Walk from Deerleap car park, New Forest

Sunday 26 June , almost five and a half miles.





A hot day, and fierce sun. I needed to stretch the legs, but had to seek shade. This walk starts from the car park and follows the track downhill towards the railway line. I crossed the bridge, but then retraced my footsteps to go into the wooded area where I followed a woodland track which pretty well skirted the area.





On the way back two pony carriages were coming over the bridge, and I saw and heard several trains. It was one of those walks where taking photos became as much fun as walking. Foxgloves en masse, mainly pink but a few white ones and the light through the ferns.











Then I caught sight of a white admiral on the bramble flowers, and some orange butterflies I hadn't noticed anywhere before, but later identified as silver-washed fritillaries.

The butterflies are very obvious in flight, but my skill is not developed enough to capture that.

Deerleap, for details and map click link: 26 June

Blue Ridge Parkway :: Brinegar Cabin

The grounds were neatly mowed. The garden was lying fallow. The cabin was locked. Peeking into the windows revealed nothing but empty spaces, except for a large object covered with a sheet. It was likely the loom used in demonstrations during the “prime” visitor season, summer.



The Brinegar Cabin, at milepost 238.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. A placque at the top of the hill overlooking the cabin proclaims:

The Brinegars were not famous or rich, but they were important to their families and neighbors. In 1876 Martin Brinegar purchased this 125 acre farm from Henderson Crouse, Caroline Joines' uncle, for $200. Two years later Martin and Caroline were married; he was 21 and she was 16. there were many small communities close by where the Brinegars visited their families and friends, traded for supplies, and attended church and school.

Martin and Caroline first lived in a one-room cabin that was already here. Their three children – Alice, Sarah, and John – were born in that cabin. As the family grew Martin built the cabin that stands here now. Their last child, William, was born in this cabin, but died as an infant.

The Brinegars did all the usual work of living on a farm – raising crops and animals, preserving food, and cutting firewood. Martin also made shoes for his neighbors. He was a local justice of the peace and notary public, and for many years he served as clerk for the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Caroline made clothing for her family and augmented their income by gathering medicinal plants like bloodroot, snakeroot, and black cherry bark and selling them to nearby drug merchants.

In 1925 Martin was caught in a storm on his way home from church and died from pneumonia eight days later. He was 68. The state of North Carolina bought the Brinegar farm in 1935 to become part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although Caroline had a lifetime tenure to stay in her home, she went to live with her daughter Sarah when it became too noisy here for her. Caroline died in 1943 when she was 82.

Happy Ground Hog day! Kinzua klimbing and A day at the Cliffs

Wow... Its looking miserable outside today. Yesterday we had temps in the mid 30's and rain. The forcast was calling for a couple mild days this week. Well mild was an understatement for the start of today. I went out on the deck and it felt like spring. Sunny and 45°. The Weather channel is saying the temps are going to fall into the mid 20's and that it'll be snowing by this afternoon. I sure hope they're right. The last 48hrs most likely put a hurting on the mixed lines I've been working on as well as the ice routes I've been patiently waiting to see come into shape. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll try to head out tomorrow to scope the damages. I'm sure a fresh coating of snow will make things feels wintry again. If winter comes to a screeching halt we can all blame that HOG up in Punxy for not seeing his shadow. Well enough about the weather. On to our recent climbing adventures.

The dam located directly across from the climbing

Friday Jan. 28thLaura and I decided to take a short road trip up to Kinzua to climb. The climbing there is mostly casual with WI3 being the common grade. Usually its a great place for beginning leaders to cut their teeth on the sharp end. It was the location of my first ice climbing experience about 14 years ago. I've been at it ever since that first outing. In that respect Kinzua will always be a memorable place for me to visit. Laura had never been there, so we loaded up the climbingmobile and set off at 6:00am friday for the 3.5hr drive north. The drive went smooth considering the snow storm we drove in most of the way. Upon arrival, I was slightly disappointed to see the ice much thinner than what I had climbed in years past. I havn't been there in quite a few years, but every other tip I've made to Kinzua has provided FAT,blue flows. It was a real bummer since the trip was mostly for Laura to get in a bunch of time leading. Instead we pondered over which line was filled in most of the way. I could see rock through the clear ice as well as hear large amounts of running water. Seeing the ice in this current state, I decided to take the lead and check things out before Laura went up. I climbed the line directly across from the Entrance to the first parking lot. Its generally a low angle steeped WI3 with great protection. It took some searching to get in a few 13cm screws that were actually going to do something. As I climbed I could look down into the large holes and see the rock and water underneath. I reached to top and setup the belay to bring Laura up to the trees. She climbed up using her new BD Fusion ice tools. It wasn't much of a route to put them to use on, but she seemed to like them. I brought along some 8mm cord and rap rings to contribute to the local climbing community based on a post on NEice.com about the anchors being ratty and in need of replacement. I set up a station on a large tree up and left of the top out. Heres a photo of the new station and the climb.

Our first climb. Unusually thin compared to what I've typically seen here

Laura coming up the first climb we did

Laura seconding with trucks rumbling below.

Notice our car in the lot? Worlds easiest approach!

Our second climb was to the right of the first one. It was in the little alcove. It went up the low angle start and up to a short pillar. The ice on this route was better up on the pillar, but the bottom was still somewhat hollow and not well formed. I took the line over right above the exposed rock section and belayed/rapped from there.

Laura tooling on the second climb we did.

(The steepest we could find)

Coming up onto the belay of the 2nd climb

Well it only took two climbs and we decided to head back home to better conditions. We'll have to make another trip someday when things are more "in". All in all it was a nice quick revisit the moderates of Kinzua. will I do it again this season? Most likely not with the way conditions have been at home. There's always next season!





Sunday Jan. 30th. Laura was out for the day and I made plans with Dr. Bob to climb at the cliffs. Joel and Matt were already in town and were staying in Ohiopyle. They climbed Saturday at Upper Meadow where I guess quite a display of climbing went on. I wasn't there, but it sounded good. Anyhow... Sunday morning came and I drove to the parking area of the cliffs. It was snowed in and I did some shoveling to make parking better for those involved in the days antics. I was getting ready to hike in when Dr. Bob showed up. We split the ropes and made our way in. Dr. Bob is one of my oldest ice climbing friends. Due to life, etc. I haven't had the opportunity to spend much time on the rope with him recently as I have in the past. Bob and I decided to warm up on Called on Account of Security WI4. It was in great shape. A little new snow and some onion skin made climbing a little more interesting, but all in all it was in the best conditions I've ever seen. I led the pitch and belayed Bob from the top to shoot some pics on my new camera. Here are a few of the shots.

Dr Bob coming up Called on Account of Security WI4

Dr Bob doing work!

For our second route we decided to climb G-Gully WI4+/5- It was one of the driest routes we saw. The climb went well. It was much better than last season when we did the FFA. Bob commented many times how he enjoyed the 3D climbing that the route offered. Here's a few shots of Bob cleaning.

Bob cleaning G-Gully WI4+

Joel and Matt showed up a little later than expected. They had spend the evening before getting familiarized with life in Ohiopyle. Here's a photo of Joel upon arrival at the cliffs. Needless to say there's not much to report on their activities of the day. Matt was the lone climber taking a lap on G-Gully before hiking out.

Feeling a little fuzzy Joel?

Overall there was a lot of running water and things were building fast. The Beast WI5+ was in the process of making a rare appearance. Albeit with massive amounts of water flowing down it. I hope the weather didn't take too much of a toll on it.

The Beast about touching down for the 2nd year in a row!

On the last day of season (last year), Laura and I went on an early morning mission to climb it before the day warmed to well above freezing, but were turned back by the stupidity of forgetting our ropes. It WAS just about ready for the 2nd time in 5 or 6 years... Until today's rain. With any luck the it will be climbable and I'll finally get to climb it. If not there's still lots of mixed climbs out there begging to be climbed. We'll see what the weekend holds.

Overall conditions photo from Sunday

Hodgepodge

All photos taken on September 10, .. - - Southwest Montana

More wildflower walking

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve)
Another "just a weed" plant that I like a lot. Some of the flowers seem to have an odor, and others do not.
Sources differ on whether Nothoscordum bivalve has a fragrance. Possibly some of these are Nothoscordum gracile?


Trailing trillium (Trillium decumbens)
The flat-on-the-ground trillium. In the center, lots of little tongues sticking out at you. (The focus is not as sharp as I would have liked, sorry.)


Large-flowered chickweed (Stellaria pubera)
Better than your average chickweed! At first glance it looks like they have ten petals, but they actually have five that are deeply notched.


Violet wood sorrell (Oxalis violacea)
The leaves look like shamrock - they're in the same family.


Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata)
I really wonder how these are pollinated, if the nectar is way back in the spur.


Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans)

Babysitting a Puppy

This little Stubby Tail Heeler cross got to stay with us this weekend while her owner had an unexpected stay in the hosptal. Her owner is fine and home now. She had been offered to us when they first found her, but we decided we had enough critters and I'm glad I didn't take her as her owner is in love with her now. She is a good pup for that family.







Ziva and Tuffee loved playing with her and missed her when she had to go home.















Even the cats excepted her.

Power or Endurance?

Some thoughts I have had about training recently while I try to get back in shape from this winter's ordeal. There might be enough here for anyone that is really interested in power to weight ratios (any climber?) and training to at least peak your interest and make you think about your own training.









I simply like trying to get more out of my body, nutrition and labor. Only way to know if you are do that is to measure.



OK, so here one of the things I am currently measuring. I am doing a 2 mile uphill ride on my bike. Not the typical 2 mile uphill ride mind you. This ride has a name, "The Zoo".



From a local web site that is nothing but bike climbs in the Seattle area. This one is one of the most difficult if not THE the most difficult climb locally. There are longer climbs in WA state but few as continually as steep the Zoo. Only Lion Rock is harder imo. The Zoo is 10 minutes away. Lion Rock 2 hours.



http://www.bicycleclimbs.com/climbdetail.aspx?ClimbId=6





"Zoo Hill - named after the small zoo at the bottom - is arguably the toughest climb in the Seattle area. Ascending 1200 feet over 2.5 miles, it has an average grade of about 10%, with common gradients in 15% and some sections approaching 20%. This is not a climb to be approached lightly.

Or, as one rider noted, "Zoo Hill is the puke-inducing lactate-producing gasp-fest that I avoid unless taunted.""



So I keep track of my time, bottom to top @ every ride, along with my average cadence, average and max HR. To those numbers I add my body weight, gear/clothing weight and my bike weight.



With the right formula I get how many watts of energy I produce from a given time on the ride. That has varied from 235 watts to 358 watts, depending on how fast I am able to ride the hill and how much my kit and I weigh on that particular ride.



I have been keeping track on of my weekly or monthly rides on the Zoo since 2005. Literally every ride I have done there rain or shine.






Dane ‏@ColdThistlebut I forgot where I stole the quote...

"training is not just about how far you can go. Training is about how hard you can go for how long."




At the moment I can put out somewhere around 350 watts. I'm surprised it is up from 320 watts which had been a personal best 4 years ago when I was fit, slightly heavier and had more muscle mass. But I am working on power right now so it is good to see the improvement. Good enough, if I could actually hold that tempo and the 350 watts, for a 18 minuite ride on the Zoo. Which would be a new personal best. Problem is I can't produce and hold that kind of power for 18 minutes. More like 5 minutes or less right now.




So I am strong enough but I just don't have the endurance. But it took some serious time, measuring, testing and retesting to figure that out. It wasn't an easy answer and it wasn't the first place I looked. My original thought was I simply wasn't "strong" enough. Not enough power. Truth is I just need to produce the power I have, for a longer period of time. Knowing all this stopped me from looking at new gears and new bike parts as well.




The real answer here? I require the endurance to produce that level of power if I am going to make 18 minutes on the Zoo climb. And while I am training for that I'll make sure to add strength training to my endurance (and LTH) training so I can produce even more power to go even faster...for a much, much longer period of time.




I mentioned this before. I use to do a lot of rock climbing. Trad 5.11 and easy .12 cracks. I was never very strong by comparison...and could never do more than a dozen or so pull-ups at any given time. But I could hang a long, long time on finger and hand jams by comparison to my partners who could do one arm pull ups and dozens of reps. If I had been smart I would have added a few more pull-ups and dropped a few pounds back then. My rock climbing would have likely taken a big jump in technical difficulty because of it.




Climbing on a bike or climbing on ice and rock easily tells you that you can never be too strong or too light. Unless of course you don't have the endurance to pull off your particular goal. Be it a 17 minute run on the Zoo, the Enduro corner on Astro Man or a quick run up Rainier. If you can do the hardest move on your project you have the power. But do you have the endurance to link every move for the red point?




Bottom line? Make sure you are training for your goals and to your weaknesses. Power and Endurance both have their place. And for most climbing, on the bike or in the mtns, those two goals should be equal partners. Or at the very least know how to define them for your own benefit.