Catching up

Spring "training camp" in San Diego

   Once again I've been working and playing outside way too much to write anything so here's a bit of what's been going on. Things got shaken up a lot since the last time I posted: Vanderkitten offered me a spot on their women's Pro MTB team for this season and I absolutely could not turn it down. I'm so honored to even be considered to belong on a team with some amazingly fast women! It feels great after two years of frustration and struggles with injuries that things are coming together to create this opportunity for me to get out there and enjoy racing bikes more than ever. Take a look at my Sponsors page for an updated list of supporters for this race season--great companies that I am really proud to represent!

Ibis Cycles is my new bike sponsor; yes, that is a Ripley 29er...

   The Sea Otter Classic is set to be my first race back in 2 years, and of course I missed signing up for the enduro before it sold out, but I will be racing the dual slalom and DH and hanging out with my new teammates and old friends that I haven't seen in forever. Stop by the Vanderkitten booth and say hi to us!
   It will certainly be a new adventure racing enduro, and will probably be a lot tougher for me to get on the podium than the downhill races I've done. I have been strength training more than ever before this winter and feeling good but have not been getting consistent mileage on the bike. It's been so long since I have trained for endurance events that I think I might have forgotten how. It is still early season and I am usually a slow starter, so there is time to pick up and be strong for the mid-season races. Despite the new challenges (and I do love those) I'm looking forward to doing some really fun-sounding races in new locations, including the possibility of a Whistler trip to race Crankworx...

Life seems to be mostly...normal?

   I've really been slacking on writing blogs lately; blame the madness of the 3 jobs I'm juggling this winter (of course I couldn't pick just one or two) and the beautiful but strangely unseasonal weather we've been having making it hard to sit down indoors. It's likely that I have ridden bikes nearly as many days as skied this season with near record low snowfall amounts.
   The house drama of the last 2 years has fully faded out and is replaced with a sense of being at least somewhat settled. I'm getting to know the ins and outs of South Lake, becoming well acquainted with where not to go on crowded weekends, and where to find the best adventures in my own backyard. Finding work has been interesting to say the least, but it's always come together at the last minute and I'm hoping to get settled into a routine sooner or later and not have the frantic end of season scramble for the next season's job.
   It dawned on me recently that I've been able to do most everything that I enjoy for the first time in a couple of years without worrying about aggravating this or that injury. While riding to and from running errands in town, I was struck by the joy of simply pedaling on a bicycle again to get from place to place. Occasionally my hip aches a little bit but less and less as time goes on, an indication that spending time in the gym with a trainer is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. That was a bigger financial commitment than I wanted to make, but with the alternative being more struggles with injuries, I was good and ready to try something new rather than following the same dumb pattern over and over again.
    It feels amazing to be able to ride bikes and also have the social aspect of riding be a part of my life again. I am finding out, just as should be expected, that I'm a heck of a lot slower than I was before everything happened. Frustrating as it is to eat dust following my friends on the trail, I know I'm on the right track and have to stay positive about it--which isn't that hard to do with a silly singletrack-induced grin all over my face.
   And now, I leave you with a few photos from the last dirt bike trip to Black Rock Desert:

Hot springs at Soldier Meadows campground.

We were hoping to ride up High Rock Canyon road but it already closed for the season. It is really spectacular!

Lots of empty space, nobody out here but us and a few herds of bighorn sheep way off in the distance.

Smooth dirt, a nice break from the rocky ride the day before.

The water- and time-sculpted rock of Fly Canyon.

Somewhere up in the Calico Mountains.

Obligatory playa shot.

 
 

The big Northwest road trip!

   Well, I've been so busy and distracted that the end of 2014 blew right past me at warp speed. I spent the last week of it with Kit up in western Washington visiting my parents and friends, and then New Year's Eve in Cashmere, WA with Kit's cousin. That itself was a random experience: hanging out at a small local's bar in a cute but podunk little town, with an overly friendly bartender and a guy singing terrible cover songs at open mic night. We didn't make it to midnight despite our most valiant efforts to tolerate the music...

Klamath Falls, OR. They must have a problem with sidewalk horses here.

   Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was crammed into or tied onto the outside of our chosen road trip-mobile, a Dodge Neon: Skis, poles, boots, a bicycle (2 on the way back), moto boots and helmets, bike gear, climbing gear, fishing stuff, a week of clothes, presents, food, 2 people and a big headed dog. It took 2 days to drive from Tahoe to Washington, stopping in Portland for a night to have beers with a couple of friends and catch some sleep.
   Arrived in Washington to clear skies (a miracle) and took some walks with the dog. Kit got to see a bit more of Poulsbo, the bay and also historic Port Gamble. On a slightly soggy day we drove up north on the Olympic Peninsula with the idea to get all the way out to the coast. It got late so we stopped to see Dungeness Spit instead, then on to Port Angeles where we found a little aquarium. There we watched an octopus try to pounce on its live crab dinner a couple of times, but it completely missed. Thanks to my parents' generous neighbor we chowed on freshly caught crab ourselves this trip, a real Northwestern treat.

Walking around Fort Worden, Port Townsend WA

   Tourist time over, we rode bikes the next day at Green Mountain where I have been a number of times, but this time on a new trail that was ridiculously fun. The top was cloudy so there were no views, but the tacky dirt and techy roots more than made up for it. As did finally riding my new bike, with its builder Devin from Lichen Bikes! Grinning nonstop, splattered with mud, we had to hike up to ride another short trail that was steeper and more root-encrusted than the first. I'm still in disbelief that I never rode those trails the whole time I lived there.
   We rode again the next day with my dad, chasing him around the nearby Port Gamble trail system. There has been so much development of new trails that I am totally blown away every time I come home and ride there. In addition to the original handful of trails that I remember from growing up there have been many more added of the rough, rooty old style winding through the rainforest, along with some new flowy singletracks. The old man darn near wore us out, and we were also caught in a downpour a ways out from the car. I forget sometimes that a 20% chance of rain up there means a good chance 20% of the day will be rainy...

Mt. Shuksan, so close you might as well just climb up it!

   For a change of pace, we ventured up to ski at the legendary Mt. Baker following a decently sized storm. I'm so sorry, Vail Resorts, but this is the only place I can ever call truly "EPIC" for lift access skiing! It was an incredible day with blue skies and crisp cold air, with daytime temps dropping to 10 degrees. The only unfortunate part was the lack of a base that nearly 2 feet of fresh snow fell upon, leaving much of the mountain un-skiable, at least if one valued their limbs. There was still some lovely deep snow accessible in the out of bounds zones so we found some good turns there.

Kit performs a somersaulting snow sample. It was good, and deep.

   The brilliant powder day was followed up by a day of playing in the mud on dirt bikes in the deep woods of Tahuya State Forest. My friend Jason had extra bikes for us to ride, and he guided us through the winding trails for several hours of motorized excitement over slippery roots galore. We had all our warm layers on, and my feet got so wet from riding through the puddles that my toes started freezing, but it was hard to call it a day and stop riding on such great trails. We'll have to come back for more of that too!
   A chilly morning bike ride at Port Gamble the next day and then we were crossing the Puget Sound again on the ferry. Kit got all excited to see everything in the daylight, and I couldn't help but feel awed myself on such a spectacular day when all of the mountains were visible from Rainier to Baker in the Cascades to the east and also the Olympic range fully on display to the west. It truly is a beautiful place! Unfortunately, none of our photos did it any justice whatsoever.

Mt. Baker off there in the distance.

   We caught the evening alpenglow driving over Stevens Pass on the way to Cashmere on New Years eve, pondering for just a second maybe stopping to night ski. I have not ridden lifts at Stevens in over 10 years! A little worn out from riding bikes that morning and our other non-stop adventures, we decided to keep moving and get to Kit's cousin's house at a reasonable hour. 

Pork Chop hides from the loud bang of fireworks in the bath tub (and perhaps the kids too). Kids think this is really funny and follow him in!

   Following a pizza dinner (Kit's dream come true-pizza three nights in a row) they brought us down to a small bar in an old fruit packing warehouse to send out the old year with a group of friends. We met some fellow climbers and talked one guy into showing us around Vantage the next day, a somewhat nearby climbing area that would be out of the snow if not slightly warmer. That whole crew left early to put their herds of kiddos to bed, and we figured we should stick around for at least another beer and experience the local "scene." The incredibly welcoming bartender immediately offered to buy us beers if we would hang out for the music--an amazing guitar player, he said. This could be interesting, we figured, so we settled in at a table. The tunes that followed were a collection of overplayed late '90s and early 2000's radio songs. Oh well...we proceeded to try and ignore it while having an incredibly deep conversation about jobs, graduate school, leaving Tahoe, and all of those scary emotional things that come out sometimes after a few drinks. Move to Cashmere? Definitely not for the live music. Aside from that, however, it was pretty neat: quiet, close to the Cascades, full of old history and an economy that seems to rely more on fruit growing than tourism.

Approaching the climbs from on top of the cliffs.

   On January 1, 2015 we woke up not too hung over, ate leftover pizza for breakfast, and went to pick up our climbing guide for the day. The drive to Vantage was about an hour, located right by the world famous Gorge Amphitheater. My first impression: eerily similar to Indian Creek, Utah, only with rippled volcanic columns instead of sandstone cliffs. It was not as warm as we hoped, but at least we were climbing and seeing new sights! The first climb that we did was a supposedly easy but rather awkward sport climb with one side in the sun and one side in the shade, made even more awkward by having a frozen right hand and trying to avoid using those holds on the shaded side. Not terribly impressed, we chose another climb ascending twin cracks on either sides of a column with a fairly easy rating. 

5.8 twin cracks in the corner right above Kit's head. A classic!

   The shadows moved quickly with the northern latitudes and short days of winter and I found myself charging upward as fast as possible to catch the last bit of sun on the right side of the climb. Starkly contrasting the first climb, this one was a classic. Abundant hand and foot jams made for crack climbing at its very best, times 2 for the double cracks. 10 degrees warmer and this would be a perfect winter climbing spot! We will be back to this one someday, for sure. 

Lichen Bikes on a road trip! Riding at Syncline near Hood River. 

   Moving south the next day to Oregon with Bend as our destination, we stopped just outside White Salmon in southern WA for a short scenic mountain bike ride above the Columbia River in an area called Syncline. It was quite cold, muddy, and we had a very vague idea of where we were going. We pedaled up for a while, got a bit lost, and went back down the hill to a trail that looked like fun. Kit took some photos of me and the new bike and then we got back on the road toward Bend.
   Unfortunately there was no time to cram in any more adventures on the way home; we maxed out our time away and I had to be back to coach kids at Heavenly on Sunday. We still had a good time catching up with our friends in Bend for a night, staying in their cozy little house and walking to the river with the dogs before getting in the car for the final push back to Tahoe.

   I almost forgot to mention that my hip is feeling much better and just about back to normal now. This trip really put it to the test, with so many different activities all crammed together plus a lot of time sitting in the car. It feels so incredible to get out and do whatever I feel like doing without worrying about it! Thanks again to Great Basin Physical Therapy and Elevated Fitness for helping put me back together!

Camping, climbing, and a real dirt bike adventure!

   After months of working, being injured, and more recently turning my brain inside out with that horrendous income tax class (yes, I admit that was a terrible idea) Kit and I finally made our escape to find some fun over Thanksgiving. Original plans were to go south to Joshua Tree and/or Bootleg Canyon near Las Vegas for climbing and mountain biking, but I still lacked a bike and Kit had to work through Wednesday so we figured it made more sense to stay closer to home and venture only a few hours south on the eastern Sierra. Being able to do anything at all gives me a whole lot to be thankful for, seeing as how a year ago I was mainly horizontal, barely able to get around the house, bored as heck and completely depressed.

   We decided to pack climbing gear and dirt bikes, as I'm beginning to turn into a real moto addict but not quite going to give up on climbing yet. However, the CRF 230 I was supposed to be riding now needed a new clutch, which was almost done but for one last part that we didn't know needed replacing until it was all taken apart 3 days before we left. The little 125 had not sold yet so we loaded it into the trailer, only then noticing that the front tire was flat--at 5:30 on Wednesday evening the day before Thanksgiving--probably impossible to get a new tube at that point and nobody would be open until at least Friday. Oh, the problems those dang machines can have!

The view from a perfect campsite.

    Oh well. Off to Bridgeport for a hot spring soak and some sleep, and we can try to at least patch the tube in the morning. Thanksgiving morning was beautiful and relatively warm at the higher elevation of Bridgeport so instead of going straight to Bishop we went southeast toward Benton and one of our favorite spots to climb and camp. Nobody else was there, of course, and we scored a spectacular camping spot among some boulders with a view of the nearby crags and the mountains off in the distance. After unpacking we set about removing the inner tube from my bike to see if it was repairable; it turned out to be a torn valve stem, not good. We still tried to fix it and may perhaps have succeeded if not for pinching the tube while re-installing the tire on the rim. At that point I just said forget it--I'll ride on the flat tire so we can go exploring a little bit. Might as well go for a short ride to work up an appetite before digging into the Moroccan lamb and root vegetable stew I prepared the previous afternoon for our Thanksgiving feast. 

Boundary Peak at the northern end of the White Mountains.

   I pulled out the map for some ideas and we got on the main dirt road heading south from the crags, looking for a road that crossed over into the valley. A few dead ends and one giant mine hole in the ground later we followed a faint double track going in the right direction until it dropped steeply into a loose rocky gully. I contemplated the steep pitch and my flat front tire, wondering if my little bike would make it back out, but as Kit disappeared down the trail I dove in figuring that we'd get out of there one way or another. After the gully the trail crossed onto a ridge with a stunning view of the White Mountains and wound down toward the valley, where I stopped to take some photos and wait for Kit to come back up the hill a few minutes later.

   It seemed like a good idea to turn around at this point and make sure we still had light to get back to camp. Getting my bike up the gully was not much of an issue, though it was quite squirrelly in the loose dirt and rocks and took a bit of effort to point the right direction. We didn't get to see where that trail ended up this time, but it will be waiting for next time we make it down there. 

   Friday morning we decided to go climbing despite forgetting to pack the guidebook for the area. There was one particular south facing wall (the Lost Piton Rock) that I remembered with a handful of fun bolted sport routes, including some very long ones, only a short ride up the road plus a five minute hike. We packed up and got on the dirt bikes to zip up the road; those are a novel climbing approach tool and I'm a big fan! 

Kit warming up on the 10a

Me battling the roof on the 10b - toprope hero!

   The climbing was just as fun and interesting as I remembered: decent quality granite with a variety of thin face moves, a crack section, giant plates, a couple of small roofs. I decided to tell my hip that I wasn't going to baby it this time, so high stepping and any other weird yoga moves that were required would all be done unless there was major pain. There was no pain and I was able to get up every climb without falling or hanging. It was great having the whole crag to ourselves as well; the climbing at Owens River Gorge is excellent, but it starts feeling like a gym at times with all the people around, having to choose climbs according to the fewest number waiting in line. It was refreshing to have such a positive experience and that really motivated both of us to try to get back on the rock more often.

   We climbed until my fingers were raw and toes hurt from squishing into tiny shoes, and then packed up camp to go in search of a motorcycle shop in Mammoth Lakes for a new inner tube and some ideas about fun places to ride. It was Friday on a holiday weekend so we were fortunate to find a place open that could help. It turns out that Bishop has the best riding in the area so that's where we ended up; camping at the windy hole in the ground Pit campground with some climbing friends from north Lake Tahoe. They tried to talk us into climbing on Saturday as Kit changed out the tube on my bike, but we were too excited to see some new trails, and not so into dealing with holiday weekend hordes of people at the Gorge. The wind was also picking up quite a bit blowing away tents, dishes, clothing, and whatever else wasn't tied down. 

   Looking at the map and remembering some of the shop employee's comments we drove to the base of the Silver Canyon road to begin, thinking it might be a scenic if not somewhat mellow ride up. As we unloaded and got ready a handful of unmodified SUVs and trucks passed and went up the canyon, and I began to think we might get terribly bored riding up that way. Inspecting the map again it seemed like we could ride south to the Black Canyon road or the Poleta OHV area and up from there to make somewhat of a loop coming back down Silver Canyon at the end. 

Somewhere around 3000 ft above the Owens Valley.

   We didn't quite make it to Black Canyon, getting slightly mixed up on dirt roads and ending up on some double track trails in the OHV area. From there we randomly chose a jeep road that started rather steeply uphill, posing some challenges for my bike but nothing impossible when wide open in first gear. Weeeeee!!! Sometimes the deep dust made it feel like I was on a swing bike, with front and back wheels pointing all different ways. Kit flew up the trail and I stubbornly putted along behind until we reached a mine burrowed into the hillside at the end of the road. 

The un-named mine up Poleta/Russell Canyon.

   We stopped for a photo and then wandered around for a minute, following some dirt bike tracks to a little trail that continued winding uphill from the mine. It looked way too intriguing to pass up so we started up it. It got a little bit technical right away and Kit asked if I wanted to keep going. My mountain bike self said sure why not, it looks totally do-able... Kit continued on and I followed, not having much trouble riding but holy moly it was exposed!! I have gotten into my fair share of sketchy situations in the past between bikes and climbing in the mountains, so I'm not easily scared, but all of those are under human power. Adding an engine into the mix makes things seem slightly more likely to go out of control. There I was, the newbie dirt bike rider trying to keep steady on a trail barely wider than my handlebars, steep hillsides above and below covered in jumbles of sharp rocks, terrified that one wrong move with the throttle or steering would tumble me down the hill with the heavy machine and--at best--into the emergency room.
   Luckily there were only a couple more slightly technical spots that I could crawl through with my feet out, and there were no steep loose hill climbs to get sideways on. Kit stopped again before the trail wrapped around the end of the canyon and asked if I was still doing all right. At that point probably about 10 minutes in there was no way in heck I wanted to turn around and go back down that! Onward! Besides it appeared as though the trail widened a little bit after crossing the canyon...

Finally at the top of the sketchy trail!

   Oops--not really. The trail got even narrower and more terrifying for the next few minutes. My right foot peg dragged in the dirt on the uphill side in some places as I tried to remind myself to take a breath now and then and to keep looking ONLY at where I wanted to go and NOT at the nearly sheer dropoff just below me with pointy rocks all over. If I was ever going to have a heart attack that would have been the place for sure, as I thought it might jump out of my chest for the entire 20 minutes or so that it took me to ride the scary part. Then to my relief the trail turned up a ridge and got steeper, but thankfully much wider. I reached the top of the climb and parked my bike, laying on the ground for a while until I could breathe normally again and chow an apple. It's been a long time since I have put myself in such a precarious situation, with the intense focus required for success, and it sure felt good to have made it through in one piece! By now I had a good idea of where we were on the map, and that we would not need to go back down that trail if we continued upward. Later internet research calls this singletrack the "woodcutter's trail" and I'm glad to not be the only one who found it quite intimidating.

Lunch break surroundings.

   I heard Kit coming back from exploring up the trail, and he had great news when he got to me: it got super fun up ahead, probably the best trail he's ridden. Hooray! I finished my snack and followed after him, weaving among bristlecone pines and colorful rocks lining the small canyon as the trail swooped back and forth. I grinned until my face hurt. We finally stopped for a break to scarf down some sandwiches partway up among the windswept trees, but couldn't wait to continue and see what else lay ahead. Most of it was mellow and uneventful; however we did upon a massive rock waterfall section about 30 feet long and quite steep, and this proved very entertaining to get Kit's bike to the top. On the first try his bike wheelied back and then tumbled all the way back to the bottom from the middle step (definitely the crux), and the second time he managed to send it uphill to the next step, which was then a little bit easier to get over to the top. My bike refused to go up at first but being a lot smaller we wrestled it partway up and Kit rode it the rest of the way--no wheelies for me.
   By then we wondered what else was in store on this trail, because it had not been bad at all until this particular part. We decided to continue on anyway since there was lots of daylight left and more trail to explore. It was fast and fun from there and a little ways past the waterfall another rider caught up with us; a local from Bishop who was incredibly surprised to see anybody else on the trail, and especially a girl on a TTR 125. I guess not many make it so far up there, and most folks riding those trails are on bigger bikes that climb the hills better. He was really friendly and offered some suggestions as to where we should go at the top, discouraging our initial plan to ride down Silver Canyon since it was a long boring ride on roads. He recommended either going back down another trail splitting off the one we came up or the Black Canyon road as a better loop alternative.

Old mines are everywhere in these mountains! Thanks to them we have many of these neat trails to ride...

   I was thoroughly worn out at this point and ready for a quick descent with no exposure to speak of, so I voted we take the Black Canyon jeep road down. Our new friend led us through the few intersections before the canyon began, at which point he split off to ride another singletrack loop before rejoining the road. The scenery was incredible as we wound into the heart of the canyon, flying below volcanic cliffs of all shades of black and brown and through groves of trees still covered in bright yellow leaves. Though not very steep or difficult, the road was covered in rocks and rattling me around like crazy, reminding me that I may be a little on the heavy side for that bike. It kind of felt like I was on my hardtail instead of a motorcycle with 12" of travel because I was having to pick my lines to avoid major bumps and going faster only made it harder to hold on.
   From the bottom of the canyon we successfully navigated the dirt roads back to the truck without getting lost, although it was a very windy ride. Cold beers were in order with some tailgate chill time to absorb the day's adventure and unwind my rattled skeleton and mind. The wind was relatively calm at the bottom of Silver Canyon as we hung out and packed up, but as we pulled out into the open valley it was blowing dust clouds and tumbleweeds all over.
   First we went to the store in Bishop to grab a couple of extra dinner ingredients, then back up to the Pit to cook. Up at camp the wind was gusting so horribly that neither of us really wanted to get out of the truck to start making food... yeah, a couple of wimps we are! Definitely missing the shelter of having a van to cook and hang out in. After a few minutes of indecision we went back into town to cook dinner in the grocery store parking lot, where the wind had slightly less force and not so much sand to blow around. As we cooked on the tailgate a car pulled up with a couple of friends inside hollering at us whom we never expected to run into in Bishop. They were coming back from a road trip farther south to Death Valley and were heading for June Lake to spend the night at a friend's house, which sounded like a much better plan to us than trying to sleep unobtrusively in town or being blown around at the dusty Pit.

Snow coming in over June Lake

   We followed them up to June Lake and figured the plan for Sunday would be determined by the weather. When we woke up to blue skies and a moderate cold wind it sounded like a short exploration of the local trails was in order before leaving for home. The Obsidian Dome, a nearby geological feature, looked to have a small network of jeep roads and a few ATV trails we could string together into a fun loop ride. All bundled up with warm gloves, a few small snowflakes drifted in the air as we rode toward the June Lake overlook on a whooped-out road. Very much like a pump track to ride, I was having no trouble staying warm with the workout of trying to keep Kit's dust in sight. The deep volcanic duff was interesting and a bit tricky to ride in, sometimes sending me a little sideways off a roller and making it really hard for my bike to climb anything steep. Even though I still couldn't keep up, and none of the trails were too technical, they still had good flow and we had a blast cruising around. A bonus was getting to see a giant mound of obsidian up close, and not just tiny chunks scattered on the ground. It's neat stuff!

Obsidian Dome tourist.

   We jam-packed enough fun into the last few days to go home before it got too dark and snowy. After this trip I feel a whole lot more confident with my dirt biking skills, and really can't wait to get the dang CRF 230 fixed so I can finally ride a bigger bike. I won't be hanging up the mountain bike any time soon but it sure is great to cover a lot of ground exploring and not be completely wrecked for days after. And it's undeniable how much fun it is! Learning new skills, tackling new challenges, and seeing new places--it's hard to wipe the perma-grin off my face after a weekend like that!

There went another summer...looking ahead to next year.

   Fall is here bringing rain and the best riding conditions. Despite that I can't help but feel awfully jaded by the past 2 years, logging far more couch time than saddle time, and twice getting crushed by another injury just when the previous one has healed. I think I've learned a lot and really hope I can actually apply it to become better at dealing with these setbacks--and avoiding them in the first place. I've also acquired a handful of other hobbies that are good for days off the bike and may make it more motivating to have more rest days. Gardening, fishing, and canoeing have helped me hang onto the last few shreds of sanity that were trying to escape this summer and provide endless opportunities for learning; especially so for fishing and gardening.
   Currently the canoe is all dismantled for some repairs and a complete refinishing. It's a really nice fiberglass canoe that needed to be returned to its former glory, with dry splintered trim and holes in the seats, and a hideous light green spray paint job. I tried an epoxy/carbon fiber patch on some holes in the front and back and they turned out really well, but it's been sitting for a while and now that summer work has finished I'm working on motivating to sand it all out for painting. The seats need re-webbing, and all of the wood bits need a going over with fine sandpaper and several coats of marine poly finish to complete the project.
   My garden was fairly good but not quite as successful as I hoped it would be with all the work that went into it. The pepper plants took forever to start producing, and some tomato plants never even bore fruit. The tomatoes I was able to get were very tasty but it seems like a big challenge to get more production with the incredibly short season. Snap peas got eaten by rabbits, the green beans were very small, and runner beans never even got beans on them, but I had some very happy kale and chard plants when they weren't getting eaten by the chickens. My winter project is going to be mixing up some good rocket power compost for next year in hopes that might help things along. A hoop house or some other insulating structure is also imperative to stretch the growing season out here in Meyers where I think the nights above 30 degrees only lasted for a month or 2 in the summer. My big hoop house got blown away nearly every time it got windy here and I had to convert it to 3 smaller structures as a last resort to keep things happy. Perhaps a green house next year if we can collect some more old windows. Abundant sun might make a passive solar heat system possible to keep warmth circulating around the plants through the cold nights.

Peppers and tiny green beans. They only got to 3" long and stopped growing.

   Things have gone amazingly well with physical therapy; I'm still incredulous that I spent all summer being dumb before finally going to see this therapist who has pretty dang near fixed me already! I have been able to pedal for 5 to nearly 10 miles with just a bit of stiffness and have luckily enjoyed a few good "brown pow" days in the last few weeks with some rain to make the trails nice. Corral Trail in my backyard is quite a hoot but I'm hoping I work up to riding a few other trails before snow buries it all. I also did 2 days in a row on the moto last weekend and was a little bit sore after but nothing too unbearable. Motos are fun on a whole different level and yet another challenge I'm happy to tackle. Additionally, it feels like a good trip to the gym for the legs and upper body but is a heck of a lot more fun. A mountain bike feels so small and light after muscling around one of those heavy beasts--the 125 is already feeling a little bit underpowered too, wait till I get on the 230 that Kit is working on right now. Eek!
It gives me a little more hope that things are going to return to normal soon. My therapist told me to basically go do things as I would normally and call him in a couple of weeks. If it hurts again I'll go back in and get worked on some more, but things are definitely progressing incredibly well. He thinks that all the pain was from the muscles at the front of the hip being all wound up in an angry tight ball from being overworked, compensating for weak butt muscles. How did I get those? Oh, maybe a miserable winter spent on the couch, perhaps... more reason to get back on the telemark gear this winter and build them back up! Before then I have to stay diligent with my stretches and exercises and work back into normal behavior.
  I'm still hoping that there was no irreversible damage done to the hip joint and that I will be able to go back to life as usual but the MRI will tell a lot about how the joint is looking and if there is any arthritis developing (ugh...don't want to think about that!) The MRI is now scheduled for October 24th thanks to getting a cold right before the first appointment I finally succeeded in making a few weeks ago.

Cucumber!

   Getting excited for next season already, I hope to pick up my new ride from Lichen Bikes up in Washington in the next month or so during my annual pilgrimage homeward. I have plenty of fun cruising around on the 'cross bike here in the meadows, but I've taken every opportunity for snagging Kit's Yeti for a spin on Corral to smash through rocks and hit the jumps. In the apparel department it sounds like Vanderkitten has come up with some ideas to expand their MTB presence; though details have yet to be confirmed, there may be some ski-bike multi sport video fun involved with that. In addition I'm still planning to complete some kind of instructor certification so that I can coach and lead rides throughout the year. With some successful fundraising in this past year all I've got to do now is get healthy enough to sign up for the training and then find a good one to attend!
   I'm trying my hardest to get back on the horse without getting bucked off again; let's hope this time I finally have more success!

A calm evening on the river.

 

Plugging away

  Half of me wants to re-name this blog something like "the misadventures of an ex mountain bike racer" but that seems awfully pessimistic. The fact that I'm going on two seasons of not racing is definitely getting to me and though I try my best to stay involved with events, every now and then I get really frustrated and just want to disappear without a trace. Don't worry, I wouldn't actually do that--there are too many good people to miss seeing again!
   Almost 2 months after my doctor visit I still have made no progress with scheduling an MRI under the new insurance, yet they kept bugging me about making an appointment for a yearly checkup...can we take care of the more pressing issues first, please? Apparently not!
   Progress with physical therapy stalled out with continued inflammation making it hard to add any more strengthening exercises. I decided to try another PT, Ashwin at Great Basin Physical Therapy, on the strong recommendation of a friend. Although it's a 40 minute drive off the mountain it seems like a worthwhile choice because he was able to make a lot of progress. After only 3 visits I've been able to go up stairs pain-free and without using the gimp walk, pedal a bike around the block a few times, and walk around normally and for a longer distance. This actually motivated me to get up an hour earlier to fit in all of my stretches and exercises before work so I can do something fun in the afternoon. Getting out of bed before it's absolutely necessary in the morning is not exactly my strongest suit, so this is really a good thing!
   On the more fun side, Kit got tired of me moping around the house every time it has rained this summer so he found me a dirt bike: a little Yamaha TTR 125 "clown bike" since it is quite small and feels funny to stand up on. But it's absolutely loads of fun (I'm convinced I shouldn't be enjoying myself so much), and I'm perfectly happy with it right now. Even better is that I haven't had any major hip pain following the few days I've gone riding, despite a little bit of hiking now and then going up anything that's a little over my head. The whole throttle control concept is still evasive, and though some mountain bike skills transfer over it's really a whole different beast. Trying to roll through a rocky downhill section that I wouldn't blink at on a mountain bike put me on the ground in a pile twice within 3 feet; those tiny wheels like to stuff themselves into holes, and compounded by the usual rear brake being the front you've got a winning combination for confusion. Getting good at that kind of thing is probably best left for after I'm healed, but for right now, I'm quite content to rip around on jeep roads to explore and see the sights.

Yes, I am wearing mountaineering boots.

   Going fast on two wheels again and getting a little drifty in some corners puts that big silly grin back on my face where it belongs. I feel a little bit guilty for hopping on the motor-head bandwagon after being such a human powered advocate, but Kit won't have anything to do with stand-up paddle boarding, and riding motos is something we can do together and with our friends and hopefully keep me relatively sane. I sure hope that I'll be able to ski this winter, but if not there is plenty of desert to explore out there in Nevada.

And a spiffy Loeka jersey!

  

Fishing around for the meaning of life.

  Pardon the bad pun--why yes, I have indeed been fishing, both within my mind to find the meaning in my bike-less existence, and in the outdoors trying to catch a fish or 2. I attended a women's fly fishing clinic put on by SheJumps, which was a really fun and educational experience that got me hooked and let me use my dad's nice backpacking fly rod for its intended purpose.
   So I found that fly fishing is really neat! I didn't manage to catch anything in the private lake up at Northstar, but got to hang out with some fun people and learned the basics so that I can get out there on my own. It's another complicated thing to do and the gear can be expensive, but I think I can work around that because it might be a good low impact activity for the next few months and beyond.

Learning to fly fish with SheJumps.

   Over the 4th of July weekend Kit and I took a canoe camping trip to Faucherie Lake, northwest of Truckee and a few hours up some really bumpy dirt roads, to escape the tourist mayhem in Tahoe. It seemed like an ideal combination of hip-friendly activities including paddling, swimming, fishing, and hammock lounging.
   Being able to paddle to a campsite at the far end of the fairly remote lake was another big bonus, as it allowed us to further evade the masses and have more of a "wilderness" experience. Our quiet little cove only saw a few kayakers throughout the whole 3-day weekend and muffled most of the noise from the campground partiers though it was only a 15 minute paddle from the truck.

Porky fetching sticks in our little cove.

   The only unfortunate part: we didn't catch a single fish, though we tried for hours both from shore and in the canoe. The lake's temperature was just right for swimming and the campsite had perfectly spaced trees to hang a hammock, so I made sure to take regular dips in the water to cool off and snooze a bit every day.
   Pork Chop spent the weekend mostly sleeping along with some swimming after sticks and a little bit of exploration around camp. It was a refreshing, relaxing time for all of us and a really neat experience overall. I'm totally sold on canoe camping as an easy way to get out on lakes and see neat things. I'd like to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe this fall after most of the boating crowds have gone, and find some other lakes to explore between now and then. 

Oh, the sunsets!

   The hip has been feeling intermittently more sore lately, especially after I do dumb things like walk 100 yards in knee deep water to get to where I can swim in the lake--that was a really good idea. After that incident I finally caved in and saw an orthopedic who is sending me in for MRI to look at cartilage in about a week. He is suspicious that it's a torn labrum after looking at an x-ray and the shape of the head of the femur. So the plot thickens.
   I'm feeling really apprehensive because it will be nice to know what's going on in there but at the same time it will open up a huge can of worms if it looks like something that could use surgery and I have to decide what to do about it....yuckkkkk! I have one friend who has had the surgery and it didn't work out as planned, and my cousin is currently rehabbing her hip and trying to avoid surgery. Anyhow, that's way too much speculating before I actually know what my problem is. 

   I was going to try and ride the moped over to go fishing this afternoon in the river near the house but thunder is rolling and it looks like rain. Good for the garden, but I don't really want to be caught in a torrential downpour like the one I drove through on the way home from work yesterday. Better to sit on the front porch and watch the show!