Saturday, February 26, 2011

-25 = -32

Last night tickled the mercury (more like froze the mercury) to a ridiculous - 25 Fahrenheit which is around the -32 Celsius mark....just down right silly cold with zero will to want to go outside and do much of anything (including going to the grocery store).

It seems crazy to think that we went out to the grocery store mid morning and it was around 5 F (-15C) which felt like a heatwave!

We are hoping that it will warm up enough to dress up the dogs in their vests and boots and go out for a brief walk.  The poor guys have been couped up for about 3 days because it has been too cold for them to go out.

They need their walk about as much as we need them to have their walk...especially Otis, he is full of energy and harassing Moby with all his pent up energy...hang in there boys, this too shall pass!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Spare Time

just in case you have some....check out this blog:

Velominati

There is plenty of material to you busy with some funnies (OK, well funny to me anyway).

Our weather is going to remain cold (highs in the mid-teens) through the weekend so any chance of getting outside for a ride are slim to none (and slim is out to lunch).  Not only are the temps pucker-up-cold, but the roads are enveloped in snow/ice and scary drivers who think that 4WD means you can haul ace through just about everything and mach speed.  The drivers in this state make it scary enough when the roads are clear, let alone when there are inclement conditions....we cyclists are a little sensitive to bad drivers - and in some case malicious drivers...It was not too long ago that I had water bottle and a full beer can thrown at me on two different occasions so hence the paranoia and slight sensitivity.

The safe (but ohh so painful) option is to sit on the trainer and pedal away while trying to get the mind to wander just enough to make the time go by faster.  The wifer got me the first season of Mad Men (is she trying to imply something?) so that will be in the trainer queue/rotation.  Fortunately the trainer has come to tolerate beads of sweat dripping on it like a slow chinese water torture experiment (with a slightly higher sodium content...consider it an ocean chinese water torture).

The trainer certainly keeps a person honest as you can always look down and monitor the wattage.  I am starting to put some thoughts around how the e-stim unit has impacted training but those are still coming together - it is a little like an abstract painting at the moment, so the mind currently needs a little more time to let the paint dabs on the palette marinate into something with more cohesion and clarity...until then, time to keep flicking paint onto the canvas.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Hatch Day Epiphanies

41 yrs young yesterday and I reached the following epiphanies:
  • 1 yr older than the yr before
  • 1 yr younger than the next one
  • spring chicken?  ha...more like fall chicken
  • another yr of wear and tear and abuse
  • another yr of being in denial (looking from my young specs of course) - kinda' like going to a HS reunion and thinking 'Wow, you guys all look 'old' - and realizing you is me - DOH
  • 1 yr of additional experiences might have just made me dumber (so much for the adage of getting wiser)
  • 41 seemed 'ancient' not all too long ago
  • fast forward from 'not too long ago' and 'wow, that was really fast'
  • living in the present sometimes means living in the past (and how any minor accomplishments have since developed into lifetime achievements)
  • like fine wine - getting better with age (note to self:  'reference denial comment above')
  • like fine 'whine' - earning it with age...ahhh yes, let the truth be told!
I can only hope that when 42 rolls around, I can reflect back and have these....ummm...deep moments of introspection

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Back To The Future

People really are just amazing - unbelievable with stones the size of watermelons which can make for very futuristic accomplishments!


Ok, so take back the comment on stones for Steph...she is just bad ass!
Steph Davis - Castleton And Diamond Free Solo from Andrew on Vimeo.

the Pou boys following some big footsteps by the Huber crew....

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Playing With A Full Deck

For those of you who know the book "Freedom Of The Hills', you will certainly appreciate the latest product that they recently came out with.  For those not familiar with the Freedom of the Hills, it is an unbelievably informative 'textbook' on mountaineering.  It has continued to evolve and get updated based on the collective knowledge of the community and covers anything from basic Wilderness First Aid, to Climbing techniques, to Glacier Travel/rescue, to Routefinding, etc.  It is a pretty comprehensive book that is a book that occasionally gets pulled out for a quick reference or refresher.

Just like any activity, reading the book does not an expert make...most of the mountaineering skills are refined and really learned once hitting the great outdoors.  The latest product release is a set of playing cards that is split into 4 areas as per the suit:
  • Clubs cover 'Mountain Skills'
  • Spades cover 'Climbing Skills'
  • Diamonds cover 'Wilderness Skills'
  • Hearts cover 'First Aid Skills'

Each card has a reminder of skills (not a comprehensive list by any means, but more the major concepts to act as ticklers on the brain) to stay fresh on and the look a little something like:

If you are a seasoned mountaineer, you will scoff at how basic some of this is... but if you are a weekend warrior,  the cards will serve as good reminders.  If you are a novice, it will seem like information over-load.  Just like anything else the use you get out of them will be a function of skills and frequency of use that will determine their helpfulness.

All in all, me thinks they are a capital idea!  A great addition to the camping/climbing pack that will no doubt get some use - if nothing else, cards are always a great distraction.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Shamed Into Action

About this time last year we were at the local brewery on Friday night and the subject of the Frozen Digger came up and subsequently I got nudged into doing the race.  The Frozen Digger is a local 7 mile run through the dirt roads around the west side of Butte.  It is a pretty hilly course and as the name implies, it is during the time of year when temps are still rather frigid.

I thought it would be great fun to attempt the Frozen Digger off the couch.  My total disdain for running has always been a huge hurdle to me running with any regularity (or at all to be honest).  After a couple of beers it seemed like a great idea to go ahead and do this event without having run at all for years...ohh wait, I take that back:  on Friday night I did run on the treadmill for 3 miles because I was thinking of training with the wifer as she trained for her 1/2 iron man last year.  That training would also fall by the wayside given my lack of enthusiasm for running and also the lack of time as I was trying to get mileage on the saddle to train for the Cascade Cream Puff (or maybe the Puff was just an excuse to dodge running??? - seems pretty masochistic either way).

Digressing back to the Digger....I woke up thinking it probably wasn't the best idea knowing full well that my body would PAY for this stupidity in spades.  What urged me to do it though was that the wifer had been running regularly and there is nothing better than a little friendly marital trash talk to motivate.  Before I knew it, we were at the starting line in temps that hovered around the teens and it was time to start running.  Considering my training plan going in, my goal was to just survive and try to finish (and not have to walk any part of it).  Soon enough everyone was trotting along and I could have sworn that people were floating through the air and in comparison, I felt like I was lumbering around with heavy limbs.  After about a mile, the wifer passed me and she looked strong...I let this resonate in my mind for a bit and decided that this would just not do...at all!  So I picked up the pace and tried to look fresh as I passed her up.  Soon after passing, the course changed and it would be rolling uphill mini suffer-fests for the next 3 miles.  About a mile from the finish, all I could think of was that the suffering would soon stop and that I just wanted to finish - regardless of whether the wifer was ahead or behind me.  At about this point a couple of seasoned runners passed me up chatting away as they cruised by.  For a brief moment I despised them with every fiber of aching muscle as they seemed like they were just getting warmed up!

I eventually crossed the finish line and immediately felt the body telling me it was not happy - the muscles were already starting to hurt and at that very moment I realized that the real pain was to come over the next couple of days.  I did earn family bragging rights for the race and the missus was none to happy that I managed to get in ahead of her.  For the moment it seemed like the temporary pain of the race was worth it.  She got her satisfaction though in the days to come as I could not walk up or down stairs, or get on/off the couch since my legs muscles were revolting from all the abuse.  She did not hurt at all and she was getting her sweet revenge by watching me have to use my arms to help weight and unweight my legs as I hobbled around.

Fast forward a year and the Frozen Digger is this Saturday - as usual, the only running I have done is chasing a dog or running in haste from point A to point B...This year my ego is in check and there is NO way I am getting talked into doing that event again...Especially off the couch...not to mention the missus would kick my butt this year - so I will savor my brief moment of victory and family bragging rights knowing full well that those would be lost if I was dumb enough to put myself through that again.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Radiohead Release

Yeehaa - the new Radiohead (The King Of Limbs) is being released via mp3 today.  I am very anxious to download it and see what it is all about.  Their new album release is a little different than the last time around when they let everyone download their album and then 'donate' whatever they wanted to 'pay' for the album.  You essentially paid whatever you wanted to.  This time around they are charging for the pre-release of the mp3's.  I wonder what happened?

It is an interesting business model considering that they are a big enough band where they have the ability to record in their own studio and then release albums as they want to without being at the mercy of a label, etc.
As it turns out, the average amount received (based on units sold and total $ received) for their prior release 'In Raibows' ended up being higher than what their cut would have been had they released via a label.

The age of digital media has really upped the ante on how labels operate.  Bands have almost always made the bulk of their money off of concerts, while labels are the one who make coin off of album releases.  So, for bands it is somewhat business as usual as they always got the short end of the stick on the album releases.  It always bothered me that Metallica went after Napster as hard as they did.  They are a huge band that makes huge $$ on their concerts and it just seemed petty to me that they were trying to insert themselves into the legal aspects.  Music sharing has always happened and always will...whether it was making tapes off albums, or copying tape to tape, or now sharing in the digital age...it will continue to happen.

It is sort of like doping and cycling...people will always be ahead of drug testing...or they will come up with a lame excuse like Contador 'It must have been in the beef I ate'...yeah right!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Cautiously Optimistic

After putting a long'ish day on the legs/knees on Sunday I was curious to see how the knee would hold up.  Sunday ended up being a good day to test the knee out as I spent time on the bike outside, followed up by a trainer session indoors, and then an e-stim session to fire up the quads for more action.  I did also run the legs through an active recovery cycle that evening to try to flush anything out.

Monday's indoor trainer ride was more of a mental battle than anything else.  It was an easy day on the trainer but the legs did not have the 'snap' in them.  They definitely felt comparatively better than they would have without having run an active recovery cycle but they still felt a little heavy.  The best part of it all is that the cleat position adjustment seems to have fixed any lingering knee pain.  The knee feels good this morning and there is no indication to think that things are not on the mend.  The knee even feels better walking down the stairs which to me is the tell tale sign of things healing.  The true test will come after a hard day pushing big gears so I will just have to reserve full judgement until then....and until that happens I will just remain cautiously optimistic!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Knee Pain & Cleat Position

The missus and I ended up going out to Pipestone yesterday afternoon and got in a ride outside!  It was great to get out on a real bike as opposed to sitting on a trainer.  The weather was good, the scenery was awesome and the therapy for the soul was even better.
As usual, the views of the Tobacco Roots were amazing although I would have thought they would have had more snow on them.
We cut our ride a little short due to my rear wheel having come loose a little.  In getting the old single speed ready for the ride, I inadvertently forgot to tighten the nuts on the rear wheel and they of course came loose a couple of miles in which meant I had to ride carefully without doing anything too technical so my wheel would not fall off...The rear brake was not working either (due to the wheel not being tightened up) so it made for taking some extra caution in the snow/ice/mud.  All in all it was still a good day to get out and enjoy our unseasonably warmer weather.

The knee held up well on the single speed on Sunday which was a little surprising (pleasantly so) considering that I had a wheel with an old cog on there which made for a tougher ratio than usual.  I was running a 33: 17 and the knee felt good, and the legs felt decent too.  Granted it was a short ride but it is better than the alternative.  Once we got home I decided to compare my shoes and cleat position with the spinning shoes I use on the trainer.  It is a good thing I did because I noticed a significant difference!  There was about 3/4 of an inch in the fore/aft position between the two sets of shoes.  The shoes & cleat position were quickly changed and it got my mind to wondering whether that was the source of my ongoing knee pain.  I hopped on the trainer and spun for about an hour and to my pleasant surprise there were no pangs of pain.  The proof in the pudding was when I woke up this a.m. and the knee was still feeling good and relatively pain free....maybe this was the AHA moment!  The irony is that I had tweaked the cleat position about a month ago hoping it would alleviate the source problem.  As it turns out, it was....but the adjustment was just not nearly enough considering it was only adjusted a couple of millimeters.

Ultimately it will take a couple of weeks before confirming the theory but it is a good start.  I had not been able to really hammer on the cranks/pedals with much resistance so I think the tell-tale sign will be once that happens than the knee still feels good.  Me thinks it will be a gradual easing into mashing gears though....

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Walking The Pups on The CDT

We have a brief window of relatively warmer temps this weekend.  There has been a lot of snow melt and our local roads are back to being able to see pavement!

I took the dogs up to the Continental Divide trail on the East Ridge to see how deep the snow would be.  The temps were pushing 50, but the snow was still relatively deep in spots.  It was to the point where the dogs sunk down to their chests in a few spots where wind had created snow drifts.  We had a good time and it was great exercise for the dogs as they had to work hard to get through some of the deeper snow.

The dogs at play with Otis making a general nuisance out of himself with Moby...
Close up of Moby!
The dogs found some interesting scents around this covered rock...a critter had definitely been hanging out here at some point.
Moby looking very regal...
The temps are going to stay relatively warmer today and I am hoping to get out on the fat tire and see what is rideable....ride captain ride....on that mystery ship...

Friday, February 11, 2011

Compex Sport Review

I have been using the Compex Sport off and on for the past month and have slowly been getting up to speed on the functionality and trying to incorporate into some sort of workout schedule.  My knee is still sub par and so I have been a little reluctant to push big gears on the bike or crank up the numbers on the compex.  I have been using this unit mostly for discovery:



It has several different 'programs' that activate different parts of the muscles.  The program options are:

  • Potentiation
  • Endurance
  • Resistance
  • Strength
  • Explosive Strength
  • Active Recovery
Each program engages either fast twitch or slow twitch fibers of the muscle (or a combo) and aerobic vs anaerobic systems.  The idea is you want to compliment (as opposed to replace) whatever workouts you are already doing that are sport specific.  There is not a ton of info out there in terms of translating the above programs into sport specific training so you have to read through the literature and determine what the best fit is for you based on your specific training needs. 

Some of the things to think about include frequency of subjecting yourself to the e-stim unit, which programs would benefit most,  avoiding adaptation, what exactly do fast twitch and slow twitch fibers do and how do they translate into athletic goals,  opportunities to focus on weaknesses, etc...

My focus has been primarily on cycling related activity and how to build it into the overall training plan.  The plan is to try to use the unit for active recovery fairly frequently and then also try to incorporate some of the above programs into the existing training.  It is more of a 'learn as I go' mode as opposed to a structured plan - mostly because there is not much out there to specify...

One of the interesting things I have noticed is I have had to pay particular attention to where I place the pads that distribute the e-stim action so that they don't make the knee tendons twitch too much (which in turn seems to inflame them for me).  It was explained to me that some tendon sensitivity is normal because your muscles might temporarily shorten/stay a little more contracted after these workouts.  This is part of the reason I have been stretching more and working with the trigger point roller to work out the kinks.  I am not sure that any of this will do much of anything but at this point it might be purely psychosomatic and it is always fun to learn about something new....the jury is still out on this for now....although the Active Recovery program definitely does seem to help the legs recover faster (more to come  on this when the weather warms up and I put some long days in the saddle).

    

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Dreamscape

For some reason my dreams lately have been more memorable than usual.  I don't always remember or recall my dreams but I know when they have been more vivid than usual.  You could spend a lifetime studying and trying to interpret dreams and come to the same conclusions as someone who contemplated them for the first time.  That is to say that I am not sure that there is any definitive conclusions that can be ascertained by trying to interpret dreams.  My theory is that it is just your subconscious staying active or trying to work things out.

I do admit that the most incredible dreams I have had are the lucid dreams when you are aware that you are dreaming and have the ability to 'control' your dream.  Admittedly it has only happened to me a couple of times and it seems like I wake up shortly after making that realization so the opportunity to fully leverage the controlling of the dream is over before it begins.

One of the fascinating things about dreams is how their time is different than our waking time or our 'real time'.  It is amazing that dreams can span time frames of years in literal seconds or minutes.  It used to be said that animals did not dream but having to dogs I can attest that they do in fact dream as I have been privy to them twitching away while the chase bunnies in their dreams.

And that is what it sort of, kind of, maybe boils down to:  I feel like those who try to over-analyze dreams are essentially chasing bunny rabbits...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Super Bowl Sundae

We got a funny wrong number message at 11:00 p.m. on Friday night...it went a little something like (names withheld to protect the stupid...)

"Hi honey this is Jane Doe calling from the Casino X, Johnny Q has been playing and losing and we need you to come by because he does not have any money.  Everyone is winning, can you come down?  Thanks Honey"

pretty random but not nearly as funny as a v-mail I got last year and I can not even begin to do it justice by trying to repeat but it sounded like a gangsta'.


In light of Super Bowl Sunday, I am paying homage to Ozomatli with their song Super Bowl Sundae...These guys put on a great show...and Chali 2na adds some flava' with them!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

one step forward...hill billy steps backwards

We got some snow last night and when checking the Discovery resort web page this a.m. it mentioned they had about 4 inches of new snow.  While the wifer is pulling a work shift this weekend, I decided to motivate and head out to Discovery.  It has been a long week and I need some therapy on the slopes!

The conditions were great!  There was fresh snow and not many were out when the mountain opened so the snow last through about lunch time until it was mostly tracked out and packed down by everyone.  I kept hitting the edges of the runs to find the untracked snow and it was as good as it has been all year up at Discovery.  You had to be a little careful because the fresh snow was sitting on a hard base and there were a few spots where people had skied through and moved the snow downslope so that there was a hard & icy layer - as usual snowboarders take the brunt of crazy falls on this kind of stuff and it is not a ton of fun to ski on those conditions all day...but alas, that was not to be and we were lucky enough to have awesome conditions.  The snow was great, the temps were great, and the crowds were not bad at all.  It was very therapeutic indeed!

After a good day at Discovery, it was time to head home and shovel the deck, driveway, and sidewalks.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that someone had torn up part of our lawn on the sidewalk by spinning their car wheels through it and we had chunks of lawn scattered around.  I also noticed that one of our fence posts was slightly askew...It seems like someone was trying to  pull a U turn and decided to just back up over our lawn , hit our fence post and then punching the gas which tore up the grass.  We will have to wait until it all thaws out to see what the damage is.

When shoveling today, I noticed new car tire tracks all the way onto the grassed area by the sidewalk and then actually on the concrete part of the sidewalk, stopping about 2 ft from the fence!!   WTF?  Apparently our house is just a magnet for disrespectful a-holes....people driving on our lawn (3 times now), house getting egged a couple of times, people ditching stolen cars in our driveway and crashing said stolen car into our car and subsequently sending it through our garage door, setting off fireworks in the street next to our house and finding parts of the fireworks in our lawn...sort of afraid to think about what might happen next....man, I might be getting old and grumpy but this is downright ridiculous....

Needless to say all that therapy on the slopes has been mitigated by our latest adventure.  This town sure does make it very very difficult to like at times.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Prisoner Of My Ambitions

I have been reading the Tasker Boardman Omnibus lately and one of the books contained in the Omnibus is written by Peter Boardman and is called The Shining Mountain.  He writes about his attempt to climb this 22,520 ft peak in India.  Changabang was intriguing to Joe Tasker and Peter Boardman because it was not only a mountaineering adventure, but a technical testpiece at high altitude.

One of the faces is very steep and had not yet been climbed and Tasker/Boardman wanted to do it in a small team as opposed to a giant expedition which had been the norm until that time.  They were able to pull it off but not without their trials and tribulations.  At point Boardman writes about a particularly long day when they are scaling a crux section at altitude in the cold...and could can just tell that he was probably suffering a lot more than he was able to describe in his book.  He very succintly wrote 'But I was a prisoner of my own ambition, and persisted up the ropes'.

That phrase resonated with me and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense on multiple levels.  I identified with the phrase and thought of how I have chosen to do events on the bike that make me suffer.  At the end of the day, they are positions in which I voluntarily put myself in and that somehow makes it more manageable.  It also reminds me that there are times when you have to make sacrifices for the greater good or bigger picture...and again we make those choices.

It could also work in reverse...so you are prisoner to the level of your ambitions too.  In that sense people who are unmotivated and don't have ambitions will not be able to move forward and they are held captive by their ambitions.

back to the ambitions of work for now - hmmm....I do feel like a prisoner there too....Deep Thoughts...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Snowy Ridgebacks

Our Butte weather has turned cold on us lately and it makes for interesting walks with the dogs.  We have not been able to walk the dogs lately because it has been too cold (sub-zero temps).  We typically don't take the dogs out on walks unless the temps are above 10 Fahrenheit or else it is just too cold for them.  When it is between 10 and around 20 we usually bundle them up in little warm doggie vests and also put snow booties on them so they don't freeze their paws (or else you get the raise the paw syndrome when they start to get frozen).

When putting their boots on, they lose the feel of walking since they can't feel the ground with their feet and this is what happens:


It usually takes a while to get them 'dressed' up to go outside...poor guys, they are african dogs...this sub zero temp stuff is not their usual stomping grounds...once they get to the trails they almost forget they have the boots on and they run around like usual so the prep is definitely worth it or else we end up with two energetic dogs around the house and poor Otis will instigate play with Moby who does not have the same puppy play drive.  So for Moby's sanity, it is certainly worth the time of prepping them and taking them out.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Blur v 1.0 Buh Bye

Unfortunately my Santa Cruz Blur has reached the end of the line.  It survived 10 years of abuse and I reluctantly parted everything off the bike this weekend.  I purchased the frame the first year the Blur XC came out and at the time it was about as high tech as you could get.  The frame technology would be the one that would eventually start to be copied and emulated.  The big step forward at the time was the advent of a rear shock that would minimize bob as you climbed (and subsequently lose pedal power).  All in all I have to say that the Blur served me very very well.  I like the geometry, the stiffness& the all-around versatility.

It is down to the bare frame and a pile of parts.
It is amazing to think that once a bike is parted it out, it really does not seem to be all that much in terms of parts....a few drive train parts, brakes, bars, seat post, shock/fork, and wheels (not pictured) and boom...that be it.  What is a little crazy is that small list of parts will set you back some coin!  I am hoping to re-use these parts where possible on our other bikes but it is still a weird thing to one day be looking at a bike at the next be looking at a pile of parts....parts is parts:

RIP my orange blaze of aluminum....and thanks for the memories my friend!  You definitely enabled me to see a lot and experience a lot...Through you I got see parts of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, California, Washington, Nevada, etc that I might not ordinarily see... you stuck with me through my whining during the 24 hrs of Steamboat, the 24 hours of E Rock, Leadville, Silver Rush, Laramie Enduro, Cohutta, etc....you were happy to take abuse on dirt, pavement, gravel, mud, snow, water, poop....through hot and stupidly cold....and all this without a complaint.  Yes you were another mouth to feed but my ohh my it was worth every penny!