back in the saddle

the day: last tuesday, the 19th, partly sunny or partly cloudy--depending on your perspective, somewhere in the 70s with barely a breeze ...

the adventure: a couple of weeks prior to last tuesday, i got an email from a former student, lu, suggesting i ride over to vermont and meet them, camp, and then ride back to canaan the next day. i loaded up the panniers with all the essentials, hooked them onto the bike racks, and pedaled off. i made it over the connecticut river and was heading up hill out of east thetford. two loaded bikers came over the top of said hill and the one out front, crossed over the yellow line, and greeted me, "hellooo koby!"

it was lu and sophia, headed to cedar circle farm stand for a fancy espresso to go with lunch. they had been biking since friday, from white hall, new york, across vermont. we chatted over lunch and changed plans a bit to include riding through a covered bridge back over in orford new hampshire and a swim in post pond in lyme.

after a swim over to a raft, a 'cannonball' and a 'watermelon' splash, and a swim back, we returned to our changing barn--my friend dave lives across the road--and hashed over the rest of day's ride. it was an hour and a half back-west into vermont and camp up by vermontasaurous or an hour and a half ahead-east into new hampshire and camp at my house in canaan ...

the memories: though i was thinking a visit to the giant wooden dinosaur would generate some fun memories, i didn't push an agenda and let the two decide--we road east to canaan. i'm not sure, but the promise of going by the recent murder scene and a longboard session the following day may have helped them choose.

the riding was as pleasant as a loaded ride could be. though i went twice as far as planned and ate way less than half the food weight in my panniers, i was smiling the whole way. obviously, the company was the big hit and i would have ridden twice x "twice as far" to pedal next to lu. bonus, sophia is a grand biking companion--and she happily put up with my nostalgic stories of adventures with lu! (scroll through 'a pandemic summer and fall outside--plenty of playing!' for an account of the famous moose incident!) ...

notes:

• riding with folks half your age--or even less--is therapeutic... 
  
• cooking on a kitchen range is easier than a camp stove...
• a year out from hip replacement*--everything works well...
• i should post goap! more than once a year...

go outside and play!

ps--*the two snow storms--and 7-8 days of skiing--i mentioned in my last post on march 29, 2024, made me realize something had to be done with my hip. sawyer reminded me of the walking uphill at our eclipse viewing was also a good reason to go in and get it checked out and ultimately, get it replaced july 11th.

a late season blessing in a dismal snow year

the days: the last week in march. we finally got a honest to goodness snow storm, with 2 feet or more of fairly heavy, good snow-person making snow. that fell on saturday the 23. saturday into sunday, it got a bit colder and much windier drying out the snow pack for early sunday, before the sun came out and heated things up. monday and tuesday it was sunny ~ish. wednesday and thursday, there was rain off and on. ...

the adventures: shoveling saturday and sunday & skiing each day except wednesday. ...

the memories: saturday was epic for several reasons: the deep, heavy stuff was a blessing after a rather dissmal winter. but with nobody to help break trail, going up through the glades at the shaker wma, would prove to be brutal on the hip. i suppose plowing turns through the same stuff on the way down didn't help either. then it could have been the ski that submarined a blow down that did me in. or maybe dropping the saw on the ascent, and finally finding it on the descent, once i took the skis off and kicked through my trail. anyway, by the time i got home, i was hobbling around.

sunday, early morning was a totally different story, skiing 2 feet of dry fluff up on town hill, was comparitively effortless!  the trade off was after shoveling the rest of the day, it was my upper body that was spent. 

monday was a recovery day while i went to work, but i got another town hill run in as the sun was sinking. even though it had been in the 40s the whole afternoon, the snow was still deep and fluffy ~ish, enough to prompt several attempts to find that best line through the trees.

tuesday after work, with my hip coming back into shape, i went up town hill again. the snow was still fairly deep and covering most everything, but also, definitely getting heavier. wednesday was a total washout, though my body seemed to like the rest.

by thursday after work, the rain had stopped, so i geared up for a soggy attempt to get in one more run out the kitchen door. coverage was getting pretty sketchy, especially where it was more open to the sun and rain. still, on the north facing spots i found plenty of snow with only an occassional rock to avoid.

notes:

• the older i get, the more i appreciate vitamin I...
• playing out in two feet of snow will make you smile...
• i'm seeing one more large ~ish snow fall forecasted for later this week...
• even if that doesn't pan out, this last dump was a great 'end' to the local season...

go outside and play!

tubing with the kiddos

the day: jan 14th. blustery and squally, as in windy as all get out with snow coming down to beat the band! we got more than an inch--light and fluffy--in less than an hour. after the first squall blew over, the sun peeked out, until the next one blew in...

the adventure: tubing around with ethan and sadie...

the memories: sadie brought ethan over for lunch and more importantly, a bit of winter fun. he had his snow suit, boots, hat, and mittens, i had a tube, and we had fresh powder on top of a good crust, ie, perfect tubing...

when the snow wasn't blowing in his face, ethan was all smiles. only you couldn't quite see that as he was also chewing on his snow suit collar...

notes:

• snow is wonderful...
• playing in the snow with a daughter and grandkid is even better...
• thank you pam for your photo journalism...

go outside and play!

finding holiday fun sans snow...

the day: dec 25th. warm~ish for december--in the north country maybe, but probably avg on the cape--somewhere in the 40s°F. no sun or wind, and no ice on the pond...

the adventure: a not so 'polar', but definitely cold dip in jenkins pond, falmouth mass.

the memories: years ago when pam and i lived in chapel hill north carolina, i mowed our lawn during the last week of december--more to say i did it than an actual need. last friday, driving down to the cape for christmas, i started thinking that jumping into a body of water over the holidays would be a great addition to that odd legacy. 

when i suggested a dip to sawyer, he was all about it. he even had a reference for motivational support, "cold water dipping can be exhilarating and life changing."

i'm not sure about life changing but exhilarating is spot on! and you gotta love sawyer's classic line that the inches of muck on the bottom "keeps your feet warm!"

notes:

• the ocean may have been warmer...
• a cold dip with sawyer, "in team [boxers] no less," makes a great christmas present...
• maybe little ethe will join us someday--when he is not sleeping...

go outside and play!

skunked on moosilauke

the day: apr 9th. warm, headed toward 50°, brilliant sun in a clear blue sky with no wind. we saw plenty of snow, in spring condition, soft and easy to turn on, but none where we could actually ski it.

the adventure: moosilauke, the western face, dropping down toward tunnel brook. we were trying to get to the slide under the ridge leading up to the summit. 

the memories: according to the dictionary, "slog" can be a noun, "a spell of difficult, tiring work or travelling" or a verb, "to work hard over a period of time... exert oneself, keep at it, grind" i can attest to both. after taking our skis off for the 'hundredth time', shouldering them, and starting another march down the snowless trail, adam casually mentioned, "this is getting to be a real slog." or, after finally strapping the skis onto our packs and setting off once again, adam suggested, "let's slog on a bit more and try and get eyes on the slide."

add to that, "bushwhacking" a verb, meaning to travel by foot through uncleared terrain. once we left the trail angling up the ravine toward the slide, there was more than enough bush to whack our way through. not only were we on foot, going through uncleared terrain, the skis sticking up off our packs were whacking away as well.

the clearest path up the ravine toward the slide, followed the stream and included multiple crossings.  ski boots are fairly waterproof, but can be slippery, especially on "black ice" a noun, "a nearly transparent film of ice on a dark surface that is difficult to see" i only semi-slipped once and ended up stepping in above my boot tongue. it didn't soak my foot, but i could feel the wet.

at some point it all got to be too much, even dangerous, as we were starting to "posthole" a verb "to sink deeply into the snow with each step" often around "tree wells" a noun, "deep pockets of loose snow around evergreen or downed trees" so we turned back. having not even put on our skis, we were bummed--"skunked" slang verb, "being shut out or to be overwhelmingly defeated"

notwithstanding all of the above, "overwhelmingly defeated" is probably an overstatement. true we didn't get to ski, and rigid plastic boots are not made for walking--even less so with wet socks--but, it was a beautiful day to be out adventuring. 





notes:

• it was indeed a slog...
• bushwhacking got worse as we got higher...
• trying to avoid black ice takes attention...
• postholing into tree wells can be exhausting... 
• getting skunked is a bummer...
• even a poopy day outside playing is a good day!

go outside and play!