September 17, 2008
~ 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.
September 2, 2008
~ 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.
June 24, 2008
~ Sage Creek, Owyhees ~
Another fun adventure was had this weekend in the Owyhees. Josh and I met up at the insanely early hour of eight o'clock on Saturday morning, procured some coffee beverages, and headed to the southwest. As of this writing, we have become expert Owyhee-ophiles. This ride was to take us along some of the dirt roads that we have ridden on previous occasions. This time, however, we stuck to the lower roads that veered in the general westerly direction and made a loop out to Sage Creek. This is the same area as can be found the Wilson, Poison, and Jump Creek trails/roads. While Wilson Creek appears to be the most popular of these for mountain bikers, as Josh articulated, Wilson Creek is overrated because "it's just a bunch of cow pies."
And so we set off! The temperature was predicted to be HOT that day and I was greatly pleased with the thick clouds blocking the direct sunshine for the majority of our ride. Indeed, everything worked out perfectly, weatherwise. Only until the very end of the ride did I begin to feel a little on the overheated side of things, but there was sufficient wind to help cool me off. As we rode along the roads, we were frequently confronted with the decision of WHICH ROAD TO TAKE, as the number of possible routes seemed infinite. At some point, when we were confronted with that decision, we noted a structure in the direction of a particular road veering to our left. This structure aided our decision-making process, as we had to check it out.
Exploration is such fun! We never came to a firm conclusion on what the structure was, but we had a number of hypotheses. Suffice it to say that this structure was in the middle of nowhere, abandoned, in ruins, and had been picked over by both animals, humans, and firearms. In addition, there was a ravine-thing just behind this structure, into which a number of appliances had been thrown (refrigerators, televisions, etc.) and shot at by guns. Strange. I also located a very large pile of rusted tin cans which really appalled the environmentalist in me.
From there, we continued along our merry way. We stopped to gaze over a mini-canyon and enjoy a nutritional supplement, at which point, we made friends with two black cattle. These friends of ours trotted along the side of the road in front of us for some time. Soon after we left them in the dust, the clouds above us began emitting condensed H2O, which was a lovely sensation in the increasing heat. We paused a few times so that Josh could consider the map and ensure our proper location, which I appreciated.
At another point, we came upon a batch of water which we were obliged to cross. As I was in the lead, I attempted to charge straight through it, but met with resistance at both the depth of the water and the squishiness of the mud beneath my tires. I might mention that stagnant water in an area where cattle are allowed to graze freely tends to be rather pungent and I felt somewhat soiled after immersing part of my person in it. In addition, a great quantity of mud and rocks found their way into my shoes, which I failed to appreciate.
I'm not certain the distance that we covered, but it was a good three hour adventure (with lots of pausing). After the ride, we drove to Homedale for some lunch.
More photos available on my Flickr photoset.
October 1, 2007
~ merry making ~
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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.
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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.
April 23, 2007
~ Poison Creek, Owyhees ~
This past Saturday, Josh and I drove out to the Owyhees for a mountain biking adventure. He had been obsessing over the Poison Creek area on Google Earth for several weeks, certain that he was seeing what could be some excellent mountain biking opportunities. One aspect of the Owyhees is that they are relatively unmarked...which is to say, there are random roads and trails branching out everywhere, but there are very few signs, and it's best to wander the area with a detailed map and a good sense of direction. A few weeks ago, when we had a mini-vacation in Marsing and went on an ill-fated bike ride in the Owyhees, we were trying to ride a certain direction which Josh felt would take us on an excellent adventure. Unfortunately, on that ride, we had no map, we routinely encountered dead-ended roads, routinely found ourselves on roads which were not easily ridable, and became caught in a severe wind and rain storm. Since then, Josh has gone over the area on Google Earth numerous times and has procured a detailed map of the area, so we were much better prepared on Saturday for a second try.
We parked the car at the same location as we had the last time, off a dirt road that branched several times over, with the only identifying feature (as far as I can tell) being an abandoned and collapsed stone house. After mounting our trusty hardtail steeds, we proceeded to peddle up a random road to our left which was not one of the random roads on which we had peddled before. This took us up and up and up, a climb that I felt was more difficult than it should have been, only because of the immediacy of the climb (usually, I have a few minutes of riding before such a climb). Throughout the climb upwards, the sky remained cloudy and foreboding, the wind was cold, but the weather never warned of impending doom. Instead, there was a strange optimism in the air...as though things might clear up.
At some point, we encountered a flock of sheep and their respective sheep dogs and shepards. As I was threading my way through the gaggle of sheep on the road, I made a mental note that sheep are not the most intelligent of all creatures. We rode slowly through, an effort to avoid inadvertently herding them (re: not the most intelligent of creatures), and tried to act calm while riding by the sheep dogs. Sheep dogs...a far cry sharper than the school of sheep they monitored. I was a tad perturbed by the presence of the sheep, as they existed along the stretch of road which was the first downhill portion. At the time, I was wanting a good fun adrenaline downhill zoom, which was thwarted by the big balls of would-be yarn.
At some other point, we came to a lookout area where we stopped to ingest some granola bars and rest. The view was particularly stunning. I should mention, right about here, that the batteries in my camera were dangerously low...and what was I doing? I was taking photos of cute flowers and not saving my batteries for possible amazingness. After resting and reenergizing, we continued on our way with an increase in both downhill opportunities and amazing view opportunities. The road became less "maintained" at certain points - - the downhills were severely rutted (by which I mean that there were ruts several inches wide and several inches deep) and the ground became loose and rocky. We had to stop several times just to take in the beauty of the Owyhees. We stopped at a certain particularly stunning point which overlooked Jump Creek Canyon. I took a single photo of the canyon and then became preoccupied trying to photograph a certain flower, and then my camera turned itself off. From this point, the sun came out, the day became glorious (by which I underscore several times), and the views of Jump Creek canyon became ever more stunning. I will refer all of my readers to Josh's flickr account, which I linked a few posts ago, for some incredible photos of our journey. You may access my meager photos by clicking on the cow at the beginning of this post.
As we continued peddling along, Josh routinely consulting his map to ensure that we would not get lost, we found ourselves on some singletrack that was to take us to the beginning of Jump Creek. The trail took us along the ridge and, I'm beginning to be a broke record, it was an awesome experience. Just before the bottom, the trail became unridable and we had to walk our bikes down a rather steep, loose ground, and rocky trail. Yea, hiking in cycling cleats is not the most comfortable or ideal way to travel. At the bottom, we proceeded to wander into Jump Creek canyon all the way to the waterfall. During that trip, we had to hike our bikes most of the way, carefully crossed the creek by navigatign the wobbly stepping stones in our cleats (yikes!) and then had a lovely experience at the waterfall. However, we agreed that Jump Creek Canyon is more spectacular from above than from within.
After making our way out of the canyon, we had just a few miles of washboard gravelly road to return to the car. At this point, I was wishing that I had some rear suspension, as the washboard gravelly road was rather unpleasant to ride on after having ridden for three hours. By the end of the ride, we were both hungry, so we drove into Marsing for some food. We stopped at the White House drive in (next to the trailer park that we had stayed in a few weeks before) and had some affordable yummy food.
