration. I think we need a whole different concept of the gravity athlete. This shouldn't define someone who takes a shuttle up, but those who earn their sweet rewards whether on the single, running/hiking, or skinning up to make a few sweet turns on the way down. With vertical, comes clarity & fitness. 09.14.05 Roger put up a gallery of photos from last months trip to Sun Valley here 09.12.05 A little gallery of photos from high divide on the olympic peninsula. 09.12.05 3-days of bliss on the Olympic Peninsula--from rainforest to subalpine with a few peekaboo views of Mt. Olympus thrown in... It was relatively cold and windy, but zero rain. A few pics below and a few more tonight. Tons of blueberrys along the trail in the higher regions plus a couple of black bears--we missed the Roosevelt elk and mt. goats that were around though--maybe they were hunkered down out of the wind. didn't realize how expensive it was to get away from it all... $19 twice for the ferry, $13 for wilderness permit, $10 to get into the national park and you'r at $61...scary how fast it adds up. But it was worth it.
berries
Lunch Lake-Seven Lakes Basin 09.09.05 Cramming & Stuffing: Tis' the time of year when you feel the seasons change and you're compelled to get out as much as possible before the days get too short. Every evening been getting outside and enjoying the last carefree weeks before school starts and work starts to spiral out of control as it does each fall. Sunsets have been spectacular this week with the moon over the Olympics. On the cramming front, we're heading west to the Olympic mountains--a ferry boat ride from Seattle for three days of backpacking at High Divide/Seven Lakes Basin. Can't wait to bust out of work in a couple hours and hit the trailhead with fingers crossed that the rain doesn't come down in buckets. 09.05.05 Finally got around to posting a few vacation pictures from Ketchum-- 09.02.05 Bonk-squared last night, I bonked early and often. Multiple miscommmunications led to no time to stop and grab food and an extra 20 miles so I just kept riding, I mean how bad can it be? A good solid crew for a hot lap of MI--Kentley Scarponi sealing the deal and toying with my faux attacks and the jenn-erator supplying a steady supply of power all evening. PVP is going to have his hands full... 3-days of weekend bliss--might stick a little closer to home given petrol prices and the fact we did the whole cascade loop 5 days ago. 08.31.05 The last day of August. Legs are finally back to almost normal so I'm going to celebrate with a lap of the lake under sunny skies. One of the coolest things about the trail race was the simplicity--shorts, shoes a shirt and a water bottle. Moving through the mountains with nothing but a bottle of water and a gel pack. Admittedly you can't normally travel so light, but it was pretty liberating and part of the plan to diversify just a little bit from 100% cycling in the summer to a little more trail-running & backpacking etc. Try to become a little more well-rounded athlete. Labor day weekend on the horizon means it's time to wipe the sun valley dust off the single and see who is around. 08.29.05 The legs are nearly destroyed, hobbling around the last day, stiff & creaky. Cutthroat Classic trail run was a blast--. I'd fallen flat on my face and gotten stung by a bee, after some earlier runners had disturbed a hornets nest, all in the first mile. After that it settled down into the usual endurance racing grist.... ramp up the effort to near redline and back off a couple of heartbeats to a pace that will get you home in style. I was able to run the whole 11 miles and the downhill was like being a kid again (until I realized that I'd pummeled my legs so much that walking would be difficult the next day) The course was spectacular with 100's of peaks visible as you crested the pass. Don't think I'd bother with many races, but would certainly do this again for the unbelievable course--point to point through alpine terrain high in the N. Cascades. After the race met up with Summer who was climbing goat peak and we went out to the swimming hole to soak up the sun interspersed with icy plunges...another charmed day in the mountains. 08.26.05 The last day in Ketchum I went for one last ride, solo. Was pretty beat-up with a really sore wrist. I didn't crash on it, but think 9 days of riding a rigid fork may have aggravated an old injury. Anyhow it was too beautiful and fun not to ride so I rolled out and tried to soak it all in, (literally when I had to hide under some aspens during a rain squall) lazy mornings with the paper and coffee, sitting in the camp chair with a patch of sunshine, pouring over maps each evening with Roger & Brent, discussing what sort of loop we could string together, sun-showers to clean up etc and hundreds of miles of inter-connected singletrack. And I still haven't made a dent in the trails N. of Galena summit in the Stanley area. You could spend a week here every summer and still be putting up new routes. Ketchum has it going on in terms of trails and lifestyle--we saw an art show, the symphony, a tuesday night concert and listened in on another concert all for free while there. Chatted with a guy at the bike shop about cascade creampuff who knew that must be my kelly singlespeed out front. Overhead people catching up on how friends/family did in the leadville 100.... it sure wasn't Seattle, but ya gotta contrast that with the fact that everybody but the top 1% is priced out of living there. Lucky for us dirtbag's, free camping, hot springs and trails abound. If I get some ambition I'll try to put up a gallery of the rest of my pics this weekend. For something completely different I'm doing a trail-running race tomorrow in the N.Cascades. Can't say I've ever run 11 miles OR over a mountain pass, but what the hell. The route will be beautiful, I've got enough humility to get my ass kicked and it's fun to do something new. Get that nervous feeling of, "can I do it, run that whole way?" Yes, but will you have any style? That's the question I'll answer in tomorrow morning. Then off to the swimming hole.
perfect singletrack on my last day in Idaho-8.18.05
Day VII: A big loop out of Adam's gulch that featured a lot of pushing, hiking, scree fields and more pushing before yielding to a fun, fun descent. One of the best of the week I thought, but later found this wasn't shared by all... Who can account for personal taste? Day VIII: The legs have cracked... after ripping up the morning commute singletrack into town for breakfast, I realized the legs need a little break from pounding out the miles and my wrist is a bit sore as well. So after pedaling back to camp we all go our separate ways, Roger off to a ghost town, Brent on a ride over Johnstone/Parker gulch and I went for a nice 11 mile hike up to Pioneer cabin and long gulch...a nice break from the bike and it was great to be out hiking. Can't let Corey & Ye have all the fun-the last two nights have had incredible sunsets over the Olympics--been diggin' our new westward view. 08.23.05 Sun Valley wrap-up continued...Day III: A nearly perfect day in the mountains--rode the morning commute singletrack with a little more style/speed on the way to coffee and then we headed south down the bikepath for greenhorn, climbed up past imperial and howards gulch (they got a thing for "gulches" out here) and then at Mahoney decided to continue up to Mars ridge and the incredible 360 degree panorama. Some pushing on the single to get up to the ridge,but that's part of a big ride. Flowers, views and everything was spectacular. Dropped down into red warrior on ripping descent that ended with about 10 creek crossings at high speed.
As if it couldn't get any better we were about 50 yards from the natural (undeveloped) hot springs... Hit the brakes, waded across the icy creek and picked a pool that wasn't too hot... A nice 20-30 minute soak in the hotsprings before pedaling the 17 miles of road back to camp. Bliss
Day IV: Another commute and exploration on some of the psuedo town loops out of Adams/Fox gulches...some good trails although the legs were starting to fade after 3 hard days on the single. I did realize that on a 8 or 9 day a trip a geared bike might allow for a little more recovery (cuz' a day off is not an option) Passed a few roller-skiers on the way into town, swung by the skate park to watch the kidz tear it up for a couple of minutes and were still amazed about how many people use the trails here. Trail runners are a dime a dozen, hikers, mtb'ers etc. Day V: Headed towards to Galena to ride to a couple of sub-alpine lakes... checked out the trail for the boulder mountain tour (a nordic race in february) A nice rocky climb led to a pretty lake (prairie lake) which offered up a nice swim and then a rocky/tahoe like traverse to a second lake (miner lake) and then a steep rocky descent completes the loop... 08.22.05 Sun Valley wrapup Day I: Up at 6:15 for the ~12 hour drive to ketchum. Tragically I'm not even done with my coffee before Brent's Vanagon starts to act up climbing the pass---mission aborted and it's back to Seattle to substitute Roger's Vanagon (good to have a spare vanagon around for this scenario). By 11:30 it's deja vu as we throw everything into Roger's rig and leave Seattle again. Despite smoke pouring from the dash in Ellensburg, and oil pressure issues we arrive after 16 hours and find a nice little camping spot at 1:00 am out on trail creek road. Day II: The morning commute on corral creek--fast flowy singletrack through fields of sage, tight aspen groves and swoopy fast forest sections before popping out on the bike trail for the ride into Ketchum for coffee and breakfast at java on 4th. Corral Creek is only about 4 miles of trail but it's nearly perfect. After breakfast we went out to acclimate at Adams Gulch, then crossed over on Harper Valley PTA. Words won't do it justice but it was perfect. A climb up and over Fox and then the ride back to camp put us out over 40 miles and scorched our sea-level lungs. On day III we went to Mars... 08.22.05 Roger on the morning commute, Sun Valley style.... more to come as I get caught up with work--but we came back tired, tan and smiling from ridiculous amounts of singletrack.
08.08.05 I didn't make it out to the mountains this weekend due to other committments, but did attend a wedding with ping-pong instead of dancing... my kind of shindig. A rare action shot that shows me dressed up. Back in about 10 days with all the details---happy trails. 08.04.05 My Blah-g, seems to be suffering these last few weeks...moving, not riding a ton due to moving and getting squared away has taken up mucho time. Nice to have a few new commute options to work from the new place. Fast, traffic free, bumpy, shady corners if I come off of interlaken or wide open descents with big views of campus if I cruise out 15th to where it drops off the northside of capital hill or the old standby that I used to take if I drop east a bit down madison. Downhill on the way in, uphill on the way home. Neither is very long, but there are plenty of options to extend depending on the mood. Leave for Ketchum/Sun Valley on Tuesday. Gonna bring the single even though it could cost me oxygen since we'll be 8000 feet above the thick, moist seattle air. I will concede and grab a 32 ring just in case the 34x18 proves a little too big for keeping up with Brent and Roger. The bike should be perfect on most trails though, fast,smooth singletrack threading threw the aspens and open sage. 08.01.05 Well the location doesn't quite satisfy Ed Abbey's sentiments of, "If you can’t pee off your porch, you live too close to town.", but irregardless we moved into our condo this weekend. Plenty of hauling/cleaning/packing snatched away the last three days... The only riding was pedaling over a few of the fleet to the new home. Getting settled in somewhat to a different space and routine and feeling pretty good about it. I do kind of like that we traded our view of the cascades to the east for a little westward view of the olympics. It's comforting to be able to see the mountains. Wasn't all work though, Summer and I salvaged exactly 2 hours of weekend last night with an evening swim down in the lake with a few friends that was oh so refreshing after working through the weekend. 07.27.05 Busy, busy.... had a 3-strong crew last night for a lazy summer evening ride around the island...the heckler was still teeming with red blood cells from 4 weeks up as high as 17,000 feet in central china climbing so the miles rolled by. Also signed away our lives today when we closed on our condo---pretty exciting stuff. Broke in a new commute today as well, Summer dropped me off at work, since we had to sign this morning, sans bike--so I ran home down along the lake, up through the arboretum and then up madison. Not to bad--40 minutes and places I'd never been with about 2/3 of the way on trails and paths. Not sure if I'd go out of my way to do it again since I'd usually rather be on wheels, but it was pretty fun. Zuma' is out for this year, I feel like the boy who cried wolf (again) but I failed to really get in enough riding these last 6 weeks. It's funny, all you want to do is ride usually--but when prepping for a big event you always feel it's not enough. Rode for 5 hours? Not bad, but you should have done 7.... They slightly distort the lens you view your rides with--I need less thinking and just going and going and not worrying about time/distance and whether it's enough. Big, fun rides and adventures that last all day is about the only "training" I can commit to these days A consolation prize is a week in Sun Valley/Ketchum. Home to some of the best riding on the planet...2 weeks until sage, pine, camping on the river and grabbing a morning coffee at java on 4th. 07.25.05 Ah thanks, but I'd rather ride...rollersking up Alpe d'Huez Now someone will have to skate up it. When will it stop? Going down would be something to report about. 07.24.05 Wrapping up a fine summer weekend... mixing it up a bit more this summer just cuz it feels right. Running stairs & trails on friday night, then dinner and drinks with friends, running into more friends (more drinks) and such...Saturday some TT viewing (poor Rasmussen) and then more packing for the impending move, a good road ride around Mercer Island and today early morning coffee, paper and TdF (amazing how Vino duped the sprinters) and then a great scramble up Vesper peak in the cascades. Rocky, steep & straight up-hadn't been in 7 or 8 years. A few pics below. 3 days and 3 ways. My legs are wrecked.
After 2 miles and 2500 ft of up you get to see the goal-Vesper peak which is still plenty higher
looking towards glacier peak in the distance
Neighbors--Sperry peak-no time today, but maybe next time...
Green 07.21.05 Nothing much to chat about lately.... I did, on a whim, sign up for the cutthroat classic trail run next month. I'm not sure if I can run twelve miles over a pass through the mountains, but figure I should be able to fake it a wee bit... It's a beautiful course and a great group of people that put it on, so how bad can it be. Nice stage yesterday at the TdF. Paolo Salvodelli really gritted out a nice V in the final meters of the stage--after fighting hard from the flame rouge chasing KAA the whole way. I ain't got nothin' else.. 07.19.05 Summer daze....been running stairs at least once a week during the summer to break up the riding a bit and the last couple times its been warm enough to stop at one of the two parks along lake washington and go for a short swim before hitting the stairs that lead up, up, up and back towards home. Just a short dip, but it feels pretty damn refreshing. Also when I run that loop in the middle of winter and it's cold, rainy and shitty outside, it will be nice to remember the summer days swimming before tackling the stair sets...contrasts. Starting to think about thinning the herd of gear that has accumulated. I don't think the new condo will support multiple spare wheels, old tires that I might use someday...and various parts waiting for the day they are called up into the light of day and some trail action. Luckily xc & tele skis are much easier to store and won't have to be thinned. And I don't think any bikes will be sacrificed-just parts. 07.16.05 Usually blogging about big rides, long days in the mountains, but this weekend a different kind of suffering--our lovely little kitty named Penny was hit by a car yesterday morning. Have spent the weekend realizing how much she added to the everyday fabric of our lives. She had woven herself into all aspects and only in her absence is it truly crystalized. She did remind us of important lessons in her three short years. To get up early with the sunrise, to stop and watch the birds of the neighborhood, sniff the flowers (....and grass), to get outside as soon as possible in the morning and stay out after dinner til' it was dark, to live in the moment whether that means taking a nap in the sunshine, exploring the 'hood or getting excited about dinner. We'll miss her. 07.14.05 Hmmm, got a late summer catalog yesterday, an email from skipost & eagle river nordic today and noticed the sun wasn't quite as high in the sky as I rolled home on the bike at 8:00 last night... But, but I'm not ready to give in, even though the solstice was a few weeks ago. We won't go down without a prolonged fight lasting through September and into October. Many trails left to ride, lazy mountain swims to take and road-trips to come. Forgot how nice it was to ride with fast friends on a warm summer evening. Plenty of laughs, a few stinging surges over Juanita drive and the search for the fountain of youth in Luthur Burbank park. Couldn't have asked for anything more.
Been playing around with google earth the last few days. Pretty powerful stuff for a desktop program. You can get elevation and tilt the maps to check out topography. Resolution varies depending on where you are but all in all it's impressive for a free desktop program. 07.11.05 Just put a big gallery of pix from the weekend up....tragically nothing from Sunday, but you'll just have to believe that it was incredible. The red be gone.... Back from a 3-day weekend in the cascades...nothing epic but a great time. Reversed the ratio and did 2 hikes/1 bikes, My consolation was two great hikes in the North Cascades so I'm not really complaining. Friday we hiked up to Copper Glance lake in a cool (cold) rain. The flowers were amazing (as they have been all year due to our wet spring/summer). The lake was small and inset in a rocky basin with a few larches and outcrops of flowers. Hike was short and steep as everything that says "miner's trail" usually is. Saturday we had a big group so we headed over to mazama to check out a trail I hadn't ridden, W. Fork of the Methow out to where it joins the PCT and bikes aren't allowed. Amazing scenery through a valley that burnt in Fall of 2003. Fireweed, globemallow, tigerlilly and heartleaf arnica contrasted with blackened pines as the skinny little trail rolled along the bench above the river. Then down to the swimming hole for a quick, cold dip into the torrent before feasting on salmon back at the campsite. Yesterday I couldn't rally the troops to mtb again, but we went for another alpine hike in the N. Cascades. One of the most rewarding shorter hikes I've ever been on...but I forgot my camera yesterday so that won't show up with the other photos when I get them put up tonight...Spectacular flowers, two alpine lakes, two passes and views towards Canada, Glacier Peak, Liberty Bell and the Early Winter's spires...crammed into 7 miles. Espresso milkeshake at Cascadia Farms on the way home capped a damn fine weekend... A few pics tonight or tomorrow. 07.07.05 That's one red background---that's what happens when I'm bored with the site but don't really want to spend any more time in front of the computer making meaningful changes to the stale layout of the blog. (Deepak, some day I'll freshen up my layout) 3-day weekend plans via photo and words. The plans include going for a hike tomorrow in North Cascades NP, hitting the swimming hole and riding copious amounts of singletrack on Saturday & Sunday.... If the weather is good should be able to get hike or ride/swim combo every single day. Throw in some frisbee during the slack times and it should be a good three-day weekend. I've been lacking a little training motivation these past few weeks, so I'm excited to get out of town and sleep in the dirt. Til' Monday.
07.05.05 Nick put up a few pictures of palisades/noble knob from Sunday. His pics looked a lot better than the ones I took so if you're interested go check them out. I sometimes long for the singletrack of sun valley, cb or tahoe-- but the cascades certainly have the rides the riders like to ride as DZ would say... Speaking of the Tdf-Morning routine for July shifts slightly with the TdF on live every morning...watch the stage live until the last possible moment, then hop onto the bike for my ride to the u-district, grab a cinnamon raisin bagel at bean & bagel and coast into the office a cool 15 minutes late every day (8:15 for those keepin' track) for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Boss just looks up and asks for an update on the tour contenders and we're all happy. A nice system. 07.04.05 06.30.05 A mindless little workday diversion for the next three weeks, a little virtual TdF racing over at velogames.com It's free and takes only a couple of minutes to pick your 9 riders. So pick a team and the smack talk can begin.... 06.29.05 I's be tired today--pain/pleasure as I raced last night down at SIR with some of the original squadra thanks to Kentley Scarponi spearheading the trip down.. The major difficulty of the road loop we raced was a hard right>>left chicane before kicking up decent little climb (although the guy in the masters race that broke his collarbone on a fast sweeper might disagree that this climb was the only difficulty) The climb was tough but not as bad as the false-flat-crosswind-transition back to the big ring hell at the top of the climb where the more powerful riders would really accelerate and put me in jeopardy . I was worked over pretty good for most of the race but pride kept me from getting scraped off the back of the ever dwindling pack... I was the annoying office mate who contributes nothing to the project but you can't get of him--and I'm proud of that. Besides if I would've worked more I would have just popped out the back...A race that was 33% legs, 33% pack savvy and 33% tenacity. Don't always believe what they say, being pack-filler can be hard work some nights! 6.28.05 Keeping it real at the CB 24-hour townie tour. "...most of the post-race accolades went to the event's lone soloist, Than Acuff, the former sports editor at the Crested Butte paper. Stopping only to change in and out of the three vintage sweat suits that were his hallmark, Acuff survived the night and looked ready to get down to the business of drinking beer at the post race party. Acuff's secret, besides the sweat suits of course? "Backwoods cigars," he said, chewing on one as he spoke. 'When I was feeling tired I would light one up. When I was thirsty I would suck on the end.'" from VeloNews Damn--Saturday's drive out of the mountains brought the unwelcome appearance of the "check engine" light in the Golf...it's at the shop today-cross your fingers for us... The graphic should just be "$$$" instead of a little engine with a lightning bolt through it. 06.25.05 After a lazy morning breaking in the new waffle iron (thx R + M) and drinking coffee I decided to get out and go for a hike I hadn't done before and try to catch the forecast afternoon clearing up at Granite Mountain....It sort of worked as the sun was coming out as I climbed and a few teasing views appeared but the top was swirling in fog and the promised views never materialized. Was a great day to be in the mountains, not to hot, not to cold. Trail was steep, rocky and beautiful with a lot of vert to be gained. The only views granted were over towards Windy pass and Mt. Catherine, giving a new perspective on the topography of the nordic ski trails across the valley.
Granite Mountain Lookout---No 360 degree panoramas today
Beargrass was all over... 06.25.05 "It gently rolls to the top..." New banner pic reminds me of an old story from way back in the day. Twas' a hot day east of the cascades on a long, interminable climb up a logging road to the start of the singletrack. Deepak and I have been chatting until the climb becomes more and more cruel. Dee is groveling a bit next to me on some of the steeper pitches and asks me about the rest of the climb, I reply without hesitation, that after this little kicker it just rolls gently to the top. That turned out to be 100% wrong as we had many k's of climbing and more kickers on the way to mad lake...where the biting flies made an appearance but endless, pleasantly grippy singletrack awaited. The phrase has since come to symbolize my complete lack of memory/truthfulness about the hike-a-bikes, missing sections of trail, extra climbs and other little misadventures that are always part of any ride worth remembering. 06.23.05 Overfed & undertrained this week....motivation dipped a little bit this week after multiple big rides last week and some unseasonably cold, rainy weather didn't help....oh well--somewhat a natural progression of stress/recovery and do it all again. If you have any interest in the West (and you should), get the latest issue of High Country News for a damn fine article on exurban sprawl. I would link the article but I think you have to subscribe to read it until it goes to the archives in a few weeks. The paper is only a $1.50 so don't be cheap, just go buy it. Interesting issues and one of the main reasons I went back to school was to see how we can deal with ecosystem fragmentation and growth--especially in the urban/wildland interface. Contentious issues for sure. 06.20.05 Quiet, lazy night flipping through the atlas and daydreaming of August vacation plans. Thinking if we roadtrip be nice to head down to Bozeman, Driggs over to Jackson then drop down through Lander towards Steamboat??? Something different than the long shot over from Seattle to Boise and down towards SLC... 06.19.05 "Lighten up Francis!..." A friendly (hah) chat with a Mercer Island resident yesterday after I asked for a little respect on the road (I was riding) in which he offered to give me five fuckin' knuckles of respect. He initially passed within about 6 inches of my handlebars when we were the only two people on the road at 8:15 in the morning...He took a left turn about 20 feet later and I thanked him for the room he gave me....This incensed him and I heard wheels skidding, reverse engaging and then him accelerating to 50mph as he chased me down in his car. (unfortunately sounds all cyclists seem to be familiar with) Have to admit I was getting more than a bit nervous that he might run me down so I prepared to make evasive bunny-hopping manuevers into someone's frontyard. But he buzzed passed and skidded to a stop about 50 feet in front of me blocking the road with his car, leaping out and screaming about how he'd give me some room right after he kicked my ass. I couldn't help but laugh at how enraged this 45 year old uptight surburbanite had become, neighbors started to come out of their houses to see what was going on. He was screaming obscenities and seemed to really want to trade punches. I was still clipped into the bike and spinning circles, keeping just out of reach. (carnac road shoes aren't really proper footwear for scuffles) Would've like to seen this asshole be hauled away for assault, but not enough to let him get close enough to throw a punch... I got his license plate number and put in a report to the MI police and have a couple of witnesses--doubt much will come of it but at least he'll get a letter in the mail. Wish I would have had the cell phone with me so I could've called 911 right there and watch the police come and deal with this dude. 06.15.05 Just posted a photo gallery of our 3-days in the valley 06.15.05 Ahhh, behold the glorious variety of the Methow Valley---3 days & 3 different ways. Fast shrub/steppe rolling singletrack on day one, huge climbs, big hike-a-bikes, long distances and abandoned trails through the high forests east of the valley on day two and sub-alpine/alpine cascade crest on day three as the snow fell and the wind blew.... twas' a glorious mini-vacation with lots-o-hours on the bike and around the campfire. More photos and words tonight....
Me on the pipestone singletrack on Sunday night (photo-B.McCord)
Brent descending p-gin creek on Monday
Brent climbing to the pass as the snow falls and the wind blows on Tuesday 06.11.05 3-days in the mountains....back on Wednesday. 06.10.05 Friday--once we hit 5-o-clock tonight I'm free until Wednesday from slave/toil. Tough week for updates, but school is over and work should return to normal after today...Ketchum got put on the back burner but I'm gonna take a road-trip with the captain for three or four days to go riding starting on Sunday...The weather in Oregon is looking sketchy so we might just head over to the methow to put in some long rides in the hills. Should be a good chance to get some big, back-to-back days on the single after a week of little quality outdoor time..see what the snow level looks like and maybe take a stab at "natalie" merchant basin or an exploratory trip the ole'craggy way. A few routes that have been patiently waiting for my wheels. Messengers hit the NYT with team puma....The fixie is getting more and more mainstream, I see at least two or three a day on campus or commuting now compared to about 1 every 6 months a couple of years ago...Although I don't really picture track racing becoming as big as skating as they mention in the article...many of the fixies in Seattle seem to ride under the urban hipster/coffee shop loiterer as you rarely see messengers outside of downtown. Another sign of impending critical mass is a thread on www.telemarktips.com on single-speed cross bikes...One might almost suspect geared hardtails will be going the way of the dodo and the middle class--only going to be 5" of boing or fully-rigid singles. BJK sent me an old link from Bicycle Guide, wayback in 93' about riding off-road on your road steed...once again stating that it's about riding,exploring, & getting off your ass--- not the bike. Also surf on over to Timmy P's photo of the day for a whole week of wildflower action... Nice stuff! 06.06.05 Sitting outside Victrola, working my final exam for land use law, looking forward til' tomorrow when school is all done for the quarter---but I got a ways to go before the 24-hours are up. Trying to figure out whether I can sneak out to Ketchum/Sun Valley for a few days next week....some long rides and being outdoors sounds pretty nice after finishing up the school year. And there isn't a much nicer place to spend a week riding than Ketchum. I last spent about 6 days there a few years ago and the trails are fantastic, the camping out trail creek road is free and the weather is near perfect....You don't even really need a car to access the majority of the rides, just a little endurance to roll a few extra miles out the bike paths and up into the hills. 06.04.05 Up DG, Down MR w/summer, roger and brent on a sunny saturday on the east slope of the cascades....4 hours of speedy-sweaty-sweet-singletrack-salvation, gaudy flowers and good company. Followed up by beers,brauts and polka in Leavenworth before meeting up with the gang on the chiwawa for frisbee & fire... (Special alliteration post)
Balsam-roots and lupines on the mission to the ridge
white flower on rocky soil
johnny rotten & roger
panning practice 06.03.05 50/50 deal this weekend--saturday east of the mountains with the chiwawa-pa-losers putting in time on the ss, throwing the frisbee and hangin' at the cabin. sunday up early and head back to the city and hit the books and finish up my project and work on my finals. All work and no play makes jeffe' a dull boy.
Could be pretty sparse on the blog this week, last week of class and I've got a two finals and a large project that needs to be wrapped up by next Tuesday along with a busy week at work--crunch time. Riding will have to be sandwiched in between work and homework,but the long way home takes about 2 1/4 hours--I usually have time for that a few times a week. If nothing else for sanity purposes. 05.30.05 Runnin' the reverse...Not that you asked---on a weekend when seemingly everyone heads to the mountains, towing boats, atv's, motorcycles,5th-wheels, bbq's and anything else you can tow (or not) we reversed course and decided to spend the weekend in town. Managed to get more of everything (except an mtb ride) with zero time in the car. Twas' a weekend spent outdoors-a quick trip to the gym on friday after work and then I rode down to the beach on lake washington to take adavantage of our heat wave of 88 degrees..a nice swim although the lake is still a little cold for lollygagging. I rode home and we walked over to TJ's to sit on the roof of his building and catch the end of the sunset over the space needle and the Olympic mountains. Saturday morning we got in a nice road ride on MI and then I snuck in a trail run/stair sets before heading to a couple of salmon bbq's in the evening. Lazy sunday with NYT, a run, a nap...Today I managed to be in the saddle at 7:25am for a 3+ hour road ride and then an urban "hike" with Summer of 4 or 5 miles downtown and back to hang out and drink some coffee, buy myself a patigucci shirt and run some errands/get some groceries. Home in time for another nap, a nice dinner and a transition back to homework tonight/reality. Hmm, maybe to many trivial details, but my mom will appreciate them... 05.27.05 Pack filler, fodder, deadwood,chaff, wheelsucker etc.....put in my first night down at seward park last night testing the crit racing legs. As always leg-speed was suspect with zero racing in the legs, but the night went pretty well. Just followed wheels and stayed out of trouble, searching for a little rhythm--just a glimpse of style. An early break went away and stayed away so it wasn't as wicked as it could've been. I had no illusions (or legs) of getting in the break. Was a beautful 88 degree night and riding down lake wa. blvd to race was the only place to be....Good times. I do forget sometimes about the incessant excuse making of some riders when I haven't raced in awhile...funny how the top guys don't get boxed in or caught behind the crash every single week like these unlucky few. Whiners annoy me! Irony over at www.antipixel.com A picture that makes me smile. 05.26.05 Was out early this morning to run a few errands on the bike before work at 8:00. Managed to have enough time to stop for coffee and just sit in the sun for twenty minutes. A little mini-vacation. No reading, just sitting, soaking up the sun, sipping coffee. That allowed me to head into work a different way, via interlaken--a shady and twisty descent off the hill... A fine morning of slowing down to get ahead. 05.25.05 The warm weather has arrived after last weeks icy cold rain showers...was beautiful last night, Mt. Rainier was out in full-force, the duck-dodgers were racing on lake washington and the legs were somewhat willing. After a long afternoon of class my brain just shut down and I soaked up the sun and pedaled...only two more weeks of class. 05.22.05 Hwy 410 riding is more or less open for business-Up palisades, down ranger creek, white river to bring it all back together...cold in the morning, no rain, lots of climbing, plenty of pushing, some good descending, a smack-down crash that reminded me that cold kneecap and rocks aren't the best of friends. A nice way to work off saturday nights celabratory dinner at the kingfish with fancy cocktails and unbelievable amounts of food, including a plate sized piece of coconut cake that we shared and still couldn't finish....
Ranger Creek 5.22.05
Two valleys: Mt. Rainier NP/White River to the right, Crystal Mtn. to the left from palisades 05.20.05 Crazy, unpredictable weather these last 3 days. Massive downpours followed by clear, sunny skies,followed by blustery winds and driving rain. No telling what you'll get from one minute to the next. You can scan the sky, but it reveals no clues beyond blue-black clouds interspersed with brilliant blue skies. Makes it difficult to plan the after work ride, not quite ready to be soaked to the bone for about the 4th time in the last week, but TJ is game so we'll head out see what happens over the course of 2 hours...I'm guessing sun,wind,rain, not necessarily in that order. Got to spend yesterday afternoon on the 19th floor of the municipal building downtown pitching sustainabilty ideas for South Lake Union, focusing on how ecological/natural systems can be integrated into the built environment. Ideas such as increasing urban forest cover, green roofs, bioswale stormwater management and such. Was a little nerve-wracking but our presentations were short and the questions pretty low key. Some cool ideas floating around that make ecological and economical sense. Now they just need to be implemented on a larger scale. Uh-oh, my calendar says 3 months to zuma'. Getting close to put up or shut up time.... 05.18.05 Met up with PVP at the overlook tonight, who passed word on that Kentley Scarponi would not be joining us after instigating the ride. Short story was about 1/2 way through we got hit with a torrential downpour of biblical proportions. Shoes quickly gave way to the onslaught, sloshing & spilling with every turn of the cranks, visibility was nil and the I-90 bridge back off the Island felt like a typhoon had come up lake washington from the south. Then we got cold..... Luckily it was just a short trip home from there, to a hot, hot shower--the contrasts make life so pleasurable. a few pics from last weekend and a nice post over on offcamber.com today are the only other things I've got so move along 05.16.05 05.15.05 It's not epic, scenic but not outrageously scenic, certainly not remote, not really technical either, the climbs are fairly benign, but the trails out of Phil's trailhead (Bend, Oregon) are unbelievably fun. If the mtb hadn't yet been invented you would be cobbling together a bike to ride these trails. Think fruita in an open pine forest. They inspire huge grins if you're an expert rider and the same smiles if you're just getting into the sport. The tread was tacky with a few nights of rain, the corners were bermed in all the right places and the sinewy turns, turns, turns, turns made you feel like a reborn Alberto Tomba...I railed more corners per mile than any other trail in my life...high speed sweepers, tight decreasing radius turns with trees to thread, sequences that had you just backpedal a 1/2 stroke to get your inside pedal up before laying the bike over again and again..., occasionally connected by high-speed straightaways to spin out the legs. Put in about 3 hours on friday up past the swede Ridge shelter toward swampy lakes with Summer until we got turned back by super muddy trails, snow and downed trees--after descending back to the car Summer graciously offered to pick me up a thundershower, ten miles and 10,000 turns down the road at Phil's trailhead. We went back Sunday to do it all again on the lower trails with Stephen and Summer. Still replaying the sensations in my mind today... Reconfirmed on Saturday that no sport (I've ever done) compares to nordic ski racing on the milliliters of pain/kilometer scale. It was only 8k's, the snow was pretty fast, the oxygen was gulped down like I was a drowning man. The balance between skiing fast and redlining your heart until it implodes is a fine one... a line I can't always sense and that leads to racing that shifts between looking like a wounded animal and appearing to know what you're doing.(mostly the former) The only constant is the suffering. The ski was hard enough to make the trail run down by the deschutes river seem pretty enjoyable, which was surprising since I wasn't really looking forward to it..beautiful course and probably about 70% dirt made it go by pretty fast. That said the nine of us all had a great time in Bend, despite a little rain... should have some photos soon. 05.12.05 Any spring weekend that starts on thursday night with the loading of the singlespeed, the skate skis, the trail runners and the camping gear is bound to be a fine one. Heading down to the high desert multisport paradise of Bend, Oregon tonight. Rough itinerary is ride tomorrow, race the PPP on saturday (I've got the XC ski, the run, and the final sprint in our two-man team) and then another ride or hike at Smith Rock on Sunday... Got a crew of about 10 good friends who are racing on other teams which means lot's of laughs, food, campfires, beer etc.... Should be fun. 05.11.05 05.09.05 ...pecker's and politics ---A nice summary of the administration's environmental doublespeak. (may need a NYT login) 05.08.05 Happy Mother's day Mo! Rode up Devils gulch today and looped a figure 8 with the mission ridge trail. 27 miles of singetrack and a mile of road. It was sunny, mostly drizzly, sometimes rainy, foggy, cold, warm etc. many times over. Trail condtions were fantastic (few patches of snow on upper mission ridge, but below 5200 feet it was fast and furious. Trail was in great shape and Mission Ridge was unbelievable, narrow, ridiculously fast and beautiful flowers. Pix below.
27 miles of singletrack, not all this perfect but damn close
4100 vertical feet above the car, cold!!! hungry and ready to finally descend (and eat)
not quite
the new single on mission ridge/devils gulch loop
Got some positive feedback from one my readers via email this morning... You know, Ja, your site is one of the first spots I hit daily. Before ESPN.com. I have to say the 05.05.05 entry is a strong example as to why some people think blogs simply are an annoying pothole on the information superhighway. Some things are better left unsaid’Ķ. Made me laugh, it's actually from a good friend of mine who keeps me honest. (and he does have a point) 05.05.05 Cinco de Mayo --- Hmmm, thought I was going to blog about something, but now inspiration has fled... I think I'll just shut down the computer and get outside for a few hours, put some miles in, relax... 05.03.05 Escaped for an 1:45 to recapture sanity with a quick lap of MI. Met Summer at the top of the I-90 lid and went to it. First real ride where I've actually turned the pedals in anger, putting in a few big efforts to see how the legs respond on a warm spring night. Jury is still out, but it felt good to dig deep a few times. Back to the books. 05.01.05 Had forgotten how nice it is to ride with someone, been squeezing almost all my rides in by myself with school and work slicing up the day. Got out with TJ, aka the heckler, twice this weekend. Definately makes the miles go by a whole lot faster....trading stories and pulls--not to many though, mostly just side by side, catching up on life. Rivendell Reader came in Friday's mail, spent a few minutes out in the sun this afternoon flipping through it on the front porch, sometimes quirky, always interesting, good stuff. 04.29.05 Nice Friday read, reminds me to not take life so seriously... On the road with Ed Abbey.
Of course I'd be remiss without noting the retirement from active SS duty of the Bridgestone MB-1.(atop Miller Peak in this pic) I first got back in the spring of 93'. I promptly broke that frame about 4 months later and have been riding the replacement off and on since. Still using the original ritchey cranks, stem and post, but everthing else has been changed over the years. Had the allsop stem back in the day of Henrik Djernis and Frischy (suspend the rider, not the bike). After bending the flexi-fancy-crowned fork back in a high speed crash at Sun Top I abandoned that idea and put on a RockShox Mag 21...slowly abandoned the suntour xc pro drive-train for shimano.(wish I kept that stuff) Then retired the bike around 98' when the Seven Sola Ti came to live with us. In 2001 I rebuilt the mb-1 as a single, went back to a ritchey logic fork and fell in love with quick-handling simplicity all over again. I had so much fun on it that the seven has been somewhat relegated to limited duty. All the trails I'd ridden so many times in the PNW were brand new on a SS. Different rhythm and attack mode. Finally decided to get a dedicated SS frame this winter to hopefully prolong the life of my old steed. We've had a good time together, All over WA., 3 or 4 trips to Moab, trips to Sun Valley, Whistler,Tahoe, Durango, Oakridge, Crested Butte, Salida, Santa Cruz, a broken collar-bone or two etc. Thinking about a pair of albatross bars from rivendell, and a flatbed rack (if I can find one for a deal) for the next reincarnation...(it will still be ridden) 04.26.05 The Lion King is done. Love him or hate him, Mario Cipollini was great for the sport of cycling...I appreciate his modesty as well, saying once that he was, "not only the fastest man in the peleton, but also the best looking" He'll be missed now that he's retiring at age 38. 04.25.05 A few pics from the methow... a few more words later.
more please..... I could ride this all day
Summer letting it flow off of pipestone rim.....
pretty.....
keeping your ducks(geese) in a row 04.25.05 Finally got a pic of last weeks lake loop posted...having some ftp issues. 04.22.05 Moab's conundrum hits the NYT today, jeeps, mtb's, miners coexisting in an imperfect harmony... I remember a few years ago when the Canyon County Zephyr was having a slogan contest, one of the front-runners was, "Moab, where one half of the town hates the other half" Good to see there is one thing about that town that hasn't changed...
04.19.05 tonight felt like the first true evening of spring... Heading north around the lake, no rain jacket necessary, rode past a guy bbq'ing something meaty in his sideyard, was on the road bike instead of the cross bike, was wishing for short-sleeves, legs felt like they had a wee bit of life in them. Mt. Rainier was out, etc. etc. etc. 04.18.05 Nice afternoon, was just outside soaking up every drop of sunshine I could in the 15 minutes I was outside the office... Summer also posted a bunch of our wedding pix from the methow over at www.grittykitty.net While I wished I was out crust cruising in Alaska, (damn that looks absolutely beautiful) my weekend was spent on much more pedestrian pursuits like getting rid of my cold/fatigue (and cruising the web for a few minutes). Oh well, better to take a couple of days easy instead of getting sick and not doing much for a month... 04.15.05 A nice link from BJK about yuppie cx from DirtRag that I hadn't seen before. I know it's the wrong season, but I don't have anything else to blather on about today, except that I really want to go home and take a nap. Feeling unusually tired the last day or two. Better not be getting sick... 04.13.05 Dues Paying Member: Cold and windy last night, with bad legs made for a long lake loop last night. Felt slow on the outbound tailwind section, so figured it would turn into long grind once we looped back towards the south... But I contented myself with day dreams of scorching singletrack climbs on long summer days and endless descents, camping, the swimming hole etc. You have to pay your dues in order to harvest that fitness base later and it was pretty nice to be outside on brisk spring evening... I did avoid the hailstorm, which would have made for more suffering than I was ready to deal with... Damn I'm tired today-- 04.11.05 Some ridin', some stair-runnin', some coffee, some homework, some good meals,some socializing,some paris-roubaix watchin', some sunday paper readin'... that was the weekend in a nutshell Got sucked into watching an 1:30 of paris-roubaix on the tube yesterday, a classy break at the end with plenty of horsepower, bikestyle and guts... I never cease to be amazed at the power and style when the top guys ride the cobbles,flicking across the tops and switching lines-it's a beautiful thing. Was hoping Georgie would find the legs/courage to take a chance in the last 10k, maybe TB was too strong, tough to second-guess from 10,000 miles away, sitting on the couch, eating a sandwich. 04.07.05 Eye on the sky---- After 8 hours of rain, the sun came out for the first time all day at exactly 5:00 and the rain clouds scuttled northward on a strong breeze that dried out the streets, I figured this must be an obvious sign to delay my conservation econ paper for a couple of hours and go for ride. So that's what I did... 04.06.05 Google Maps just came out and it's a pretty cool interface. Much cleaner than the old microsoft terraserver--a lot less scrolling and reloading of maps actually make it somewhat enjoyable to use. It doesn't have great resolution in the satellite images of rural/backcountry locations, but enough to get a broad overview and you can toggle between map/satellite image. A worthy way to kill a few minutes...Everyone should love maps---with just a few clicks you can transport yourself and your daydreams to moab or the methow -- 04.05.05 Decisions, decisions.... turn right when I leave work and ride the 5 miles home (mmmm,lazy) or turn left and ride 45 miles home around the lake...I do have plenty of homework(right turn?) It's daylight savings time and I've been waiting to get enough light to go for some longer rides (left turn?) It's raining (right turn?) I like to pretend I'm tough (left turn?) Well, left turn won out and I had a nice ride around the lake on the ss cx...snuck in a mile or two of singletrack through St. Edwards State Park including a little skinny that was pretty fun, saw about 15 great blue herons in the wetlands at Juanita Bay and just kept rolling slowly, steadily around the lake until finally hitting the floating bridge back to Seattle...one last hill that I could barely drag my carcass over and I was back home. Felt good to silence the voices and get out on the bike for a few hours. Still had time to go up to the cafe after a quick dinner and have a coffee while cranking out my homework. 04.03.05 A full-day of deep powder,hip checks, ridiculous crashes, unseen implosions interjected with sweet turns and big grins (check the photo for proof).... Alan made all the lines look easy and had a front row seat watching Doug, Stephen and I hurl ourselves down the mountain in various stages of grace on the tele gear. Summer, on the snowboard, showed some sweet style that belied the fact she hadn't been riding her board since Mt. St. Helens last spring... We topped off the saturday with beer in the parking lot and big margaritas and super fat burritos at Casa Que Pasa... It took until April for winter to arrive, but we weren't complaining as last weeks storm cycle dropped 90 inches of snow in the cascades. .... today daylight savings time kicks in, meaning long rides after work are possible. Weeknight lake loops are now on the calendar. Shrugged off my cheap-ass ways today and ordered up a pair of arc'teryx knee caps after taking two good shots to the knee yesterday and waking up this mornin' sporting a bruised, sore knee. An ounce of prevention (or $40?) is worth a pound of cure... 04.01.05 Word is Mt. Baker has 29" inches of new snow in the last 24 hours... after a season of tele-disappointment the gang is rallying at 6:15 a.m. for a full on assualt of the mountain--and for those of you who haven't seen me on the tele skis, it won't be pretty after 2 hours when I start making the stupid/silly mistakes and risk permanent damage to ego and body. April Fool's Day--ya gotta be careful when catching up on your surfing this morning...scratch your chin and ponder a moment (it took a few gulps of coffee before remembering today was indeed April 1st), could this be an april fools joke??? It's no joke that the cascades are getting pounded by snow this week. Tele boards will be getting the call up this weekend to head to the mountains and rip it up til' the thighs whimper, "no mas"... 03.30.05 An absolutely perfect morning, after two days of blustery wind and rain, I awoke to see the sun shining through the kitchen windows.... streets were dry, sky was ultra-blue and everything seemed extra fresh,clean and crisp this morning....if only I could've kept on riding all morning. One cool thing we saw in NYC was a photography show by Gregory Colbert in the "Nomadic Museum" It was made completely out of re-used shipping containers and the roof was supported by large-scale cardboard pillars....inside you could see reflections of the river on the fabric roof. A very cool structure that will be dismantled after the show and sent (in a few of the shipping containers to other cities) and the show, ashes and snow was very good as well.Big sepia toned ~10 foot wide prints suspended by wires from the roof.
NYC was good, tons of food, miles of walking, more art and design than I could wrap my brain around and a public/community vibe that you wouldn't think you'd feel in a giant city. In many ways more friendly/accepting than Seattle--mostly just different though. Felt good to go for a long run yesterday in the rain and after a couple cups of coffee I'm trying to muster enough ambition to put some miles in on the bike on a rainy sunday morning... ....managed to get out for a few hours in a cold, showery rain for a double circuit of Mercer Island---felt so good to just tune out the world on a rainy easter morning and just turn the pedals-that's the beauty of the cycle, cheap therapy. 03.18.05 99% of our vacations involve fleeing to the mountains, abandoning normal comforts and spending as much time as possible outdoors skiing, cycling etc. This week though, we're reversing course (keep'em guessing) and heading right into the center of the beast, Manhattan (interesting link to the ecological advantages of density and mass transit). So different from the mountains, but whether you like it or not NYC has a vibe, an insatiable energy, density and attitude that is unlike any other city in the US and it's pretty contagious. I wouldn't want to live there, but an occasional visit to soak up the culture, food and sheer humanity is a good time. It's all about balance and contrast. So until next week--- 03.17.05 A little bummed out about the ANWR thing yesterday, sneaky, short-sighted administration always working the production end as opposed to even thinking about conservation as a worthwhile consideration.... Almost more discouraging was a thread on mtbr about ANWR trying to rally a little Singlespeed soul that mostly featured a whole lot of apathetic dudes who didn't get it. Maybe I'm a little naive to think that cyclists not only like to ride, but have an ethic that encourages a simpler, lighter touch on the planet. Kind of a "soul of the sport" ethos. For many I guess it's just a cool form of recreation and that's all, blinglespeed, FS whatever, they must just think it's about the bike, not the bike as tool to get into lonely, wild places and across town as simply and efficiently as possible. Reason #231 to commute on the ss cx--took a different turn on the way home and found myself fully-committed to a climb that I didn't think I would clean, it was slippery steep from a few afternoon rain showers and had me groveling, weaving, stalling, chopping pedal strokes to lurch over the top. Breaks up the monotony of the commute when you're on the rivet for a wee bit on an unknown kicker, facing the humbling thought of having to push that expensive bike up the hill. 03.15.05 Stumbled across this yesterday while looking for an applescript..., The hipster pda fits my woeful organizational level, style and pricepoint spot on....Directions: Building your first Hipster PDA 1. get a bunch of 3"x5" file cards (here?¢s 500 for less than 3 bucks) 2. clip them together with a binder clip 3. there is no step 3 03.14.05 RACE REPORT: Well I'm not sure if it counts as bike racing if you're a zealot, but Mary's 32nd b-day (Happy B-day Mary!!) bash hosted some of the meanest, sketchiest crit racing this side of Belgium... 16" wheels (+ one 8" wheel bike that the savvy racer took pains to avoid), coaster brakes, and various maladies amongst the fleet combined with a le mans' start in which you had to pull any machine you could out of the stack made the two lap heats unpredictable... I managed to sneak into the finals, but was no match for the utter lack of fear displayed by my rivals--and the slipping handlebars had me nervously navigating the streets--I tried to sneak through the inside on final turn past the fire pit, but couldn't pull off... Kudos to Stephen and crew for organizing a top-notch spectacle. A few pic's from Nick are below--we're missing some action shots, but the idea is clear. First pic is the racing fleet being trailered across the city, 2nd is Stephen coming through with a lap to go and the third is the final four, nervously awaiting the start... A side benefit of the crappy snowpack is that we could get up into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness for a nice hike (except for that part where I fell into a freezing cold creek...resulting in two cold, cold feet and a sore ankle) to Melakwa lake yesterday--gorgeous weather, almost zero snow and good snacks made for a prime hike--- A pretty damn respectable Sunday drinking coffee and having breakfast with the paper followed by hours in the mountains....
03.10.05 ta-ta-take the long way home....another crazy sunny 65 degree day that demanded any sane person to soak up all that sunshine between the closing bell at 5:00 and sunset, sneaking home under fading light. Still can't shake the last snotty remnants of my cold, but life goes on. Always seems like you get sick in March, just as you want to transition into the warmer weather. But, I's be ramblin' now so I think I'll stop... 03.08.05 Perfect spring evening to ride down the boulevard and stretch the legs out a bit before sitting in front of the computer working on an urban ecology paper and another on growth management issues (snore). Tis' the final week of class and it's time to settle up on all those due dates that are staring in my direction this week. With a little focus it will be hammered out by Friday morning---so with that said, back to books.
03.07.05 Starting back up the weekly yoga session tonight...nothing better than putting in an 1:30 every Monday evening to work out the kinks of the weekend and start the week off right. A little flexibility never hurts either after spending to much time sitting on a bike... 03.07.05 COFFEE.... in need of a jolt to get me through a afternoon with too much work, a waning head cold and inviting sunshine outside my window.... 03.04.05 Lost in the wispy, nyquil-induced fog with the slow achy throb of my head keeping me company along with a nasty handkerchief to blow my nose every 3 minutes. Everything seems to move very slowly---it's a good thing I'm not operating heavy machinery. Looking forward to the couch, assuming I can summon the strength to ride home from work at 5:00. I've been popping vitamin C like an addict, sleeping 9 hours a night and pounding liters of water but haven't broken through quite yet. Fingers crossed that I'll feel better just in time for the weekend. 03.02.05 Back to reality with a head cold that's keeping me down this week, could barely drag my carcass up the hill after class....not to surprising after a busy, busy weekend. Just sent two pairs of skis to Nordic Ultra-tune for a end of the season stonegrind and hot-box. Be nice to have them all prepped up and travel waxed for summer. Last year we managed to ski in 7 months (nov-may) but this year it looks like dec-feb is as good as we can do. Time to bump up the riding and finally finish up the SS-brake cables and tool to install the bb and I should be done.
02.23.05 Played hookey on my last 1:30 of obligations at work & school to ride down to seward park on a beautiful spring day... Warm sunshine, trees are starting to bud and Mt. Rainier & Mt. Baker dominated either end of the lake. Came home and waxed/scraped/brushed skis for an hour or so with the ipod feeding the tunes and the cats lounging on the warm porch watching me carefully to make sure I did a good job. off bright and early tomorrow for four days of skiing in the methow valley--amazingly they still have about 150 kilometers of trails groomed even though coverage is weak at best. Should be good skiing, but that's not the only reason for the trip. I get to marry the girl of my dreams on saturday afternoon in the mountains, sunshine, and snow with good friends and family in a place i love followed by dinner, wine, toasts and many, many laughs... (many directed at me I'm guessing) Sometimes you get caught up in the day to day grind, but when you take a moment to step back and see what you've got, life is pretty damn good. Wish us luck..... 02.22.05 Random Tracks.... Estonian TV has short clips of the world nordic championships... click on Oberstdorfi MM: Naiste sprindi finaal to see Sara Renner double pole like a mad woman to come back for the bronze medal in the sprint.... a few other good clips if you've got a high speed connection as well. Once again, ya gotta love the internet-watching estonian TV from the comfort of your office chair. Estonian language skills not necessary. Also a cool little japanese concept, the Muji house, follow some links on that site and check it out. A sustainable, small footprint home that is pretty interesting. Nothing else of interest going on here, so move along--- 02.21.05 Early morning at the coffee shop catching up on the sunday paper today and then rallied Summer on to her surly this morning for another 2 1/2 hours on the bike, followed by sitting on the porch eating lunch in the sunshine.... I could really get used to 3-day weekends--who ever came up with 5/2 for work/play? 4/3 seems much more balanced in my humble opinion.... GNP? GDP? Earned Income? What about happiness and time to play? 02.20.05 Nice few hours out on the bike this morning....would've rather been out on the tele skis but this winter you need to adapt. Got out fairly early when it was still cold and spun the south end of the lake in glorious, blinding sunshine with a brisk wind out of the north. Felt great just to pedal for a few hours in the sunshine. After that we manged to sit on the front porch in the sun for an hour as well. It felt pretty damn good. Even though the winter hasn't had quite as much snowplay as we'd hoped for, It has been enough to be excited about going for a ride today. Although 4 days in the methow coming up after two days of work should get me back into the ski mode for a little while longer though....plus another day off tomorrow for outdoor play. A look at my calendar today told me that it was exactly 6 months til' the Revenge' I'm trying to seriously wrap my head around makeing the commitment to be there this year and giving it a whirl--would love to be watching the sun come up from Gray's peak in 1/2 a year.... 02.17.05 Wednesday's always take it out of me, 5 hours of class plus going to work for the other 4 hours of the day leave me beat down....went home and promptly took a nap. Staggered out of bed this morning still damn tired until the cool air slapped me in the face as I rolled down Madison on the way to work--avoiding the idiots who only bothered to scrape a 6-inch porthole through the frost on the windshield. No scraping when you're on the bike.
Mmmmm, new gear---just popped for a pair of Atomic RS:10's off the web this morning, can't go wrong for $120 and my old Atomics have seen a lot of action, be nice to retire them to rock skis for next year. Would have liked the RS:11's but without the bro' deal I couldn't really justify double the price for a structured top-sheet and a few grams. 02.11.05 Friday afternoon....getting ready to load up and head over the pass to Leavenworth for a lazy weekend of skiing and beer drinking with the chiwawa gangsters... Reunion of sorts as it gets harder and harder to get everybody together these days... Real life has a habit of intruding on leisure at times... Should be good--snow in the forecast, some good skiiers and a few hijinks are sure to be had. We were hoping to get a day in BC on the tele gear as well, but that looks a little far-fetched since it would pretty much be mining for stumps with your patella's-no bueno. 02.10.05 Stretched the legs on the bike after work for a bit on a trip down the boulevard...the last rays of sun turning Mt. Rainier pink as I pedaled down the lake on nice quiet night. I took the cutoff above Leschi/I-90 on the way home and took a different way up the hill and stumbled onto a pretty steep, cobbled climb that took me down to about 3 rpm on my cross bike with a 42 x 18.... I had to resort to some serious weaving back and forth on the cobbles to keep my pedals moving and then cheat a bit by kicking over to the smooth sidewalk for the last 30 feet to avoid coming to a complete halt. A pretty fun little test to judge how the legs come around this spring though. Rode through the neighborhoods into the darkening night on the way back home. Felt good to be outside. 02.09.05 Who says XC skiing is boring... A few big tricks on skinny skis from fasterskier.com-------Some days the details clog up your vision so much that it's hard to see the big picture....today might be one of those days. So looking forward to the 5:00 whistle at work/class, then I pull a Fred Flintstone, shooting down the back stairs, out the backdoor into the cool evening to squeeze in an hour of sanity and attitude adjustment on the trusty cycle as the sun ducks behind the mountains... 02.08.05 Another weekend slipped away and it's back to grind--good weekend even though we couldn't ski. Got out on the bike for a bit on saturday and racked up a few miles. Try to keep it pretty low key this time of the year as there will be plenty of days to ride away the cares on the local roads and trails...no need to be to anxious. That plus a couple runs, a wee bit o' homework, some work on the ss, meet the parents dinner and a little birthday celebration for a friend (mmmmmm, cheese) and the weekend was over. Snow in the mountains and trip to Geestik's over in Leavenworth next weekend bode well for snowplay. Dropped the puff' entry in the mail today for the open single-speed category in June and if all goes well that puts me on a nice trajectory for finally getting out to colorado for the revenge (fingers crossed) in August... hard to believe summer plans are already swirling around. 02.04.05 Reminder that open registration for the Puff' (Cascade Cream Puff) opens on Monday, February 7th..act fast be left waiting for another year-details are here A little blip (pun intended) on how avalanche transceivers work in the the circuits section of the NYT yesterday... Also in today's paper was a great quote from Condoleeza Rice about how war with Iran, "wasn't on the agenda" Ole' Georgie & Rummy might just pencil that in if some other freedom/liberty/terrorism appointment gets cancelled..... The administration scares me every single day. Good run with double sets of stairs last night after work--notable because it was the first time I've been able to squeeze in the trail running part after work since early November. The days are getting longer. No skiing this weekend within 200 miles of Seattle so it looks like the bike might get some non-commuting mileage. 02.02.05 Was kicking around in Bulldog News for a few moments at lunch... the new Bicyling Magazine cover has to be the most soul-less, boring cover of all time--yawn, zzzzz. If that's cycling I think I'll take up golf. I'm for all for getting more people out of the cars and onto a bike, but you think they could come up with something better than that mindless crap. Two shot's of espresso on ice today, a testament to our springlike weather (61 degrees). Was able to eat lunch outside in the sun, reading the paper. 01.31.05 Dammmnnnnnnnnnn fine weekend in the methow. The sun was shining, the snow wasn't half bad and the groomers were keeping the minimal snowpack in good shape. Skiied up the valley trail on saturday for a couple hours, including a 50-minute hard tempo session on the very rolling trail between brown's farm and wolfridge on the way back. Every up rewarded with you a short downhill and lots of tricky high speed step through corners and transitions with both slush and ice kept you honest. Probably the best skate session of the winter. It's such a different feeling to ski without stopping for awhile. Changes the whole energy flow. A huge dinner up at the freestone topped off the day. Sunday a hilly tour up at sun mountain. The best part of the weekend was seeing Summer break-through on the fitness/technique front and put in her two biggest days ever. My skiing was a little scrappy but it was pretty cool to see her knock off a long rolling 2:30 session on Saturday and then come back with 45 minute climb and then keep it going past the two hour mark with style again on Sunday... One of the best parts of the www is to be at work trading ski stories and summer ride plans with other like minded souls. I got to chat skating vs. cycling effort levels with Tim in Breckenridge (I think) for a bit this afternoon. A nice way to ease back into the work week after being out of town... BTW: we thought anywhere from 150 to 200% of the ski/ride (skate 2 hours = about 3-4 riding depending on the terrain) but would be curious to hear any counter arguements or opinions... Went back to the old tele banner in remembrance of the good times when alpental was open and real winter existed in the northwest... 01.28.05 Winding up the work week and getting ready for the drive over the passes and up to the methow... A friday night classic that's been done so many times you can almost switch to auto-pilot. Wake up tomorrow with 180 groomed k's of cor-du-roy at our disposal... supposed to be an inch of snow over night so it should be pretty good skiing. A few wedding details to attend to (like cake demo'ing), but a nice weekend in the mountains is on tap. And after a long week in front of the lcd glow of my confuser, I'm ready to bust out of here... Only other thing of note today was the sunrise--top shelf. That and the fact that Summer reminded me of an article in The Onion a few years ago about Starbucks building a new Starbucks in the bathroom of Starbucks... 01.28.05 Caffeination!! 93 Starbucks for the 5-mile radius from my house. Maximum Starbucks Density! from kottke.org has numbers that trump that pretty easily though... Although I manage to avoid them all--gotta support the little guy for coffee. Plenty of my disposable income goes to lighthouse, solstice, victrola and a few others in the neighborhood that have a better vibe (and coffee) 01.27.05 Stumbled across the Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) Cascadia Scorecard Weblog the other day, a good resource for environmental and sustainable stories and indicators in the PNW. Along with tidepool you can keep on top of what's going on in Cascadia with just a couple of clicks.... Rode home from the gym under a beautiful moon last night, got the bonk on the way home so bad and that I came in and had a banana, 1/2 a bag of ginger snaps, piece of cheese, and a big dinner after all of that....enough calories to equal about 10 trips to the gym...
01.22.05 Extreme guerilla skating today up at cabin creek with conditons ranging from icy, rain-soaked snow, sweet corduroy to streams, mud & rocks. Ozabaldy loop is a pretty tricky descent when mud and bushes reach out for your ski tips. We got out for about two hours though, and took off just before it started to rain. The nice part about rallying early up the hill is you're home by lunchtime. Mountain conditions are absolutely dismal after this weeks tropical deluge and the only skiing until it snows will be east of the mountains...which is hopefully where we'll be next weekend (methow valley) 01.20.05 Just saw where backcountry productions put up a trailer for a Cascade Creampuff video...it's pretty cool video although it artfully neglects the 16,000 feet of climbing under the sweltering sun and focuses on sweet singletrack sections, that swoop and carve way up above Westfir, Oregon. Check out the trailer here. I'd forgotten how incredible the trail was until watching this clip today- that's the main drawback to racing that you don't get much chance to enjoy the scenery...must hammer I did the puff' a few years ago and have been meaning to get back and do it on the singlespeed. Maybe this year, open entry starts February 7th according to their site--my old race/ride report is still up on the blog as well (ccp report) I should probably go read it again in case I've forgotten the pain and suffering. I'm pretty good at remembering the high points on epic rides, the views,sweet singletrack, the feeling of remoteness etc., but often forget pesky little details like pushing my bike uphill for an hour or other such issues. With the puff' I just remember the mental aspect being harder than I gave it credit for, fitness wise I felt good all day, but I discovered it is a big challenge mentally to keep the hammer down when you've got 5 hours to go and that can cost ya... 01.18.05 Temps in Seattle have been up to 62 degrees today and it's pouring down rain-feels like the tropics... On a more positive note, here is a pretty cool looking World Sunlight Map that updates every 1/2 hour--how can you not like maps?
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Still a little tired from yesterdays ski--perfect day up at Hyak. 17 degrees with a little breeze out of the east when we suited up under sunny skies. Not to many people out with the early morning chill and we got fresh corduroy. Tracks were bumpy enough to require you to really concentrate on balance/tech. Summer and I put in almost 3 hours of good skating on the flats and a short loop on the dogsled/nordic trails(share the trail) out at the crystal springs sno-park. I felt pretty good, but not many hills which are the true test. 3-days of nordic next weekend sandwiching a two-day avy course on the tele skis should put the hurt on...
10.10.05 Ahhh, pleasantly tired and worn out after two trail runs and three mountain bike rides over the weekend. Such a beautiful fall weekend with the changing colors and snow up high that we couldn't always limit ourselves to only activity a day.
08.25.05 Sun Valley wrap-up continued... Day VI: My legs were pretty sad after 5 days of stompin' on the Kelly's pedals up,down and around SV. So we decided upon the classic Fisher Creek loop just up and over Galena summit and only 18 miles or so. It's easy to see why so many people love this ride. A relatively easy 8 miles climb up doubletrack leads to a super fast, smooth singletrack descent that goes on a for a long time. A perfect trail for a rigid bike--always trying to squeeze a little more speed out of the corners.. Fun stuff followed up with sugary/fatty treats at Smiley's next to a dude who was decked out in head to toe camo (and sitting quite still I must say) After that we headed back into Ketchum for Burrito's & Beers at KB's, a must go if you're in town. The Guac' is incredible and the burrito's are the size of your forearm.
Leaving at 6 a.m. for Sun Valley Idaho, should be rolling into the campsites off of trail creek road around late afternoon with enough time to take the single out onto corral creek for a little bit of reminiscing. Ten years ago give or take a week that I first rolled into SV to ride. Fantastic trails, epics are easily possible with a well connected trail system and plenty of creek crossings to keep your cool. One of my all-time favorite cycling destinations. It's been a somewhat lackluster summer on the mtb, so we're looking for a jumpstart into these next 2 months of summer....
07.13.05 Meeting up with the crew for a few hours on the cycle tonight--should supply the needed motivation to get out on a gorgeous summer night and bang out some miles. Apathy will be shaken off.
A long 4th of July weekend...Stephen (keeping his eye on the prize in the photo to the right) and Nick invited me of go for a ride off of 410 so I convinced them (not that it took much) to ride Palisades/Noble Knob. Near perfect day in the mountains, blue skies, temps near 70 and the whole day in front of us. After a "warm up" on white river we hit the climb, strapped the helmets to the bars, stephen plugged in his shuffle and we all spread out, climbing out our own rhythm. Once up top we got some pretty good views of Rainier before plunging down through fast sub-alpine singletrack, rooty, twisty singletrack and forested buff singletrack with a few crazy exposed switchbacks and staircases thrown in. Tragically my photographic skills were lacking and I didn't get many keepers.
06.01.06 A 
Phil's also has a few alternate sections to keep you honest if so inclined, this beautifully built roll-over had a tricky up to get on top of it, then just pucker up and roll...doesn't look to scary here, but this 
Scraping down the atomic's for one last hurrah this season, the pole,pedal,paddle race in Bend, Oregon. Ski's are fresh from 
05.06.05 CANCELLED! At the whim of volcanic eruptions.... The annual 
04.28.05 Weekend Wrap-up: Drove over Washington Pass in the North Cascades last Friday under a huge, full moon. So bright on silver star and the early winters spires.... Finally got to put some singletrack miles on the Kelly deluxe SS. After multiple stops to get the saddle angle correct, adjust the stem height (good thing I haven't cut the steerer yet), fiddle with the brakes a bit I got it pretty much dialed in on Saturday's ride at pipestone. Bike feels good, really good. My main criteria are "fun to ride" and "simple" and this one fits the bill (steel frame, v's, etc.) Need to change the front tire back to a conti vert pro, but other than that it's ready to roll. Spring was just getting to the trails in the methow, bluebells popping up all over, balsamroots still a week or two away from their peak. Trails were empty and fast (just the way I like'em) Best of all on no mechanicals, which on a bike I built is saying something. Although I was annoyed to find out the shimano cranks now use a 10mm... who carries that on a ride? Makes me want to switch to some square-taper sugino's with a normal 8mm crank bolt that can be tightened in the bc.
04.22.05 Legs oh so tired in a good way this morning...Perfect night to be riding last night, sunny, warm and carefree. One of the best things about riding this time of year is that you notice gains in fitness every time you get out. (Tempered with the fact that you have so much snap to gain in order to show some style and form) The good week should continue into the weekend east of the mountains. This will mark the debut of "blue steel" my new Kelly SS frame/fork with a few new parts and a few cannabilized from the MB-1 which will once again be retired and put out to pasture (i.e. coffee shop rides)
What a day up @ Baker, glorious snow, a large crew, a quick breakfast in b-ham and then skiing until the lifts closed down at 4:00--which was about 3 hours after my quads had shut down. Damn sore today after not spending really any time on the tele skis this winter but with Alan guiding us to the goods all day long soreness is a small price to pay.
03.28.05 Came across a quote in a book I was reading this weekend that summed up my thoughts on the comment yesterday about open space/unpopulated areas. "Man always kills the thing he loves and so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map." 
03.27.05 Back from NYC Friday to the good old PNW. Feels good to be back home....Was amazing while flying home you, I realized that there isn't really any spots on the flight over Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Washington that you couldn't see lights (i.e. houselights, streetlights, etc.) from the plane.... Everytime I looked out the window you could always see some sign of civilization out there. Kinda of depressing, I'm sure my random scan isn't totally accurate, but vast tracts of unpopulated areas are fast disappearing.
Better put the 
03.01.05 Perfect weekend---the only thing that went wrong was a busted swix carbon pole the first day skiing. Outdoor wedding in brilliant february sunshine after skiing with friends for a few hours in the morning and a good party following.... We couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks to everyone who made the drive over the mountains to celebrate with us. More pics later but I have one of the gang out skiing a couple hours before the event...
02.15.05 Playin' a bit of air accordion (much harder than air guitar), polka, plenty of obsidian stout, and lot's of k's clicking off on the skis was the story of the weekend. The other story was more meat than I normally eat in a year, a true carnivorous delight-It was like being on the Atkins diet for a weekend (steaks, brauts, sausage--enough cholesterol to last a year or two).... Another February weekend where you could ski in the capilene and thought that a 7 inch base with a few slush-filled puddles was pretty damn good skiing. Have to adapt your mindset this year. Was pretty tired on Sunday but we lost Geestik and Yosef, our two biggest motors so we got off pretty easy...
01.24.05 A great picture of the Three Fingers lookout in the Cascades--my dad sent me this shot which I guess was taken from an airplane. I've been up there a few times in the summer and it's got some serious exposure(you do approach from the opposite side of this picture though, so the exposure isn't quite this ridiculous), a big vertical gain (~4000 ft) and nice heft with about 16 miles I think for the up and back...A great view from the top both into the Boulder river wilderness and back west towards the puget sound lowlands and Mt. Pilchuck. A great cascade scramble. This picture is pretty incredible in conveying the exposure and coldness along with shelter... The picture came from a hiking forum (I didnt' take it) and a few more pictures of the summit ladders along with this one and some trip info are at 
Could this week be the end of the (crappy) ski season? (Snoqualmie Pass elevation is 2997): National Weather Service Forecast
For the West Slopes Central Cascades and Passes
Today... Periods of rain... Locally heavy. Snow level 8000 feet. Afternoon pass temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. Southwest wind in the passes 10 to 15 mph.
Tonight... Periods of rain. Snow level 8000 feet. Southwest wind in the passes 10 to 15 mph.
Wednesday... Periods of rain. Snow level 8000 feet. Afternoon pass temperatures near 50. Southwest wind in