S***

No, I don't mean the SH** word, I mean the SN** word, the cold, white stuff. It's getting closer. I couldn't ride to work on Monday because of the 1/4 inch of I**, that frozen water stuff, coating everything. It was S*** (the sh** word) having to drive to work. This photo was taken over a week ago, the leaves are much yellower now...an more of that S*** covering the mountains, I think.

My bike commute takes me on the back roads when I get into town, so I had NO idea of the road construction that has been taking place on the main hwy through town. It makes driving that much worse. Definitely faster getting through town on my bike.

Tuesday, things thawed out and I was able to ride, but it was in lots of rain and headwinds so strong I had to pedal to get down the hills. Still, it was better than driving. My co-workers made comments to me that day...disbelief that I would RIDE in that weather. Well, it was either that or walk back, and I don't walk, unless I have a pack on my back and am heading out to the wilderness where bikes aren't allowed.

My riding gear is waterlogged and I feel perpetually soggy for the last week, but the rain has finally stopped so I should dry out a bit.

Do you know what the worst thing about colder weather commuting is??? Getting to work, pulling out my work clothing from my panniers and shimmying into those COLD clothes. It makes me feel cold for the rest of the day. I started putting my coffee into my nalgene waterbottle and wrapping my clothing around it but I just end up with cold coffee along with cold clothing. But, as my friend pointed out to me, this discomfort is not enough to stop me from riding, just gives me something to complain about...Hmmm, maybe I should be more silent about my suffering.

I cleaned out the garden, had lots of monster cabbage, zucchini and some romanesco broccoli, which my mother-in-law planted but refused to eat, she though it was regular broccoli and was freaked by what it turned out to be. Summer is offically over in South Central Alaska. S***.

Sunrise

I almost got splattered on my ride home today. A young girl going the opposite direction tried turning right into me....not very smart...she saw me...you could tell she just has no idea of pedestrian laws...yes, I had my feet on the ground and had the "walk" sign and the right of way. Anyway...

Here a pictures of yesterdays sunrise on my ride to work. Big flocks of Sandhill cranes are filling the skies, loudly squawking, heading south. This horse checks me out every single morning. It watches me intently, as if it is trying to figure out what exactly I am.

The nice old man with the not-nice, would-be cyclist-eating dog, isn't walking the monster in the mornings anymore. I suspect it's too cold. The only other commuter I see now is Camo-backpack/duffel-bag guy. We give each other big smiles, waves and say friendly greetings which are lost to the wind as we pass each other. He has been the most consistent commuter I have seen. Maybe I will stop and actually try to talk with him some evening, but I'm fairly shy so we will see if I can get the guts up. I have seen various other people commuting over the summer but they only seem to last a max of 5 commutes and then I never see them again.

Capt'n Balance pointed out today that I rode to work every day for at least 2 months, getting up an hour earlier than I would be if I was driving and then asked me when I was going to stop. STOP???? Why would I??? I told him I will keep riding as long as I can and maybe will ride my studded tire clad Kona to work as long as the paths are clear of deep snow. He doesn't like that idea. But I gotta do what I gotta do.

Cool Ride

Check these guys out. Riding from Washington to Maine. Yeah, I think that is my dream ride. Their blog and webisodes are cool. Viewing their webisodes helps them raise $ for their cause. Go ahead...give it a view.

Bike the U.S. for MS

The moon was beautiful and full on my morning ride to work the other day. The sunrise behind me, the moon in front of me. Cranes, ducks and swans flying overhead, going south for the winter. The leaves are starting to turn. Streams filled with salmon, spawning finished, wasting away. Fireweed gone to seed. Summer's end.





My daughter and her fiancee were her for the last 10 days visiting from Montana. They left this morning so I feel sad again. It sure was great having them around. We had a good time, they got to visit with all their friends, go to the state fair, hiking, an evening 4-wheeler ride to the river and bonfire. The time went too fast, I could only get 2 days off work to spend with them, plus the weekends. My daughter really wants to move back, Nathan likes Montana (darn).

The weather has been nice, it is getting nippy during the nights and my morning commute has been pretty chilly. It sure is harder work and slower to ride when I am frozen. So I ordered some fleece tights and warmer gloves. I have a wool jersey on order. 40's in the mornings, mid 60's in the evenings. I pack extra riding clothing for the ride home. My pannier get pretty full some days.

Darkness comes along with the cooler weather. I put my lights on my bike. Last year I was able to ride to the end of September before it got too dark. I have a new light this year, maybe I will be able to ride longer. Maybe not though, it depends when the ground starts frosting and icing up and things get slick. Summer's end...winter begins.

Shimano Disk Failure

While riding my Santa Cruz, I noticed there seemed to be some play in my rear wheel when I had my brake on. I thought I needed to replace the pads. I got it on the workstand, the pads were fine.

So I started troubleshooting. The metal part of the rear rotor was slipping a little, the rivets connecting the metal disk to the black centerlock were loosening and the play was wearing the rivet holes bigger. Darn. I call Bike Guy, he says to bring the whole bike in.

He calls Shimano, they say they have had a few rotors fail like this, about 3 over the last 5 years. Which isn't bad, when you think of the numbers of rotors they pump out each year. But I just happen to be one of the LUCKY ones. It must have a new rotor. I go to pay for the new rotor, Bike Guy says no charge, Shimano is covering it...WooHoo. It was ready the next day.

Fall is on the way here, the birds are starting to migrate: Sandhill cranes, Canadian Geese, ducks. There were 5 ducks on the bike path on my way to work the other day. Neat to see. The daylight is getting shorter and it is getting dark now. We are losing a bit more than 1/2 of daylight per week. The nights are getting cooler, my morning rides are also. This summer has gone by way too fast.

I won't get to go to the cabin this fall. I'm really bummed about that. There are new, stupid caribou hunting rules in effect this year which is supposed to help lower-income hunters, a person who is drawn for a permit can't use any vehicles over 1500 pounds to take the meat out of the hunting area. This eliminates planes, most boats, swampbuggies, etc. It does not eliminate 4-wheelers.
The idea behind this is a low-income person can't afford to use a plane, boat or other "heavy" vehicle. So most people will get their game out by 4-wheelers.
That's a load of dookie. It costs us $400 a season to hire a bush plane to fly us into our cabin, we have always shared the plane with at least one other person flying out to our area, so we pay only $200 to $300 for the plane ride.

4-wheelers average cost is about $5000. I can afford a flight much easier than a 4-wheeler. So now we have a caribou permit with no way to get the caribou out because it is now against the law to have it flown out with us, because if we can afford a yearly $200-$300 flight, then we must be over-income, but if I make a monthly $250 4-wheeler payment so I can get my caribou out, I must be low-income. Who makes these rules??? We have an old rebuilt 4-wheeler, but it would take about 10 hours of HARD riding through bogs, tundra, muskeg to get to the cabin and it would really be a disaster if it broke down in the wilderness. Rant, Rant, rant.

My Week

I have been happily commuting all summer, 8.2 miles each way. It's been different this year due to a lot of construction going on, sidewalks and bike paths are torn out at multiple areas in the town I work in. Finding alternate routes as been interesting at time. I live in a different town, so I load my bike into the back of my truck every morning and drive to a parking lot and ride from there to my office. My ride to my truck in the evenings has better scenery than my ride to the office, in the morning my back is to the mountains and sun. The evening ride I have some beautiful views which always make me happy to be alive and on a bike. Here is a few pictures of my favorite views, they certainly look better in real life.




Last week, I noticed it felt like my bike was trying to ghost shift or maybe a stiff link. Last Sunday I put the K2 on the bike stand. It was soon obvious that there was no problem with the chain, cables or derailleur. I could hear sort of a ping or popping noise on the drive side as the wheel rotated. Darn. So I took apart the rear hub. I immediately noticed that the normally blu grease that Ritchey hubs normally have, was absent, replaced instead with watery, rusty looking grime instead on the drive side. After cleaning the bearings and races, found them all toasted. All bearings are pitted, some are cracked and look like chunks missing. The races in the cup is also pitted, worn and cracked in a few places. The non-drive side is in almost perfect condition. Damn. So I hop in my truck and head to the bike shop, knowing I will have to purchase a whole new wheel if I want to keep commuting the following week but secretly hoping Bike Guy can rebuild the wheel with a new hub IMMEDIATELY, like my situation is critical ya know? I really do know this is unrealistic but the little spark of hope is there. I get to the shop....it's closed. Turns out, for the very 1st time in my history since going there, Bike Guy has decided to close down on Sundays. Good for him and his family, Shit for me. I go back home, frantic about what to do. I start calling bike shops in Anchorage, the only place that will still be open by the time I drive an hour+ is REI. Rush to Anchorage, get the wheel -which was an adventure of it's own- rush home, spend a fricken LONG and DIFFICULT time getting the cassette off the freehub. Get everything installed on the new wheel and the bike back together and ready to ride the next day, fall into bed very late and tired. But the bike is good to go and working great. I had Bike Guy check out the Ritchey hub yesterday, he said it will cost as much for a new hub and rebuild as it does for a new wheel. The other option is to ride it until the hub actually fractures. Hmm..I don't think I like that idea.








Thursday after I got home, everyone decided to go fishing down at the river behind my house RIGHT NOW! I hadn't had time to eat and wasn't ready to eat yet anyway. Capt'n Balance, the Bike Boys and Computer Guy had everything packed up on the 4 wheeler and ready to go, all I had to do was change. So we did a tequila shot (not the boys-duh) with lime and off we went.

It was one of those PERFECT Alaskan summer evenings. These nights are indescribable, one has to experience it. Perfect temperatures, sun still shining although getting lower on the horizon this time of year, no bugs, beautiful mountains, water, flowers, wilderness, fresh air, moose tracks in the mud, snowshoe rabbits running across the trail...perfection.

By the time we got to the fishing spot, about 40 minutes later, I was starving. I scarfed down the spicy chicken with ranch sauce, washed it down with water and Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale and started fishing. The rivers are full of a lot of dog salmon, turning into the scary monsters for spawning and then rotting. There are also Reds and Silvers running. I caught a dog salmon, we didn't catch any reds or silvers and too soon it was time to head back. My nephew, Bike Boy 2, and Computer Guy stayed longer and came home with a red and a silver. Even though we had no fish to bring home, it was a glorious evening.

Now it is an overcast Sunday afternoon, I'm overhauling the front hub from my K2 commuter, it looks like the grease was a little corroded in there also. Just in time, I don't want to buy another new wheel.

Tag

I was tagged twice last week by A Midnight Rider and Karen of Travelin with/against the Wind. So here is a few random facts about me:

1) I was given a car the other day: 1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster convertible with a hardtop and soft top. Sweet! Needs some work but it's pretty nice. Took it for a spin last night, the brakes whet out heading into a 90 degree corner. I was ready to eject but the hand brake worked! :)


3) I HATE LIMA BEANS and canned BEETS! Lima beans have the same taste and texture of the old Elmer's paste, beets (at least canned beets) taste and smell like Play-Dough. Both of these turn my stomach. Yuck. I also don't like shredded coconut, it can't really be chewed, just swallowed and it seems to hang around in the mouth for awhile. When I was a kid, my mom would occasionally buy those gross Hostess Snowballs, pink or white shredded coconut covered marshmallow, chocolate cake confections. My brothers would tell me the coconut was dried worms. I think that stuck in my subconscious. I won't eat anything with shredded coconut. I do, however, like coconut smell and taste, just not the texture of shredded coconut. As for Lima beans and beets, you may wonder how I know they taste like old Elmer's paste and Play dough? Lets just say I was a "sensory" kind of kid.

3) I used to be deaf. I had surgery to restore my hearing about 5 and 6 years ago, 1 ear at a time. I started losing my hearing after the birth of Bike Boy, in 1991 from a genetic condition called Otosclerosis. Going deaf really sucks, especially here in Alaska where the doctors just don't have a clue or at too egotistic to care about patients getting the best care. When I got the news I was going deaf, I asked my doctor if there was anything that could be done, he said "no", just hearing aids. So I went progressively deaf for the next 9 years, spent thousands of dollars on hearing aids, dropped out of my social activities and avoiding friendships because I couldn't participate in a 2 way conversation anymore. I became pretty much of a loner. I was at my audiologist, getting yet another pair of more powerful hearing aids and was really bummed, I was functionally deaf by this time, when my audiologist - a fairly young girl from out of Alaska, full of the latest technology and teaching- told me "off the record" that I didn't need to go deaf and could actually have my hearing restored. She told me there is surgery to fix my condition and gave me the website of the House Ear Clinic in East L.A. Went down deaf, came back hearing. I also met some pretty amazing people while I was in L.A. for the surgeries; A brother and sister in their 40's who were born totally deaf, both got cochlear implants at the same time and were learning how to hear, a man who had fatal tumors in his hearing organs so they were all removed, he then had a brain stem implant at the House Ear Clinic and was also learning how to hear, his brain interpreting the sounds that were being directly sent to a part of his brain...additional amazing people and situations and the House Ear Clinic does amazing things. Life changing stuff.

4) I love rocks, always have. Where I grew up, there was lots of undeveloped land. I would get a kitchen spoon and go across the street and start digging holes, looking for the prettiest rock. I would spit on the rocks to see the colors, if it was pretty, in my pocket it went. When I ran out of spit, I would lick the rocks. When my pockets were full, I was stagger home with my treasures, go into the downstairs bathroom, fill the sink with water, then lovingly wash each of my rocks. I would line them up on top of the clothes dryer while they dried. I was always soo disappointed that they turned into dull, gray looking rocks again when they dried, so I started leaving them in the sink of water so they would say pretty. My mom would get mad at me sometimes for making such a mess: I didn't realize my clothing was totally coated with dirt, my shoes full of dirt, my face streaked with dirt, mud and spit, my hair (long and usually in braids), all dirty, in my mouth half the time and pretty ratty. Muddy hand prints everywhere, dirt from the front door to the bathroom, the bathroom floor covered with mud from the dirt and water. My mom tells me sometimes I had so many rocks in my pockets my pants would be falling off and I would constantly pulling them up. Then I would gather my rocks, get a hammer and proceed to smash them looking for geodes or whatever was inside. I remember getting a rock chip in my eye once. It hurt for days. I didn't tell my mom. She still doesn't know. Now I use clear coat instead of spit to keep my rocks pretty!

5) I don't really like chocolate. I will eat it if it has nuts or caramel, but not plain.

6) I don't really like the color red. Some reds are ok, but am not drawn to red.

7) My favorite perfume is Be Delicious by Donna Karan, it smells fruity, like sweet apples. I like fruity smells, my favorite shampoo is call Fruit Cocktail, it really smells GOOD!

8) I love to sing, but no one else loves for me to sing - HA! So now I only sing when I'm riding my bike or driving in my truck alone. Capt'n Balance thinks I'm in trouble sometimes when we are riding out bikes and I'm singing. He can't tell if I'm complaining or groaning or whatever. That is not a complement.

That was a lot of work. Whom should I tag??? I don't know. If you want to be tagged, let me know in the comments or I might just tag you randomly!!! I want to tag Ned Overend and Floyd Landis but I don't think they will play.

It's raining and Saturday night. I need to change the cables, brake shoes and add the front fender on my commuter bike. It's ghost shifting lately, the rear shoes are really worn and it's pretty wet out lately. I also need to put the new 50/50 pedals, replace the brake pads and maybe bleed the brakes on my Santa Cruz. My wheels are moving about 1/4 inch when I have the brakes squeezed tight. That wasn't happening before.

I have a little bottle of Patron tequila that I bought myself for my 40th birthday that I haven't opened yet. I think tonight will be a good night to open it. Just me and my dog, tequila with lime, the rain, the music, working on my bikes. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night!

It's Worth It

My hands and legs are splotched with mean looking burn-ish marks from riding through fields of cow parsnip and Devil's Club on last Friday's Johnson Pass ride. The trail was overgrown so badly, there were times I totally entombed, couldn't see the trail or more than 2 feet in front of me, just followed the less dense area ahead of me and hoped it was the trail. The splotches are worth it, even when they blistered 3 days after the ride. Johnson Pass is on my top 5 list of places in Alaska to be. The black flies were exceedingly bad also, we had to keep moving to keep from being swarmed. Can you see Capt'n Balance riding through the vegetation?

We then spent the night at

Hope and partied all night on the deck of the Seaview Bar, dancing to the music of the Denali Cooks. The bike boys went fishing, both caught salmon, which they released.

We then moved on to Whitter, through the single lane tunnel which is shared with the trains. It was rainy, we toured the harbor, fished (kept 2 salmon this time) and rode around the micro-town that it is. Most residents of Whitter all live in 1 big building as land is not available. It's a neat little fishing town surrounded by glaciers.

I'm tired, so no more writing for tonight.
Take care, everyone!

I'm Hip, Not a Hippy

My daughter calls me a hippy. I'm not sure why, I shave my armpits and I don't wear Birkenstocks or whatever. However, I have been comtemplating soy burgers recently...

I found a podcast/website that describes what I am..I'm more Hip than Hippie. I'm not sure how accurate their tips are, but they are environment friendly tips and certainly can't hurt. This week is on reducing pollution from letting your vehicle idle. They get a little "soccermom-ish" and I am no longer in that stage of my life, but I still like them. They also feature a different BEER weekly! My kind of girls :).

My dad was standing in line behind a guy wearing a biking event t-shirt. My dad asked him about it, the guy rode in it. My dad then told the guy that his daughter (me) was an addict. The guy was a little confused, topic jumping from bikes to drugs, so my dad explained I was a "bike addict" and had at least 5 bikes and a shop. The guy agreed, I'm addicted.

So I have been "labeled" twice this past week: hippy and addict. I don't mind, as long as it's kept in the correct context. And no, I DON'T need an intervention.

China is trying to clean it's air for the Olympics by banning a million cars. It's just a test. It worked before, the air was cleaner and congestion was down, maybe it will work again....doya think??

My commute this moring was pretty good, except for sucking in exhaust from dump trucks at the construction site which dug up my bike path. They just spew gross, black exhaust. I was wishing I had a mask. I think this was the 1st "warm" morning, 55 degrees at departure. Short sleeves and shorts temps! WaaaaaHOOOO!

My 1st Day as a 40 Yr Old

Has been rather mundane, but that's ok, we are all recovering from the past week.

The backpacking trip down the Iditarod trail in the Eagle River Valley was good. I really love it back there, it is SOO BEAUTIFUL! It's different than the valleys here, more wet, different vegetation. We saw only 1 black bear on the hike in, it scampered away quickly when we started telling it to go away.

It was gently raining on the hike in, which was fine because it helped keep us cool. Muddy trail in spots and slick rocks, I was glad I had my new hiking poles (an early birthday gift from Capt'n Balance). After settling into the Yurt, we continued on a nice 5 mile hike down the trail, we decided to go off the main trail onto some smaller trails and found some really beautiful spots along the Eagle River. I didn't get may pictures because I forgot to put the memory card back into my camera before leaving, I only had room for 12 pictures on the camera's internal memory. I bought myself an REI Venus backpack, it's great! Much better than the pack I used last year. I think I could get into backpacking a bit more but Capt'n Balance isn't for it. Why walk and carry a load when we can ride? This trail doesn't allow bikes so hoofing it is the only way.

Friday night we went into Anchorage and had dinner with my parents at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewery. Good food, beer, views of Cook Inlet and wonderful Alaska themed quilts and stained glass.

After dinner, we are driving down 9th Ave and we see a guy walking is reindeer. Yep, a reindeer, that's life in Alaska


We stayed at my parents house that night and after breakfast we went for a ride at Hillside park. The bears and spruce hen's are out and about







Last night after getting home we started finishing up Capt'n Balance's new road bike. He found a pretty nice road bike in the dumpster where he works, he got it out and it looks exactly like Bike Boy's Navara. This bike didn't have any labels on it so we don't know what the brand is but it has all top quality components for it's day. It also had tubeless, sewn tires. I got new rims as we just didn't want to mess with sewn tires and the freewheel was seized up anyway. Capt'n Balance stripped it all down, it had red paint flaking off, underneath it on the fork and chain and seat stays were nice, shiny chromed metal. He then repainted the frame using a paint that looks purple or green, depending on the angle you look at it. Really pretty. He then had a friend make him some label. He has named the bike after his favorite drink. It is now the Crown Royal Duck Fart Limited Edition. I got it all back together last night and all that is left is to wrap the bars. He couldn't wait until the bars were taped to test ride it. He's happy with it! I have 2 new commuters in my family, Bike Boy rides his Navara road bike to work at the golf course and Capt'n Balance plans on riding the Duck Fart to work. I knew I would get them into it sooner or later. They are both new to road bikes and are amazed at how fast road bikes are compared to mountain bikes on pavement. Yeah, baby!




And if you are interested in trying a Duck Fart, this is how to make one. It is a layered drink, in a big shot glass, gulp down as a shot.

1st layer: Kahlua 1/3 of shot glass
2nd layer: Bailey's Irish Cream. Pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer it on top of the Kahlua
3rd layer: top with Crown Royal whisky. Again, pour slowly over the back of a spoon to layer on top of the Bailey's.



The best thing about my actual birth day was spending it with my family (minus my daughter in Montana, of course - I miss her greatly!). Capt'n Balance, Bike Boy and myself spent the evening hours in my bike shop, all of us working on one bike or another, talking and joking, then all going out together for the Crown Royal test ride. I thought to myself that biking is such a great family activity and thank God that cycling came into my life or none of the day's events would have happened.

Eric and the Broken Chain
Kincaid Park/Coastal Trail Ride Photos
Sleeping Lady Mountain

Recent Rides

Good rides last weekend and this weekend.

We have a friend, Eric, who is visiting on 2 week off hitch on the North Slope. He works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off and lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. Eric bought my 1st mountain bike from me last year, a Cannondale F300 hardtail. He keeps his Cannondale here in Alaska and when he is here, off we all go.

Last weekend we took the motorhome to S. Rolly Lake campground and spent the night there. As there were wildfires in the surrounding area, we weren't sure if there would be a lot of smoke but the air was clear. Next morning we headed out to Red Shirt Lake. It's a nice trail with lots of ups or downs, not too far but a nice workout. The day warmed up and became humid, by Alaskan standards.

Eric ended up snapping his chain power shifting up a big hill about a mile away from the trailhead, it was mostly downhill from there so he was able to coast most of the way back.

We loaded up and continued on to Talkeetna, the town that the TV show Northern Exposure was rumored to be modeled after. We had a good time like always. There was a church group with a guy dressed up as a cow, he didn't seem to know what to do with his udders.

We were planning a overnight mountain bike/camping ride to Snowbird Mine and then hike to Reed Lakes but it started raining down here in the Valley and looked rather stormy up there in the mountains so we loaded up and headed into Anchorage to ride the trails at Kincaid Park, an old Cold War Nike missile base, converted into trails for cross-country skiing and riding in the summer. I had never been there before, even though I was raised 2 miles from it, it was still a missile site back then. We let Eric take the lead, the map was just a mess of trails, unreadable. We ended up on the Coastal Trail and just kept going. I don't think my mountain bike has ever ridden so much pavement before. We ended up stopping about 9 miles down the trail, were the Anchorage International Airport runways are, giant jets taking off overhead, really pretty cool to watch them as they are pretty low still. It can get pretty loud though. Everyone was hungry by this time and the wind was picking up, rain moving in, so we headed back to Kincaid. We will need to research the trail system at Kincaid better, the trails we were on were mostly grass with occasional tiny narrow strips of hardpack.

Eric wanted to ride again today, but we just have to get some everyday living stuff done before the work week starts, thinks like paying bills, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. It's raining again anyway. We also have to start shopping and packing for our 4th of July hiking trip to the yurt in Eagle River. Then on the 7th I turn 40!!! I'm not yet sure what I want to do to make it a memorable day. 40 on 07/07/07...can't beat that. I know a lot of people are getting married on that day but it's a heck of a lot harder to turn 40 on that day than get married.

I'm watching a show on the history channel right now on Alaska and the 1964 earthquake. My mom, dad and oldest brother were in Anchorage when it hit. Quite devastating. I grew up with the stories of the quake and the ruins. It's interesting the comparing the stories my family tells of living through it and seeing it on TV.

Bike boy got his 1st job! He will be on the grounds crew at the local golf course a mile down the road. 40 hours a week of yard work. He's going to be tired for the 1st week or so until he adjusts. My daughter has finally found a job down in Montana with the Parks Service, making reservations for the National Park Lodges. Full-time, year-round with benefits. She's happy about it. Now if I could only figure out how to retire....

Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe 4th of July!