~ blue Missoula ~

As the subject of politics can sometimes elicit excitement and alter behavior, I went on a road trip over the weekend to Missoula Montana with Josh and Eric. The origins of the trip go back a few weeks when we were staying up past our bed times discussing the impending presidential election. Liberals in Idaho frequenlty confront reality when wanting to 'get involved' with politics beyond the local level. It's unfortunate that anytime I might consider volunteering for the state democratic party about, oh say, the presidential elections, I am detered because it seems like an incredible waste of time. During the political discussion of a few weeks ago, Eric mentioned that the Idaho Obama Campaign is encouraging potential volunteers to head to Montana because it has more democratic leanings than Idaho.

And so early last Thursday morning, we loaded up three adults, their crap, and their mountain bikes into my fuel-efficient vehicle and drove to Missoula. The drive was long, but it wasn't horrendous by any stretch of the imagination. We arrived in Missoula at about 4:00 pm and made our way to Eric's brother's house, where we would be staying. If you recall, Thursday was the night of the Vice Presidential Debate, so we declined a family dinner engagement and went to downtown Missoula to watch the debate over some beers. There was a bit of a snafu in the communication between Eric and the Obama Campaign dude, in which the latter had informed the former that there was to be a debate watching party, when that information was untrue. We made our way to the Union Club, thinking we were going to be watching the debate with other bleeding heart liberals, but other bleeding heart liberals we did not find. Instead, we got some grub from the bar kitchen (I had a chilli hot dog with fries, if you are curious) and watched the debate. The bar ended up getting really packed with other debate-viewers, so we were far from lonesome. Afterwards, we wandered around downtown.

The next morning, we rose and went back downtown for breakfast. Upon the suggestion of a local, we went to a very small place on Higgins. The goodness of the breakfast was slightly overshadowed by the crowdedness of the place (as Eric had to sit alone in the corner for some time due to lack of available seating). Afterwards, we wandered around that part of town, venturing into a few shops, including a bike shop and some kind of strange novelty shop. We also explored Eric's old neighborhood, including a walk by his old house. The males also got their swing on. After extensive wandering, we went to a coffee shop where I had lunch of a roasted red pepper sandwich and barley salad. I also took the opportunity to visit a yarn shop that was reported by various internet folks as being the best yarn shop in Missoula. Once I walked into the shop, however, I was to feel slightly uncomfortable as the shop owner was discussing her ill health and impending death with a friend. I was unsure what the most polite behavior would be in this instance, so I just kind of walked the circumference of the shop quietly and slipped out.

Then we went over to Rattlesnake recreation area and went on a fun mountain bike ride. I must say, the mountains outside of Missoula make the Boise foothills pale in comparison. Eric led us on a ride that took us way up the mountains and afforded us a lovely view.

The downhill was great fun, punctuated by a herd of wild turkey sighting. We ended up doing two loops. The first took us up the mountains at a fairly steep grade and wound us along the side of the mountains. The second was up some of the roads at a more moderate grade and down some singletrack with switchbacks. Both times we ended the loops with a fun jaunt through what I called Sherwood Forrest, a section that had truly sweet winding singletrack in which the autumn colors were striking on the adjacent trees.

The ride was a lot of fun and left me wanting to take a longer trip to Missoula to have more riding in its mountains. Afterwards, we picked up a large quantity of pizza for Eric's family, as a token of appreciation for letting us invade their home. We had every intention of hitting the bars that evening, but found ourselves watching "Empire Strikes Back" instead. I have to say, watching a Star Wars film with commentary by a five and four year old is a quality experience.

The next day, we went to a bakery downtown for breakfast and coffee. Afterwards, we went to the Obama campaign headquarters and spent half an hour in an asinine training, as though canvassing is rocket science. We got our clipboards and went to a neighborhood near the University to do our political duty. Eric went by himself and Josh and I teamed up. I thought the volunteer coordinator was full of doo-doo when he estimated it would take us 3.5 hours, but he proved to be right on the money with his estimate. Josh and I were able to get several people registered to vote and got quite a few absentee ballot requests completed. We also had a good conversation with a Republican leaning Obama as well as a few Independents. Therefore, if Montana goes blue this election, it will be ALL because of us. We rule.

By the time we were done canvassing, at around 2:30, we were all starvin' marvin. Eric directed us to a drive-in where we procured some delicious drive-in food. Of course, I couldn't allow us to have a normal / boring drive-in experience. I had to go an drop Eric's burger down the front of my person and onto the car floor. The server person was nice enough to get him another free of charge. Then, as I was exiting the car, I managed to drop the entire tray that was loosely affixed to the window and which was supporting multiple uncovered containers of ketchup, all over the ground. The resulting ketchup splatter caused me to have a large quantity of ketchup all over my clothing, compounding the preexisting ketchup and mustard stains that I aquired when I dropped Eric's burger onto my person. Anyway, I was just keeping it interesting for everyone.

The next adventure was to Blue Sky Brewery for some free beer. If you've ever been to a local brewery, you can imagine how that adventure went. We all had to try on every single Brewery hat, had to play with all of the beer openners, had to put the beer cozies on our heads, and in general defied our maturity level. Afterwards, we returned to Eric's brother's house for some R&R. That evening, Eric went to a family BBQ and Josh and I had a date in downtown Missoula. We went to a sushi place, where we enjoyed some fairly good sushi, and then wandered all around, having various silly moments. We explored the river area, having a great deal of fun running on some grassy mounds and eventually went to a bar for some wine. We returned to the homestead where Eric recounted the shenanigans of the family BBQ.

The next morning, which would have been Sunday, we had a hearty breakfast with the family, which included pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage made from a deer that Eric's brother shot and killed. We then loaded our persons, our crap, and our bikes into the car and set off for Boise. The drive back took longer as a result of more lengthy stops, including a lunch stop at Kooskia.

Photos for this are available here

Posted by jennifer at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ somewhere out there ~

As someone who has no sense of direction, I frequently find myself wondering where in the world I am located. Normally, however, I am in the presence of someone who is aware of our location, and so I find little cause for concern. This weekend was a different situation.

Josh and I have been on an Owyhees kick, as evidenced by the fact that all of my recent posts contain a reference of an Owyhees adventure. This past Saturday, we treked out to somewhere in the Owyhees for a bike ride. The first little misadventure occured while we were trying to get to where we would begin the ride and we found ourselves on a scary person's private property. The signage in the Owyhees needs a great deal of improvement, to put it mildly. Also to put it mildly, I was concerned that the luncatic hermit living in an isolated part of the Owyhees was going to shoot us dead and prop our decapitated heads onto poles as a warning to other trespassers. You may infer from my writing of this post that we came out of that encounter only a little ruffled, thank the little baby jesus. Following the encounter with crazy-man, I found myself driving my car over terrain poorly suited to my vehicle's schematics. Yet again, I was more than a little ruffled. But we managed to get our persons safe and sound to a spot at which to commence our ride.

As I said, signage in the Owyhees could use a bit of improvement. Josh and I are both decently observant people, yet both of us failed to notice this sign at the start of our ride. Though, if we had noticed it, we might not have been quite as awe-struck when we came upon this...

A herd of wild horses. In my Public Land Policy class, we've briefly discussed wild horse management policy, so I am somewhat familiar with it, but to my knowledge, I've never before seen wild horses. And on this ride, we came upon a few herds and it was quite remarkable. For the duration of the ride, I was singing to myself the U2 song about wild horses.

When we encountered them, we weren't sure the best response. One, we had no idea how they would react to us - - we've got experience running into stock animals like sheep and cattle, but no wild horses. So we kept our distance and allowed them to retreat, then slowly rode past until there was a good distance between us.

There were a lot of interesting relics and geological features along the ride. Above, some kind of headstone. There was also a particularly nifty volcanic rock section (no photo, unfortunately). It was sometime after we rode away from this headstone that we grew increasingly uncertain about our location. We stopped several times for Josh to consult the map.

We rode and rode. Eventually, we did two sets of steep descents and hike-a-bike ascents. And at the bottom of the second descent, Josh and I had paused to discuss something of great import, when we were silenced by the rather startling sound of all the air in one of Josh's tires suddently whooshing out.

That was disconcerting and sad-making.

We then hiked the bikes up a really steep hill and I got comfortable while Josh worked on fixing the tire. This took some time. Josh also took the opportunity to consult the map for the umpteenth time. From our vantage point, we were able to see two canyons and were wondering which canyons they were, as that information could have helped Josh to ascertain our location. After a while, a dude on an ATV sputtered by and was able to tell us that one of the canyons was Jump Creek. We asked the dude for advice on which way we should go, as we were at an intersection in which one road went down and another went up. We both felt uncertain about his advice, and decided to backtrack back to the car. Josh later consulted additional maps, including Google Earth, and realized that the dude had given us very bad directions and that if we had taken his advice, we would have been poorly off.

Once the tire was fixed, we had to re-hike-a-bike back up the steep hills we had just traversed and set off back from whence we had came.

For me, it was a spectacular ride. I was feeling really good and had a blast. I had also put my cyclecomputer on the bike, so I can say for certain that we rode 31 miles, our average speed was 8.6 mph, and our max speed was 27 mph. Not too shabby. It was about 3.5 hours of riding, but we had lots of stops, so we were out for at least an additional hour. For the drive back, we decided to take a different road so as to avoid driving by crazy-private-property man, and we discovered a much better route to access that part of the Owyhees.

Photos for this entry are at my Somwhere in the Owyhees photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ bruised apple ~

I finished my first pair of mittens this weekend. They are the "Yellow Harvest" mittens from the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden (the same yarn from a scarf I knat a few months ago, which I ended up not liking very much...so I harvested the yarn to knit up my "Noro Harvest" mittens). As far as a pattern for first-mittens goes, this is a good one - - well written with several nice details that are fun to work. Morning temperatures have recently dipped into the chilly zone for my walk to work, and so I have had the opportunity to wear these mittens both yesterday and today and have found them lovely.

In mountain biking news, I have been getting in a lot of riding now that the weather is cooling off. Last Friday, Josh and I rode a most awesome foothills 'loop' - - up Bogus Basin, up Corralls, up Scott's , down Scott's, down Trail 4, and down Crestline/Kestrel. The ride was somewhat monumental for me, signifying that I am overcoming my fears about steep drop-offs. I don't believe I wrote about this, but last year when I had the bike with the grabby breaks that exacerbated many of my fears about steepness, heights, and drop-offs, Josh and I went on a ride on Scott's Trail and I experienced something of a total panic attack about the drop-off along a steeper part of the trail. As this year is a different year, with a different bike, and a different attitude, I have been feeling very accomplished at overcoming my fears and anxieties - - which is particularly significant because so much of mountain biking is about mental attitude. I've been riding trails which I had become rather wimpy about, and challenging myself on much more technical terrain, discovering that most of the time, things just LOOK hard, and that when I relax and pedal/roll over something, I find that it is much easier than expected. So anyway, Scott's trail was the final test to myself that I am totally OVER the crashes and negative mental attitudes that got me down last year. To clarify, there's nothing about Scott's that is really hard (it's a nice intermediate trail) but a few sections of trail had qualities that would freak me out. Anyway, so on Friday when we were doing our awesome loop, I was mentally preparing myself to ride down Scott's. I kept giving myself all kinds of encouragement, reminding myself that I've ridden much more difficult trails, and that this was nothing, NOTHING to get a panic attack about. And as I was descending, I told myself to focus on the trail, relax, breath...and I kept thinking that the scary sections of the trail must be around the next turn, so I stayed relaxed, breathed, and focused on the trail in front of me. I was still expecting the scary section of the trail to be around the next turn when I realized that I had made it to the bottom. HUH? The trail on which I had experienced a panic attack, I had now ridden without a single hesitation. I am serious when I argue that mountain biking is primarily about mental attitude, and secondarily about fitness. After descending Scott's, there was still a LOT of downhill left, and I had a blast bonzaiing down the mountains.

On Saturday, we returned to the Owyhees and tried to ride from 'our parking space' to Succor Creek. The previous weekend when we went out there, we encountered a couple on an ATV picking up litter, and had a conversation about how some of the roads we were riding would take a person out to Succor Creek. And so this weekend, we tried to do just that. Of course, I had gotten all complacent in the cooler temperatures and convinced Josh that it would be okay if we left in the afternoon, rather than bright and early in the morning. BAD MOVE. Aside from being a bit on the hot side, I found the roads a tad sandier than I prefer. It was still very ridable, just took a bit more effort to plow through. Before I would feel comfortable giving it an official review, however, I think I need to ride it again. I realize that my being kinda too hot was detrimental to my fully appreciating the ride - - also, I now realize that I did not consume many calories during the lengthy ride, and so I possibly lacked energy that I might have had if I had been more responsible with my caloric intake.

So, it takes about an hour to drive out to 'our parking spot' in the Owyhees. Since joining the modern era with the acquisition of my iPod, I have placed all of my compact discs into a compact disc book-holder-deal, which I have placed in my car (for, you know, road trips). Despite the plethora of music available during this particular road trip, Josh and I opted to listen to the Flight of the Conchords cd THREE TIMES IN A ROW. Needless to say, we have since had the catchy tunes stuck in our heads. In fact, I am pretty much in a constant state of mentally huming the tunes to myself, both awake and asleep, and it is kind of annoying.

Posted by jennifer at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ burning the midnight oil ~

This past weekend proved to be a most excellent three-day weekend. Clearly, three day weekends are far superior to two day weekends.

I'll begin by highlighting Saturday evening's fun, a BBQ chez Amy. In spite of the good company (Amy, Elizabeth, Leah, David, Josh, and Eric), the good atmosphere (the backyard lawn), the good food (chorizos, potato salad, fruit salad, roasted veggies), and the beverages (beer), no one had a very good time. In fact, it was so terrible, that we have decided never to have a BBQ ever again. What made the experience pretty much unbearable was this puppy-dog who was running around trying to swindle everyone's beer. Note, that below photo was a shot from the gods - - it appears as though David was giving the puppy beer, when in fact the puppy was the perpetrator, having suddenly lunged at the beer bottle. Through the course of the evening, so much beer was spilled as a result of puppy (and subsequently licked up by puppy) that we surmised he had become rather tipsy. Photos of the horrendous evening are available here.

Saturday was also the day when Josh and I had yet another adventure in the Owyhees. Unfortunately, it's been a while since we were down there - - but we decided to do a refined version of the Sage Creek Loop that we did in June. We've been out there enough that we're really getting to know our way around. This was the first time in the Sage Creek zone when we didn't have to spend time figuring out where we were going and back-tracking because we went the wrong way. We did a perfect loop that I approximate was 2.5 hours. Ultimately, I bet Josh and I could make some money by developing a mountain biking Owyhees book - - Josh was even talking about opening a bike shop in Marsing (maybe not the best idea in today's economy). Anyway, the loop took us over lots of ups and downs, some unridable ups that we had to hike-a-bike, and some pretty challengingly technical downhills that I felt very accomplished after riding successfully. I've developed a lot more confidence on the more technical downhills - - the Owyhees are great for that. The Boise foothills, all groomed and smooth, are wonderful but can hold a person back from developing confidence on not-groomed and not-smooth trails. I love the Owyhees - - so much potential adventure. Photos from this ride may be viewed here.

I've been getting a good amount of riding in, which adds to my feeling good on the bike. On Sunday, Josh and I rode Sidewinder, which is a nice fun quickie ride. Funny story about that ride... I had been having a bit of trouble with the shifting on my bike. On the ride in the Owyhees, the front gears were very malaligned - - Josh did a complete gear adjustment on the trail, but they wouldn't function properly. I took the bike into the shop to have the mechanics fix it. Got the bike back on Sunday and Josh and I rode Sidewinder. The front gears were working, but the back gears were not. Josh spent more time trail-side trying to adjust them, to no avail. We rode anyway. As I was grunting up one of the climbs, the chain broke. Josh was the mechanical hero, as he was able to fix the chain with his semi-broken chain tool and we were able to finish the ride. That night, we hung out at the bike shop drinking beers, Josh fixing my bike for good, and me knitting.

And finally, I know how you have all being eagerly awaiting my knitting report.

I've finished Inishfern. TAHDAH!!! My improvised top-down asymmetrical seamless raglan. The cables both diminish and transform into different cables. It is fitted with a flair at the waist. And the button band - - an opportunity for improvisation! After trying a number of options, I found that I liked the expanding garter panel with a set of cables - - the buttons are set by the cables, as opposed to traditional button holes. Tradition, smadition! Below you may see more clearly the cabled button band - - also, note my vintage buttons.

In other knews, I know I've been going bananas obsessing about mittens. This explains why I randomly cast on for Ice Queen over the weekend. I have to roll my eyes at myself - - not only do I have several projects currently in progress, not only do I have my sights set on several patterns, but Ice Queen is a very random and spontaneous cast on. I suppose that it happened after I was reading about how cowls are the new scarves, and I realized that the pattern might be a good use for that lace yarn I procured for a failed project a few months ago. And so...Ice Queen. I've taken the Cascade Elite Silky Alpaca lace yarn, doubled it, and also included a strand of the green angora from a thrift store sweater I recycled. Very very soft and very very warm. As evidenced by the below status-photo, I am knitting it much tighter than the pattern, so as to make for a more warm cowl.

Posted by jennifer at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ Anderson Reservoir, Trinity Lakes ~

This past weekend, Josh and I went camping in the Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes area. I'd like to begin by directing you to Josh's blog entry that contains a nice summary of the events.

The Anderson Reservoir/Trinity Lakes is a lovely area. That photo above is of the canyon right at the base of the reservoir. And a big reservoir it is. To get to where we would camp, we had to drive on a scary road to the end of the reservoir and then through the forest and mountains to some campgrounds approximately 13 miles before Trinity Lakes (some high mountain lakes). Our camp spot was lovely.

Soon after we arrived, we went on a mountain bike ride up Fire Road #101 which took us up a gradual climb to the top of some mini-mountains. After the bike ride, we went down to the stream adjacent to our camp, and washed the dust and sweat off our persons and spent several hours splish-splashing around in the water. This was one of my favorite activities of the trip. We cracked open a few beers and had a splendid time playing stream-side.

Interestingly, we opted not to have a camp fire. I realize this is normally a prime joy in camping, but for some reason we weren't feeling it. Instead, we went on a nice evening walk - - primarily so that I could massage the terrible intestinal cramp that I had developed - - played some smashmitten and boggle, and retired to the tent for some reading at a ridiculously early hour. I read half of an exciting science fiction short story about a kid who stumbles upon an abandoned alien space ship and takes it for a spin. It was apparently one of the year's best sci-fi short stories, some years ago.

The next day's primary activity was a big mountain bike ride up to the Trinity Lakes area. According to Josh's calculation, we climbed about 2300 feet in elevation. We rode up a gravel mountain road, which featured an interesting mix of turns and straight-aways, smooth dirt and rugged rocky surfaces. The first part of the ride was through the forest, and then it took us well above the tree line to a higher mountain zone. After two hours of consistent climbing, I began to wonder how much farther it would be to get to the lakes. It was about this point that the road began featuring some more challenging rugged surfaces that took a bit more effort to pedal one's bike over. Also, without the trees, we found ourselves more directly in the sun's rays. All of this, in addition to the fact that my leg muscles were starting to feel the burn, compelled me to feel a bit cranky. At some point, a truck passed us and Josh took the opportunity to ask how much farther it was to the lakes. The man said that the lakes were still a ways away and that the road was really rugged and that we wouldn't be able to ride our bikes up there. This last statement really irritated Josh because the guy clearly underestimated the utility of the mountain bike. Soon after that, we found the turn-around spot. It took about 2.5 hours to ride up, and about 15 minutes to bonzai down. I must say, wow, the downhill was incredibly fun. We had the whole road to ourselves and we bombed down SO FAST. Before we began the descent, Josh commented that we would probably be using our breaks a lot, what with all of the ruggedness and turns. In reality, the breaks were hardly used. I did opt to navigate the particularly rugged stuff slowly, and those sections I really enjoyed - - it's amazing what sort of terrain a person can roll right over on a bike, I didn't even bother navigating around huge rocks, I just rode over them. On the smoother surfaces, I kept my fingers off the breaks and was flying down the mountain. So thrilling! I wish that I had my cycle computer on the bike so that I could have known how fast I was actually travelling - - Josh seems to think that it was faster than ever before and I have to concur. Of course, as irony would have it, Josh later consulted a map and discovered that we had stopped not too far from the lakes.

Photos for this adventure may be found on my Anderson Reservoir photoset

Posted by jennifer at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

~ passing lots of mofos ~

The Barking Spider race was this weekend. Despite not training as much as I had wanted to, I did pretty well. My race time was 58 minutes, which I felt really good about, especially if you consider that my time was a mere six minutes behind the time of the man who won. Out of about 50 beginners, I came in 9th and was the first female to cross the finish. The results of the race are posted here. Below is a photo of me crossing the finish line, taking first place in my category.

I had actually become quite nervous about the race. I didn't sleep at all the night before and I had lost all of my appetite the morning of the race. The grumbly in my tumbly was unbearable. And then, right when I gathered at the starting line, it was 30 seconds to go, and I suddenly had a very strong urge to pee! Once the race was on and I was riding my bike, trying to navigate myself around all of the mofos in my way, everything felt really good. Below is a photo of me right after we started the race (I'm on the right in the blue jersey, white helmet).

My first strategy once the race started was to quickly get ahead of as many people (aka, "mofos") as I could. Somehow, I wasn't paying attention when I gathered at the starting line, and I ended up way in the back, and I wanted to make sure that I could pass the mofos while I had a good opportunity. Otherwise, I was concerned that some parts of the race would not be conducive to passing the mofos. Below is a photo of me in the process of passing a mofo (behind me, all of the mofos I had managed to pass right at the outset).

Perhaps by now it should be obvious that some kind of competitive beast managed to possess me for the duration of the race, despite my assurances that I am not a competitive person. A strange experience, I must say.

So, the course has lots of ups and downs - - and I tended to shine on the climbs, where everyone else seemed to really slow down. At every hill, there would be a long line of bikers huffing and puffing their way up - - and for me, I found that to be a grand opportunity to pass the lot of them. On the one hand, I have a strength to weight ratio working in my favor, on the other hand, I'm just a good climber. Over the years, Josh has taught me a lot of techniques for climbing that I gathered many of the other racers did not have - - such as, on an extended climb, recovering during the least strenuous point of the pedal stroke.

Of course, as gravity is working in my favor on the climbs, it works against me on the downhills. I passed and repassed a few of the same people over and over. On a number of occasions, there would be a downhill right after I passed someone (say, a dude who weighs 50 pounds more than I) and he would zoom past me going down, and then I would pass him a minute later going up. Eventually, a form of comradery was established and a very brief humorous salutation was exchanged.

About halfway through the course, there was an extended climb with a decently strong headwind, and a very long line of bikers. It was during this climb that I located a dude who was going at a good pace, and so I tucked myself behind him and drafted off of him so that I could get a nice recovery in. He was passing a lot of people, and I was right behind him, passing them. Many of the people that we passed, by this point, were racers in the sport class (who had started a few minutes before us beginners) that we had caught up to. After a while, I passed the dude I was drafting off of, and then he passed me on the downhill, and I believe that he was one of the 8 dudes to finish before me.

When I went through the finish line, I was very excited to learn of my standing in the race. I had a bit of a spectator grouping - - Josh, Elizabeth, and Laura were on hand to watch my first race! We partook of several celebratory beers after I finished and it was a lot of fun. We waited several hours until the awards ceremony, where I scored a water bottle and a huge jersey for a team that I'm not on (how dumb is that?@? - - I'm not going to wear a jersey that's way too big for me for a local team that I don't ride with). Afterwards, we made our way to a Mexican restaurant in Kuna and had enchiladas. Anyway, here's the link to my flickr deal - - you'll note the photo of the nasty sunburn I got on my calves...didn't think to apply sunscreen there.

Posted by jennifer at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ young grasshopper ~

In anticipation of my upcoming mountain bike race, I took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and practiced riding the race course three times - - on Friday and Sunday with Josh, and Saturday with another female mountain biker. While I am not exactly in top riding form, what with all of the not-biking I've been doing, I managed to greatly impress myself this weekend - - primarily in the way of taking in a deep breath and riding those sections of the course that caused me to hesitate out of fear. Those shots above depict exactly that - - sections that I had to work up some guts to ride. Naturally, the photos don't do justice to the actual trail conditions - - I felt as though I was surmounting one ginormous challenge after another.

The first two photos are essentially the same. They show me riding a part of the trail that was very sandy, somewhat steepish, with a tight downhill swooping turn to the left. I took in a number of deep breaths in an attempt to get the guts to ride this - - what I continue to learn after successfully riding obstacles that make me hesitate is that most of the time these obstacles look worse on the approach than they actually are. I hiked myself back up to the top of this part of the trail several times to try and try again - - and as I was finally riding down the length of the trail, I had to scream because I was so excited that the trail was FUN and not horrid and scary. Imagine that! Something that appeared terrifying was loads of FUN!

The third photo depicts me overcoming one of my biggest fears - - drop offs. This particular one begins with a little uphill jaunt over some boulders and then a few step-steps down, all the while with the trail sloping towards the drop off. I successfully took in deep breaths and rode it three times, having fun each time, feeling very accomplished - - though, the deep breath was still very necessary even on the third time.

The fourth photo probably doesn't look like anything. And it's not, really. It's simply the epitome of a scary-looking approach that turns into no big deal to ride. What it was, was a steepish downhill with a sloping trail with lots of loose stuff on the top. But what it really was, was a really fun section leading into a superfast awesome fun downhill.

Anyway, the full course is 10.5 miles and I felt pretty good riding all of it this weekend. I've still got a few more weekends to practice before the race. Speaking of the race, I have absolutely no idea what to expect out of myself. My athletic competition history is virtually none. Though, in middle school, I was on a volleyball team - - we didn't win a single game, so I have a lot of experience being a good loser. Actually, what I gleaned from that experience was to not take athletic competition seriously. So this race, I'm doing it as a goal for myself - - but I have no idea what my attitude will be during the race. Anyway, this year I'm hoping to jump up to the next skill level of biking, and I feel that so far I've done a splendid job of that.

In other news, a photo of my Textured Tunic - - of which I am very fond. I've worn it several times and I love the way that it hangs, I love the feeling of the cotton, and I find it simply attractive.

Then, one of my current projects: Iceland. Here's the start of the sleeve. The yarn is surprisingly easy to work with, despite some reviews that it tends to split, and it is quite soft. I also like the color a lot. The leafy pattern is remarkably userfriendly, even though its a 20 row lace pattern. I began the Iceland about four days ago, so it appears to be a relatively quick knit. Of course, by yesterday, I was needing some good ol' stockinette to relax me away from the lace. So I began another top-down raglan...it will be very similar to the Tunic above, but I'm working it in some fine alpaca and will incorporate some cabling.

Posted by jennifer at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ I can't believe it's March! ~

At present, the most notworthy piece of information that I feel compelled to share with the internet is the fact that last Friday, February 29th, arguably in the winter, I went on the first mountain bike ride of the year. The trails were sufficiently dry and firm and I had a SPLENDID time. I anticipate that this is going to be a GLORIOUS year for cycling! Of note, is that I sucessfully rode a technical obstacle of the trail which I have never before been able to ride. Go me. I was very proud of that accomplishment. In addition, I have decided to establish for myself the goal of completing at least one mountain biking race this year.

In other biking news, this past weekend was the Boise Bike Swap and I was able to sell an old carbon fiber Trek that has been taking up a lot of space in my studio apartment. After all, three bikes in a studio apartment is much more reasonable than FOUR. My new new mountain bike, you know, this one, (as opposed to this one which sent me to the Emergency Room) also received a nice upgrade with Josh's Chris King wheel set, which has SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the weight of the bike. Unfortunately, as I got the bike rather late in the season last year, it's shamefully clean and spotless, virtually devoid of mud. I'm hoping to get it all nice and dirty soon, and am hoping that it will continue to be dirty for much of the year, no matter how many times I hose it off.

In the way of knitting, I am severely frustrated because I did an extremely crappy job of blocking my Neaty cardigan. And so, even though it came off the needles looking spectacular, I now can't stand it. At present, it is drying on my floor after my second attempt at blocking...hopefully I will be able to reverse the disaster that it became. This process has awakened a desire within me to utilize profane language. Sheesh! Gar! Nuts!

Last night, after spending a number of hours writing a paper, I decided I needed a break and Josh and I went off to Bittercreek to enjoy some beers, share a hummus plate, and play several rounds of Boggle. Josh was winning for the majority of the time, but then I attained several high-scoring words, which placed us 'neck and neck' for points. In the final, tie-breaking round, I achieved victory! and then went home and went to bed. The end.

Posted by jennifer at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ the hollowness of the doors ~

I admit it... the restroom situation at my new office makes me uncomfortable. It, the restroom, is located in the middle of the suite, and because of the thinness of the walls, the hollowness of the doors, and the acoustics of the suite, it is possible to discern EVERYTHING that takes place in the restroom. Which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Early this morning, I completed a thorough exploration of the first and the second floor, which yielded no restroom alternatives. Later today, I will wander the third floor which may afford a more acceptable restroom opportunity. Although, I have heard odd things about the third floor. In particular, some people have claimed that occasionally there are nude senior citizens on the third floor, and that, too, makes me a bit uncomfortable.

In other news, this weekend it was GLORIOUS. On Saturday, Josh and I were determined to squeeze in a mountain bike ride between the time that he got off work and our scheduled dinner/movie date with Elizabeth and Edvin. Initially, we were going to do some version of Hulls, but the thick cloud of gnats made cycling nearly impossible. All was well on the beginning of the trail, but as we got deeper into the mini-canyon, the gnats formed a thick wall, and riding through the wall brought numerous gnats into our eyes, our noses, our mouths, and all throughout our clothing items. To be honest, I have never experienced such a thing before. So, we turned around and decided to ride Shane's instead.

We made good time up to the top of the trail, at which time the sun began to set. I was a bit nervous about riding in the dark - - an activity which Josh does with some regularity, but which makes me feel a bit nervous. My first night ride! And it was awesome. Once the sun began to set, it got dark fast. But there was enough light pollution from Boise that I was able to discern the direction of the trail, albeit not the features of the terrain. It helped that I've ridden this trail so many times that I have it virtually memorized, but I was keeping my body relaxed on the bike in case I hit an unanticipated bump or rock. Ultimately, I think that I may have been riding faster than normal, what with being unable to see the terrain, I just let the bike go and I put my trust in my skills and the wheels. It was loads of fun.

Then on Sunday, Josh and I went out to the Owyhees and rode some of the area across from Barking Spider. Please see the above photos. The ride was great fun, and would have been even greater fun if the trails had been a bit more hardpacked. From the second and third photos above, it is evident that the trails were highly sandy (Josh even fell off his bike because of the sand!). We ended up hiking our bikes for a substantial amount of time and distance...through valleys, up and over mountains...I was getting a bit cranky about all of the sandiness. But when it was fun, it was a blast! I rode down some things that would have usually make me rather afraid, but I've got a new-found confidence and lack of fear with my new bicycle. It's so great, no longer being afraid.

Posted by jennifer at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ merry making ~

~:~ ~:~ ~:~ ~:~

On Saturday, Elizabeth and I went on a big wonderful hike in the Owyhees in the Wilson Creek area. I was particularly proud of myself that I was able to successfully navigate us to the trailhead without too many wrong turns. About three weekends ago, Josh and I engaged in a big mountain bike adventure in the Owyhees, which included a bit of riding the Wilson Creek area. Due to the rugged and unorganized features of the trail that we rode, we assumed that we had failed to locate the actual Wilson Creek trail. As such, prior to embarking this weekend to the area, Josh recommended that I take Elizabeth to this other trailhead, which we were certain would be the real Wilson Creek trail. It was not. Elizabeth and I spent a few minutes hiking on some singletrack until it branched into an ATV road which ultimately took us to the main road in a very roundabout way. I tried to explain that this is all a part of the Owyhee experience...uncharted and unmarked, with different makeshift trails and ATV roads intersecting everywhere, and the constant probability of getting lost. During this part of the hike, we encounterd some horse riders who directed us to the "real" Wilson Creek trail, which was the trail that Josh and I had ridden bikes on. Apparently, it forms a great big loop. Elizabeth and I navigated ourselves to that proper trail and had this glorious hike through some amazing Owyhee scenery, which you may view in the photos above. During the hike, we saw a big lizzard and had a number of really gross and fascinating conversations about what she's been learning in her anatomy classes.

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~

In other news, on Friday, I spontaneously acquired a new mountain bike. To make a long and involved story "short," Josh was looking at this Stumpjumper hardtail last Thursday and felt that it would be a better bike for me than the HiFi that I've been riding. He had developed a theory that the HiFi was too much bike for me and that I should ride a bike that centered my weight lower to the ground to increase stability. What is more, this Stumpjumper has v-brakes and not disc brakes, which was particularly exciting for me. So, it was absolutely random that he called me on Thursday and planted the seed of this new bike in my head. I let the seed take root over night as I pondered and researched it. Initially, I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, but on Friday, I took my lunch break and went to the bike shop to see this new bicycle and it became an agonizing decision for me. I was not at all concerned about the money, as the only reason that I work is so that I can afford those things that make up a lifestyle that brings me joy and happiness, however I was concerned about the prospect of buying yet another bike that wouldn't be perfect for me. There is an agonzing uncertainty when it comes to trying to find the right bike. And bikes aren't the sort of thing that one can purchase, ride around for a bit, decide it's not the right bike, and return for a different bike.

On Friday, as I was test-riding the Stumpjumper, it was apparent that I would not be afraid of the bike. I have written extensively about my strong disc brakes that lack proper modulation and how I exist in a constant state of fear with regards to these brakes. And this fear has been justified and reinforced by the simple and plain fact that I have crashed a number of times on this bike as a direct result of these brakes and the fear that they have caused. I understand the concept that one must have correct form and skill with regards to using one's mountain bike, but at the same time, I feel that the mountain bike should be a user-friendly tool to enable me to have fun on the trail rather than being an obstacle to overcome. And so, I decided to get the Stumpjumper. Even though it is a "downgrade" in terms of going from full suspension back to a hardtail, I decided to sacrifice cushy suspension in favor of not being afraid.

The pro-con list that developed during this decision-making process was rather extensive and complex. In the end, the decision became easy when I imagined riding my favorite trails and no longer being afraid. And I am confident that I made the right decision in getting the Stumpjumper. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to take her out on a ride. Josh and I did some old favorites, Sidewinder and Shane's Loop. The first point to make is that I haven't had so much fun on a mountain bike ride for months and months as I did on this ride. The difference was palpable. I also haven't ridden as fast, both uphill and downhill, for months. I felt so comfortable and relaxed on the bike, what with the sheer lack of fear, and I cannot begin to articulate how CONFIDENT I felt! For the first time in what seems like a LONG time, I felt in control. The ride on the downhill felt tight, controlled, smooth, seamless, nimble, stable, and incredible. I was able to let go of the brakes and just fly down the trail, knowing that I could slam on the brakes at any given moment if necessary. Whereas on the HiFi, I always made a concerted effort to keep my speed at a controlled pace because I was concerned that if I had to brake suddenly that I would fly over the handlebars. And this, I feel, is the primary advantage of weak v-brakes...being able to let loose yet still be in control. What is more, a primary difficulty that I had with the HiFi and downhill form was the concept of putting weight onto the front wheel. As I was afraid of flying over the handlebars, you know, because I flew over the handlebars and crashed several times, I would try to keep my weight as far off of the front wheel as I could. Proper downhill form requires weight on the front wheel to ensure stability and traction, which can feel very counter-intuitive if one is afraid of flying over the front of the bike. On the Stumpjumper, my lack of fear of crashing over the handlebars allowed me to comfortably put weight onto the front wheel during my downhill, which increased my feeling of stability and control. All in all, the experience was amazing and to further my feeling that this was the right decision is the generocity and understanding of the bike shop bosses who let me basically walk away with the new Stumpjumper in a quasi exchange for the HiFi.

Posted by jennifer at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ and one more thing ~

Somehow, way back in March, my employment status had been reduced two levels without my or my supervisors' notice. This resulted in me paying about $40 more in health benefits every month since. When I finally realized that this had happened, it took another month before it was fixed in the human resources' system. So, my paycheck last week had an extra $230 on it, which was quite lovely. Rather than investing the money in my savings account, I decided to blow it on a shopping trip (see below post, re: purse). In all honesty, I haven't been shopping in some time, and because I have been extraordinarily responsible with my pennies and dimes these days, I decided that I deserved a treat. I purchased a purse (which I so succintly describe every detail of the experience below), a few shirts, AND! some wonderful cycling gear.

I've had another pair of cycling shorts on my list of things to buy for some time. My current favorite shorts are beginning to get a bit worn out, by which I mean that they are becoming see-through, which isn't so awesome on skin-tight spandex shorts. I've got some other shorts, but the chamoise aren't as good and my female areas get cranky in them. Also, I've had a dream for a new lightweight jersey for some time. The other day, I was having beers at Lucky 13 where all of the cyclists go for beer after their rides, and I saw a female who had a fantastic looking tank top-style jersey on, and I decided that I wanted one just like hers. So, yesterday I spent a great deal of time trying on every article of women's cycling clothing at the bike shop and finally decided on these:

The SheBeest Sultry Summer Tank in black. The jersey was a big decision. It was between the SheBeest and the Specialized Women's Dolce Tank. I found that the material on the Specialized was so wonderful and absolutely perfect, but the jersey had a ridiculously small pocket which would not have worked for me because I have to carry around all kinds of crap with me on rides. Also, when I first tried on the SheBeest jersey in orange, I was so weirded out by how visible the incorporated bra system was and decided that it would not be appropriate to wear in public. But the SheBeest one had a good pocket in the back and it fit better than the Specialized. This proved to be quite the dilemma until I located a SheBeast jersey in black, and in that color the bra system was not at all visible.

For the shorts, I went into the bike shop with the intention to get another pair of my favorite shorts, the Specialized Comp Shorts. This was a nice intention, except for that it failed to take into account the fact that the shop did not have my size in stock. I considered purchasing the lower-end version of the shorts, but in my experience I have found that going lower end on something that is supposed to protect the health and safety of one's female area is not something that one should do. As you may imagine, I was completely obsessed with this and I tried on almost every single pair of shorts available. Finally, after alot of hard thinking and consultation with a sales person, I decided to go with a pair of Adidas adiStar shorts. Browsing the Adidas website trying to find the exact pair of shorts I purchased was a horrid experience, so we'll have to make do with that Amazon link that has a drawing of the shorts instead of a photo. Anyway, the shorts are grey, which I feel is rather unusual, and they match well with the back jersey which has a grey curve/stripe. And the chamoise seems like it might be even better than the one in my favorite pair, so very awesome.

Last night, I took both Josh and my new outfit on a bike ride and it was a splendid experience. I am still only doing flat and mild rides because of the knee, but I'm back to riding at close-to-normal speeds. We did an hour last night and I had a wonderful time. I would have liked to go for longer, but we didn't manage to start the ride until 8:20 and there was barely an hour's worth of light by that time.

Isn't that interesting?!

Posted by jennifer at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ poofy knee and bruises going down ~

I have not felt as though I have anything interesting-for-other-people to write about. For a while now, I have been having trememdous difficulty getting up in the morning. This has been the case throughout the duration of my existence, but it's much worse these days. Today, I got out of bed 7 minutes before I had to leave for work. When I arrived, my office mate mentioned that I looked like I had just rolled out of bed and I said, "Pretty much." I also had a super busy weekend and did not complete all of my weekly "getting my life together" items, such as putting the apartment back in order, so my life has seemed like a big mess (quite literally). Nevertheless, life has remained good.

I experienced a big epiphany over the weekend. You see, I have become somewhat obsessed about the concept of becoming a homeowner. I've even started a high interest savings account for this long term goal and am throwing in all of my extra money each month. There are a few barriers with this goal, however. The first is the price of homes in the location where I want to live. As I feel location to be tantamount to everything, I would want a home right off of downtown in the North End. Yet, as I have been combing the North End, where every third home is currently for sale, I am appauled at the price that these homes are "worth." For example, there is a crappy, run down, what appears to be a crack house, a few blocks down from me that is going for almost a million dollars. It's big, but it's super ugly and looks like it's about to fall to pieces. The best deal that I've found is a 900 square foot SUPER CUTE place that's almost $300,000. The average price for a modest sized (2 bedroom) home is about $450,000. In short, not likely to be anything that I could afford, what with the working at not-for-profit organizations. And I don't much feel like living farther away where I would have to return to commuting and not having downtown at my beck and call. The other major barrier to this goal is the notion that I'm not committed to living in Boise for the rest of my life. I've given a lot of thought to moving somewhere with a mild climate year round. These sorts of places, such as Santa Barbara and San Louis Obispo, tend to have very high home prices, so the likelihood of my being able to become a homeowner there is much less than in Boise.

The other day ago, it occurred to me that it's ridiculous to live somewhere that I'm not completely satisfied with in order to save money to buy a home that I might never be able to afford. Also, you know, life happens. Saving Money=Good, but something tells me that I'll never be able to afford a half-a-million-dollar home. And since compromise is not one of those activities at which I excel (which is to say that I have no interest in those homes/doublewide trailers miles and miles away which I could afford), I'm pondering alternatives to my living situation which might allow for me to both have and eat my cake.

In other news, wow. My degree in political science has done nothing to help me navigate the politics within my organization. I mean, HOLY HEAVEN AND HELL ON EARTH, who knew that my job would be reduced to little more than thumb twiddling due to the political deadlock that ensued over my and my boss' attempt to get for me the tools necessary to perform my job?!! Little did we know that in order to get afore-eluded to tools, that we would have to take it to the upper echelons of the organization, a political card that we decided it wasn't worth playing. I am hoping that my masters program will assist me in knowing how to navigate these kinds of politics and bureaucracies better in the future, as I am confident that politics are deeply entrenched in this non-political organization. To sum up my feelings on the matter, SHEESH!

Here's a "brief" mountain biking update (feel free to skip, for those of you not interested):

On Saturday, Josh and I completed a big 24 mile mountain bike ride. We rode up Bogus Basin Road, up Hard Guy, up Ridge Road, and then had an 11 mile descent down upper 8th Street. I had to pause on several occasions in order to pour water onto my head and exposed skin areas. The temperature was pretty hot and I continue to have issues with overheating. Josh has procured a cyclecomputer with an altimeter, so we were able to determine that we completed about 3,000 feet of climbing. Riding down Ridge Road was both fun and scary challenging. There were a bunch of loose sand areas, lots of ruts, and some rugged rocky sections. Nevertheless, I prevailed. Another interesting bit about this ride was that I had the opportunity to use my new hip-mounted Camelbak, my effort to carry more water on extended rides without having to use a backpack. Hip mounted Camelbak, I am a fan!

On Monday night, I participated in a women's mountain bike skills clinic, taught by some local women mountain bike racers. We began by learning "quarter punches" (a technique to lift the front wheel) and going up and down curbs. It was pretty basic stuff, but I have wanted to improve my technical skills for a while, so I was fully engaged and participating. Then, we started to ride up a trail to find some rocks to practice on. The problem was that this group of over 20 women had such variance in skill level and biking experience, that we all ended up waiting for a ridiculous amount of time for the brand new/never riden a bike before people. I was of the opinion that they should have grouped us up a bit by ability level, but as there were three instructors and over 20 participants, that would have been difficult. Anyway, we'd ride 50 feet, wait five minutes for everyone to catch up, ride 50 feet, wait, 50 feet, wait. In over an hour and a half, we were able to travel about three miles. Which is why I made the decision to leave and go on my own bike ride. I rode off and continued to practice my new skillz. Eventually, after a little miscommunication mishap, Josh met up with me and we went off riding up Red Sands. We stopped at an intersection where there was a connector trail turning off from Red Sands going down towards Your Mom and practiced going down something super scary. This trail began as a turn to the right, was banked going into the turn, with about four big ruts cutting across, then it dipped down dramatically, was crossed by another rut filled with loose sand, had a big bump, and then the trail continued down very steeply and was off camber in the opposite direction of the way that it had been banked. I practiced trying to ride down it a number of times and couldn't pass the first turn. One of those times, I bailed and fell over and knocked my knee hard. Said knee is currently all swollen, bruised, and painful. Even though I wasn't entirely successful, I felt good that I was trying. Then we contineud to ride around a bit.

Last night, we rode Sidewinder, and I had a blast. Josh had performed some minor surgery on my brakes that afternoon, filing down the brake pads, in an effort to make the front brake less powerful and to give it increased modulation. It seems to have worked well - - I now have a wide spectrum of braking power with the front brake, and the possibility of grabbing it too hard and going over the handlebars, hopefully, reduced. I have decided that Sidewinder is a good trail for me to practice my form and technique. It has a number of mild challenges that would allow me to work on some skills and regain my confidence at going fast, yet there is nothing scary or unnerving about it. Also, it's short enough to make it a great trail for later in the evening, when the temperature has cooled down sufficiently. Last night, we didn't dare venture on a bike ride until sometime after 8pm because it was just too hot. We were coming down the trail right at sunset (around 9:15 or so) and it was a wonderful time of day and temperature to ride in.

Posted by jennifer at 4:00 PM | Permalink

~ mini-vacation Salmon, Idaho ~

I have found that when one has the opportunity to embark upon a spontaneous mini-vacation, that it is generally in one's best interest (of having a splendid time) to take advantage of that opportunity. Last week, Josh and I had such an opportunity - - he had the rare, so to speak, chance to take a three day "weekend" (being that his normal weekend is Friday and Saturday, it became a three-day with the additional day off of Thursday). It turned out to be a perfect week for me to cut my hours short by two days, despite the short notice of taking Thursday and Friday off on Monday. We then had two days to come to an agreement about how to spend our mini-vacation. Now, I don't know about all you other couples out there, but occasionally Josh and I find ourselves engaged in heated negotiations to agree on something. With regards to the mini-vacation debate, we each had our hearts set on a certain place, only for the other person to articulate a number of reasons in disfavor of that location. Eventually, the night before we were planning to set off on our adventure, we found agreement on the location of Salmon, Idaho.

According to Mapquest, the drive from Boise to Salmon is estimated at 5 hours and 11 minutes. Josh and I had established approximately 3 hours as the maximum time allowance for driving, so it's surprising that we decided to travel somewhere with almost twice the travel time. To compensate, we decided to stop at about the halfway point for a big bike ride. We stopped several miles before Stanley and completed a 20 mile loop around the Knapp Creek area of the Sawtooths.

The Knapp Creek Loop was pretty fun. When we arrived at the trailhead, there was a big bright yellow sign indicating that the area was "BEAR COUNTRY" and advised trail users to make noise so as not to startle any bears. Now, I have read enough reports about people in Idaho being mauled by bears to take a sign like that seriously. Which is why, for the majority of the ride, Josh and I were singing and humming nonsensical tunes for to not startle bears. For me, however, it was a nice change to fear being mauled by a bear than to be afraid of some aspect of the bike ride. Indeed, there was nothing about the ride that could have frightened a 'fraidy pants like me. It was labelled as a beginner/intermediate ride, the only reason for the intermediateness about it being a wee little bit on the technical side and the length (20 miles being nothing to shake a stick at). Personally, I was loving the wee little bit of technical action on the trail - - one does not see much technical spots on the Boise foothills - - and it was a nice challenge that made the ride more interesting. Another interesting factor about the ride were the number of creek crossings we faced. There was quite a bit of water running down those mountains, sieved nicely into streams and creeks. The first major creek crossing I peddled my way through no problem, despite my feet and ankles dipping fully into the water. The other major crossing was more of a river which was far too deep for peddling. Wow, ice water from the mountains can sure make one's feet lose all circulation quickly!

The last few miles of the ride got a bit old for me - - we left Boise at 9:00 in the morning, started our bike ride at 1:00 in the afternoon, and that was a long time for me to go without a full meal. At mile 17 of the bike ride (which was around 2:45), I was officially about to faint from starvation. We had all kinds of energy bars and calorie drinks, but I needed FOOD. After returning to the car, we quickly made our way to Stanley where we had a big meal. The last leg of the drive was a bit more tedious and uncomfortable, as our butts were in the process of withering up and dying from sitting in the car for so long.

But we made it! The night before, we made reservations to stay at the Greyhouse Bed and Breakfast (see above photo), which is 12 miles outside of town along the Salmon River. We stayed in one of the cabins for a very reasonable rate. Our cabin was nice and odd. It was a good solid cabin with a comfy bed...and it was decorated with a simply ridiculous amount of fish motifs. There were stuffed fish everywhere, several on the bed as pillows, some on the chairs as cushions, and even some sticking here and there for mere decoration. The walls had a wide assortment of fish in various format, everything was fish, fish, fish. Whatever, the bed was comfy and there was plenty of hot water.

After settling into our fishy cabin and taking showers, Josh and I decided to drive on over to Salmon for some groceries. It was about 8:00 by the time that we hit the road again. We took a quick tour of the town, which is super cute, and stopped by a grocery store for some food items, and beer. We then sat on our porch at the cabin, snacking and drinking our beers. It was very nice.

The next day, we rose at 8:00 and had breakfast with our fellow bed and breakfasters. We also procured a map of the area and began to ponder our adventures for the day. After breakfast, we went back to the town for some real exploring. We walked up and down Main Street, visited the Lemhi County Historical Museum (where Josh and I were both conned into picking up solidified hair balls from cows' stomachs - - those Salmonites have questionable senses of humor). Josh took the opportunity to question several individuals about possible mountain biking trails. There were several options and, ultimately, we decided to ride Twelve Mile Creek for the reason that we would not have to drive to get there (it began a block down from the Greyhouse Bed and Breakfast).

Twelve Mile Creek is a forest service road that travels up and up into whatever wilderness area. I think that we were forewarned that it is a rocky road, but it's difficult to know how much weight to give various warnings. You know, Josh and I have been warned about mountain biking on this or that trail by all sorts of non-mountain bikers, only to discover that there was no need for any kind of a warning. This Twelve Mile Creek forest service road was just like the warnings we heard... ROCKY - - and I don't mean there were some rocks on it, I mean that the entire road for miles and miles is nothing but big loose rocks, such that it was quite a challenge to ride. And it was HOT. The grade did not seem like much, but after looping around the first switchback, I glanced down into the bottomless void from which I had ridden, and realized we were climbing much more than it seemed. We stopped at several of the streams coming down the mountain and stuck our heads in the icy water to cool down - - did I mention that it was HOT?! We made it about 9 miles up before we gave up - - we were hoping to arrive at some scenic meadow area, but with each switchback going higher and higher, our hopes diminshed. And the rocks were making for something of an unpleasant climb. It was not the nice technicals of the ride the previous day, it was frustrating rockiness that was just a pain in the bottom. So after 9 miles of butt pains, we turned around. I had been a little wary about the prospect of the downhill on such a rocky, deceivingly-steep road with a massive drop off into a deep void off the side of the road (see: fraidy pants). So I started my descent focusing on my proper biking form, not looking at the scary drop off next to me, and trying to not wipe out on the rocks. At some point, I thought about how one could really fuck one's self up by crashing on such a road. Somehow, in spite of all these scary factors, I was having fun! I hit a massive rock head on, unintentionally, and it was absorbed into my shocks and my descent continued uninterrupted. As I continued down, carefully engaging my breaks at the proper times (not in corners, not as I hit big rocks, not as I rolled through loose sections of rocks) and let my wheels carry me through the sketchy sections, it became really awesome. Soon, I let go of the breaks all together and only used them to keep my speed from getting out of control. According to my computer, I was going 15...18...20...22...25...27 miles an hour down a steepish rocky road, faster than a car would have gone, with my shocks absorbing all of the rocks so that my ride was cushy and comfy. For a good while, I was even seated, with the rear suspension making for a smooth ride. After a while, I started riding over the bigger and looser rocks, just for practicing. At the bottom, the straightaway before the highway, I was going almost 35 mph, which is pretty fast for me. It was a great ride!

That evening, we went back into town for some dinner at a place called the Shady Nook. I enjoyed some blackened salmon and sweet potato fries and Josh had some kind of alfredo pasta thing and french onion soup. We then wandered around down by the river where Josh impressed me with his ability to skip rocks. I hypothesize that the skipping of rocks is some base animal instinct that dudes have retained over the ages in order to attract a mate. The rock skipping ritual lasted quite some time, it was as though Josh was showing of his vibrant plummage.

The next day, Saturday, was the end of our mini-vacation. We had breakfast at the Greyhouse and loaded into the car for the drive back. We opted to go the LONG way so that we could see Craters of the Moon. We biked a 7 mile loop around the area, and saw lots of volcanic stuff. I'd never been there before, so it was nice to have that opportunity.

Also during the drive back, we opted to stop in several of the small towns along the way for a quick walk around. In Mackay, pop. 500, we found a number of yard sales to peruse and managed to skedaddle out just in time to miss the town parade. I don't parades. We had lunch in another little town, Carey, I believe. Also, I had quite the giggle as we passed through Arco, the first community in the world to be lit by nuclear power!

The great misadventure of the trip was while we were driving along this remote highway after leaving Mackay, at 65 mph, and all of a sudden Josh (who was driving) looked in the rearview mirror and screamed "Your bike is gone!" I practically had a heart attack as I looked back at the trunk rack to see no Minty Fresh (what I named by brand new expensive bike). Immediately, we turn around, thinking that the bike must have flown off the rack (because it was on the rack when we left Mackay). The amazing irony being that this was a brand new fancy pants rack that Josh arranged for us to use specifically for this trip. For years, I've used this trunk rack that my dad found at some thrift store for $5, and it has served me well (no bikes flying off). This rack that I've had, however, has just seemed like an accident waiting to happen. The manner in which it fastens to the car is questionable, and Josh and I are always going to great pains to secure the bikes to the rack. So for this big trip, Josh wanted to have the piece of mind of using a high quality brand new bike shop recommended rack. It attaches to my car so much better, and it has wonderful pads and straps for the bikes, to hold them securely. So it was quite the shock to look back and see that my bike was no longer on the rack! As we were driving back from whence we had came, I was scanning the sides of the road, expecting to see my brand new (expensive) bike, having been crushed and run over by the traffic, all bent up, broken, and sad. Boy, was my heart rate up. We did not drive for very long when we began to wonder if perhaps the bike was somehow dragging along behind us. Josh pulled over and I ran to the back, where I discoverd my bicycle dangling by the cheap cable lock that we had used to lock the bikes to the rack while in the thief-ridden town of Mackay. Somehow, the straps securing the bike to the rack came undone and the bike flew off the rack, but the lock held. I cannot find the words to describe my relief that my bike was not only NOT bent, broken, and sad along the side of the road, but that it appeared to be undamaged. I was so glad that we had randomly decided to put the crappy cable lock on the bikes, which would have done nothing if a thief had really wanted to steal our bikes, but which managed to hold the bike up enough so that it wasn't even dragging along the road as we sped along at 65 mph. There is not even single a scratch on sweet Minty Fresh!

Whew!

Anyhoo, here's a link to my flickr set on this mini-adventure.

Posted by jennifer at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ cramping quads ~

Is it true that when one does an extra-ordinary amount of difficult physical activity, that one is the most sore two days later??? I guess I'm not so much "sore" per se, but rather that one of my quadriceps is seizing up into these painful cramps. I hypothes