Variations on Red and Green

Growing up, red was my mother's favourite colour. And my mother was a tirelessly creative woman back then. She sewed, she knitted, she made things. Consequently I was dressed in red sweaters and coats. I slept under a red patchwork quilt. You get the idea. I did not know how to communicate my dislike for this colour. When I was 3 years old, I was gifted a red tricycle and stunned my parents by breaking into tears at the sight of it. I loved riding that trike. But when no one was looking, little by little I began trying to scrape the paint off. My parents grew concerned and eventually got rid of it. They must have thought I was eating the paint.




As a teenager, I gravitated toward all things drab. This was the '90s grunge era, so that was easy enough. Army-navy stores, denim, plaid, combat boots. I rode a matte black bicycle then, and even peeled off its bright decals. When asked what my favourite colour was, I did not have an answer. In college I wore black. I made large charcoal drawings. I took black and white photos.






Sometime in my twenties I saw a weathered old bicycle locked up to a farm gate by the river. It was a lady's bike in the signature English shade of bottle green, and the weak East Anglia sunlight was hitting it just so. The enamel paint had a special quality to it that made it resemble an aged candy wrapper. I saw it and I knew right away that I liked it. As an adult, it was a thrill to learn that I had a favourite colour after all. I began to experiment, to chase after the perfect green. Somewhere between sage, chartreuse and olive, this ideal shade existed and was waiting for me.




After that I relaxed about colour. Blues and lilacs began to sneak their way into my surroundings, mingling nicely with the greens. Accents of pinks and reds appeared.



A couple of summers ago, I was staying in Vienna and looking to buy a vintage racing bike to bring home. A friend found me the perfect one and took me to see it. It was a bright red Moser. I remembered the trike of my childhood and laughed. "I love the bike, but I hate red." I got the Moser anyway and rode it for two years. It wasn't just red, but an unusual shade of strawberry with a subtle golden sheen to it. Everyone complimented the colour, protesting when I revealed my plan to eventually repaint the frame. "But the red is great, and it's so you!" Soon I began to receive red articles of clothing as gifts. I remembered how, as a child, I hated being known as the girl in the red coat, the girl on the red trike. But now it just struck me as funny. I still dislike red, but I guess I no longer think that's important.




I talk to lots of people about their fantasy bikes, or bikes they are nostalgic for, or bikes that simply stick in their memory for some reason. Red bikes and green bikes are mentioned more than any other kind. The colours play an important role in the story, but for reasons the story teller cannot clearly express. They will just keep repeating that it was a red bike, or a green bike, stressing the colour as if this information is pertinent to how special the bike was. It's not always a straightforward, cohesive story, just like mine is not. I suspect a lot is left out, possibly the most relevant parts. Of course we could break it down to the basics. Colour, motion, emotion. Excitement, tranquility. Stop, go. Red bikes, green bikes. But who wants to see it like that.

Velo Corsetry: Rescuing Vintage Saddles

The Co-Habitant has recently acquired a gorgeous vintage Roadster. The bicycle itself was in great condition, but the B72 Brooks saddle seemed to be a goner -- hard as a rock, with cracks on the verge of forming all over the surface. Rather than give up on the saddle, he decided to try the lacing technique. Lacing can rescue saddles that have become rigid and brittle with age: It holds the shape of the saddle under pressure of the cyclist's behind, allowing the leather to slowly regain its flexibility. Here is how it is done:

A dried-out saddle should first be treated with Neatsfoot oil. If the saddle is rescuable, it will begin to soften. Take care not to use too much oil, so as not to oversaturate: Rub the saddle with a cloth or napkin, never soak.

Punch several holes on each side of the saddle, through which the laces will be threaded.

Thread the laces through the holes, overlapping them underneath and pulling the two sides of the saddle closer together -- like tying a shoe. The traditional method is to use a long strip of leather, though some use shoe-laces.

The tightness can be adjusted, like a corset, to control the shape of the saddle. Afterwards, the laces are tied in a secure knot.

This is what the saddle looks like in the end. The stiching itself can be executed in several different ways. The Co-Habitant likes the "underneath" stitch, but the side-to-side stitch is also popular.

And voila: an ancient B72 saddle rescued and happily returned to its proper place. It has not cracked after being riden on. Happy saddle, happy Roadster, and happy Co-Habitant.

More information about lacing Brooks saddles is available from Wallington Bicycle Parts.

Bear Creek Mountain

A bunch of us decided to get out of town and try something new, so we headed for Bear Creek Mountain. The first 3 miles are fairly flat and feature several meadows.


Most of the elevation gain is at the end of the hike. Some pikas kept running around and whistling in this rocky area.



The kids enjoyed themselves in a large deposit of Mt. Saint Helens ash that we found on the way up.


Dahlia, Lily, Bill, Daisy, Danielle, Jennifer, Doug, Tania, Tina, Bethany and Dreamer, the dog, on top. Our view was limited, since we were in a cloud. It was nice to get out, see some new sights and spend the day in a place where the high was only 60 degrees!

Safer, safe and ‘less dangerous’

Claire after her skydive yesterday. Not looking too scared

I was just listening to Amartya Sen explaining on radio about his ideas about justice in the world, and his way of looking at this aspect of humanity struck me as just as relevant in another.

His thesis in the world of justice is that we should think in a more pragmatic, and less idealist way in order to achieve the best possible outcome for people. Specifically he has the idea that we pour a huge amount of energy trying to solve completely particular injustices, with the intended outcome being to make them 100% ‘just’. But, he says, the ideal of a perfectly just scenario often remains out of reach. Instead, if we first seek out the biggest and deepest injustices, and measure success against their starting points, rather than against the ideal finishing point of perfect justice, we will end up increasing overall justice by a larger amount. So the focus on scrubbing out the last remains of stubborn injustice becomes not just a black hole for our resources, but a distraction from deeper injustice elsewhere.

It struck me that this parallels closely recent arguments about risk in life and society. Economics right now is teaching popular society a lot about the importance of risk. Namely that pursuing the ideal of eliminating risk is actually harmful to economies, just as very risky and unstable situations are. Similarly, a statistical perspective minus the blinkers of a ratings driven media such as this book on the risks we face highlights some of the ridiculous situations we find ourselves in when we attempt to eliminate tiny risks (such as terrorism) and allow these to completely distract us from huge risks elsewhere.

Amartya’s idea projected onto risk makes a lot of sense to me and to me reflects closely the decision making process I’ve aspired to in the risky climbing I do. Other climbing bloggers thoughts recently (such as Dougald and Will’s) have reminded us well that believing in complete safety in climbing will always prove a fallacy. So it’s important to try not to be distracted by making tiny risks tinier, if larger ones lie ignored in the background (and they often do in my opinion).

A common example that often worries me when listening to other climbers discourse on safety is a fascination with the fine details of climbing equipment systems. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, so long as it’s seen in context of the whole picture of climbing safety, which is often isn’t. The trouble is that our safety systems relating to climbing equipment are only one link in a chain of factors that determine how much risk we face when climbing.

The ‘soft’ skills (I hate the term but can’t immediately think of a replacement) of our tactics, decision making and movement skill on rock, ice or mountains are the other, larger part, and they often suffer relative ignorance.

A more specific example; Out of the climbers I know who onsight E6 or harder, I can't think of any who aren’t expert at downclimbing (out of trouble). Why? Quite simply, having this skill allows you to go with far less danger where it would be hideously dangerous to rely solely on ‘up’ climbing ability and safety equipment. In contrast, the trad climber’s I know who’ve suffered a series of confidence destroying serious falls are more often than not poor at climbing down out of scary situations. I’ve had a million climbers ask me all sorts of weird and wonderful questions about the fine points of equipment, and strategies for it’s use, and it often shocks them when I don’t always know an answer. But I can’t recall ever being asked about downclimbing.

Important things are often at the mercy of things less important. Looking for dangerous things to make less dangerous will often be more successful than looking for anything to make perfectly safe.

The DPS 138 and Dynafit's Carbon Green Machine ZZero4

A perfect day on Snoqualmie Pass for the Lotus 138 if you made the cut off. Pass is closed going east bound for hours while we burned turns in 30" of new snow which kept falling all day!












The story is longer than it needs to be. But it is a part of my experience so I'll share it. Like everything here at Cold Thistle it is my story in the end which may not relate to your story in any way.



After an amazing reintroduction to skiing in Chamonix last winter I skied through the summer. No cragging and no alpine if I wasn't hauling skis around. My lift assisted ski season ended in July and I kept skiing until August. Huge fun!



Last year was also my introduction to fat skis, rockered skis, fully rockered skis, early rise tips, super light skimo gear and ski specific racing ski packs. I was the new kid in gear hog heaven!



By mid summer I decided in for a penny in for a pound. My new La Sportiva Hi5s were so amazing to ski on. I was in love. But I also figured if a 115mm waist was fun even bigger might also be even more fun. Some rocker was good...huge rocker may be even better in the right snow and on the right ski.



The Hi5 has become one of my all time favorite skis and a go to back country ski here. One I had planned on skiing a lot early season.











By late summer I had scraped together enough coin to jump in deep with DPS. A pair of Waller 112s and a pair of Lotus 138s both in Pure Carbonconstruction showed up in August. I was Sooooooo stoked! I pictured myself cat skiing or if I won the local lotteryheli skiing again.



http://www.dpsskis.com/ski/wailer112RP



http://www.dpsskis.com/ski/lotus138









I had mated the skis with Dynafit TLT Radical bindings (which were a easy choice ) and the most impressive (now that I have finally skied them) Dynafit ZZero4 Carbon Green machine!



TLT Radical

http://www.dynafit.com/product/bindings/tlt-radical-ft-130mm-z12



What is there to say about Dynafit...they are super light, they work and never a pre-release.

Why would you bother to ski on anything but a tech binding? Which Dynafit invented btw.

Green Machine

http://www.dynafit.com/product/shoes/zzero4-green-machine-tf



Every thing seemed right in my world last August. Well almost everything.

I got a diagnosis of throat cancer and scheduledfor surgery the next daytotally out of the blue, the same week the skis arrived. I was a little FREAKED truth be told! Damn it! I had more important things like SKIING on my mind. Cancer was a little speed bump I hadn't planned on!



Skiing and climbing were on my mind but not on my radar for the near future. After a radical neck dissection I took a week long road trip to rock climb. No my best moment. There is a reason they call them "radical". I simply ignored the obvious and went climbing. It all worked out anyway. By the time I got home I had decided to start selling what ever gear I had that couldeasily be turned to cash and mailed out.



It was quick cash and all easily replaceable in the long run. All but the DPS skis. But then the DPS skis represented the largest amount of cash in just two pieces of gear.At that point I wasn't really sure what the future held so on the block they went anyway. I decided to put both pair up for sale and keep what ever pair didn't sell first. It wasn't like there was a shortage of skis around the house. The DPS skis were a pure luxury. And as cancer treatment startedit was obvious the road was going to be harder and longer than I expected. I hate speed bumps.



Chemo was bad but after repeated emails and dicking around, finally shipping the Waller 112s to Germany was pretty painful as well :) But I knew I still had my Hi5s so I wasn't being overly tortured in the "mid fat" ski category. The REALLYFAT Lotus 138s just sat in the corner of my office as did the new ZZeros Carbons with a box of bindings just waiting for the right moment. No way was I going to sell the boots. Even though they had yet to be molded.I am a big believer in the theory of "he who dies with the most toys, WINS". I hate coming in second! I kept the boots on that premise alone if for no other reason.



A month or so ago, long before I could actually ski or get out yet I dropped the Lotusoff at Pro Mtn Sports in North Bend and had them mounted. One step closer.I had a plan...small steps when you canbreath.



Cancer and chemo I have learned are the gifts that keep on giving. One week I am "fine". The next sick as a dog again. This week my hands and feet are numb. From the ankles down on the feet, wrist forward on the hands. Hard to stay warm when that is happening. It comes and goes now so not a huge deal just annoying. But not the symptoms you want to have while ice climbing either.



I've found you can ski at a so- so level, even ice climb at a so-so level. I've always biked at a so-so level and with snow on the ground no biking going on anyway. You can't build $5000 custom guns with a shaky hand at a so-so level. That just won't do. It will pass I am sure so for the moment I do what I can on that particular day. And yesterday we had 5" of light and fluffy on my deck. What else was I suppose, or could Ido??!



It has been snowing on and off here for two days. Unusual as I am only at 763 feet in elevation. Generally just below the snow line. When 5" of light and fluffy snow had piledup my deck yesterday by 9am I started thinking seriously about skiing! Big "if", was just making it to the mountain. Storms like that around here generally cut the power and shut the roads down for days.



What the hell...not like I was going to accomplish anything at home or in the shop anyway. So I threw sand and a shovel in the truck with Marley, the wonder dog, and headed east to Alpental!



Amazingly enough it was straight shot out I-90 at mostly70 mph right up to the turn off at the Summit. I was on the lift minutes later. Marley, totally frustrated, was still in the truck wondering why we weren't headed for the back country? That would have beenway more typical.







Marley collecting some unnecessarygood Karma





Everyone seems to wonder just how different a 138mm ski would be to ride. These are 192cm. DPS says, "Riding the Lotus 138 in deep snow is like an entirely new sport." Seriously, I should have bought the 202s!



Sorry, easy to avoid the hype here as the skis don't make it a new sport no matter what size you buy. I'll admit skating across the flat from where I clipped in to the quad chair was a little weird but then I hadn't been in a stiff pair of boots for a LONG time so that was weird as well. Four turns off the chair and I was thinking this is pretty FFFFUUUUNNNN!. By mid chair I had a huge grin on my face and actually cracked out a couple of laughs betweentheface shots.



In fact wayfun, but not "a new sport".Tight, quick linked short radius turns or huge screaming eagle GS turns were to be had in total control. And damn near zero effort all day long... as the snow continued to pile up. (although I am a little sore writing this so there was some effort going on ;) Out running my own sluffs was so easy it ishardly worth mentioning. But I had so seldom done that even in the old days it is worth mentioning. The snow was deep and it was steep!









Yes, in fact I was feeling like a film star on this set up. I always say the best gear is gear you never notice. Chopped pow, untrackedpow, icy moguls or climbable water ice on thecliff bands, powder in the bumps? Anything and everything I wanted to ski was simply EASY. Water ice was a little iffy though! Thoughtless for the most part and super fun.



So when I got asked...and it happened almost every ride up the lift..."how are they to ski?" my answer was "easy....super easy!"Think a snow board for each foot here. So, I shit you not, the video belowcould have just as easily been me yesterday! Only I dress better than Steven Drake and must ski a little betterI suspect :) Anyone can ski that well on a pair of 138s in the soft stuff. They really are that good! And that easy to ski. Don't be all that impressed by the video. It is the skis...that make it look that easy. And it really is that easy. Don't be afraid of a rockered fat ski! You'll love them...well....I do these anyway. It is not a new sport but no question, with these guys the game has changed.







The boots and bindings? Like the skis...I never noticed them while doing some of the best skiing I have done in a long time. But after almost a year in the super light Dynafit Carbon TLT 5sif was really fun to add power steering and rip a bit. And these do RIP! I felt like I was cruising around on a rock solid 207cm GS out fit yesterday...unless of course I wanted to rip some tight turns on the tree line or down a powder filled set of steep bumps.This rig makes all that easy to do as well. The versatility of this set up on soft snow was simply amazing.A heli ski trip......would likely be orgasmic.



"The new Green Machine is absolutely stiffer than the Zzero CT-F (last years Green machine). Most of the increase is in lateral stiffness, the kind that matters when driving a big ski at speed. Plus that increase comes with lighter overall weight and better cuff rotation for more comfortable touring."

Sandy Brown, Dynafit Rep







The Green Machine is a simple boot. 4 easy to work buckles, a nice burly power strap and acomfy heat moldable inner boot with a stiff tongue. The inner boot is made byPalua for Dynafit. IMO they are the best inner boots available for climbing and ski boots. Others always want to argue but that is my take on it from having owned most of them. I've written about Palua several times here. It is worth checking them out. Theyfit me really well with no fuss. Just that simple. They ski like a race boot and they are warm. Strange combo there. My feet are still talking nicely to me at the end of the day. They may ski like a race boot but they aren't a race boot. This is a full blown AT boot. The buckles are easy to adjust for tour mode andeasy to adjust for fit. The latch and ankle/touringhinge easy to use. And that is comparing them to my TLT5 C's. Which are likely the easiest to useand best skiing touring boot made to date.



The Green Machine makes the TLT5 seem likea town car compared to a tight Porsche on a mountain road. These green guys are a GT2 RSR. There really isn't a comparison past they are both AT ski boots. Don't read too much into that as I dearly lovemy TLT5 Performance Carbons! But for a pair of 138s mid foot I wanted some real power. The speed at which you can so easily ski the 138s made the decision of a beefy boot a wise choice. This combowill ski pow at Mach 3 if you have the stones for it. And cutting a set of skins for them is not yet out of the question.



A caveat though on the boots. (Just realized this today..two day later) I ended up skiing the first two days while inthe Green Machine withthe hinge latchin walk mode. Never really noticed it actually as the boots are pretty stiff and even flexed while locked up or in walk mode. I generally ski my TLT5s without a tongue and my previous BD Primes unlatched as well. So I like a soft flexing boot generally. Nice to have the option of latching them down and having a stiffer boot if you require it.)



My body is totally worn out of course because these boots and the ski/binding combo let me rip it up all day with ZERO complaints about gear. They did what was asked and more with nearly a bobble. And I seldom noticed them past unlatching a over tight buckle or two mid day. Even more fun, it was my first day of skiing on them. I have no doubt the boots as well as the entire packagewill only get better with use.








Hardest thing I did yesterday was getting a shot of the "DPS" logo in 3' of new snow :)




And having to leaveMarley in the truck :(




From an up coming full review and comparison at http://blistergearreview.com/



"- DPS Lotus 138, Pure, 192cm



Not so long ago, DPS was the new kid on the block, and the Lotus 138 was one of the freshest innovations in the world of powder skiing.



Now, the Lotus 138 is more like the grandfather of modern design. It’s been around for a while, and while DPS has continued to tweak the construction materials, sidecut profiles, and amount of splay, the ski maintains its unmistakable, iconic look.



For their - model, however, DPS completely rethought the Lotus 138 from the ground up, regarded nothing as sacred about its design, and after major deliberation…decided just to throw a snowflake on the top sheet.



So what’s the takeaway here? DPS believes that the Lotus 138 is dialed."



As do I. Nice work DPS!



Post script:





A happy DPS customer

photo courtesy of Sting @ http://thesnowtroopers.com/



I was able to ski another 3 foot of fresh snow today (three days after the original post) as the temps werewarmingup. So much of what I got was true Cascade Cement. Short of pure hard pack the 138'sare still a tool to be playedwith. Even the hard pack was interesting but I wouldn't want to do a lot of it. I keep hearing how hard these fat rockered skisare to manage. I haven't found that to be the case. I was even able to make some good turns in deep untracked heavy snow on a side hill. Yes a side hill off camber slope. I would have never tried that on a lesser ski. Unheard of previous at my skill level. Any little pocket or hidden stash of fluff I could find got shredded.



Not the best conditions for the 138s later in the day. But where they were good they were exceptional. Given a choice I would have switch out to a skinnier ski late in the day today. The Hi5 would have been my preferred weapon for what was left of the mank. Sting from Snowtroopers was on a pair of Hi5s today btw. But don't let that scare you away from the 138s if you are lucky enough to live in an area that gets the big dumps like we do.



I have a good sized quiver to pick from and the Lotus 138saremy all time favorite skis for big loads of fresh.












My Lotus 138 track.

Riding to the Ride

Most of the rides I take part in start on the outskirts of Boston, usually about 10 miles from my house. Since I don't have a car, naturally I ride my bike there - which means tacking on 20 miles or so to the mileage of the ride itself. A 30 mile club ride is really a 50 mile ride for me, and so on.




In the beginning I thought this put me at a disadvantage to most of the other cyclists there - who either lived nearby or arrived by car. After all, by the time the ride starts I've already cycled 10 miles, whereas the others are well-rested and full of energy. But as I kept riding and learned more about myself as a cyclist, I realised that it was quite the opposite. I am one of those riders who is slow to warm up - feeling sluggish for quite a while before suddenly waking up and getting that "I have wings!" feeling. How lucky that riding to the ride provides me with a warm up!




I've grown so used to riding my bike straight from home, that doing a couple of rides with remote starts this year was incredibly strange. It felt unnatural to load the bike into a car, and I couldn't shake the feeling I was forgetting something, my standard operating procedure for getting out the door disrupted. The remote start was the one aspect of D2R2 I didn't love, while part of the appeal of the overnight ride to Maine was starting from our neighbourhood and ending up across two state lines. Here in the Northeast we have fantastic regional events, and I am trying to decide how interested I am in those that aren't within reasonable cycling distance. ...Of course the definition of what's reasonable is subjective. Some have been known to ride to D2R2 from Boston. A 100 mile warm-up certainly beats my 10!

Prairie Dog

This prairie dog figurine came from Prairie Dog Town some where on the road between Pampa, TX and Amarillo, TX. In about 1955 my mom, my grandmother, and I made the trip from Pampa to Amarillo about once a month or more often when I mom was pregnant with my sister. We were living in Pampa and the Air Force base where my mom had to go for her appointments was near Amarillo. My dad was stationed in England at that time. The Prairie Dog Town made a nice stop for all of us. There was a cafe, gift shop, and a fenced area out back that was full of prairie dogs for the guest to watch as they went about their prairie dog lives. They were feed by the people that ran the place and were a great attraction especially to me. For those that don't know a prairie dog is not a dog, they are a rodent (rat) but are cute. They dig long tunnels through an area that becomes the dog town. When one of them is startled it will stand on it's hind legs give a sharp squeak and dive down the hole with all the others then doing the same thing. They are also very dangerous to livestock and people who have stepped in their holes and broken legs. At one time there was a bounty on them over most of the southwest. We have a few out here on the desert near where we live. They are so leery of humans I have never seen one but have found the towns with the many holes leading to the tunnels.