Power: Nature turned Generator

The rain seems to have stopped and now you can hear the Longmire generators (6-10 am and 4-8 pm that is). It's going to take some time to put things back in order, but it seems as though the main brunt of the storm and its damage have subsided.

Sunshine Point Campground near the Nisqually Entrance was disappointed with the weather trend and left Mt. Rainier National Park for sunnier locations. The problem is that it took the main road with it. I couldn't get a visual though because the road near Kautz Creek was under 3 feet of silty debris and water. The creek must have diverted upstream and chosen a new channel. See photo above.

If you're familiar with the park, you'll notice a number of "new viewing areas" along the Nisqually to Paradise corridor next time you visit. The Nisqually River ran bank to bank and in doing so, took a massive amount of debris with it. Large trees fell, as new embankments were chiseled.

Here is another image of the westside road. See it? Neither do I. Well, 8 pm is approaching...

Tubing with Nathan and Lauren

Next up was Lauren with Nathan. Nathan says he had fun. I think he was only out there about five minutes though so I don't know that he was the hugest fan. He says he flew up in the air higher than everyone else and had more spray in his face. I think he needs a bigger tube, because he is just too tall for this one!

When Simplicity Trumps Comfort

Will Spring ever arrive this year? Looking at all the new snow on the trail as we braved another "spring ride," I began to seriously doubt it. Nonetheless, my Rivendell is back in action after a long winter.



Now, here's an admission: Although the Sam Hillborne is super-comfortable, when it comes to shorter rides without major hills I've come to prefer a more pared-down roadbike. In fitting the Rivendell with a front rack, decalleur, handlebar bag and good sized saddlebag, we made a conscious decision to optimise it for long distance travel and exploration at the expense of simplicity. Though individually each accessory is fairly lightweight, all together they do add heft to the bike and make it more difficult to take in and out of the apartment. And I find it inconvenient to detach and reattach the bags depending on what kind of ride I am taking, so I would rather just leave them on.



I have a routine 30 mile ride that I do whenever weather permits, and on this ride my ideal bike would be a lightweight single speed (fixed/free flip-flop hub), with a tiny saddlebag and no fenders. Currently, my Moser and Bianchi share this role, with the Moser being the fixed gear and the Bianchi essentially acting as the freewheel singlespeed, since the 2x6 gearing is so unfinicky that it allows me to forget it's there. By contrast, the 3x8 gearing on the Rivendell feels cumbersome on a ride where I don't need to shift gears.



I am not the first person to experience the epiphany that "for fast and short rides I prefer Roadbike A, while for long and hilly rides I prefer Roadbike B." Still, I was surprised to feel myself developing this preference - particularly the single speed and no fenders part of it. There is something to be said for just being able to throw a bike down on the grass and not worry, for pedaling fast and not playing around with shifters. At times I value this simplicity and ease more than I value load capacity, gearing, comfort, and yes - even keeping my clothes clean and dry. There, I said it!

Huge Bird? or What Is It???

Of course when you go to all these wonderful forests, state and national parks you might find your self face to face with some unusual sights. Like this great, huge, burnt looking - - well, is it a bird? or a monster? or just what is it?

Douro River Valley Tour 5: A visit to a Port wine estate — Quinta do Tedo

This is the last stop of the Douro River Valley Tour, a visit to a Port vineyard located in Armamar (Viseu district) along the Douro River and Tedo River just before reaching Pinhao. Maria told us that this estate is a very small, single Quinta A classification. Quinta in Portuguese is equivalent to an estate, hacienda or domaine.



Wine estate classifications runs from A to F with A being the highest. You can find more information here: Portuguese Quinta Classification







Quinta do Tedo on a much better weather (blue skies!) day. Picture from wiemax.com



Quinta do Tedo



From my seat in the mini bus (I was sitting in front), I could see Quinta do Tedo coming into view, the estate is perched on top of a hill and is waiting for us. Maria said the views up there are beautiful. I am sure I will not disagree. This part of the Douro River Valley is very peaceful, raw and pure. It was raining when we drove up the private road leading to the estate but when we jumped out of the mini bus, the rain drizzled down a little bit providing us the opportunity to enjoy the breath taking views while we took the obligatory pictures.



The place is soooo lovely, even on a bit gloomy and rainy day!







There are 3 dogs in the estate but this one is the sweetest. He came to greet us.









Breath taking views are they not? Even for a bit gloomy day...









The man from the winery welcomed us as we stood there in awe of our surroundings. He told us that the valley we are looking at—35 acres of vineyards including the body of water, all belong to Quinta do Tedo. There are another 22 acres of land planted with olives and fruits that belongs to the estate as well.



Then he urged us to follow him to the cave where they store and age the wines in oak barrels. The cave is located at the other side of the estate and as we rounded the corner, we were again confronted by the beautiful scenery, he had to patiently wait for everyone until we were done snapping pictures. I can probably hear him mutter under his breath, ‘Ah, tourists…’ Haha, he must be used to this.













Port Wine Cave



Mr. wine man explained to us the aging process of Port wine and all that stuff, yadda, yadda, etcetera. Anyway, there’s a ton of information about Port wine available online for those who are interested. There is google for that so I will not be posting that here. But in this winery, I learned that for Port wine to be called vintage, it must be at least 10 years old. Naturally, the value of a bottle of vintage Port follows its age.



The wine estate is actually now owned by a Frenchman coming from the Bouchard wine growing family in Burgundy, France.







Isn't she just too cute? This is the little girl of the Japanese couple living in Frankfurt, Germany.

















Here I am smiling reluctantly (disapprovingly!) at the camera because of the bad weather. Unfortunately, after our short Port cave session, it rained again. Here I am walking back to the main part of the building for the next part of the agenda which is the Port tasting.



Port Tasting – Vintage is my favourite



I really would have wanted to buy a vintage bottle of Port from this winery but I came by plane with a carry-on luggage. It is also too much of a hassle to have to ship a bottle of wine to the Netherlands but I really enjoyed their vintage here very much. So smooth and elegant.



Read here my entry about the types of Port wine and my visit to the Calem Caves in Vila Nova de Gaia: Port cave tour and tasting at Calem: You drink Port at the end of the meal!







We had a tasting of Port wines, from left to right: 10-year old Tawny, a Ruby 2007 and a Vintage .











The estate also offers Bed & Breakfast accommodation. In fact, many quintas offer this in the Douro River Valley. My wish would be that during the warmer months, I’d be able to come back here and stay in the valley for a few days.



So we have come to the end of the tour and as we drove back to Porto, my last memory of the drive and everything else were these pictures below before I dozed off.







I woked up just in time when we entered Porto. The streets seem to be dry, so I am grinning and hearing hallelujah ringing in my ears. The evening is going to be promising!



Previous entries:



Douro River Valley Tour 4b: Lunch in Peso da Regua at Restaurante Douro In

Douro River Valley Tour 4a: The flood in Peso da Regua

Douro River Valley Tour 3: Wine, Cheese and Presunto tasting in Lamego

Douro River Valley Tour 2: A rainy and misty 'Douro viewing point' stop

Douro River Valley Tour 1: Amarante village, Vinho Verde (green wine) and some Travel Agency rant

NAHBS Goes Floral

I had been looking forward to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) and now the images are finally beginning to show up on flickr and various cycling websites. Lots of beautiful bicycles, with Randonneur and Porteur aesthetics looming large. Another theme I've noticed is the prevalence of floral designs, especially in accessories. Have a look:

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]
This handmade rack with a leaf motif is from Banjo Cycles and part of a matching front and rear rack set. These must have taken a long time to make!

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

Front rack with wooden inlays, on a Yipsan Cycles mixte.

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

Some custom "tree" headbadges by Poka Cycle Accessories. Love the look of enamel paint on these.

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

Also Lilly of the Valley headbadges.

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

And check out this beautiful chainguard, also by Poka. I would love one of these!

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

Brooks saddle, carved by Kara Ginther for Banjo Bicycles.

[image by sleepyneko via flickr]

Fleur de Lis lug/sleeve on an A.N.T Scorcher.

[image by thebicycleescape via flickr]

Bamboo frame with floral motif. This is a Bamboosero bicycle made by Bikeys in New Zealand, the floral artwork done by a Maori artist.

[image by Velo Colour]

And these magnificent floral details are by Velocolour (check out additional details here).

Looking at the popularity of floral designs at NAHBS this year, I wonder whether it reflects a growing female customer base for bicycle builders. Or perhaps these are just as popular with men. What do you think?

Anubis FWA

The Comb showing the line of Anubis, on the day of the ascentQuite unexpectedly, I managed to complete my long term ambition to make the first winter ascent of my own summer E8, Anubis on Ben Nevis. The number of hours to finish the lead might just be countable on one hand, and completely exhausted me for the following three days. In other words, I completely went for it.



Starting up the initial overhang Photo: Christina BellIt seems to contradict reason, but it seems clear to from my experience that there are many different states of mind which seem to work well for bringing out the best (or should it be worst?) in climbers for hard leads. ‘confident and solid’ is most consistent, but suffers often from nerves and fear of failure. ‘Invincible’ can produce moments of sickening boldness/recklessness, but always makes for a short career in climbing. ‘Angry’ is only really good for pull-ups. Climbing is too delicate for it’s unchannelled release of energy. ‘F**k it, what have I got to lose?’ was where I was at on the crux of Anubis. Life is too short for caution when you are on the right route, at the right time. So I dispensed with caution.A small gear ripping fall on the initial wall leading to the main roof helped a lot to relax the body. I had been needing that for about two or three seasons. I started again. This time climbing like I wanted to get higher.



Crossing the crux roof Photo: Christina BellSeveral hours later, with nothing left in my arms, my feet slipped off again on the final headwall, well out from the last gear. I had the eyeball bulge of a leader with three seconds to find a solution or fall. A footless speed-downclimb of about 8 moves and kung foo kick back onto the footledge under the roof saved one more chance to get to the belay. Christina burst out laughing at the sight of it. I laughed as well, after a minute or two.Next time up was my last strength, so I got there. I pulled through my 70 metre ropes, tied them together and kept going up the comb in a 140 metre pitch, before untying and continuing up the ice grooves, and eventually standing in the quiet of the summit by myself for a few minutes.Grade in winter? No idea. I’ll have a think about it. I haven’t ever tried or done anything harder in winter. I guess there are worse chores than grading your hardest route. The route started as an idea to see if it was possible today to maintain the Victorian mountaineering tradition of opening a new climb in summer conditions, and progressing to an ascent in winter. Great that it’s still every bit as possible as it was a century ago.





The highpoint of my 2nd attempt, the other week Photo: Andy Turner





Anubis in summer E8 mode Photo: Cubby Images



Postscript: Just before I posted this up I read a timely post on Ian Parnell’s blog with a full list of all the routes of grade IX and above. I can’t say it really helped that much for making a wild and disclaimer-ridden stab at a grade for Anubis. But what did stand out was the consistency of routes which are often reasonably protected HVSs working out at IX in winter. There are of course some E2s and up to about E4s that have been done as winter mixed routes, generally where the cruxes involve cracks. Anubis, although dramatically harder at E8 does have a useful short crack at the crux, but then a section of E5 6a face climbing on small crimps. Bla bla… the long and short of it is I do think it’s a significant step up from any of the routes I’ve done. The crux is not much harder than Don’t Die, but then the rest is like stringing three of the IXs on Ian’s list together. So maybe it’s XII if my other two routes are really XI. Or if The Hurting and Don’t Die are really grade X then Anubis might make it into XI. I’ll keep thinking about it...

Camafloged Cats

Our 3 black cats hiding out on the couch taking a nap.

Owl's Clover

An owl's clover flower, Castilleja exserta, growing alongside a trail.