rockwaller Rog

Wind Chill

2012-01-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

We hiked Wire Peak.

Its an amazing peak for its windiness. Everything is calm till right at the top.

Imms has now summited Wire peak and Mt. Aire. We are starting a list...

Wasatch Ski Mountaineering Citizen Race

2012-01-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

I went out to the first public citizen ski mountaineering race up at Brighton.

Warming up by skinning up to the Snake Creek lift (photo credit Chad, by way of Jason Dorais). I'm in the ninja suit, center, wearing the appropriate attire of lime green Scarpas. 40 people showed up. A super nice crowd.

The course was a series of short and easy laps in one hour, not a full-on skimo race course with tricky technical descents, but it did include a short boot pack which added a simple tactical feature where it was good to sprint out and pass someone before the boot pack goes single file and you'd be stuck in traffic. The race winner did 7 laps in a smidge over an hour. I did 6 laps in about 1:02, and I feel great about that, especially considering I had conventional light touring gear, not the ultralight race gear.

Damn it was fun. There are lots of things one can do to get ridiculously tired, but for some reason doing it on skis, going uphill fast, it just makes sense to me. Consider me hooked.

See the link below to a video of the race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RjQQ0Vrkkco

The Pine Grosbeak Winter Finch

2012-01-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

A big, sluggish finch of conifer forest (mostly spruce and fir, not pines [ironically]), nests in the north or high mountains, wander in flocks when not nesting. Erratic in winter; may invade large areas one year and be absent the next.. Typically uncommon and quiet. Sometimes wanders south for winter; small flocks may feed on berries, maple buds. Can be very tame. Long tail, stubby black bill, two wing-bars. Adult male mostly redish pink and grey, female and young are gray with yellow or orange on head.

Desert Rats of the New Year

2012-01-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Nice grips on the Tongue boulder V4. They apparently named this boulder after me and my tongue.

Sandwiches and campstove tea for New Year's.

This sandstone really is perfect.

My job was to carry Imms and our pack. La Lissa opted for the unwieldy double padzilla. Good job La Lissa!

Imms opted to hike most of the dry wash herself. All day long she was ecstatic hiking over everything and eating snow, the most happy I'd seen her in a while...

Red, White, and Couloir

2011-12-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

Ride 'em, cowboy.

A temperature inversion, but it was still cold where we were. Can you tell that there's a city of one-million people there?

Making our way on Red Baldy, in White Pine drainage, to ski a couloir---hence the title...

Couloir = booting.

The snow was what it was. You savour the reality that once the real snow comes we won't be up here in a 40-degree couloir on Red Baldy anymore.

Earning your turns the hard way: on the way up, but also on the way down. Making trenches in facets is technically skiing because you have skis on your feet, even if they feel like two toboggans on your feet....

Ghetto Skiing

2011-12-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

We went to Dog Lake Ghetto ski-style, with blue jeans, mismatched poles, and ski-like non-ski things on my feet. They have a telemark-style free-heel snowboard bindings and permanent climbing skins on their bottoms, if that makes any sense to you.

They're actually a lot of fun with a kid strapped to your back...

Imms had fun skiing on the lake.

Lookin' PRO-shit-show...

White Pine Facets

2011-12-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

No new snow in a while, but the ridge of high pressure on our thin snowpack has subdued our meagre accumulation into unconsolidated sugar snow---faceted re-crystalizations of the original fluffy flakes, the stuff you can't make snowballs with. It hisses as your skis glide by.

We headed up the White Pine drainage, one valley over from Snowbird's boundary but a world apart.

Climbing high on Red Baldy, with views to the Phiperhorn---the tallest peak in the central Wasatch wilderness.

The avalanche danger was low but we practiced our techniques, spotting each other as we zig-zag between safe vantages.

The sugar snow that collected in the little chutes off Red Baldy's northwestern aspects skied OK. Not a bad first day.

Ben's fakie...

Wire Peak Flurry

2011-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

There is a nice false summit/saddle about half way up Wire Peak. We stop there to get out and play.

She wanted to press on to the summit, shrouded in clouds.

After the hike: The Sunday New York Times at Tulie Bakery, so she can read up on the "issues." Imms is about to level with me on the Fed's changes to the amortization structure of US Treasuries...

The long conversation between passive microwave repeaters

2011-11-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

East Repeater: You're looking pale.

West Repeater: I always look pale over the city in fog or inversion, or so I'm told.

East Repeater: Its been a long Autumn between you and I, and yes, the inversion suits you, but now is something different. Something's changed. Perhaps its just the wind making the scrub oak quiver at your base.

West: Yes, well the wind makes me quiver more than the scrub oak. Shake more like it.

East: The gusts hit you first, then me. I can tell that from the microwaves we share at the speed of light.

West: Those are vastly different timescales. From storm to storm and day to night we see it all very slowly, yet we reflect transmissions in an instant.

East: Yeah, the signature of the wind rides on that carrier wave.

West: Nice to know about that. I always wondered what that was. My paint is peeling. The taggers have not made it up here in a while. Graffiti is a dead art form.

East: You don't look bad to me, just a little paler, probably just the light of morning, or the lack of taggers. I don't know. But the taggers don't know about the carrier wave for the wind. You reflect that back to me only.

West: Yes it has been a long Autumn, and we repeat everything that reflects on us. Me, you, the taggers, and the scrub oak.

On Warming Huts and Family Ski Touring in the Wasatch

2011-11-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

After ascending a few clicks, we got out for a ski---the first time Imms strapped in. She dug it.

Hot cocoa, cookies, and a few miles up the trail. We miss the warming huts of the Gatineau Park. They made for a more family friendly ski venue. The Wasatch, of course, are rugged mountains, and there are no real structures in the remaining wild parts. Although I typically would be against any development there, after skiing the Gats, I would be all for a series (or just one) of public warming huts going up Mill Creek to the Park City ridgeline. It would be much better than the single yurt they have up there now that gets booked up for private parties months in advance. Why not have a public yurt stocked with wood and a fireplace, a nice rest stop to the upper valley, or final destination before the descent back down...?

New snow.

2011-11-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

The picture speaks for itself.

On passing our party, one fellow ski tourer noted that she forgot one essential touring item: a pacifier. Which, is kind of spot on, since she did not have an Avalung on....

Masterclass of the gorilla---a Triassic poem in pictures

2011-11-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Setting the trap

to let fly.

A delicate step

to bridge the distance.

Over nothing.

This time we turn it on its head, Gorilla.

Parrying with gravity on a rock, supinated.

To set,

and settle,

and then let fly again... all day long:

Masterclass of the gorilla. Then we had tea.

Alta is for babies

2011-11-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

First tracks of the year.

We (I) skinned up to the top of the Sunnyside lift. Just a little dash up the cat-track with the leather boots and three-pin tele gear. At the top I let her out to play with her poles---she loves the poles, but not the skis that came with them. No rush on skiing....

Now this may not be for everyone, but little girls love big trucks apparently. We happened to encounter several very awe-inducing "trucks" during our adventure. She kept talking about the "tuks" for the rest of the evening. So for posterity, here they are:

Pretty freaking cool, huh?

Touring the Waterpocket Fold by tandem mountain bike

2011-10-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

We toured the 125-mile loop of Capitol Reef National Park's southern district (link here), which traverses the Waterpocket Fold by way of the washboarded dirt and sand of Notom Road. In the picture you can see the incredible switchbacks.

The multi-tiered plateaus ascending to the Henry mountains were the ever-present panorama on our traverse of Notom road.

On the northern half of the tour, we passed back through the fold, this time through the Fruita apple orchards (this is not the Fruita in Colorado that everyone goes to, but the one in Utah).

Erasing some of the calorie debt of back-to-back 6-7 hours-a-day of riding with ripe October apples---lots of apples. In the shade of the orchard, sitting there was sublime...

The third and last day, over Boulder mountain---a 3000-foot climb and descent----and back to our car. Our legs were strong that day, surprisingly. We dispatched the climb with aplomb. The views from the high plateau of the deserts below were euphoric. I'll spare you any more pictures. I plan to write up a real publication-ready story sometime in the future. Cheers!

Rolling Thunder

2011-10-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Its a big hunk of metal and rubber, rolling down a dirt road in Southern Utah. We call it Rolling Thunder. It will carry us to remote places in the best of fashion. See you on the flip side...

Foliage on the Rivet

2011-10-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our upcoming tour, we keep upping our game.

This time to Big Cottonwood.

That's right. Four hammering legs. About 75 pounds of bike and trailer, and 22 pounds of cuteness in the cargo hold. Going up up up---about 3800 feet---to the top of the canyon.

Oh, and did I mention that the Fall foliage was amazing...

Getting to the top gave us some mega pride. People stopped to take pictures of us, innumerable thumbs-upses happened, and one guy gave us the full Tour-De-France treatment: running along side us wildly screaming encouragement. And we were on the rivet for the top 1/3 for sure. With the lack of good road shoulder, we gear-grinded up the gravel for a few miles for an added sting.

And for La Lissa von stoker, it was the only Brighton she will see in the near term, while her friend is in the other Brighton.

Silver lake picnic with about everybody in Salt Lake to join us. We finally figured out why so many people were there: besides the Fall foliage, it was LDS conference week, which meant no church service for, like, millions of people in Utah.

And of course, the foliage was amazing...

Production value

2011-10-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

I snapped some pictures of the Masters' race. The complete album is HERE. Below are some highlights.

I like this one for some reason.

Record temperatures for October---dry and dusty.

The 35+ race leader, I think.

The wide, hard-packed, dry, and flat course suited me. And this style of course has been rare during my time in Ottawa, where the courses were very difficult and muddy, and ironically much hillier than Utah. The state fair park course was fast, and demanded precise cornering. It was more of a race than in Ottawa, where I often felt like I was just trying to survive.

Familiar faces: It was Dr. Cross himself, one back in the Contender kit, who put on a cross clinic up at the U, which was my first introduction to CX about 8 years ago.

After a three-year hiatus in Canada, I'm stateside. God bless America---racing in the B-category.

I had a great race. I came out from the third row start into a sprint, forming up with a 6-man chase group for 3rd. The chase drove a hard pace, and some were making wide sketchy corners, so I backed off to recover and ride my own race more efficiently. As the chase went away, it broke up. On the last lap I could see a mass of riders bearing down on me, but luckily I was recovered, so I started accelerating hard out of every corner and going into the red. That got rid of all but one, who on the final set of corners tried to make a go of it. I kept my line through the corners, and wound up for the straightaway and flew. The announcers said 4th place out of 36 B-men. I'm not sure if that's my actual result, but its something to build off of...

So it was great to be back, see familiar faces, and race in a group where I felt like there was some real sporting competition. Compared to Ottawa, the production value is much higher (race fees are also higher). There were announcers, sponsor tents, many times more people in an ever-burgioning number of categories, and most warming up on trainers (including me). Now you could go there in the morning and tailgate with a barbecue and party till late afternoon...

As I said before, the course designs in Utah are slightly easier in my experience, and that makes the racing more tactical (for my skill level at at least): rather than just providing numerous ways to screw up, the course also presented opportunities to get things right to varying degrees.

The Utah series has grown a lot in the last three years, with but it still has a really friendly atmosphere. See you next weekend!

That Hula Hooping Craze

2011-09-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I go I see hula hoops. I don't know why.

Its for kids...

First I see them at the 9th and 9th street fair. Now at the Farmer's Market.

A young High School-aged girl had her hoops out for people to play with. She does birthday parties and other events.

Then I find out that while I was in Canada, the land to the south did, in fact, embrace the hoop: Obligatory NYTimes Article

Where was I?

Ben invited me out to try some other recent craze that all the outdoorsy people are into.

It seemed cool, but I don't think it will catch on...

The Edible Wasatch

2011-09-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Its early Fall. I usually have a post-Summer malaise, but not this year.

But we are keeping the pressure on our legs for the high desert tour is coming soon.

Riding with a Sasquatch.

Trailer captain with her biker gang...

The writing in this magazine is overly precious.

Biker gang, pastry thugs we are. We frequent the haute pastry shop of Les Madeleines on some post-rides.

I usually don't get these, but I'd been about 4 years since my last one: The Kouing-aman, which is a Bretton pastry that literally means "butter cake" in the eponymous French dialect---a hockey puck-sized candied croissant-like pastry baked with sugar syrup. They must have 600 calories. Don't get diabetes folks.

Interval

2011-09-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

(1) Ride yourself West past the marcados and carnecerias, out to the industrial flatlands of the valley. Go after work, after the big trucks have been parked, laborers have gone home. Its you and a vacant steel mill, warehouse, the office parks, cult compounds, and horse pastures. Its you and an bumpy asphalt road through the weeds and over canals heading to the salt marshes of the Great Salt Lake.

(2) Turn yourself inside out, over and over and over and over....

(3) Go home.

The tour of wild apples to the 9th and 9th Street Fair

2011-09-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

The 9th and 9th neighborhood is where all the hipsters go.

Hula-hooping hipsters. Imogen really got into these chicks.

Before the street fair, we took a ride up City Creek on our newly rebuilt tandem. It got all new cables and housing and three new bicycle chains. Finding tandem-length brake and shift cables can be a challenge. Thanks Guthrie Bicycles!

I also put on a road-bike-style drop bar onto the mountain tandem. The original flat-bar setup always felt too cramped in the cockpit. I had to slide the saddle way back to not feel that I was on a clown bike, even with a toptube of 60cm and a 100mm effective length stem. With the way-back position, the tandem had really squirlly steering. Tandems always have not enough weight over the front wheel which is why they are less stable, and controlling them takes more muscular effort for the the pilot (this is somewhat ameliorated by having the [larger] men riding on the front and the [smaller] lady on the back).

With the drop bars, I not only have more comfortable hand positions, I also get my body more over the front wheel, and the steering is more stable. Sitting in the drops is also excellently secure for sustained braking on steep hills. I used a flared Nitto drop bar given to me by Ben, and added the Salsa top-mounted brake levers for even more braking positions.

Finally, our tandem was equipped with an old 7-speed derailleur with grip shifters meant for a mountain bike 25.4mm bars, where the standard road-sized drop bar is 26mm. So, in order to make the grip shifters fit on the bars, I had to file down about 1/2-inch of the the ends of the bar to achieve the 25.4mm size. This took about an hour of perseverance and an accurate calliper to make sure I got it perfectly round. It also helped that the Nitto bars are not by any stretch of the imagination a lightweight bar. They are made of pretty thick aluminium, so filling off a little did not hurt anything. Of course, I could have purchased bar-end shifters, but that costs money...

Oh yeah, for all of my bike-riding, running, hiking, and locavore friends: There are wild apples in City Creek right now. Hike up there and find them off the side of the road. They are perfectly ripe. Usually those little green apples you see are sour and acrid. Not these. They're made of pure sugar, ripe as ever. We picked a few pounds that are bound for apple jam, apple butter, pies, etc...

And I married this beauty picking them...

The Pipes Are Calling

2011-09-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Super Crest. The spine.

Ridden. Clean.

It was a crazy day up on the Crest, including a bagpiper. Yeah, you heard me right. Bagpipes. On Puke Hill no less. I've heard the bagpipes are the traditional music the Scotts would play before battle. What else kind of music would you want before you eviscerate your enemy---or he eviscerates you? Baroque chamber music? The lute? The hurdy gurdy? Nope. And so it was the perfect soundtrack for gear grinding Puke Hill---which is like an evisceration.

The so-called Dood Crew (including me, the cameraman), named by Brian. I can't bring myself to spell it right. But the name fits. We are men enough to embrace it.

The Dood-Crew-mobile.

Israel Canyon

2011-09-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have some family that lives on the West side of Utah Lake. We went for a visit, and along with a little babysitting of numerous kid cousins, I snuck out with my bike for a little exploring up Israel Canyon in the Lake Mountain Range.

This boat is a tad far from the lake shore.

Before the mouth of the canyon proper, there is a powerline frontage 4X4 road that was mighty enjoyable, with great views of the Wasatch range and the lake:

The canyon itself was a fairly steep grade, and rather loose, especially at the top. I grinded uphill for an hour, and almost made it to the final switchbacks leading to the summit radio towers, but I turned back instead. I had no goals in mind. I just wanted to see what was up there. And that's the attitude I've been trying to cultivate since my move back to Utah: rather than do the same-old awesome stuff the Utah has over and over, I try explore the hidden-in-plain-sight stuff whenever possible, even if its not the coolest thing ever. And this ride fits the bill: The more diminutive Western ranges of Utah I see every day, yet I've never been up there till now. Check, and done.

It should be noted that the Lake Mountain Range west of Utah Lake is listed at utahmountainbiking.com HERE but it suggests grinding up the relatively moderate 8%-average grade (yeah, thats not steep at all!) of Mercer canyon to the south to reach the radio towers, then descend Israel Canyon to complete the traverse of the range. That sounds like a smart way to do it. I'll have to try that next time, although the steep grades of Israel Canyon were pretty fun way to work on ultra smooth, ultra power, slow-cadence climbing for long distances.

Queen Stages

2011-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Riding back-to-back-to-back...to-back days. This day with some friends (Brian and Matt)

Attacking the crest.

Before the Crest, it was back-to-back TTC rides: up Little Mountain, and then Jordan River Parkway.

All of this leading to today's Queen stage: to train for our coming tour in Southern Utah, we have to ride a 3000-foot climb after multiple days of riding prior, so we rode Mill Creek from our house. After three previous days of riding in my legs, and two in La Lissa Von Stoker's, we were able to spin up the canyon with reasonable form. So we passed the test. We ask, our legs respond. We eat, sleep, work, and ride all over again the next day. I credit Ms. Stoker for our diligence in training. Its been a real pleasure.

Matt, at desolation, prologue to the Queen stage...

Goathead Season

2011-09-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

ATVs are really a kid's dream come true. The inner fiver-year-old in me thinks they are the bee's knees, and so does my nephew...

Finally, I am no longer a fly rod poseur. I can actually cast reliably and land trout. Imogen is not so sure, but fresh out of the creek, this cutthroat was good eating.

Apropos the post title. Goatheads are a milestone of Summer's dry heat as we descend to Fall. The patch kit has been seeing some action. Two patched tubes so far and many near misses.

And with all the thorns, the old Continental Mountain King 2.4 tires I had on my bike sprung some leaks. This prompted new tires, and while I was at it, a full tune-up, pads, and chain. The tires are Maxxis Ardents 2.4. They make my bike look like a monster truck. They are bigger (and slightly heavier) than the Mountain Kings. Maxxis tires have a reputation for having a tougher sidewall and better wear life, hence the weight. I found that the Mountain King (MK) tread was really rough/slow rolling, while the Ardents are comparatively smoother/faster (and quieter). The MK's were good on loose stuff, but not good on rocks and roots, and especially not on hardpack. This is all moot now that the latest iteration of the MKs look a lot more like the Ardents---a better all-round trail tire for dry conditions.

But I digress... Summer. The dog days.

Reeder Canyon to Grassy Lake trail loop: bike riding in ATV country

2011-08-28T20:33:00.001-07:00

Reeder Canyon: its just on the northwest corner of Joe's Valley Reservoir, tending up-canyon on trail 5 of the Arapeen trail system going west, where it meets with the Southern Skyline Drive portion of the Great Western Trail. I have listed specific milage/elevation and logistical info at the bottom of the post.

Starting the climb is high desert sage and sandstone.

As with most canyons in Utah, a steep, rocky, river-cut V-shaped lower canyon makes for a hard start, till you reach the U-shaped prehistoric hanging glacial valley. Up there, the wildflowers were... well you see the picture....

The wide basin made for a fantastic, meandering climb. Most of it I was able to climb seated, spinning a moderate 32X19 single gear on my 29er.

At the head of the canyon, the alpine meadows make it worth it. The ridge in the background is the highpoint of the loop, standing at 11,000 feet.

After a few hard out-of-the-saddle efforts you reach Skyline drive. While most of Skyline rolls along the high plateau, the junction of with Reeder Canyon occurs at a relative low point of 10,400 feet.

Tempo pedalling out of the basin, passing a sheepherders tent.

The final pitch to the high plateau kicks up a bit. I remember this climb well from when I did the entire 90-mile Skyline drive many years ago. Around the corner of this climb was the site of my geared bike's drive train demise: At the top, a right turn lead to vicious black clay mud, made sticky from 4 inches of snow the night before my years-ago ride. The derailleur of my then-bike snapped. I fashioned a single speed to ride the 30 of the next 60 miles of the route. The final 30 I did with a zero-speed kick bike when that broke. By then I was hooked on single speed and have been ever since.

At the top. The Skyline drive can be seen rolling along the plateau to the West in the distance, 60 miles to its terminus.

But I chose to go back east on the Clay Bench canyon rim, where I met this Vaquero in his camper, and his horses---probably a ranch hand for the sheep and cattle that graze here in the Summer months.

The ATV track snaked its way down, hugging the canyon rim on the descent. It had nice bermed corners.

Freaking beautiful. While every mountain biker goes to Moab/Fruita and all that smooth Colorado single track, nobody goes for the infinitely greater milage and remoteness of the Arapeen ATV track of central Utah. The ATV track rides much like single track for all intents and purposes. The gradients are prefect for riding/climbing. And to be honest, you don't see many ATVers except near the trailheads, as most don't ride more than an hour or so before turning back to their campers. Plus, there is a feeling of excitement of exploring undiscovered and remote places that can't be matched. Consider me hooked. There is a lifetime of riding to do in the Southern Wasatch Plateau. I aim to link up as many of these canyons as I can.

A parting shot of a passing storm over the upper basin of Reeder canyon and the Skyline drive. After parting ways with the canyon rim, I headed down the neighboring Grassy lake drainage (trail 52), till I rode down to the reservoir.

Stats for those who are interested: round trip was about 30 miles, 8.3 miles out of the canyon, but about 12 miles of climbing total when you include the Clay Bench climb. Bottom to top elevation gain was 2600 feet. A map of the Reeder canyon loop can be found here: http://www.seuohvclub.org/reeder.jpg where my chosen route descended the Clay Bench ridge-line rather than the more common lower descent listed on the map.

The Arapeen OHV trail network summary can be found here: http://sanpete.com/downloads/sanpete_map.pdf

And a more detailed paper map of the entire area can be sent to you for free, or download GPS tracks free, courtesy of Sanpete county, by clicking here: http://sanpete.com/pages/atv_map

Single Speeding is Easy

2011-08-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

...when you've got the legs...

And right now, I've got them, apparently...

Its also worth noting that single speed is best on shortish rides, with fully recovered legs, like this ride up on the Crest.

From the Crest, to Desolation Lake, to Dog Lake (pictured), and no dogs for some reason...

Tour of Utah

2011-08-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

The breakaway forming on the first lap. Trailer Captain and I found a shady spot on the grass up at Presedent's Circle at the University of Utah, which gave views a small climb and descent around the circle.

The chase. Levi Leipheimer's Radio Shack squad took control of the peloton from the very beginning to control the break.

The descent off the circle was hair-raising, especially the team cars' tire-squealling fun.

Here it is. The pro peloton. In my town. Seeing it in the flesh makes it both amazing and so human: they were averaging 30mph on climbs and descents I know well, which is stupifyingly amazing, but the guys shelled off the back after big pulls at the front reveal the same-old dead tired expression that hangs on anyone's face after a hard ride.

Garmin-Cervelo, Realcyclist, HTC-Highroad, BMC, Gobernacion, Geox, Radio Shack, Spider-tech. Wow. Star power. Even Cadel Evans paid a visit on the next day's queen stage.

Even at the continental pro-level Garmin-Cervelo is a team that seems to have a lot of talent. Three blue helmets in the break...

After 7 or 8 laps, the Radio Shack was shelled. They never closed the break. With all Levi's riders gone but one, he had to lay it on the line in 97-degree heat and drive the pace at the front. It was exciting to watch the man in yellow work for it. He never closed the break, but he closed the time gap enough to protect the lead comfortably. The next day's queen stage (on Sunday) up Little Cottonwood Canyon (Utah's L'Alpe d'Huez) he handily marked the wheel of Gobernacion's Henao, who was the main threat in the breakaway on Saturday.

All told, the addition of the Columbian team Gobernacion was the exciting element to the Tour. With Columbia's heat and high altitude and a group of really strong and lightweight climbers, it made for exciting action.

The Drama of Puke Hill

2011-08-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

A trail route can build a story that is more than a series of challenges in sequence. With any good story, there needs a denouement. Something that makes the challenges coherent: intermediate tests toward and ultimate showdown.

Puke hill is one of those rides. Now I don't mean riding off the back of your truck from Gaurdsman's. Then Puke Hill is simply a rude awakening. You got to ride from the bottom. Hence Super Crest = Ride from Park City to reach Scott's pass then onto Wasatch Crest trail + Mid-Mountain Trail in one big loop.

So I woke up real early. I must say, that on the way up to ride, I kind of psyched myself out. I have not done any racing this year, so this has become a test of sorts for me.

A smooth ride up to Jupiter bowl.

Keeping it together up to Scott's Pass.

At the pass, you round the bend, the angle kicks up. Then it starts. Every undulation you got to keep in check. As you ascend the pitch keeps increasing. Then riding is a process of extrapolation: If you are 30% from readline, then you can count down to meltdown with every pitch increase.

Triumph at the top---counted down before meltdown.

All cruiser from here...

The crest in its crestyest...

20 more miles of this...

FOX 13 anchor Kerri Cronk recovers from hit-and-run injuries

2011-08-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

FOX 13 anchor Kerri Cronk recovers from hit-and-run injuries

Consider the Pony Ride

2011-08-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

Consider the pony ride. Just consider it, because like Trailer Captain, you may not be ready to saddle up yet...

Or consider a wild goose chase. Who's up for one?

Or consider a World Dog at the Wheeler Farm Farmers' Market on Sunday. This is one of the many fine food carts that can be found in our fair city of Salt Lake, normally found around Highland and the Patagonia outlet, but Sundays at Wheeler.

Consider the look of a true champion. One that rises to the occasion and gives their all, in this case, for a salsa competition---I have a feeling she practices the her look-of-a-champion at home, alone, in the mirror. Do you? As in, do you also practice too? You should. Their salsa was pretty good.

Consider the other fine pleasures of Summer, like a tractor barrel ride.

The look of a champion.

Apropos wild goose chases, our happening upon the Wheeler Market was a random act, starting with a morning TTC ride on the Jordan River Parkway.

Champion of one-handed-tandem-riding-photography...

The Continental Squad, picnicking somewhere along the river in Murray...

Consider the Indian Paintbrush---Wasatch Lake Hopping

2011-08-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Steady as she goes...

Catherine pass meadow overlooking Alta basin.

It was a good meadow...

At the pass: the enduring landmark of my western life.

On the third day in a row of hiking, we hopped to an unknown lake near Guardsmen's. Rock throwing and splashing ensued.

As did some relaxing...

The Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja). This is probably the first flower I ever remember learning about. I distinctly remember my Mom pointing these out to me while hiking above timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon. They live in western mountainous and arid regions. I've since learned that the flowers are edible and sweet---don't eat the green parts though, high in alkali. The Chippewa first nation uses the leaves as a condiment with other greens in a salad as well as treatment for rheumatism. They are also a parasitic plant, whose roots tap into other plants nearby to get water and nutrients.

Disequilibrium of Electrolytes and Its Discontents

2011-07-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

La Nina could not put it at bay forever. The heat is here. Instead of getting up at 4am to ride like I should have, I lingered at the farmers' market eating a croissant from Tulie Bakery (which I recommend). So the fam drops me off at 10:30 at the Pipeline trailhead. Its already hot at 5200 feet. 4000 feet to go to the Park City ridgeline with 4 liters of water, no electrolytes.

It does not mater how much water you bring if salt is what you need---but the lowland singletrack was sublime anyway, and the cooler temps of the high Wasatch beckon onward...

Aspens: a good sign, but still dripping sweat. I bummed some water off some returning hikers, but again, it does not mater how hydrated you are if you need ions.

Even salt deprived, the clock tells me I rode record fast to the ridge, cranking hard in the saddle (for me, at least).

Everyone having a good time. But I feel terrible. My heart rate won't go down after all but taking a nap on the ridge. So I bag my plans for a Super Crest adventure and head back down canyon, across the asphalt desert of town. But 4000 feet of climbing in 15 miles is P. L. E. N. T. Y. Mental note: bring ion-tabs in July/August.

TTC rides marginalia

2011-07-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

TTC has been riding a lot.

Getting ready for a big tour this fall...

Innumerable miles, then to the Gatorade.

Currently I spend more time on the tandem than any other bike.

Hard efforts lead to apres-ride cafe lounging.

Haute Wasatch

2011-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

Off the gravel descent of Guardsman's Pass, the major climb of the day, and into the verdant valleys atop Deer Valley.

Climbing it.

Hairpin on Guardsman's...

Grinding to the top on 10%ish grades.

At the top we met some East Texans having a good time. After 17 smartphone "say cheese" group-pictures we were best friends.

With the 4500 feet of climbing over Guardsman's in us, we set out on the pastoral Jeremy Ranch road---rolling gravel delivered us to the foot of the second major pass of the ride: Big Mountain's sage to pine to aspen ascent.

Over Big Mountain and then over Little Mountain to descend back to town. After 80 miles in the saddle, over 6000 feet of climbing in three passes, and a few more miles to go, we stopped at the Sun and Moon Cafe for refreshments.

The rarity of songs about nature

2011-07-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been trying to listen to new music and I came across this band called Tennis, which are out of Denver of all places. This is strange because their album Cape Dory, is a musical document of the husband-and-wife duo's year-long trip on a sailboat along the eastern seaboard---far from landlocked Denver and the Rocky Mountains. The NPR write-up has more details, and several tracks have graced Pitchfork ,the AV club, and such. The music is not typical for what I listen to---indy rock doo-wop numbers about sailing---but I find the whole thing utterly unique and compelling.

You should have a listen:

Now if you want more about the band, check the links I provided above. I can't say anything new about them as a band, or what they're like, or their very self-aware WASPy vibe. But what I will say is that listening to Tennis made me realize that very little contemporary music is about nature. And this album Cape Dory is such an earnest homage to the natural experience. Now most artwork/writing/music that approaches the natural world tends to be bogged down in its preciousness and overly serious. Not Tennis. And I'm not a big fan of sailing or anything, but when listened for a while, I was completely taken in on how these two people (a couple) bonded and mutually experienced their surroundings---coconut coves, squalls, the surf, the sand, the tides. Yeah, it really works, and I wanted to be there too.

Haute Uintas

2011-07-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

High Country Kid Hauling

2011-07-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

"Look, over there!"

Imm's new word: "mou mou" which means Mountain.

The Dads brought them up---all 3000 feet up---for a picnic.

Relaxing at the beach meant playing constant lifeguard but the kids loved it.

The Dromedary mou mou and You're Crazy ridgeline still skiable in July...

Chasing Rabbits

2011-07-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

We went to the Park City Glenwild-~~Jacob's Ladder~~ [Flying Dog] loop---on a Saturday.

Buff trails, with climbing that went in short bursts of steep, then not-so-steep. The descents were speedy-technical and edifying.

But its in Park City, a place with a certain type of rider with an affinity for carbon dual-suspension long-travel bla bla... Each to his own, and I'd probably develop certain tastes if my income afforded it, but I digress. But when you see said group of riders ascending a climb, granny gears grinding away, I tend to want to accelerate and bridge the gap, then drop them with the afterburners on. Ben called it chasing rabbits: you see someone on the trail or a skin track hopping along, and, like an excited puppy, you get after 'em. Of course, we're all just out having fun. Trail respect is always observed, and like an excited puppy, you smile and leave everyone on the trail with more friendliness than when you found them, wether you're the rabbit, or the puppy.

Happy riders taking a break. The next rabbit up the trail awaits...

Route Plan: Tandem Mountain Bike Tour in the Aquarian Plateau

2011-07-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

High mountains, desert canyons, small highways and 4X4 roads:

View Larger Map

After 5700 feet, Roadie Quest is still on

2011-07-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Big Mountain Pass---7500 feet.

The big ones still covered in snow in July---my mountain bike is calling for them, but roadie quest is still on.

Out to East Canyon Reservoir State Park, 55 miles or so, up and down both Little Mountain and Big Mountain passes. Switchback Switchback Switchback Switchback...

Hugs and Smooches to Canada, from SLC XOXO

2011-07-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Canada Day we were going to go grab some Molson Canadian from the Liquor Store, but we decided to ride up City Creek instead---this time all the way up, about 2000 feet of climbing total hauling the Trailer Captain. Tandem Trailer Continental is made of true grit.

In honour of Canada, I threw a "u" in the word honor and we went down to the Sears parking lot for street tacos---something oh so very un-Canadian. There are no poutine trucks for about 2000 miles, so we had to get resourceful.

Roadie Quest

2011-06-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Gung ho.

The plan: ride up to East Canyon Reservoir State Park, but (again) the snow and the resulting road damage thwarted the plan.

Not be be deterred, we rode to Parley's and mashed pedals up climbs of all manners.

Totalled 30 miles---half of what we planned, but no worries.

Road miles with friends is what its all about.

Cresting the final climb, feeling tired---good tired.

The Great Latte Accord of 2010-11

2011-06-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas I gave La Lissa von Stoker a present of as many lattes as she wanted, whenever it was feasible.

So far its turned out to be a great, mutually enjoyable gift. Wether iced or hot, with foam or without, I pull the shots short for no bitterness and add less milk than the average coffee joint would, leading to a full-flavor latte.

And so the Great Latte Accord of Christmas 2010 has been profitable, and very often enjoyed following an outing of Team Tandem-Trailer Continental.

Today it was the City Creek Canyon Climb then down to the Farmer's Market. Our legs were strong, we made great time grinding through 10% grades at some points.

This strength was not so for the day prior, when Handlebar Willie made a solo outing to Killyon Canyon. The legs did not clean every hill, but it hardly matters with views like these:

I rode/hiked this ridgeline of single track to the knife ridge in the distance to the left by the small clouds, then turned around to descend into the canyon, then home.

Rosebud ATV trail and the other Slickrock trail

2011-06-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

My continuing tour of ATV trails in Utah led Ben and I to the Aquarius plateau once again.

This time to the short but sweet Rosebud OHV trail that starts from hwy. 12 and descends to lower Bowns reservoir.

We pedalled from camp

ATV trails are technically doubletrack, but are usually no more than 50 inches wide and so they ride more like singletrack.

After the super fun two-and-a-half-mile descent, we junctioned with the "slickrock" trail. This is not the famous trail in Moab, but a relatively unused, sandy, rocky, and barely ridable 14-mile hike that traverses Boulder Mountain below Highway 12.

We had some fun riding, when we could ride.

It never fails that the trails I choose always lead to a lot of hike-a-bike, and so we only did a few miles of it before we doubled back to camp. What we end up doing usually is not "riding" but more like adventure exploring while sometimes pedalling our bikes when possible.

Baby Testpiece

2011-06-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

We hiked up Mill D North Fork and found this baby boulder problem.

She's a natural. I didn't coach her to do this.

So I'll just spot her.

Send!

We hiked up to see where the snow line was. She saw dad with the poles, so she had to try as well.

Peadalmashing Big Cottonwood

2011-06-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Bottom of the Canyon, going up.

Pine forests = getting higher.

White stuff: higher yet.

A momentary reprieve from climbing at Mineral flat, looking up Mineral fork and the distant Cardiac Ridge---all still skiable in Mid June.

The mountaintop finish: Climb from 4500- to 8300-feet elevation, and with Team Tandem-Trailer Continental's much slower 1800-foot climb makes 5600 feet of vertical for the weekend---not bad stats.

The descent with Reynolds and Gobblers to keep me company.

The Team: Tandem-Trailer Continental

2011-06-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Team: (from left to right) Handlebar Willie, Immy--trailer captain, La Lissa von stoker.

The vehicle: Univega steel mountain tandem with cantilever brakes and 7-speed drivetrain---nicknamed Gladys---, bought on Craigslist for 400 dollars---the best-spent 400 dollars ever---and Chariot kids trailer, purchased a week past Trailer Captain's due date because we needed to get out of the house and "do something" while we were waiting.

The climb: from Sugar House, up Emigration canyon, to Little Mountain Summit---1800 feet of climbing in two hours, hauling up a massive steel frame, aluminum trailer, and baby cargo.

The Victory lap: Trailer Captain wanted to continue climbing up the hill at the pass. Always hungry for more...

Team leaders look onward at the Sessions Mountains panorama.

The game face: Team members of Tandem-Trailer Continental never let on that we are tired.

The celebration: On the descent at the Sun and Moon Cafe. Only in Utah would you get a big full-strength micro brew dedicated to Cyclocross.

SLC Busk

2011-06-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

This might be the most fantastic bike-trailer cargo I've ever seen.

The guy was pretty good too:

There were a wide variety of instruments.

In fact, I didn't even bother taking pictures of the ubiquitous and often tiresome kids n' violins, or early-twentysomething male folk guitarists.

This one guy really stood out though. Amazing to listen:

So the SLC farmer's market is quite a spectacle now:

Its grown a lot in the last three years since I've been gone. More bakeries, more farmers, more trinkets/crafts/art. Still, there is no good place to buy a hot cup of coffee (all expensive weak brews---blech), but I'm OK with that.

Three Years Too Little

2011-06-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

Ben and I went to Little Cottonwood for some Bouldering early this morning.

This was basically my first time climbing in three years.

This La Nina thing is out of hand: its June and its still chilly. The rock was crisp, good grip. The cool air, thermos of coffee, and reconnecting with the granite was just what I needed. This may become a Friday morning ritual until it gets too hot.

The Good Life

2011-06-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Now that I live in Salt Lake, this is what I do most days. I get up at 5:45am, ride my bike up the hill to the office, teach for an hour then meet with students, do some more work in the office, then I ride into the hills.

We made this great bbq mexican chicken, grilled sweet potatoes, onions, and tomatillio salsa. We got the recipie from Rick Bayless's book. The method of grilling called for spatchcocking the chicken (smashing the whole chicken flat). Its fun to say:

Spatchcock.

Anniversary in the Escalante

2011-06-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Upper Calf Creek is sublime.

Over open slickrock, cairns to get to it.

Descending the canyon offered great views.

Above the most photographed thing in the region was a troop of boy scouts rappelling, slowly.

But we relaxed it the upper pools, mostly by ourselves: water waiting to make the big heave-ho.

Further up were marvellous little pools in the slickrock. We swam all afternoon.

An old pine making its way in the world.

After watching the movie 127 Hours last week, this is an all-too-important reminder to not die.

We camped up on Boulder mountain. The temps were perfect, as was the instant coffee---seriously better than most instant coffee, really---- and a good edifying morning read.

Then we descended boulder mountain on a dirt road heading to the Lower Bown's reservoir, we hiked the slickrock trail into a seldom-visited canyon.

Like everything here, as you look further there is infinitely more to see.

Corner Canyon

2011-06-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Draper has some great trails---lots of them.

Still climbing... but the mountains are still way up there. And filled with snow till at least another month.

But there was plenty to explore down here. The trail system is new as of the last couple years. Its very popular. In 1.5 hours of riding, I only did about a third of what's there. Its great to live in a place where the community builds new trails rather than bulldozes the few remaining places. But I guess the government in Ottawa spends its time going to gala parties with dignitaries and whatnot. Utah, not so much...

Its amazing that from the valley each ridge seems a two dimensional mass, but when you get in there, the variegated draws and canyons reveal their dimension.

Midway down, looking over the canyon. And I only rode one of the trails there. So many more to try when I go back.

Israel Canyon

2011-05-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Victor's tire shop

2011-05-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

If you are out in the west side, and you want to trick your ride, go to Victor's.

Other than being a place to get a set of low-pro chrome spinners, they make the best tamales anywhere.

Get the pork with red sauce.

Seriously.

The San Rafael Swell: Goblin Valley and Temple Mountain

2011-05-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

The Goblin Valley...

got a new Goblin

A nice goblin

Up and over rises, in the labyrinth of monsters.

Smiles all around.

The valley is on the south side of the Swell, with views of the snow-capped Henry mountains to the south.

We camped down the Temple Mountain road, right in the San Rafael Reef formation.

S'mores technology advance: flat, square marshmallows that fit better in the graham cracker sandwich.

Her first S'more---despite advances in s'more technology, they still make a perfect mess.

This is why you don't give your kids the keys.

Walking away from the wreckage...

The Shoreline---millions of years old---a poem

2011-05-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Up the shore. Find a trail. Hike-a-bike.

The old shore, waters receded.

Springtime in the lowlands, looking to the highlands. Waiting for the adventures of Summer to come with snow melt.

But now we are the post-work crowd out on two wheels.

Over the city submerged in the valley beyond.

But up here we are dry.

And old trails are new again.

Going Home

2011-05-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is home.

Five-days drive to get there, all by myself, although packing was the hardest. I really wanted to check out Vedauwoo in eastern Wyoming, but in the end I wanted to get back to this little one:

Shredding the gnar, for babies.

So I settled for a few pics off the highway. Wyoming is beautiful in its desolation.

In western Nebraska I finally saw the sun and boy was it serene at sunset.

This is all I got for Iowa, which is a shame, because Iowa is beautiful, particularly the eastern part. Lewis and Clark made this same journey, all the way to Oregon where I was born. And I forgot to take pictures of all the other states---the wind and rain and toll roads did not make good pictures. Oh well.

Cyclelogik group ride

2011-04-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

April 2, first group ride of the season. I rode with the A-squad since the de facto B-squad is still in hibernation: 55 miles averaging 20mph. That's fast for me. A little bit of dirt roads, mostly rough pavement. Just enough rough to cause one to wonder who will win the Tour of Flanders tomorrow---Cancellara's got form, but he was not racing against the full A-squads of the pro peloton last week, but Boonen was the following Sunday, but it probably won't end in a bunch sprint. So its hard to tell really how awesome Cancellara really is. I know very little but what I read in the online rags, but I aim to find out for myself tomorrow...

Two weeks to Almonte-Roubaix. This group ride was just the stimulus I needed. All those long hours in the basement and spin classes last Winter. Then I upped the intensity recently, building more form. Then today was the first race-length ride, and I did it hard. A bit more riding outside and I'll be more-or-less primed for the Main Event of the early season. When I leave the race, I will then leave Ottawa. My U-haul will literally be already packed up. I will race, come home, eat, and then leave Canada permanently. It should be a perfect ending to my Canadian experience.

Spring Marginalia

2011-04-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

I went to Houston. This is essentially an outdoor beer stand with a taco truck parked next to it. For Spring there is also a crawfish stand as well:

First proper ride of the season today. Cyclelogik group ride tomorrow...

First ride ever for this one. The helmet was comically large and probably does nothing for safety.

The Southern Wasatch with Family

2011-03-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

The associated ridge lines east of Freedom peak---god bless America.

Enjoying our last day in Utah...

The generations watch the ridge line's lee

Sweet abandoned snow machine

Rarrrrrr.

My father-in-law is quite a guy. He walks five miles a day, almost every day. Its his morning practice, neither rain nor cold.

The previous day's storm left an icy wonderland.

Family.

I look forward to coming back here with my mountain bike in Summer.

The cottonwoods of every river valley in Utah...

An old snow cave---a remnant of some boy scout expedition undoubtedly...

Wasatch Backcountry Powder Day

2011-03-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

We skinned from Mill Creek Canyon up to Gobbler's, and skied down the Cabin Run and Pole Canyon. The new snow just covered the infamous rain crust and made for some good turns.

Fat skis

Skinnier skis

Aspens on the approach to Gobbler's proper

Good times.

Ready to shred.

Maryann's amazing turkey sandwiches. Thanks Maryann!

Having not skied on real backcountry touring gear in powder for three years---Gatineau park nordic skiing does not count---I was a bit rusty. This led to a wipeout and a ski hitting me in the chin. After being hit in the face, I remembered how to ski better, and my turns started to look a bit more like Ben's:

An Open Letter to the Flatness of Ottawa

2011-03-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Ottawa,

You have a lot of nice things: parks, rivers, restaurants, culture, urbanity, nice people, cozyness... All this makes me like you, enjoy you. It feels pleasant. That's all.

But when I am in the mountains...

Renfrew Cyclocross

2010-11-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

The course was long, flat, windy, and cold. The frozen ground made the surface very bumpy. The combination of bumpiness and flat plays to my strengths, as I am a bigger than average rider: I can ride out the bumps and mash those pedals without having to heft my carcass up the hills of Almonte. I also did well at the barriers, making several key moves on the remount. The bumpiness wore me down though: my arms were sore from being rattled, and on the last lap I had to fight to keep loose on the bike without loosing contact with the handlebars.

I left with my best result of the season. All my usual rivals, and some riders I only see off in the distance in front of me, were all behind me this time. Of course, as a middle-to-back-of-the-pack rider, there was a whole slew of less familiar, but equally nice folks to pass and to be passed by.

Dawn Patrols

2010-11-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

No, not that Dawn Patrol...

This one. I've actually gone on several. Rob and I are making the DP an institution. The pictures below are in no particular order.

Helmetless---how street.

I got this on the list of things to do.

Also helmetless...

Meeting Pukey and Other Joys of Almonte

2010-11-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Post-race carnage at the start/finish.

The Nov. 7th race at Almonte was the best! The course was set up with the perfect amount of ridability and lack thereof. Congrats to the Eurosports/Foodery folks for setting a great track. One guy I talked to on the warm-up was telling me it was a "tactical" course. I take that to mean the course presents many options for how to take it, both in terms of lines, and for timing your efforts. I agree. There were non-obvious lines that really did help make up time. I also found that the course seemed to trick me into near-redlining on each lap---so much for options. Others seemed to over-do it as well, as the picture above indicates: Never have I seen the top four finishers of the B-race sprawled out like Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World.

So there I was maxed out, trying to keep from getting too delirious, and up in front of me is a Tall Tree Rider named Pascal. I know this because this guy has a lot of friends. Along the whole course it was "go Pascal.... go Pascal." We were pretty well matched. Through a series of well-ridden mud sections and a good tempo on the oval, I was able to bridge to him, but I really could care less about passing him. I could tell we were both redlining it on each hill. No flashy attacking was going to work for me. I did not have it in me. It was a game of attrition. Just like Texas-hold-em, the cards were already drawn. All I had was to flip the cards one by one and see who had the better hand.

On the climb to the start/finish of the last lap, the mud changed character and sucked up a bunch of leaves into my chainstays and drained me to nothing. My gap dwindled as I tried to pull some of the gunk out of the stays while riding. On the last of the mega run-ups he attacked big time. I let him go. I could only go one speed. But then he sagged on his bike, slowed down, and started puking. Im not sure if it was a little or a lot, but it did not sound good. Over my shoulder I gave him some words of encouragement saying something like "Its ok man, lets race this!" But he got off. I hope he is feeling better. It was fun to race with him.

Below are some more photos. The full set can be found here.

Dear city of Ottawa, cross is very much a family sport.
Its these kids you are denying

The course was designed to make you think you are getting a break somewhere, but you don't.

HUP HUP HUP. This run-up was the best.

Dresden

2010-11-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

No bicycles during this trip.

The Fall of our tearing our legs off

2010-10-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Cross number four was a bust. My rear hub is at Phat Moose getting a new O-Pro rim laced up. Next up is a trip to Germany for a week of conferencing, and wandering around.

So this week Kanata Lakes happened. In fact it happened three days in a row in an effort to tear my legs off. On the last day I went out with Rob for a yawn patrol (= afternoon).

The afternoon was so cold and so quiet. Sometimes KL seems like the primordial earth on days like that, even though you're only a couple kms from the suburbs in any direction. After difficult sections I'd stop and hear the breeze, then head on to keep warm as light snow fell.

This bike just gets more awesome the more I ride it. The rock obstacles of KL recall an old kinetic memory or riding a mini-ramp on a skateboard: arcing curves, trying to keep the momentum high through the smooth transition, to short bursts and quick flicks of the front or rear wheels, keeping light on your feet, as you tap the coping and come back down.

Lately I've been playing a game on the Outback trail I call Dab Golf: I count how many times I have to dab my foot while negotiating the obstacles on the Outback trail. I ride from the Inukshuk to the terminis at the western border, which I've got down to 13 dabs, but I really should extend the game to the whole loop from Inukshuk to Inukshuk. There are some sections (5-6) that I'll never do clean, and a bunch of sections that are percentage moves for me, and some dabs are really just unforced errors. I would like to see the rider who could do it all clean. That would be impressive.

Cyclocross Number 3

2010-10-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Had to drive an hour for this one. Got there just in time to not have a real warm-up. I redlined it on the second lap and had to slow down a bit too much, but I don't think I lost any positions. The course was awesome, with a nasty off-camber run-up then muddy climb to the finish line. After the climb you went through a smooth chicane, then hold on to your handlebars and descend fast to a mudpit. If you could keep on track, you could miss the big molasses mud section and keep it in high gear for a following section of smooth flat straight course where you can recover and find a tempo, and maybe even draft someone. You could also find out if the people around you hit the prior run-ups a bit too aggressively.

The record rainfalls of the last three months have abated for at least a few days, but that just made the mud angry. The mud sought it's revenge by gumming up everything. Any racer who had the foresight and money to field two bikes and a pit bike-washer friend would have had a huge advantage. The evil mud also made me scrub my bike for a good long hour when I got home, when all I really wanted was a cup of coffee and some rest.

Belgian Frites

2010-10-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I indulge my culinary side on this web log. In honor of cross season I made belgian frites and homemade aioli (recipe here). Of course, the Hoegaarden just puts it over the top. The lemon flavor of the aioli compliments the coriander and orange peel used in the Hoegaarden. Now if only I could be standing in the cold muck watching a UCI Superprestige race whilst munching them...

photo credit

While not Belgium, later this month I'll be in Saxony, but there will be no high profile races when I'm there. Dang.

Cyclocross Madison

2010-10-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Madison events: two-rider teams. The series schedules a madison event every year. I just wanted to race a straight race today, but I grudgingly went out the door this morning to ride anyway. I actually had a lot of fun. The race is non-competitive, with riders encouraged to pair up with disparate abilities. Some people did this, but some teams were far from disparate. Whatev. Each to his own. The nice thing about the madison is that you get to ride along side some really good riders that I normally only see in the first 10 seconds of the race. I get to see the lines everyone takes, how people attack the run-ups, and how much stronger the fast guys really are. This race is also pretty good training. Alternating laps allows you to red-line each lap like interval training.

The partner I randomly paired up with was a cool guy with a Rollof mtb, doing work on electric windmills (jcox: does your new windmill job have an office in Ottawa?).

Cyclocross Season Opener

2010-09-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain made a muddy course.

Chaaaarrrrrgge!

All 90-something photos I took of the B-race can be found here

Did I say it was muddy? Normally ridable sections of flat grass were making my rear wheel spin out like a stuck tractor.

All told I rode the course pretty good, but a few of the leaders lapped me near the end and I got to see even better lines through the muck. Always learning.

Amid my nearby competitors, my weakness was the muddy run-up and subsequent climb. I could not do this as fast as I wanted---namely, as fast as others around me. However, I seemed to make this up on other parts of the course, most notably on the second run-up and fast descent, and the final set of barriers where I routinely reeled guys in. For example, on next to last lap, one of the guys that I yo-yoed with early on re-appeared within range. I played it smart in the middle of the race and recovered enough to floor it on the last lap. Judiciously, I reeled him in foot by foot. After the second run-up to remount and fast descent, I hit the gas hard on the back stretch. After the final technical corner I put the heart rate to the red-zone, and bore down. I put a safe gap on the guy chasing me, and came in hot on the barriers. All the mud was clogging my pedals. I was hoping for a clean remount... and nailed it! I passed three guys including my yo-yo partner while each were hopping on their bikes. I wound up the pedals more, heart screaming, banked the corner going into the straightaway and accelerated to the line, a full 100 foot gap on my rivals. Ahhh the triumph! Well, not really. It's just fun to play around. I'm hoping my effort will get me squarely in the middle of the pack (update: I was 21st out of 52 Masters-A finishers---60th percentile---so I did better than my intuition, but still in the middle).

Go home to lattes and a homemade apple galette. Contrary to popular belief, you can make a better latte without a special machine. While your stovetop Italian espresso maker is heating, put some milk in a pan and whisk to near boiling. The foam you get from this easy technique is as robust as from the steamer arm of a mega million-dollar espresso maker. And don't be an ass and use whole milk for crying out loud ;-). The pan technique also adds a bit of caramel to the flavoring that you won't get with steam.

Salsa El Mariachi 2010 Review

2010-09-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Salsa El Mariachi only became available in early August. I purchased mine as soon as I could. This review applies to the 2011 model, since its exactly the same except the paint job. Since I bought it, I've ridden it on rocky and rooty tech fests of Eastern Ontario; huge never-ending high mountain climbing of Utah's Wasach range and the Utah southern red rock plateaus; and the perfect roller coaster singletrack of Paul's Dirty Enduro 100k. Overall I am quite pleased with the bike. However, the bike has taken some getting used to, which I'll detail in what follows.

Update for Summer 2011: I still love the bike. Rocker chain tensioner still holds solid. I adjust it for chain stretch every so often. I've also updated the stem, seatpost and added ergon grips. I flipped the stem to angle down and took out all the spacers. Now the bars are about 2 inches below the seat, and the handling and climbing are even better. Its common for riders to prefer a leaned back, more comfortable ride, but getting over the front wheel is worth it.

When considering steel 29er single speed frame choices this Summer, I was debating between the El Mar and the Niner SIR. The main factor in choosing the Salsa was the simple chain tensioning mechanism.

from Salsa's website

The eccentric rotating bottom bracket (EBB) shell of the SIR seems to have changed every one or two years. To me, this says that Niner has not found an optimal, hassle-free design. Their latest proprietariy EBB looked interesting, but it requires teflon tape for the friction fit, and changing gear ratios looked like a hassle. Beyond that, EBBs always seem to creak after a while, and all that flex in the BB housing will likely cause premature BB wear. Of course, this is speculation, but my previous Gary Fisher Rig's EBB shell, which was a solid one-piece aluminium unit, went through BBs all the time. The Niner EBB was a two piece cup system that looks like a long-term disaster waiting to happen. Conversely, the Salsa El Mar 2010 re-design switched away from an EBB design to the "rocker" design seen above. The largest forces on the frame occur at the BB intersection. Putting additional strain, friction, and creaking by introducing an EBB shell in that location seems like a terrible idea.

The rocker design solves a few problems with dropout tensioners, namely how to have the disk brake still line up with the rotor after adjusting the chain tension. By having the disk brake mount attached to the rocker, the brake is always where it should be. Other tensioning designs are out there that accomplish the same feat, but they are way more expensive. For further musings, check out Guitar Ted's discussion of chain tensioning mechs here and here.

How is the rocker chain tensioning system? Hassle free. On the first few rides, the drive-side bolt shifted a bit, making the rear wheel askew. I think this occurred because the set screws had not fully seated into the seatstay bases. After the first few rides I loosened the bolts, and adjusted the set screws a bit more to re-align the wheel but also to compensate the new chain stretch. After three tries the screws seated and it has not budged with 200 hard miles on it. Hassle free.

How about tire clearance? Great. I have Continental Mountain King 2.4s on currently (big tires) on a Stan's ZTR-Arch rim. In the full forward position there is still about 1/4 inch clearance on either side. So mud clearance is great. Last month in Utah, a section of clay mud riding clogged up my buddies geared Yeti 26er bike pretty good with 2.1 Race Kings, while I kept on trucking...

How about price? The secondary factor for me in choosing the El Mar was the price differential; while the SIR has a lighter frame build with Reynolds 853 compared to the Salsa's Sanko, the SIR was more expensive by 300 dollars. I paid 650 CAD for the Salsa, and yes, I'm sure its a slightly heavier frame than the SIR. Enough said.

Frame geometry? In terms of basic fit, I'm 6'-even with a long torso and shorter legs and arms. I got the 20" large frame. I figure my long torso and short arms cancel each other and make me "normal." My only point of reference for a 29er was my previous Gary Fisher Rig. I loved the way my old bike rode mostly, but the steering felt a bit sluggish, and banked cornering was never its strong suit. I always figured it was a 29er thing, that the long wheelbase was never going to turn on a dime. However, the El Mar is about 1cm shorter in the effective top tube, and this makes the steering more agile. I am happy now. It should be noted that I am using my old rebuilt Reba fork on it with the old-style 38mm offset. A bigger offset on a newer fork (44mm is what I think the rigid companion fork Salsa makes for the El Mar) should make the steering even more snappy, but what I have is fine for me now.

However, the biggest difference between the GF Rig and the El Mar is the BB drop: 50mm on the Rig, and 60 on the El Mar, but it seems even further down to me. Note that the 50mm number is a fiction, because the Rig's EBB dictates there are usually two BB position options to pick, one above 50 and one below. For the technical rocky trails of the South March Highlands, I used to rotate the EBB of my GF Rig to the "up" position to add more pedal clearance to ride obstacles. Hence, with the El Mar, I deal with pedal strike issues. There are many short bursty climbs that are a crap shoot on the El Mar. A pedal strike will stop you cold. Now don't get me wrong, the 60mm drop is very conventional for 29ers, with many brands going even lower to 70mm---Niner and Vassago! If the El Mar were any lower it would make technical East Coast riding very hard. Although out West in Utah, where the smoother flowing trails abound, I never had a problem with pedal strikes. But if you have to hammer through a rock garden, the low BB adds new factors to the equation: you have to time each pedal stroke to get through.

The lower BB has distinct advantages however. First, you can have a more upright riding stance where you are more between the wheels rather than on top of them. Most importantly, it allows for better banked cornering: The lower your feet are, the better control you have over the the angle at which you bank the bike. Contrary to popular belief, reducing your center of gravity by 1 cm is a miniscule change, since your CG is way up in your abdomen (the percent change is less than 1%), hence, CG does not play a huge role in why BB height is important for cornering (see Dave Moulton's blog post on this). At Paul's Dirty Enduro, I really felt the increased cornering stability when transitioning from leaning one way to another on the arcing singletrack course. Many people describe a low-BB bike as if it is "riding on rails." I agree.

Finally, this bike is steel. Steel is soft, flexy, and oh so comfy to ride. On mildly bumpy trails, you can stay in your saddle and pedal more efficiently without killing your arse. On dirt roads in the West I found this particularly nice. For traction issues, steel is nice for reducing some tire slipping torquing and maintaining traction. I really feel the difference between the aluminium Rig versus the steel El Mar. Although, steel can feel like a wet noodle when you really have to hammer. There is a detectable wind-up in the steel frame as one accelerates really hard. For east coast tech riding I've found I have to time my accelerations slightly sooner in order to get the right torque to the wheels in time to ride over all those rock obstacles.

I hope this post helps anybody thinking about the El Mariachi, or basic 29er geometry questions.

Paul's Dirty Enduro 2010

2010-09-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Singlespeed is fun to ride but it's not that hard.

This race is the best experience on a bike that a human can have. This is why IMBA has designated Paul's as an "Epic Ride." Now I'm from the mountain west. I've ridden in Fruita, Moab, and the mountains of Utah and Idaho. Sorry to say, the stuff I've ridden there is truly transcendent and usually beats the tar out of riding in Ontario. However, the riding at Paul's is something beyond all of that. While there are no breathtaking canyon or mountain vistas, the arcing trail of Paul's resembles a roller coaster for 100k. Kinetically, the bike, body, and trail meld. Perfect-length climbs lead to flowing descents. Over 100k, the course builds drama. For me, its a four-act play:

The first 40k act is a brawl. No time to rest, just fight in the west forest. The second act, the north and north-east forests, are a time to collect, enjoy the natural beauty, and conserve. By the north east aid station (4th I think) one starts to think about upping the speed a bit. By then you are digging into the bottom 1/3 of your energy reserves. You know bonk town is off in the distance. The challenge is to tune your efforts so bonk town comes just as you cross the finish. As you travel south on the east part of the course, the fatigue sets in, but the arcing turns and ups and downs require full attention. It is here that time can be made if you can keep your momentum, ride the logs, and bank all the S-curves like you are riding on rails!

The last act is electric, and for me, roughly starts on the only long straight fire-road on the course, located in the south central region. This road has a series of straightforward hills. If you have the legs you can keep the pressure on and ride hard. If not, you will cramp up and have to walk. Several times on this death march I had to stop briefly and pull out my bag of E-load tablets and eat a whole gob of them to fight the cramps. Luckily it worked, but not everyone was so lucky. At the end of the road, there is a 90-degree left turn to a large and steep hill. As I crested the hill, there lay another rider splayed on the ground massaging his pained left leg. Race carnage! It was a triumph for me to ride this hill because last year I had to stumble-bonk-walk all the way up it.

The denouement of the course---where a close race can be won or lost---is the "never ending climb." The climb is not hard per-se, but builds in intensity over the course of 5 minutes. Going too hard at the bottom is tempting, but you need to save it. At the foot of the climb I was fully recovered and ticking by at 140 bpm. Every minute the angle increased and I'd up the heart 10 bpm. Legs aching, heart pounding, I crested the top at 190, but with no visible struggle. I tried to keep each peddle stroke smooth, my back and shoulders relaxed, no huge gyrations back and forth. I kept trying to visualize Shleck or Contador's climbing, trying to model their cool collectedness.

The accumulated efforts of 100k and over 7000 feet of climbing lead to the festive atmosphere of the finish. Feeling absolutely ecstatic I sprinted to the line at top speed, locked the rear brake and laid down a huge power slide. Like a track stand at 20 mph, I was able to tilt the bike to and fro, modulating my balance as I came to a stop. I had much to be happy with. I knocked off more than an hour from my race time from last year. I didn't win any medals or impress anybody---my 7.5 hour finish put me squarely mid-pack overall, and 4th in the singlespeed category (out of 5 riders) and 20 minutes from a singlespeed podium finish. Next year I'll try for another half-hour time reduction. Course times were fast this year, with 4 riders pulling sub-six-hour times on the course, including Ottawa's own Matt Surch of Tall Tree Cycles, who came in second overall. Congrats Matt! Impressive!

At the finish I drank coffee and watched other Ottawa riders I knew come in:

Matt of Rated M Biking. The smile says Matt had fun. I only met Matt for the first time on the trail. He was looking for his friends. I asked him what his friends look like and he described a green 29er rider. I said "do you mean Rob, I know Rob." What a coincidence. This further affirms that Ottawa riders are the friendliest, most social riders around.

I saw Heather ripping it up on the course early on. Still smiling...

Mary Ann, Rob's sister, was glad it was over. Rob is the disembodied coffee cup.

I also saw some cool bikes. This guy went 60k on a Pugsley!

I would take this bike off some sweet jumps.

Dawn Patrol

2010-09-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Dawn Patrol: In surfing, skiing, or mountain biking the act of arriving at your location at, or before, sunrise to surf, ski or bike before the crowds, school or work.

I always say "yes" anytime someone asks me if I want to get up early to go ride/ski. Its really easy, you just say "yes" and when the alarm goes off you feel obligated to get up because you don't want to let yer bros down.

No I did not get up at 4 AM, so it was not a true dawn patrol, but it was in that spirit. It reminded me of my Utah Dawn Patrols: driving with my coffee mug in the wee hours to cut a few skin tracks to powder stashes as the sun rises, then get to work. Instead of a fresh powder dump of lake effect snow, I watched the fog roll off the Ottawa river as I drove up to the South March Highlands. Beautiful.

Rob and Heather---instigators of the Dawn Patrol---getting one more MTB ride in before Paul's Dirty Enduro.

Rob with his game face. Rob was the smartest in the group. He put coffee in his water bottle. You see, Rob works with computers, so he knows about coffee. It was cold enough that I never drank any water. Kicking back and sipping some java would have been nice while watching the obstacle riding.

Heather rode every obstacle she could find. Crushing it.

Cross

2010-09-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

When the weather gets shitty, its a good day to dust off the cross bike.

Yep. No dust there.

The chain was only a few rides old, but it rusted from a season in the basement. Lots of oil, and massage, and hard riding got it going.

I was much happier than this picture implies. I hit the Dow's lake run-up like seven or eight times and felt loose. No struggle. On the run-up there were some nordic skate skiers out training for the upcoming Winter. They thought I was weird, but they didn't have any skis on. This cross season will be a good one.

Timpanogos trails, Boulder Mountain, and Hell's Backbone Grill

2010-09-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

My time in Utah was filled with lots of new riding. Every time I rode this trip I explored something new.

As usual I sought out new sections of the Great Western Trail. This trail weaves through the heart of the mountain west, and through my whole life of riding. Many of my western adventures include a section of the GWT. Ticking off a new section of this trail is a time-honoured tradition for me when I come to Utah.

This is nice single track off of Mt. Timpanogos above Orem, UT. After riding these trails for many days, I embarked with friends on a ill-fated tour in which the plan was to go south on the Great Western Trail and other roads down to Boulder, Utah. Things did not work out but it was really fun anyhow. You can read and look at pictures of it here.

After our failure to launch, my friends skiWill and Ben camped north of Joe's Valley reservoir in a high mountain valley where we rode for an afternoon:

After riding some casual single track and seeing up close the Southern Skyline drive section again (the far ridge in the above picture), we were more psyched than ever to come back next year for a real bid on the Trans Utah route.

A few days later my wife and I and baby went down to southern Utah to the Escalante area, where I got to recon more of the GWT.

The trail reached to the high mountain of Boulder Top, which reaches upwards 10,000+ feet. The trail I chose turned gamey and I played around in this meadow.

I returned down in time for reservations at Hell's Backbone Grill, which is the best restaurant on the planet, and even better because it is perched on the cusp of the Escalante Grand Staircase, which is varied echelon of tan, to brick, to deep red sandstones carved from the Escalante river. The Family and I camped and hiked there for several days and escaped to this dream world. Its difficult to express how great this place is, but here is picture:

We saw many (50 or so) bike tourists who were linking up Capitol Reef National park, Boulder mountain, and the Escalante. I envied them so, and my wife and I vowed to go on a tour with Imogen as soon as we are able.

The restaurant sources much of its meat from local ranchers, and vegetables from its own organic farm that's just down the road. I ordered the pork chop with stonefruit barbecue sauce---the best porkchop I've ever had. For desert I had the bread pudding made with molasses bread and apricots.

The right wrong turn on the Great Western Trail

2010-09-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

I have a multi-year continuing obsession with a theoretical Trans-Utah north-to-south bikepacking route from the Salt Lake area down to the Boulder mountain area in southern Utah. The theoretical route follows more or less the Great Western Trail. In past years my friends Ben and skiWill and I have done various sections of the route, from the northern Wasatch range (here), the Southern Skyline drive section, and the Fish Lake region. I had big plans this year of actually completing it all. However, trivial and not-so-trivial things conspired to derail those plans.

The trivial derailment was that we took a wrong turn on a section in which we did not have a map. This section was the very first bit of our route, coming out of Utah valley on Hobble Creek road. What's more, we screwed ourselves on the very first turn, which routed us north rather than south. After climbing 3000 feet on four-wheel-drive road, I discovered our error when the next supposed turn-off at 13 miles was not where I had planned. That's when we figured we were screwed and we rode into town after 55 miles of riding.

If the trivial problem did not get us, the not-so-trivial problems would have. One is that we were three people with vastly different paces on different grades. We all traded places who was fastest at different sections, but the overall pace was only as fast as the slowest rider. The second was that I was not acclimated as well as in previous years. Third was our lack of planning (read: no map). This was a failure on my part mostly, but Ben and skiWill helped by trusting me. Why such bad planning? Well, I had a paper revision that I submitted hours before I left for this trip. I had no time to get a detailed map purchased and studied in time so I went on some scribbled notes, but I did not write down all forest service road numbers for the route. skiWill has a bad case of grad school, so he's no good. And Ben? Ben goes on adventures like this every weekend I imagine, so he did not care at all what actually happened.

And that was just fine, because the day of riding we did have was excellent. We attacked the non-route with reckless abandon with smiles the whole way. Here are some pictures.

So for next year, if the stars align, I'd like to do things differently. First is to get a GPS. Second is to do it with full touring gear, so I have all the food I need and don't have to rely on shuttles or caches and go at my own pace. This is a better self-supported style, and as a bonus, when things don't go as planned I/we can stop and rest were we feel like, not where the car is. Third is to do it with gears, so I can realistically haul all the touring gear I need. Fourth is to get all my work done long before I start and go backpacking at 10000 feet for a few days to get completely acclimated. I'm sure Ben and skiWill have their own take on how to do it. Next year, hopefully, we can figure out a real plan.

Here's to next year!

The Mountain West

2010-08-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ancho Chillies and the El Mariachi

2010-08-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Its hot this Summer. One has no business cooking anything on the stove or in the oven. This is why cultures in southern climes do so much slow cooking. I'm on a Mexican kick and I made beans. Beans, some bacon, onions, red chilli power, and cumin, put it in the cooker. The most important thing besides the bacon is the Ancho chilli, the big black dried chilli on the left. One can get these at the latin food store on Merrivale. They are totally worth it.

Riding at Camp Fortune while the beans cook. I'm still getting used to this bike. The tubeless wheels, boy do they climb. The steel frame is soft and comfy. Getting the hang of quick accelerations to get over obstacles has been weird though. There is a considerable wind-up before the proper torque is reached to power over stuff. My old bike was an aluminum Fisher Rig---a harsh ride, but snappy. The bb height is also low relative to the Fisher Rig. I'm still not used to all the pedal strikes. The lower bb height probably also contributes to the acceleration issue. Still, the bike is a big improvement. Over the long haul, its much more comfortable. and the slightly shorter top tube, and possibly steeper head angle makes the steering less sluggish than the Rig, but I don't know entirely why this is so.

Homemade tortillas. Adding a little butter to the Masa helps keep them together better in the pan

Mexican beer. Like I said, its hot out, and Mexico knows how to make beer for that. In lieu of queso fresco, we used feta cheese, and I don't feel bad about that a bit.

Japanese steel tubing and peppers

2010-08-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

We've been getting these Japaniese Shishito peppers the last few weeks at the Farmer's Market. These things could be the next fad, like arugula or cupcakes, or other utterly trivial fads. You fry them in a pan with a little oil, add salt, and you're done. Eat them whole, seeds and all. They're great with eggs. What's so great about them? They have the most savoury flavor of any pepper I've tasted. They're not a hot pepper, not even a little, and not especially sweet like a bell pepper either.

I also got a new bike---well just the frame and wheelset, the rest I migrated over. A steel 29er from Salsa Cycles called the "El Mariachi." I set it up with a Stan's No-tubes wheelset. I even got matching water bottles. The frame is Japanese Sanko tubing, not that that means anything to me, but it fits with the theme today. The chain tensioning system is what sold me on the bike. So simple, and you can set it up as a geared bike no problem. I also considered the Niner SIR that has an eccentric bottom bracket (EBB) tensioning system, but previous frustrating experiences with EBBs made me shy away. I love this bike. The frame just became available last week, and like the peppers, I think we will be seeing a lot of these blue bikes around.

Legs like the cowardly lion---our time at the front

2010-07-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

The CycleLogik B-squad group ride. Its a Saturday institution. I've been five times now and I really enjoy it---good folks, put on defacto by the West Quebec Wheelers who are hella awesome. What's great about CycleLogik is that they are a coffee bar and I get to watch Formula One racing on their TV before the ride.

My time at the camera-weilding front, forshortened by a puncture.

The key of good espresso is to not pull the shot too long. Don't put all the water through the grinds. Only the first bit is any good. Watch carefully.

I started the ride with legs like the scarecrow---full of hay, but they had the lion's true courage on the climb.

Yes, lets dance.

Seckel Pear in the Jersey

2010-07-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

La Lissa brought home some jars. It must be August. Canning begins. Apricots first.

I opted for a ride in the Gatineaus.

After mashing out the Fortune climb I settled on the slow route to the Champlain lookout.

I brought these little pears with me, gotten at the Farmers Market. Most durable fruits are too big (except kumquats!) to fit in a jersey pocket. I tire of bananas---and they are only borderline durable anyway. Little fruit like this is often termed Lady Pears, or analogously Lady Apples. I think these are also called Seckel Pears as well, or so the internet says.

I've been riding a lot lately and I'm on the verge of sore everyday. Today there were moments of lucidity in my legs up the Fortune climb. Not fast per se, but an efficient pace, but that all fell apart on the descent. I could have brought five more pears with me.