HappyCamper

A fail in my marketing efforts for sure. Here are a couple of pics:

I didn't really use the set-up more than a handful of times, the same for the person I bought them from: Skis: Tua Mega Plus---187cm Bindings: Silveretta Easy Go 555---size large Skins: Coll-Tex Combi Extreme $200 Located in Seattle.

[img:center]http://echosphere.net/star_trek_insp/insp_captkirk.jpg[/img]

sold

sold

School officials in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., reprimanded a mother and her 12-year-old son for riding their bicycles to school on national Bike to Work day and confiscated the boy's bike, according to a story in The Saratogian. Janette Kaddo Marino and her son, Adam, 12, pedaled the seven miles from their home to Maple Avenue Middle School. "After they arrived, mother and son were approached first by school security and then school administrators, who informed Marino that students are not permitted to ride their bikes to school," the story said. "School officials took her son's bike and stored it in the boiler room. They told her she would have to return with a car to retrieve the bike later in the day." It's a matter of safety, Principal Stuart Byrne told the paper. "I would be a nervous wreck every day if kids were riding to school," he said. "Traffic isn't bumper to bumper, but it's non-stop." Byrne said he also worries about children traveling unsupervised through the community. The Saratoga Springs school district did not apply for any of the $2 million that the New York State Department of Transportation awarded through its Safe Routes to School program, which awards money to districts to improve pedestrian and bicycle access. "I personally encouraged them to apply, but I was told that the school board policy considered it unsafe to walk or bike, and the policy is only to bus (kids to and from school)," Raj Malhotra, the DOT's program coordinator for the Capital Region, told the paper. Seattle PI article

I could see the concern about "diluting" the core mission of the board, but if enough people that post here also MTB, I don't see it really stunting climbing conversations and trip reports. I think its more about quantity of people that do both rather than catering to each unique, however small, subset. Apparently, there were a lot of pirates out there with a need for a place to post. Not saying it is a perfect comparison to cc.com, but TGR seems to thrive despite having a pretty big variety of sports.

I think it would be pretty cool to have a MTB forum. Seems like a benie in having all the old logging roads criss-crossing the hills is that you can ride them and get a nice workout and decent scenery. I don't necessarily need a bunch of single-track to have fun - just a remote MTB ride somewhere would be great and having some beta from those in the know would be helpful. My experience is that climbers don't just climb - they MTB, ski\board, kayak, etc. If there are enough MTB'ers out there - why not keep them on this board.

Sound Mind and Body used to have one at their now-defunct gym in the Zymo building. Novel to use the first few times, but it got a little lame after a while - you turn the wheel to control the resistance - basically your body weight pulls the wall down - either there was not enough resistance and you had to climb real fast and got sloppy or it was too slow and you had to wait it out. Found that consistent bouldering or top-roping-till-you-puke provided a much more satisfying burn. That being said - the fact that it was in the gym I went to anyway was nice for that extra 5-10 minutes of burn - but not worth making it the point of your trip.

The law on "booty" in Washington: RCW 63.21.010 (1) Any person who finds property that is not unlawful to possess, the owner of which is unknown, and who wishes to claim the found property, shall: (a) Within seven days of the finding acquire a signed statement setting forth an appraisal of the current market value of the property prepared by a qualified person engaged in buying or selling like items or by a district court judge, unless the found property is cash; and (b) Within seven days report the find of property and surrender, if requested, the property and a copy of the evidence of the value of the property to the chief law enforcement officer, or his or her designated representative, of the governmental entity where the property was found, and serve written notice upon the officer of the finder's intent to claim the property if the owner does not make out his or her right to it under this chapter. (2) Within thirty days of the report the governmental entity shall cause notice of the finding to be published at least once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the property was found, unless the appraised value of the property is less than the cost of publishing notice. If the value is less than the cost of publishing notice, the governmental entity may cause notice to be posted or published in other media or formats that do not incur expense to the governmental entity.

"...your brain will fall out."

Uh....so, the women who are labeled "hot chicks" filed the complaint, not the douche? They didn't like being called "hot chicks"? Not to be too crass, but if I were them, I would take the compliment and call it good.

I really think it is a question of resource allocation: If cyclists represented 10% of the road population, then you would want to see them contribute 10% of the infrastructure costs. Maybe less than 10% to incentivize the riders. My slightly informed hunch is that most cyclists are contributing dollars well over and above the cost of their use. Local roads substantially paid by property taxes. Federal highways by federal funds (income tax). State gas tax isn't a gigantic funder of infrastructure. Most cyclists own cars and pay registration and gas tax anyway. Where is the big resource allocation for bikes? Paint, which arguably is something that had to be done anyway when the city repaints the lines for the roads.

I will try and get a couple personal biases out there first - I commute by bike in Seattle. But I also think there are some hysterical types among the Critical Mass crowd. And perhaps a degree of smugness too amongst the general cycling population - although the smug types are mainly the those that drink soy-mochas after riding 5 miles in their racing bikes to their closest free trade espresso joint, as opposed to the scruffy, maligned commuter types. Anyway, I think the idea of taxing cyclists is not a good idea and Vessley should have researched his opinion more carefully. You know, like maybe one of his reporters might have. I could blather on and on about the economics of it, but the bottom line is that in the City of Seattle, the majority of the road funds come from property taxes. I live in the city, own a home and yet use the roads in a less damaging way than cars. I also have a few cars registered (the horror!) and probably kick in for the roads through that. I also think Vessley's idea that buckets of dough are being spent on cyclists may warrant further review - they have painted a few lines here and there. Outside of the city, the same argument can be made (percentage of gas tax spent on roads is not as high as people think). Vessley should have come at it from a numbers standpoint instead of just firing off ill-informed bits, although I think the numbers do not lie. My fear is that a call to tax cyclists might get supported by state and local governments, not because they think that cyclists are over-using the resources (they probably know the reality), but because they think the voting public can be led to think that cyclists are over-using and will back the government's revenue increase. What government would say no to a tax increase backed by voters? I suppose I could also go on about how we should encourage more people to commute and such: less gridlock, Blah blah blah, global warming, blah blah blah. But mainly, I hate the idea that one more aspect of my life could be subject to some kind of registration. Quick Edit: While I know this is in spray - maybe not spraying on this post is a good thing. I think Fairweather has expressed a prevalent opinion. My goal is just to throw out the facts and prevail upon people to leave my bike alone and untaxed - maybe I am wrong - I do not think I am, but I sure as heck am not going to shoot the messenger. Although I am kind of torqued that Vessley would throw out some half-baked notion and people believe it since he is ostensibly a news guy.

You don't think there's any way I can get that quarter from underneath of your pointy boot, do ya? All I want is just one more oatmeal pie. Little Debbie, Little Debbie, I’m a comin’ on over, baby!

I think the Obama\McCain race will be interesting once Hillary drops out. McCain has said he would not go negative in his campaign. I suspect that given the harsh treatment he received from Bushie during the '00 primaries, he might well stick to that pledge. While I can't say for certain, my guess is that Obama might do the same. Could be wrong in either case, but it would be really really nice to actually have a campaign where two candidates treated each other with some degree of sincere respect and debated the issues. My sense is that the American public is damn near full of the slick rhetoric that passes for campaigning these days. Cheap platitudes ring hollow when the economy is wheezing along. Then again, I can't really recall a presidential race that didn't denigrate into some mud slinging. Pipe dream I guess.

mountain-biking. hills. lots of hills.

A little thread drift. This thread reminded me of a high school history teacher of mine that had a habit of inviting speakers into his classrooms. He got some serious flack for bringing in speakers from the Communist Party (this was Bremerton in the mid-80's) and another time a Christian minister to speak about creationism (I think there were others too). I suppose the most interesting thing to me about this is that the teacher said very little about why he brought the speakers in and during the talk he said nothing\asked nothing and let the students form their own opinions and ask questions of the speakers. Some agreed with the speakers, some did not and we had a great, respectful debate. The subject matter was almost beside the point. What was most important was that we were left to develop our own impression about the subject matter. I still appreciate now the fact that while I am pretty sure I knew which way the teacher leaned, he refused to influence the discussion and stayed out of it. It was not until well after high school that I realized the amount of crap my teacher had to go through with the administration to give us that experience. Thanks Mr. Sweet. It is a disappointment to me that nowadays inviting speakers from either end of the spectrum would likely not be possible in a public high school school.

Only one - on the trail towards Kendall Stump.

Bump. Anyone have the hybrid Beyond Fleece pants? Jay - sounds like you got someting like their Cold Fusion pants. Looking at something warm enough for some BC/glaciers/mild winter activities, but not too warm for spring and fall. Seems like Vayu Pant that has either Cold Fusion (WB-400) or Cold Play (Dry Skin Exreme) on the front and a less bomber/more breathable fabric for the rear might be a good mix. I'll probably give them a call, but thought I would see if anyone else had some experience.

With all the insiders info being passed around here, it seems like a good opportunity to ask where do you go on Friday nights now that the Boot Pub is closed? Is it true? Heading up there this next weekend and really like the uh, scene, there on Friday night. The last time we were there a group of swingers from Bellevue took to a full on mash fest/amateur strip show for the frothing crowd. Good times.

Haven't really tromped through Glacier much, but contemplated it. Check the Climber's Guide to Glacier Park by Edwards. It had lots of good info on peaks and trails - also try calling Rocky Mountain Outfitters in Kalispel.

Nashville Pussy And you will know us by the trail of dead

Great read! Favorite line - "I little voice inside of me whispered 'Must Not Spank.'"

You might also try posting on professorpaddle.com - probably some paddlers over there that are still heading north for runs.