Winter training ride

Winter training ride, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

What's up with the lack of snow this winter? Here in Eastern Washington we have had over a month with no new snow. It's really quite depressing, if you like snow that is. Skiing, sledding, snowman making, icicle snatching and all the other fun winter stuff is just gone. Well the skiing is still happening if you like ice skating. Oh well, I guess that's why I have a bike with studded tires. We have been riding 40-50 miles once a week for the last month, and it's great to be able to get in the early season miles. Tomorrow is another 3-4 hour ride through the flatlands of the Palisades. The roads are so good that the fast bike will make it's first appearance. kind of like a groundhog looking for it's shadow. Either I'll get the winter bike back out or it will stay in the shed until bike camping season begins. Either way, I'm just happy to be able to get out under my own power and enjoy what nature brings.

Camp Vitamins

Camp Vitamins, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

What is a summer without camping? And what is camping without a pop up trailer? I'm not sure either, but I think it is still camping, maybe with just a tent. That's the way my family did it anyway when I was a couple years younger. Usually we just backpacked, so we really had no choice in the matter. But these days it's a bit harder to get kids interested in backpacking. Maybe I just didn't have a choice when I was a kid. Anyway, my wife convinced me that a pop up trailer would be just as 'out there' as a tent, except a bit better in the rain. Maybe a bit better all around, actually, now that I've tried it. Yes, we are now the proud owners of a slightly used but mostly mint Coleman Sea Pine, and we had her out on the maiden voyage this last weekend.

It was a great trip, and I have to admit that it was a lot more fun than setting up two tents and flopping around on a thin foam pad all night. We had a furnace, hot water, a refrigerator, indoor and outdoor gas stoves, a king bed, 4 sleeping areas, an awning, etc. etc. I'm not used to all these ammenities, but I can say it was a treat. Everyone slept well, ate well and had plenty of room to call their own. The Sea Pine will be out again in just 2 weeks when we go over to the coast for our trip to Fort Flagler on the Olympic Penninsula. We'll be there for 5 days, and this year we aren't worried about rain, thanks to my wifes persistance.

Close Encounters

Close Encounters, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Gully Washer

Gully Washer, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Wenatchee Valley Lacrosse

11-11 Tie, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

If you ever wanted to know, lacrosse was invented by Native Americans way back in the day. They used fields with no real boundaries, and the goals were miles apart. Hundreds of warriors would play for each side at once, and the game might last for 3 days. The game was considered great training for battle, and was sometimes played in lieu of a battle between tribes. Since most players never got close to the ball, they would use their sticks to smack their opponents. It's a wonder the sport survived.

Well it did survive, and now my oldest daughter Kelly is a devotee of the game. She likes lacrosse more than most sports she has ever taken part in, and way more than she likes biking. In fact I think she hates biking, which is another story. Anyway, this game was in Overlake near Redmond, WA., and our little homegrown team tied the big city kids 11-11. It was a stellar game, and our girls scratched and clawed the whole game to stay in the fight. They dang near won. It was cool.

Todays Workout of the Day was 50 burpees for time, jumping 1 foot above your reach each time. My time 4:26, Kelly 4:32. Click title for demo video.

WOD

CrossFit Workout of the Day, or WOD for short:

Shoulder press, max effort, 1 rep x 5 sets:
95/105/115/115/105

Push Press, max effort, 3 reps x 5 sets
100/100/115/105/100

Push jerk, max effort, 5 reps x 5 sets
100/105/105/95/95

Click on title for a video that shows what these moves look like. Today was a nice rest after yesterdays Hero WOD, although it was my first time doing these particular movements. I have much to learn, but it's great just knowing that I have a start. I hope some of my friends will start doing CrossFit with me after we get our home gym set up in our newly remodeled "shed".

Parade Day

Parade Day, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Today is the BIG DAY, the Apple Blossom Grand Parade. Which to locals means lots of traffic, noise, and of course bands and floats. For those of you who like things like noisy bands and traffic, parades are indeed a grand thing. But for those of us who would rather have some solitude and fresh air, parades are not that grand. I did give Torin the chance to go to the parade with mom and little sister, or go hiking with dad and big sister Kelly. He decided that hiking would be much more fun after sitting through the Kiddies Parade last weekend. Good choice I think. Kelly had a great time too and I was very happy to have her along. I feel like we got away with something since almost everyone else I know feels obligated ins some way to go to the parade. I guess that's a good thing for us who don't go.

Murph

CrossFit, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

So you may have noticed the link on my blog to CrossFit. I have been trying to follow the CrossFit Workout of the Day (WOD) for the last couple of weeks, at least whhenever I can. The workouts consist of variable functional movements performed at very high intensity over a short period of time. Normally this means a 15-20 minute workout that will have you gasping for air and screaming for your mommy.

Todays workout is much, much harder. It's called Murph, in honor of a Navy Seal named Michael Murphy who died at the age of 29 in Afghanistan in 2005. This was one of his favorite workouts, and if you click on the title of this post you can read about him. The workout consists of:

1 mile run
100 pullups
200 push ups
300 squats (air squats- no wieght)
1 mile run

Of course this is for time, like most crossFit workouts. Lieutenant Murphy used a weighted vest as he did this workout, so now the prescribed workout calls for a weighted vest if you have one. Doing these Hero workouts is as much about honoring the soldiers and servicemen who have died defending our freedom as it is about getting a workout. This will be my first Hero, and I'm a bit worried. Fortunately, you can do this workout in two ways. One way is just as it is listed above, with all pull ups done before moving on to the push ups, etc. The other way is to do pull ups, push ups and squats in groups, and then repeat. For example, I'll be doing it this way:

1 mile run
5 pullups
10 push ups
15 squats
repeat the above for 20 sets
1 mile run

Ouch, I can feel the pain already. My pull ups need the most work, and I have only done about 80 or so in previous workouts over the course of 20 minutes. The times I have seen others post for this workout range from 45 minutes to an hour plus. I'll be happy to finish in less than an hour.

So what's up with the picture of the little man and the big tire? Well CrossFit is based on functional movements, not a particular piece of gym equipment. In fact, you need very little equipment to do the Crossfit workouts. Tire flipping happens to be a great leg, back and arm workout, and tires are free from the local Les Schwab. I have a big one in the backyard and my 4 year old has a small one, and we race down the yard and back. Then we do pull ups and box jumps and repeat. Great family fun.

Now go do your WOD.

Update: My time was 46:15, but I had to substitute 8 minute hard efforts on the bike trainer for the runs. My calf cramped up after 3/4 mile of running, so I had to start over on the bike. I did 8 minutes because that's about how fast I would have run my miles for this effort. I was happy with my overall time, although there is a lot of room for improvement.

On the trail again

Spring in Sage Hills, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Three weeks to the day of my untimely get-off in Moab, we are back in the saddle for a sampling of hometown dirt. This is the first ride in Sage Hills for me this year, and it's just about perfect. We rode Up the Gut to the Deer Trail, Ho Chi Minh to the MAD trail, and on up to the snow line. The balsamroot was out in full force, at least down low in the sun belt. Up higher we saw shooting stars which are a super cool little flower.

We eventually had to turn around so we wouldn't damage the trail as it was a bit muddy up top. We took a seldom used descent that we once used to do on our cyclocross bikes, and I'm still not sure how we ever did that.

Balsamroot Explosion

, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

End of the line

, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Spring on the Columbia

Spring on the Columbia, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

If a guy or a gal was to take his kids backpacking, outrigger paddling, downhill or xc skiing, fly fishing, mountain biking or anything else that ended with an "ing" and involved fresh air and human power, you would think those kids would have a pretty good chance of growing up healthy and strong with a good appreciation of Gods Green Earth. At least that is my plan, and I'm sticking to it. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but it can't hurt. The alternative is to let them decide what to do with their time, and risk loosing them to the world of i-pods, cell phones, computer games and television.

I think an appreciation of nature also helps to curb materialism, because you are better able to realize that God already gave us just about everything we really need. Sure, we might need (want) to buy a different fly rod or a new bike every now and then, but we don't need a fancy SUV with 20" rims to get to the trailhead. And do we really need that 56" plasma tv to watch Myth Busters?

Maybe it's just me, but the older I get, the farther I want to be from our materialistic society. Just give me my family, a canoe, and a warm spring day, and I am a rich man.

Momento

Momento , originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

I have a theory about how some accidents happen. Let's just call it the "Parking Lot Theory". I've seen it over and over again, and it happened to me in Moab. This theory involves only sports activities at this point, but it may expand to other more noble endeavors if I can think of any. Let me explain:

We arrived in Moab after driving 17 hours through the night, and I slept only about an hour and a half. No big deal, we eat breakfast and head off to the slickrock. Ride several hours, eat, sleep, and repeat for 5 days. We rode the toughest trails we could find and had many great crashes along the way. But these were all accidents that we knew were coming, such as trying the desperate step-ups or technical boulder field moves. You knew you were either going to make it or going to crash. These kind of crashes are somewhat expected, and you can prepare for them. These are not "PLT" crashes. These are just crashes. They happen.

A PLT, or Parking Lot Theory crash is when you get safely back to the parking lot after the most heinous trail you can imagine and THEN crash, literally 20 feet from the waiting cooler of Polygamy Porter (you can't have just one). My crash is defined as a PLT because I was figuratively back in the parking lot, if not literally. The big rides were all over, and we were all packed up and ready to head home early the next morning. But just down the street a half block was a BMX jump track that we had sessioned the previous day, with pretty good results for a bunch of old guys. I wanted one more run at it before we left, so I strapped on my helmet (thank goodness), threw on the oh-so-cool messenger style knickers and my favorite skunk t-shirt and off I went.

What happened next is evident from the photo. I wasn't focused any longer. I had let my guard down. I was just goofing off and having fun. The trip was over, the hard riding was done, this was just childs play.
Well it caught up with me huh? I sprinted my middle ring for all it was worth for that one last jump, and just didn't execute the move. Didn't focus on the one thing that I needed to focus on, which was compressing the fork into the face of the jump so the front end would lift gracefully over the jump. Instead of a graceful jump I did more of a slow front flip, landing on my face and left shoulder from probably 8 feet. I bet my head was even higher than that before I started to flip.

Anyway, the outcome was unconsciousness, a broken helmet, a dented frame, a trip to the ER on a backboard, a cat-scan of my head and of course a concussion. Besides the obvious rashes and bruises, I lost my sense of balance for 2 weeks. I hit my head so hard that my ear canals were damaged, and I would get these shocking moments of dizziness if I moved my head too far in the wrong direction. The first time this happened was not until two days after the accident. I bent over to pick something up and it felt like the ground had just been ripped out from under me. In fact I thought it must be an earthquake because everything was moving violently back and forth. At night, if I moved the wrong way when sleeping, I would get terrible spins. I could feel my eyes jerking to one side over and over and I couldn't stop it. Fortunately this has corrected itself, and I'm pretty much back to normal.

I've been witness to several PLT accidents, including friends and family. Now it caught up with me. Maybe I'll have to elevate it from just a theory to a hypothesis, or whatever it is that comes after a theory. I'll have to ask a physics professor or some smart person about that someday.

Amassa Back

Amassa Back, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

The view from the top of an unknown and unnamed knob that I hiked up to while my friends were lazing in the sun far below. This is about the end of the regular marked route on Amassa back. Our trail actually crossed through the middle of this picture. We went fo a couple mile or so past this point but got stuck in a maze of deadend plateaus.

Life in the desert

Life in the desert is harsh, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

One of the many interesting sights along the way to Amassa Back was this skeleton of some animal. We rode to the end of the regular marked route, and then proceeded to wander around for a couple of hours looking for the rest of the ride, which never materialized. What we did ride was fantastic.

Porcupine Rim

Porcupine Rim, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

The world famous Porcupine Rim Trail is justifiably world famous. The climb is technical in places but not a grunt, the views from the top are vast, the singletrack is awe inspiring. This ride is on the top of almost everyones Moab list. However, this is not my favorite ride in Moab for a few reasons.

The long double track descent is bone jarring, even on a nice dual suspension bike like my 5" travel Heckler. The single track section, while rideable, also has a lot of off camber rock ledges and step ups that interupt the flow of the ride. I guess that's the thing really, this ride does not flow from end to end. It feels like two or three rides all mixed into one. Maybe a downhill bike would smooth out some of
the "porcupine" like spines of rock that make up this ridgeline, but who really wants to pedal an 8" travel bike that far?

It's a really great ride, don't get me wrong, it's just not my favorite. So what is my favorite ride? The xxxx xxxx Trail, specifically the mountain bike only route, which I'm certain most people don't ever find. I call it the Blue Line, because it is faintly marked with little 2" long squirts of pale blue paint for you to find just when you start to get lost again. The trail alternates between slickrock slab, step down ledges, blind roll-overs, singletrack, and technical sections that are just tough enough to make you question whether or not you should do it. After awhile, we started to trust the Blue Line builder enough that we would go into a section without stopping to preview it first. This trail is simply magical in every way. It has the views, the tough stuff, the smooth stuff, the red dirt, the route finding, and the flow. It is a long ride (pack a real lunch), and it takes some effort to get to the trailhead. Not a ton of effort, but enough that most people won't ever do it. In fact, we never saw another bike rider on this trail.

I'm keeping the name of this trail off the blog simply out of respect for the builder, the locals, and anyone else willing to go try and find it. This ride offers solitude in a place that is teeming with bikes, jeeps and motorbikes, so why not keep it that way? Not that my blog will ever cause hords of people to go search for a trail in Moab, but there are enough clues here that if you really want to find it, you can.

Early Does It

Early bird gets the cold toes, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Well it wasn't super early, but early enough for this time of year. "6 A" is what you would say the night before when finalizing the plans, as in, "See ya at 6 A". So we set off on a nice early morning ramble up the Wenatchee Valley to Leavenworth and back, taking every side road, loop, hill and extension we could think of. A beautiful morning featuring a stop for coffee and toe warming at the half way point, and great views the whole way.

Two years ago this would have been a 4 am. ride. I guess we were a bit younger, and maybe a bit tougher back then, because 4 am. sounds kind of ridiculous right now. Maybe it was just plain stupid. Why did we do that, and what could possibly be fun about riding at that time of the morning? Well, just the fact that nobody else is doing it is one reason. Men in particular like to tell people about what they did, especially if it might elicit a reaction like "wow, you're, uh, stupid".

What other reasons could possibly exist to heed the beep..beep..beep of the alarm at 2:59 am. instead of hitting the snooze button? How about just life? Work, kids, chores, deadlines, work, family, work, housework, yardwork, work work work and then more kids. The reality of a 4 am. ride is that you have this big block of time to yourself that you cannot have any other time of day, at least if you have a family and a job. But this still doesn't explain why 4 am., why outside on a bike when it's cold, why 6 hours or a 100 miles?

I think that above anything else, it's the sense of adventure that comes with an effort like this. When you climb a big mountain, you do an 'alpine start'. That means you start at 0-dark-thirty

in order to get up the glacier on firm snow before the sun comes out. That makes alpine climbing a huge adventure...breakfast at midnight, headlamps, stars and moon, hidden crevasses. Doing anything at night is vastly different than doing it during the day. We don't have enough adventure in our day to day lives, and this is a simple way to get some. How many people can be home by 10 am. on a Saturday and say they have had an epic day already?

This coming Saturday marks the return of the 4 am. ride. The temps should be in the low 30's to start, and the tentative route is a mix of pavement and dirt roads that will take us through sagebrush country, farm country, rugged dirt roads through basalt cliffs, and eventually back home. There is no water on route, no stores, no coffee. No nice little warm cafe to snuggle up with a triple Americano, room for cream please. Nothing but frost, cold pockets of thick early morning air, and beautiful views. No cars either. Nice. Better pack a few peanut butter and honey sandwiches on toast, wrapped in a paper lunch sack. Sounds like an adventure.

Sunrise at last

Sunrise at last, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

This is my buddy Craig who wears even more wool than me, if that is possible. I think it is, because he has wool knickers and I don't. Oh well, I'm going to score some wool boxers pretty soon. Sunrise after an hour and a half is a welcome sight. Did you know that it gets colder right before the sun comes up? I didn't believe this at first, but it's true. Check out the hour by hour temps in a cold region and you can see the drop right before sunrise.

Upper Wenatchee Valley

Upper Wenatchee Valley, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

I love the Wenatchee Valley. Sure it has changed from when I was a kid: less orchards, more traffic, less waving, more honking. But overall, it's a grand place to raise a family if you cherish the outdoors.

The Dirty Route

The Dirty Route, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

The return form Leavenworth includes what we call the 'dirty route'. It's just a dirt road that is road bike friendly and has great views. In fact, the Yeti Ride from my 1-1-08 post went through here. But we also have a ride called the 'dirty secret', and I can't tell you where it's at because it's a secret. Not because we don't want to share, but because it's not really open for public use. Not that it's officially closed, at least I don't think it is. I'll have to check on that. Or maybe not. In any case, I don't want you to go there, get in trouble, an blame it on me. It's for your own safety. Really.

Spring is Springing

Spring is Springing, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

There is a debate raging in town about a paved multi-use trail that will pass beside an orchard. The orchardist leases the ground from the State, and doesn't want to give any of it back for the trail because he will loose some revenue. But that argument won't go very far, so he tries to tell us that bikers and walkers are incompatible with farming. Hogwash. We ride next to orchards on virtually every ride we do in this area. Housing developments all over the valley nestle up to orchards. Kids walk through orchards to get to school. The argument is so baloney that it's not even worth debating. Hopefully the county commissioners will push this through and take this opportunity to secure a real asset for the community while we can.

The photo above is a typical scene in our area. The tractor driver has a spotter on the road who is looking out for cars, bikes, endangered spotted owls, whatever. If he sees one of these, he signals to the driver to shut down the sprayer while the biker, owl or car passes through. They are very courteous in every case, and usually wave as we go by. This feller was even nice enough to pose for me. Hoo Hoo. No compatibility issues here.

A few inches of snow

A few inches of snow, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

The winter of 07-08 was pretty huge. This picture doesn't do it justice because the snow has already warmed, settled and melted quite a bit. The whitewater rafting in the Wenatchee should be on the extreme end of the fun factor scale for at least 8-10 weeks, if not more.

No kidding

No kidding, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

If you've never taken an avalanche safety course, you owe it to yourself to do so if you spend any time skiing, backcountry skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, Christmas tree cutting or snowshoe hare chasing. You will learn to recognize the signs of avalanche danger, including the most obvious ones like this. Educate yourself about the sandbox that you play in and stay alive to play another day.

Winter 07-08 destruction

Winter 07-08 destruction, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Can you spot the avalanche path? This slide covered the highway probably 10 feet deep, which is nothing compared to some of the big slides of this winter.

Rust

Rust, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

OK, I would love to be taking Kodak Moment shots of my family on a palm studded Hawaiian beach, but I'm not in Hawaii. And I probably won't be going soon. I've got to save money for a tandem with a nice brass bell and a basket on it.

So, instead of Hawaii, I'm 1/2 mile from my house where there is this big, big power pole, and it's made of steel. Steel rusts, and then the concrete holding up the steel rusts, or gets a rust bath I guess. I take a picture of the rust-bathed concrete.

Now if I could photoshop my family into this photo, it would be just as good as a Hawaiian sunset, only better, because I didn't have to pay to get there. I walked. With my son and my dogs.

What more do we really need? Maybe a shaved ice would be nice, but that's about it. Oh, and some crashing waves. Well, and then there's those palm trees I see in the Outside Magazine articles that tell me where I should go next.

Big Nuts

Big Nuts, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

I remember as a kid, while learning photography, that I didn't like to be bound to traditional subjects like people, flowers or pets, at least not in the traditional ways. So I cut off the bottom of a beer bottle with a hacksaw, stuck my macro lens inside it, and took a picture of my dog peaking in the top.

Another time I waxed my white car up real nice and shiny, then hosed it down to make a half-billion water droplets. Next I placed chocolate chips in rows amoungst the water drops, and out came the macro again for some pretty weird shots. Then there was time I made a lemon meringue pie soley for the purpose of taking close up of the "waves" on top.

I guess the thing is, macro photography is always there to explore, and it's just the ticket when you need a kick in the creative hind end.

A kids best friends

A kids best friends, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

My perpetual adventure buddy these days is my 4 year old son Torin. My wife is too busy being a mom, and my teenagers are too busy being teenagers. So Torin and I hike, bike and ski together. This summer, he'll be big enough to go on the outrigger canoe with me, and for sure he'll be paddling a double kayak.

This picture is from what Torin calls "our mountain" because it's practically right in our backyard. You can't throw a baseball and hit it, it's not that close, but maybe three throws would do it, or two if you were a pro.

There's a badger hole up here that we like to go look at, hoping that someday it might be re-occupied. On the other hand, I suppose it's a good thing that it's vacant, as I think badgers are pretty shady characters. We did spy some coyote tracks in the mud, and I wondered how many poodles were missing in the neighborhood.

Fortunately, our neighboorhod isn't rich enough to support a poodle population, only Golden Retreivers, Labrador Retreivers, maybe a Husky or a Brittany Spaniel. The good dogs. The ones that bark, not yap. The ones that chase balls and lay in your lap and swim a lot in the summer. Good dogs sure make really great friends.

Trailer Life

Trailer Life, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

It seems like a great idea in theory; get the whole family together out on a beautiful winter afternoon bike ride, smell a few flowers along the way, maybe play on the kids toys and act like a kid. Bond a little. Do something a little different than the normal routine, which is usually nothing for most folks around this time of year.

So what happened? Why am I riding by myself with my two youngsters? 40% Off at Old Navy. Yep. My wife and teenage daughter high tailed it to go shopping, conveniently leaving 30 minutes before the youngsters were due up from their happy nappy and the scheduled ride time. Oh well. I got a bit of extra riding in today, and my kids had a blast as always.

I think my son (on the trail-a-bike) will be doing some bike touring with me someday. He seems to be able to ride for quite awhile already for a 4 year old. The only problem is he likes to sleep-ride after about 10 miles.

Triple Americano

Triple Americano, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Mmmmm! Americano and cream!

A nice ride yesterday in mid forty degree weather, no snow, no slush, no rain, and no problems. No hurry and no worry. After about a 3 week hiatus, Craig was able to join me for a short ramble up the valley to the world famous Anjou Bakery. We devoured a cup of hot tomato soup before returning home to watch the Tour of California.

This was just what I needed after a leg-smoking ride yesterday that tested every bit of my early season form, or lack thereof. All I need to do is get in good enough shape to ride two-a-days in Moab in another 5 weeks. I think I'll be good to go.

Ice Age

Ice Age, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

Now this was some fun paddling! I felt like I was playing the old video game "Asteroids" as I wove in and out of ice chunks in the Columbia River, The source of all the ice was the Wenatchee River, just upstream, which had been frozen solid at the mouth for several weeks. Then all of a sudden, whamo, it's 40 degrees for several days in a row and the ice started to quickly break up.

I drive or bicycle commute over the Columbia River to work every day, so I noticed the ice sheets starting to come down a few days ago. I almost waited a day too long to go paddle amoungst the icebergs. On the day these photos were taken, I was able to navigate up one side of the Wenatchee River, but about 1/2 of the river was still chock-a-block full of ice, up to 3 feet thick. The next day I rode my bike over a footbridge on the Wenatchee in the same place I had paddled, and the river was empty of ice altogether. It's really amazing how quickly warm temperatures can affect an ice sheet that is so seemingly permanent. It's like I just witnessed my own mini global warming experiment. Kind of makes you think about it a bit more.