cycling_mike

Hey, maybe if drinking out of polycarbonate bottles got you drunk you'd have a point. As it is, drinking alcohol is fun while carrying water in a nalgene (as opposed to some other container) is not. I for one see no reason to expose myself to toxins, or potential toxins, that aren't fun.

I've had off and on trouble with my left knee for a few years - it seems to flare up if I go running more than twice a week but cycling doesn't really hurt it. Anyway, a buddy recommended taking glucosamine and chondrotin and I've been taking it for a couple weeks but don't know if it's making a difference... Has anyone else tried it?

Extreme Alpinism for training and nutrition is good but the rest of the book seems kinda dated (check the advice re: headlamps, ice tools in the chapter on gear). For rock gymnastics I like The Self Coached Climber for it's emphasis on body position and technique.

Biodiesel does result in a net decrease in CO2 - when it's produced from used fry oil. It radically decreases localized emissions of almost all pollutants except for nitrous oxides unless you retard the engine timing a little. It also wont do much for PM10/2.5 if your engine isn't well maintained. I buy from SeQuential biofuels: "The feedstock is primarily based on used cooking oil, secondarily regionally produced oil from seed crops like canola. Many companies in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, such as Kettle Foods, currently have their used cooking oil collected for processing into BIODIESEL." "I'm not going to waste my time with you, but you need to spend some time listening to some programs on the NPR program Science Friday" jesus, what condescension! I'm well aware of Science Friday; in fact I often read the actual peer reviewed journals that they discuss on the show. If you want to legitimize your arrogance maybe you should try to enroll in a few chemistry classes.

good point. eh, fuck it...I'm going climbing

"Right. And since you never liked this particular user group anyhow, they get to go first." Actually they aren't going first and, excepting eco-concerns, I'm pretty ambivalent towards the motocross scene. I've made a sincere effort to limit my CO2 emissions, as have many people I know. The simple fact is that we're all going to have to make changes to the way we live. Unfortunately, we can't just wait for the factories and cars to get better somehow someday. We have to start making lots of simple and concrete cuts right now.

"ITS NOT THE RIGHT ARGUMENT AGAINST THE TRACK. PEOPLE WILL LAUGH AT YOU IF YOU USE IT." I never said anything about this particular track... I'm not sure what the most socially effective means of arguing against the track are. However, for most of the people I know, this would be the right argument against the track. Sure some people will laugh, but they will laugh less as the hey-lets-not-do-this-'cause-of-global-warming line of reasoning becomes a factor in public policy decisions big and small. "Did I at any point say C02 emissions are great? But it IS grains of sand, so you're mixing your issues here." I'm not mixing issues; I'm not trying to convince you of the negative consequences of CO2 emissions. I'm arguing that dealing with the little "grains of sand" right now is a viable tactic for reducing emissions. "But I bet you drive around in car and spew your own CO2, which is the argument you're trying to use against them?" About twice a month I drive an '82 biodiesel rabbit that gets 40-50 mpg. The rest of the time I bike. I've biked to Yosemite, the North Cascades, 11worth, Glacier, etc. Sure I spew CO2, but I've made a very serious effort to cut back. "If you REALLY want to fix the problem then work with/against the dirtbike makers to come up with a bike that reduces/eliminates CO2 emissions." Umm...emission free bikes already exist. I ride one every day. It is called a bicycle. "Or what about cars? Or factories? THAT would make sense." Well, until I get the opportunity to re-tool the entire global industrial economy I guess I'll just have to try to have an impact on the emissions that are within my sphere of influence. Also, I do support efficient cars, and I buy renewable power for my house. Arguing against the track and trying to change cars/factories are (surprise surprise) not mutually exclusive actions. "Or I guess you can save the planet by eliminating this one dirtbike track. Or you can get real, leave these people alone, and fix the real problem." Did I argue that eliminating this one track would "save the planet"? No, my whole point was/is that to "fix the real problem" we have to make all the small cuts we can, immediately.

Re: "I'm talking about the choice to use the NET ADD of the CO2 emmissions that would be presented by this proposal and using that as an argument against it...which is RETARDED." No, actually its not. Let me give you an example: If you want to save $ for a big trip you might eat more meals at home, drink cheap beer or whatever. In the context of everything else you pay for (rent, car payments, insurance, etc.) you might be cutting your expenses by only a few percentage points. However, it still makes sense to do so (and you can still save some $) even when you can't cut those other, bigger expenses. The same is true of CO2 emissions; we can't shut down all our coal burning power plants this year, but we can start making other cuts right away. The US with ~5% of the global population and ~30% of the global emissions is already way way the fuck over budget. We obviously don't need any more carbon-intensive modes of recreation. Re: "Take all the CO2 that will be emitted by users of this track and tell me what percentage it is of the total world wide CO2 emissions? Now what difference does it make?" This whole line of reasoning is ridiculous! Almost any specific point source of CO2 is "a few grains of sand on the beach" Hell, I could drive an RV instead of a bike to work, crank the thermostat to 100 and still make no detectable impact on global CO2 levels. I don't because I believe in personal responsibility, and judging by the increase in cyclists and energy* appliances other people do too. We need a million tiny cuts in emissions right now while we work on making big cuts in the future.

They seemed pretty standard to me last time I was up there, which was...a year or so ago. Why?

Windproof shoe covers make a huge difference; I use a light pair (coated nylon) made by Burley. If your shoes are old and the insoles are compressed, replacing them will help. Even if your shoes are new, you should remove the insole and put some duct tape over all the open screw holes or slots around your cleats. Be sure to tape over any metal that makes contact with your insoles too. You can also cut the feet out of old socks to make ankle warmers (keeps the blood warm without cutting off circulation inside your shoe). Good luck! Oh, and check out www.icebike.com for more winter cycling ideas

How hard/remote are you looking to do? Previous experience?

Thanks for the recommendation Bill! Yeah, weather looks partly shitty thurs, and I'm busy this w/e. Hopefully next thurs... Mel, send me a pm when your ankle heals

I was there last weekend and had no problems. My buddy accidentally left a six pack sitting in our campsites driveway (in full view of the loop road) and it was still there when we returned, as was my stove, cookware, tent, and misc. that I usually leave...so I thought it was strange when I ran into a couple of climbers who had a headlamp and propane tank stolen that same day.

Broughton, Beacon, Carver, Ozone or (sigh) rocky Butte...I climb 10ish but have done harder and enjoy easier routes too. I'm off work at 12 on thursdays and ready to climb! -michael

I will never heli-approach. In fact, much of the time I approach via bicycle. There is a veritable shitload of environmental and social reasons to cut fossil fuel consumption, and if you're paying attention at all you've heard some of them before. What I really love about bike road trips is the freedom and adventure: I can camp wherever I want and avoid pesky Natnl. Park fees, forest passes, permits and the like. Plus nothing else is quite as satisfying as reaching a summit (or top of the pitch) completely self-propelled. Driving is boring; with biking you start the adventure at your doorstep.

Every time I cruise through the gorge I look up at the West face of Wind Mtn and think about giving it a go. Does anyone know of any routes up there? I'm sure someone has checked it out at least...

Mt. Oberlin is casual but scenic, Mt. Brown on the NE side of Lake Mcdonald is really cool and the approach hike is a good leg workout.

Did you approach from marble mtn. sno park via swift creek ski trail?

Great TR Tyler! Yeah, After we got up Reid I felt so stoked that I just had to keep climbing. So I traversed around looking for an interesting but not to hard route to the top. The sun warmed snow was a little soft and I felt like I was swimming in a couple places, but eventually made it up just left of the old chute. Overall the route was awesome. Tyler/mofomojo15 and I had a fantastic time (thanks for climbing with me bro) until faced with the looong and oft-repeated walk down palmer at which point I realized I was so tired I couldn't even bitch about it.

Does anyone else think there's gonna be (climbable) ice in the gorge this weekend? We've got some pretty cold weather forecasted for the next few days...

I love the camp nano wires 'cause I generally bike to the crags... My summertime bi-weekly bike rides to Broughton's have gotten a bit easier since I replaced my old school ovals & D's. When Rachael and I did our bicycling tour of washington crags we carried wiregates almost exclusivly and that helped to shave the weight a bit. If you're worried about weight on yer 12c's then take a shit and/or shave your head before climbing. That'll cut more weight than switching from putzl spirits to heliums or whatever.

"maybe you'd be better off clean-aiding Diedre" hey whatever rocks yer boat. All I know is that when I was on wrist twister a few years ago there was a broken rivet and I skyhooked the last exposed thread to get past it. It's probably not useable by now.

Climb: Mt Adams-Mazama Glacier Date of Climb: 8/19/2006 Trip Report: So a couple of weeks ago I decided to attempt a marathon 3 day cycle-climb-cycle adventure on Adams. The plan was this: bike from PDX to Adams (104 miles) on day one. Summit Adams on day two and bike back on day three. On day one I made it all the way to a bivy just below lunch counter, but managed to trip on my fuckin shoelace of all things and smacked my knee on a rock hard enough to kept me from going any higher. Work and the usual BS kept me from making a 2nd go at it until this past weekend. My buddy Steve was driving to eastern Washington to start a job, so we decided to climb the Mazama glacier on his way out there. Then I'd bike home and he'd continue east. On Saturday we left portland, reached the trailhead by 4pm and hiked up to sunrise camp by 7ish. The next morning we woke around 5 am and started up. The climb went smoothly enough; fortunatly we were able to bum some sunblock, as we'd both forgotten to bring any. There was a bit more hiking than I'd expected, and we didn't get back down to the car until 6pm. By time we ate supper and reached hwy 14 it was after 7. Steve drove me to Stevenson, but since he had to start a 13 hour shift at 5:30 am he had couldn't bring me all the way back to portland. I assured him that I was fine, and started biking around 8:30 or 9 (my cell phone was dead so I didn't know exactly what time it was). I refilled my water bottle rested a bit at Beacon rock. About ten miles later I hit a big rock in the road and got a flat tire which was a bit of a pain in the ass to fix, but other than that the ride was uneventful and the traffic was thankfully very lite. When I got home I looked at the clock. It was 1 am, I set my alarm so I could get up for work in 6 hours, chugged a beer and promptly passed out.

Bring rivet hangers and a bat hook for wrist twister, maybe a bolt kit too. That thing has some of the shittiest 1/4 inchers.

I was up there a week ago and it sounds like you bivied where I did. Yeah there were lots of mice, and two pretty big marmots, one of which wasn't afraid of me at all. I'd brought my MSR stowaway pot (its handle latches over the lid) to store food in, which was a good thing, cause at night they dug it out from under the rocks I'd stacked on it and hauled it 20 ft away. Fortunatly marmots haven't figured out how to chew through stainless steel (yet!).