The Risky Business of Attracting Women

On my way to Interbike registration yesterday, I walked by the Bikes Belong booth as they were setting up their new poster. I snapped a picture, uploaded it to Twitter, and received a flurry of hilarious reactions - ranging from "Where does she keep her keys?" to "Find Cipo and reshoot the scene!"




Of course this is a reference to Elly Blue's "Is this thing sexist?" bike test. Modeled after the Bechdel Test for women in movies, the bike test asks:

1.Are women present or represented at all?

2. Are the women presented as active subjects rather than passive objects?, and

3. If the gender were reversed, would the meaning stay more or less unchanged? (Or would the image become hilarious?)

Showing a woman pedaling a bicycle, the poster passes points 1 and 2. Assessing point 3 is trickier. Of course a poster of an identically dressed male would look ridiculous, but that's taking it too literally. What about a young male dressed in tight-tight cutoff shorts, a plaid shirt flapping open in the breeze, and a pained, sexy expression on his strategically unshaven face? I'd consider that the equivalent, in which case the meaning would indeed remain unchanged. So I say the Bikes Belong poster passes.




Still, images of women cycling in dresses and heels seem prone to rubbing us the wrong way. It is hard to describe what brings about the sense of unease, especially for those of us who actually wear dresses and heels on a bike. Often it boils down to subtle things: A coy facial expression, an unnatural posture, a too-conveniently billowing skirt... Point is, from a marketing perspective, images designed to attract women to cycling seem inherently risky. Too sporty or gender-neutral, and they can be read as "there is no place for femininity on the bike." Too feminine and they can be read as gendered, objectifying, or downright pornographic. The line between attracting women and offending them is blurry.







And while the sphere of roadcycling seems far removed from transportational advocacy, the same basic theme arises - see, for instance, Bike Shop Girl's "The Bike Industry Needs More Women Like Liz Hatch". When speaking to Felt Bicycles later in the day, the question of colour and graphics came up as well. When I commented on the dark violet hue of Felt's new women's road model, the representative explained how difficult it is to develop a colour scheme for women's lines of bikes. On the one hand, there is now a great deal of criticism hurled at anything pink, pastel or flowery. On the other hand, gender-neutral colour schemes don't sell as well. Women want something feminine, but not too feminine. They do not want a caricature of "girl bike," but they do want it distinguished from the men's models. I have heard exactly the same thing from the manufacturers of athletic cycling clothing. There is now almost a stigma to producing a women's jersey with any trace of the colour pink or flowers on it. Yet there is demand for feminine styles. Designers have to get a lot more creative these days in coming up with those styles; hitting just the right note is tricky.







Still, I believe the bicycle industry will keep trying. With women referred to as the "indicator species" for the success of transportational cycling and with the push for more women in cycling as a sport, the pressure is coming from all directions. As both manufacturers and activists struggle to figure out how exactly to market to women, we are likely to see some interesting results in the years to come.

Blue Ice :: Portage Glacier

A mutual decision was made to leave Denali National Park a day early, partially because the time that Sue and Fred had in Alaska was limited and, without advance reservations, we had pretty much done what we could in the park. We drove south on Wednesday (August 11th) through Anchorage and part way around Turnagain Arm to Chugach National Forest and the small town of Portage.

We found a campsite at Williwaw Campground in the National Forest then immediately drove to Portage Glacier Lake and caught the last tour boat of the day for our first close-up look of an Alaska Glacier!

In the late 1800s there were four glaciers in this area that came together. Miners and other hearty souls used the glaciers as portage routes. Portage Lake was formed about a hundred years ago when the glaciers began receding. All four glaciers still exist but three of them are called “hanging glaciers” since they have receded so far and no longer come down into the valley.

Our vessel was the 80-foot Ptarmigan, shown here coming in to shore prior to our tour.

From the visitor center, Portage Glacier is hidden behind the mountain outcropping on the right.

Portage Glacier is on the right. It is called a valley glacier since it goes all the way into the valley. It is 450 feet deep but since there is nothing to give it perspective there was no way to really judge how high it was.

Photographs certainly do not do it justice! The rocks facing us in the center are 175 feet high!

A portion of the face of the glacier.

The closest we got was 300 yards away because of the possibility of calving – where ice breaks away and drops into the water. We didn't see any calving but felt the wake of a shooter – where a piece of ice breaks off beneath the surface and pops up out of the water.

There was a Forest Ranger on board who provided some scientific information about glaciers but, honestly, I wasn't paying attention! The blue color of the ice was intense and amazing. If you want to know more about why the ice is blue, check out this Causes of Color website.

In some places the ice hangs over the surface of the water, thus the “dark line” where the ice meets the water.

To put it into perspective, the Captain showed us a photograph taken a few years ago. He let me take a picture of that photograph and it is being used with his verbal permission. The Ptarmigan (the tour boat we were on) is floating in the middle of the bay amongst smaller icebergs in the same location as we were in – 300 yards away from the face of the glacier – and the boat (the largest of the floating objects) is merely a speck in the water.

Tombstone Tuesday :: John and Catherine Brubaker

John Brubaker, my 3rd great grandfather, is buried in Barnes Chapel Cemetery, Rock Creek Township, Huntington County, Indiana. His stone is in the middle, foreground. On the left is his 11 month old son, Franklin who died on March 6, 1865 and on the right is his wife, Catherine. Most of their children are buried at Barnes Chapel or in neighboring Star of Hope Cemetery, which is a short distance to the north.





JOHN BRUBAKER / DIED / Feb 8, 1879 / AGED / 59 Ys. 8 Ms. 17Ds.

Remember friends as you pass by.
As you are now so once was I.
As I am now so you must be.
Prepare for death and follow me.

CATHARINE / Wife of / JOHN BRUBAKER / DIED / March 8, 1877 / AGED / 55 Yrs & 4 Ds.

The People's Choice on shells!

A couple of weeks ago I had asked for your favorite shells and why.  Here is some of what I

got. Please bare with the email cut and pastes. No clue how to fix that. But the feedback is great. Thanks to all who took the time and contributed. Enjoy!

For ice climbing in Colorado, I am pretty happy with this:

1 - Eddy Bauer Accelerant jacket layered over a thin base layer.  It
is surprisingly warm, very lightweight, and has an excellent athletic
fit with long arms.  I sometimes use the thumbholes on the sleeves.
This jacket solves the annoying problem of hood wars.  I like one hood
under the helmet (this jacket provides that) and one hood over the
helmet (the next jacket provides that).  For fast moving in coldish
conditions it breathes adequately and seems reasonably durable.  The
Arcteryx equivalent of the Accelerant is probably just as good, but
more expensive and I do tend to trash these little lightweight
jackets.  Also I really like the thumbholes and lightweight hood of
the Accelerant.
2 - When it gets colder, or for belays, I add a Wild Things lightly
insulated jacket.  That one is compact enough I am happy wearing it
while climbing.  It breathes ok, is windproof and very water resistant
and durable.  It has a good over the helmet hood.  It could be warmer
for belays, but I don't like carrying a garment just for belays.  When
I am instructing and standing around a lot I take an old OR synthetic
puffy instead which is heavier, but toasty.
3 - Whenever I can get my hands on one of the waterproof/breathable
non-woven Dyneema jackets I'll throw one in the pack for hideous
conditions.

Bob Culp

Hi.



I'm Matti from Finland and I'm pretty active all round climber, skier and hiker. And
with ski I mean telemark, cross country and Nordic touring. The weather is normally
pretty severe here in northern Finland, Sweden and Norway where I do most of my
winter activities. -20C is pretty standard day during the Jan - Mar. My coldest ice
climbing week had average of -32C. I'm not very good at ice stuff, but I can lead WI
4-5 so it serves as "feelgood" activity during winter where I mostly climb
multipitch WI3 in Norway and Sweden. My main focus is in summer stuff (7c+ in both
sport and boulder and (well protected) trad up to ~7a). Anyho I get around 200
outdoor days (I also include after work stuff) per year.

My absolutely favourite is old 'Ryx Gamma MX hoody(polartec version). It works in
everything (as long as the weather is below zero degrees) and awesomely. Put thick
merino underwear under it and perhaps light down west (like Patagucci down west) if
it's real cold. You stay warm and dry even if you get totally soaked during climb
and it's -20C. First the stuff might freeze, but in few moments of high wattage
action and you are dry again. And unlike real hardshell the shit really breaths. You
can see the difference as huge cloud of steam :). This is very important fe in
Nordic touring, cross country skiing or when I'm skinning as you sweat up to 12
hours a day.

I must say that I sweat like a pig, but So Far (tm) I haven't tried a HS material
that would actually keep me dry even in dry if I'm active. And in really cold the
water just stays inside the HS jacket. Also they tend to rip.

Also the stretch cuffs are pretty much second best feature in the jacket. Combine
them with gloves (like those stupendously expensive 'Ryx leather gloves) you can
tuck in and you've got seal that's totally water and snow proof. No matter what you
do it doesn't open up. Also it' really robust. Velcros just break down. I know it's
probably not so much of an problem with you as you guys change to new apparel more
often than I change my underwear, but with us regular joe's we really appreciate
garment that lasts. I've gotten 7 years of active use out of my Gamma and now it's
totally destroyed.

Also the cut is fantastic. I love just how the garment fits just so and doesn't
leave any extra material to block my view to harness. Also at the same time it
allows good range of motion.

Regarding most of the stuff above I'm in a bit of a dilemma. New Gamma MX doesn't
just float my boat way old one did. Cut is more average consumer orientated,
material isn't as wind resistant (old one was spot on for my tastes) and seems
somehow less sturdy. This brings the problem that there really isn't any other
jackets with:
1. Good cut and quality
2. same cuffs
3. Powershield
4. Good hood
5. Wouldn't mind if it also looked good.

Ideas?

We've got custom shop here in my hometown (Oulu) that makes tailored outdoot gear
(www.shelby.fi<http://www.shelby.fi>), but polartec powershield isn't available
unless one gets few hundreds of meters of it -> they do not stock it.

-Matti Sillanpää-

Bruno
Schull said...

My choice for a softshell jacket is the Marmot tempo hoody. This is an
inexpensive non-lined softshel. Mot importantly, it fits me really well in XL. I
am tall with long arms, and I find it extremely difficult to find a jacket that
works for climbing. The Tempo has a long back and arms, and is one of the very
few jackets that I can tuck under a harness, and will not pull out when I raise
my arms over my head. The hood works well over a helmet. The cuff closures are
simple and effective. The pockets are located above the harness and out of the
way of pack straps. No pit zips. Simple and clean. It is not as waterproof nor
as wind resistant as some of the lined shells, but it makes up for that by being
extremely breathable; the inside stays dry and your body stays warm. Great,
simple, effective, inexpensive jacket. Also comes in some offensive florescent
colors for Dane! All the best.

Daniel
Harro said...



Arcteryx Gamma SL hybrid is a nice jacket as well as being truly light weight
at 13 oz.


http://arcteryx.com/Product.aspx?EN/Mens/Gamma-SL-Hybrid-Hoody

I
personally think "uninsulated shells" should clock in well under 14 ounces,
anything heavier is too much. My Alpha LT hardshell is 13.5 oz.





brian said...

Great discussion as always Dane. What about the Acto MX Hoody? I switched
last year after climbing in Gamma MX Hoody's and the first gen of the Venta MX
for many years. I find the Acto breathes much better than any other softshell,
and when it gets real nippy, i throw the Atom LT over it. No complaints other
than the "trim fit" versus the "athletic fit" on the mx line.

Andy said...

Hey Dane - totally second the comment by Brian about the Acto MX Hoody. I
agree it's perhaps best to call it a hardfleece rather than a soft shell. But in
terms of the fabrics properties and performance I find it similar to something
like the Rab Scimitar you reviewed above. But better. Very breathable, very
water resistant, amazingly durable, though not very wind resistant. Not too
different from most stretch woven fabrics though I reckon. I too was a long time
Gamma MX Hoody user, I find the Acto way better all things considered and it's
the best hardfleece/soft shell I've ever used.

Ian said...

In my mind the best hardshell is the one that never leaves my backpack. I
have yet to wear a hardshell I actually liked. I have a very lightweight Rab
shell but I've only ever worn it once.

First Place for me: Patagonia Supercell Jacket. Gore-tex paclite material,

weighs 13.5 oz. Great fit (for me - 5' 11'' 180 pounds size large). As

breathable as traditional hard shell gore tex gets in my opinion. Super

minimal design and great hood. This is my new go to shell for just about

any adventure in the mountains but especially for ice climbing. My favorite

shell is the one that stays in my pack until I really need it. In this

case, the supercell performs great, packs up into its hood, provides great

waterproof protection and breaths pretty damn well (vents still needed when

really working hard).



Zach Lees



Until last winter I was

using some lighweight hardshells from Mountain Hardwear and TNF. Neither

of them were really Alpine specific. The MH was too long and always

interfered with ropes and harness access. The TNF jacket was a nice

shorter cut and very packable, but more geared for warmer weather and I

never fully trusted its ability to keep me warm and dry in nasty

conditions. Last winter my goal became to find a high quality, high-value

alpine shell with Goretex Proshell, or equivalent. I ended up going with

the Outdoor Research Mentor

http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/or-gear/jackets/mens-mentor-jacket.html

I think the suggested retail price is very fair for a pro shell jacket, and

OR gear always seems to end up on sale or clearance. I scored my Mentor

for about half off. While I have yet to test it in any real nasty weather,

my initial impressions are strong. Seems to be of high quality

construction, and fit and style suit me well. It also feels pretty bomber

and will hold up to the New England granite and whatever else I put it

through. Here is a picture of me on Mt. Osceola (New Hampshire) last

winter. I think OR will be a good source of high-value outerwear for the

next few years as its clothing line expands ahead of its reputation. I

think they have always been well respected for their gaitors, gloves, hats,

etc. and I think their outerwear will follow suit. I am about to spring

for last season's OR Maestro down jacket which is on clearance on several

websites. At least on paper it stacks up to most of the 800-fill power,

quantum pertex shelled down belay jackets.



For a soft shell I wear a Rab Baltoro. I picked it up on clearance as

well. Does SteepandCheap.com ship to Canada? While I haven't used any

others, I can say that I really enjoy the Rab. Originally a soft shell

skeptic, it won me over. For soft shell pants, I am in love with my Wild

Things Mountain Guide pants. On one of my first winter overnights I

experienced some layering errors and ended up sweating into and soaking

much of my insulating layers. Those mountain guide pants wicked and

evaporated everything and stayed dry as a bone. My Rab jacket froze into a

solid lump when I swapped it out for my down hoody and hard shell on the

wind-blown summit.



Regards,

Tony



My weapon of choice is the Haglöfs fang. Sadly as far as I can tell it is

discontinued. I will just give you a short list of features I really liked, the

material, weight, etc. are on the web anyway.



+A huge hood, a meteor 3 fits nicely, is 4 way adujstable

+pit zips for dumbing heat ( I tend to sweat like a pig)

+the most durable softshell I had so far



Not much of a review but worth a look if you see one on sale, I'm 190cm and 78kg

and have L, if you want to wear some extra layers XL is fine too.
Bert

On your mark, get set, ready?

It's almost time for the Opening Ceremonies! The Genea-Blogger Group Games (henceforth known here as "The Games") officially begin on Saturday with genea-bloggers from around the world participating. Consisting of five categories with various tasks to be performed, The Games will certainly be a challenge. I'm looking forward to these games and "meeting" some of the new Genea-Bloggers. I'm also looking forward to those "other" games that will be going on at the same time!

The five categories of "The Games" (and my goals) are:

1. Go Back and Cite Your Sources!
One of my resolutions this year was to "clean-up" the sources in my databases. It's one of those items that hasn't been started yet. I'm planning to download Legacy 7.0 soon and am hoping their new sourcing templates will help make the job a bit easier.

2. Back Up Your Data!
I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to accomplish several of the tasks listed but the last two are way out of reach for me (too much stuff has been collected over the years).

3. Organize Your Research!
I've slowly been working on this but still have a long way to go. My major project this summer has been organizing and scanning family photographs. All those genealogy documents are still waiting for me so maybe "The Games" will kick-start the process.

4. Write, Write, Write!
I think I'll go for the gold on this one! Which three will it be?

5. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!
Three should be doable here as well. I like gold. But Diamonds and Platinum would be nice too.

A special "Thank You" for all their work goes out to Miriam Midkiff, Kathryn M. Doyle, and Thomas MacEntee. They are responsible for organizing the Genea-Blogger Group Games and I'm sure they have expended considerable time and energy in doing so. In addition, footnoteMaven is also to be commended for providing the very fine logo being displayed by participants. fM has also created the "medals" that will be awarded during the Closing Ceremonies.

=+==+==+==+=

Updated 6:45 PM - Check out the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer .. Genea-Blogging Group Games: The Parade of Delegates for a listing of all participants and the flags that represent them!

Blue Sky & a Bush

I don't know what kind of a bush this is that I found on the edge of Sandia Crest.

Geese Traffic in England

If in my recent trip to Jordan they have camel, goat and sheep traffic issues, in England, they have, interestingly... geese traffic.



Mother Goose fairy tales and nursery rhymes comes to mind. As well as the Old MacDonald Farm song that I learned from my piano lessons a loooooooooooooong time ago.



Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on that farm he had some geese,

Ee i ee i oh!

With a quack-quack here,

And a quack-quack there



Here a quack, there a quack,

Everywhere a quack-quack

Old MacDonald had a farm

Ee i ee i oh!



Oh dear, this brings back so many memories of my childhood. After school, I would have piano lessons together with my cousins at our piano teacher's house. We always dreaded entering the house because there is a large cruel mother goose guarding the gate and garden, and every time she sees us, she runs after our little butts! This mother goose bites really hard! It was a scary ordeal for us kids and it was always a riot and a laugh everytime we go there, LOL.



Best part of the piano lessons were the cookies and Archie comics. Good old days!





Geese spotted near Clifford's Tower/York Castle Museum in York, North Yorkshire, England.

Leaf Season

Having returned to Boston from our stay on Cape Cod, we were greeted by the "Leaf Season" in full effect. It happens so fast! This is very new for Eustacia Vye, who has never seen Autumn before. I had to keep reminding her to pay attention to the road, as she continuously got distracted by the leaves. She thinks that the Fall season matches her colour scheme very nicely - I agree!

This is the fist time I have ridden my Pashley in over two weeks, and the absence made me hyper-aware of the differences between her and my Motobecane mixte. To my surprise, the upright sitting position took a bit of re-adjusting to: To be completely honest, I was somewhat frustrated with the bicycle's composed and stately demeanor after having grown accustomed to the faster and more responsive mixte. Also, I do not have a front rack or basket on the mixte, so another thing that took some re-adjustment on the Pashley was the enormous basket obstructing my view of the front tire.

Mulling this over as I went on various errands, I did not really begin to enjoy the Pashley again until our trip to the grocery store: With the basket and saddlebag fully loaded, the Pashley truly shines - a super stable, super comfortable, utterly luxurious ride. I would have been miserable trying to do this on the mixte.

It was a crisp Autumn day, and it felt oh so cozy to glide through the streets in my soft, flowing cream sweater upon the nicely broken in leather saddle.

I tried to capture the sweater here, but this wasn't my day for successful self-portraiture. Wearing it made me feel as if I were officially acknowledging and celebrating Autumn.

Tweed hat, bought at the Provincetown Army/Navy store - my current favourite cycling cap.

And an attempt at a "Panda shot". Not very informative I admit - but hey, it captures the moment. Happy Autumn cycling!

All mountain skis? The Dynafit Huascaran.

I've been lucky enough to ski a dozen new skis in the last couple of weeks. All of them hand picked for possible inclusion in my personal "ultimate" quiver. No skito date more of a surprise or more impressive as a true "all mountain ski", than... the new Dynafit Hauscaran. This is truly one amazing ski. Helped to have 2+' (yes 2+ feet) of new, untracked hero snow today to play on. It is the Cascades after all so anything you can actually ski here that is 2' deep IS,almost unbelievable, hero snow. And it was snowing hard enough to fill it in all day long.Did I mention it was almost untracked from 9AM to 4PM because it kept snowing so hard? Just one of THOSE days :) Butliterally, from water ice, to cut up crud and a hard rain crust to some amazing POW;the Hauscaranwill rip fast GS turns or dance in the deep and steep stuff amid tight trees. Effortless in either situation, even for me! An amazing ski. And now I know why so many decide towear a helmet.












Even more impressive to meknowing that I was doing all thiswhileskiinga pair of light weight TLT 5 Performance boots and the new TLT Speed Superlite RACE Binding (185g). The same boot the original designer said it was "stupid to ski them off the lifts". They are that light. But they do ski well ;) Turns out, for no special reason, it was a Dynafit day. I hadn't planned it that way. This set up was to be my "lwt fat" ski for longer mid winter touring days. The Hauscaranis all that and a bag of chips! But I am rethinking what might be its other uses now and what it would do with a "real" ski boot bolted on. Something like the Mercury or Vulcan. may be even the One. I know my Zero4 Carbons are way, way too much boot for this ski, in a 177. No need for that much power!













These are short @177cm. Taking advantage of the size/weight ofthe binding these(ski & binding) weigh in at 8# 10oz. First time I have ever thought about buying a 2nd pair of the same ski...the next one in a 196cm. Two sizes, two different boots to drive them and two totally different usesfor the ski.



The 178cm is 134-112-123 and 1780g weights in at . The 196cm is 136-115-125 and weights in at 1940g. And yes, it was snowing :)


In the next few weeks hopefully I'll get the time to write up all the skis I've been ridingrecently.And my ideas behind the "ultimate quiver". Along with some old and new boots and some of the accessories I've found really useful this winter for skiing in bounds and out.



But as I mentioned this ski was a total surprise. I wasn't expecting much from such a big skis. And what the Hauscaran delivered was pretty impressive in my limited experience. Enough so thatI wanted to do an early heads up on it tonight. 'Cuz it is snowing like crazy at the house right now and likely a huge dump upon the hill for tomorrow!

Confusing Relationships

This past Friday, Charlene, a new-found "Shuder" cousin and her son came down from central Michigan for a visit with me and one of my first cousins. We got acquainted, shared some information, had a good time, and got a bit confused.

Our common ancestors, Nancy Jane Lavering and Isaac Shuder, were related to each other before they got married. As I attempted to explain their relationship and determine our relationship it just got more and more confusing. We finally did get it figured out though, I think. Nancy and Isaac were 1st cousins once removed, and Charlene and I are second cousins once removed, as shown in the image below, which can be read by clicking on it to make it bigger:


The problem I have with the standard relationship charts, is that you have to know your relationship to your common ancestor as well as the relationship of the person you are trying to determine your relationship to. Now, if I'd had the basic information for those ancestors and their children entered into the genealogy software that I use, which is Legacy, it wouldn't have been a problem, but I didn't and still don't. Actually, I did have it entered a couple of years ago, but that's another story. Anyway, Legacy has a neat feature that allows you to display and/or print a fancy chart mapping out these things. It's really a nice chart, but I couldn't use it. . .

Examples of the Standard Relationship chart can be found at:

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gentutor/chart.html


• http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/chart.htm

A rather nice, slightly different chart with a pdf file available for download is at:

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kordyban/chart/relationship_chart.html

** Update July 31, .. **

What is a First Cousin, Twice Removed? is an article in the Genealogy.com Learning Center that provides some helpful information on relationships. The Learning Center is a very good resource whether you are just starting your family search or even if you are a more advanced researcher.

Redefining Sunday Mornings

Apologies for the over-abundance of road themed posts lately, but I need to write this down before the details fade, or before I get too embarrassed. This morning, instead of sleeping in like normal people I woke up at 7am to get ready for the Sunday Morning Ride at the Ride Studio Cafe. I have done their Women's Rides, but never the mixed gender Sunday rides. While some have tried to lure me to join, others warned that these rides are faster and more difficult than described. Especially after reading this, I was inclined to believe the latter and sensibly steered clear. So why now? Well, I need to train for the Hell's Gate Hundred and time is running out. And also these people convinced me that I could do it. With a straight face they said: "Oh you can definitely do it." And I believed them - figuring that since they were designated to lead the ride this weekend, they ought to know.




So, could I do it? That really depends of your definition of that concept. I mean,I finished the ride. I didn't crash. I didn't walk uphill. I didn't throw up or cry (though I came close). So in that sense I guess I did it. But it was such a humiliating struggle, that I can hardly think of it as an accomplishment. It was worse even than my first paceline ride last May, when I showed up on a touring bike and everybody else rode racing bikes. Only this time I did not have the "slow bike" excuse - it was all me. At least now I know where I stand.




When I left the house this morning it was 25°F outside with a brutal headwind. Of all the mild Sundays we've had this winter, I just had to choose this one. As I pedaled the 10 miles to the ride's start my eyes were watering and my lungs were burning; doing this was beginning to seem like a terrible idea. But I'd already told people I was coming and didn't want to back out.




As cyclists arrived bundled up and in good spirits, I felt more relaxed.By the time we got ready to ride, it warmed up to 30°F and the sunny morning made me optimistic. "This will be just like the Women's Rides," I told myself, "only with men." There were only 4 of us in the slower group; this was going to be fun and social.




Trying to analyse it in retrospect, I am not sure what exactly made this ride so difficult for me. It was probably a little bit of everything. The speed in itself would have been fine, if it weren't for the headwinds we were continuously assaulted with. The hills would have been fine, if there weren't so many of them. It was also difficult to breathe the cold air while already struggling to breathe from exertion.




Werode 34 miles through the towns of Lexington, Weston, Wayland, Sudbury and Lincoln. We climbed two substantial hills, with lots of littler hills in between. I was without a doubt the weakest member of our group, and on hills this was especially apparent. I wheezed. I whimpered. I swore out loud. I almost fainted from pushing myself to try and keep up. And still I lagged behind. My legs felt like lead.Flats and downhills did not offer much respite, since I had to work harder than everyone else to keep up the pace. My face was bright red from shame and effort.




I employed various coping techniques to get through the ride. At one point, I mentally talked myself through it. "It's okay... Pedal, don't think... Look at the pretty trees... Focus on the wheel in front of you... What doesn't kill you makes you stronger..." After that stopped working, I began to play Bach in my head until the repetitive harpsichord pieces started to feel like a seizure. Then I tried to separate my mind from the physicality of what I was doing, as if it were happening to somebody else. Some time after that delirium set in and I don't remember anymore.




At some point - I think this must have been closer to the beginning - something really cool happened. The faster group caught up with us and "swallowed us" before speeding away. I have never experienced this before and it wasn't the same as merely riding in a group. Suddenly, the faster cyclists were ...everywhere. On my right, on my left, in front, behind - some seemingly no more than an inch away. I felt carried along, swept away - it was scary and exciting at the same time. "Like a school of fish" said a rider in our group later. Is this a taste of what racing is like?




When we finished the ride I could hardly walk. I vaguely recall being hugged and given high-fives as I rapidly chewed a croissant. I had done a Sunday Morning Ride. It was hard, and it was embarrassing, and I will do it again. I rode 55 miles total by the time I got home. Sunday mornings will never be the same.

Hershey Thousand Trails

Dance in the North Sky

Some friends had told me about seeing the Aurora in the early morning hours of March 10th, but unfortunately I was already asleep and missed the activity. The following evening, however, I noticed the telltale green glow in the Northern sky at 9:30 PM. I called a friend of mine and within 15 minutes we were both headed up into the woods to get away from any man-made lights. Just moments after we arrived in my planned shooting area the Aurora intensified and really started to put on a show. By 11:00 PM the sky was bursting with dancing lights. At one point the lights filled about 50% of the entire sky. I would have needed a fisheye lens (which I unfortunately do not own) in order to capture the entire breadth of the lights. We stood in awe at not only the movements but the colors we were seeing. Dominated by green, we also saw shades of red, purple and white. Rarely is the aurora seen this powerfully in Northern Minnesota. I was almost in a trance staring at this amazing show and I kept having to remind myself to keep taking pictures!