Wordless Wednesday :: Spiraling Downward

Madison, Indiana ~ September 1994Copyright © 1994/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

The Heart of a Frame

They say that the bottom bracket is "the heart of a bicycle frame".

Owachomo Bridge, Newspaper Rock, Goosenecks State Park

Staying in Blanding, Utah tonight. After a day filled with sunshine, spotty rain, occasional snow showers, and some pretty good dust storms (not to mention some REALLY cool clouds throughout the day), I caught a nice sunset over Owachomo Bridge at Natural Bridges National Monument. Was hoping to photograph some stars over the same bridge, but it was too cloudy.



Some other highlights from today: Stopped by Newspaper Rock in Canyonlands National Park, an amazing rock which has probably the highest concentration of petroglyphs of any single rock in the Southwest. I also drove through some intense rain today, followed by some amazing skies as the storm broke up. As I drove North from Monument Valley I took a quick side trip to Goosenecks State Park to photograph the sky above the bends in the San Juan River.

Thunderhead Clouds

We have been having what is called the New Mexico monsoon season. We have had more rain this year than we have had for several years. This is more like we used to have 25 to 30 years ago and more. Which is really good. Nearly every afternoon we watch the thunderhead clouds come across the Sandia Mountains or else come across the desert from the west until they turn dark and we get a bit of rain. Sometimes just a sprinkle, some times up to a half an inch of rain or so, and then sometimes the clouds just go around us and it rains somewhere else.

What's Your Urban Speed Limit?

When I ride through parts of town with chaotic car and pedestrian traffic, I find that I need to limit my speed in order for my reaction time to be adequate. I told this to another cyclist one time and he laughed: "But the speed limit is 20mph here! You can do 20 and still be fine." But I don't believe that's accurate. Maybe a car can do 20 and be fine, but their braking system works differently. A driver is unlikely to flip their vehicle over if they brake suddenly at 20mph, but a cyclist is quite likely to either go over the handlebars or be unable to come to a complete stop quickly enough.



Some hold the theory that instead of braking, the urban cyclist should be quick to accelerate so that they can go around swerving cars and leaping pedestrians. But that isn't always possible. Earlier this week during the holiday shopping rush, I found myself in a situation where I was basically trapped between several moving objects simultaneously and had no choice but to slam the brakes: Two car doors in a row swung open ahead to my right while, at the exact same time, a pedestrian jumped into my line of travel (which was out of the door zone). I could not swerve right because of the car doors, I could not swerve left because of the moving cars in the travel lane, and I could not continue straight because of the pedestrian. Within milliseconds, I had to come to a complete stop.



Over time I have determined that my self-imposed "speed limit" when cycling through areas where such situations are possible needs to be 12mph at most. Any faster than that, and I cannot guarantee that I can come to an immediate stop safely. Do you have an urban speed limit?

Umbilicals again?

Michael: Petzl Quarks with my homemade tethers. Soloing the only hard winter route on Mt. Washington. Note the 4mm cord attached to the spike. I found that the tethers clipped directly to the tool took away from the feel of the swing. The sound interfered with my concentration, also.




all photos courtesy of Micheal Wejchert's collection








This is a guest blog from east coast climber, Michael Wejchert. Hopefully it won't be his last.



More of Michael's writing and adventures can be found here:

http://www.farnorthclimbing.blogspot.com/








Me soloing the Last Gentleman with BD's, Sketchy?












Umbilicals

By Michael Wejchert



"Alpinist 8 had the north face of north twin issue, which came out my sophomore year at college. I think this was the first time I saw anyone going leashless alpine climbing. A couple of years later we had all gone

leashless alpine climbing. I remember Nils Nielsen showing me his prototype BD tethers in Alaska and I modified my old vipers and new Nomics to accommodate. I prodealed the BD umbilicals a couple years ago. I remember feeling liberated alpine climbing but especially soloing. Finally I didn't have to carry leashes for fear of dropping a tool.



For two seasons I soloed up to W15 with BD umbilicals, used them alpine climbing, and dismissed them totally when ice climbing. Then, roped up with my father on a WI3 I soloed weekly, I dropped a Nomic: bumped my knee cruising as quickly as possible and realized that in a lot of other situations, such as runout M5 or so, dropping a tool, even roped up, could spell disaster. I began to look into tethers with more scrutiny.



Black Diamond tethers seemed to have their advantages: light weight, swivels to help avoid tangles, and somewhat strength-rated.



After a trip to Patagonia I also realized that almost all non BD athletes were climbing on homemade, strength rated tethers. Hmmm…



The first time I saw a Black Diamond tether come unclipped was my buddy Ryan Stefiuk’s on the classic cannon climb *Omega.* It wasn’t good timing—warm temperatures, ice coming down on a heady lead—not when you want a gear malfunction. Since then I have witnessed several BD tethers come unclipped on people’s Black Diamond ice tools. SO: a product that comes unclipped, isn’t strength rated (if you fall onto your tethers, they’ll probably break), and is 50 dollars retail? The thought of those little carabiners snapping was nestling deeper and deeper into my subconscious.








Soloing Polar Circus with BD tethers. 3 or 4 years ago now?






There is a massive difference between the demands of hard climbing and the demands of the casual user. Most people with disposable incomes are the latter, and oftentimes climbers have to finagle their own solutions to problems. I made my own tethers using strength rated webbing and Metolius mini-biners. No gimmicks, such as swivels, (which some people buy at the hardwear store), to get in the way. Alpine gear should always be absolutely necessary or have a dual purpose: I can clip my homemades in as daisy chains for rappelling, leave the mini ‘biners and cut up the webbing for bail cord if I have to. Another advantage. I made mine a little longer than arm-length to accomadate for twisting around on pitches. A good idea.








Soloing the mixed finish to Fafnir with a homemade tether attached toa modified Nomic. Great mod, BTW.




This season I’ve climbed almost exclusively on my homemade tethers. I’ve noticed that the swivel doesn’t make enough of a difference for me to miss it. Let’s face it: gear and ropes can and will get tangled in both. Ideally this doesn’t happen and takes some getting used to. On 1-3 pitch ice climbs, sport mixed climbing, and the like, I don’t usually climb with tethers at all. Most of this climbing is done where a screw can be put in at any time, I can rappel, or the terrain is rocky enough that having tools is almost superfluous. Soloing, alpine climbing, and on mulitpitch mixed route, my tools are clipped in, strength-rated, all the time.








Probable 2nd or 3rd ascent of "fat of the land" in Newfoundland withtethers. Ripped off of Ryan Stefiuk's blog:)




http://bigfootmountainguides.com/.








Many friends here in New England putting up new routes always scoffed at my setup when I took them out on Cannon cliff or somewhere but I’ve noticed that more and more, tethers are being used by one time cynics on roped terrain.



The last time I used my BD tethers was on an attempt at the Girdle Traverse of Cannon Cliff. I figured the swivel might help with all the sideways climbing, but found no advantages once the rope got caught in between the swivels. That week, I sold them. Do yourselves a favor and don’t get caught up in marketing hype. Making your own pair or getting a simple, strong pair like the Blue Ice boa is the way to go. That extra margin of safety can make all the difference. Climbers should always be wary of too many moving parts anyhow."



Editor's Note:

I've written several times here about the issues with umbilicals and there use,

More here from previous content but a Google search of Cold Thistle will give you even more..



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//01/ice-tool-umbilicals-repost.html








The simple umbilicals I use in the alpine


Beware here! Any umbilical set up you make is not going to be strong enough to take a fall on and not fail. None of the commercial ones will take a a full weight fall and nothing you will make with climbing webbing will either. You might geta tiny bt stronger than the commercial set ups but the margin for error here is slim to none! DO NOT RELY ON UMBILCALS TO SAVE YOU IN A FALL.



Read Black Diamond's warnings here and pay attention.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//04/bd-testswarning-on-umbilicals.html

The Mystique of 'Ride Quality'

When describing what we like or dislike about riding a particular bike, we speak of that bicycle's "ride quality". But what exactly is that? In simple terms, it's how a bicycle feels to ride. Is it comfortable? how does it feel over bumps? how does it accelerate? how does it behave when turning corners? how does it feel when loaded? At least to some extent, all of the descriptions we provide under the umbrella of "ride quality" are subjective. And although there are objective, technical factors underlying the subjective experiences, the relationship between these factors is so complex and so sensitive to even the most minuscule variations, that translating sensations into explanations can be tricky.



This is especially true of my Royal H. mixte. Its ride quality intrigues me, because it is like nothing I have experienced before. For one thing, the frame feels oddly soft and springy. Some may suggest it's the tires, but no - the sensation is from the actual metal. It's like riding a bike carved out of a cloud, and the feeling is the exact opposite of the vintage Motobecane I used to own - whose frame felt "painful" and "hard". The other mysterious aspect of the Royal H., is the extent to which it likes to keep its line of travel. You can launch this bicycle across a room without a rider, and it will go straight. When I turn a corner, it goes at the exact trajectory I want it to go. I have never experienced anything quite like it. I know that Bryan (the framebuilder behind Royal H.) chose a delightfully eccentric combination of tubing specifically to combat the discomfort issues I was having with my vintage mixte, and that he built the bicycle with neutral trail so that it would feel stable. But is it really as simple as that? I have ridden other bicycles with good tubing and neutral trail, and they did not handle quite like this. So I prefer to attribute it to magic.



Being an annoying academic by training, I like to analyse everything until I understand it. But sometimes the things we feel are beyond the sum of their parts - things like love, happiness, ennui, longing ...and ride quality.

Tree

The windswept tree from a different angle.

Wordless Wednesday :: Once Upon a Time

a few years ago...

Elk Creek Falls

Okay, I'm kind of working backwards a bit here through our trip out west. This waterfall was one of the first beautiful places we visited on our recent trip. It is located not far from the Canadian border in northeast Washington, in Colville National Forest. A beautiful, heavily forested 2-mile hike led us to this surprising gem of a waterfall tucked into the hillside. This is just one of many waterfalls in the area, I can't wait to go back and find more!

Cancer, Climbing and Endurance Sports.

Bald as a cue ball but thrilled @ my first day out in the mtns last spring






Cancer is a discussion I would have avoided like the plague a year ago. Even with family members dying from it I was intentionally in denial when the subject came up. Just didn't want to go there for any reason.



When I was diagnosed the two things that scared me the most were...how I was going to get through the treatment and how I would rebuild after the treatment. Yep, admittedly, it became all about me from day one.



From day one my Doctors told me that I would loose 25% of my body mass in 7 weeks. Once I got my head around that number and figured out just what it would mean I was worried. And they were spot on at the end result. The current crop of oncologists know how to kill cancer. Keeping the patient alive while still being able to enjoy life after the "CURE" is the real issue after the fact is my thought, then and now. That at least from my admittedly limited experience. They (the Docs) have little clue on how to deal with the aftermath. On the recovery end of things I am healthy now in spite of my Oncology staff not because of them.



I am alive today, but without treatment, last year's prognosis was I would be dead by now. I had asked....back in Sept of '11.



As I always say...what works for me may not work for you.



So I am using this forum and the traffic generated here to make Internet searches easier for those like myself that were/are looking for a info about treatment and the aftermath experience of "Cancer, Climbing and Endurance Sports." Not that I am an expert on any of that. But *ANY* info is hard to find. Good info from those that have BTDT even harder if my experience is any example.



I know several guys with a wealth of experience in training all sorts of athletes, endurance athletes in particular. Some with world wide reputations doing so. To my surprise none of them had any worth while experience with cancer or cancer patients. Every CANCER is different as is every treatment protocol. So it is no wonder they came up empty handed.



There are several million women who have benefited from the Danskin Series.



http://www.xxtramile.com/charitable.html



More yet from Livestrong both men and women.



http://www.livestrong.org/Get-Help



I looked at both. And my wife and I spent hours on the Internet looking for useful info and talking with sources that many sent me too. (Thanks Brian ;-) The biggest help by far? My nursing staff. Makesure you ask yours the questions that are nagging you.



This week as I was doing my 2nd PET scan another climber and cancer survivor (Rusty) sent me an email. Both of those events made me rethink writing more onhttp://enhancenotdefine.blogspot.com/



http://enhancenotdefine.blogspot.com/




That blog is now an open forum, anyone can post or ask questions. There are no filters.



It is a bit of a mess at the moment but I will start adding climbing and endurance sport related comments as I have time. Guest blogs from those that have BTDT are welcome! I am hoping it will become a good resource so no one has to go through the same dark tunnel I did.

Riding a Coaster Brake-Only Bike

I like coaster brakes on city bikes and I am very comfortable using them. My preferred transportation bike set-up is to have a coaster brake in the rear and a hand-operated hub or rim brake in the front. Typically I use just the coaster brake most of the time, employing the hand-operated front brake to keep the bike still when coming to a complete stop or to supplement the coaster when braking at high speeds. The role my front brake plays in these scenarios is small, but crucial - which I realise more than ever when riding the coaster brake-only Sogreni I picked up last week.





Slowing down on the coaster brake-only bike is exactly the same as on my own bikes - I'd be using the coaster brake alone for this anyhow. But coming to a complete stop and keeping the bike still when stopped is trickier without a front brake. The main thing I've had to learn is not to ease up on the coaster brake when stopping as I normally do, but to continue pushing back on the pedal with the right foot firmly even as I put the left toe down at a stop. If I ease up the pressure on the right pedal, the bike will keep rolling forward. Coming to a complete stop on a downhill is trickier still, because the bike really, really wants to roll forward and my right foot has to push back with all the force I can muster. Squeezing a front lever is much easier in this context.






Stop-and-go traffic presents its own challenge, because a coaster brake can only be engaged effectively from certain crank positions. There is also the transition from having the right crank in the optimal braking position (previous 2 pictures) to having it in the starting position. To transition to the starting position from the braking position, I quickly hook my right foot under the pedal and move it forward as I push off to get started. But once the pedal is in the starting position, what if I then have to immediately stop again? Inching forward in traffic is tricky, because it is difficult to keep the pedals in a position where I can both stop and get the bike started again with equal immediacy.



Finally, there is the question of speed. When going over 13mph or so, I find that I cannot brake as well as I'd like with just the coaster brake alone. The coaster brake is enough to slow down, but for an emergency stop at that speed I need a front brake to supplement.






Riding a coaster brake-only bike is certainly possible, but in a city like Boston I feel that it is safer to also have a front hand-operated brake. The motivation behind bikes without front brakes today seems to be the "clean handlebars" look, which has always baffled me. I fail to see what is so gorgeous about not having a brake lever on my handlebars, when that brake performs an obvious and necessary function.

Halloween Garden Update

Northern California is finally easing out of the warm summer weather. Rain will be falling for the next several days, but the garden continues to grow. Heck, even roses are blooming!

The sweet basil is still going strong:






















Roses are going through a second bloom period.






















'Paris Market Mix' mesclun from Renee's Garden. The plants are really growing quickly in their cage!

Bad Hair Pony

Stormy was having a bad hair day. I hadn't groomed him for a few days and he had been rolling in the dirt.

Deer

We saw 2 little skinny deer in the mountains. They were small and looked to be fawns that had lost their spots or else last years fawns. They were the most skinny deer I have ever seen up there. You could count their ribs. We didn't understand that as their seemed to be plenty of grass for them to eat and they were grazing as we watched them. I do hope the little things manage to put on some weight so they can survive the winter. Also hope they learn to be more afraid of people as hunting season will be here soon, although it is illegal to shoot a deer up here that doesn't have antlers, and these two didn't.

Some Hopeful Non-Resolutions

I don't know about you, but New Year's resolutions never seem to work for me - my resolve melting away with winter's first snowman. So doing away with the futile ardor of determination, I instead put forth some hopes for this brand-new year:



In I hope to...

. learn to mount and dismount a bicycle "properly",

.complete my first "century" (100 mile) ride,

. go on my first multi-day trip by bike,

. cycle in Ireland (where I am likely to be in March),

. finally stage some bicycle photoshoots in our studio,

. finish and give away (yes, give away!) my "roadbike for ladies",

. do a good job on myBella Ciaoproject,

. have a chance to work on other interesting projects, and

. continue Lovely Bicycle on a close-to daily basis - rain or shine!



Of course, that's only the bicycle stuff, and there are many personal hopes as well. But somehow the bike stuff is easier to focus on - maybe because it is so specific, and at the same time, relatively detached from the stresses of "real life". It is funny that several readers have told me now, that they get the impression I am an organised person from reading the blog. In reality, my world is almost comically disorganised and chaotic. So perhapsLovely Bicycle is my "wishful thinking" manifestation of how I'd like things to be. Is it time to get my life in order and really focus, as I am able to focus here? Maybe. Or at least something worth considering.What about you and your hopes - or, dare I say, resolutions - for ?

Morning Beach Walk

If I actually manage to get back to regular blogging, it will most likely seem very boring and monotonous. Because I imagine it will begin to look the same each time I do. Here is our morning beach walk, at 6:15 am. Compliments of God and Ava.

We did manage to leave the beach for a short while today. To go and buy beach chairs, sunblock and sunhats. We joked that it was our entire entertainment for the summer. That's not entirely true since I will also hoop, read and scrap. At the beach. While using the beach chairs, sunblock and sunhats.



Ok, so we might also need the sun umbrellas that we have been dragging around for three years and only used once up till now. What can I say, we were hopeful this time would come where we'd need them every single day. And now that time is here!



Living the life at the beach!

Wordless Wednesday :: Sebastian Inlet

Sunset from the Bridge. Sebastian Inlet. December 9, .. 5:09 pm

Sunset from the Bridge. Sebastian Inlet. December 9, .. 5:21 pm
(The Zoom was at it's full 7x capability)

Finally~The Lions, Tigers and Bear

Finally, some pictures of the stars of the show-the lions, tigers and bear. Oh, and panthers. Words can't really ever truly give these majestic animals due justice. So I'll let the pictures do the talking.





The lions. A male and female.









The tigers. There are four here. Two of them, Samson and Delilah, are siblings and are 20 month old toddlers.











Beautiful. Just beautiful! Well worth the wait, right? If you are in the area, go and visit them. They are even better in person.