Mirabelle's second camping trip ..

In a stroke of luck, Jennifer and I were both not working. So we took Mirabelle on another camping trip. This time, like the previous out to the warmer, sunnier side of the mountains.



We drove out Wednesday morning and did pretty good timing the drive with Mirabelle's nap schedule. We opted to check out the Aplets and Cotlets (Liberty Orchards) store in Cashmere as our first stop on the warm side. It wasn't really that interesting. And after a few samples, we continued east to the Mission Ridge ski area for a short hike. Unfortunately, this was not well timed with naps, and Mirabelle was a bit over tired when we placed her into the new back pack for the hike. She whined most of the twenty minutes or so we went uphill, and then we took her out for a snack and to see if she would calm down.







No luck with the calming, and we headed back down the hill where she fell asleep moments before returning to the car. Since it was chilly, we just headed back to Leavenworth after a stop at a market on Highway 2.







After playing in town a bit, we headed to Eight Mile Campground for the night. Where we ate dinner, and then had a good night's sleep before being waken up by the camp host. We drove into town and hiked the Nordic trails at the ski area before leaving to come back home. One stop up at Stevens Pass for Mirabelle to stretch her legs, and we were in the final leg of our journey.

Anubis FWA

The Comb showing the line of Anubis, on the day of the ascentQuite unexpectedly, I managed to complete my long term ambition to make the first winter ascent of my own summer E8, Anubis on Ben Nevis. The number of hours to finish the lead might just be countable on one hand, and completely exhausted me for the following three days. In other words, I completely went for it.



Starting up the initial overhang Photo: Christina BellIt seems to contradict reason, but it seems clear to from my experience that there are many different states of mind which seem to work well for bringing out the best (or should it be worst?) in climbers for hard leads. ‘confident and solid’ is most consistent, but suffers often from nerves and fear of failure. ‘Invincible’ can produce moments of sickening boldness/recklessness, but always makes for a short career in climbing. ‘Angry’ is only really good for pull-ups. Climbing is too delicate for it’s unchannelled release of energy. ‘F**k it, what have I got to lose?’ was where I was at on the crux of Anubis. Life is too short for caution when you are on the right route, at the right time. So I dispensed with caution.A small gear ripping fall on the initial wall leading to the main roof helped a lot to relax the body. I had been needing that for about two or three seasons. I started again. This time climbing like I wanted to get higher.



Crossing the crux roof Photo: Christina BellSeveral hours later, with nothing left in my arms, my feet slipped off again on the final headwall, well out from the last gear. I had the eyeball bulge of a leader with three seconds to find a solution or fall. A footless speed-downclimb of about 8 moves and kung foo kick back onto the footledge under the roof saved one more chance to get to the belay. Christina burst out laughing at the sight of it. I laughed as well, after a minute or two.Next time up was my last strength, so I got there. I pulled through my 70 metre ropes, tied them together and kept going up the comb in a 140 metre pitch, before untying and continuing up the ice grooves, and eventually standing in the quiet of the summit by myself for a few minutes.Grade in winter? No idea. I’ll have a think about it. I haven’t ever tried or done anything harder in winter. I guess there are worse chores than grading your hardest route. The route started as an idea to see if it was possible today to maintain the Victorian mountaineering tradition of opening a new climb in summer conditions, and progressing to an ascent in winter. Great that it’s still every bit as possible as it was a century ago.





The highpoint of my 2nd attempt, the other week Photo: Andy Turner





Anubis in summer E8 mode Photo: Cubby Images



Postscript: Just before I posted this up I read a timely post on Ian Parnell’s blog with a full list of all the routes of grade IX and above. I can’t say it really helped that much for making a wild and disclaimer-ridden stab at a grade for Anubis. But what did stand out was the consistency of routes which are often reasonably protected HVSs working out at IX in winter. There are of course some E2s and up to about E4s that have been done as winter mixed routes, generally where the cruxes involve cracks. Anubis, although dramatically harder at E8 does have a useful short crack at the crux, but then a section of E5 6a face climbing on small crimps. Bla bla… the long and short of it is I do think it’s a significant step up from any of the routes I’ve done. The crux is not much harder than Don’t Die, but then the rest is like stringing three of the IXs on Ian’s list together. So maybe it’s XII if my other two routes are really XI. Or if The Hurting and Don’t Die are really grade X then Anubis might make it into XI. I’ll keep thinking about it...

Bike and Cat Gallery!

We have two cats, and they both love to sniff and investigate our bicycles. After a reader sent me a photo of his own cat examining his vintage Raleigh, I decided to start a gallery. If you would like to share a photo of your cat with your bike, please send it to the address at the bottom of this post. I will keep expanding the gallery.



One of my own two kitties, photographed during a moody moment through the spokes of my Pashley Princess.



My other kitty, looking longingly at the Co-Habitant's Pashley Roadster.



This gray kitty belongs to reader J.E.P., photographed with his newly acquired 1979 Raleigh Sprite.



Trisha's new kitten Wally, on her Peugeot mixte. From Let's Go Ride a Bike.



Dottie's beautiful kitty sniffing her Rivendell Betty Foy. From Let's Go Ride a Bike.



The white kitty in this spectacular shot belongs to KT of Velo Vogue. This is one of my all-time favourite bicycle photos, and notice the Motobecane mixte!



Shelly's kitty Lazlo, from Riding Pretty!



C_C_Rider's Guest Kitty, from Ride your Bike. No doubt the guest was attracted by the Surly in the background.





Submitted by coldfeet via bikeforums: "I know he hates riding in cars, must try him out in the cat box strapped to the rack." (Um... yes, let me know how that goes!)



The intriguing Smudgie belongs to Maschka at bikeforums. He is performing the same acrobatic maneuver with two different bicycles. Maybe it is his bicycle dance?



Machka's Sabre (RIP), photographed with her Maruishi touring bike.



This photo of little Willow was submitted by terraskye from Edmonton, via bikeforums. "My cat loves my bike... Anytime I bring it out of the storage room she has to come over and take a look.. This time she was just watching the ice melt in the water bottle."



JanMM's Spooky inspecting his Rans V-rex. Submitted via bikeforums.



This basket-cat belongs to Beth Terry from Fake Plastic Fish.



This feline camper is from the website of David Naylor.



And this sweet kitty is asleep in one of David Hembrow's bicycle baskets.



Submit your bike and cat photos to:

Switzer Land :: Disposition of Jacob's Land in Salem Township

Jacob Switzer passed away on November 2, 1859 and in this transaction dated November 27, 1860 his widow Leathy is selling the land in Salem Township ( S ½ NE ¼ S33) to his heirs in this straight-forward Quit Claim deed.



Daniel Deemer, Peter Buhecker, Jacob Yarion and Jacob Manaweck paid $400 to Leathy for the land.





Columbiana County, Ohio Deeds Volume 62, bottom of page 507 (FHL Film 926960)



Then, on March 7, 1861 the heirs sell the land to Mary Stalloup for $3,525. What makes this deed interesting is that it provides the current place of residence for each of the parties:



Jacob and Barbara Monawick of St. Joe County in the State of Indiana, Jacob and Elisabeth Yarian of the County of Portage in the State of Ohio, Peter and Rebecca Bubecker of the County of Mahoning in the State of Ohio, and Daniel and Susan Deemer of the County of Columbiana in the State of Ohio.



The deed was not signed “in person” rather, each of the parties involved signed an affidavit attesting to the fact that they had signed the deed and that it was voluntary on their part. The affidavit's were signed at a court in their respective places of residence.



When I obtained this deed, I already knew that Jacob and Elizabeth Yarian resided in Portage County but was not aware of the residences of the other three. This information helped me to locate the families in census records.



Columbiana County, Ohio Deeds Volume 62, top of page 508 (FHL Film 926960)



Columbiana County, Ohio Deeds Volume 64 page 256 (FHL Film 926962)



Columbiana County, Ohio Deeds Volume 64 page 257 (FHL Film 926962)

Myrtle Beach State Park~The Boardwalk

When we were in OBX this summer, one question I was asked over and over again on the phone was, "is there a boardwalk there?". There wasn't. There is one here in Myrtle Beach though. We haven't visited it yet so I can't share what I think of it. I can say that I've loved all of the boardwalks I have visited so far so I am guessing I will love the one here too.



In the meantime, we enjoyed the boardwalk at the State Park. It connects the park areas to the beach and connects the access points to the beach to each other.



There is just something about boardwalks that scream summer to me. I know, it isn't summer...but it still feels like summer here.



And the view is just gorgeous from here! I'm content to just hang here for a bit! Can you blame me?





Living the life in South Carolina!

Bike Fit: A Case of Evolving Preferences?

Last weekend we finally picked up my Francesco Moser fixed gear roadbike from Harris Cyclery, where it sat most of the winter after getting its bottom bracket replaced. I haven't been on this bicycle since December, riding the slightly-too-big-for-me Bianchi instead. And now that the Moser is back, guess what? It feels small! I was warned that this would happen once I got used to a larger frame, but it's still hard to believe. How can I feel cramped on a bike that felt "perfect" last year?



In addition to having a shorter top tube than the Bianchi, the Moser is also set up with a shorter stem. The difference between thetotal distance from the seat post to the handlebars on the two bikes is 3cm - which seems like a small number, but feels quite otherwise, at least to me. The handlebars on the Moser are also set quite a bit lower, which I think contributes to the cramped sensation. Combined with the lower bottom bracket, I almost feel like an adult on a miniature pony when I mount the smaller bike after the larger one.Would a longer stem alone solve this, or have I "outgrown" the frame itself?At the moment, both myBianchi(with a 55cm top tube and 8mm stem) and myRivendell(with a 57.5cm top tube and 6mm stem) feel just right, but how can I trust that "just right" feeling when it keeps changing?



It is said that preferences in bike fit "evolve" over time. But does there eventually come a point when they stabilise? How many times in your cycling history has your idea of comfortable bike fit changed?

The Least Daunting Option

Well, it seems that we've been having one of two weather conditions in Boston lately: (a) blizzard, or (b) in between blizzards. When it's the latter, I have been riding my bike - sort of. To be honest, I would not be doing it if I didn't have to, because the road conditions are pretty bad. But the bus makes me motion sick, the nearest subway stop is a 15 minute walk from our house(longer in the snow), and the sidewalks are slippery. So except on days when the roads are completely impassable, cycling seems to be the least daunting option. Still, "least daunting" doesn't mean "easy," and I've had to make a number of adjustments to the way I ride a bike, in order to be able to do it at all.



For one thing, I cycle much slower than usual, because I am scared of hitting not only ice patches, but those mini-mountains of hard snow that seem to pop up when I least expect them, like some treacherous obstacle course. Cycling slowly allows me to see them in time to either brake, or figure out how to go around them safely (I am a slow thinker when it comes to spacial rotation tasks). Happily, there are almost no other cyclists on the roads, so there is no one to get annoyed at my crawling speed - I've found that I can go as slow as I like, and no one seems bothered. I guess to cars, it's pretty much the same whether I am cycling at 7mph or 20mph: Either way, they are faster than me and will have to pass me eventually.



I also simply accept that I will have to get off my bike and walk a lot - across impassable stretches of slush and even over snowbanks. Sometimes I'll walk for a quarter of a block, then get back on the bike and ride for a couple of blocks, then get off again, and so on. It's annoying, but still better than walking the entire way - at least to me. Warmer and faster.



Finally, I've been having to get really creative about locking up my bike. Most bike racks have been made inaccessible by the surrounding knee-deep snow. So I will usually chain my bike to a fence, or whatever is handy - often having to rest it on top of a snowbank.



While all this is kind of miserable, I also find it pretty funny. I am not a "hard core" cyclist by any means and I am extremely risk averse. "Wimp" would probably be the appropriate word. And yet I am one of the few people out there on a bike, which does make me question my sanity. But I guess there is no better motivator than having no other choice - or at least no alternative options that are less daunting. Cycling in slow motion through a winter wonderland is not so bad, after all, when I compare it to feeling nauseous inside of a stuffy bus, or slip-sliding along icy sidewalks.