Feedback needed

Now is the time, apparently, to buy a new bike frame. In two weeks, all the Freds and Freddies who rode STP, loved the event, but hated their bike will be crowding the shops, looking to replace their bikes. So, the wheels are in motion, so to speak, on my new frame.

Now, I’m not normally a sloping top tube kind of girl. (Even the top tube on my part of the tandem is flat!) I’m told that the aesthetic is changing and if I want bike bling, an extra handful of seat post is the way to go. The drawing of my new frame is below. Tell me loyal readers...is the sloping top tube cool, or will it make me a Freddie?

The geometry is only half the picture. The paint will be equally important. What say you all to the proposed paint job?

Milestones

Call me a geek, but I get totally excited about random milestones. I hit this one in Bellevue, just north of Enatai Beach, on my ride home from work this afternoon. Think I can make 10k by the end of the summer?

You say “car-bon-AY-do,” I say “car-bon-AH-do”

Two weekends ago, we feted Bruce as he made the monumental transition into the decade that shall remain unnamed. By the end of the party, there were tentative plans in place for the Usual Suspects to ride the following Saturday. On Friday afternoon I sent quick reminder email about the next day’s ride. By the time I checked email later that day, Bruce had everyone on board for a loop in the South Sound area, starting in Puyallup.

We began the adventure at the E. Puyallup TH and rode a mostly empty trail to the town of South Prairie. I say mostly empty, because there was a 53-mile running relay happening on the trail. And while we didn’t see many runners, we did have the privilege of riding through a few relay hand off areas and ringing the bells.

scenic bridge on the Foothills Trail

The trail parallels the highway for a while, which was filled with parade of trashy hot rods on the day we were riding. (This would not be the last we would see of them.) We soon left the highway behind and rode quietly alongside the Carbon River before entering the town of South Prairie. The bike trail ended abruptly here, so we hopped on the highway and headed toward the town of Wilkeson. On the way, we ran into our hot rod friends again.

If you’ve never been to Wilkeson, it is another one of those towns time forgot. It’s about two blocks long and has a gas station, two coffee shops, a bar, a cemetery, and an Eagles Club. It also has a ginormous “Welcome to Wilkeson” sign that spans the road, making a great gentleman’s race finish line. Nick and Dave duked it out on the way into town, but it wasn’t much of a contest. (The ride wasn’t nick-named “the unofficial put the hurt on Dave ride” for nothing.)

We ran into another collection of old cars in Wilkeson. This time it was the Carbonado Canyon Model T Ford Club. I’m not quite sure how a town with a population of 621 supports an active club of Model T aficionados, but it does it in spades. (Click the thumbnail images below to expand them.)

time forgot more than the town it appears

Wilkeson seemed like as good a spot as any to stop for coffee, but we made a quick trip up to Carbonado first. We rode up the highway to “town” and looped back to the highway on a gorgeous side road before blasting downhill again. Coffee and pastries were calling afterall!

Wilkeson is not too small to support a local coffee roaster, and just about every place in town sells coffee made with their beans. If you’re in town, make sure to support Buono Coffee Co. They can’t have an easy time of it in such an out-of-the-way place.

Of the two coffee shops in town, we stopped at Skeeks. They serve a variety of pastry pockets (stuffed with savory egg fillings, jam, or PB&J), pizza, and other goodies.

While we were refueling our bodies for the second half of the ride, the Model T club turned the cranks (literally) and headed for home.

Taking that as a sign, we put the kick-stands up and headed for Buckley. Sylvia led us on a return route through the Enumclaw plateau, past Lake Tapps, and down a screaming descent back into Sumner. The descent alone made all the other miles that day worth it. A short jaunt on the bike trail and we were back at the cars, clocking EXACTLY 50 miles. (How did we do that?!)

Here’s the route for those that are interested in a repeat. Click on the title to expand the map and access the turn-by-turn directions.

Silver Star

I’ve been a climb leader with the Mountaineers for a while, leading all sorts of climbs that I’ve never been on before. They’ve all gone amazingly smoothly until my first climb of the season this year. I should be clear, though. In the past, the problems have been related to people. This time, it was route finding…

We started out with a clear idea of the route. In fact you can see most of the approach to Silverstar from the road:

Vasiliky Ridge on the left, leading to Burgundy Spire and finally Silver Star on the right

We did quite well at the beginning, getting to camp within 2 hours. (The route description I had said 2-4 hours.) Here is where our problems began. Instead of heading straight up Burgundy Col, a nasty-looking pea-gravel filled gully, we went in search of mysterious “heather slopes” to the side of the Col. Our search added about 4 hours and some stupid off-route bush-whacking. The great thing about mistakes like that is you’ll never make them again.

Katherine, Rod and I got to the Col and set up tents/bivys. There was no water at the Col (another mistake in the route description), so we had to descend about 400’ to a trickle flowing over a rock. Rod built a dam and filtered. Katherine helped where she could. After cooking dinner we went to bed with about a liter and a half each. Thirsty. And wondering just what tomorrow would hold.

In most mountaineering tragedies, this is the point in the story where people usually shake their head and say, “Things were already going wrong. They should have turned around here.” Fortunately for us, the story is a little different.

6 a.m. came quickly enough. Katherine decided the siren song of her sleeping bag was too irresistible, so she stayed in bed as Rod and I dropped down on the other side of the Col. In no time, we were wandering in the sun on a pleasant snow slope.

ascending the Silverstar glacier; summit on the left

Getting to the top took no time at all - a mere 2 hours. Rod and I were pleasantly surprised after yesterday’s route finding debacle.

We had the mountain to ourselves and could have relaxed in the sun for quite a while. Remembering that Katherine was hanging by herself, though, we didn’t dawdle too long. An hour later we were back at the Col. Katherine was brewing hot chocolate and all was well.

Our descent from the Col took a bit longer than we’d have liked, owing to the treacherous conditions. One slip and you’d be 800’ further down and banged up for sure. Below the regular camp, the snow was sloppy. We all punched through, but Rod took the cake when he went in up to his waist.

Clear of the snow, we hop, skipped, and limped back to the cars, where the roar of motorcycles leaving the Methow on Hwy 20 was deafening.

Granite glissade

Yay! Bruce rotated the video of Susan glissading the final stretch off of Granite Mountain. Insightful commentary is courtesy of my friend Peter.