~ Race Report: Bogus Basin Hillclimb ~

This past weekend, Josh and I participated in the annual Bogus Basin Hillclimb road bike race, both finishing mid-pack for our respective age and gender groupings.

While there may be nothing particularly glorious in finishing mid-pack, personally I was delighted with my performance, what with shaving off ten minutes from my best time of previously riding the course. In addition, as I am not a serious racer, but rather a serious enjoyer of the cycling, my approach to this race was casual. My goal for the race was primarily to have fun and secondarily to ride as strong and with good strategy as I could.

Leading up to the race, Josh and I only realized a few days in advance that the event was scheduled for this past Saturday. I had sorta been contemplating racing, but I had neither taken the time to find out when it was to occur, nor engaged in 'training'. With a few days lead time before the race, I decided it wasn't going to benefit me by starting up a training program (particularly, because for two days before the race, I had to go out of town for a work thing). Fortunately, my cycling has been very consistent these days. I have been trying to ride my bike on most days and I go to spinning class at the gym several times a week (where I do very strenuous intervals). Essentially, while I am not in racing form, I am in good 'seriously enjoying the cycling' form.

On the morning of the race, Josh and I got up early enough to go to the coffee shop and enjoy a coffee and morning treat. We then moseyed over to the race zone to pick up our ankle timer dealies, and then casually warmed up by riding around the neighborhoods. We also made certain to use the restroom prior to the start. Everyone else made sure to also use the restroom, so we stood in line for several minutes. While waiting, I enjoyed looking around at everyone and joking with Josh. I noted that most everyone appeared professionally dressed, wearing their most expensive gear, whereas I was wearing an old jersey that I selected primarily for comfort and my seriously ratty and torn up cycling shoes. Even Josh, for example, was wearing a pair of brand spankin' new S-Works shoes that must have cost half a fortune. Cycling gear aside, I was looking amazing, wearing my favorite earrings and a lovely shade of eye makeup.

As we lined up for the start of the race, I was all smiles with excitement! Then the race began and everyone became focused on jockeying for position. Considering that (1) this was my first road bike race ever, and (2) that I don't have much experience riding among a lot of other people, I started the race with insufficient assertiveness to get into a good position for advancing quickly. Instead, I got stuck amid a group of riders going at a much slower pace than I was ready to go. By the time that I wiggled my way free, the faster racers were well up the road. As I left the slower riders behind and tried to catch up with the faster riders, a big gap opened up between me and everyone else. For approximately the next 12 miles, I rode pretty much all by my lonesome, with no one off whom to draft. I always kept a close eye on the rider in front of me, usually spotting them well up the road, and felt continuously motivated to try to catch and pass the rider. This proved to be sufficient motivation and provided me with adequate adrenaline that I was able to catch and pass a lot of riders.

I will write that Josh's race experience was significantly different than mine. As he has considerable race experience, he was sufficiently assertive at the start to get out of the maze of riders and found a team of racers to ride with. He spent most of the race with them, and they all drafted off of each other and were able to maintain an awesome pace.

Despite riding most of the race alone, I had a wonderful time. I was feeling particularly strong and spunky, and I had put together a brand new music playlist that I was really enjoying. There were several times when I actually caught myself humming along to my tunes, existing in a musical euphoria.

The last several miles of the race were fairly eventful for me. It was at this point that I had advanced sufficiently that I was actually among other riders, which made my excitement and energy for the race increase. When I first found myself among other riders was, fortunately for them and unfortunately for me, when I was about to blow a big snot rocket. On bike rides, I tend to get a lot of mucous buildup and have only recently embraced the snot rocket, or farmer blow, rather than using tissues. This is sort of off topic, obviously, but the fact that I can blow a snot rocket while still riding my bike, coupled with the fact that I don't have to carry around snot-filled tissue paper for the duration of my ride, has convinced me of the utility of this mode of mucous management. I am, however, extremely conscientious about the circumstances under which I blow my snot rockets. I ensure that I do not hit anyone with my snot rocket and I also prefer for no one to see me blow a snot rocket. While riding with Josh, for example, I usually wait until he is in front of me, or I inform him of my plan and instruct him to back off and look away.

So anyway, there I was, racing along, when I decided to attempt a snot rocket. In compliance with Step One of snot rocketting, I looked around me to make sure I was not going to hit anyone. To my utter surprise, I discovered that there was a man drafting off of me! How long he had been there, I was unsure; how long he would remain there, I was also unsure. In any event, clearly I would not be blowing a snot rocket at that moment.

In hindsight, I believe that I may have been enjoying my musical playlist so much that I temporarily became unaware of riders behind me. Once I realized that someone was drafting off of me, I realized that there were more people around me than I had quite acknowledged. At this point in the course, I was well in the treeline and the road curves around so that I was not able to see riders very far ahead of me. With the man drafting off of me, I rode around a corner and saw another rider ahead of me, and my competitive instinct kicked into high gear as I began my 'silent attack' to catch and pass the mofo. Said "mofo", I realized upon my approach, was a boy of about 12 who I had seen earlier with his father while standing in line to use the restroom. The child was going at a good pace and seemed to be putting in a huge effort. (Note, in looking at the results, I have determined that this boy placed 17th in the 18 and under category, coming in a few seconds after me; and that his father placed 28th in the 50-59 category, coming in a few minutes after Josh). Based on that previous sentence, you may assume that I was able to catch and pass the boy, but not without considerable effort on my part, and with no assistance from the man (who I shall call Ronald) who continued to draft off me.

Exerting so much effort to pass a pre-pubescent boy had a somewhat deteriorating effect on my confidence and, once I passed him, felt mentally and physically exhausted. Sensing a drain on my energy, Ronald behind me moved up in front and allowed me to draft off of him. As he rode by, he complimented me on my pace and I made a sarcastic remark about how I left the kid in the dust. I drafted off him for several minutes until we came to the portion of the course just before where it levels off. My anticipation for the level portion right before the finishline had been growing and I was very excited about sprinting to the finish, particularly because at this point, Ronald and I had caught up to several other riders. One rider, I will call Ralph, made a hastily executed dash to create a gap between himself and everyone else... which might have been a nice strategy if he had waited a bit longer before executing his dash. Because of Ralph's timing for his dash, rather than creating a gap and dashing well ahead of anyone, he merely created a good opportunity for all of us to draft off of him and save our energy for the final sprint. Having watched countless hours of Tour de France footage with Josh, and listening to the commentary about riders' strategy, I felt that I had a good plan for my final pedal strokes to the finish.

After drafting off Ralph and really saving the energy in our legs, Ronald and I broke away from Ralph during the final few turns in the course and sprinted ahead. I tried so hard to stay on Ronald's wheel, knowing that he'd probably be a faster sprinter than I, and just as I was starting to lose him, we came around the corner of the finish line and I saw Josh standing there, and was so excited! I finished in an hour and 27 minutes, shaving ten minutes off of my best time, and had an incredible amount of fun. Josh finished in an hour and eight minutes and likewise felt good about his time. Ralph finished a few seconds behind me, followed by the boy. Once I fully came through the finish line, Ronald gave me a high five and told Josh that I had 'carried' him up the mountain. Josh and I lingered at the top for a few minutes, waiting to see some of the preliminary results come in, before riding down the mountain and back to home. Josh and I have agreed that it would be interesting to see how we might do in a race for which we actually trained...

Click here for my Garmin stats.
Click here to view the official Race Results.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Kalimotxo ~

Today, I am delighted to show off my most recently completed design, the Kalimotxo Tee. This is a summer tee worked seamlessly from the bottom-up, with raglan sleeve and neck shaping. Stripes are joined to a seed stitch front band using intarsia, which facilitates both the seamless construction and the prevention of jogs. There is a slight ‘poof’ worked into the sleeves for added interest. The pattern includes instructions for two lengths; a shorter version cropped at the high hip and a longer version that extends to the hip. The following photographs show the tee in size x-small. The first photo below shows the longer length and the second photo shows the cropped length.

As for the name, a kalimotxo is an adult beverage consisting of about half red wine and half cola. Considering that this tee uses approximately equal amounts of yarn in two colors, I wanted the name of the pattern to reflect that. In addition, the kalimotxo (adult beverage version) is a beverage that I associate with warm weather; and the kalimotxo tee is a warm weather tee. The adult beverage version of the kalimotxo is enjoyed around the world, known by a variety of names... however, one might be surprised to learn that one place in which it is popular is Boise, Idaho. One Ravelry user from Spain sent me a personal email message inquiring how I, a Boise Idahoan, would have ever heard of the kalimotxo. I explained to her that Boise has a significant Basque population, including a Basque district in our downtown, and she found that very interesting.

This pattern has been through a complete round of test knitting for each size and reviewed by a professional tech editor. During my adventures in designing, I have discovered that knitters are a wonderfully diverse group; and instructions that make perfect sense to some knitters might be confusing to others. I have attempted to make this pattern as clear as possible, and my test knitters (coming from multiple countries, with a variety of personality/thinking styles, and knitting experience) were invaluable to me in this process. I have decided that part of my commitment to offering patterns includes offering pattern support. I welcome anyone to email me with questions and I will do my best to help in a timely manner.

Pattern: Kalimotxo (ravelry link)

Difficulty Level: Intermediate (pattern uses increases, decreases, and intarsia).

Materials Needed

Yarn: Use a light worsted/DK weight cotton, linen, or bamboo yarn, in two colors. Yarn used for tee pictured is Filatura Di Crosa Lovely Jeans (100% cotton, 93 yards per skein).

For cropped version:
~ 360 {418, 478, 536, 596, 664} yards for Main Color
~ 256 {300, 342, 384, 426, 476} for Contrasting Color

For longer version:
~ 460 {538, 614, 690, 766, 854} yards for Main Color
~ 358 {418, 478, 536, 596, 664} yards for Contrasting Color

Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm, 24” circular and set of double pointed needles, or size to achieve gauge

Gauge: 20 stitches by 28 rows in stockinette stitch = 4” x 4”

Notions: stitch markers (9 total), stitch holders (4 total), tapestry needle

Finished Measurements
Bust/Hip Circumference: 30” {34”, 38”, 42”, 46”, 50”}

Length from Underarm to Hip:
~ Cropped Version: 12.5”
~ Longer Version: 15.5”

Top Arm Circumference: 11” {12”, 13”, 14”, 16”, 18”}

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ McCall mountain cycling adventures ~

I am unforgivably behind on updating my blog. This post is in regards to a mountain biking adventure that Josh and I had two weekends ago in the McCall area. As the adventure is no longer fresh in my memory, this post will be significantly less verbose than is my norm.

The first portion of our mountain cycling adventure was to ride the Loon Lake Trail. Almost four years and one month ago, we rode Loon Lake as a loop and it has stuck with me as a trail that I wanted to ride again... except to ride it as an out-and-back because, well, the second part of the loop is not for me....

The Loon Lake out-and-back was AWESOME! and really a lot of fun. Mountain biking on actual mountains, through actual forests, is a wonderful experience. What is more, ever since Elizabeth and I rode in Sun Valley, I have noticed a significant improvement in my mountain cycling skills. Something about getting out of my normal element has become the tipping point for finally moving up a skill level. Particularly on the descents, my riding is more smooth and flow-y and I have more confidence riding over more challenging technical terrain.

Click on the below ride summary to see the details.

After the bike ride, Josh and I cleaned up and then ate dinner at a Mexican Restaurant (yum!) before going on a romantic walk along the lakeshore. We walked to a park as the sun set and laid on the grass, looking for the first stars to shine in the night sky.

The next day, we went to a local bike shop and got some advice about where to enjoy our next mountain cycling adventure. The LBS attendant directed us towards the Brundage ski resort, which was an option we had earlier considered and rejected, but with the recommendation decided to check it out. We started at one of the Bear Basin trailheads and meandered around. For the most part, this mountain cycling adventure was awesome. Not AS AWESOME as the Loon Lake ride, but sufficiently awesome for me to have a huge smile on my face for most of the ride and to frequently call out "WHEE!" If I recall correctly, my two favorite trails were Grand Traverse (which featured these super fun slalom burm/switchback thingies) and West Face.

Click on the below ride summary to see the details.

After this ride, we went to Ponderosa State Park and donned our swimsuits for some fun at the beach. We built, and then crushed, a sandcastle. I did a thorough beach-sand exfoliation, which felt really good. And then we relaxed in the shade, each reading a book. After a few hours at the beach, we drove the 'scenic driving tour' and went up to the lookout, before going back into town for some WONDERFUL sushi at a local sushi bar.

Over sushi, we compared and contrasted the mountain biking in McCall and Sun Valley, and concurred that, although we had had a fantastic time mountain biking in McCall, Sun Valley is better.

More photos on my photoset

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ YO YO Stripes ~

Finally, actual knitting content!

Pattern: YO YO Stripes (click for free download)
Yarn:: stashed mohair
Needles:: US 7
Ravelry Link

Despite the lack of fiber-related content on this blog, I have actually been doing a lot of knitting. And speaking of my original patterns, tomorrow I hope to share a pattern that has been through test knitting and tech editing... and survived. The test knitting and tech editing processes I found rewarding in the sense that they exercised my ability to problem solve, organize data (both qualitative and quantitative), negotiate differences, and continually strive for writing clarity. I also found them to be humbling, and opportunities for my introverted self to "really put herself out there."

I would not say that the experience was stressful, but as the previous sentence suggests, it was a little intimidating. As a result, this week I decided to knit something easy and that required no mental expenditure.

The yarns that I used for this shawl were the remnants from two different mohairs that I acquired almost five years ago to make some scarves. These remants have sat at the back of my stash for almost five years (gathering metaphorical dust). A few days ago, I decided to use them together to make a modified version of the YO YO stripes pattern, as a stashdown project.

Because I did not have sufficient yarn to make a full version of the shawl, I modified it have a more gradual edge (thereby making it longer and shallower), as follows:
- worked in pattern until shawl measured 8” deep
- after that, on every WS row I would knit to 3 sts before marker, k2tog, k1, slip marker, k1, ssk, and knit to end

I used up every last scrap of yarn for this project, barely having enough with which to bind off. As a stashdown project, this was particularly satisfying. It was also satisfying making stripes that are not at all symmetrical.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Three Summit Challenge ~

Saturday was the Three Summit Challenge bike event near Cascade, Idaho. As I wrote in my previous entry, Elizabeth and I decided to start with the long distance riders and to challenge ourselves to see how far we could ride. Having done no training for the longer distance, Elizabeth having only gotten her road bike two weeks prior, and me having ridden hardly at all (due to the heat and horrible seasonal allergies), we had no clue how we would fare in what was advertised to be a ride of 65 miles and almost 6,000 feet of climbing.

According to the schedule, the ride was to start at 8:00 that morning. Unfortunately for Elizabeth and myself, mornings do not always go according to plan and we did not arrive at the start venue until 8:10, by which time everyone had departed approximately 10 minutes prior. Being somewhat significantly behind the group, Elizabeth and I raced to catch up with everyone, at some point drafting off a group of three big dudes who seemed to also be late and also trying to catch up with the pack. Little by little, we caught up with everyone and began to quickly pass lots and lots of people, partly a result of drafting off the strong dudes and partly a result of our own awesomeness.

By the time that we felt sufficiently caught up with the middle of the pack and slowed down to a more manageable pace, I had not even put on my cycling gloves. I had been holding them precariously in one hand during the entire 'catch up' portion of the morning. Relaxing some, I put on my cycling gloves and noted that the temperature, which felt completely freezing on my bare skin when we had left the motel, now felt extremely pleasant. Myself, I was wearing a sleeveless jersey and I noticed that a lot of people were wearing arm warmers or jackets. I then pondered how most everyone seemed a little more prepared for this event than I... (though, having just raced hard to catch up with everyone, I felt little need for arm warmers or a jacket.... unfortunately, a little while later I would lament my lack of extra layers).

The below photo is Elizabeth sometime during this first climb.

The 17 mile climb to the top of the first summit was incredibly pleasant and fun. Elizabeth and I had managed to insert ourselves in a large gathering of riders who would toggle for position. I would identify certain riders, mainly by their jersey or something quirky about them, and would keep my eye out for them for the duration of the ride. For example, there was a guy wearing a funny Cat in the Hat jersey, another wearing a New Belgium brewery jersey, and a guy wearing a distinctive all white kit, and we rotated positions throughout the event and even exchanged a few words.

When we arrived at the food station at the top of the summit, Elizabeth and I felt great and had no doubt about continuing further. At the food station, I had half a banana and some electrolyte drink. I also used the restroom and relieved myself of approximately four pints of fluid.

Then we continued on.

As a sidenote, I should mention that I have many strengths, but understanding the elements of topography is not among them. When I recounted this story to Josh, he had great difficulty understanding what I am about to articulate (as, he had no idea that I really am a topographical ignoramus). This "three summit challenge" was an event that I understood to have three summits. Me, without looking at a map or doing any research at all, I assumed that the event topography would look something like the following drawing, which I have expertly composed in Paint.

As you can see, one starts off on the right and goes up one "summit", then up another "summit", and finally up a third "summit". During the course of the conversation in which I was trying to explain to Josh what I had expected the ride to be like, I realized that I could not explain this without a visual aide. And so I composed the above artwork to truly enhance the telling of this story. Last night, I showed off my artwork to Josh and he had two things to say about it. First, he said that it was backwards. Second, he said that I had drawn a "three plateau" ride. So now it all comes out.... I apparently do not know what a 'summit' is. Topographical ignoramus.

An important point about my assumption regarding what the topography would be on the ride, however, is that I thought we would be climbing up and up and up, and then descending all the way down. I thus convinced Elizabeth that we really ONLY had to climb a little over 30 miles and then we would be able to relax for the whole rest of the way.

For a more accurate representation of the route's topography, I submit to you the elevation graph from my Garmin cyclecomputer.

You'll note that it is quite a bit different and that it does not afford the 30 miles of relaxing downhill that I was assuming when I dragged us into the ride. ...heh, heh.

So, as I'm sure you have gathered by studying the above elevation graph, after we departed the food station at the top of the first summit (by the way, since I am a topographical ignoramus, I'm not sure if the phrase "top of the summit" is redundant) we rode around a corner and instantly went down down down. I had so much fun descending that it didn't really occur to me that I would have to later ride up up up. Also, earlier in this post I wrote that I would at some point lament that I had not come prepared with warm layers on this ride. During this fast descent (where my cyclecomputer registered the temperature at 52 degrees), I was FREEZING.

Also, by studying the elevation graph, you will note that after the first descent there is a fairly easy section before the second summit. It was during this section that I snapped the following photo.... little did I know that I was admiring the agonizing second summit.

After riding at a fast, fun, and fairly easy pace for several miles, I began the climb up the second summit. At first it was okay and I felt strong. But then my cyclecomputer started registering 10-12% grades and my legs were hurting as I struggled to keep up the power. At some point, I lost the will to live and just kept the pedals turning over so that I could eventually get to the top of the summit, where I expected another food station. Those food stations were an effective motivator. The below photo is one I took when I stopped on the way back down. It shows the switchbacks and the grueling elevation of the second summit.

Elizabeth and I did make it to the top of the second summit and spent some time at the food station. I had another half a banana, two Oreo cookies and some electrolyte drink. And again, I used the restroom and eliminated another four pints of fluid from my system.

We lingered at the food station for a while before beginning the descent back down. The energy among everyone at this food station, having climbed to this summit, was amazing. Everyone was so excited and having so much fun!

The descent was spectacular, both in terms of scenery and also in terms of fun. It was at this point that I hit my max speed (39.4 mph) and I could have gone even faster if there hadn't been a headwind.

Ahh... the headwind. It had not occurred to me that perhaps one reason for my feeling so good on the way out was the tailwind. The top of the second summit was essentially the halfway point, as we were to turn around and descend the summit we had just ascended and then climb that first fun descent. At the halfway point, I was tired, my legs hurt, and my sit area was saddle sore. After the fun descent down the second summit, the distance back to the first summit seemed to have gotten considerably longer and harder, and the headwind made it seem particularly difficult. As we climbed the final summit, the road up seemed to never end. I watched the mileage on my cyclecomputer relentlessly, calculating how much further we had to go until the top.

Finally, we arrived at the top and the joy I felt at my physical accomplishment was comparable to my desire to be done wtih the ride. At this point, it was mainly my sit area that really, did not want to sit on a saddle any more. We descended the final portion of the ride into a headwind which limited our speed and then the final ten miles of almost straightaway (into the headwind) was ironically cruel; it should have been so easy yet it was so difficult.

At last! We completed the ride and enjoyed the post-ride BBQ. I do not recall a time when food tasted so good. And this was wonderful food! I also enjoyed a few beers from a local brewery. The food also seemed to instantly absorb into my system. In reflecting back on my food intake during the ride, I realize that I did not eat very much - - I had lots of the electrolyte drink, two halves of a banana, a few Oreo cookies, and two energy gels. While I did not feel at all bonky or low-blood sugar on the ride, my body appreciated this consumption of food a great deal.

Ride Summary:
Distance: 67.82 miles
Elevation Gained: 5,689 feet
Moving Time: 4 hours 48 minutes
Average Moving Speed: 14.2 mph
Max Speed: 39.4 mph

Click on the below ride summary to view the details.

More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Cascade / McCall road riding adventure ~

This past weekend, Elizabeth and I went to Cascade/McCall for some road riding. It was this weekend that we participated in the "Three Summit Challenge" road bike 'gran fondo' or cyclosportive (as they say in France), which I will write ALL ABOUT in my next post. For this post, I wanted to articulate somthing about how excited I am to do some road bicycling in the Cascade/McCall area.

Elizabeth and I drove up to Cascade on Friday afternoon and checked into our illustrious motel, for $68 a night. We relaxed and wandered around for a bit before going on a road ride in McCall.

I proposed that we ride up Warren Wagon Road, which is a stretch of smooth asphalt that I have often thought would be ideal for a road ride. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera along on the ride and was unable to take photos of the beautiful scenery. The road was mostly shaded by evergreen trees and was parallel to Payette Lake for a long while.

It was, quite simply, a fun and relaxing ride. We focused on spinning our legs and trying to get them warmed up for the next day's ride.

After the ride, we went into McCall and ate dinner (of shredded beef mole enchiladas) at a Mexican restaurant. It was so delicious and satisfying!

While making our way back to the motel, we stopped by the gas station and picked up some beer and then tried to go on a little evening walk before bed. Unfortunately, near our motel, there seemed to be no good place to walk. We strolled around the few blocks of the RV park next to our motel and then crossed the highway to walk up what appeared to be a promising road for a walk. Then an unpleasant smell overtook us and we realized we were walking to the sanitary landfill, so we turned around and were attacked by (as Elizabeth repeatedly phrased it) "bird sized mosquitoes"!!!

We finally made it back to our modest motel room and sat outside of our door drinking beer and chatting. One of the main topics of conversation was the next day's biking event. Earlier that day, we had picked up our event packet and asked the volunteers how many people were signed up for the event - - to which they replied "about 400". We also learned that most everyone had registered for the longest distance, the three summits.

For some backstory.... Elizabeth and I registered for the bike event months ago, before Elizabeth even had a road bike. We decided to do this event because it sounded fun (and because there was going to be a BBQ and beer-garden after the ride). Since she didn't have a road bike, we agreed to ride it on our mountain bikes and it seemed only 'logical' to do the shortest distance (35 miles) because it would take forever to ride on mountain bikes. HOWEVER, two weeks ago, Elizabeth purchased a road bike and the plan of riding our mountain bikes became null and void.

It was when we picked up our packets and learned that most everyone had registered for the three summits that we began to consider riding the full distance. (As a sidenote, the registration fee for each distance was the same - - so we would not have been being unethical by registering for the shortest distance and then riding the longest distance). We also asked if it would be okay if we showed up to ride with the long distance riders even though we registered for the shortest distance, and they said that would be just fine.

... And so, the seed was planted and we began to consider the challenge of riding all three summits, which was advertised to be about 65 miles and almost 6,000 feet of climbing. Neither of us had done any training for such an effort, but we decided to give it a try and see how well we would be able to do.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Sun Valley mountain biking ~

Two weekends ago, Elizabeth and I did a two day mountain biking adventure in Sun Valley. Then last weekend, Josh and I likewise did a two day mountain biking adventure in Sun Valley.

Let me just sum up what I think about mountain biking in Sun Valley in two words: "It's awesome!"

First, I would like to write all about my adventure with Elizabeth...

Elizabeth and I did a Sunday / Monday adventure. Having never ever biked in the Sun Valley area before, I checked out a guidebook from the library on area trails. From an analysis of the guide, I decided that our first ride in the Sun Valley area would be Trail Creek/Corrals Creek. Unfortunately, I did not realize until we were attempting to locate the trailhead that the guidebook I had checked out from the library is eleven years out of date. So out of date that the trailheads have actually changed. After driving around and around for a time, I finally parked at some place where it seemed other outdoor recreators had parked and I asked a seemingly-friendly hiker how I might access the trail. She seemed really weirded out by my question and could not provide me with helpful information. As I was taking the bikes off of the car rack and getting them all ready to go, I decided to ask a mountain biker who had just arrived on the scene, who appeared to be getting ready to go on a mountain bike ride in the area. He knew right away what I was asking and was able to provide me with very easy to understand directions about how to ride the trail I was aiming for. He also advised me to "stick to the higher trails" because they are the more fun ones.

And so, Elizabeth and I set off on a very fun and awesome ride up Trail Creek and Corrals Creek. This ride is definitely a great ride to do if it's your first time riding around the area. It features lovely wooded trails, fast 'sagebrush slalom' riding, and a nice mix of rollercoaster uphills and downhills. Unlike riding in Boise's foothills, this is really MOUNTAIN biking!

Click here for some ride detail. Note, this detail is actually from the ride I did on the following week with Josh, but it is the same ride.

After the ride, we went into town and had a treat at Tully's Coffee. I enjoyed a wonderful slice of blueberry pie and an iced coffee, and consulted the out of date trail guidebook to figure out where to ride next. The plan being that we would ride two different trails that day.

Based on my second analysis of the guidebook, I chose a 'ride' called Lake Creek which is a dirt road that went to a lake. I would now like to quote word-for-word from the guidebook regarding this trail...

If you're in need of a casual and fun ride to introduce yourself to Wood River mountain biking, this is a good start. Pack your fishing rod and add to the experience by enjoying a picnic at the lake.

Sounded like a good ride at the time.

Unfortunately, it totally sucked. Everything about it sucked. The road was boring, yet rough and uncomfortable to ride on, and we just kept riding and riding along this boring and stupidly difficult road. We discussed abandoning the ride, but the prospect of the lake kept us going. Plus, turning around is tantamount to defeat, and Elizabeth and I were not going to be defeated by this stupid road. Once we finally got to the lake, we found ourselves disappointed in what appeared to be nothing more than a large pond. We sat on some rocks for a while and then went to ride back, when we realized that Elizabeth had a flat tire.

At the time, this seemed great because Elizabeth needed practice fixing flat tires, having just switched away from her puncture-proof Armadillo tires. So we got comfy and Elizabeth tried to fix the flat tire. It went fine, except that neither of us could find the hole in the tube. Whatever. We gave up and decided to pump it back up and get back to the car.

So she took out one of her CO2 canisters and couldn't get it to work very well. She used it completely up and the tire was barely inflated. So, I then pulled out the pump I had mounted to my bike frame, and tried to pump the tire up. Incidentally, I had never before used this pump and I acquired it sort of by random (and for free) after SOMEONE lost my bike pump. Until the moment of trying to inflate Elizabeth's tire so that we could ride back to the car, I hadn't actually verified that the pump worked. And it didn't. And I became very frustrated. But Elizabeth had another CO2 canister and we were able to pump up the tire and go on our way.

I descended the road at a more aggressive rate than is normal for me, an effort to release the frustration that I had experience about the stupid pump. After getting back to the car, we decided to stop by one of the bike shops in town and get myself a new pump and Elizabeth some more CO2 canisters. Which is what we did. We also bought an up-to-date trail map of the area, which has proven to be extremely useful in trail navigation.

That evening, we had dinner at a place called Grumpy's, which is an affordable bar/restaurant that the not-affluent locals frequent. Elizabeth had a burger and I had a chili-dog, and we shared an order of fries. We also drank beers. And talked a lot. After leaving Grumpy's, we wandered to an equally not-affluent establishment called Lefty's and consumed some more beers. After some hours, we stumbled to the hotel and eventually went to sleep.

We started out the second day of our adventure a little later than intended, possibly a result of the quantity of beer we consumed the previous evening. We had breakfast at a coffee shop before going out on our next mountain bike adventure.

For the next adventure, I decided that we would ride the Adams Gulch Trails, which were recommended to us by the guy at the bike shop as well as a hiker on Trail Creek who I had talked to. Before leaving the hotel, we noticed that Elizabeth's bike tire was flat again. No problem! It was to be good practice for her feeling confident in fixing flat tires.

So we went to the Adams Gulch trailhead and proceeded to try and fix her flat. After an extensive search, I located the hole in the tube. We then tried to patch it. However, it was at this point I learned that the glue that comes with patch kits degrades over time. Before leaving Boise on this trip, I located three patch kits in the apartment that I share with Josh and brought them on the trip. These patch kits were quite possibly very old. Anyway, long story short, I couldn't get the glue to hold and WOW, was I ever frustrated! So, we pull out our only spare tube and forget about patching it. This was a brand spankin' new tube. And Elizabeth successfully got it inserted into the tire correctly and we go to pump it up.... and nothing. At this point, I am using the floor pump, and we're pumping and pumping, and freaking pumping until we can pump no more, and the tire will not inflate. Our frustration, however, was inflating quite effectively. I take the tube out and examine it carefully, and eventually locate a big hole near the valve. A big hole on a brand spankin' new tube! I was so fed up with all of this that I abandoned the "Hey, this is a great opportunity for Elizabeth to practice fixing a flat" positive attitude and tried my hardest to fix the flat myself with the degraded glue, all the while mumbling "Serenity now, serenity now." And the glue wouldn't do anything. Finally, in absolute frustration, I threw the flaccid tube as far as I possibly could (which was not very far, because it was just a flaccid tube) and announced that the universe did not want us to ride the Adams Gulch trails that day.

I would also like to point out that during this entire time, many many people passed by us as we struggled with the supposed-to-be simple task of fixing a flat tire, and no one asked us if we needed help or if we had everything we needed. It should have been apparent that we were extremely frustrated and did, in fact, need help, and did not, in fact, have everything we needed. Perhaps this is a Boise/Sun Valley difference - - but in Boise, if a cyclist is fiddling with his or her bike, it is standard etiquette to ask if he or she needs help or if he or she has everything that he or she needs. Granted, we could have asked one of the hundreds of mountain bikers who crossed our paths if they had a functioning patch kit or a spare tube, but the issue is really the fact that no one asked us if we needed help or if we had everything we needed. THAT is the issue.

So we got back in the car and went to a bike shop in town to get a new tube and some new patch kits. As calmly as I could, I explained to the bike shop attendant that the universe was doing everything it could to have us NOT ride the Adams Gulch trails (to which he responded with sympathy... apparently, he could sense that we had had a bad morning) and asked for an alternative trail recommendation. He directed me to a loop on the Fox Creek Trails.

The Fox Creek Trails, for me, were awesome. We started out by following the directions the bike shop attendant had provided.

At some point, I deviated from the recommended route because I was curious about another section of trail. This section proved to be much more technical than the other route, and while it was challenging for me in a good way, it was way too challenging for Elizabeth and not much fun. There becomes a point when a trail is just too technically above one's skill level to be able to enjoy the experience. Having experienced that many many times, I really knew how Elizabeth felt and I felt terrible for dragging her on the trail.

Incidentally, the below photo is me conquering the shale on Fox Creek. It was this sort of consistent technical challenge that made the trail not too fun.

Eventually, we made it back to Fox Creek and completed the loop that the bike shop attended had recommended to us. The rest of the loop was awesome and Elizabeth and I are going to return and ride that loop again. There was a section with switchbacks that brought us up to an amazing view, following by a long and flowy descent. Click here for the ride detail. Again, this detail is from the ride that I subsequently did with Josh.

After the ride, we went to Lefty's where we got some lunch before returning to Boise. I was so jazzed about the trails in Sun Valley that Josh convinced me to return this past weekend for a second adventure.

And so, this past weekend, Josh and I went on a similar mountain biking adventure in Sun Valley. Similar in that we had some awesome times, but dissimilar in that we did not have any frustrating mechanical moments.

Josh and I started out our adventure by riding the Trail Creek and Corrals Creek trails. It was awesome and we had a splendid time. Click here for the ride detail.

After that ride, I took him to Tully's where we both enjoyed a slice of blueberry pie and iced coffees.

Then I took him over to Fox Creek, where we rode the exact same route that Elizabeth and I had rode. I would like to take this moment to congratulate myself on challenging my technical comfort level. This route had some significant challenges for me, many of which I successfully rode. I felt very accomplished. Click here for the ride detail.

After that ride, we went to the accommodations in which we were staying, cleaned up, and had dinner at Lefty's. There was a folksy band playing, and we sat there, drinking beers, for a good time. Then I took Josh over to Grumpy's where we enjoyed some beers and talked. And then, feeling the need for yet more beer, we went to Whiskey Jacques (which is sort of a piece of Sun Valley history) and had some beer on their rooftop patio, all the while, discussing very important topics.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a cute cafe, whose name escapes me. Breakfast was delicious and, when I go on my next Sun Valley adventure, I will dine at this establishment again.

That day, Josh and I set out to ride the infamous Adams Gulch Trails.

The Adams Gulch area has a lot of different trails, with which one may make many different loops. Josh and I decided to ride one of the biggest and most technically challenging routes (trail number 177 to 142, if you're interested). On the trail map, this route has three black diamonds at different sections, indicating advanced technical terrain.

We rode and rode and rode. We crisscrossed streams and creeks. We traveled over sections of trail with crazy steep drop-offs, where the trail was off-camber and covered in shale. I found myself feeling, albeit a bit overwhelmed and exhausted, very proud of myself for how much of it I was riding.

It was during one of the black diamond sections that Josh went over his handlebars (he's okay and totally unhurt). I, of course, had walked most of that section, but it was at that point that we decided to turn around, since there were two more black diamond sections ahead of us and lots and lots of grueling climbing over crazy technical terrain.

Surprisingly, the descent was loads of fun! And I write "surprisingly" because the climb had been so challenging and grueling. But the descent was a total blast.

It was during the descent that we found the super easy and fun trails to ride, Lanes and Sunnyside, which would have been excellent for Elizabeth. In hindsight, the universe may very well have been trying keep Elizabeth and I away from Adams Gulch... because I would have taken her on trails 177/142 which I had been eyeing on the map, and that could have been disastrous, particularly because Josh went over the handlebars, and he knows his way around technical terrain.

I can't even get over how flowy and awesome these trails were! They were so much fun and I cannot wait to return to the area. Click here for the ride details. You might find it interesting to click on the Terrain or Satellite tabs for the map.

More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ patio time ~

A little over a year ago, Josh and I moved into our current apartment. As this apartment is adjacent and identical to his previous apartment, except for the moving-in-with-me bit, it was not much of a change for him (though, I'm sure he would articulate that moving in with me was the best thing that ever happened to him... ahem). For me, it was a big change and I can say confidently that this is the best apartment I have ever inhabited. Obviously, living with Josh is AMAZING! Less obvious are the various amenities that this apartment provides (that my previous apartments lacked): on site laundry, a functioning air conditioning unit, good water pressure in the shower, sound proofing between neighboring apartments, etc., etc. Except for the living-with-Josh bit, my favorite aspect of this apartment, however, is the patio. Not only am I able to have my very first plot of soil in which to grow my very first garden, but having recently procured some patio chairs and a table, it has become my favorite space to relax.

I eat most of my meals on the patio. I do most of my reading and knitting on the patio. In the evenings, I enjoy tea or mojitos (adorned with mint from my herb garden) on the patio. Life is good with a patio. (In the above photo, Josh and I were enjoying some evening reading over beers and moments of conversation).

As far as my garden grows, soon I hope to harvest my first tomato and then a cucumber! And the thrills do not end there... I've got eggplants about to fruit, beans coming up, kale, broccoli, spinach, peppers, radishes, and a supply of herbs to last until winter. The only plantlife not living up to my expectations are the yellow squash, who appear to not be getting pollinated.

In knitting knews, since finishing school, I have been spending most of my knitting time working on my own patterns. At present, I have a pattern that is going through the test knitting process and I hope to have it available for download by the end of the month. The test knitting process I have found rewarding in a number of ways. Not only is it satisfying seeing everyone's project photos and getting feedback, but it has been an interesting exercise in writing clarity. In fact, you can forget graduate school for working your mental neurons, going through the knitting pattern testing process really makes a person think! And in a good way - - it's comparable to working a fun and challenging puzzle like sudoku.

As for the knitting that I am prepared to show off right now... I have been getting in a few rounds here and there for my Autumn Rose. As of this writing I have conected the sleeves to the body and am working the raglan shaping. This project I find very fulfilling, but it does require a lot of mental focus. And it's not very portable (especially at this stage in the knitting). Over the weekend, I brought it to the coffee shop and I felt like crazy-knitter-lady with this huge cumbersome knitting project and ten different skeins of yarn. Additionally, I tend to mumble through the stranded pattern while working on this project ("grey, white, grey, grey, white, grey, grey, white, white"), which just adds to my crazy-knitter-lady appearance.

As far as reading goes, I've blown through the first two books in the Stieg Larsson trilogy and I anticipate finishing the last one very soon. Being not in school is awesome! One of my daily internet visits is to browse the limited time free books for the Kindle - - this has facilitated my downloading hundreds of books for free (including the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which was free for about a week on Amazon). I've built up such a vast e-library that it is exciting to consider which book I might read next. ...On my patio with some knitting and a mojito with mint from my garden, no less!!!

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ Bogus Basin Climb ~

In my previous entry, where I described going on a road ride with my bike club up Bogus Basin, I neglected to mention that, in all of my years of cycling, I have not yet ridden up Bogus. This fact is rather shocking, considering that Bogus is one of the most popular road biking opportunities around Boise. Be that as it may, the prospect of riding Bogus on my road bike always seemed rather daunting to me... what with its almost 4,000 feet of climbing in 16 miles. Ironically, it was not the climb that I had found daunting, but the descent. It has been only fairly recently that I have developed sufficient confidence descending on a road bike, that I have been able to enjoy the experience.

And enjoy the experience I did! But first things first...

Click on the map to view the ride stats.

I realize now that this would be a good ride to use the "lap" function on the cyclecomputer, which would split the ride stats into different groups. For example, I would be interested in the stats specific to the climb and then specific to the descent, separated. Having the climb and descent grouped is okay, but it would be more meaningful to track my average speed climbing to the top, and then my average speed bombing down the mountain. Here, my average speed is 13.7 mph, which combines the ascent and descent and I don't find it particularly meaningful. Secondly, I also know that when people "time" themselves climbing Bogus, they start the timer at the stop sign at bottom of the hill. I had started my timer as I left my apartment. So while my moving time was 2 hours 49 minutes, that includes commuting through town.

That said, I do actually have specific stats for the climb. The display on the Garmin cyclecomputer is very difficult to read while riding, and so I've continued to use my old cyclecomputer (which has an excellent display) in addition to the Garmin. Because of this, I know that it took me an hour and a half to climb from the stop sign at the bottom of the hill to Bogus and that my average climbing speed was 9.9 mph. Not too shabby! I did the ride with Josh, and he has articulated that I was pushing a very good pace. If one considers last year's race results for the Bogus Basin Hill Climb, my time is nowhere near a winning speed, but everyone knows that race pace is significantly faster than recreational pace on a ride that one is doing for the very first time. The female who won last year's race did the climb in an hour and three minutes. And while I cannot fathom shaving off half an hour on my time for this year's race, I think I'm definitely mid-pack material.

Anyway, once I had climbed to the top, I felt very accomplished. I insisted that Josh take a photo of me holding my bike up, in victory, next to the Bogus Basin sign. In the photo at the beginning of this post, you may have noted my fashionable black cycling bolero....

Before leaving on the ride, Josh instructed me to carry along a windbreaker because descending from a mountain elevation of 6,000 feet during a cool evening is apparently freezing.

At this point in your reading, you may be confused by the fact that a fashionable cycling bolero is not the same thing as a windbreaker, wondering why I disobeyed instructions.

I'm sure we've all had reason to pause and wonder about why I do (and don't do) various things. Knowing that I have no ability to regulate my own temperature and am always either freezing or so hot that I'm going to pass out and die, you'd think that I would be a little smarter about having the optimal clothing choices. ...but no.

According to my cyclecomputer, it was 51 degrees at the top of Bogus, which is somewhat chilly. Now, imagine being covered in a layer of sweat at 6,000 feet, in the 51 degree temperature, the wind is blowing pretty strong from the west, the sun is setting, you're about to descend down the mountain (mostly in the shady side) at speeds between 20 and 34 mph, and you neglected to bring a windbreaker. But you are looking fashionable in your awesome bolero!

Needless to say, I was humbled by my failure to follow instructions.

Josh offered to let me wear his windbreaker. And at first, I declined the offer, reasoning that I had made my own mess of things, Josh should not have to pay for it.

But I was completely freezing.

And Josh is a big man with lots of insulating muscles. And he affirmed that he would be okay without the windbreaker. And I think that maybe he was concerned about my ability to navigate the descent safely if I was going into hypothermia.

So I accepted his windbreaker, very sheepishly.

Then I took off down the mountain.

And it was AWESOME!!! Why I was wary of descending this mountain on a road bike is now beyond me. It was so awesome and fun. The turns were super flow-ey and I got so many speed-induced adrenaline rushes. I was all smiles!

Of course, my feet went completely numb. So numb that it hurt to turn the pedals.

After we descended below the tree line, we pulled over to stomp the circulation back into our toes. Remarkably, only my feet were freezing - - the windbreaker had worked wonders for my core temperature. At this lower elevation that was more on the sunny (even though the sun was setting, it was a little sunny) side of the mountain, it was much warmer and I thought I would be just fine for the rest of the descent without the windbreaker. So I gave it back to Josh and got on the bike.

Not long into this part of the descent, my core temperature plummeted and I started shaking. Visibly shaking and Josh later said that he could see me shake.

We pulled over again and I regained possession of the windbreaker.

I felt like such an asshole for taking Josh's windbreaker. But he kept saying that he didn't need it. He's a trooper, and very wonderful.

The rest of the descent was awesome! I got my top speeds coming back into town and I was so excited about finding my new favorite ride.

I was also starving. It was past nine o'clock and I hadn't eaten dinner. I did that whole ride without having eaten. Certainly, I had consumed a sports gel on the ride, and Josh and I split one at the top of the mountain. But I had not eaten solid food in hours as was STARVING.

We dashed home and made microwavable pizzas and watched Iron Chef. I also decided to register for the race in a few months. And made plans to train climbing Bogus regularly. The end.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ I suck: a musing ~

Before I get into this week's musing, I would like to offer my humble apologies for neglecting to post a musing last week. By way of explanation, allow me to write that I suck.

There, now we can all move on and continue with life.

For this week's musing, I've decided to ramble about some crap.

First topic, gazpacho. Soup of the gods, and of the lazy.

And by "gazpacho" I do not mean a formal recipe, but rather a blend of vegetables that may have otherwise gone bad. Several weeks ago, noting some semi-wilted spinach and cabbage in the refrigerator, I decided to use them in a batch of "gazpacho". Since then, I've realized that gazpacho is the ideal form of vegetable to keep in the fridge. Just think about it! You have all of these vegetables that might get buried behind your boyfriend's beer in the refrigerator, threatening to go bad, but then you puree them all together and have a big tupperware full of blended deliciousness for the whole week. Far superior to a salad, which you have to "prepare" before each serving, this blended deliciousness is ready to eat at all times. And for those of us who lean on the lazy side of the bench, eating directly from the tupperware serves as a time and energy saver by creating fewer dishes to wash!

For the last two batches of my blended deliciousness, I've done some harvesting in my garden. This week's batch has a bunch of kale and brussels sprouts (yes, I blended brussels sprouts!) as well as a whole hunk of basil from the garden. It also has cucumbers, tomatoes, red peppers, spinach, onions, lots of garlic, free range organic chicken stock, and red wine vinegar. So delicious! And blended, so easy to consume!

Second topic, bike club.

Several months ago, a group of cyclists at work got together and formed a bike club. It is actually a somewhat large club of, I believe, about 200 members, one of whom is me. We have a website and a club jersey and everything! A real, genuine bike club. The formation and kickoff of the club coincided with the final months of my last semester of graduate school, and so I was not very involved during the incubation stage of the club.

Since graduation, not a week has gone by without my berating myself for not going on one of the several weekly bike rides with the group. I suppose it has been my severe introversion that has kept me away, and laziness.

Last night was the women's weekly road ride and I finally got up the nerve to attend. And I sort of had to drag myself. Prior to leaving, I was explaining to Josh that I was certain that everyone would hate me and would tell me that my bike is ugly and that I was not welcome to ride with them. And he said that that was probably what was going to happen, in addition to throwing poo at me. But I had made up my mind to give it a try, and so I went to the group ride under threat of being heckled with poo.

Only one other female showed up for the ride. We surmised that the low attendance was in part due to the holiday weekend, and in part due to it being First Thursday (during which there were a lot of happenings in downtown). She was a 40-something very experienced cyclist who informed me that we were going to ride Bogus.

Which we did until I ran out of water. And we passed a whole bunch of other road cyclists on the way up, including several males. Despite getting overheated and worried that I would run out of water, I felt very good and strong on the ride. Once I ran out of water and we decided to turn around, my riding partner said that I pushed a good pace. I had been disappointed that my cyclecomputer wasn't reading, so I had no idea what pace I was pushing - - me, I never have a sense of what sort of pace I ride, I just put in what effort I have in me (which varies ride-by-ride) and I rely on my cyclecomputer to have a comparison to judge quantitatively - - but it was validating to have an experienced cyclist say that I pushed a good pace.

Anyway, now I am excited about going on group rides with my bike club. Even though the sample size of members from last night's ride is not statistically significant, I am going to assume that other club members are equally as friendly and excited about cycling as the female on the ride last night.

And so concludes another thrilling weekly musing

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Emmett Loop / Cherry Festival ~

On Saturday, Josh and I took Elizabeth on a road ride around Emmett, her first time on a road bike. Considering that Elizabeth and I are scheduled to participate in a road bike race in about a month, we figured it was time to actually get Elizabeth on a road bike. The bike is a loaner from a female who works at the bike shop with Josh, who happened to have a spare road bike lying around.

It took a little getting used to the shifting and the brakes as well as the lightness, what with being about 15 pounds lighter than her mountain bike. But we were off at lightning speed before we knew it, cruising around the Emmett orchard roads.

It was a glorious day; the temperature crested into the high 80s and it felt wonderful to be spinning through the orchards of Gem County.

If you click on the map at the beginning of this post, you can see details of our ride, where we rode and how fast.

We coupled the bike ride along with going to the Emmett Cherry Festival, an annual event that we all had assumed was a celebration of the local cherry harvest.

... ah, but we had assumed wrong!

The Emmett Cherry Festival is an ordinary carnival, with ordinary carnival rides, ordinary greasy carnival food, and opportunities to participate in ordinary carnival games. We had all gone to Emmett with the specific desire to harvest and enjoy some local cherries, to nibble on some delightful cherry pastries, and all kinds of other cherry-focused activities. We were so disappointed!

After Josh, Elizabeth and I finished our ride, we went to the Cherry Festival and realized it was just some lame ass ordinary carnival and instead of munching on cherry delicacies, we all wolfed down some greasy carnival food because we were STARVING after our bike ride. While the greasy carnival food was good, in its own way, it was still disappointing because it wasn't what we had wanted.

Adding to the disappointment was that I had invited our friend Amy and her dog Lebowski to drive down and meet us at the Cherry Festival after our ride. It wasn't until after Amy had driven all the way to Emmett and found us at the festival that we noticed the NO DOGS ALLOWED signs and it was too lame and disappointing for words.

So instead, we walked around Emmett and eventually made our way to a park where we hung out and chatted for a while. After leaving the park and before returning to our automobiles, we walked to an ice cream parlor and enjoyed some delicious s'cream.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ ereader musing ~

As I am sure that you are all aware, I owe you a big apology for not posting a 'midweek musing' last week. Rest assured that I have been mentally degrading myself for DAYS about this, so hopefully we can all move on and get back to life. Okay, check.

For this week's musing, I have decided to go on and on about my Kindle and, in particular, my new assortment of collections with which to organize my books. Interestingly, ever since I procured my ereader device and have used it to read in public, there have been many curious individuals asking questions about the Kindle. I find this interesting because from a hardware perspective, the Kindle is nothing fancy. In fact, to be completely honest, I find the Kindle device itself to be somewhat klunky. For me, a little klunk is acceptable because the device allows me to do exactly what I wanted to do with an ereader: read books.

This brings me to why I selected the Kindle over all of the other ereader devices available. Quite simply, I researched other devices and poured over this ereader comparison matrix until my eyes went crossed. By the end of it, I was too overwhelmed to even think clearly, and I ordered the Kindle. In my delirious state, the following items framed my rationale:

Not exactly mind-blowing, is it? Even more not mind-blowing is the realization I've had after a few months of using my Kindle that I probably would have been happy with any ereader that met the following criteria: ease of downloading books, e-ink, and size. I don't do anything fancy with my Kindle, I just read books and it works great. What I love most about it is that I can read books and knit at the same time. Also reading at the gym is measurably easier without having to keep a book propped open. And okay, okay, I love being able to have 15,000 books at my fingertips (not that I have 15,000 books, but I could). Which brings me to my collections...

Yesterday, a long-awaited update to the Kindle software was released, allowing users to organize their books into collections. Other ereader devices already had this functionality, and while I've wanted to be able to do this ever since I pulled the Kindle from its packaging, it was not one of my primary ereader criteria. In fact, since my primary motivation for having an ereader was to read books, I didn't really give a shit about the lack of collections feature on the Kindle. At the same time, ever since the update was announced, I have been excitedly awaiting and fantasizing about organizing my books. Yesterday evening, I stayed up well past my bedtime playing with my collections. Below is what I've come up with so far. Kindle users are showing off their collections in a number of forums, so many of my collection titles I picked from others. A few are spawns of my own creativity, however.

My top five main collections are:

Then my Genres:

I am less fond of some than others and may change them out. I am still trying to come up with titles for the following collections…

I would be excited and interested to know what others might come up with for collection titles. I continue to return to the Kindle forums for collection inspiration.

To conclude this musing, I will mention that you should feel fortunate that I decided to write on and on about my Kindle. Yesterday, before the Kindle update came out, I had actually started a draft musing about my allergies, and the difficulty in managing mucus on bike rides. It was titled, "The Farmer Blow". In all seriousness, it is sometimes challenging to come up with amazing fodder for these musings. The End.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Open Range ~

Pattern: Open Range (my own)
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark (11 skeins)
Needles: US 3
Ravlink

I finally finished up my Open Range pullover last week. This was a project I completed almost a year ago but was never completely satisfied with it. A few months ago, I ripped out the body and reworked it.

This is a top-down pullover with cables coming down from the yoke, and picot edges.

The complicating factor is the placement of the cables along the yoke. In my grand vision, there would be two sets of cables coming down the front and the back, as well as down the sleeves, and then a cable between each set, evenly spaced and well-aligned with each other. I have come to realize that I went wrong by employing circular yoke increases, which would never have allowed me to realize my grand plan for the cable placement. Rather, raglan shaping would have been the ticket.

But what a bore life would be if we did not experience moments in which we learned from our mistakes and had insights into how to be better.

Now that I have blogged about it, I have realized closure with this project and I intend to frog the entire sweater and use the yarn for something else. This project has a lot of good qualities to it: it fits well, it is comfortable to wear, it is warm, and I really like the picot hems. My dissatisfaction with the cables, their placement and alignment, is sufficient to make me want a do-over. A clean slate, if you will.

That's one of the awesome things about knitting - - if what you knat sucks, frog the yarn and knit something else. Most aspects of life do not provide such an easy undo function.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Marsing mini-vacay ~

Before I get into this post, I wanted to properly draw your attention to the above map and ride data, which I included in my previous post about the Hardtrigger ride, but which did not show up on Google Reader. With my new cyclecomputer, Garmin provided some embedding code for a quick snapshot of my ride data and map, however, the code is not compatible in Reader. I've figured out a workaround and it should work for the future, but I was disappointed to discover that the data for my awesome ride did not go through to my Reader folks. Anyhoo, click on the image and it will take you to my Garmin site, where you can check out some interesting graphs and an interactive map, etc.

As I indicated in my previous post, Josh and I celebrated my 30th birthday in Marsing and riding bikes in the Owyhees. We actually drove up on Friday morning and stayed the night through Saturday.

Marsing is a fun little town, and has more going on than one might initially think. For example, despite its population not quite cresting 900 people, it has a number of places to procure a cup of coffee, a taco stand, an actual Mexican restaurant, a nicer restaurant, a diner, a biker bar, several thrift stores, a hardware store, a grocery store (equipped with hunting and fishing gear, of course!), a senior center, a smattering of religious establishments, a field office for the Bureau of Land Management, and even a motel.

Ahh... the motel. If you recall, Josh and I took a mini-vacation to Marsing a few years ago and found that the motel, coined the "Whitehouse Motel", was not what we had expected. Josh and I normally stay in one or two star accommodations, usually picking either the cheapest hotel or the second cheapest. In fact, no one could ever argue successfully that we are hotel snobs. Or even very picky, for that matter. Mainly because we prefer to spend our travel money on dining and other experiences of DOING things rather than on the hotel. Another reason for our selection of the cheapest hotels is because one can sometimes find a gem among crapholes. Take, for instance, the Whitehouse Motel in Marsing Idaho.

Arguably, the Whitehouse Motel bears a somewhat misleading name. For whatever grand structure the name "Whitehouse" conjures, the Whitehouse Motel is, quite simply, a doublewide trailer. Below are a few photos from the previous trip.

The Whitehouse Motel is, however, $36 a night, has plenty of hot water and has insanely comfortable beds. Also, the plywood roofing produces soothing sounds during a wind or rain storm, which we have experienced during both our stays there.

Unfortunately, the Whitehouse Motel is not as clean as I would prefer (and I have realistic cleanliness standards when it comes to my one star motel accommodations) and the water smells like sulfur. Really, really bad sulfur. And definitely not drinkable.

Other than that, it's a great (and only) place to stay in Marsing.

On Friday afternoon, Josh and I did a mountain bike ride over by the S. Jump Creek area of the Owyhees. It was just an out-and-back and wasn't anything to write home to Mom about. But it was a good warm-up for the next day's Hardtrigger 25 mile ride.

We set out with no expectations about the ride. Friday was very cloudy and windy, with severe storms going on in the Valley (that was the day there was a funnel cloud in Boise!!!), so Josh and I expected that we would have to cut a ride short. Of course, because my life is nothing if not ironic, we didn't apply sunscreen before the ride because it had been absolutely dark and cloudy all day. Then, not long into the ride, the sun poked out. And the previously cold weather turned to hot. And I had to take off my long sleeve jersey because I was baking, and proceeded to worry about being fried in the sun.

We rode for about an hour in the sun, and I did not get a sunburn.

It was, however, incredibly windy. So windy that I was literally blown off the trail several times.

There were also a lot of cows, a prelude to our Hardtrigger bovine experience. At some point, while we were climbing a section, we crossed paths with a very very pregnant cow who was so pregnant that she couldn't scamper away from us like the others and instead she had a massive diarrhea explosion in response to our presence.

We turned around shortly thereafter, in part because of the cows, but also because the road was difficult to ride with the deep hoof prints from the cows, because I was worried about being in the sun for so long without sunscreen, and because of the strong winds.

Behold my data and map! Click on it to see more.

After the bike ride, we got cleaned up and had dinner at the Sandbar, which is the slightly nicer restaurant in Marsing, down by the Snake River. We ate there on our previous trip, dining on delicious steaks. This time, I dunno, it was a little disappointing and I don't feel like dwelling on the experience.

Then we had a lovely stroll through the park along the river (where we had a few run-ins with some geese) and through some cute neighborhoods. We ended up at the biker bar where we shared a pitcher of Coors Light, downed some shots of tequila, chatted with the bartender (who took a shot with us), and played shuffleboard.

After a good night's sleep, we had eggs, toast, and hashbrowns at the diner next to the motel and then did our big Hardtrigger ride. After the ride, we rushed home to clean up in time to make a friend's wedding reception, where we mingled and had a lovely time.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Hardtrigger - Coyote Grade Loop~

My 30th birthday was on Saturday and Josh and I did a loop in the Owyhees on our mountain bikes. We went to the main Wilson Creek BLM public recreation area and parked in the second parking lot and headed west, meandering along the roads until we got to the Hardtrigger area. On a previous bike adventure to the Wilson Creek zone, after riding to a high vantage point, I looked across mountains and valleys and saw the Hardtrigger area, which looked like it would have promising mountain biking. Hence, on this ride we specifically sought to ride Hardtrigger.

And I found it mostly awesome. The climbs were strenuous and satisfying. The geography was stunning. Very stunning. I had to stop every-so-often to take some photos, and just admire the scenery. It was a beautiful area.

Not long after crossing a cattle guard into the Hardtrigger area, I rode around a corner and came face-to-face with a BIG, BLACK, and VERY MUSCULAR BULL. I dismounted and smiled, so as to not give away the fear I felt. I'm confident that the bull noted my smile as both non-threatening and friendly, as he slowly wandered off. Josh came around the corner and I told him of the bull. We then rode slowly on, riding side-by-side so Josh could defend me against my bovine foes.

Before entering the Hardtrigger area, we did not realize that it was rangeland and is currently being used for cattle grazing. We rode for several miles through the area and there were bovine creatures everywhere. It was mostly mamas and cute calves, lots and lots of mamas and cute calves, but there were a significant number of bulls and steers, with and without horns.

Being gored is an experience I hope to never have. And Josh feels the same.

As such, we rode through this area fairly cautiously. When we came upon mamas and calves on or very near the road, we would stop until they ran off... sometimes this would take a moment or two. There were several large soon-to-be mamas that we tried hard to not scare, and paid special attention to not anger the bulls.

Without even looking at the genitalia, I felt reasonably confident in identifying the bulls. At some point, we rode around a corner to find a bovine on the road, staring at us. Based on the overly muscular and solid-looking body and the cold, hard, and almost aggressive stare, I deduced it was a bull. When I cautioned Josh in his approach, he said "That's just a cow, I'm not afraid of a cow!" Then the bovine creature moved and the ginormous male genitalia, swaying to and fro, gave Josh reason to pause.

Eventually, we arrived at a juncture in which we had a way to leave the rangeland. While the plan was to explore the Hardtrigger area to its fullest, the sheer number of bovines and our cautious riding provided us with less fun in riding than we had desired. As such, we took the way out, and descended down Coyote Grade road.

The descent was so fun and delightfully fast. I was all smiles. Eventually, we turned on a road to head back towards the car. After consulting the map, Josh led us down a trail through a canyon. The trail was a little above my confidence level for riding, so I walked my bike for most of it. The canyon was beautiful.

On my previous post, I mentioned that Josh had given me an incredibly awesome cyclecomputer for my birthday. Check it out! Throughout the ride, I was able to monitor cadence, altitude, speed, temperature, etc., etc. and can later analyze my performance as well as have a map. I can keep track of my rides, can race against my best times, and can establish various training programs. So neat!

Click here for Ride map and details

More photos on my photoset

Also, here's the status on the bruise I acquiring during last week's mountain bike ride. It's healing nicely.

Posted by jennifer | Permalink | Comments (0)