Two Seats, Twenty One Gears

We just got this kick-ass ride off of craigslist as our mutual birthday present. We paid 400 for it, which is a good deal for a tandem, I think. It should be nice for dirt roads and touring. Ever since we rode one on Friday Harbor we wanted to get one but most are really expensive. We are going to get some racks and sew our own panniers for it. I have no idea where we are going to store it in our house. I'll probably have to reconfigure my office to make it fit.

I will also entertain myself on it by riding it solo on the shoreline, which will make that old trail interesting again. I'll also see if I can ride it solo from the back seat using strings to control the brakes and steering. I bet two coordinated people could pull off a rolling chinese fire drill on it: switch seats while rolling without touching the ground. I wonder how many people we could have riding on it at the same time? I am open to any suggestions on entertaining things to (try) to do on it.

lcc and diverse media

thanks for the invitation, will.

remember that day we went climbing in little cottonwood canyon this summer?

here is a picture of you.

here are some more:

LCC

i had just been in the wind rivers. i also posted some pictures of that trip:

Wind Rivers

here is a movie:

Wind Rivers movie 1
Wind Rivers movie 2

while we're on the subject of pictures of things i did that these are links to, here are links to pictures of my trip to china, in 2005:

Beijing
Shangha
Yangshuo
yunnan
szechuan

here is a movie of my bike ride in yunnan and szechuan:

ride video

thats all for now.

peace and sunshine upon you.

--bobby in nh

Rock Hounding in Triassic

I went bouldering with a whole crew of folks down in Triassic this weekend. I went with John, Christine, Scott, and the Benster.



From these unnamed friends I learned some new words to enhance my climbing vocabulary

Crank and spank ---- lock off and slap indiscriminately for unknown holds.

Hippie climbing ---- Trads

Hippie skiing ---- Telemarking

That Weird Time of the Year for Sports

Every fall is that weird time of year when all four major professional sports are in season: baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Similarly, fall is that weird time for imbuildingarockwallers when all major unprofessional sports are in season: climbing, hiking, skiing, and cyclocross. All of the following pictures were taken in the last month. We start with Gavin Noyes' "Homespinin on the Homestead" annual event which takes place at his primitive cabin between Hanksville and the Henrys.

Gavin is a professional potter. The cabin is on the left and his giant kiln, built into the side of the hill, is on the right. On the same trip M and I went bouldering at Triassic and hiking at Goblin Valley.


From my last post many wanted to know my secret bike-bouldering pad transportation technology: You take a stick and jam it in your bike frame and tie it down with string and straps. Done.

Fall is fun: go skiing one day and climbing a few days later, both in the Wasatch.

Sticky Granite

Mr. Hardage stopped into town a few weeks ago. Bobby (AKA little Bobby) now hails from Verhampshire, but is always traveling. He dropped into SLC via a trip up to the Wind Rivers.



Without a car, going out to the boulders is an all day affair.




I hope to do more climbing in combination with bike touring this year.

A longish bike ride

Recently I sold my car. I did it partly because I couldn't afford the insurance premium, registration, and the price of fucking gas these days! Some amount of enviro do-gooderisim also factored in to the switch. I also didn't like the terrorist-per-gallon rating that my car, or anyone's, had. M has her car of course, but she uses it for work, so for the most part it's all pedal power.

I went on a mountain bike ride last Sunday. Now I ride to the mountains, but I caught to Wasatch Crest Shuttle up to Gardsmens. I did the crest, then the mid mountain, then down to Park City for a snack, then I rode home, taking part of I 80 from Parley's to East Canyon, to Emigration, then home. I consider this a longish ride according to the classification system devised by Sukow:

a ride <6hrs
longish <8-9hrs
long <16
redicuride no limit

I may not have the numbers right. I'll have to get back to Sukow on this. They are just a ballpark. This would also vary with terrain, or if you were racing at the time ect...

Elk Mountain Traverse

During the busyness of Spring I still got out to do some skiing. To be efficient I concentrated all that skiing into 16 hours called the Elk Mountain Traverse. True to form for all my ski races, I did'nt finish the whole race. I had seven miles to go and collapsed after jettisoning all cargo from my innards. I think I got dehydrated early on and never fully recovered. Oh well. There is always next time. Here are some pictures...

The Paria

About a week ago I got done walking through the canyons of the Paria river down in south Utah and north Arizona. It was a great way to unwind from a busy first half of the year. With my first paper published and second paper submitted the day before I left it was a much needed mental break.

The hike took four days. It was HOT, but the river provided the needed cool-down. We entered the area via Buckskin canyon, which is a thirteen-mile rock hallway till you reach the confluence with the Paria.




Our first day in the Paria was the best aesthetically. The walls were wider but you still felt enveloped. The canyon was a lush oasis from the gently flowing river and the perennial seeps.




As the canyon became wider and deeper with the increasing miles the sun became a bigger deal. Hiking in the afternoon was out, so we scaled back the hiking time and found camp and shade by noon. We read and ate snacks. I build a rock wall in the river and laid down in the resulting cool pool.




Although, my watch read 127 F after I left it out in the sun, I think the afternoon temps were about 107 F tops.

If I were to recommend one hike to do in the Utah desert this would be it.

Uinta Ski Hike

I went on a little trip to the Uintas. I skied till it was dark, and then kept going, all the way to gunsight pass to my high camp at 11,300. I got up at 5am and started over the pass and into painter's basin then back up some steep hills to King's peak. At 12,800 I had gained the long ridge where King's peak resides. I mistakenly thought Kings was south of where I was. Daytime heating made me leery of traversing a steep slope with a slide-for-life into an unknown drainage, so I bailed on fake Kings and decided to head up to a more accessible 13er which I thought was not King,s, but actually was! King's, shown above as the central peak that is recessed a bit in the photo. From the top I was able to see all over into several drainages that practically nobody goes to. I came down via an amazing ski pole glissade. When the angle slacked I skied the rest on perfect corn across miles of open terrain in these expansive mountain valleys. The only living thing I saw up there was a fox. Once back on the Henry's fork side I kicked back at my tent, melted some snow and made some tea. I let my socks dry in the excessive warmth and took a nap. Due to the excessive heat the thin snowpack was collapsing and unconsolidated. I could only travel successfully on the packed down ski track, and even then I fell into many a trap door. I decided to come down that night when the meager refreeze made the track more supportable. About every 30 steps I fell through and I needed my skins for the decent just to slow me down so I did not stray from the track into the vast sea of facets. I was very weak on the way down, but feeling ok. I skied for 14 hours that day and by 10 at night I was at my car. I spent 32 hours car to car for a 40-mile round trip hike. Great training for Elk mountain coming up in two weeks...