downfall

I don't know. Horizontal drops outs do require the skewer to be set tight and flush againt them so the torque while pedaling doesn't shift the wheel I'd recommend trying to trade the frame with something equivalent on craigs list with 130 spacing since conversion frames for single speeds are hot and it would be better satisfying some messenger wannabe with that frame than fucking it up and you would have something which satisfies your need too

I meant that if you have horizontal drop outs which are parallel to each other to begin with but then bend the stays outward the dropouts are no longer parallel to each other and you'd have to rebend them where they meet the stay so that they are parallel again or else you might have problems getting your skewer to sit correctly. Sheldon goes in to the framealignment problem (i.e., each stay needs to be the same distance from the center) and that seems easy to adjust. Bending the dropout tabs where they go in to the stays seems harder. I know framebuilders do this but I don't know how hard it is to get right.

Just get a 120mm hub threaded for a singlespeed freewheel. These are readily available. You only have one speed but that's what all the kids are doing anyway. With the cold setting (I haven't done it but usually trust sheldon that what he says can be done can) it seems that you are liable to end up with the following unwanted results: 1) seat/chain stays bent at the bridges (maybe the distance isn't big enough to make this noticable though) 2) if you have horizontal drop outs, which you probably do giving the description of the frame, they won't be parallel anymore and you'd have to bend them too.

I agree with the don't buy it as I have no control if its in my house. I sub Macadamian nuts, Zone bars, and milk and sometimes a piece of candied ginger if I have it around. Another thing I've found is that brushing my teeth or drinking liquor helps (as long as your not drinking girly drinks).

The washout was passible easily in a car and lots of people were driving past it. I'm not saying that its allowed as there is a road closed sign but it definitly is drivable.

I'm sure Dru uses http://www.canuckster.com/ comlete with the canadian natinal anthem for your searching pleasure. Thanks for the ideas, this is the info I needed.

Google works in canada? I guess I was looking for info on National Forest type campgrounds or whatever the equivalent is in BC as well as recommendations from people who have stayed at these places in winter rather than just going off some random website search. Sorry if I was less than clear.

Heading up to whistler this weekend and am too cheep to put up for lodging. Are there any places close to the ski area where we can car camp this time of year?

The Robert Hicks Bates Award Robert Hicks Bates, a renowned explorer, alpinist, Peace Corp director and educator, has accomplished numerous first ascents in Alaska and was a member of the American expeditions to K2 in 1938 and 1953. His literary contributions describing the K2 expeditions and his life of adventure in the mountains have inspired young American climbers. He has served the American Alpine Club in many capacities: member of the editorial board of the American Alpine Journal, Board member, President and Honorary President. Above all, he has devoted his life to promoting the education and development of American youth through his years as a teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, service with the Peace Corp, and other endeavors. To recognize his many contributions to American mountaineering and education of our nation's youth, the American Alpine Club has established the "Robert Hicks Bates Award" for outstanding accomplishment by a young climber. It is to recognize a young climber who in the judgment of the selection committee has demonstrated exceptional skill and character in the climbing or mountaineering arts and has outstanding promise for future accomplishment. Recipients of the Robert Hicks Bates Award: Josh Wharton 2003 Brian McMahon 2003 Jonathan Copp 2000 Lisa Rands 2000 Chris McNamara 1999 Tommy Caldwell 1998 Beth Rodden 1998 Stephanie Davis 1997 Jeff Hollenbaugh 1997 Kathleen M. Brown 1996 Chris Sharma 1996

I've looked at that a few times when I've been back there and though I haven't tried it I think there is 1 substantial cliff you might have to rap. Other than that it didn't look too bad.

It sounds like you want a formula crackers, if someone told you to "Do x, y, z on days a, b, c then you'll be a 5.11 climber." don't you think there would be 1 training program out there that everyone used and 5.11 climbers would be a dime a dozen? If you want to climb at that level I don't think its going to come down to whether you do you campus board workout on the same day you do crossfit. There is no magic formula. If you want it you will make it happen. It seems to me you don't want it bad enough and you're looking for an easy path where no easy path exists.

I'm no 5.11 climber so what the real path there utilizing crossfit is probably best getting from the likes of Rob Miller (PM me if you want and I might be able to get some contact info for him) who was mentioned in linked post from NYC007. That post says he does WOD as perscribed but I know he does lots of pullup work too (like kipping pullups to above the bar, dynamic pullups grabbing a higher bar, and stuff like that). So maybe I'm confused at what you are looking for but CF should provide you with the Power and GAET training. So I would drop those programs and focus on CF. WRT recruitment, some crossfitters will say its overrated/unnecessary, for example there are stories of crossfitters going in to triathalons with little to non sport specific training apart from the WODs and come out on the podium. Climbing 5.11 is different than triathalons though. And there is that Will Gadd article that floats around on here sometimes about training pullups didn't equate to him being a good climber but training recruitment/climbing movements did. One thing that the movements I mentioned above will give you over doing your typical climbing non-climbing recruitements exercises (like lat pull machine . . .) is that you body will be working in a functional way which is how the movement happens in climbing (not necessarily the same movement but your muscle systems will be coordinated and working together not isolated and trained independently). Getting real strong on power cleans probably won't make you a 5.11 climber when you hit the rock but you probably will have a better foundation for building those climbing skill than if you spent the winter doing lat pulls.

Also, crossfit is designed not to train specificity. I think you'll find that the broad range of movements available in crossfit might carry over in to your climbing in ways you might not anticipate.

One of the things I do it try to make my climbing workouts crossfit-like. One of my favorite things to do is to see how fast I can climb all the V0/1s in the gym. Or if you don't care about looking goofy in the gym to can drop and do sets of 20 pushups between routes. If you have access to the equipment you can also do crossfit workouts which integrate rope, cargo net, or inverted ladder climbs; some of these workouts get posted as WODs on the website. Other than that you can focus on pulling movements. Like power cleans, rowing, snatches. We also see that lots of climbers come in to crossfit with extremely stiff shoulders. So working stuff that emphasizes shoulder flexibility such as pass throughs, hand stands, dips, overhead squats also seem to help with these issues and should complement the climbing training.

Lots of crossfitters also follow the Zone diet. If you get lost with %carb talk you'll probably get lost in the Zone too as it requires lots of measurements of your food intake which is regulated according to your lean body mass. Though once you get in the habit for a few weeks its really all not that hard and the little extra effort pays off big time. Basically its going to come down to how much you really care about improving. Crossfit and the Zone aren't for free; what you put in to them determines what you get out. There is a crossfit message board for nutrition here: http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/23/23.html Last summer was the first summer I climbed while following the zone and it made a huge difference. Was a little tricky getting away from the typical carb/sodium loading of climbing eats but once I did eating was no problem. Also endurance atheletes, and I think Twight's paper may go in to this (at least if its the same paper I read from a cf seminar a year or so ago), typically take multiples of the regular zone allocation for fat providing its good/beneficial fats.

cfire has it right. You don't need lots of equipment and lots of subs are listd on the crossfit site. Barbells and dumbells are probably essential, most everything else can be subed. Subs are listed on the website (in the FAQ and most of the time people will ask for appropriate sub in the days workout comments on the main site). There are several gyms around as well as cf portland if you want to do the workouts as prescribed (some workouts use special equipment which most people or gyms don't have like ropes, glute/ham machines, dballs, medicine balls, rowers) and want the personal coaching from crossfit trainers. I definitly recommended visiting a CF gym if you are getting started as technique on lots of the movements can be easy to botch and cause injury if you aren't doing it right. Also the coaches there will be able to help get you ramped up without killing yourself in the process. Some gyms can be a bit pricy but once you find a coach who you work well with the return on investment is excellet. Besides crossfit portland of interest to the NW are www.crossfiteastside.com (Redmond) www.crossfitnorth.com (Sand Point) www.crossfit.ca (Vancouver) http://www.crossfitpc.blogspot.com/ (Pierce County) http://www.rainiercrossfit.com/ (Puyallup) Crossfit Mount Vernon/Skagit county (no website yet) I know lots of the coaches at these gyms so if you want some more info let me know via PM. I workout at crossfit eastside and we've got a few other climbers there as well.

What kind of standard for tail maintence do you want? Like the sidewalk outside your house? Not to derail the actual topic which needs discussion. Its kind of hard to find out exactly where to comment on this (I already called the guy in charge and gave him some suggestions on clarifying the location to input comments). Here is the link so you can go drop them a line (do it now, don't hesitate) and let them know you don't think the management policy needs to be updated or whatever else you think. http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?projectID=13746&documentId=12825

You don't have to go to the gym if you don't want. They post a workout everyday here: www.crossfit.com Though the blend between personal training and group work really ends up providing much more benefit for the effort and is worth the cost in my opinion. PM me if you want to know more about whats going on in seattle for crossfit.

Don't just leave it in spray. Write them a letter, email them or call them. Paul Hoffman, Paul_Hoffman@ios.doi.gov 202 208-4416 Gale Norton, gale_norton@ios.doi.gov 202 208-3100 Department of Interior 1849 C. Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20240 Speaking up on CC.com is ok, but it doesn't really get you very far. Best are handwritten letters, second best are phone calls, emails will probably be ingored so go ahead and call them assholes in your emails (just kidding, though its tempting on the off chance they do read it)

Last I heard, and please correct me if I'm wrong, there are only like 3-4 full time seasonal trail people in the Washington national forests. Don't think these dudes are gonna be getting to those thousands of miles of trail the WTA doesn't get to. For the crews I've worked on (NPS Yellowstone, NFS Wasatch NF) no one strips new tred down to mineral soil. Too much work. For any new tread we typically would try and make an obvious path (like rake out about 60% of the grass vegitation) and leave it at that. Boots of visitors take care of the rest. But like I mentioned before very little actual new tread is created.

You sound like you work for the WTA. As thats just what they told me except I think they said 10 years. Why don't we just uproot any shrub or tree within 10 feet of the trail then we won't ever have to deal with it? Honestly I want the brush right along the trail I don't want 5 feet of clearance of each side of the trail just so I don't have to dodge a limb every now and then. The core probelm is that for the most part I think WTA people just want to feel good about what they are doing but don't have any real philosophy about the wilderness. So you get a buch of yahoos out there who think trimming brush on the first 3 miles of a trail is conservation (its not, BTW) and they drive home in the Subi felling like they've done their part yet they go through the rest of their life consuming crap, driving everywhere, getting their little suburban home with 1.5 acres of green grass and maybe purchasing a little vacation home in mazama (since they are green you know) and it fucks up the whole system. It lowers the bar of what really needs to be done so far that it has no meaning and no impact in the end. I'm probably generalizing a bit here so don't bother to point out the exceptions in WTA as there probably are some but I know that this is a big factor of what goes on. One story (I've got many): I volunteered on a WTA crew in 2000 at chatter creek trail out of icicle creek. Again, not much work to do within the first three miles so they decided that they should remove any boulders in the trail they came across. These were the rocks which stick up in the trail and you usually run across about 100 every mile. Normally its like the tip of the iceburg for what you see versus whats under the ground. But these WTA people decided they needed to be taken out. They spent the better part of the next two days digging out boulders which were generally about 3-4 feet in diameter (of which only about 3-5 inches were sticking above ground) and trundeling them down the hill. Luckily no one else was out hiking as the trundels definitly crossed several switchbacks and would have killed. These were WTA regulars; they talked like they were out doing this every weekend and they all knew each other.

From what I understood when working trail for the FS for a couple of summers is that major concessions are made to stock travel since for most of the trails these were the origional users. I'd say most trails were origionally blazed by horseback riders trying to get to some lake. Since they have the historical precident for usage its hard to take that away from them (even if I personally would be for it). I second the claim that WTA is turning lots of trail in to roads. I think they have a tendency to not have a very strong wild-ness ethic as well as taking a bunch of weekenders/rei-gawkers our to build what they think a trail should look like. In the end you get 90% of the maintenece done within the first 2-3 miles of the TH and because of this short range you get too much work done. I was once on one of their crews and they told us we should be pruning all foilage back 10 feet from the trail. I told them I didn't want to do that and dediced to go for a hike instead. Sorry this has little to do with MTBs which I don't really have an opinion on.

I beleive if you check ANAM you'll find that just over 50% of climbing accidents occur on the ascent.

yeah like 1.5 million for a Rainier Welcome Center in Enumclaw. There is so much crap attached to that bill as earmarks it makes a joke of us as taxpayers.

No gas tax going to sultan but they got money from the new transportation bill for that new lite and the sync of the lights: http://www.taxpayer.net/Transportation/safetealu/WA.pdf