I spent the past week(ish) with Josh's family in Bentonville, Arkansas. As far as visiting the family of one's partner in Arkansas goes, it was a decent trip. We spent much of the time at various family gatherings. The main downers for me included my inability to sleep at night and continued stomach distress (which I wrote about in my previous post). Most of the family gatherings revolved around the consumption of heavy foods. Because of my weakened digestive abilities and nonexistent appetite, I limited myself to small portions. But I did enjoy what I was able to eat. In addition to food, the family gatherings also tended to focus on cooing over the newborn baby, Josh's niece, and playing games. Below are a few adventures of the trip. Incidentally, the photo below is during the family bowling night, and Josh, his dad, brother Seth, and niece Ely imitating the expressions of the baby.
Josh and I maintained our sanity in Arkansas, wherein the population is considerably more religious and less physically active than we're used to, by enjoying some morning coffees and going on walks and hikes. One route we hiked a few times took us along a bit of actual nature, where there were thick vines hanging from the trees. Below, Josh practices his Tarzan.
One adventure was Saturday night karaoke at a local biker bar. The only beer served on tap was Budweiser, of which I had several in addition to a few tequila shots. Josh and I sang "Proud Mary" karaoke, danced and had a lot of fun. I shot several videos of the karaoke, as I found it culturally different than Boise, in a country-western sense. I was pretty toasted by the time that I filmed this video, as evidenced by my failure to keep the camera steady.
Another adventure occurred on Tuesday, when I went along with Josh, his mom and his brother Seth to visit the Pea Ridge National Military Park, which is a civil war historical site. At the visitor's center, we watched an interesting documentary about the battle site and then we took a driving tour to the various points of interest.
While we were headed out to the Pea Ridge site, we saw an interesting piece of property that was littered with old vehicles. One caught our eye; an old Model T with a tree growing out of it. Pretty cool.
That evening, the entire family gathered for a few games of bowling. I bowled my finest game, with a score of 114.
The final adventure of the trip was to visit the Walmart museum where we learned all about the rise of the Walton family and learned the secrets to Walmart's success. I found it to be a one-sided and biased interpretation of history and success, but it was nonetheless interesting. A few days earlier, I had lunch at a Walmart Distribution Center (a big warehouse that serves as a hub for the trucking distribution of goods, that houses enough goods to fill ten entire Walmart stores) where Josh's brother Jim works. This was also an interesting experience - - we had to go through security, were assigned "visitor" name badges, and were not allowed to take photos inside the building. Below is a photo of Josh, brother Seth, and mom Kathy on the outside.
This evening, Josh and I discussed how cooking can really be such a waste of time. And how we should give up trying anymore and just go for some microwavable burritos.
BACKSTORY
This past Saturday, I spent most of the day in anticipation of a holiday potluck among friends. For the potluck bit, I cuddled up with my library of cookbooks and selected an item that sounded delicious and appropriate for a holiday potluck. Specifically, I chose an apple onion cheese gratin from one of my Moosewood cookbooks.
So, I actually do like to cook. But I like to cook my own way, which normally involves only a cursory attention to the recipe. Interestingly, my methodology for cooking mirrors that of my knitting - - using the recipe/pattern as a guide and then making it my own. As with knitting, this manner of cooking can occasionally not work out.
Josh also likes to cook and he was excited about a recipe that he had selected from my edition of the Joy of Cooking: ginger molasses cookies. The methodology that Josh employs in his style of cooking, however, is the opposite of mine and is a small source of contention and mockery between the two of us. Namely, he rigidly follows the recipes.
Despite our incompatible cooking styles, we manage to get along fine in other aspects of life.
ANYWAY, a few hours before the potluck, Josh and I went to the grocery store to gather items for our respective recipes. It was during the drive home that the evening took a turn for the worse... As I navigated the car through our neighborhood, I became aware of a grumbly in my tummy. After a session in the restroom, I found that the grumblies were increasing and making my existence very uncomfortable. I managed to slice up the apples just fine, but became severely nauseous while slicing the onions. Josh offered to grate the cheese so that I could lie down for a while. A while came and went and I was in no condition to attend a potluck, let alone position my person in any way other than remaining perfectly still on my bed. Josh went to the potluck as one. Neither myself nor his ginger molasses cookies were "up" for a potluck, the latter lacked a necessary ingredient.
It turned out that I had a contagious 24 hour stomach virus-thing. I spent all evening on Saturday, and until about 7pm on Sunday feeling MISERABLE. On Monday, Josh came home from work with the exact same symptoms that I had experienced.
THE PLOT THICKENS... or does it?
As of this writing, it is Tuesday and the sliced apples and onions, diced walnuts and grated cheese have been sitting in the refrigerator since Saturday when I gave up on life. Now that I can look at food without wanting to vomit, I've decided to finalize my dish.
Part of my frustration with "cooking" and "recipes" is that I am a novice. After work today, I whipped out all of the ingredients and the recipe and got to work on preparing what I hoped would be a delicious meal. In reading the recipe, there was an elusive set of instructions about "scalding milk" and continually whisking it with butter and flower until it thickened. Whatever. Sure, I don't have a clue how to "scald milk" nor do I understand its benefits in the cooking process, but I determined that was an unnecessary component to the recipe, so I merely added milk, flour, and butter to a pan and whisked away. Whisk, whisk, whisk. I continued to whisk for what seemed like HOURS with no discernible thickening before exclaiming to Josh, "What a waste of time!"
We then discussed how I would not be a good candidate for a cooking show.
Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Eventually, the sauce did thicken. And instead of following the recipe about drizzling the sauce over all of the ingredients once they were in the baking dish, I determined the better method was to first add brown sugar and then mix it all together before adding to the baking dish.
CONCLUSION
Apples, onions, walnuts, gruyere cheese, milk, flour, butter, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and my secret ingredient brown sugar. But really, wouldn't microwavable burritos have been better?
Photos from some nighttime excursions, hiking and biking.
On Friday night, Josh and I did a hike around the foothills. The trails were frozen but the air temperature was comfortable. We brought lights, and chose to hike in the darkness.
Fog limited what visibility there was and rendered the night eerie.
Later, we used our lights to search for nocturnal creatures.
Below is a photo from a night ride through the snow several days ago. The snow had good traction that night and we had an excellent ride.
Josh and I are not the wealthiest of individuals: notice how Josh affixed duct tape to his booties rather than purchase a new pair.
I am happy to announce that the school semester is over. The past few weeks have been uniquely stressful in ways that I look forward to forgetting. The good news is that I have one semester until I graduate! This has been a rewarding program, but I am ready to be done. The semester was essentially over for me on Tuesday at 7:07 pm, when I submitted (what I thought was) my final paper (see above: uniquely stressful). At that point, I began considering what to do with my spare time during the next five weeks of school-free-dom. As you might expect, some of this involves new knitting projects - - and so, here is an update on that...
This project has been on the needles for about a month. I have oogled the Autumn Rose pullover for YEARS and finally decided to go for it. For those who haven't considered this pattern, it is a FITTED fair isle RAGLAN. This is awesome because typical fair isle sweaters tend to be boxy and not at all figure-flattering. Inspiration for my colorways came from a Ravelry user and yarn availability at the LYS.
One significant yarn/gauge issue revolves around the fact that I somehow purchased the wrong yarn weight. I have been having some MAJOR BRAIN ISSUES lately, and for this project I purchased DK weight instead of fingering weight. Along with my other major brain issues, I don't have a clue how I managed to do this... It should also be noted that I purchased the yarn at 60% off (yay!) during a going-out-of-business sale at an LYS (boo!) and I cannot return the yarn. To compensate for the yarn weight, I recalculated stitch counts in the stranded pattern. I will keep my Ravelry page updated with my mods.
Due to the aforementioned LYS "going-out-of-business sale" (heretofore referred to as GOOBS), I have procured A LOT of yarn over the past few months, most of which I bought without having a specific pattern in mind. This Noro would be a prime example. By the way, the color is difficult to photograph - - it's a dark blue/black, with a metalic sheen. You may be interested in the fiber content: 40% silk, 30% lambswool, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. Yum. It is soft, has a lovely hand, and a wonderful drape. In contemplating an appropriate pattern for this yarn, I noted that many knitters experienced significant growth lengthwise after blocking. Having learned my lession a few too many times about effective swatching, I knit up a sizable swatch, traced an outline of it, washed the swatch, and then traced a new outline of the dried swatch. The below photo shows the results of that - - namely, that the 36 row swatch grew an inch after blocking. That is a significant amount of growth.
I decided that the yarn might be best suited to a simple garment that would make use of the drape, and one that I could carefully monitor the growth of the yarn. I chose the pattern Everybody Knows (a free Knitty download) because I liked the punk-styled garter stitch. I anticipate that the metalic sheen of the blue/black yarn will add another punkish element. I love the collar on this sweater, however, I'm thinking about adding a Ninja Hood instead.
This alpaca is another GOOBS acquisition at 60% off with no plan for its use. I have two skeins of this particular color, which should work for a scarf. Ella is another free Knitty pattern that I've admired for a while. It reminds me of lizard scales. And one of the reasons that it appeals to me is that it is a triangular shawl divided in the center to produce a scarf-like construction. That is a little different from the typical lace shawl. Furthermore, that the lace of this shawl is simple also appealed to me, as I am a very novice lace knitter.
Pattern: Linnaeus, my own design Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock and Colinette Jitterbug
Linnaeus is an asymmetrical stranded jacket... or, it will be eventually. I presented Linnaeus in another version several months ago, and afterwards decided that I didn't like it. This is a new version with a much simplified stranded motif (16 stitches by 18 rows) and I've inverted the yarns.
In stash news, the Type A nerd in me salivated excessively earlier this week upon realizing that one can export one's Ravelry stash information to an excel spreadsheet. During my GOOBS yarn acquisition, I decided that it was imperative for me to update my stash records so that I would know its exact contents. Since then, the challenge has been deciding what yarn to use with what project - - I find that having A LOT of choices makes the decision process very difficult, especially when it involves lots of nommy yarn. Anyway, I spent some time with my excel spreadsheet yarn inventory and added a column to identify appropriate pattern ideas. In thinking about my excel stash inventory, I DROOL.
Mountain biking through the winter months went up a notch this weekend for Josh and I as we set out on our first real snow bike excursion. Some have suggested that my inspiration has come from Jill in Alaska and her winter adventures, but it is much more than inspiration that her blog provides - - it suggests that the winter months can be unique opportunities to pursue the same outdoor activities that one does in the warmer months, and that one only needs different gear and an attitude adjustment. For me, the problem with winter sports is that I have been unable to pursue them directly outside my front door. Cross country skiing is a winter sport that I could really get behind, except for that it requires that I drive to somewhere that is good for skiing. Driving, in general, is something I try to avoid doing and driving in the winter, in particular, is something that can really take the fun out of an activity. Just the pure fact that I cannot engage in skiing unless I drive somewhere has been the major barrier to my developing a strong interest in skiing. Mountain biking, in contrast, is something that I can do without driving anywhere, what with my living less than a mile away from the foothills trails. And if you think about it, is mountain biking really so different than cross country skiing? (other than the driving thing). I wonder why a general attitude about mountain biking is that it is for the non-winter months...
As I've previously written, having the proper gear for winter biking is a science. And Josh and I have pretty much figured it out. When I last wrote, we continued to have trouble with our hands and feet. I hinted at the bottom of my last post that I was thinking about procuring a pair of handlebar sleeve mitts/pogies... and I did! This past week, I conducted an extensive local and online search. I was unable to find anyone locally who sold such an item and I was unable to find mountain bike pogies for under $60. As I've already spent a good wad of cash on winter gear recently, I was hoping to find something more affordable. I ended up locating a very affordable option from a hunting shop in Bonners Ferry. They are essentially pogies for ATVs or snowmobiles (and are endorsed by the National Rifle Association). They are windproof, insulated, and cost a whopping $30. I also received excellent customer service - - the man I chatted with on the phone was very helpful, and I ordered two pairs on Thursday and received them on Saturday. Josh and I had planned to go on a big snow bike adventure, and I was delighted when the pogies arrived in the mail.
We rode Bucktail/Shanes to Rocky Canyon Road and up the lower part of Orchard Trail. Riding through the snow, both climbing and descending was very SLOW. My cycle-computer needs new batteries, so I don't have any official stats, but I think we were out for three hours. (of course, we were not riding for that whole time). I am satisfied to report that the pogies worked very well. During the climbs, I removed my gloves entirely and rode with my hands contained in the pogie-cocoon of warmth. During the descent, my hands did get cold - - but I believe there are specific reasons for this (one, I rubbed cold snow all over my hands prior to starting the descent because I had gotten something sticky on them (the learning here is to tolerate the sticky and not rub snow on your hands), and two, because my gloves were too tight and cut off blood flow). The cutting off of blood circulation has been a key reason for coldness, and ever since I bought these gloves I've wondered if they are too small. That evening, I went out to REI and exchanged the gloves for a bigger pair. Also, I was able to warm my hands back up on the descent. It is also worth noting that the temperature was 22 degrees.
As for the feet, I had great success. I wore one pair of Smartwool cycling socks, wrapped a chemical toe warmer over my little toes, wore my normal cycling shoes, insulated with a bootie, wrapped all of this with a plastic grocery bag, and then finalized with a windblocking bootie. (in the above photo, you can see the plastic grocery bags sticking out of my booties). This worked very well for warmth. THE PROBLEM was that snow and ice clogged up my cleats and pedals every time I put my foot down (which was more frequently than normal because I kept losing traction on the slippery snow), and after three hours this got to be very frustrating. I have resolved to switch to platform pedals and ride with hiking boots for the snow season.
Speaking of traction, I am concerned about losing traction with flat pedals, but I don't know what else to do. Traction was a big issue on this ride. In the above photo, you can see something that is so rare, it is astonishing I actually captured it in a photo. The photo is of Josh walking his bike up a little hill after losing traction. This is the tiny hill/dip on Shanes. That Josh had to walk his bike up this measely hill evinces how slippery the snow was at times. SHOCKINGLY, I was able to maintain traction better than Josh. I attribute this to running my tires at very very low psi. Before we left on the ride, Josh and I both put studded tires on our bikes. As we were filling them with air, I said something about wanting to run low pressure. I have been reading about snow biking on the internets (for example, at IceBike) and a general piece of wisdom has to do with really really low psi. When I filled my tires up to 25 psi, Josh acted as though that was too low - - then when I let most of that air out on the trail, Josh had a very small freakout about how I did not know what I was doing. He later recanted, and affirmed that this was one time when I was right and he was wrong. Anyway, throughout the ride, I had significantly better traction. Yes, I was still slipping out, but Josh kept remarking about how I wasn't struggling as much as he was. When we began the descent down Rocky Canyon Road, Josh noticed very clearly that I was able to ride along and maintain a little stability, while he was fishtailing all over. He then let out a lot of his air, and agreed that it was much better. He also mentioned that maybe he should ride fatter tires. (in the below photo, check his skinny tires).
Biking in the snow required a lot more effort, obviously. We rode the flatter/lower portion of Orchard Trail before turning around for the descent. The descent was interesting. I tried to find the right balance of keeping my speed in check and not hitting my brakes. I tried to steer the bike down the trail, but did not steer away from how the snow was making the bike travel. It was the dichotomy of being in control of one's mountain biking but being relaxed to allow the trail and snow to carry me and my bike along. It was fun, but it was definitely unnerving to surrender so much control. And it was not at all scary. Going down Rocky Canyon Road was the same - - riding faster but keeping the speed in check and going with the flow of the snow. We ended up connecting back to Shanes and Bucktail for the last portion of the descent. This proved to be an excellent route because (1) descending Bucktail through the snow actually required expending some energy which was helpful in retaining body heat, and (2) we succeeded in having some awesome flow along the singletrack.
Also of note is that during this ride, we were able to ride out of the inversion. In the below photo, the grey portion on the horizon is actually the inversion smoke. We hit it once we got to Shanes and smelled a very distinct nasty smokey smell and my throat started to get sore.
On Sunday, Elizabeth and I rode Corrals during what I thought was supposed to be the warmest time of day... 2:00. The temperature was 28 degrees when I left my apartment, and I wore an extra baselayer to keep me warm - - by the time that I arrived to our meeting place at the corner of Hill and Bogus Basin Roads, I was feeling overheated. I removed my outer windbreaker in anticipation of the climb up Bogus Basin, and we proceded to hammer up. While we were riding up to the trailhead, I started getting really cold. I decided that I needed to generate some body heat, so I rode away from Elizabeth and put in a good effort to warm up. By the time that I arrived at the trailhead, my arms were FREEZING. I then re-dressed myself in my windbreaker and we rode up Corrals, generating body heat. In hindsight, now that temperatures in Boise are barely scraping above ten degrees, I suspect that the increase in cold that I experienced on this climb was an actual increase in cold and not merely a perceived increase. Anyway...
Along the main road of Corrals, we ran into my Dad and his dog. We stopped and had a lengthy conversation, during which point I began to lose some of my body heat.
Then we continued riding along. Once we started riding up the backside of the mountain, there was snow and ice on the trail. And it was slippery. At one point, my bike suddenly slid out from under me after hitting an icy section, but I was magically able to catch my fall.
At the top of Corrals, I was delighted to see that someone had established a festive Tumbleweed Tree with holiday ornaments.
Around about the time that we got to the summit, it started snowing. Also, despite having just climbed up the trail, we were shivering. We stayed to admire the view only briefly before beginning the long descent. As can be guessed, it was awesome and loads of fun. I took Elizabeth down Trail 4 and Hulls, both of which she had never ridden before - - and I was very impressed with how confidentally she rode the trails, rolling over all kinds of rocks and offcamber sections. It's difficult to believe that she's been mountain biking for less than a year.
Aside from all of the awesome fun we were having, we also got really really cold. When I arrived home, I checked the weather again, and the temperature was down to 25, with a feel like rating of 15... and I think what we were experiencing descending through the wind chill on the foothills was considerably colder. I'm anticipate that my next gear acquisition will be a pair of pogies / handlebar mitts.
Mountain biking in the cold and dark of winter offers unique thrills and challenges. One thrill and challenge is the opportunity to spend a lot of money on gear. Another thrill and challenge is doing what you love (ie, mountain biking) regardless of the pain and suffering.
As a sidenote, one drawback to mountain biking in the cold and dark of winter is that it does not lend itself well to photos, which explains the lack of blogging around these parts.
Normally, winter coincides with enhanced depression, gym attendance, and feelings of cabin fever while we live vicariously through our fond memories of wild outdoor adventures when the weather was warmer and sunnier. My committment to riding through the cold and dark of winter coincides with my realization that mountain biking even when it totally sucks outside is infinitely more fun than going to the gym. In fact, with the right gear and attitude adjustment, mountain biking when it sucks outside can be downright awesome.
I have been consistently going on several night rides a week; the cold weather hasn't stopped me. As I augment my cold weather gear selection, I hope for my winter riding to increase in both fun and quantity.
On Wednesday, I went on a group ride hosted by the bike shop folks. Most everyone who had committed to riding cancelled because of the weather - - the temperature registered at 28 degrees, with a "feel like" rating of 23. Arguably, while this is freezing it is not too cold to ride. Okay okay, my fingers became painfully cold on the descent, but otherwise I felt great.
On Friday, Josh and I jetted out on a bike ride right after I got off work. The temperature was 27, with a feel like rating of 18. BRRR, right? Wrong. Dressing for the weather is a science that I almost have figured out (see above, re: spending lots of money on gear).
We rode up Sidewinder, Fat Tire, and down Trail 5. The sun was set by the time we reached the top of Sidewinder, at which point I illuminated my new helmet light, the Stella 200. BING!
We then proceeded through the traversing turns of Fat Tire and I had so much fun. The darkness beyond the focus of my light was eerie, and the snow crystals on the trail were magical. I imagined the mountain lions lurking in the distance, too afraid to pounce because of our powerful helmet lights.
Bombing down Trail 5 was too awesome and fun for words. I had my light pointed at the perfect distance in front of me, and it felt so smooth. My vbrakes maintained sufficient braking (though, I was worried for a bit as I sensed them icing over). I remained totally warm and cozy in my nest of cold weather gear... except for my fingers. On the descent, my fingers became very cold. It's a science, dressing for cold weather night rides.
