I am the recent owner of a single speed hardtail mountain bike. While those non-cyclists may not understand the allure of riding with only ONE gear, I really like the simplicity, weight (light) and fact that I cannot dog it, as there's no granny gear to run to.
However, if one (read: me) is not feeling all that fresh due to a crappy night's sleep, an excess of pollen in the lungs and a 6 am riding start time, the single speed is not as fun as it usually is. I did my regular route (the only marginally hilly trail I feel comfortable on at this point) and it took a lot more effort to keep the pedals moving. Put simply, it was an ugly thing to watch, and I returned home exhausted and with lots more greenish yellow pollen in my mouth, nose and lungs.
I'm hoping that more sleep and some rain helps me do my new bike justice later this week.
The tree pollen has landed. Literally. Within the past few days, every pine tree in the region appears to be dropping its pollen simultaneously, leaving cars, driveways and sleeping dogs covered in a pale green film. If a breeze kicks up it means green clouds in the street, which is fun to watch if you're in the confines of a car or house with closed window. Less so if you're riding your bike through it.
On top of this pollen, a heat wave of sorts has hit South Lake Tahoe, with temps well into the 80s. With few homes in the area with air conditioning, this means that keeping the windows closed to keep the pollen out is simply not an option. Pollen vs. heat - it's really a case of the lesser of two evils. So I keep the windows open and accept that I'm miserable and can't breathe.
Yesterday I tried to beat the ridiculous heat and left the house early to ride uphill. While I felt pretty feeble and slow on the climb, I did have the satisfaction of passing 2 guys (one my age) on the ride down. Admittedly they appeared to be more of the roadie types (local road cycling club spandex tops, obvious discomfort on the sandy bits), but still - I passed them and made them eat my dust!!
I may suck horribly riding uphill, but my downhill skills have to be improving. Think of the possibilities once the pollen goes away!
So with the regular mountain biking I've been doing, I was feeling pretty good about my ability to keep up with others. Until this evening. I was invited to ride up Roundabout, a beginner trail at Heavenly with a neighbor and some of her friends to see the sunset. It's a standing Friday night ride, and everyone rides at their own pace up the sandy fireroad to the top of Heavenly's Groove chair. It's a little over 1,700 feet of climbing from the Heavenly parking lot within a few painfully long miles. The views at the top are stunning. But the slog to get to it is akin to carrying stones up steep, sandy hills with every step forward resulting in two steps back. And it didn't help that every single person in tonight's ride is a ski instructor (at Heavenly, natch), which gives them magical powers riding up this grunt of a hill - I swear none of the broke a sweat and they were all singing the entire way up. I was dead last within 15 seconds, and I was definitely one of the youngest riders.
Truth be told the views on the climb up are breathtaking too, with more of Lake Tahoe visible around every switchback. The problem for me was that I was sweating so hard that I was essentially blinded for most of it. To top it off, I realized 3/4 of the way up that my hamstrings were screaming because I'd not extended my seat all the way - which for non-cyclists, is a sure way to crippling yourself.
The views at the top were lovely, and the descent was a fast fireroad of sand and hard switchbacks (yes, I was last on the downhill too. Call it a well-honed sense of self preservation, and a long-standing love affair with my brakes). But I realized that I am a singletrack aficionado, and while I'd climb that same elevation in a heartbeat on well-cut singletrack, I'm not so sure I'll ride Roundabout again anytime soon. But that might just be my sour grapes talking, seeing how I got smoked by a posse of ski instructors tonight.
I've had many intentions of posting my latest cooking experiment, but the millet feta patties never quite 'pattied', and ended up a tasty but ugly mess. And the balsamic reduction over grilled fruit wasn't that pretty. That and we'd finished it before I'd remembered the camera.
With my conference now over and a very slight lull before some other projects (and vacation planning), I'm at a loss for exciting adventures to post. It's settled into a routine again - work, play, eat, sleep - and I'm not inspired enough to make my characteristic cynical observations. Maybe it's the continued rain & clouds? I say I like the change from the incessant sunshine, but maybe the greyness is taking its toll. In any case....
Our weekend was slightly stymied by the early onset of clouds & drizzle on Saturday, so we opted for a hike instead of a mountain bike ride. We headed to the Desolation Wilderness to see how snowy the trail to Lake Aloha was. It was mostly clear to the last half mile, and we would have explored further had the sleet and hail not hit us hard. Since we had the dog with us, and she doesn't have a rain jacket - oh the humanity - we turned back. It was a little under 13 miles, which is a decent hike, but not one that should have wiped the mutt out like it did.
I think this is a sign she's getting older.
Last weekend we attended the local roller derby team's first home bout. It was a great opportunity for me to see the rules of play in action, since I had seen and read about the game, but not seen it live. Before the bout began the announcer and teams ran through a demo 'jam' to show spectators what the game is about. I got it on film, with my shaky camera hand and all. A better video is the one that was put together by a local website, Tahoeticker. They had music and interviewed Sister Slayer, the president of the team. It's a good group of women who have really welcomed this (tattoo-less) noob, and I'm looking forward to actually playing a bout sometime soon.
Check out this video at the 2:00 mark. WHOO HOO! I'm not sure how I'm going to enjoy this awesome prize (2 nights at each & every one of the 35 Joie de Vivre hotels over a 2 year period), but your suggestions are welcome in the comments section.
A few weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to play roller derby by a guy who's in the swim class I coach. While I first thought it was because I have big shoulders (good for shoving?) it was more because I play sports. Apparently the team is always looking for more players with athletic backgrounds. His wife is on the team, and he figured that since I have bleached hair and silver Dr. Marten boots, I'd maybe be more interested in it than some of the more jam-band loving hippie types that tend to populate mountain towns, who might not find appeal in derby.
I got on skates for the first time in 20+ years on Tuesday, and was surprised by how quickly it came back and how much damn fun it was. Today's practice was only my second, but instead of being relegated to wobbling around the perimeter of the track I was invited to try to keep up with the Tahoe Derby Dames as they practiced for their upcoming bout next Saturday. This involved skating fast around the track as they scrimmaged, pushed and occasionally fell. I skated relatively fast, but avoided the whole pushing and falling thing, as that's a bit beyond my comfort zone.
To be honest I'm more scared of the tiny shorts that comprise the team uniform than the actually contact sport part of it. I fall skiing and mountain biking, but I don't tend to embrace tight things on my bottom half. Heck, even my speedo swimsuit is baggy. So that will my mental hurdle to overcome.
This week is national bike to work week, an event that's feted in the Tahoe region with locally sponsored giveaways and freebies for cyclists. What this means is that for one week there are a lot more people riding their bikes, and many of them are as clueless on two wheels as they are on four wheels.
Suffice to say even with heightened caution and observation I'm still seeing extraordinary examples of stupidity. Like the group yesterday who were riding 4 abreast on a road, ignoring the fact that they were blocking cars and other cyclists from passing. Who then yelled at me when I passed them.
Or the guy riding against traffic (without a helmet, as apparently he had no brain) who nearly hit me, despite the fact that it was a straight road.
So it goes without saying that I'm really looking forward to *next* week when all these folks return to driving their cars again, leaving the bike lanes free once again. That peace of mind is well worth paying for my coffee.
With all the issues I've been having recently with newly diagnosed asthma and other breathing challenges, I've been joking with various friends (or so I thought) that if only I'd quit my pack a day habit, these issues would likely go away.
So today while huffing & puffing my way up the trail with my new-ish friend K, a very fit and fairly young woman who pretty much rides up vertical cliff faces without breaking a sweat, she asked me about my asthma and if I'd managed to quit smoking yet.
Due to the shortage of oxygen in my brain at that moment (I was, after all, riding a mountain bike up a steep trail), I didn't quite understand what she was asking. But when I did it made me feel a little better. She may be superhuman on a bike (and pretty much any other sport) but I apparently have the drier sense of humor.
Nice to see that I excel at something still, even if it has nothing to do with the many outdoor activities I try to embrace.
I'm not one to normally celebrate Cinco de Mayo, as I've always seen it as another drinking in the U.S. (a la St. Patrick's Day). However, as part of the conversational Spanish class I'm taking at the local community college, we had a mini-celebration last week, and everyone had to bring a relevant dish. I figured that there would be many bags of chips & jars of salsa, so I wanted to come up with something a bit more original.
Since I had given a presentation on Mexican chocolate the week before, I had two near full containers of Ibarra and Abuelita chocolate. While the latter, a Nestle product, has a long list of non-organic sounding ingredients, the Ibarra is made of things you can pronounce (and actually tastes a bit nicer on its own). With all this chocolate, I figured I could make brownies. Most recipes I have call for cocoa, so I did some online research and found a scaled down version of the Barefoot Contessa's brownies that didn't require an enormous sheet pan.
Despite trying to account for baking at elevation and the differences in using Mexican chocolate instead of unsweetened, the brownies came out more fudgelike than brownielike. The altitude, crappy oven, copious amounts of butter, lack of flour & baking times might have affected the outcome. So I quickly renamed them 'Mexican chocolate bites' and my classmates, none the wiser, devoured them.
Mexican Chocolate Bites (adapted from the Barefoot Contessa)
2 sticks butter
6 ounces Ibarra chocolate
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used Lindts 85% cocoa version, as I had no bakers chocolate)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350. Place rack in center of oven, grease & flour a 9x13 inch pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Let cool slightly. In a large bowl whisk eggs, vanilla & sugar. Whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture.
In medium bowl blend flour, baking powder and salt. Add to chocolate mixture. Pour into pan and smooth to the edges. Bake for 20-25 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clear - do not overbake. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
