~ getting the legs back ~

In considering the above photo, what are your thoughts? Is it time to get a new camera??? That image is straight from the camera, no modification done. Grainy images are becoming the normal output from my camera and I find myself increasingly disappointed in them. This one was taken as the sun was set, so perhaps my camera is fine, I dunno. Sigh...

The photo is of the view from the top of Rocky Canyon Road, which is where Josh and I rode our mountain bikes last night. If memory serves, we left sometime after 8:00 in the evening and it took us a little over an hour to reach the top. The temperature was in the high 50s in the Valley when we left, and once we got to the top (with the significant elevation gain) it was a lot chillier. While bombing down the road on the descent, my fingers and toes went numb despite my two layers of gloves and booties. It was nevertheless a great ride. Rocky Canyon Road was in excellent condition, the surface greatly improved from the recent rainstorms. I had a blast on the descent, listening to Neko Case at a ridiculously high volume and topping off at 30mph (as I indicated in my previous post about gravity and speed, that's fast for a lightweight).

The title for this post, incidentally, is in reference to how I've been having some excellent rides lately. I rode Rocky Canyon Road on Wednesday as well, and felt so strong and amazing. I am very excited about finally being able to have plenty of time to get my cycling legs in shape, and to also have plenty of time to engage in my other spare time activities (see below: knitting & gardening).

In other news, I have several finished knitting projects that I'm excited to show off. Speaking of grainy photos, here's a glimpse of something I recently finished. I know, I know, you can't really see it because the photo is so bad. I've been waiting for the sun to poke out so that I can try taking some better photos of my projects, but the sun has not been cooperating.

I was particularly pleased with how this project came out. It's a mini-sweatervest thing made from yarn that I repurposed from a different project. You may recall my Neaty from a few years ago... well, after a few years of very regular use, the yarn had pilled so badly that the sweater looked ratty and horrid. The yarn was Berroco Jasper, a single ply wool that is wonderfully soft, but apparently not suited for a workhorse sweater. As a result, I unraveled the entire sweater and salvaged what yarn I could - - so much of it was felted that I couldn't rescue it - - but I salvaged enough to make this sweatervest.

Anyway, I will write more about it once I can take a decent photo. I have other projects to show off as well.

On another note, speaking of rain and a lack of sunshine, in the left-hand corner of the above photo, you might have noticed some sweet leaves from a tomato plant... This year is going to my first real attempt to have a garden and it's not starting out very well. I mentioned in a previous post that I had not had my act together during the final semester of school to start seedlings, and instead purchased some plants from a local organic nursery. Well... I was nervous about the weather and did not plant them in the ground for a few weeks. The weather this "spring" has been strange, as evidenced by how it snowed last week (the mountains outside of town got 16 inches of snow, crazypants!). Anyway, I was trying to use good judgment about when to plant my plants in the ground and couldn't really decide. The snow melted and the weather reports indicated no frost, so I decided to go for it. I planted on Monday. Then, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday all saw torrential rainstorms and hardly any sunlight. My poor tomatoes look so sad. I feel that I am a sucky farmer.

Finally, the 30th anniversary of my birth is coming up and I continue to discover more grey hairs atop my head. Today at work, while I was washing my hands in the restroom, I noticed three new ones. I exited the restroom and asked a cool female who works in the same area as I if she thought I should dye my hair. She incredulously said to me, "You're only 29 and your hair's going grey!!!"

And to be clear, I'm not lamely complaining about "getting older." I fully understand the biological reality of aging and I also know that grey hair runs in the family, particularly on my mother's side. It's the combination of turning 30 while my hair turns grey that feels a little much. And that I just graduated with my masters degree... and I was planning on an awesome celebration, but my enthusiasm for the celebration went flaccid as the weather continued down the path of cloudy and rainy, depressing days.

Anyway, life sucks and is just not worth living.

That said, I'm super excited about this weekend. Come rain or sunshine, Josh and I have decided to seize life by the nads and go on an awesome adventure on Saturday. Stay tuned...

Posted by jennifer at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ night life ~

Photos from some nighttime excursions, hiking and biking.

On Friday night, Josh and I did a hike around the foothills. The trails were frozen but the air temperature was comfortable. We brought lights, and chose to hike in the darkness.

Fog limited what visibility there was and rendered the night eerie.

Later, we used our lights to search for nocturnal creatures.

Below is a photo from a night ride through the snow several days ago. The snow had good traction that night and we had an excellent ride.

Josh and I are not the wealthiest of individuals: notice how Josh affixed duct tape to his booties rather than purchase a new pair.

Posted by jennifer at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ snow biking, part one ~

Mountain biking through the winter months went up a notch this weekend for Josh and I as we set out on our first real snow bike excursion. Some have suggested that my inspiration has come from Jill in Alaska and her winter adventures, but it is much more than inspiration that her blog provides - - it suggests that the winter months can be unique opportunities to pursue the same outdoor activities that one does in the warmer months, and that one only needs different gear and an attitude adjustment. For me, the problem with winter sports is that I have been unable to pursue them directly outside my front door. Cross country skiing is a winter sport that I could really get behind, except for that it requires that I drive to somewhere that is good for skiing. Driving, in general, is something I try to avoid doing and driving in the winter, in particular, is something that can really take the fun out of an activity. Just the pure fact that I cannot engage in skiing unless I drive somewhere has been the major barrier to my developing a strong interest in skiing. Mountain biking, in contrast, is something that I can do without driving anywhere, what with my living less than a mile away from the foothills trails. And if you think about it, is mountain biking really so different than cross country skiing? (other than the driving thing). I wonder why a general attitude about mountain biking is that it is for the non-winter months...

As I've previously written, having the proper gear for winter biking is a science. And Josh and I have pretty much figured it out. When I last wrote, we continued to have trouble with our hands and feet. I hinted at the bottom of my last post that I was thinking about procuring a pair of handlebar sleeve mitts/pogies... and I did! This past week, I conducted an extensive local and online search. I was unable to find anyone locally who sold such an item and I was unable to find mountain bike pogies for under $60. As I've already spent a good wad of cash on winter gear recently, I was hoping to find something more affordable. I ended up locating a very affordable option from a hunting shop in Bonners Ferry. They are essentially pogies for ATVs or snowmobiles (and are endorsed by the National Rifle Association). They are windproof, insulated, and cost a whopping $30. I also received excellent customer service - - the man I chatted with on the phone was very helpful, and I ordered two pairs on Thursday and received them on Saturday. Josh and I had planned to go on a big snow bike adventure, and I was delighted when the pogies arrived in the mail.

We rode Bucktail/Shanes to Rocky Canyon Road and up the lower part of Orchard Trail. Riding through the snow, both climbing and descending was very SLOW. My cycle-computer needs new batteries, so I don't have any official stats, but I think we were out for three hours. (of course, we were not riding for that whole time). I am satisfied to report that the pogies worked very well. During the climbs, I removed my gloves entirely and rode with my hands contained in the pogie-cocoon of warmth. During the descent, my hands did get cold - - but I believe there are specific reasons for this (one, I rubbed cold snow all over my hands prior to starting the descent because I had gotten something sticky on them (the learning here is to tolerate the sticky and not rub snow on your hands), and two, because my gloves were too tight and cut off blood flow). The cutting off of blood circulation has been a key reason for coldness, and ever since I bought these gloves I've wondered if they are too small. That evening, I went out to REI and exchanged the gloves for a bigger pair. Also, I was able to warm my hands back up on the descent. It is also worth noting that the temperature was 22 degrees.

As for the feet, I had great success. I wore one pair of Smartwool cycling socks, wrapped a chemical toe warmer over my little toes, wore my normal cycling shoes, insulated with a bootie, wrapped all of this with a plastic grocery bag, and then finalized with a windblocking bootie. (in the above photo, you can see the plastic grocery bags sticking out of my booties). This worked very well for warmth. THE PROBLEM was that snow and ice clogged up my cleats and pedals every time I put my foot down (which was more frequently than normal because I kept losing traction on the slippery snow), and after three hours this got to be very frustrating. I have resolved to switch to platform pedals and ride with hiking boots for the snow season.

Speaking of traction, I am concerned about losing traction with flat pedals, but I don't know what else to do. Traction was a big issue on this ride. In the above photo, you can see something that is so rare, it is astonishing I actually captured it in a photo. The photo is of Josh walking his bike up a little hill after losing traction. This is the tiny hill/dip on Shanes. That Josh had to walk his bike up this measely hill evinces how slippery the snow was at times. SHOCKINGLY, I was able to maintain traction better than Josh. I attribute this to running my tires at very very low psi. Before we left on the ride, Josh and I both put studded tires on our bikes. As we were filling them with air, I said something about wanting to run low pressure. I have been reading about snow biking on the internets (for example, at IceBike) and a general piece of wisdom has to do with really really low psi. When I filled my tires up to 25 psi, Josh acted as though that was too low - - then when I let most of that air out on the trail, Josh had a very small freakout about how I did not know what I was doing. He later recanted, and affirmed that this was one time when I was right and he was wrong. Anyway, throughout the ride, I had significantly better traction. Yes, I was still slipping out, but Josh kept remarking about how I wasn't struggling as much as he was. When we began the descent down Rocky Canyon Road, Josh noticed very clearly that I was able to ride along and maintain a little stability, while he was fishtailing all over. He then let out a lot of his air, and agreed that it was much better. He also mentioned that maybe he should ride fatter tires. (in the below photo, check his skinny tires).

Biking in the snow required a lot more effort, obviously. We rode the flatter/lower portion of Orchard Trail before turning around for the descent. The descent was interesting. I tried to find the right balance of keeping my speed in check and not hitting my brakes. I tried to steer the bike down the trail, but did not steer away from how the snow was making the bike travel. It was the dichotomy of being in control of one's mountain biking but being relaxed to allow the trail and snow to carry me and my bike along. It was fun, but it was definitely unnerving to surrender so much control. And it was not at all scary. Going down Rocky Canyon Road was the same - - riding faster but keeping the speed in check and going with the flow of the snow. We ended up connecting back to Shanes and Bucktail for the last portion of the descent. This proved to be an excellent route because (1) descending Bucktail through the snow actually required expending some energy which was helpful in retaining body heat, and (2) we succeeded in having some awesome flow along the singletrack.

Also of note is that during this ride, we were able to ride out of the inversion. In the below photo, the grey portion on the horizon is actually the inversion smoke. We hit it once we got to Shanes and smelled a very distinct nasty smokey smell and my throat started to get sore.

More photos on my photoset.

Posted by jennifer at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ cold and snowy foothills ride ~

On Sunday, Elizabeth and I rode Corrals during what I thought was supposed to be the warmest time of day... 2:00. The temperature was 28 degrees when I left my apartment, and I wore an extra baselayer to keep me warm - - by the time that I arrived to our meeting place at the corner of Hill and Bogus Basin Roads, I was feeling overheated. I removed my outer windbreaker in anticipation of the climb up Bogus Basin, and we proceded to hammer up. While we were riding up to the trailhead, I started getting really cold. I decided that I needed to generate some body heat, so I rode away from Elizabeth and put in a good effort to warm up. By the time that I arrived at the trailhead, my arms were FREEZING. I then re-dressed myself in my windbreaker and we rode up Corrals, generating body heat. In hindsight, now that temperatures in Boise are barely scraping above ten degrees, I suspect that the increase in cold that I experienced on this climb was an actual increase in cold and not merely a perceived increase. Anyway...

Along the main road of Corrals, we ran into my Dad and his dog. We stopped and had a lengthy conversation, during which point I began to lose some of my body heat.

Then we continued riding along. Once we started riding up the backside of the mountain, there was snow and ice on the trail. And it was slippery. At one point, my bike suddenly slid out from under me after hitting an icy section, but I was magically able to catch my fall.

At the top of Corrals, I was delighted to see that someone had established a festive Tumbleweed Tree with holiday ornaments.

Around about the time that we got to the summit, it started snowing. Also, despite having just climbed up the trail, we were shivering. We stayed to admire the view only briefly before beginning the long descent. As can be guessed, it was awesome and loads of fun. I took Elizabeth down Trail 4 and Hulls, both of which she had never ridden before - - and I was very impressed with how confidentally she rode the trails, rolling over all kinds of rocks and offcamber sections. It's difficult to believe that she's been mountain biking for less than a year.

Aside from all of the awesome fun we were having, we also got really really cold. When I arrived home, I checked the weather again, and the temperature was down to 25, with a feel like rating of 15... and I think what we were experiencing descending through the wind chill on the foothills was considerably colder. I'm anticipate that my next gear acquisition will be a pair of pogies / handlebar mitts.

Posted by jennifer at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ biking in the cold and dark of winter ~

Mountain biking in the cold and dark of winter offers unique thrills and challenges. One thrill and challenge is the opportunity to spend a lot of money on gear. Another thrill and challenge is doing what you love (ie, mountain biking) regardless of the pain and suffering.

As a sidenote, one drawback to mountain biking in the cold and dark of winter is that it does not lend itself well to photos, which explains the lack of blogging around these parts.

Normally, winter coincides with enhanced depression, gym attendance, and feelings of cabin fever while we live vicariously through our fond memories of wild outdoor adventures when the weather was warmer and sunnier. My committment to riding through the cold and dark of winter coincides with my realization that mountain biking even when it totally sucks outside is infinitely more fun than going to the gym. In fact, with the right gear and attitude adjustment, mountain biking when it sucks outside can be downright awesome.

I have been consistently going on several night rides a week; the cold weather hasn't stopped me. As I augment my cold weather gear selection, I hope for my winter riding to increase in both fun and quantity.

On Wednesday, I went on a group ride hosted by the bike shop folks. Most everyone who had committed to riding cancelled because of the weather - - the temperature registered at 28 degrees, with a "feel like" rating of 23. Arguably, while this is freezing it is not too cold to ride. Okay okay, my fingers became painfully cold on the descent, but otherwise I felt great.

On Friday, Josh and I jetted out on a bike ride right after I got off work. The temperature was 27, with a feel like rating of 18. BRRR, right? Wrong. Dressing for the weather is a science that I almost have figured out (see above, re: spending lots of money on gear).

We rode up Sidewinder, Fat Tire, and down Trail 5. The sun was set by the time we reached the top of Sidewinder, at which point I illuminated my new helmet light, the Stella 200. BING!

We then proceeded through the traversing turns of Fat Tire and I had so much fun. The darkness beyond the focus of my light was eerie, and the snow crystals on the trail were magical. I imagined the mountain lions lurking in the distance, too afraid to pounce because of our powerful helmet lights.

Bombing down Trail 5 was too awesome and fun for words. I had my light pointed at the perfect distance in front of me, and it felt so smooth. My vbrakes maintained sufficient braking (though, I was worried for a bit as I sensed them icing over). I remained totally warm and cozy in my nest of cold weather gear... except for my fingers. On the descent, my fingers became very cold. It's a science, dressing for cold weather night rides.

Posted by jennifer at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Trail 5, Fat Tire, Sidewinder ~

Today I took Elizabeth on a training ride. We agreed to ride today several days ago, and I had taken the time to mull over where to take her. I suppose that there's two ways of thinking about teaching someone to mountain bike: you can take the person on exclusively beginner rides and wait until they are totally comfortable with the easy trails before introducing them to slightly more difficult trails / / OR, you can introduce them to more difficult trails before they've become totally comfortable with the easy trails and just focus on being really encouraging. I've taken the latter approach.

So today, I had Elizabeth ride up Trail 5, along Fat Tire, and down Sidewinder, arguably not at all a beginner ride. Trail 5, in particular, has some pretty beginner-unfriendly climbs, yet Elizabeth rode them with sweet determination. Fat Tire, with its side drop-offs, rocky hillsides, and tight turns, is also not very beginner-friendly. Yet Elizabeth rode it.

For the most part, the trails were in good condition. Most of Trail 5 was especially glorious. Because the majority of the trail faces into the sunlight, the snow was gone but it was still frozen. Above is one of the few snowy parts of Trail 5. And even when it was snowy, traction was good. Fat Tire had a lot more snowy sections and also had some goopy muddy sections, but was mostly frozen. Sidewinder had mostly fantastic trail conditions. But as we started descending lower, the trails stopped being frozen and there was more sloppy mud.

It's also worth mentioning that, after a bit of coaxing, Elizabeth rode this small rocky section on Sidewinder. I was such a proud trainer!

As for the temperature, it was 45 when we left (with a 'feel like' temperature of 37). During the descent, my fingers and toes only started becoming cold and numb along Freeway and dropping over to the Military Reserve, mainly because we got more into the shade at that point. But my temperature comfort level for the ride was awesome.

Posted by jennifer at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ biking through the cold and dark winter ~

Whereas mountain bike rides bring me significantly more joy than exercising at the gym, I have committed myself to riding despite the approaching cold and darkness of winter. Almost a year ago, I began reading Jill's blog and have been very inspired by the extreme conditions under which she continues to ride. Considering myself no wimp, I plan to ride in my comparatively less extreme conditions.

On Saturday, I spent quite a bit of time at REI selecting some extreme cold weather gloves, wool socks, and headgear to use for winter mountain biking. I also threw down some money at the bike shop on a better lighting system. I've been jetting out on rides right after I get off of work, but I keep getting caught in the dark. My single handlebar mounted front light doesn't give me sufficient depth perception - - so I got a powerful light for my helmet, which will allow me to see in the direction that I'm looking (which isn't always the direction that my handlebars are pointed) and having the two lights should help with depth differentiation.

That evening, after Josh had repaired two flat tires on his bike, we rode halfway up Rocky Canyon Road. I checked the weather before leaving, and it was at a 'feel like' temperature of 25, perfect for trying out my new gear.

The climb was great. I felt energized and the crisp air was invigorating. During the climb, Josh and I noted the ice on the road. He asked me if I felt comfortable descending on an icy road, and I said that Jill in Alaska rides on icy roads all of the time.

The decision to turn around at the halfway point was due to Josh forgetting to don his winter booties to keep his feet warm. His feet were already getting numb and he spent a few moments trying to stomp some blood back into them.

The descent was more freezing than I anticipated. My fingers and toes got really really really cold, despite my new gloves and my wool socks. I also crashed hard on the ice coming around a corner. I think I may have touched my breaks in the icy turn, but I don't know - - it happened so fast, as they say. I've now got a monster swollen bruise on my hip and lots of little bruises everywhere else, and my neck is really sore. But I couldn't be happier about not having to deal with an open wound, particularly on my knees (poor knees).

Anyway, Josh and I are going back to the drawing board for cold weather gear.

In other news, on Friday Josh and I rode the Tablerock Trails after I got off work. The sun was setting right as we got to the trails, and howling in the near-distance we could hear a pack of coyotes. We also saw a herd of deer. And at some point when I descended around a corner, there was a big dog standing in the middle of the trail. This is partly why I wanted a better front light system, to see the wildlife.

Posted by jennifer at 11:20 AM | Permalink

~ riding update ~

Autumn is a glorious time for mountain biking. I love the crisp air and the changing colors. As much as I adore summer, the heat and the dry, dusty trails can get old. In the last few weeks, we've had a little bit of rain which has been wonderful to improve the trail conditions in the foothills. They had become so dry and dusty that I developed a preference for riding elsewhere.

Big weekend adventures have peetered off a bit, but I have continued to ride. Here's a small update.

I continue to take myself on solo skills practicing rides over in the Tablerock Rock Garden area. There are a number of challenging rock obstacles that I have been tackling. Once I conquer an obstacle, I make myself ride it for a second time to make sure that the skill sticks.

Last weekend, I went on a cardio ride with Elizabeth on Sunday morning. She wanted to conquer the full Dump Loop as a cardio milestone in her training, and to even the playing field, we both rode our mountain bikes. Though, my bike is significantly lighter than hers, so I don't know how it was an even playing field. Anyway. We started the ride at 9:00 a.m. when it was 31 degrees, and it was 42 degrees by the time that I returned home, around noon. Brr! Magically, I dressed perfectly and was never too cold nor was I ever too warm. I wore two pairs of angora socks, booties, tights, my expensive Castelli long sleeve jersey (which was really so worth the money!), a windbreaker, cold weather gloves, and a skull cap. Elizabeth wore only her cycling shorts and a jersey, and while she is much more warm blooded than I am, she seemed to be FREEZING the entire time. After the ride, we went to the SunRay cafe in Hyde Park for some lunch. I had coffee, tomato basil soup, and an AMAZING sandwich with pastrami, pepperoni, and a garlic muffaletta. YUM!!!

I've also taken up a new mountain biking partner, Karen who works at the bike shop. She has an incredible amount of mountain biking racing experience behind her and it's been a whole new experience riding with her. Two Friday's ago, I took the afternoon off of work and went on a ride with her and Josh. Then, this Saturday, Karen and I rode some of the trails in the westerly foothills, ending up at the Velodrome. There was a bike demo event for Trek and Karen knew the female overseeing all of the 2010 bikes, so we all had a lengthy chat. During the course of the conversation, it came out that this female is dating a famous Tour de France commentator and Karen and I could not get over that juicy piece of information.

By the end of that ride, Karen had pulled out five goatheads from her tires. She runs tubeless and never had to deal with the pain of changing a flat tire. Witnessing the effectiveness of tubeless tires, and Karen advocating for them, I am thinking about going tubeless myself. Just last week alone, I had to fix four flat tires after riding in the foothills. This year seems to have been particularly bad for the goatheads and I am so tired of fixing flats. GAR!

In other gear news, last week I switched from Schimano XT (with an XTR derailler) to SRAM X9. I have been having so many issues with my shifting; I'm hoping to have a significantly improved experience with SRAM. So far so good.

Posted by jennifer at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ swath of wild sunflowers ~

I was particularly excited to go for a mountain bike ride today after work. I am so looking forward to fall riding! The summer and its heat and blistering UV rays can get old after a while. I've also decided that I need to ride solo more often. Riding with people is great, but solo rides offer a more contemplative and self-focused experience.

I did a Tablerock ride today. There are challenges afforded in that neck of the foothills that are less common in the more westerly hills. Slippery, rocky sweeping climbs, an off camber switchback or two, and rock obstacles make good challenges for me. I'm at the point where I need to overcome some technical skill barriers and improve my confidence, and I won't be doing this if I keep riding the same old same old Military Reserve and Central Foothills trails. I think if I consistently spend time alone trying to master the terrain that gives me trouble, I will improve my skills. And I say "alone" because I can get flustered if I screw up on an obstacle around people - - but riding alone, I can try riding an obstacle over and over until I do it, without feeling self-conscious that someone might be watching me. This is another nice thing about the Tablerock trails, there aren't very many people on the trails.

That fall is here is evidenced by how my garden is dying, with the frost having arrived the day after I took the following photo of my flowers. I'm super excited about trying to have more of a garden next year. Now that everything is all wilted and dying, I think there's no more use in trying to be a farmer for a while.

Last Saturday, Josh and I did a ride up at Idaho City. I don't have any photos to share and it's been so long that I don't remember the stats. I believe it was around 20 miles. There were some pretty grueling climbs that we huffed and puffed up. I felt very satisfied with my effort on the climbs, making it up most of the really steep ones. At some point, we got caught in the middle of all of these ATV/hunting trails that criss-crossed over the mountains. We kept having to make arrows with sticks and rocks to mark our way because it was such a labyrinth of paths. I also saw a herd of elk. Afterwards, we had lunch in Idaho City.

On Sunday, I took Elizabeth up to Bogus for a training/practice ride. We did Deer Point, Elk Meadows, Mores Creek, and back along Ridge Road. It was a lot of fun and I was very impressed with Elizabeth's riding. It's also fun taking on the role of drill sergeant / coach. I said, "Elizabeth, you will ride this trail in your middle ring!" And she said, "Yes, Ma'am!" A salut would have been appropriate, but I think she was busy steering her bicycle.

Posted by jennifer at 9:16 PM | Permalink

~ catch up ~

This morning, despite not feeling my 100% due to a couple of tequila shots the previous night, I got up earlyish and went on a mountain bike ride with Elizabeth. This week, she got set up with clipless pedals and has developed a good quality enthusiasm for becoming a mountain biker. In discussions, we agreed that she needs to develop her legs so as to successfully bike up the mountains. To that end, I decided to take on the role of 'drill sergeant'. This morning we rode up Bogus and did a portion of Corrals. During the ride, I instructed her to put more back into it - - I determined the pace at which we would ride and encouraged her to keep up with me - - and on a couple of occasions on Bogus, I made her shift into a higher gear than what she was inclined to ride and had her exert additional effort. Once we got to the trailhead, she exclaimed that she couldn't believe that she got up there so fast and that now when she goes out she knows that she can ride harder and faster than she's been riding. I felt like a very accomplished drill sergeant. When we got to the spot on Corrals where we decided to turn around, we had a bit of a discussion about crashing - - as I've had a lot of experience in this area, I consider myself an expert on the subject and shared some of my wisdom:

• Most crashes occur when the rider does something stupid; therefore, one should ride skillfully and mindfully.
• When one is afraid of crashing, the chances of doing something stupid and crashing increase exponentially. As such, one should be relaxed, confident, and having fun.
• Most crashes result in only minor physical injuries, but a significant injury to one's confidence may develop.

Elizabeth recently crashed twice in the Military Reserve and was feeling a little nervous about the downhill on this ride. With some coaching, we agreed that she shouldn't be afraid of crashing and she then proceeded to bomb down the hill. At times, she was riding so fast that I had to exert some effort to keep up with her. On the fast section, we topped out at about 20mph and it was evident that Elizabeth was having a blast. I, too, was having a blast.

Last weekend, Josh and I did an awesome mountain bike ride at Bogus. We rode Deer Point, Elk Meadows, Mores Mountain, up some steep trail with switchbacks, and along the Face Trail. The Face was incredibly fun and it really made going up that steep trail worth the exertion. I had such a blast.

In other news, Josh and I have also decided to make war on the goatheads. On Saturday, we went to the Military Reserve and filled up eight large trash bags with goadhead plants. We worked up on the road leading from the dog park to the top of the one hill, at the border of where the goatheads are starting to encroach onto the trails. Once we realized the extent of the problem (and the futility of working in the fall, after the plants have littered the ground with a mind boggling number of goatheads), we decided to focus our efforts on plants that were still green, and still harboring goatheads.

Many of the plants were HUGE. I never before realized the extent of the goathead problem. They cover the hillsides and I would hate for them to get up into the trails. There are several groups that go out and pull goatheads. We're thinking we might join up. The real work to do will be in the springtime, though.

Posted by jennifer at 2:35 PM | Permalink

~ Orchard Trail to Ridge Road ~

Route: Orchard Trail to Ridge Road, down 8th Street
Distance: 24 miles
Elevation Gained: 4,000 feet
Climb Time: 2 hours

The ability to hop onto the bike, right after shutting one's front door, and do a sizable ride after work is an awesome quality to living in Boise. On Sunday, Josh and I did a good ride in the evening. After shutting our front door, we rode over to the Military Reserve trails, rode up Central Ridge and connected to Rocky Canyon Road, up Orchard Trail, all the way to Ridge Road, and connected to 8th Street via Trail 4.

When we set out and started riding the Reserve Trails, I was feeling uncomfortably hot and my legs were slogging. I used this section of the ride to get my legs warmed up. This portion of the ride was also unpleasant because of the vast swarms of flies/nats/flying ants that we kept riding through. Bug swarms happen in the foothills, but I don't think I've ever experienced it this bad before. After hitting a cloud of bugs, I'd have them covering my skin, in my jersey, up my nose and mouth, in my hair, and it would be futile to swipe them away because another cloud of bugs was approaching. That I did not intake any extra calories on this ride I attribute to the number of bugs I ate on this first section.

Once we hit Rocky Canyon Road, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was mostly shady and that the temperature was cooler. I fell into the rhythm of pumping my legs and began to feel good. Once we hit Orchard Trail, Josh said that I had been setting a good pace. I gave credit to the hard intervals on the spin bike that I've been doing at the gym.

As a sidenote, this "training" at the gym is going well. I've discovered that Rammstein and Rage Against the Machine provide effective training music - - as they compel me to set the resistence on the bike higher and to also spin my legs faster. Something about training at the gym that I've embraced is that it's not necessary to "pace oneself" or "save some energy for the end" as it is during an actual ride. In this way, it is evident that these "gasket-blowing" intervals on the spin bike have been making my legs stronger for actual rides.

Orchard Trail to Ridge Road has some particularly grueling climbs. That my "training" at the gym is effective was evident while riding these climbs. I found satisfaction both in my ability to continue to tick the pedals over as well as Josh's comments about how awesome I was doing. Riding up a long, hard climb is very satisfying - - when you reach the summit and look down over everything below, knowing that your legs got you there feels good.

Once we hit Ridge Road, it was smooth sailing over to the Trail 4 motorcycle connector trail. That trail was very awesome and fun. It traversed the mountain, had some technical features, and afforded a stunning view over the mountains and valley below. We even saw a herd of elk.

I lost my mojo at some point on this trail and crashed my bike twice where there was no good reason for me to crash. The first time, I must have had too much weight on my front wheel as I lost traction on a very slightly off camber section. The second time, I dunno, I think my handlebar actually got caught on some bushes. So dumb. But all was fine. When we arrived home, Josh was for a second concerned about my knee and leg, but I dismissed that concern because the only gore on me was mud.

Because we got a late start, we were pushing daylight on this ride. We enjoyed the sunset on Trail 4 and rode down upper 8th Street in the dark. My night vision sucks and I wished that I had brought a light for the downhill. Upper 8th Street is severely rutted. Navigating the ruts while descending 4,000 feet in the dark was challenging. Especially after having crashed twice AND that my legs were feeling tired from climbing so much, I did not have the needed confidence to enjoy this downhill. The only grace was that the sand on 8th Street is white, so it was possible to discern the darker ruts from the non-ruts. But discerning sandy sections and off camber sections was difficult.

It was 10:30 by the time that we arrived home. I enjoyed a glass of orange juice before going to bed for a deep sleep.

Posted by jennifer at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Table Rock loop ~

Monday came too soon this week. Josh returned from Kansas yesterday evening and I didn't sleep well last night, so we decided to postpone our semi-successful morning gym experience until tomorrow. Oh, incidentally, we've started a new morning gym experience. Last week, I went three mornings and did intervals on the bike and upper body weights. Of the two remaining mornings, I only woosed out once, as the other morning I had to go to work at 5am.

Later this evening we did a loop around Table Rock. I always forget about riding these trails, but I think I'll be pedaling over them more frequently from now on. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice they were - - despite a few ruts, they were in good condition and not very many people.

Well, today there were a number of people who were hanging out trail-side, watching the Indigo Girls concert at the Botanical Gardens below. That was sorta neat - - mountain biking with a live concert in the background.

Once we got to the top of Table Rock, we parked the bikes and enjoyed the view. Josh has a new bike, by the way.

We also enjoyed a silly moment. With the popularity of the 'jumping shots' not quite out of style, we employed the automatic timer on the camera to shoot our own version. From this photo shoot, I have about ten photos (that will never be displayed on the internets) of us not quite timing the jump right, and they are very funny. I'm a little peeved that Josh managed to jump so that his head was out of the frame, as I'm the one left looking weird. ...Whatever.

As the sun was setting, we made our way down the hill. I was leading the way, and at some point, Josh decided that he was going to speed down a short cut and come out ahead of me as a surprise. Unbeknownst to him, however, I had taken the wrong turn at an intersection. He was stopped at the place where he was going to surprise me for a while, wondering where I was, until he heard my chain rattling off in the distance and had to try and locate me. Meanwhile, I had been riding along, thinking that I didn't recognize where I was. I came upon an intersection and stopped because I had no clue which way to go. Josh found me there, feeling puzzled. We ended up going up this one trail for a bit and then plopped down on the ground to listen to the Indigo Girls. We enjoyed a few songs and then rode down in the dark.

Posted by jennifer at 10:31 PM | Permalink

~ sometimes ~

I've been in a really good mood these days. There has been the perfect mix of exercise and relaxation, hanging out with friends and alone time.

This afternoon, I took myself out on a bike ride and did a Trail 5, Fat Tire, Sidewinder loop. It was a good ride - - though, way too hot. I checked the temperature before going out, and it read at a mere 95 degrees. Considering it's been over 100 for a week and that we've been breaking heat records, I thought that 95 seemed cool in comparison and perfect for a ride. As I was grunting up Trail 5, however, that 95 degrees seemed much hotter and I had several moments where I thought I was going to pass out. I had two big water bottles full of water that I used to pour all over myself, but the heat was almost unbearable. The sun felt like it was beating down and reflecting off of the sand on the trail, making it doubly piercing. There are a few trails in the foothills which I have found to be more oven-like in the summer; trails that capture and reflect the heat more -- and I think Trail 5 is one of these. There were several times I thought about turning around, and possibly just doing a Shanes loop or something, but I had set out with the intention to do this particular ride and I didn't want to give up over a little heat. So I kept at it.

The aggravating part is that this is actually a fairly short ride, with some decent climbing and a couple steep pitches, coming in at 11 miles. But with the heat, it was much harder. Once I got to the top of Trail 5, I found some shade under a brambleweed bush and tried to cool off for a bit. It doesn't show in the photo, because of the shade, but my face was almost as red as my jersey. Though, you can kinda see the veins popping out on my temple.

Once I hit Fat Tire, I was home free and felt so good about myself for persevering through the heat. I was kinda wobbly on the descent because my muscles were quivering from the mild case of heat exhaustion. But it was still fun.

I did not see another person on the trails while I was out, probably because it was so hot. This made the ride seem like more of an adventure - - as though I was farther away from civilization. While I was sitting under the brambleweed bush, I stared out over the familiar hills trying to see if there was anyone else on the trails. It was weird being all alone out there, in a neat way.

On another note, does anyone know what the plant is in the below photo??? I believe it may be the source of a horrible itchy welty rash I've suffered from for a few weeks.

Here's a peak at something I'm designing, a stranded jacket. As you can see, increases are worked into the color pattern that build upon the existing motif. The process of developing the colorwork was fun, given that I enjoy tinkering around in spreadsheets.

Posted by jennifer at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ some foothills joy ~

Spending several days in San Francisco has left me with a renewed appreciation for living in Boise. Don't get me wrong, I loved San Fran - - but it's wonderful to be home.

I've ridden in the foothills almost everyday since being home. It's easy to take it for granted, but the immediate access to outdoor recreation is something I would hate to give up. In addition, the network of trails continues to be developed - - just this past week, a brand new trail was carved linking trail 5 to Sidewinder (I believe it's trail 42/"fat tire" on the map). Josh and I did a trail 5, fat tire, sidewinder loop on Friday and it was fun.

On Saturday, the plan was to do a big foothills ride. Because we got a late start and that it was hotter than expected, we turned around sooner than planned. We did a 20 miler from the Reserve area, took the connecter trail up to Freeway, up Trail 4, up Corrals, and up Scott's. The plan was to continue from the top of Scott's up 8th Street to Ridge Road and down Hard Guy, but 8th Street was scorching when we got there. I had a water bottle that I used to squirt water onto my arms, legs, and head to keep myself cool, which I had also refilled in a creek, and I used the last of that water getting to the top of Scott's. Josh refilled that water bottle with some of his drinking water, but the possibility of overheating was very real at that point.

I've recently decided that my ancestors must have been royalty who never had to do anything physically exerting - - because I don't sweat hardly at all and I overheat very easily. Which is unfortunate.

Anyway, the downhill was awesome fun! I had particularly good flow for most of it and got some thrilling jumps in. Corrals was also in better shape since I last rode it, which made the flow better. The only time when my flow sucked was when I was going down that connecter trail to the Reserve area and I hit a sandy patch the wrong way and did a Superman nose dive into the ground. At the time, I was upset that I hit my knees (evidenced by the blood running out of one knee and the other knee quickly swelling up) because injured knees haven't been my favorite things in life. However, except that my one knee is oozing puss and the other is really swollen and bruised, they're fine and I even went on a small hike today without any problems. The worst part about the crash was cleaning the wound in the shower and trying to scrub the dirt out - - ouch! Below is a picture of me after the ride, note the blood running down my leg.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, that IS my garden that I'm standing next to! There's a tomato plant, pepper, beans, and squash. In the background is my weed garden, which I haven't been able to conquer despite HOURS of work.

Posted by jennifer at 1:01 PM | Permalink

~ mountain biking buddies! ~

Took Elizabeth on a mountain bike ride yesterday. As you can see, she had a wonderful time! After putting in a lot of thought about which trail to take her on, I decided to start on the dirt path in the Reserve Area, up the intermediate-level switchback, out and back on Shane's-the-backwards-way, and down Central Ridge. Last year, we did a couple rides on Crestline. However, in my experience, getting up and over the beginner mountain biking hump requires that one develop a true sense of joy from the experience. Crestline is okay, but it's not the most scenic trail, and is so full of runners, hikers, and dogs that one must always hold one's bonzai back a little. I have a big fondness for the Shane's / Central Ridge trails because it was on them that I truly began to LOVE mountain biking. Not only is it more scenic, but there's a lot less foot-traffic and dogs to worry about, and it's got some lovely singletrack that winds around the hills. Thus, I decided to share some of my favorite trails with Elizabeth and I think that was a good move. I made her try to ride the intermediate-level switchback uphill grunt and she successfully rode almost all of it, which I thought was very impressive. I was also impressed at how fast she was riding on the downhill - - for whatever reason, I hadn't thought of Elizabeth as a thrill-seeker, but we had a good time on the cowabunga! down Central Ridge.

Posted by jennifer at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ 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

~ 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

~ behold the glory ~

It has finally arrived, my brand new Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe GS women's specific full suspension mountain bike. I have been awaiting this day for months, and quite frankly, I thought it would not come for several more weeks, what with it apparently being unavailable in the country. But yesterday, Josh from The Bike Shop called to say that my "special order" had arrived. I had already scheduled to take the afternoon off of work to study for my stats exam, which is this evening, so I had something else to take my mind off of studying.

For months, I've been pouring over online reviews (such as this one from a female mountain biker) and mountain biking forums (such as this one) drooling over what I hoped would soon be mine. My skill in articulating overly verbose explanations of things fails me when it comes to the complexities of mechanical dealie-bobs, so for engineering design details I will refer you to the above linked review and forum where those sorts of things are expounded upon at length. I am still working on understanding them myself, so I read them regularly. See, people have different strengths, and wrapping my mind around mechanical dealie-bobs is not one of mine.

Yesterday, Josh and I spent some time in the back of the bike shop after he got off of work, tweaking the fit and whatever else on my new bike. It turned out to be more of a procedure than I anticipated. I've become much more mechanical-oriented in the past two years, so while Josh was switching out the handlebars, I successfully performed complex mechanical operations such as installing water bottle cages and removing the tires and tubes from the wheels. When I thanked the owner of the shop for the special deal on my bike, he said that now I'm charged with the responsiblity of teaching Josh how to ride a bike. I suspect that he was impressed with all of the grease on my fingers and the finess with which I handled the allen wrenches. Once the bicycle was set up to the fern-specific specifications, we set out to ride Hard Guy.

Interestingly, Josh and I rode Hard Guy the day before, on Sunday, when it was windy, windy, windy. There were times during the descent that the wind was blowing so hard against the side of my person, that I was concerned about being blown off the trail. Josh described what he saw as "the leaning tower of fern" while I was attempting to counteract the forces of the wind by leaning into it. There were times when it felt as though my helmet was acting like a parachute - - the wind was lifting it from my head and I had to make something of an effort to pull my head down.

Last night, the wind was a gentle breeze that just plain felt good. This past winter, I didn't stay in cycling shape, I hypothesize, because I performed my exercise on the elpitical rather than in spinning class, so my legs haven't felt up to par. I expect that this will change quickly and that I will be up to snuff, and exceeding my past snuff in no time. Also, I've had a bit of difficulty relaxing on the downhills ever since my crash...I've been a bit tense.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE my new HiFi. It is wonderful having so much suspension under my person. My ascent and descent last night on Hard Guy was significantly smoother. Also, I've heard that there can be difficulties with full suspension bikes being heavy and squishy, thereby reducing power and speed on climbs. The HiFi is pretty light (27 lbs) and I didn't notice any squish. I found that the mid-level setting on the rear shock was quite nice - - the washboard sections were easy on my sit bones, but firm enough so that there was no bobbing. The front shock doesn't have a lockout, which I do think is a shame. While we were riding up Bogus Basin Road, I had the shock turned to the most-firm setting, and there was a significant amount of bobbing when I stood up. I am considering having the pressure increased to compensate for the lack of lockout...after all, there's a lot of room in five inches of suspension.

I'm not the biggest fan of the disc breaks. At the moment, they're not adjusted to my satisfaction. There is a great distance that one must first pull before experiencing any breaking effect, but once the breaking effect is achieved, they are ridiculously sensitive. Also, the front and the rear break seem to be adjusted slightly different, which was very noticable on the descent, as I periodically almost hurrled myself off the front of the bike. Luckily, these are all things that can be adjusted. And I'd also like to state for the record that I am not complaining, instead I am observing. As already articulated, I absolutely LOVE my new HiFi.

After the ride, Josh and I went to Lucky 13 for some beer and cheezy garlic bread. When we arrived, the establishment was filled with gads of other mountain bikers drinking beer. It was truly astonishing the number of bikes leaning against the outside benches and trees, unlocked and perfectly safe under the watchful eyes of all the enthusiastic cyclists. I perched my HiFi along the bench on which I rested, and attached joy to it being out in the world and having a great fun time. Here's a photo of the sweet HiFi in its new home.

Posted by jennifer at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Three Bears and Life Stuff ~

On Sunday, I took advantage of the nice, but overcast, weather and rode Three Bears. I wasn't feeling 100%, so I went at a somewhat casual pace. I started out by going up Buck's Trail and Shane's, and then traversed over and dropped down onto Rocky Canyon Road, where I went up and up to connect with Three Bears. There are two extra steep sections of Three Bears which always take an extra effort - - sometimes I make it up them and sometimes I don't. On this day, I failed to peddle to the top of one, but succeeded on the other. I paused at the top of Three Bears to take in the stunning view. This is the time of year when the foothills are particularly beautiful - - with some patches of greenery and desert flowers. I rode down Three Bears, connected to Shane's, and down Central Ridge. I wasn't in my normal wicked downhill mountain biking mood, so I took the downhill rather easy...Indeed, I only did one jump on Central Ridge, where I normally jump off every protrusion in the trail. Yet, it was a fantastic ride. This photo is a view of Rocky Canyon Road as I was dropping down off of Shane's. I always find this view particularly stunning and it always amazes me that this is what I've got in (what I consider to be) my backyard. You may view more photos here. As evinced by this photo, Rocky Canyon Road is spectacular. While I was riding up the three or four miles to the Three Bears trailhead, I found myself lost in thought, thinking about life stuff in the lush and rocky canyon.

For my work, I have been living and breathing these workshops which are designed to give teaching skills to a specific group of non-professional-teachers. It has been very interesting, but kinda overwhelming in scope. One of the topics is teaching to different generations. Within that topic has been discussion regarding the work habits of these generations. Baby Boomers generally feel loyal to their employers, for example, while Generation Xers are loyal to their work but not necessarily their employer. Me, I am on the cusp of the Gen x and Millenial, and while I tend to identify as a Gen Xer, on the issue of work, I generally feel a lack of loyalty towards the whole gammut. My loyalty, rather, is focused on my lifestyle. One part of my lifestyle is being able to live right downtown and work within a five minute walk of where I live. This also goes for my schooling - - as I declined applying to a program which would require me to commute several miles away, and instead opted for the five minute away bicycle ride university program. Additionally, living within a five minute bike ride of mountain biking trails and at a hub of quality road biking is very important to me. So, while I want to have a good employer with coworkers that I like and work that is somewhat mentally stimulating, I don't have any further stipulations on my work and employer beyond their support of my lifestyle. This is evidenced by how I have recently contemplated pulling a 180 turn on my work and doing something completely different just for kicks. I have determined that I could be happy doing pretty much almost anything, as long as it falls within the broad spectrum of "doing good towards others" and satisfying my lifestyle needs.

Several years ago, I took an honors philosophy class on Albert Camus, and during one of the lectures the professor commented that it makes no difference where one lives because life is the same everywhere. At the time, I thought that was the dumbest thing he could have said, because of course location makes all of the difference. This was a few months before I decided to move to Monteral, when I thought that location was important. Now that I've been around a bit, I have determined that it actually does not matter WHERE I am living as long as my lifestyle needs are met. Sure, I've determined that it's handy to speak the language of the other residers of the location - - not being able to effectively communicate with everyone around me has been a barrier to my total living satisfaction. At any rate, I have a greater appreciation for that which the professor communicated about location not mattering as much as one might think, because one is still the same person irregardless of their location. This means that one retains the same level of proactivity regarding their own personal happiness, at least, if you're me. Of course, this assumes that things like individual liberty and freedom remain constant....as, clearly, one would be less happy if one's liberty and freedoms were resitricted in one place over another. So, that turns it upside down, and it DOES matter where you live because of variables enabling a specific individual's happiness. ANYWAY, I've been giving thought to doing random things, like randomly switching career paths to mix things up a bit, and moving to other locations for a higher quality of life. And this was what I was thinking about on my bike ride up Rocky Canyon Road yesterday.

In other news, I have finished knitting the Nantucket Jacket and it is awesome. I have not yet taken a photo of it to share, but Josh has, so you may monitor his flickr postings...if you care. The jacket was a true joy to work on, these past months. I sized it for the small pattern, and even knat it on smaller needles because I have a particularly small torso, and still, it is too big. A bit ago, I realized that it has a crocheted edge, so it was a good chance to learn some new skillz. I must say, I don't see myself becoming a real crocheter any time soon. Sure, it was fun and okay, but I wasn't super into the experience. But maybe I shouldn't judge too quickly. Anyway, maybe I'll post a photo sometime soon, if I get around to it.

Posted by jennifer at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

~ the edge of civilization ~

On Friday, there was a random moment of gloriousness which Josh and I seized after I got off of work to go on a mountain bike ride. We rode some of the trails around and behind Table Rock, which I have scarcely ridden before. To summarize the ride, it was rad! I was feeling particularly energetic after a day of sitting in front of the computer, and utilizing my muscles in the fresh air felt so good. The trails had a good mixture of hard climbs and technical areas to make it interesting, but it was a very doable and fun ride. One of the great things about living in Boise is the immediate access to amazing outdoor recreational opportunities. Now, I'm not sure if my non-Boise readers truly understand my use of the term "immediate." To clarify, by "immediate," I mean that I can exit the front door of my downtownly located apartment and be mountain biking within three minutes. If you take a moment to examine this photo to the left, you'll notice me relaxing on a pile of rocks above the city, after having riden my mountain bike around some very awesome trails. One of the spectacular aspects of mountain biking outside of Boise is the view of the city that may be experienced from a variety of altitudinal perspectives. It consistently provides me with a renewed appreciation of where I live.

After our ride, Josh and I consumed several glasses of cheap vino at a local drinking well which has recently come under new ownership and has turned non-smoking in the process. I cannot quite find the words to express my impressedness with the fact that we now have a few drinking establishments that are non-smoking. This means that I can go out and spend the evening at a bar, but I don't have to worry about reeking of cigarette smoke or having a sore throat the next day because of inhaling second hand smoke. It is wonderful! What is more, Penguilly's (the non-smoking), is known for being a venue for good live music. Last night, Josh and I enjoyed the tunes of this rockin' "bluegrass" band and it was so awesome! The bar has this fantastic "Western" (as in, the Old West) feel to it, with the dark wood paneling, huge photos from old Boise days, and mounted Jackalopes!, but now I don't have to experience it being engulfed in a plume of cigarette smoke.

After drinking much more than I've drank recently, I hopped onto my bicycle cruiser and headed home (a nice four minute bike ride - - another great thing about my current living arrangement). On my way, I had to navigate the numerous drunk pedestrians congregating around the downtown bars and I was the receiver of numerous intoxicated comments about my amazing bike handling skillz in a crowd of drunk pedestrians. Call me anti-social, but I don't understand why so many people feel the need to comment out loud to strangers about stuff that isn't their business. Like, for example, my ability to safely and skillfully navigate a bicycle through a crowd. There was a group of drunk dudes sitting on a bench shouting out "Easy!.. Easy!.." as though they didn't think that I could slow down to almost a full stop while navigating the crowd. pfft! Piece of cake. ...even if I was slightly intoxicated.

Anyroad, I've finally gotten around to uploading my photos from the Zoo which we visted a few weeks ago.

Posted by jennifer at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

~ Temped by the Fruit ~

I find this article about a cyclist being cited for being hit by a car rather interesting. On the one hand, I didn't realize that if one rides a bike on the sidewalk, that one is responsible for a different set of rules than when one rides a bike on the road...I wonder if this means that there are a whole slew of pedestrian rules that I am not familiar with. And the implications... It seems that perhaps one should need to have a pedestrian license just to walk or ride a bike along a sidewalk. How do we determine competency to travel via sidewalk? For some reason, I thought the law was that if you are a driver in a vehicle and you crash into something, that you are responsible, regardless of whether that which you crashed into was operating based on the laws of the road or the laws of the sidewalk. Does this seem fucked up to anyone else?

In other news, this weekend I had the opportunity to experience the fruit of satan and have been tempted beyond the point of return. If anyone is agonizing about what to get me for my birthday, I must mention that a gift certificate to Josh's bike shop would come in handy, as I have decided that I am going to purchase for myself, to celebrate the anniversary of my birth in June, the Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe full suspension mountain bike.

Here is the full scoop...

Currently and for the past two years (which comprises the totality of my mountain biking experience), I have been riding a Gary Fisher Tassajara, a wonderful hard tail mountain bike that I have grown very fond of. During the past two years of blogging about my mountain biking experiences (which I am sure are very entertaining), you may have failed to learn about some of the pain and discomfort that I have felt. This pain has tended to occur while I have ridden down particularly choppy, rocky, gravelly, and did I mention choppy?, steep downhills. If you have never ridden a bicycle down an extremely choppy downhill section of a trail, I don't know how to describe it in such a way that you would fully understand.

Imagine, if you will, riding a bike down a mountain. It's pretty steep, so there's a good angle that you perceive from your handlebars, to the ground that your wheels are touching, from the distance that you will reach in a nanosecond of time because you are traveling fast. Your butt is pulled behind the saddle so that your bicycle doesn't begin to perform summersaults down the mountain. Add to this, a trail that is similar to a washboard, with thick deep ruts that you best avoid getting your tires in, loose rocks that threaten to disrupt your traction, and all sorts of other obstacles that you should avoid if you want to remain in one piece. Now, during such a mountain biking experence, if you were me riding my Tassajara, your body would be jerking violently at each bump, rut, rock, and washboard drop off, jerking uncomfortably so that it sometimes sends you into something of a panic because it is unpleasant. What is more, this jerking sensation stimulates an intuitive response that you are invovled in something dangerous, regardless of how under control you actually are. This sensation of danger causes you to feel afraid of what you perceive to be impending doom.

My Tassajara has a front shock. And while the bicycle is my size, the front shock appears to not be for someone of my weight, as I have never received more than an inch of travel from it. Other people have gotten more travel from it, but even if I slam all of my weight down upon it, it gives no more than a single inch. Which is not much if you're going down a steep and choppy trail. In fact, I have often thought that it wouldn't be much different if I had no front shock. At the end of last year, after giving this a lot of thought, I decided that this year I would invest in a better front shock. I've spent a month or so looking into this and doing some price checking. For those of you who have never considered upgrading your shocks, it's pretty expensive...like almost $1,000 expensive. If you think that it seems slighly unreasonable to put a $1,000 shock on a $700 bike, you would probably understand my hesitation about this. At the same time, I feel that having better suspension would greatly improve my enjoyment of mountain biking. I feel that, during the past two years, I have engaged in mountain biking enough that I could be thought of as a "recreational mountain biker." I feel that, because of my vested interest and enjoyment in mountain biking, that it is conceivable that I will continue to mountain bike well into the future. Additionally, mountain biking, for me, isn't just an outdoor recreational activity that provides an outlet for exercise. It has become an incredible source of joy and enthusiasm, as well as a wonderful social opportunity. Thus, it seems reasonable that I would invest some money to maximize my enjoyment in mountain biking.

During this process of trying to decide about the front shock, I have consulted my main bicycle information resource at length. This resource, whose name is Josh, has provided me with all kinds of things to think about. What is more, he has done a good job at complicating this decision. As he is somewhat familiar with my finances, he has not been overtly trying to persuade me to do one thing over another. Which is irritating because I am left to make up my own decisions. At some point, he planted the seed into my mind that perhaps I should think about upgrading the entire bicycle to a nice full suspension one. For some time, I was resistant to this idea because I did not fully grasp the benefits of full suspension. Josh articulated that a good full suspension bike would come with a much better front shock and that most of the components would be high quality as well. Nevertheless, I remained a disbeliever in full suspension.

On Saturday, Josh and I went on a three hour mountain bike ride which we entitled 'Tour de Foothills.' We rode up Bogus Basin Road to Corrals, up and up and down and up to Upper 8th Street, down Trail 4, down Freeway, across the Military Reserve to Buck's Trail, up Rocky Canyon Road, up Three Bears, and down Central Ridge. By Josh's estimates, it was a 20 mile ride that was pretty intense, and a lot of fun.

For this ride, I had "borrowed" a Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe from Josh's Bike Shop in order to test ride the full suspension. There are no words from the language of English that adequately convey how amazing and wonderful it was riding this full suspension bicycle. For one, there was no pain or discomfort during the steep choppy downhills. Because of the lack of jerking discomfort, my person did not perceive the situation as dangerous, and so I did not experience a single moment in which I was afraid of plummeting to my death. Because of both the lack of pain and fear, there was nothing getting in the way of my fully enjoying the downhill. This means that during the sections of downhills that I have never before experienced joy, that I found joy, happiness, and had a lot of fun. What is more, the handling of the bicycle was simply amazing. The shifting was perfection, the turning was heaven, and the bike enabled me to experience moments of mountain biking zen in which I mountain biked with no effort, it was so natural. Another notable mention was that the bike enabled me to ride terrain that has been much too extreme for me to ever ride successfully before. There is a section of Three Bears, for example, that is very very steep with huge rocky drop offs, and I have never been able to ride hardly any of it and have actually fallen on it a few times. With the HiFi, I made it almost all of the way to the bottom and was not afraid in the least, which is worth mentioning because I frequently feel like the biggest scardie pants and I become paralyzed over steepnesses and heights that don't seem to bother others. The fact that I enjoyed riding what used to make me shit myself is impressive.

In sum, because of the loss of pain and fear, coupled with the drastic increase in fun and joy, I feel that the time is ripe for me to purchase the Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe. June is not only my birthday month, but it is also a month in which I should receive a raise, along with a few extra dollars for various things, so a perfect time to award myself with a fantastic birthday present. Some of you may feel that this is foolhardy and not the best use of my dollars, but I place joy and fun above financial responsibility and I am confident in my ability to come up with the money because my desire is so great. If I must, I will even get a second job.

Posted by jennifer at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ sunshine ~

As you can see from this photograph which I snapped on Friday, a small snowstorm thwarted my plans for going on a mountain bike ride. Snow is good, however, for another outdoor recreational activity: snowboarding. If you examine the photo, you will note that it was taken from about 1,000 feet elevation on Bogus Basin road. On Friday, instead of mountain biking, Josh and I went snowboarding. The snow was an interesting consistency - - a combination between slush and snow with a skiff of fresh powder. It was by no means the funnest snowboarding, but it was pretty fun...and much better than being down in the valley where it was raining.

On Saturday, the sun was out and it was glorious. After enjoying some morning coffees, Josh and I went on a big walk to absorb some vitamin D. We went a little bananas in the photographing of things with sunshine, but sometimes it's nice to be overly-enthusiastic about nice weather. That afternoon, we went on a big road ride out to Kuna and back. It was about 40 miles which we rode in three-ish hours. I know that the idea of riding a bike out to Kuna doesn't sound like the most appealing activity, but it was lovely. And if one has an open mind about the concept of beauty, I would say that I experienced many beautiful moments on the ride. I will say, however, that I was getting pretty tired and feeling a lot of pain by the end of the ride. I'm not exactly in optimal riding shape, and I was ready for the ride to be over about 45 minutes before it was. That evening, my energy crashed and I was not good for much except for reading about the hijinks of celebrities and receiving an update on spring fashion.

On Sunday, I spent most of the day trying to work on my two research papers which are due in one week. Incidentally, one is going well and the other is not. The one that is not going well, however, is for the class which I received the highest grade in the class on the last paper, so I am not all that concerned. I was still exhausted and without energy from the road ride of the previous day, and my mind didn't want to think about anything. So, I spent a lot of time sitting in front of my computer not accomplishing much. I did have a lovely intermission during the afternoon when I met some friends for a picnic - - and after sitting outside with them for two hours, I discovered that I received my first sunburn of the year. That evening, Josh and I made it on a mountain bike ride. We rode Freeway, which is a very mild beginner trail, but as I was leading the way downhill, I decided to fly down Red Tail, a more advanced downhill. It was an incredible amount of fun. This trail had become extremely rutted, which posed some interesting challenges on some of the steeper decents, but I found plenty of humps and bumps to launch off of. This photo to the right depicts one of my more hardcore moments (and I say "hardcore" ironically...as it is not hardcore, but I felt a twinge of bad-assedness).

Posted by jennifer at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Hiking the 8th Street Interpretive Trail, Drinking and Riding to Wineries, and costumed parties ~

This past Saturday was a great day for me. On Friday after I got off of work, Josh and I hiked the 8th Street Interpretive Trail. It was a beautiful fall evening. We spent the majority of the hike brainstorming what we wanted to be for halloween. A few months ago, I came up with the idea of being an activist for planetary rights, protesting the demotion of Pluto to less than full planet status. I thought I'd wear a garbage bag fashioned into a dark orb, spraypainted gray, with leggings and a protest sign proclaiming "Pluto is a planet, dammit!" No one seemed to think this as brilliant as I and the idea withered along with the fame and fortune of the once glorious Pluto. At about the time that I had this flash of brilliance, Josh decided that we should go dressed in Mormon temple garments which are not all that attractive. The plan went so far as to investigate the distributor of these elusive underpants, but we discovered that one needs one's Mormon identification numbers to even register one's garment size, so that idea was out the window. On our hike, we threw out hundreds of ideas. We were focusing on couple costumes, like Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin, Pamela Anderson & Kid Rock, and once he came up with the idea, Josh simply would not let go of the idea of going as Mr. Rogers and the Cat. And I found his manner of persuasion most unconvincing; he kept turning to me and articulating several "mew, mew, mew"s. I dunno, I feel very OVER the whole "going as a cat" thing, even if it's the Mr. Rogers cat. Me, I was obsessed about going as our pre-cool selves. By the end of the hike, we disagreed on the matter as though we were disagreeing over the quantity of some lifesaving elixir to administer to a dying person. Which was kind of ridiculous. Here's some photos of the hike.

And then there came Saturday.

I had been looking forward to the possibility of sleeping in on Saturday morning as a person wandering the Sahara would crave an oasis...my bed, the warm little nook tucked away from the street and city noise, where I have all my sweet little dreams and snuggle in my bundly pillows...yet there was to be none of that on Saturday morning. Somehow, the chi wasn't there. I couldn't find that spot of amazingness that I get lost in every morning when I need to get out of bed to go to work. It was something of a travesty. So I just got up and got ready for my big day.

At 9:30, I picked up Josh and we drove out to Nampa for a coffee at the Flying M coffee garage, which is a very quality place for a morning coffee experience. What makes it super satisfying are the TWO wonderful yarn stores and the THREE great used book stores within walking distance. That downtown Nampa, seriously, people need to appreciate it.

From there, we drove out to the St. Chappelle winery and had a good sampling of their wine selection. I didn't say anything at the time, but I felt that the wine pourer was being much more generous with Josh than with me. Neverthehoo, it was fantastic. Once imbibed, we changed into our cycling gear and set out on a bike ride. I have no sense of direction and didn't consult the map, so I don't have a clue what our route was. I know that we rode for a good distance. After maybe ten miles, we turned onto a dirt road that was difficult for me to ride my road bike on. This led us to the Sawtooth Winery, where we bumped into some folks that we had had an interaction with back at St. Chappelle (they took our photo) and they said that they had been cheering and toasting our cycling up the dirt road. At this winery, the wine pourer was extremely generous, pouring us a third of a glass of each wine...and I think we may have had about seven wines??? Granted, that is not all THAT much wine, but since we were on a bike ride, I feel that my blood stream had opened itself up to all liquids that I delivered to it, in the hopes of remaining hydrated. So the wine quickly made me tipsy. Speaking of tipsy, somehow I fell in love with this silly wine bag with a woman named Tipsy, described as a happy lush. I dunno, had to have been there. We spent some time at this winery outside, where there were some lovely roses that we stopped to smell.

As we mounted our trusty steeds, I was giggly and smily, clearly drinking and riding. We set out down the road and I found it quite a challenge to direct my bicycle straightly. At least it was a vacant farmroad. Oh yes, the scenery! It was beautiful. Farmland, but near to the Owhyees it was stunning, as is evidenced in my photos. At some point, we pulled over for a bio break and I became extremely alarmed when I realized that there was a bunch of idiots on the cliff above us firing shotguns. A dude in a truck pulled over and we all had a conversation about how horrid that was, but yawhatever free country bit, so they assured me that we were too far away for the bullets to hit us, but I was totally freaked. I mean, they were SHOOTING GUNS IN OUR DIRECTION!!!! Yea, I had something of a cow.

As we were driving back into town, we remembered having seen a sign at K-Mart for 40% off on Halloween costumes. We stopped at the K-Mart in Nampa and selected two cheap standard costumes. We then spent some time seperately resting up and then united once more to get ready for the evening. We donned our costumes and makeup and hit the Balcony Dance Club for hours and hours of dancing. I became utterly intoxicated over my vodka redbulls and was a dancing feind.

Posted by jennifer at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

~ Le Tour de Fat and other bicycling experiences ~

Yesterday, to put it mildly, was kind of an epic day. I was experiencing a hangover at 9p.m., had had my fill of silly costumes, wanted nothing more than to ride a bike with an extra pivit or with automobile tires or with wheels winding about my head, and was feeling embarrassed about my performance in a dance competition, not to mention my various wounds (such as a stubbed toe and lacerated leg). But before yesterday, came other sets of epic experiences. I have spent the past six weeks studying for the GRE, so as to apply for graduate school. I refer you to my previous post on how I felt about that. After taking the exam on Tuesday morning, I slumped into a depression for the rest of the week which was in no way related to the GRE. I had been feeling very blue. So, both of the items, the GRE and the saddness, contributed to my lack of posting for the past month.

On Friday, Josh and I rode Hard Guy. I had intended to make Hard Guy it's own post, but it leads so well into this post, serving as the nexus between my depression and the fact that today my facial muscles are seriously sore because I smiled too much yesterday. So, the air quality in Boise has been unhealthy at a pretty consistent rate lately, which has made me felt disinclined to do things (such as mountain biking) which incline me to breath heavily while outside. That, and also the aerial spraying of pesticides which "they" say isn't harmful to humans (my allergies have been going crazy since they began spraying). A wind storm came through on Friday and seemed to clear the air a bit. Josh and I seized the opportunity and rode Hard Guy. Neither of us had ridden for a while and we both observed a lack of feeling at the top of our game, yet the ride was fantastic. Additionally, I'm still timing myself on this ride, and on Friday I rode it faster than at any other time before, exactly five minutes faster, which made me feel incredible. Also, because there is so much pollution in the air, the sunsets have been stunning recently. Josh and I took the opportunity to take photos of us riding, in a vain attempt to photograph us "catching air".

This brings me to my main thesis: I feel that bicycling, in all its forms, is good for the spirit.

Yesterday, Josh and I attended Le Tour de Fat. It started with a cruiser parade in the morning. Josh and I donned our silly halloween costumes of a duck and dragon (which are good stock costumes to have on hand, you know, on the off chance that we need a costume for something but have no money to invest in costuming) and met about 500 other costumed cruiserers at the Rose Garden. We rode in parade style through the Greenbelt, down Warm Springs, and made a loop around downtown. It was a lot of fun. Many people went all out with their costuming and many of the bikes themselves were wonders to behold. Thus, I took many photos of the parade.

After the parade, Josh and I abandoned our costumes and got some lunch. We returned to the festivities around 2:00. We began by enjoying some beer and trying to ride some very wonky custom bikes. The bikes were so fun. There were two with wheels that wound all about the cycler, one which had an extra pivit on the frame so that the frame would swing around itself, one with big automobile tires, a two person bike in which the stearing was controlled by the peddling, a trike positioned backwards, a recumbant with the wheels that would wobble around, a bike with uneven axles and full suspension, one in which the frame was a huge spring and could pull apart and back, along with many others. I found that my ability to ride the wonky bikes increased proportionately to my intake of beers.

We met up with Sara Turbo and her friends Amy and Jeff, and had all kinds of fun talking, imbibing, riding bikes, hulla hooping, listening to the bands, throwing a frisbee to a dog, and the like. At some point, during an intermission in the music, there was a request for some volunteer contestants. Josh and I ran up to the stage, unaware about our role as contestants. Thoroughly inebriated, we learned that we would be participating in a dance contest. As the dude with the microphone gave us instructions, we discovered that we would not be dancing with eachother. I looked across and noticed that my dance contest parter was not the apple of my eye, but some other dude. I then proceeded to make a complete fool of myself along with sixteen other people, in front of several hundred.

At 7:00, we went to a locally-owed theater and saw Little Miss Sunshine over some turkey sandwiches and chips. By the end of the film, Josh and I both felt like we had hangovers, and it was 9:00 in the evening, presumably before most parties even get started. I went to bed at 9:30 on that Saturday night after such an epic day. A day which was filled with so much joy and fun that today my facial muscles are sore because of all the smiling. For more photos, a good 119 to be exact, please see my flickr page.

Posted by jennifer at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

~ Hard Guy ~

Tuesday has become, and will continue to be I hope, the day when I ride Hard Guy. Last Tuesday was my first time. I was experiencing a surprisingly high level of energy and rode the entire trail in under three hours. Josh has a few photos of the ride on this entry of his blog. Hard Guy is located in the area called (by Ridge to Rivers) Crane Creek / Shingle Ridge. Refer to the trail system map shown below and note that the highlighted area indicating the approximate location of Hard Guy. According to the Ridge to Rivers website, Hard Guy "is a long and winding route to the Boise Ridge. Due to long site lines and wide tread it's a good option for horseback rides by staging out of Miller Gulch. If you make it to the top you are rewarded with great views and a first hand look at the transition between high desert and forest ecosystems. Watch for raptors soaring the ridge during fall migration."

Yesterday I rode Hard Guy for the second time. On the way up, I decided that I would track my fitness using this trail. As this is a new trail for me, a longish trail, and a challenging trail, I determined that Hard Guy would be the ideal trail to track my improved fitness based upon the length of time it takes me to ride it. For a variety of reasons, Josh and I decided to have a time check from the trailhead, disregarding the ride up Bogus Basin Road and part of Corralls, tol the point of stopping, either the "halfway point" or the end.

Last night I rode to the "halfway" mark. This point is well past the halfway mark, however, I do not intend to bring along my GPS equipment to determine that which is exactly the halfway point. Plus, the point which I am calling "halfway" has a distinctive tree which is a good spot to rest and refuel, so it is likely that I won't forget where "halfway" is. It took me precisely 56 minutes to ride from the trailhead to "halfway" last night. My energy was at medium, I hadn't slept more than two hours that night, and I hadn't had much vigorous exercise in the days prior to the ride. All variables which I feel are important to take into account when tracking my progress. Please refer to the following sample spreadsheet to get an idea of how I intend to track my progress on Hard Guy. This is a draft and I will most likely be modifying it to make it more specific. Josh and I discussed how it would be interesting to track a whole slew of variables, such as amount of social interaction, stress load, fun-having, etc., and have a guage for happiness, but that would require more thought than I am willing to put into the project at this moment in time.

Anyhoot, the ride. Hard Guy is a fun trail. In Josh's guide books to mountain biking Southwest Idaho, Hard Guy is listed as an "advanced/expert" level trail. Since I am neither an advanced nor expert level bicycler, I have determined that the trail is only as hard as you make it. Granted, I feel that it is too difficult for a beginner rider, but for a solid intermediate such as myself, Hard Guy is good fun challenge. The trail, incidentally, winds through a large plot of land that is currently being used for the grazing of cattle. I am not entirely sure, but my guess is that these are free range cattle. Yesterday, this particular variety of livestock was everywhere, grazing, taking naps on the trail, and Josh and I had to carefully navigate our way through and around. At one point on the decent, I was flying down this steep pitch (which Josh had earlier described as a part of the trail he likes "to go really motherfucking fast on") and I had to slow down drastically because there were four calves walking along the trail with their mommies and a bull hanging out on either side. The calves, noticing my approach, began running away from me along the trail. How does one herd cattle on a bicycle? It was an amusing experience, though a bit terrifying. Josh, meanwhile, was way behind me and apparently caught the end of this scene. There were quite a number of instances in which I was approaching several large cows and bull(s) and, because I didn't want to startle any of them and induce them to girate right into my person, I made a point of calmly calling out a friendly "Hello" to alert them to my impending presence.

At some point early on in the trail, there is a "creek crossing". It comes at the bottom of a dip and is rather unpleasant due to its lack of actual water. Considering the quantity of cattle in the area, the consistency and smell, I have deduced that this particular "creek crossing" is kinda gross. I mean, well after riding into and out of it, being dried off by the heat and wind remnants, I was still noticing a distinct cow piss smell about my person. Unfortunately, there is no way around this obstacle and my creek crossing skillz aren't good enough for me to emerge without it splashing all over me.

Another shitty thing that happened to me last night, pun intended, was when I was riding home through the North End neighborhoods and I felt a conspicuous splat upon my leg. At first, I thought that Josh had thrown some projectile object at me. The impact was strong and it stung a bit. Then I looked down at my knee and I realized I had bird poo on my leg. A bird had defecated and it landed on me! I wasn't feeling so clean and fresh at this point, what with being splattered with cow piss and bird excrement. Here's a lovely photo of my lower half post-bike ride.

Posted by jennifer at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)