(no subject)

[randomdreams]

ivy is staying for a couple of days. We sat up late talking about the world, which is invariably a great conversation when she's involved. We also hiked through a bog, which was equally great.
Today we had brunch in a park with basefinder, who gave me a neat book about thin-shell concrete structures, and talked about geiger counters a lot. We were going to play scrabble but the wind was strong enough it would have blown away the board. Instead we walked around the lake and admired red-winged blackbirds and baby ducks.
Monty did not eat any little dogs. Success is sweet.
Now I'm off to modify some bicycle pedals.

Yesterday I rode this.

I just about broke my collarbone, and now have cuts and scrapes all over.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

Just watching the video makes me sweat! (but I think that's mostly because I'm a real wimp through rocks like those)

[randomdreams]

It was roughly 100F when we started this ride, but dropped down to about 88F by the end, so, yeah, there was some sweating.

[basefinder]

What are doing to those poor bicycle pedals?

That trail... I think it would be tough to even walk it, much less bike it. Do people hike there, or is it strictly for bikes?

We enjoyed windy lunch. Too bad ivy was busy, would have been cool to meet her.

[randomdreams]

This is definitely rough on pedals. There were a number of hikers but they took a slightly different route that's a lot steeper, less rocky, and less bicycle-filled. There were probably two dozen hikers we met, but none on this section.

[amaebi]

I'm glad your collarbone is intact.

And yay Monty!

[armiphlage]

My bike would be a twisted pile of scrap metal if I tried that trail! You are either skilled, brave, or both.

[randomdreams]

Some of each, and I now have an outrageously nice bike on which to try it, after having flogged my now 30 year old mountain bike through similar stuff. I didn't ride it with the grace he did, but I managed to clear almost all the major obstacles. However, I was both completely exhausted and fairly bruised afterwards.

[ivy]

Thanks for hosting me; it was a delight to see you!

That trail looks like it would be fun going up (if one has the muscle power to do it) and super nervous making going down (until you hit the singletrack, which seems nicer). Maybe I should go try Lake Constance again and see if I do any better on the mountain biking section.

[randomdreams]

I regularly walk down things I can ride up because the risk/reward ratio is unfavorable. With that said, there are neato accessories that allow you to drop your seatpost/seat way down while you're riding, and as long as your body's center of gravity is behind your front wheel's center of gravity you should be fine.