Bon Voyage! Godspeed! have fun! See ya! Keep it Real! Love ya! Peace! Be Safe! Adios! See ya Later Alligator! In a while Crocodile!

Deanna is on the road! Heading south to San Francisco! She and partner in crime Kristen left Bellingham this morning around 10:26am. May the wind always be at your back, and good food and joy in your stomach and heart.

Remembering Spring

I was cruising some photos that I took earlier this year for a class and I found these two. Together, they show the explosion of spring. Feel free to click on the images for larger views.

These two photos show a wetland area just South of Bellingham, Washington. The wetland was formed years ago when beavers made a dam that saturated the area with water. The less water tolerant fir trees died off and were replaced with many different wetland species. These images are taken 56 days apart from one another, the former on April 8th, and the latter on June 3rd (17 days until the solstice). Together they show the radical change that spring brings at almost 49 degrees North Latitude in the coastal lowlands of Washington State. When Spring shows up here, it comes on fast. You can see how life is just starting to come out of hibernation in the top photo (the little yellow spots are skunk cabbage, one of my favorite indicators of spring). Then in the bottom photo, spring is fully underway and new growth is everywhere.

The photos were super fun to take, I climbed around 60 feet up in a huge Western Red Cedar each time. The view is great, and the calmness of the mind while swaying high in a tree... hard to describe.

Foggy Dew and Cutthroat Pass

Last weekend Deanna and I were able to head east to the arid Methow Valley, home to great mountain bicycling, among so many other things. Notably, incredible peaches this time of year.

On Saturday we were heading out to ride Angel's staircase, supposedly one of the best mountain bike rides in Washington state. How disappointed we were when the trail head was closed due to fire danger. We opted to ride Foggy Dew instead, it's right next to Angel's and actually shares a piece of high altitude single track with said trail.

Foggy dew starts at around 3500 feet and climbs up to 8000' in about 8miles. We were semi-disappointed to find the dirt bikes were allowed up there, but hey, they need their fun too, it just meant that we were dealing with a pretty wallowed out trail. The climb took us up to a beautiful lake that was literally jumping with trout. Maybe jumping isn't quite the word, frolicking? flying? Dancing? These trout were trying their best to rid themselves of gravity binding force.

The last 800feet of vertical up to the pass and down into Merchant Basin on the other side was a pretty steep, mandatory hike-a-bike.

Overall, Foggy Dew is a beautiful trail with spectacular views, but if you're looking for a fast flowy descent in reward for the 4500' climb, seek out Angels Staircase, or Starvation Mountain.

Note: the first photo of the slideshow is a bit of a where's Waldo shot. Don't forget to hit the expando button on the slideshows for full screen viewing!




The next day we decided to do a ride that's not in the Methow Mtb book but we've heard so much about. Let me say first, this ride is incredible. It starts just a few miles east of the Liberty Bell group and Washington Pass on Hwy 20. Take the road to Cuttroat lake trail head and then enjoy the perfectly thoughout singletrack trail 6 miles up to about 6800' Cutthroat pass and meet some hikers on the PCT. Stunning views of the surrounding American Alps.

le tour de france

The tour de france is over. Contador won, Armstrong third. I was seriously rooting for Tyler Farrar to take a stage, but he had some short/stiff competition.

I'll leave you with a photo circa fall 2006, of a cyclocross race at Western Washington University. Tyler showed up for some fun in the mud with skinny tires. A friend of mine (I don't remember which, but I think it was Paul) took the photo.

Scenes of Skagit

Riding your bicycle is a fantastic way to see the world, as a friend once said, no too fast, but also not too slow.

Skagit county is a place where tail winds (and their counter-parts) are just as plentiful as tractors, and farm fresh eggs. But as with most things special in this world, you may have to work a bit to find them.

lookout!

It's called, "I've got the Mic." If you've got the mic, no one else can talk.

Words, spoken and written, are extremely powerful tools. But words are only one way to communicate, and sometimes less is more. In the silence of our minds and our environments there is so much to be heard. So much is said in silence.

The climb up lookout mountain just east of Bellingham is brutal, long, steep, and route finding is trial and error when your just figuring it out. The fire roads are desolate, more likely to see a bobcat then another human on the 2100+ foot climb. The view of the San Juan Islands looking over Chuckanut and Blanchard mountains is surreal, every time I see it, it's as if I'm seeing it for first time. A shortness of breath, a calming, but most obviously, no words to speak.

little robin captures big worm!

My most favorite mountain bike ride, check that, bicycle ride of all time, ever, no contest. The mountain biking on Marys Peak. I have ridden on Marys' needle strewn trails and gravel roads through whatever weather you can dream up. Inches of fresh pow, pouring rain - east ridge trail maybe should have been classified as some level of rapid, maybe a stream quality assessment would have been necessary. Some DO levels, invertebrate index, LWD, you get the picture. whoops, got off track a bit. My first night ride ever was heading up to the top from my home on hwy 34 using all fire roads and trails. Alone. Not a vehicle ever crossed paths with me. It was pretty scary coming down North ridge trail, thinking about cougars, singing some Bob, no woman no cry, as loud as I could, it was more like shouting, thinking back, I'm sure anything living that had the ability was quite far away from me. In fact, I'm quite confident that any cougar would have lost it's appetite. Although, I was a bit more scared when the little indicator light came on that says there's only 20-30 minutes of energy left to light my way, 12 miles of fireroad still to rally. I pedalled really fast. Just one of the countless times I've been up there in spandex on two wheels.

Yesterdays ride was a bit less memorable, possibly, but it put a big smile on my face.