Brewin'

Finally got the kettle fired up last weekend. IPA is in the works. This is going to be good.

Rainier: Northern Loop

Beth & I set out last week to do the "northern loop" trail at Mt.Rainier. While we were planning an adventure, it turned into much more than we expected! We "ramped up" the previous week by hiking Granite Mountain Outlook near Denny Creek in the rain. We figured if we could handle that we could handle anything...

We started off at Sunrise with the plan to head west on the Wonderland trail then loop back across the northern loop. Day one we set off from Sunrise late morning. We would of been earlier, but we had to stop for a donut and cookies for lunch at the Black Diamond Bakery. Cookies talk. We stopped at the intersection with the Burroughs Trail to adjust Beth's boots (this should of been an early warning!). Some other folks were there who were on their way to Sunrise after being on the Wonderland trail for a full week. Can't say I envy their start: the previous week had a pretty heavy downfall of rain early on. They said it took two days to get everything dry! yikes. I don't mind a bit of rain, it makes a journey memorable like it or not, but a wet sleeping bag is about the worst thing in the world.

Back on the trail, we made it to Skyscrape Pass for lunch. Enjoyed some sandwiches I made in the morning along with the previously mentioned cookies. The view from up there was fantastic but eventually we had to get going again. We passed the Granite Creek camp just as I thought it would make a nice place to settle for the evening. Our reservation was for Mystic Lake, another 5.5 miles down the trail. It wasn't too bad passing around the Winthrop Glacier, but we were running low on energy on the hike up to Mystic Lake. Finally made it up there as we were both getting pretty pooped and Beth's ankle was getting bad.

Setup camp and made a little hike up to Mystic Lake just as the sun was about to disappear over the hills. Back down to camp for dinner and a checkup from Paul the ranger who gave us a heads up on our next day's hike after checking our permit. Being Beth's first backpacking hike we went a bit gourmet for dinner. Thai noodles with peanut sauce and chicken from a can. I unloaded two PBR tall boys from the pack that were a bit warm, glad I wouldn't have to carry those any further. Cleanup and it was getting pretty late, time for bed.

The next morning was some hiking through amazing meadows and down the hill following the Carbon Glacier. The original plan was for lunch at the bottom of the hill to recharge us for the trek up 3000 ft to camp at Yellowstone Cliffs. Beth's ankle was getting bad and while she wanted to go on, it wouldn't be very fun. Halfway down Ranger Paul passed us on the trail. We took the opportunity to talk with him and change our itinerary to Ipsut Creek Camp. It was further in distance but flat hiking and we could exit at the Carbon River entrance the next day to get Beth's ankle a look at.

We took it real easy the rest of the day and enjoyed the view of the glacier and river that stemmed from it. As we hiked down the hill we ran into Keri, who was also hiking to Ipsut Creek. Keri was kind enough to loan Beth his treking poles making the rest of her day a bit easier. The itinerary change was a good thing as we didn't make it to the trail intersection til late afternoon. We had a late lunch there before saying goodbye to our view of Rainier and heading into the forest.

Late afternoon dragged along til we made it to the camp. Beth returned the poles to Keri and thanked him for their use while I made some dinner. Chinese noodles in an Indian sauce with a tin of smoked mussels and another of tuna. The stuff you cook up while camping...

Got an early start the next morning and hiked out to the Carbon River entrance. Only problem at this point was the car was at Sunrise. doh! The funny thing about Carbon River is you can't see Rainier at all from there, which most people don't expect. So some people show up, figure that out, then head to a different part of the park.

With this knowledge in hand we started practicing our hitchhiking thumbs. With the thumbs along it wasn't going to happen. On to option 2: have Beth talk to drivers heading out and tell them her bad ankle situation. Fortune must of been smiling upon us as we found a mom with three kids and a big SUV. She more than kindly drove us to Sunrise. Big thanks for that!

Back at Sunrise we got a few more pictures as we had some gorp for lunch and headed back home a day early. Really beautiful trail and I'm determined to go back for more at Rainier. I'd never been to the Carbon River Entrance before but it seems like it'd make a good base camp for some hiking. You can bike the road up to Ipsut Creek camp, lockup bikes there while heading out to other camps. I'd also like to do the entire Wonderland Trail sometime next year. It'd take a lot more planning and the meals won't be quite as gourmet but it'd be a good challenge.

Boring Training Data

While I don't want to turn this blog into a boring training blog, an occasional excursion ain't all that painful. This is the third season I've used a power meter for training on the bike. I'm pretty good about putting all my data into TrainingPeaks software. Given all the workouts are there, the "CTL" it tracks is fairly accurate. Being a numbers geek, it's kind of interesting to analyze the chart and compare how the years have played out.

BARR ?

Not sure how many BARR points I've got, or if it really matters. One site lists me in fifth, another lists me in sixth. Not a big deal either way, I'm just shootin' for top 10. Of course coach wants me to get 4th or better. Sunday is Blackberry Crit, last race of the season and a final chance to get a fistful of BARR points. Gotta go for it!

The Grumpy Old Lady

Having filled out my deposit form a priori, I walked into the bank and proceeded straight to the back of the line of five customers. Early afternoon, five people in line was rather unusual. But that's fine, it's just more time away from the office.

With all the teller positions in-use, another bank employee started to walk the queue and check if everyone had their forms filled out to expedite the wait. That was when I noticed the the old lady standing in front of me.

The bank employee working the line asked if she needed a deposit or withdrawl slip. No comment from the old lady. Upon accepting rejection, the bank employee asked me the same question, this time with a puzzled look on her face. The rejection from the previous query animated the question. Both bank employee and myself made curious eye movements to the old lady in front of me as I replied "no thank you, I have my deposit slip filled out."

Another minute slowly passed as I waited for my turn in line. As I step towards the first position in line, I start to hear the conversation, no, rather, query and silence between a teller and the old lady. The old lady had presented her transaction and drivers license to the teller. The teller asked the old lady to remove her sunglasses for identification. The request went unfulfilled.

At this point another teller was free to help me with my transaction. Before helping me, I noted he had a couple words with the teller helping the old lady. As I handed him the deposit slip, he leaned forward and mentioned the old lady shows up on occasion and never talks. In fact, if tellers attempt to converse with her she starts a yelling rampage. Not a nice old lady. His words to the old lady's teller were to not talk unless the teller wants to get yelled at. Sounded like sage advice to me.

I look forward to my golden years when I can blame old age for ill behavior. Until that time I'll be continuing to scheme my madness.

Track Racing

Went to Marymoor for my first track race. Concerns about going back to cat5 racing were offset with the upshot of some victories. The chance to work on my sprint is great; but Thursday night Marymoor comes at the cost of missing Thursday night Seward Park. The latter is a much better workout given the right opportunity. Hopefully I won't miss too many more Seward races.

Within the cat5 group, we get seeded into five more groups based on a one lap time trial effort. Despite having one of the faster times I get seeded in the middle: group 3. That didn't last too long.

First race: a 6(?) lap points race with 8 riders starting. I hang near the front for the first two laps to warmup. Get in position and pop points at the line for the next couple laps and take the final lap for 3 points. A pretty hard effort, but another 10 laps would of made it more interesting. Phil, the ref, has a word with me about getting out of the saddle for sprinting. Doh!


Second race was a scratch race, 7 laps. Movin' up in the world with group two now. I sit in for the first 5 laps, sit second or third wheel and manage only get in the wind briefly. Marc from Byrne jumps, nobody follow, and he's looking pretty good. With a lap left another rider jumps hard, I'm on his wheel. I jump past him before the speed drops and nearly catch Marc. Another couple meters and I would of had him.

But that's all she wrote. Heavy wind and storm clouds were looking pretty menacing. The third race was canceled so I didn't get another chance. Yup, Seward would of been a better workout!

Back to Reality

The morning started out pretty easy but became a frantic dash as the day wore on. While packing up in the morning we received on a knock on the door from Pero, the condo owner who was staying upstairs at the Sand Castle. He informed us he was also leaving that day and, when he found out we were driving to the airport, asked for a ride. Not much of a problem but it created another thing to pay attention to. We figured out a meeting place and had about 3 hours get our last bit out of Playa.

On to town, first stop Java Joe's for some coffee. I was really craving the spicy hot chocolate of Ah Cacao but willing to try a different coffee shop. The coffee was pretty good, the bagel sandwiches were also nice.

Upon leaving the coffee shop the rest of the day's activities were a rather stressful blur of forgetfulness. It took a full search of Playa's side streets to find where we parked the car. After finding the car, we couldn't find Pero to drive him to the airport. I knew deciding to drive him to the airport was good intentioned but a bad idea. Finally, on getting close to the airport, we couldn't find where to dropoff the rental car. Visions of my credit card being charged for Fernando's personal car being lost or stolen stormed through my head. A couple phone calls later we solved the rental car problem and headed in to the airport.

The whole swine flu thing brought Mexico to a mass exodus of travelers. Really long lines and the stress of waiting in line weren't helping. But in the end we all made our flights and got to our destinations. Sitting back home now, I think there's a Mayan hot chocolate waiting for me somewhere back in Playa del Carmen that I'd like to return to.