The Leaning Tree

Have you ever observed a leaning tree over a long period of time?  You just know as you watch the rains fall and the winds blow that some day the tree's going to lean past the tipping point and fall to a premature death.  I'm starting to lean.  I may even have reached my tipping point.

I've changed the main picture below the title on this blog.  Today I'm going to take off the 46x20 cyclocross racing gear on my bike and put on a 44x22.  Then I'll remove the tubular wheel set and put on my old WTB Mutanoraptor 700x44 tires that I've had for years (they have not been on the bike since my White Rim in a day ride back in November 2008).  Then, I'm going up.  Way up.  Way back.  Way long.  I'm going to ride to the hike.  When the hike is done I'll ride home from the hike.  Then I'll see if I feel like putting the cross racing gear and wheels back on the bike.

Still Off The Bike

List me on IR
I'm just not motivated
My back really hurts

It just seems too much
Every weekend for three months
Money, gas, and time

Sounds like I will bail
If clouds linger in my mind
My outlook may change

I just need to ride
And ride just because it's fun
Forget cyclocross

Lack Of Content

Went to Montana
I've been off the bike for days
No, I'm not content


Cross workout today
Running out of time to train
First race in two weeks

Hyde Park ride last night
Felt real strong and fast because
Pace never too high

Cyclocross practice
Today, no place to hide, draft
All will know I'm slow

Fairgrounds, 6:30
I'll have a great course set up
Have to buy flagging

No Use To Cry About It

I dried my tears and started riding my bicycle again.  Our experience last week trying to become foster/adoptive parents left me with a broken heart and mixed emotions, emotions strong enough that I did not even want to ride.  I'm not one to give up easily on anything.  It's a strength and a weakness.  So, I am trying to comprehend that there are challenges and people that may be beyond my abilities.  That's a hard lesson for me, and Patty is helping me to learn it.  The bottom line is this:  The child we were working with will probably get residential treatment and Professional Parents.  Like most things in life, we may need more training.  For now we will keep Lupine safe and our family the way it is.

It's funny, but the theme of never giving up and needing more training went through my head for nearly six hours yesterday.  I rode the geared cyclocross bike from home to Blacksmith Fork Canyon to Left Hand Fork all the way to the Bear Lake Summit.  I survived.  I hiked several miles, broke a spoke, tried to share the road/trail with hundreds of motorized recreation assholes (I'm not kidding about their numbers or demeanor), and ran out of food and water.  Left Hand Fork turned into a rock-boulder strewn hike after Herd Hollow (who knew).  I did know that it was Labor Day weekend and the mountains would be slap full of people and their machines.  I did the route anyway.  Stupid.  The good news is that I'm just a little bit physically stronger than I am stupid.  I don't give up easily on anything.

I do need to say a few things about ATVs, RVs, motorcycles, diesel trucks, toy haulers, and motor homes.  This is my blog.  These are my opinions.  So, Vickie, and anyone else who has anything to do with this type of motorized recreation, stop reading now.  Did you stop?  You were warned.  There were thousands of people in the mountains yesterday, all driving things with motors.  I only saw one person other than myself using their muscles to propel themselves.  He was six years old.  On more than a dozen occasions yesterday my life was endangered.  Riding far to the right, people in trucks, jeeps, and ATVs continually took their half of the road from my side, and without slowing down headed right for me.  I think motorized recreation is unhealthy and unethical.  Our public lands are being over-run and abused.  Quiet self-propelled recreation has become impossible.  In general, people who drive big diesel trucks, motor homes, ATVs, and motorcycles on public lands are selfish, self-righteous, oblivious, polluting, unthinking, natural resource-destroying, shortsighted, carbon-spewing assholes.  There.  I've said it.  What will they do when the fossil fuel is gone?  They may have to learn to walk again.

Saving The World

Thinking so deeply
About how to save the world
Or, how to save me

Postponed...

...for a few reasons:  Patty just got back from Seattle and is in Orem today, the house is a mess (I really need to sweep, mop, and scrub), and, we are meeting with a potential foster child after school today.  The Grand Staircase, Skyline Drive, and Strawberry Peak will wait for me.  The next window opens mid to late September, right after I get back from Montana.

ID-AZ, Maps Days One, Two, and Three

View Idaho To Arizona, Day One in a larger map



View Idaho To Arizona, Day Two in a larger map



View Idaho To Arizona, Day Three in a larger map

Preparations

I'm trying to get my head around the start of Idaho To Arizona and gathering my things together:  bivy, bag, pad, food, tubes, water bottles, frame bags, and maps.  It looks like Tuesday is a go.  My heart rate gets higher just thinking about it.  On Tuesday it looks like I'll start from the Idaho line above Swan Flats, take the Sinks Road to Hardware Ranch and Ant Valley, head up Skull Crack Canyon and down Pine Canyon to Henefer.  There, I will sleep and resupply.  See the map above.

On Wednesday, I will take the rail trail from Echo Junction to Park City, for a big resupply.  I will then go to Midway/Heber via the Pine Creek descent (that's a big climb out of Park City, so I may just stay on the pavement, US 40).  From there it's all mountains up the big climb to Strawberry Peak and down to US 6 via Tie Fork.  Wednesday night I'll sleep near Strawberry Reservoir or Sky View/Tucker near US 6.  There is no resupply there so I'll be traveling light and a little hungry.

On Thursday, there's the really big climb up Skyline Drive which I will take all the way to I-70.  I will have to resupply off-route in Fairview, Utah or Mount Pleasant, Utah (big down and big up to get back on route).  There, I will coordinate with Patty and Lupine and try to update the blog and describe Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's routes, so stay tuned.  By Thursday night I will still be north of I-70, sleeping god knows where without any resupply opportunities.

It's too far out to know for sure, but I plan to be in Loa, Utah some time on Friday, and in Escalante Utah, some time late Saturday.  On Sunday I plan to meet Patty and Lupine in Big Water, Utah (home of polygamists and the Joseph Clan) after pedaling the Smoky Mountain Road Scenic Backway from Escalante through the Grand Staircase National Monument.  From Big Water it's just a few miles to Arizona.  Light and fast, light and fast.  Wish me luck and a strong pair of climbing legs.  Yes, I know the monsoon season is here.  Yes, I'm taking polypro underware.

Time To Go To Work

Hardware Ranch last night
Got my pants handed to me
On a B pace ride

Better than couch time
At least I went for a ride
And did some real work

Old Main this morning
Stairs 8X, cross laps tonight
3 easy, 3 hot

Six Days To Heal

Degenerative
Disc disease, herniation
Facet arthritis

Little time to heal
Idaho-Arizona
Begins next Tuesday

Six hundred hard miles
No paved roads and Sky Line Drive
Grand Staircase or bust

Just A Quick Update

I'm back from Montana.  And, I'm back from southern Utah, checking cameras on I-70 and US 6 for Patty.  Today we are going to Park City.  Drive, drive, drive.  My back is killing me, still about 40% on the Robert Scale (it means I could get 60% better).  The MRI said Degenerative Disc Disease and narrowed nerve channels at L4-L5.  Whatever.  I'm old.  Walking and sleeping are still really painful.  It does not hurt so much to ride the bike, which I have not done much of as of late.  I hope to change that today in Park City.  On Sunday, Patty flies to Seattle.  On Monday, Lupine starts fifth grade, and I will go see a sports medicine doc.  I have to get better fast.  The first Utah Cyclocross race is on October 1, just six weeks away.  When Patty gets back, I'm supposed to pedal to Arizona.  Remember that big ride I have planned, Idaho to Arizona?  Right.

Willow Mountain, Montana

I pedaled up Willow Creek today, up to the Lookout Tower at the top of Willow Mountain in the Sapphire Range, about 3000 feet of climbing.  Then I headed down towards Gleason Lake.  Patty, Lupine, Sen, and Berne were supposed to meet me on the trail.  I looked for them, their tracks, or a note.  Three hours later I found their note, about 3 or 4 miles from our designated rendezvous point.  An hour after that I found my family.  Better me than the Ravalli County Search and Rescue.  Patty may never walk normally again.  What a day.

Utah Wildlife Crossing Structures Videos

Montana US 93 Videos

The Latest In Fixed Gear MTB Downhill

Hanging Out With The Enemy

I took Peter and his Burger King Whopper-soured stomach up Green Canyon.

Then I served up some beer.

Then the sun went down over the Temple.

Time To Post

Where do I start?  It's been a long time since my last post.  It could be a new record.

I made it to Florida.  It's still my home, my heart and soul still reside there.  There are so many things in Florida that have deep meaning:  Like the tenacity of Smilax vine, a summer thunder storm, 97 degree days with 85% humidity and no air conditioning, seeing my sisters and family, pedaling with the guys in Gainesville and Chad. P., seeing 42 swallow-tailed kites in less than three weeks, swimming in Juniper Run and the Atlantic, and seeing the result of a fire that ran through a mature live oak hammock on the edge of Lowry Lake in Camp Blanding.  All good stuff, especially the swallow-tailed kites.  Their numbers have increased tremendously in the past 30 years.  I saw my first swallow-tailed kite in 1978, the most beautiful and strange bird I'd ever seen.  It was flying low over Black Creek.  My father knew what it was, but said he had not seen one in many years.  In the 80s and 90s, you would be lucky to see one or two a year.  Now, they are quite common, and I feel lucky that I got to see so many.

I made it back to Utah eight days ago.  I was so happy to see Patty.  Utah, not so much.  However, the mountains were beautiful and it was nice to be back in town where everything is a short bike ride away.

Last Friday I went to play basketball.  I was killing it, until my back went out.  I could not really move for two days.  Dr. Catfish gave me Prednisone, a steroid, so that I could wipe my bottom again.  I'm still in bad shape.  MRI next week?  I think it is time.

This week, I'm in Montana, working hard, swinging a sling blade and lifting heavy objects to improve my back.  Today we floated the Bitterroot.  Yeah.

Bicycles?  Yes, it's time to start thinking about cross season.  For now, I'm still just riding for fun.  I'll get serious after the back surgery.  Idaho to Arizona?  September, perhaps?  Next week, Peter N., my long lost brother, is visiting Logan.  We are going to do some serious epic riding.  I hope he's ready to climb, because we are going up, up, up.

TSA

Dr. Catfish gave me a jar of cashew butter.  I just love cashew butter.  I put it in my backpack along with some PBRs (Power Bars) for the long day of flying.  In the Salt Lake City airport, the TSA man took my cashew butter.  He said "no liquids, pastes, or gels if it's more than 3 ounces."  What could I do?  I hope he enjoyed it.

Flying. Green.

I'm flying home today.  I can't wait for 100 degree days with 85% humidity, fried shrimp, and familiar forests, birds, and spring runs.  Juniper, here I come.  I'm talking about the spring run in the Ocala National Forest, not Jardine.

My last ride was Green Canyon as the sun went down on Friday night.  I've heard folks complain a little about the raging waters.  For me, it's like a whole new trail, now creek side.  I've lived in Logan for 7 years (has it really been that long?) and I've never seen water run out of Green Canyon before.  Yes, there are 22 wet and cold stream crossings if you go all the way up to the upper parking lot and back down.  Pedaling beside the sound of running snow melt is worth falling in now and then, interruption of flow, and constant wet feet.  Well worth it.