We've had some pretty wild weather swings here in Eugene, OR over the last 10 days or so. The weekend before last, I went on a road bike ride on Saturday and wore short sleeves, and actually got a sunburn! It was a gorgeous day, and hit temps in the low 80's. I rode on Sunday of this weekend as well, and it was still pretty warm. Then, during the week it rained and got colder...

This past weekend though, it snowed. Yep. We actually had an accumulated 2" around our house on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning I went out for another road ride, leaving the house while it was snowing, and with temps in the mid to upper 30's. It was beautiful as well! It was not snowing hard, and was amazingly nice to ride in. I rode out doing a new chunk of rode that I hadn't been on, and eventually reached this place:

You betcha, Whopperoonie Ranch! What a great name. I was unable to see the actual ranch itself (I only went a few feet down the road as I didn't want to trespass, and knew it was a dead end, etc.). Fun.

By the time I got home this same day, it was sunny and the temperature was about 44. Of course not long after that it snowed again. Sunday was crazier. We woke up to the snow as mentioned, and then it got probably up to 50 degrees and sunny, then snowed, then sunny, then it hailed several times, and so on. Just wacky.

From what I understand this is the latest its snowed since 1911. New record, set first Saturday, then again on Sunday.

I recently just about ran out of "energy drink" stuff, as well as bars and gels. I've recently been using Camelbak's Elixer and really liking it. I spent this past winter trying out various things (about a 8 products in all), and Elixer was the overall winner. I've known about Nuun as well, so now that I was about to go buy more stuff, I took a look at both, and asked friends if they'd tried them. Nobody had tried both, and I think nobody had even tried any of the tablet (Camelbak or Nuun) kinds. First, I will note right off, both the Camelbak and Nuun products are electrolyte only drink tablets, as compared to say Powerbar Energy, which has carbs as well (and is my general favorite of the carb drink powders). But, one of the things that came up in discussion was cost. Apparently some backpacking magazine said the Nuun stuff was expensive. Well, I checked, and in fact, it is FAR cheaper than any of the others! Here's what I found and wrote back to friends:

I was just over at REI, and picked up both some more Camelbak Elixer, plus some Nuun. I got both the original lemon/lime Elixer, plus the new orange one, and then a citrus Nuun. But, the reviewer is way off on price aspect, unless you use a sort of more complex comparison. For example:

• Powerbar energy drink, at Colorado Cyclist's sale price of $18/25 (16 oz per) servings => $0.72/serving
• Nuun tube of 12 tablets, 16 oz serving per tablet, at $5.20/tube => $0.43/serving
• Camelbak tube of 12 tablets, at $8/tube => $0.66/serving

Now, technically, Camelbak says 24oz serving per tablet, which is perfect, because that's how I do it: one tablet per large water bottle (and that seems to work well for 4 tabs per 100oz bladder), so that changes things to add 50% more cost, if you want to be fair, to the others, making it per serving costs of:

• Powerbar drink: $1.08
• Nuun: $0.65
• Camelbak: $0.66

The reason I said above that a more complex comparison would be, that the Camelbak and Nuun ones are basically just electrolytes, no carbs, whereas the Powerbar/Gatorade/etc have carbs. Interestingly, I used to never touch solid food on rides, even pretty big rides in the 4+ hour range (once they got say 6 hour ish, then we'd be carrying lunch). But these days, I've found that I really do much better on taking on "food" of some sort. "real" foods, like PB&J sandwich work great, but for speed, the Clif Mojo bars are my hands down favorites. Not too sweet, but great mix of carb and protein and they taste fucking awesome (yes, fucking awesome). I use gels too, but the Mojos just really create a great mix I think when combined with these electrolyte drinks.

So, granted, this comparison has nothing to do with effectiveness, but I've found that the Elixer has worked really well for me.

National Geographic Adventure magazine's latest issue has a great article on the "Snowman" trek in Bhutan. It was a fascinating article, and honestly, I would be seriously interested in doing this trek. The referenced article link looks like it is the full article from the print magazine, but I'm not certain. Regardless, it's a very good read. Over the last about two years or so, my interests in the kind of events or adventures I do has shifted from being more adrenaline oriented towards that of being a really great "journey" or "adventure", or "experience". This really centers around mountain biking (or road riding as well), but I've been doing a bit of hiking, and my wife and I are discussing a backpacking trip this summer (we have never done a true backpacking trip (plenty of camping though)). I've been enjoying longer rides, and have been itching to do either a hut-to-hut trip again, or some other multi-day journey. Some friends and I have been starting to consider a multi-day, full backcountry mtb trip. We've been looking at everything from a trip designed completely by us, fully self-sufficient, to things like the Ride the Divide, a 3 day, 100 mile mtb event in Colorado. My interests have really gone towards it being minimal people, very backcountry, as well as a very relaxed attitude (which doesn't mean we won't be doing big days or tough terrain, just that the people are relaxed and have the right attitudes). Unfortunately the two guys most likely to want to do this are both laid up with injuries at the moment. Likely independant of that, I am working on a small Oregon tour for myself and friends this summer. Camp-based, and riding in a couple spots: North Umpqua, MRT, and Waldo are probably the requisites, and hopefully this one epic day in Bend (70 miles from what I hear).

First off, a huge congratulations to Jill, for finishing the Iditarod Trail Invitational! Second, she wrote about her experience, and wow, what a story! This is a must read - great writing, great journey, certainly some crazy, and well, just go read it.

1. Day One: Knik to Skwentna
2. Day Two: Skwentna to Puntilla Lake
3. Day Three: Rainy Pass
4. Day Four: Rohn
5. Day Five: Rohn to Farewell Burn
6. Day Six: Farewell Burn to Nikolai
7. Day Seven: Ghost Trail to McGrath

There is a great thread over on SlowTwitch.com about a guy who loaned his rear wheel to Bobby Julich during the Tour of California this year, and the whole ensuing story. It's a long thread, but a great story, and has a good ending. Check it out.

Michael Clark is a superb photographer, and happens to take a fair number of "adventure" photos, which include mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, backcountry skiing, and so on. If anything, take a gander through his "Adventure" section of his portfolio. There are some really stunning shots in there.

Check out this new event, the Tahoe-Sierra 110 (or 100 if you're riding it solo). The course/map is not available until race day. It sounds pretty interesting, see all the details on their site.

Here's a fun blog entry over on Big Wheel Building, about ski bikes. In particular, ones from Lenz, who also makes really nice mountain bikes. In fact, you can put his ski setup onto a regular mtb, although the ski bikes are a better setup. The blog post has video of some guys ripping (including taking them up lifts at a ski resort - many Colorado places at least allow this, according to the post). Looks like another way to have fun to me. Given that I love mountain biking, and skiing, it's an interesting combo. I don't know if I'd like it as much as the individual sports, but I'd sure as heck try it!

I read with joy, this Bicyles and Icicles blog entry, about how weather isn't bad, unless it'll kill your house or similar (e.g. hurricane), it's just otherwise weather. Tim rides in nearly all weather, and was commenting on how folks will offer him rides, or say he's crazy, or just think weather is bad. I feel the same way though, I like all the different kinds of weather. I love the rain (otherwise I wouldn't have moved to Oregon) -- the sounds it makes, the way it cleans up the surrounding environment, kids splashing in puddles; love a wicked snow storm -- it creates a superb quiet that I love, as well as makes for great pow skiing. I'm not as big a fan of huge wind storms, but again, it's just weather. When I lived in Northern California, I rode in any kind of weather, and some friends often called me Aquaman, because I'd go out and do road bike rides in rainstorms, whereas most guys opted to not ride, or ride an indoor trainer. I hate exercising indoors, so to me, and riding in the rain has never bothered me. On the mountain bike, riding in the rain can be awesome - it creates new/different technical challenges. I don't like super sticky mud, but that's easy, I ride somewhere that doesn't have that :) Matt is experiencing some seriously cold temps lately in Silverton, CO, waking up to -13 degrees F this morning. I kind of wish I was there, it's just sort of interesting to me. Ok, so is there anything I don't like, well, of course! I hate the heat. I still ride in it, and live, but I left the area of Nor Cal where we were in part because of it. The funny thing is that I think there is almost nobody who thinks severe heat is "bad weather"! At least, if there are, I don't think I've met them. Maybe when temps are into the 100-teens, and people start dying, ok, maybe then they'll say it's bad, but 105 and they're out tanning. Yeesh. Ok, so I don't go out and tan anyway, but I likely won't ride in this either, since it could actually hurt me - but in that case, it's just what it is, and it means I need to ride early in the day or at night. Obviously, as you can tell, I actually love weather, weather changes, the seasons, etc. I grew up where there were no seasons (on the beach in Southern California) - you judged weather by waking up, looking outside, and if it looked cloudy or foggy, you added a sweatshirt to your likely shorts-and-t-shirt wardrobe. But now, I simply cannot live without seasons, it drives me crazy when it's essentially the same all year round. I do definitely *prefer* cooler weather, but like Tim said, most weather is simply that, weather, not bad weather. End of rant, move along now...

Pearl Izumi makes a pair of winter cycling tights with their Amfib fabric. I've had a pair of the bib tights for a couple years now, and they are finally showing some wear/damage. I plan to buy another pair, as the short story on these is that they are simply the best winter bib (they make a non-bib version as well) tights I've come across. So, what's so great about them? Well, it really boils down to the Amfib. In this application, they are very warm, and I won't say waterproof, but as far as you can tell, they're waterproof and wind proof. I have never needed more tight, or additional layers while wearing these, which includes riding in temps in the 20's, while it was snowing. I've also spent countless days in the rain with these tights. I use them both on the road and off. In terms of warmth, they can be quite warm, as they have a Thermafleece lining to them. I use them if the temps are in the 50's or lower on the road bike, and on the mountain bike, it needs to be a bit lower, maybe low-50's and below, otherwise they may be too warm. When the temps really drop, say into the lower 40's or lower, I tend to also use embrocation in conjunction, but again, I've yet to feel cold in these in any conditions I've ridden in. Fit wise, they are excellent for me. Comfortable, perfect fit, with no excess material or bunching anywhere. Plus, the front portion (and the back) of the bib/torso area have much more coverage/come up higher than your typical pair of bib shorts/tights. I've found this to be a very welcome edition when the conditions are crappy. They also have ankle zips for easy on/off. As compared to other tights, these are my goto tights anytime the conditions are wet, or particularly cold. In warmer, and dry conditions, I may just wear a standard pair of De Marchi bib tights, or wool tights, etc. but nothing beats the Pearli's in foul conditions. Furthermore, this has been backed up by several riding friends who also have the Amfib tights. Everyone has agreed, hands down, and explicitly raved about them. Usually nobody really says much unprompted, but I've had 3 people tell me how great the Amfib tights are.