Trail running, The Laurel Highlands

One of the red efts I find regularly on the LHHT - Route 31 shelters

My blogging has been slow since February of this year, actually nonexistent. Here's a little to fill in my gap... Ice season was pretty much a bust, but ski season was unbelievable. The Laurel Highlands got dumped on with an abundance of natural snow this past winter. Laura and I spent a great deal of time skiing at Seven Springs in their award winning, Terrain Parks. This type of skiing is well known for producing an abundance of injuries to its participants. Here's a couple of skiing pics...

Railslide - The Streets @ Seven Springs

Light pole bonk over the gap - The Streets @ Seven Springs

My injuries included (but weren't limited to) a broken thumb, Injured (most likely broken) ribs. A bruised hip (which prohibited any running until about 5 weeks ago) and a second injured shoulder that has severely restricted my climbing. Unlike last season, I'm slowly trying to rehab it back to health. For now, I can barely dead hang on it. On a positive note, my injured shoulder from last season can now support free hanging body weight. The path back to stronger climbing might be slow and long, but climbing less challenging routes will produce an abundance of fun in the meantime. Throughout the spring Laura and I spent a fair number of days at various local crags climbing, doing trail work, etc. Bouldering has seemed to be our most focused style this year.




With my hip feeling better, I've recently been working my legs back into running condition. For the first couple weeks, I'd been testing my hip and seeing if limitations existed. I started with short, slow, road runs not much longer than 4 miles. Usually a rest day or two between runs. I felt good, with a only a couple days where my hip showed any signs of discontent. After two weeks back, the hip pain seemed to disappear completely. I quickly started stacking on the miles and feeling positive that longer pain free miles in the woods lay ahead.

Trusty footwear, Altra Lone Peaks and Powersox get my thumbs up!

This past week I managed to log 83 miles of running. All of them on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. For those unfamiliar with this trail it's a 70 mile hiking trail that starts in Ohiopyle State Park and follows the crest of Laurel Ridge north to Seward. It's a unique trail due to the fact that it has numbered, concrete markers at each mile along its entirety (a great feature for pacing and location). Built as a backpacking trail in the 70's it was designed to be covered over a week long period. Adirondack style camp shelters with additional tent camping areas are located approximately 10 miles apart along the trail. This distance makes for easy hikes between shelters. Note: (reservations must be made in advance to stay in the shelter areas overnight). While designed as a backpacking trail, the LHHT is an amazing trail for runners. The whole trail is completely runnable single track that flows over the mountains through amazing scenery. Hardwood forests, rock outcrops, streams, lakes, and wildlife are the normal backdrop along this trail. I feel quite lucky to live and have grown up a short distance from the Rt. 31 trailhead (middle) of the trail. Starting from home allows easy access to either end of the trail. I must admit that I do spend the majority of my time on the southern half of the trail enjoying the larger elevation changes. Along with the LHHT, there's plenty of other great trails in our neck of the woods. Roaring Run Natural Area, Ohiopyle State Park and The North Woods are some of my other favorite trails to run.

Typical mile marker along the LHHT

Yesterday I completed my first half trail run since last year. Laura dropped me off at 31 parking lot and I went south passing a record (for me) 106 trail users along the way. Outside of the Laurel Ultra race day, I've never seen that many trail users on those sections. I stopped to chat with some of them. Here's just a few that I recall... I got a "nice beard" shout-out from a group of resting backpackers while crossing county line road. I met three trail runners from the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club enjoying an out and back run from the route 31 trailhead to Grindle Ridge Shelters. They were up for "Stills in the Hills" whiskey and music event at Seven Springs and decided to run a bit before the festivities. I met a nice younger couple that had their chocolate lab with them near route 653. They were heading in to Grindle Ridge shelters for the night. He was an experienced packer, but this was her first trip. She was smiling as she explained of her new pack and gear required to make the trip. Her excitement was quite infectious as I recalled how much I enjoy new "toys" as well.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort, the highest point on the LHHT

I was met by Laura sporting the mobile aid station at Maple summit parking lot. She provided some love and a water fill before the last stretch into Ohiopyle. Our plan was for her to park in Ohiopyle and start hiking north until we met. That way we'd get to enjoy a little trail time together. Ohiopyle was packed due to the beer and gear festival being held Saturday night. Please note this was the second booze and bluegrass festival along the trail... All kinds of partying going on in the Laurel Highlands! Laura decided to park up at King Mountain trail head and avoid the congestion. Laura was sore from previous runs this week and decided to carry a large backpack to remove the temptation of running. While she hiked north, I managed to float the flatter miles from Maple Summit down to milepost 8 to begin the "hilly" section of the LHHT. As I ran by the 8 mile marker, missing paint on the number 8 had me do a double take out of confusion. This quick glance over my shoulder was enough for me to snag a toe and go airborne, I tried to recover, but my efforts were futile. Head first into the woods Ughhh, I landed with a thud! Quickly I sprung back up and moving again checking for any blood or pains. Slightly dazed, but unscathed. Yep, got my attention and milepost 8 was still 8, not an imaginary 9?!?!? I proceeded to bomb down "heart attack hill" more alert to my footing as a stumble like minutes earlier would surely produce a less funny story.

The view after ascending from Bidwell

I cruised along finally meeting my sweetie just before milepost 3 I was heading uphill and she was coming down. I slowed to a hike at this point and we enjoyed the last several miles hiking back to the car together. We stopped at the 2.5 mile overlook for a few minutes enjoying what we usually pass by at a brisk pace. The additional 1400' of elevation gain at the end hiking up to the trail head produced more heavy breathing and I officially stopped my watch at 6:26:55. Quite a bit slower than my personal best for this run, but still a respectable time given my "casual" approach. I'll wait a little while and do this run again and see how much I can improve on this time.



Upon reaching the car we unpacked the mobile aid station and set up our chairs. Laura had packed a primo after trail picnic for us. We proceeded to kick back, eat turkey sammies, and drink chocolate milk while listening to the sweet sound of live bluegrass music coming from the festival below. What a great end to another day on the LHHT.

Laura and the mobile aid station setup at the end of the day

Really Big Shew

Show floor just after set-up

My feet are still tired, but we survived our first spring craft show.

We managed to achieve our two main goals, which were:
1) don't spend more than we make, and
2) don't eat the whole time.

It was fun chatting with old customers and meeting new people too.

Our next show will be outdoors, at the Bloomin' Festival in Cullman, April 16 - 17.

The show benefits St. Bernard Prep School, which is run by the Benedictine monks at St. Bernard Abbey.

The show is held on the grounds, and I love telling people how to find us at this show: turn right after the entrance and walk towards the back. We're just at the right hand of Jesus.

Line Dancing at Colony Cottage Recreation Center

Every night Donna and I email each other and decide what we are going to do the following day. Last night we decided to go line dancing at a new place, the Colony Cottage Recreation Center. We got there early, and I'm so glad we did because shortly after we arrived, there was a line waiting to get in.



Because there were so many people, it meant a very crowded room while we were dancing.



Donna took some of these pictures, which meant she captured me while I was dancing.



The line dancing class starts at Beginner level and works up to Intermediate level. Each week we are learning more and more, so we are able to stay and dance longer. Donna is a former professional dancer, so she is incredibly fast at learning and she is an awesome dancer. I move along at a much slower pace across the board, but still manage to have a lot of fun.



After we hit the level where we needed to stop we made sure to take some pictures of the recreation center we were in. We both managed to take some, so I have a mix of pictures from my phone camera and ones Donna shared with me. I will try to take more pictures of the recreation centers, because they are all incredible. There are 63 recreation centers in The Villages. Each one is decorated in a specific theme. Colony Cottage is a regional center and is gorgeous. The details in each of the centers is truly exceptional and I love just wandering around and looking at each one.



This one is so pretty and relaxing. It really does feel like a beautiful cottage.




I'll try to write about the rest of our day tomorrow, because we have an early for me day in the morning so I need to head to bed!

Living the life in The Villages!

Ash-throated Flycatcher Bird

When I was a child my mom always wanted to know what kind of bird it was that made a noise that, to her, sounded as if it was saying 'come here, come here'. Since she thought it sounded like it was saying that I have always thought so, too. We could always hear the bird but could never get a good look at one. Usually we only hear this bird when we would go camping, or hiking in the mountains or desert. Since we have moved to the Tumbleweed Crossing I have discovered what the bird is. It is the Ash-throated Flycatcher. There are lots of different flycatcher birds all over the world and several different kinds in the US. All are similar and I didn't know what the proper name for our kind of flycatcher was until recently when I finally found it on the internet. These interesting little birds are kind-of built like a swallow only larger. They are mostly grayish on back, wings, head, and tail, but have a dull yellowish color to their belly area. Males and females look alike. They disappear in the fall and winter. I assume they migrate south probably to somewhere in Mexico. But the come here to nest. I usually have one or two pairs near my house each summer. They usually build their nests in a cholla cactus just on the edge of our property but this year they built in a cottonwood tree next to the horse pens, and hay shed. Every time I walk by it they fly off yelling 'come here, come here'. But return quickly and watch what I am doing as I feed, water, or pet horses. I had seen the nest before I knew which bird was using it. I had thought it might be an English sparrow nest as it had so many pieces of string, paper, tumbleweed sticks, and a piece of cloth in it. It was a couple of days before I actually saw a flycatcher on it which can't be seen in the photo of the nest. I welcome all flycatchers as they eat lots and lots and lots of flying insects especially flies which is where they get their name. I have seen them perched on a tree or power line and suddenly fly down to scoop up an unseen insect and then back to their perch they go. They will do this over and over. They come in to the water I keep in hubcaps in the back yard each evening.

Making Jelly

I have been trying my hand at making jelly since we had such a large crop of apples and peaches this summer. Making jelly is a long, time consuming process.

First you pick the fruit. Then you wash the fruit, cut it open and in the case of apples you can get the juice in several ways. One way it to simply cut the apples in at least quarter pieces, the smaller the better and cook them. Or if you want you can core the apples and cut into small pieces and cook them. You can peel them but you are loosing a lot of juice doing that as it does when you core them. Once the apples have cooked for an hour or so they will be very soft and mushy. Let the fruit cool until it can be handled. The most efficient way I found was to put several pieces of cheesecloth layered together in the ricer, or sieve and use a large metal spoon to smash the fruit causing the juice to leak through the cloth and sieve and into a large container under the sieve. When the fruit was all smashed I would pull the cloth out of the sieve, remove the sieve from the container and holding the top of the cloth closed with one hand I would squash the apple pulp in the cloth to get the rest of the juice out. Refrigerate until ready to make the jelly.

For the peaches I would wash them, cut them open removing the pit and cook the fruit following the same procedureas for the apples.This works for almost all fruit.

Now to the jelly. Heat the juice until warm. At the same time heat a large (and I mean large) pan of water with a lid for sterilizing thejelly jars. You can buy largecanning pots with a lid andmetal basket in it that work well. Mine is about five gallon pot. The jars I use for jellyare half pint jars. I use pint jars for canning applesauce, and apple slices, and peach slices. Wash the jars, their screw onrings and the sealinglids that have a rubber seal around the edge that come with them.When you first buy jars they will have all three parts but jars andscrew on rings can be used over and over. Never use an already used sealing ring. It won't work properly.You just have to buy new sealing lids each time you seal a jar.

When the waterin the large pot is boilinggentlydropjust the jars in the water to sterilize them. While that is happening add a packet ifSureJell to the juice and bringto a full rolling boil that can't be stirred down. Add the sugar. (SureJell has information on how to do this in all packets of Sure Jell and each kind of fruitneeds a different amout of juice per sugar amount.) Again bring to a boil and stir one minute at full rolling boil that can't be stirred down.You can skim the small amount of foam off the top if you want.

You should now have very hot jelly.

I did the first batch of apple jelly and it came out perfectly.

Oh, but the second batch didn't. It wasn't boiling and it wasn't boiling and I turned my back on it for about 15 seconds and it came to a boil and went all over the stove top, down the side of the stove both outside the door and inside the oven door. And all over the floor and under the stove.

What a mess!

I was able to rescue 7 jars of jellyof the 9 I had figured for. And it jelled and was fine. By the time hubby came in I had cleaned up most of the jelly on the stove top and down the door. But he had to help me pull out the stove and clean the floor under it.

OK I thought. Something always has to go wrong with cooking. this should be all of it.

I froze 8 quarts of peaches in the freezer and canned 6 pints of applesauce as well as having about 3 pints I kept for eating right away.

Next was some peach jelly. Horrors! It didn't jell!

I tried the information for redoing the jelly on the SureJell packet when it doesn't jell and it still didn't jell. I called them. They told me they didn't have any information except what was on the packet. (So why are there people you can call for help?)

I opened all the sealed jars, dumped them in the pot for cooking the jelly, started over but didn't add any sugar. but did add another packet of SureJell. It worked. Peach jelly jelled.

Now I have done a batch of jelly of half peach and half apple juice mixed together. I is good jelly.











Hubby has been pealing apples for more applesauce so I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

Family Time in St. Clair

Today some of my family came over to St. Clair to visit with us. My older sister Lisa and two of her children, Katelyn and Dillon, came. My mom came with my niece and nephew, Kyanna and David. And my cousin Balinda came too. I haven't had a chance to visit with Balinda in about ten years so it was a real treat to catch up with her. They have a fifth-wheel and travel too, so we are going to try to coordinate something together. We taught them to play Mexican train and we had a hard time quitting once we got into it. It was a really wonderful day!

Mt Rainier storm & flood damage photos - Ohanapecosh

Snow is accumulating at Paradise. I measured 46" total, with 15" of fresh snow this morning. It looks and feels like winter and if the park were open, skiers, boarders and snowshoers would be enjoying the early snowfall. But the floods really did a number on the roads and as the days pass, it becomes more clear how complicated the damage is, especially with the prompt arrival of winter.

Since it's going to be difficult to write about the climbing routes and upper mountain while the park is closed, I will devote more energy to the events surrounding the park being reopened. There will be updates, damage assessments, projected repairs and ongoing weather observations. I'll also pull together photos, when possible, like these NPS pictures of the Ohanapecosh area.

Above left is an interpretive sign in the Grove of the Patriarchs that has been flooded with mud and silt. Normally, this type of sign rests about 3 and 1/2 feet above ground.

The heavy rain also lead to a number of landslides, like this large one near Ohanapecosh Campground. The slide started on the road above (out of image) and swept everything in its path down to the Ohanapecosh River and Campground.

Here is the primary deposition zone for all of the timber that was unearthed in the same landslide.





The river also moved and in doing so, took a couple of the campsites with it. Here is the new loop C of Ohana.

Crevasse fall - Climber Injured on Kautz Glacier

Kautz Glacier, Mount Rainier

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 1, a climber fell approximately 15 feet into a crevasse at around 11,400 feet on the Kautz Glacier of Mount Rainier while descending the Mountain. The injured climber, Mitchell Bell, was rescued from the crevasse by his four teammates. Bell had injured ribs and visible lacerations to his head and face, but he was conscious and in stable condition. A doctor in the team quickly determined that due to his known and potential injuries, Bell could not continue the descent without assistance. Two members of the party climbed down in search of help, leaving the doctor, another teammate, and the patient at the scene. Back at Camp Hazard about 1,000 feet below, they found Alpine Ascents International (AAI). Several AAI guides responded to the request for assistance and contacted the National Park Service. A plan was put in place for two AAI guides to travel to the accident scene that evening to assess the injured climber’s condition and bring with them materials for an overnight stay on the Mountain. Based on their assessment, the Incident Commander, David Gottlieb called for air-lift/hoist extraction the following morning.

Within an hour of take-off on Wednesday morning at approximately 6:45 a.m., a US Army Reserve Chinook helicopter from Fort Lewis successfully extracted the injured climber from the Kautz Glacier. The patient was transported to Madigan Hospital for further medical evaluation. He was released later that day.

You can find more in the ST and PI.

~ Monica Magari

Cape Blanco

Monday, September 27, .. - - Cape Blanco State Park, eight miles northwest of Port Orford, Oregon.

Looking South from the top of the bluff.
This is why it is called Cape Blanco. As I drove up to the park, the sky changed from a beautiful blue to white and the temperature dropped eight degrees.

Within two hours the fog completely blanketed the area...

Let it snow, let it snow!

As y'all know, Northern Indiana and the Midwest got hit by a snowstorm yesterday. According to the local weather people Whitley county got about 10" and Noble county (where I live) got about 12". I just talked to my brother and he measured the snow in his back yard (in a woods in Kosciusko county where little wind gets to it) and he says they got 15" of snow.

For me, the issue isn't the amount of snow but rather the wind. It whips around the buildings in the complex where I live and causes large drifts. Below is the view from my front window, the first one taken at 10 a.m. and the other at 1 p.m.



The window is about 18" off the ground and the snow is packed onto the front porch. The drift on the outer edge is about 3-3 1/2 feet high. It runs clear across the driveway too. If I get energetic I might go out and shovel a bit this afternoon. Or I might just wait until the maintenance people come and let them shovel it out. My neighbors were out for a while and cleared off their porch and drive.

The delicate lines of the snowdrift outside my front door. It is about 3-3 1/2 feet high.



The view from my front door. Looking south, then looking west.



The sun started breaking through the clouds a little before noon. The day is shiny and bright. And I'm glad I don't have to go out in the cold wind and drifting snow.

French Experiments Continue: Belleville Handlebars and Inverse Brake Levers

Spare bicycle parts, a restless spirit, and a willing "guinea pig" can make for a dangerous combination. In her latest reincarnation, Marianne sports VO Belleville handlebars and Dia Compe inverse brake levers - a practice run to determine how a similar set-up would feel on the Royal H. mixte.



Here are the bars and levers in all of their French glory - on a Motobecane mixte with an Ideale saddle.



The Belleville handlebars are similar to the Porteur handlebars shown here. Both are a classic style of upright bars found on vintage French city bicycles. These bars are narrow, with long gripping areas that are nearly parallel to each other - placing the rider's hands in a position similar to holding a tray. The Bellevilles are 5cm narrower than the Porteurs (43cm vs 48cm) and are completely straight across the front (whereas the Porteurs have a slight forward sweep).



It is typical to see handlebars like this fitted with inverse brake levers. My assumption is that this is done to maximise the gripping area of the bars. Because the levers are installed at the ends, there are no interruptions along the handlebar's surface and the cyclist is free to move their hands pretty much along the entire bar.



The inverse brake levers you will find today are most likely either Tektro or Dia Compe. Here I have installed the latter, and you can see that their brown rubbery tips go nicely with twined handlebars. It surprised me to learn that some dislike the Dia Compes because of the brown tips and prefer the Tektro levers instead - which are all-metal. To me, the rubbery surface felt nice, but I suppose it isa matter of personal preference. If you have used either of these levers, I'd like to hear your thoughts.



Braking with inverse levers. I have found that I am able to get pretty good leverage almost no matter where I hold my hand along the bar, with the exception of the very front.



Can't brake from here, near the corners. But if I move my hands 1-2 inches back, it will work. This set-up is amazingly versatile in terms of the hand positions it allows.



The inverse levers are set back from the bars far enough so that they do not interfere with the grip. You can see in the pictures that they are nowhere near my knuckles. Truly a neat design.



If you are curious about this type of French set up, both the bars and the levers are surprisingly inexpensive. You will like them if you are a fan of narrow handlebars, and if you prefer to hold your hands to the sides rather than flared out or straight in front of you. I certainly fit that description, so both the Belleville and the Porteur handlebars feel as if they were made just for me. The super-wide Albatross bars were comfortable enough, but with the Bellevilles and the Porteurs I get that "spot on!" feeling. I also think that they are better match for French bicycles - especially for the Motobecane's aggressive handling.



I will pause and confess here, that this is the last change I will be making to Marianne...because she no longer belongs to me. Yes, I did sell her after all - to a lovely local woman whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making this morning. Riding the Motobecane with the French handlebars and inverse levers yesterday, I finally felt that this bicycle was "perfect" and experienced a calm sense of satisfaction - not dissimilar to how I feel when a painting is finally "finished" or when a photograph looks just right. And after that, it finally felt appropriate to let her go. I hope the new owner enjoys her as much as I hope to enjoy my Royal H. mixte - which I will most definitely fit with a similar handlebar set-up.



Oh - and if anybody wants someNitto Albatross bars (the alloy version) or VO Milan bars, drop me a line. Thankfully, I have no more "spare" bicycles to put them on.

Made in Somerville: The Joys of a Locally Built Bicycle

I tried to hint at this subtly in previous posts, but judging by some recent conversations I was a toosubtle. So it is time to announce this formally: I am getting a custom bicycle from Royal H. Cycles.




[Customer's bike, detail. Image from Royal H. Cycles]



No, please relax - it is not the track bike mentioned earlier! My Royal H. will be a classic Randonneur-style mixte, inspired by the early French constructeurs: fully lugged, with twin lateral stays and a touring geometry. Even as I write it, I do not really believe it. Yes, it will be utterly glorious, and no, I cannot afford it. But I've been finding some creative ways to scrimp, save, and earn extra cash, and it's all coming together nicely (the deposit system really helps as well!). The frame will be ready in November, and then I will spend the winter fitting it with components. In the springtime, the complete bicycle shall emerge just as the crocuses come into bloom and the swallows sing their song.





However, what I really want to talk about is not the bicycle itself, but the experience of having it custom made by a local framebuilder. As far as "local" goes, you can't really get more local than this: The Royal H. studio (pictured above) is a 5-minute bike ride from my house, so my bicycle is being built in my own neighborhood. There is nothing quite like this.





I met the framebuilder Bryan Hollingsworth through Open Bicycle, after I saw a purple Royal H. bike belonging to one of their customers and was taken with its elegant styling. "Who made that?" I asked. And the rest was history. I met Bryan in person, discussed my ideas with him, and it was immediately clear that he understood exactly what I was talking about and would enjoy making it. It was an exciting, high-energy first meeting and in the end I had no doubt that this person was the right framebuilder for me. This might seem trite, but it can be very helpful for the framebuilder to get a good sense of the customer's individual style by interacting with them. And getting a sense of your individual style will enable them to use their creativity to make a truly personalised bicycle.





The proximity of Royal H. has also allowed me the unique opportunity to visit my frame at various stages of completion, watch it develop, and give Bryan feedback to any questions or new ideas that came up. I have held the different parts of my frame in my hands before it was a frame - the lugs, the tubes, the dropouts, the little braze-ons! - and I watched Bryan arrange them on his drawing-board. This was a thrilling experience, and it has deepened my sense of connectedness to this bicycle. It is definitely my frame, I was there as it evolved! Thanks to Bryan's generous narration about his process, I have also learned a bit about how bicycles are built in the meantime.





To add a few words about Bryan Hollingsworth himself: For the past three years, he has been a framebuilder for Seven Cycles, where, interestingly enough, he specialises in carbon fiber frames. Recently Bryan has branched out into a private frame building practice and started Royal H., with a focus on classic lugged steel bicycles. The art nouveau aesthetic of his work appeals to me very much, and I often find myself admiring his frames even when the bicycle is completely inappropriate for me - like the cream track bike I mentioned earlier.




[Track bike detail. Image from Royal H. Cycles]



And notice how simple everything here is: No over-the-top lugwork, no eccentric curvature, just a classic, minimalist track frame. But to me, it stands out from other track frames.





Of course my mixte will look very different from the cream track bike, but it will have a similar art nouveau aesthetic and, hopefully, the same feel of understated elegance.





My frame is a fairly complicated one, and there are many special things about it that you will not see on any other bicycle (like these custom dropouts!). Bryan has impressed me on more than one occasion with his ability to combine innovative solutions with classic looks, and I will no doubt dedicate several future posts to boring you with the technical details and pornographic close-ups of my bicycle. But not to worry, that won't be for another couple of months.




[Customer's bike, detail. Image from Royal H. Cycles]



In the meanwhile, I encourage you to get to know your local framebuilders, or to find independent framebuilders in an area of the country that has personal meaning for you. Boston, Massachusetts holds a special place in the history of bicycle manufacturing since the late 1800's, and Somerville in particular was home to several legendary builders, including Fat City Cycles and Merlin Metal Works in the 1980s and '90s. In fact, the Union Square neighborhood where Open Bicycle and Royal H. are located was the former home of these manufacturers. Today, the Boston area boasts famed artisanal framebuilders such as Peter Mooney and Mike Flanigan, the internationally renown Seven Cycles and Independent Fabrications, the innovative Geekhouse, and attention-worthy young builders including Icarus and Royal H. When the context and history of your bicycle's production are meaningful to you, owning it will feel truly special. I plan to have future posts dedicated to local framebuilders, to the framebuilding process, and to the history of bicycle manufacturing in Boston, and I hope that these will be of interest.