NTM

i have 2 friends with the axis and they say the same thing, i might have to go out and get it tomorrow anyone up for a long ride on fri?

Thanks for everyone's responses. I won't be at gregg's b/c i used to work there and am well aware of why i don't want to buy there. I won't turn it into a fixe b/c i'm not a trendy enough re-nob to belong to that crowd (no need to waste that gas $$, john). I also don't want to convert an old road bike b/c I like the possiblity of having larger clearance for bigger tires. I just found a last year bianchi axis on sale that I think will do the trick. it is significantly lighter than the other bikes i've been mulling over and definately nods towards road riding. aluminum frame (for durability) with a carbon fork (to dampen the bumps of shitty seattle street paving/potholes). decent (although not excellent) components and comes with 3 chainrings instead of 2 (like most cyclocross bikes) to make pushing my fat as uphill easier.

As of right now I have a mtn bike that I like a lot, but I'm tired of abusing it around town and commuting on it (better to abuse it on single track), time for something new. I think a cyclocross bike is what I'm looking for. I want all the advantages of a road bike (light, better geometry for long rides, etc) with the burlyness of a mtn bike (seattle roads suck). i think i would lean more towards road standars with this new bike. in general i'd like to avoid disc brakes since i won't be full on in the mud (doubtful that i'll start racing) and they're more of a hassel than they're worth (for my needs). So far I'm looking at: bianchi volpe kona jake (or jake the snake) surly cross-check redline conquest kona sutra rocky mountain solo rocky mountain sherpa anyone have any experience with these bikes? other suggestions?

a friend of mine just read steph davis' book and really liked it.

sorry, working that eve. i just dropped by the office to say hi and drop some papers off whie out on a bike ride, but you were in a meeting

Thanks!

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Does anyone have any info on the Burdo route "Restless Native"? I've heard/read bits that make this sound like a good route but can't find anything beyond that. Any help would be much apppreciated.

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Emergen-C 2X/day

alphabet rock also has "return to the womb" .10-. one of the best sport routes i've done in WA

Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!!! 1. BLAMESTORMING Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible. 2.SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves. 3.ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard 4.SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end. 5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles. 6.PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. 7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato. 8.SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids. 9.STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny. 10.SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use. 11.XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace. 12.IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. 13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft- com:office:office" 14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. 15.404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error Message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located. 16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions. 17.OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake). 18.WOOFS: Well-Off Older Folks. 19. CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.

but if there's only one, it's yours

My fovrite Sarko quote: "Vous en avez assez, hein? Vous en avez assez de cette bande de racaille? On va vous en débarasser" (Said to an white woman in the middle of a poor Parisian suburb during the 06 riots). Translation: "Have you had enough? Have you had enough of this group of hoodlums ('racaille' has racist undertones in French)? We're going to get rid of them for you."

Thoughts? How will France change with him as pres? For better or worse? dLbLLoqFOOo

In my limmited experience at smith, there are either good pods for cams, or the nubbins on the inside make for great nut placements. tricky or not, though, I always thought an "R" rating denoted inadequate gear for a section that could result in pain/suffering (but prbly not death). Is this not the case?

no way kev, you did a 5.7?!?!? rated R?!?!? you are so badass. will you please sign my right testicle?

i agree that if someone can move quickly, allowing folks to jump on and pass should be common sense/courtesy. however, i've had folks request to pass saying that they had done it before and it won't take long, then they proceed to haaaaaaaaaaannnnnnggggg all the way up it. if you can't back it up, don't pass, wait your turn patiently or go do something else, its not like there aren't TONS of fun (hard and easy) access routes to higher up stuff.

for me there's also a big distance between trying a route for the 1st time and doing it again. some routes are deceptive on where the hard moves are or where the gear gets good or bad (i.e. the crack suddenly flares or full on peters out). if i'm trying for the first time, i put gear pretty much wherever i can and afterwards it looks like i was practicing my suturing. usually when i go back, i place the minimum required gear to keep me from decking.

There are a lot of B2s at the outdoor rock at UW

I think it's mostly the people who work there. They suck. I think you suck. My response to people who say that gyms leave "climbers" (indoor or other types) unprepared for the outdoors, is that (I can only speak for myself here) classes are alway prefaced with an emphasis that what will be taught that night is exclusive to that gym. I mention that other gyms have different poicies and that the out-of-doors is an entirely different arena because it is impossible to teach (in the gym) rock quality, bolt quality, bolt intervals, route-finding, anchor-building and all the difficulties assiciated therein. It is then in my mind that all the new folks fucking up out there (in assumption that they learned in a gym and run outside thinking it's the same) are doing it after being warned that it is different. I'm sure there are some instructors at some gyms who don't go over why learning in a gym doesn't prepare someone for climbing outdoors, but they're douches. Sorry, I take this part very personally because I take a lot of pride in the classes I teach. One of them is a long class (16 sessions) during which the students learn technique, indoor leading and get an intro to what makes a good anchor so they understand why a sport anchor is safe and an intro to rapelling. I recently ran into a former student of mine from this class climbing with another friend outside and the friend said the student was one of the most prepared folks to come out of a gym; she was asking interesting questions that were relevant to switching from the gym setting to the outdoor world like "this hanger is spinning, is that still safe?" and "Is this hold in?". It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that I helped set this student up to do everything she could in a gym and then be a good partner for someone more experienced to climb outdoors with. holy shit that was longer than i meant it to be, and i haven't even had my coffee yet.

What is everyone's beef with gyms? I consistently hear people bitching about them, but I don't get it. It gives people who want to try the sport out a relatively safe place to try and classes to learn some of the basic skills. The people who want to claim they climb stay in there (every sport has lots o people like these, get used to it) and leave the rocks for the rest of us. It's also a fun place to hang out with like-minded folks during the "off" months (Sept-May) in the NW and even sometimes find partners. I've been teaching in gyms for while and think it's fantastic that we can weed people out so easily with such a low nOOb:death rate. I've taught everyone from the apprehensive gf/bf following their partner to the most enthusiastic new climber all on their own in a class. Climbing is cool because you only get out of it what you put into it. Those that want to climb find a way to make it happen and gyms can help them get going. Maybe I'm wierd, but I've only had positive experiences in the gym. Remember we were all dorks at some point wondering how they got those ropes up there and what the clippy things are for...

looks like choss to me...

i dig the metolius where's waldo persoanlly...