Memorial Day :: Remembering

My grandfather Rolland Victor Phend, shown in a 1983 photo with his WWI portrait, enlisted in the United States Army on September 19, 1917 as a substitute for a man who had been drafted. He was very proud of the fact that he had enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted. Grandpa was sent overseas shortly after his basic training and served in France with Company C, 309th Engineers. By the time he was discharged on June 19, 1919 he had achieved the rank of Sergeant. Grandpa suffered from the affects of gas poisoning for the remainder of his life, astounding physician's who said he wouldn't live beyond the age of 30 - he passed away on June 18, 1991 just one day before his 98th birthday!

Stories about Grandpa:

• Two Fellows Home From Camp Taylor
• Vic Phend Writes From France
• Grandpa Vic :: a Biography
• Grandpa Vic and Some Grandkids
• Grandpa's Candy

Grandpa is buried at South Park Cemetery in Whitley County, Indiana next to his parents and two brothers.

My Grandfather is just one of the many ancestors and relatives who have served their country in the military. The post, The Veterans in my Family, briefly describes my ancestors and their siblings who served during nearly all of the wars in which the United States was involved.

Last year I went through my genealogy database in an attempt to find all relatives that had served in the U. S. military, these are the ones that I know of, I'm sure there are others.

• War of 1812 and the Civil War
• Spanish American War and World War I
• World War II, Korea, and Vietnam

This past Friday, I took my Mother to visit the graves of family members buried in Whitley County, leaving little bouquets along the way. She tires easily, so after taking her back home, I continued my cemetery tour into neighboring Kosciusko County visiting the grave sites of ancestors on my Dad's side of the family. We really couldn't have asked for a nicer day with a cloudless blue sky and temperatures in the upper 70s. It was a perfect day!

Dutch town: Wijchen in Gelderland

Wijchen is located in the eastern part of the Netherlands in the Gelderland province, just beside the city of Nijmegen and very close to the German border.



Wijchen Castle











‘Wijchen Castle’ circa 1392. The castle underwent major developments and annexation which led to the now castle in renaissance gothic architecture style. Kasteel van Wijchen (in Dutch) is now a museum and is partly being used by the city hall (i.e., renting out the castle rooms for events, parties, etcetera).



Wijchen Centrum









A quick peek into the town’s centre... a bit quiet for a late afternoon.



De Oude Molen (Windmill)







Windmill ‘De Oude Molen’ circa 1799. Like the castle, she also underwent several restorations.



Visit Period: March

Destination: Wijchen (Gelderland), The Netherlands

Austin and Karen in the Tournament

Last but not least are Austin and Karen.

I know firsthand how great they are together.

They had incredible games today. They were so consistently strong. I loved watching them play.

They ended up in the championship game, against Jack and Diane. They played incredible games today too. Which means this particular game was amazing.

They won a very tough game. I'm so proud of both teams!

Jack and Diane won the Runner Up position.



Which means Austin and Karen won the overall Championship! Awesome job, Karen and Austin! We are all proud of you!

Patagonia Rover approach shoe give away?

Ya, I got a free pair of shoes this morning. Two pair actually. One for me to test and write up and a 2nd pair to give to one of you.



Now I of course have never wonanything in my life.....other than stuff I worked hard at to earn.



You on the other hand can get a free pair of shoes, in your size too! Simply tell me why you should get them and not my wife or my buddy Dave,in the comment section below for all of us to read.



The catch? Ya gotta be a registered member of the blog to get them and write me that story. I'll then pick the story that most impresses me for what ever reason that moves my fancy that day.That ONE writer will get onefree pair of the new Patagonia shoes! Kinda cool, right?



The shoe? More to come, but a seriously minimalistic approach shoe. Light weight and rigged to easily carry. If I can't actually climb SCW in them (and some could easy enough) it sure would make getting off the thing much easier.



Patagonia's spiel:



The Mountain Mobility collection includes performance footwear informed by the Patagonia athletes’ need for highly functional and versatile footwear in the mountains, be it ultra runners who go vertical or climbing ambassadors who need to shed weight without compromising performance. The Rover (and what I have and will be giving away) combines the best qualities of a minimalist trail runner with a lightweight approach shoe. Designed to feel the terrain, the Rover utilizes a to-the-toe variable lacing system to improve footing for vertical endeavors and comfort for jarring descents. The proprietary dual-zone outsole has climbing rubber in forefoot for high performance grip combined with deeper lugs, and burlier rubber in the mid to rear foot for increased traction on loose terrain as well as increased durability. The abrasion-resistant air mesh and synthetic leather upper wraps the

foot, while a self-centering stretch gusseted tongue keeps debris out. A soft flexing 4mm drop midsole provides a natural foot strike and an ESS forefoot plate protects the foot from rugged terrain.



My 2 minute take prior to a full review? A real, no chit,minimalistic running/approach shoe. And you will feel the terrain through these! If that is your thing..and it is mine for the most part, should be a goodfit. Pun intended.



Certainly a take off of the the Munson last I think. More here:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//12/russell-moccasin-co-and-minimalist.html



This is not a cush shoe. If all that appeals to youthese should fill a spot in your gear room. More to come. Available at retail by lateNov. '13 I am being told.



Now tell me YOUR story!

Another record - Puget Sound to Columbia Crest and back in one day

Climbers strive to push the boundary of their sport to new limits every day – faster ascent times (see the recent post about Justin Merle’s new unofficial speed summit record), more difficult routes, and even multi-sport athletic events. In the case of Randall Nordfors, he turned a simple guided summit climb with International Mountain Guides (IMG) into a full-on endurance race. Not only did he set out to bicycle a total of 162 miles from Puget Sound to Paradise and back, but he threw in a single push speed summit. If this trip wasn’t challenging enough, Nordfors set himself two personal goals: #1 Summit in under 12 hours and #2 Complete the entire trip in less than 20 hours.

The starting point for Nordfors trek was Tolmie State Park, located just a few miles from the end of the Nisqually River, whose source is glaciers up on Rainier. Despite problems that caused a slower than expected start and impossible to control time delays due to traffic and stop lights, Nordsfor still made the trip to Paradise in well under 5 hours. After successfully achieving his first goal in 11 hours and 40 minutes, Nordfors was back on his bike and headed downhill at speeds of about 40 mph. Although the final stage of his trip was mostly downhill, staying alert after such sustained physical exertion is a huge challenge. The final stretch of road was for sure the defining point of the trip. Behind in his time, Nordfors left nothing on the road, peddling hard and fast to make up for lost time and pulling in to Tolmie Park like a madman, finishing just under his goal of 20 hours at 19 hours 57 minutes and 30 seconds. Not bad for a day’s work...

Randall's To Do List:
Summit Mount Rainier under 12 hours – CHECK!
Finish crazy long bike ride and climb in under 20 hours – CHECK!

According to Nordfors, other than the actual physical conditioning required to complete this sort of endurance event, the two most important aspects of his training was eating when your body didn’t want to, and staying focused and mentally alert while your body is completely exhausted. As a retired competitive bicycle racer, Nordsfors is not new to intense training and challenges. Although only a novice climber, Nordfors, 45, decided that after his retirement from racing a few years ago, he wanted to try new things and test the ability of his body to new limits. His trip from Puget Sound to Summit certainly proved to be a worthy challenge, and although Nordfors achieved both of his lofty goals, he is not completely satisfied with his bicycle ride from Tolmie Park to Paradise and will attempt to improve his time in a another epic tour. Best of luck on your next adventure Randall!

Dutch Bike Wars

A couple of days ago I received a message from Muna Whitfield, owner of A Black Bike in New York City, informing me of her company's lawsuit against Club Monaco and Royal Gazelle for unfair business practices. The allegation is that the well-known Club Monaco campaign picturing two happy ladies riding a Dutch bike, featured a Black Bike bicycle while representing it as a Gazelle bicycle.

[Club Monaco advert, Spring . Image via BikeRumor]

Here is an excerpt from an article describing the lawsuit:

A Black Bike, Inc., a small scale bicycle distributor based in Brooklyn, New York, filed a lawsuit in federal court today against the clothing and accessories retailer Club Monaco, Inc., and Koninklijke Gazelle, alleging false advertising, unfair competition, deceptive acts and practices, and trademark and copyright infringement. The complaint alleges that Club Monaco, a subsidiary of Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, used images of A Black Bike's bicycles as the centerpiece of its Spring advertising campaign, without A Black Bike's authorization, and while publicly representing that the images were instead bicycles manufactured by the Dutch bicycle company Koninklijke Gazelle.

... In January of , following the upswing of A Black Bike's publicity, the complaint alleges that Club Monaco purchased a bicycle from A Black Bike and discussed a national advertising campaign that would feature A Black Bike's bicycles. Although a deal was never reached, ... the complaint alleges that the A Black Bike bicycle was prominently featured in Club Monaco's Spring advertising campaign, without A Black Bike's authorization. Furthermore, instead of crediting A Black Bike, the complaint alleges that Club Monaco confused consumers by falsely representing that the bike in the campaign was a "Gazelle," manufactured by the Dutch company, Koninklijke Gazelle, a competitor of A Black Bike.

... Following these events, A Black Bike suffered a large drop in sales due to Gazelle's benefit from the advertising campaign in the U.S. market.

The complaint was filed in federal district court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, by A Black Bike's attorneys at Shlansky & Co., LLP. The case is docket number 10CV893.

In their recent post about the lawsuit, Bike Rumor features pictures of a Gazelle and a Black Bike side by side and states that "the only difference between the bikes appears to be the decal and logo placements" and that "the key discrepancy seems to be the logo on the [headbadge]". They go on to note that the logos and headbadge in the Club Monaco advert appear to resemble those of A Black Bike rather than those of Gazelle.

[Gazelle Toer Populair bicycles in Club Monaco, Boston. Image by Lovely Bicycle]

After examining images of both bicycles, I notice an additional difference that no one has mentioned: the fork crown. Gazelle bicycles have a chromed, flat-top fork crown, like the ones in the photo above.

[A Black Bicycle bicycle. Image via Bike Rumor]

A Black Bicycle bikes, on the other hand, have unicrown forks, as pictured above. If you look at the Club Monaco ad again, the bicycle pictured clearly has a unicrown fork like A Black Bicycle and not a chromed, flat-top-crown fork like Gazelle.

I hope the lawsuit is settled fairly.

More Hoh

Here is a photo of the tool shed covered in moss, ferns, and lechen. Most of the trees in the Hoh Rain Forest are hemlock, spruce, Douglas Fir, maples, alders, and cedar. It has almost a tropical feel to it. A lot of the trees are old growth trees making them ancient; even older than I am. Some are thought to be over 500 years old. But if you plant one it will grow faster than any where in U. S. due to the rainfall, which can be over 100 inches a year. (And here in New Mexico we are thankful for 3 or 4 inches a year.) A couple of the trees we saw were over 100 feet tall. There are all kinds of other plants - huckleberry, blackberry, trillium oxalis,