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2014 Redux

29 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling, Northwest, Randonneuring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

100k, 200k, 650b, a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, ahh, bar tape, bicycle, bicycle commute, brevet, commute, compact double, compass, cyclemeter, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, cypres, diamond wrap, dynamo, dynamo lighting, Edelux, fenders, Gran Bois


An auspicious year for this family of horses, 2014 was pretty nice.  There were a few epiphanies, and a lot of riding.  I’m sitting around resting a nagging medial knee issue that has kept me off the bike for the past week or so.  I’ve been wanting to get out and do one last permanent to finish off the 2014 season, but better judgement is telling me to wait until the knee feels normal.  I know from past experience that the best way to heal is to go easy for a while.

Cycle Distance Stats-MonthlyWhile I didn’t do much more mileage this year, it was still a full year of riding with 3,111 miles (just over 5000 kms) so far.  Last year I did just over 3000 miles, as well.  I did most of my brevets early, with the organized rides over at the end of March.  That month was also my first 500-mile month.  I rode my first solo permanent in April, and did some Moab mountain biking over spring break.  July brought the Entmoot, and as usual, a lower amount of riding as I seem to slow down in the summer months.

cycling speed and distance aveI picked it back up in September, and peaked in November with a late season 200k permanent around Whidbey Island.  I am loving this island’s smooth hilly roads, and have a few more brevets and just general rides planned for the future.  My average speed has not budged in the past 3 years, so I may work on my fitness in the new year and see if I can’t bump that up with some interval training.  I am still hedging on the longer rides (over 300k) – I’m just not sure if I would enjoy them.  The Entmoot ride was an eye opener this year, and I feel like unorganized rambles have a special attraction with exploration and time for photos and camping with friends being great short vacations.  The planning and anxiety around an organized brevet sometimes feels like work.

BH-2.jpg

As for the mechanical side, I am slowly gaining more perspective and opinions on what works for me.  I really like the Cycles Toussaint experiment with low trail and plump 650b tires.  Tubeless has worked out well, too.  I appreciate the extra cush on the rides, and less worry about flatting.  I still enjoy the Hilsen’s ride with the 32mm Compass tires, too – they are almost as compliant with significantly less air volume.

I’ve come to feel that the 42cm Noodles are the right cockpit for me over the long distance.  I continue to enjoy the Selle Anatomica saddles, and Sidi shoes.  I am not bothered by having 7 or 8 speed cassettes, and index and friction both work, but on the longer rides, I appreciate the simplicity of indexing.  I have bar-end shifters on the Toussaint, and downtube shifters on the Hilsen, and both are set up indexed at this point.

BH-8.jpg

I really enjoy the centerpull brakes on both bikes, but the post-mounted Dia-Compes on the Toussaint have amazing modulation and easy setup.  I appreciate the simplicity of the older brake style.  I think a great project would be to have centerpull braze-ons added to the Hilsen, perhaps with a low-trail fork, S&S couplers, and Compass Mafac copies added.  Hmmm – perhaps when it’s ready for a re-paint, I can convert her over to 650b as well?  Probably a silly experiment better addressed by a custom.

If I were to have a custom built at this point, it would be a titanium or ultra-light steel tubed, low trail 650b all-purpose bike.  I really feel like this is a do-all, go anywhere bike.  The Rivs would remain my country and camping bikes, and the Toussaint would be backup brevet and city porteur bike.  It would be great to have a lugged Weigle, MAP, or Pereira.  Maybe a Bantam?  Still dreaming of good rides ahead…

48.009537 -122.525983

Barlow Pass

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

a. homer hilsen, Barlow Pass, compass, cypres, fenders, Gran Bois, honjo, Hunqapillar, jack brown, rivendell, tires, toe overlap, VO, Zeppelins


BH-4.jpg

After putting 38mm tires (Compass Barlow Pass) and new fenders (VO Zeppelins) on my Hilsen, and riding them for a month or so, I have the following observations.

  1. They are cushy and ride well
  2. They are light (I have the Extra Lights) and don’t slow my pace down
  3. They increase stand over height by a half cm or so (it is noticeable)
  4.  The bike handles about the same
  5. The tread is very grippy – I like the sure-footedness
  6. There is now quite a bit of toe overlap, and I have bounced the fender several times during slow maneuvers
  7. The difference between my 31mm Cypress and these 38mm Barlows is much less evident than jumping to a 42mm Hetre

I am slowly coming to the realization that I like smaller, fatter wheels on road bikes, but if I’m on a 700c, 33.3mm is the most I need.  On both the Hunqapillar and my Hilsen the favorite tires for pure road riding have been either Gran Bois Cypres or Rivendell Jack Brown (Greens).  Both combos make the bikes feel fast, agile, and just “right”.  They also do a good enough job to absorb road bumps that I don’t feel beat up even after a long (200k/300k) ride.  When I have a bigger tire (35mm+) on a 700c wheel, the bike feels a bit ponderous.

Green in Front

I really want to like the Barlows – but they are just not Hetres, and they aren’t feeling significantly better or more comfortable than the Cypres/JBs.  I don’t know if the added volume makes the toe overlap worth the bother. I also like the hammered Honjo fenders I had on this bike.  They added a touch of class…

BH-1.jpg

Initial Velo Routier Notes

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

4130, a. homer hilsen, B&M Luxos, bar-end shifters, Berthoud, bike commute, Boxy Rando, Cycles Toussaint, cypres, double butted, Gran Bois, Hetre, low-trail, nitto, noodles, planing, randonneur, Rawland, rene herse, rivendell, rSogn, shimmy, SPD, Velo Routier


BH-1.jpg

I’ve been riding the Cycles Toussaint Velo Routier for a few days – have about 50 miles on it so far.  I wanted to collect my thoughts as this is a new geometry and tire size for me.  As for the rest of it, it’s very similar in size, weight, and materials (steel) to my A. Homer Hilsen.  I’ve used a nearly identical build for the bikes, as well.  Both have Nitto Noodle 41cm bars wrapped in cotton tape, both have the Rene Herse cranks, and both are within a few millimeters of dimension for fit.  the main difference is the wheel size, tires, and geometry with the Velo Routier being a “low trail” and the Hilsen a “mid-trail” ride.  OK – getting to the gut reaction first.

BH-4.jpg

BH-1.jpg

The Hetres really smooth out the ride on my rather bumpy commute.  Although I’m on bike trails most of the time, my commute has a number of rough spots with roots pushing up the pavement on the trail, as well as general poor road maintenance in other spots.  The Hetres feel smoother as you would expect.  They have more air volume, and I have them pumped to 40psi rear, 30psi front.  Comparing this to the Cypres tires on the Hilsen at 65psi rear and 45psi front, it should be more forgiving.

BH-3.jpg

The bike feels just as fast.  This is gut, so I will watch my commute stats over a longer timeframe.  The first few rides are inconclusive as I’ve been more tired than usual. The ride times between bikes are within a few minutes out of an hour commute home.

BH-2.jpg

I can really feel the handling differences in the low-trail – and it is not as disruptive as some of the lit I’ve read.  The closest analogy I’ve heard is that “you steer with your bars” on the low-trail bike, whereas  on the Rivendells, you “steer with your hips”.  This seems accurate to me.  I can ride this bike no-handed.  It’s not easier to do this than the Rivendell – if anything it is just slightly more apt to wander around, but this may just be my lack of experience on this type of geometry.  The interesting part is the feel with a front load.  It is much more planted with a bag and a few pounds up front.  It also wanders less when going slow, and of course there is much less issue with wheel flop when the bike is stationary.  The ride feel is subjectively better with this setup for me.  I really like having a front rando bag for longer rides.  I can do nearly everything I need to do with all the gear within easy reach.  This all said, I was doing fine with the Hilsen and the front rando.  I just feel that the Toussaint “feels” more planted with this setup while riding.

BH-5.jpg

As I said earlier, the Hilsen and Velo Routier are set up proportionally identical for my fit.  Both bikes feel like a good steel bike should.  Solid, compliant, light enough.  Both are also beautiful in their own way.  The Hilsen will win this battle, but the Toussaint is very nice looking in white with stainless Berthoud fenders and subtle red/yellow decals.

BH-3.jpg

I haven’t had any shimmy issues with either bike.  The Velo Routier tracked like a steam engine on a 30+ mph descent, and I rode shimmy-free no-handed from 15-25 mph.  This seems to be the sweet spot for shimmy.  I know the tubing on the Toussaint is double-butted 4130, with  .9/.6/.9 top, seat, and down tubes on my size “large” frame.  The smaller sizes are .8/.5/.8.  This is not the “ultra-light” planing grade tubing that Jan Heine tends to like, and some of the Rawland bikes are built to, but I’ve ridden an rSogn, and it felt as stiff as this frame.  Perhaps I need more sensitivity training.  In any case, it rides really well, and I feel totally comfortable on this bike.  A longer test ride is due, and luckily this is all set and ready for the upcoming brevet season starting next week!

BH-7.jpg

Other comments on the build?  I had no problems getting the build done – there were no flukey gonzo issues like misalignments, or gummed up threads.  The hanger was straight, the fenders were already mounted, as were the brakes.  I ended up tightening up the fender alignment to match up the Hetres as it originally had 38mm Somas on it, but that was the biggest time suck.  I honestly had the thing built in a few hours, and I was taking my time.  It helped that I had a cockpit set up from a previous build – nice not to have to wrap the bars.  One note – I originally had SPD pedals, but put VP flats on it for the beginning of the season.  I want to try these on longer rides to see if I have a knee issue that bothered me last year with the clipless pedals.  I also migrated the 9-speed cassette and downtube shifters back to an 8-speed setup with bar-end shifters.  Oh, I also put the B&M Luxos dyno light on this bike for the season.

BH-10.jpg

One more item I forgot to add – I was very worried about what kind of front rack to use.  The center-pull Dia Compe 750 brakes leave very little room and the normal rando-standard Nitto Mini rack wouldn’t work.  Luckily, Cycles Toussaint has this figured out.  They have a special rack made just for this bike.  I exchanged emails (actually, blog comments) with Evan at Cycles Toussaint, and ordered it after I got the frame.   It arrived a few days later just in time for my build.  It fit perfectly with rear mounts that fit to the fork crown mounting screws.  The rack holds my Tall Boxy Rando bag from Acorn at just the right height – the top even with my bars.  Super happy with this.  It is also possible to saw the rear arms off, bend the lower support arms, and mount the rack to the fender at two points if you want a lower platform and a more “constructeur” touch as Evan did with his personal bike.

BH-7.jpg

Now it’s time to put some miles on this guy (and try not to forget my other bikes in the process).

300k and Artist’s Point

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

200k, Artist's Point, cypres, mechanical, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Paul Racers, Peace Arch, randoneurring, RUSA, Selle Anatomica, SIR, Whatcom County


Homer

This seemed like the perfect first 300k: similar venue to my first 200k in Whatcom County in Northwest WA state, perfect 70 degree weather, a challenging 5000′ climb to Artist’s Point between Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan, and mostly flat after the first 100k.  Sounds doable, and even fun.  I hadn’t done a longer ride (more than the 13-mile commute home) since a 40-miler on the 1st of June.  I rode a total of 80 miles the week before in 4 days of commuting, so I was half-way there, but I was still feeling a bit under-prepared.  It didn’t help my mental state when the ride host, Dan Turner, said that this was a “harder 300k”.  Hmmm.  Still, I had a goal of doing a 300k this year, and this looked to be the best shot.

I took some randoly advice and drove up to Bellingham the night before and camped out in his yard.  Didn’t sleep much, though – kept drifting in and out of sleep in anticipation.

At 6:00am, I got up and had some coffee, donuts, and eggs that Dan and his wife prepared for the riders.  I loaded up on Mojo bars and jerky, and filled my bottles, and we promptly set out at 7am.  The first 20-30 miles went fast, and I rode with the main lump of riders at a pace of about 20mph.  It was fast, but I felt good, and it was nice and easy holding in the peloton.

Into the Eastern Sunrise

This was a pretty serious bunch of Randonneurs.  Of the ~20 riders that started, many of them were veterans of years of 1200k’s.  There were 2 or 3 of us that were also first time 300k’ers, with one gal, Mandy, who had just joined RUSA and SIR the night before, and was doing her first rando event.

As we neared the mountains and got into the first bit of the foothills, the riders started spreading out, and from that point to the top, I never rode with more than one person for short stretches.

Into the Hills

The bike was riding well, and everything felt spot on.  Things I was slightly concerned about going into this ride included:

  • Seat Comfort – I had put on the Selle Anatomica the week before the ride as it was great on my last 200k
  • Shoes/pedals – I had not put more than 20 miles on my new Sidi Spiders
  • Tires – would the well used Cypres go the distance?
  • Brakes – how well would the Paul Racers stop on the long descent down from Artist’s Point?
  • Food/Water intake – could I deal with a 17-hour day in the saddle?

I had checked some of the times that SIR riders with similar 200k times had done on earlier 300k’s to give myself an idea on how I should expect to do.  They seemed to vary from 17-19 hours, so I of course figured I would shoot for 17.  This would bring me into home base around midnight.  I was also motivated by the promise of burgers and beer, and midnight seemed a bit late, but not too late for dinner 🙂  I really thought that getting up the big climb quickly would keep me in the time, and this proved mostly true.

Climbing into Beauty

 

Final Few Switchbacks

After some 30 miles of climbing that turned knarly for the last 10 miles, I made it to the top, and some seriously great views.  The clouds were starting to part, and the peaks were showing through.  Mt. Baker is infamously invisible in clouds, and in normal fashion, I only saw glimpses of it on the way up and at the top.  Shuksan was a bit more cooperative.

At the Top

I had a quick bite and refilled the bottles, and felt like I should really high-tail it outta there ASAP.  I still had a 200k (~130 miles) left.  So far so good.  Now came the fun part!  I love descending, and some racer boyz had ripped past me on the way up.  As I left the parking area, they started their descent in front of me, so I latched onto one of them and enjoyed the ride down.  All I can say is that at some point we passed 2 cars!

At the bottom, I had my first real trial of the ride.  As I shifted into the big chainring, my chain stuck to the teeth and came around to pop the outer plate off my front derailleur.  I had been riding quickly with a couple fellows, and stopped to see if I could fix it.  I quickly surmised that I was now riding a 1×9, so I shifted it into the big-ring, made sure the plate was bent in enough to stay out of the crank/shoe path, and proceeded into the berry fields around Sumas near the Canadian border.

Berries for 40 Miles

I hooked back up with a group of 4 other randos and we rode the next 20 miles together in a tight peloton making great speed.  This was the most fun part of the ride for me as we chatted and the miles flew by.  One of the fellows had “questionable” shorts, perhaps a bit past their prime wear – a little too many miles on these guys – imagine the problem the yoga pants company had recently and you’ll catch the drift, so as long as I wasn’t directly behind him, things were great 🙂  The control stops were really nice, as well.  We were picking up 75-cent kid’s cones, and enjoying the short rests.

Ice Cream!

After the Lynden control, I had my second setback.  My knees were starting to get a bit sore, and I found that I could no longer stand up to climb without major pain in my left knee.  It felt like it was swelling a bit, so I eased off the back of the pack, and rode a bit.  I stopped on the side of the road to stretch out a bit, but this didn’t do much.  I started thinking about the logistics of calling my wife and waiting the 3 hours for her to come up and pick me up near the border.  Hmmmm – if I can just make it to Peace Arch park and get some Advil – yeah that’s what I’ll do.  I had already gone just over 200k, and had about 50 miles left.  I walked up a few of the steeper hills, and eventually found myself rolling into Blaine, WA.  I stopped at a gas station and bought a few packs of ibuprofen and quickly took a pair.  After weaving my way through the border town and reaching the coast, my legs started feeling better.  I also realized I could make good headway by pulling up with my left pedal stroke, and doing the normal push with my right.

“Pain-da”

This part of the country was interesting enough to keep my spirits up, with great stretches of closed roadway and wide open fields, and distant views of the mountains I had been in at the start of the day.  After getting past the coastal stretch of the ride, and starting to head back towards Bellingham, I was sure I could finish – perhaps even within my time goal.  At one point, I found one of the gents from the earlier group waiting on the side of the road with a binding bottom bracket.  He was out, and I felt really bad as he had put in over 250k at that point.  He assured me he had a ride coming, and a short while later, I came up on another guy who was having some leg cramping.  We ended up riding together on and off for the rest of the way back.  At the penultimate control, I had to pick up more Advil, but having only 15 miles left, I was starting to ride on the endorphins.

Rollin’ Towards 300k

I rolled into the final control, and the end of the ride right at 11pm.  All the folks I had ridden with earlier had arrived shortly before, so we all ate and chatted about the great day.  I took a quick shower and climbed in my tent for some needed rest.

Verdict:  I can finish a 300k bike ride, and still feel good enough to enjoy a hot dog and beer.  I can climb 5000+ feet and not keel over!  The Selle Anatomica and Sidi shoes passed with flying colors:  The only sore parts of me were my knees.  No flats or braking issues.  I never bonked, so I managed my food/water intake just fine.  Hmmm – this pushing the limits stuff is getting addictive.  It certainly helps when the ride has tons of natural beauty, and the weather is fair!

 

Camping With Bikes

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, active volcanoes, ahh, albatross, B17, bicycle, bike, Bike Camping, cycling, cypres, drop bars, dureme, Gran Bois, hilsen, homer, Hunqapillar, LHT, Manny Principle, mountain rides, mt adams, rando, randonneur, rivendell, sam hillborne, schwalbe, Seattle, snow, Snow Bike, Snow Cycling, Surly, underbiking, volcano


Seattle vs. Portland Riv Rumblers

Last month, I met up with some fellow north-westerners for a couple mountain rides between Seattle and Portland.  The goal was a nice weekend with a potential shot at going over Babyshoe Pass early in the season.  If nothing else, we would see some snow and avoid the bugs that start swarming a bit later in the summer.  The 2-hour drive south reminded me why I live here.  Lots of wilderness very close to home.  I was driving to a rendezvous between 3 active volcanoes in the Cascades mountain range.  We would be closest to Mt. Adams with possible views from the ride, but Rainier and St. Helens were nearby, as well.  As I got close to Randle, WA, I lost all cell service – this was a signal that vacation time was ON!

North Fork Campground - Randle, WA

North Fork Campground – Randle, WA

We had reserved a group site at the North Fork Campground 12 miles out of Randle.  I arrived around the same time as Charlie (from Eatonville), and we started setting up in the reserved spot, but when the rest of the group showed up (Andy, Chris, and Aaron from Portland), we explored a few other sites, and chose one that was right next to the river.

Campin’ by the River

Not too many people were camping the weekend after Memorial Day.  With 4 tents and 1 hammock, we were spread out nicely.  Our camp could normally accommodate 20 tents!

Chris and Aaron’s Tents

The setting was beautiful Northwest – lush, green, and budding with spring.  Ferns, moss, and huge evergreens all around us.  It had rained quite a bit before the trip, but we were into a short spell of dry weather.

Full Camp?

After we set up camp, we set off on the first ride.  We chose FS 22 heading east, and it was a good immediate climb on gravel.

Day 1 Ride

We rode up leisurely as we all got to know each other.  A fair amount of time was spent off the bike taking in the scenery, and just geeking out on our setups. All but one bike was by Rivendell.  There were 2 A. Homer Hilsens ridden by Andy and Chris, a Hillborne ridden by Aaron, and Charlie’s lone Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Bikes of Day 1

I took the Hunqapillar on this ride.  Since it was an unofficial “Rivendell ride”, I had both my A. Homer Hilsen, and the Hunqa packed.  I wanted to see how they both fared on the rougher mountain gravel roads.  I had changed out the Nomad tires for my 50mm Duremes with their more aggressive tread and larger volume.  We didn’t get into much nasty trail, but the couple areas of “rough stuff” we hit made me appreciate the mammoth bike’s capacity as a real mountain bike.  It rode nicely over everything I threw at it, and it brought back memories of my early ’90s rigid Stumpjumper Pro.  The Albatross bars and front V-Brakes proved to be great on the rough trail.

First Day’s Apex

We took a side trail up an overgrown trail to a nice meadow with a great view back down the valley we had just climbed.  We rested for a bit, and had a snack before making the quick descent down to camp.  On the way down, we took another side trail down to the river.  This one was an older, overgrown jeep track and made for some fun riding over roots and blow-down.

Trail Riding on Day 1

Singletrackin’

After the nice descent back to camp, the Portland crew set about making a superb dinner of pasta and white sauce with morels and a great salad, while I walked around soaking up the camping atmosphere and helping Andy get a fire started.  His chopping knife was a trip!  We used that and a hatchet to make up the kindling.  Some of the wood was a bit wet, so it was a smokey end to the day.

Woodsman

Portland Crew Dinner

After a late night around the fire, and a great sleep by the roaring river, I felt refreshed as ever.  I set about making breakfast and coffee for the campers, and got most of my stuff packed up for a quick getaway after our day-2 ride.

Chilaquiles, anyone?

Another healthy meal

Charlie had to get home, so we bid him well, and took our group photos.  Ready for the next adventure, we set off on FS 23 with a destination of getting close to Babyshoe Pass and some scenic views of Mt. Adams.  Today, it was the Hilsen’s turn at gravel.  This bike was set up with standard rando gear – trod with Gran Bois Cypres tires, and carrying 2 cameras, rain coat and food in a Boxy Rando bag.  We hit the mountains on 3 AHHs and a Sam Hilborne.

Joy Riding!

Today’s ride was a bit more ambitious.  If all went according to plan, we would double the distance and elevation of the prior day with around 40 miles and 5000 ft of climbing.

Wing formation

With a bit more shade, the day was perfection for a long ride.  Amazing views around every corner helped to keep everyone jazzed.  Destination snow or Babyshoe.  Most likely snow, but who could tell?

Destination? Who cares…

After a while the road turned to gravel, and we started climbing in earnest.  We finally hit snow within a mile of our destination at around 4300′ elevation.

End of the dry road

Andy noticed that there should be a fork within a quarter mile, and after a short committee decision where we invoked the “Manny Principle”*, we forged ahead to the adventure that awaited us all!  It ended up looking something like this:

Pushin’ on…

And this:

More pushin’…

Until we found a meadow, the fork, and paved road again.

Meadow

Fork

It was a short respite as we turned around heading NW on the north slope that didn’t seem to want to start declining too soon.  We ended up pushing/straddling our new snow bikes for a mile or so before we ended up back in the mostly snow-free but still very wet next phase of our ride.  During the snow phase, it was great fun to see how far you could bike in the tire tracks that had been lain some unknown time prior to our arrival.  Most of the time, you could sit on the saddle and paddle along with your feet on the raised snow, but if you pedaled, your feet sunk into the banks.  I had a successful ride through one of the snow fields, and my confidence was raised enough to try to ride the next one (larger and deeper unbeknown to me), so I got some speed up for the attempt.  As I started across it, things went sideways – my front tire started out riding up on the old tire tracks, but quickly sunk in.  Once that started, it was only a few seconds before it swallowed the wheel enough to catapult me over the bars in a spectacular (to the watching jays) endo, spilling me and my entire bag’s worth of food and camera gear into the snow.  Nothing hurt in a snow landing, and the bike checked out.  After a hasty re-packing and snow dusting, I was back on my way.

Snow cowboys!

After Andy’s toes had thoroughly gone numb in his sandals, the road finally turned back to gravel, but it was not much of a road at that.  This was definitely less-traveled with snow melt ruts, random sharp fist-sized stones, and lots of overgrowth to keep you busy.

Descending

Recalling the joys of descending on a mountain bike, I quickly rode far past my current bike tire’s capacity hitting speeds around 30mph, and suddenly felt my rear tire go limp.  Yes – a pinch flat will kill a descent faster than a broken regulator.

Testing the kit in the wild

After the break, we got back to the art of the fast mountain ride, and had a great time with over 5 miles of glorious downhill under-biking.  I had no idea a rando bike with skinny 31mm tires could handle terrain I usually ride on a front suspension MTB.  Still, the Hunqapillar may have been a better choice for day 2.  I had pushed, and perhaps found the limits of the AHH.  With no real harm done, at that.

It’s like skiing in the summer!

Back on the pavement, I appreciated the final minutes of the ride with new friends.  When we got back to camp, we all congratulated each other on an excellent adventure, and vowed to come back in years to come.  I am hoping that this was the first of many trips to the volcanoes.  With the beauty of the rides, and the amazing lack of population and drivers, it’s a treasure close to home.

Snow tires!

The path on Day 2

The path on Day 2

* Manny Principle – according to Smitty:

“Mere uncertainty and tardy-ness are not sufficient reasons to abandon an adventure. Unless danger is imminent, the adventure must move forward.”

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