Hee Hee

Weather forecast for Mt. Washington on Saturday: 14 degrees and winds WNW at 50 mph. Yes, five-o. Sweeeeeeet.

Five Days

Here we go again.... only five short days until I find myself bundled up at the bottom of a big ass mountain with nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other and climb it. Although I'm not really expecting the freakout that I had a few days before Rainier. No - this time around it's just a little bit of stress about the timeline (exactly when am I going to pack between work and school this week?). I suppose I could be packing at this moment, instead of sitting in front of the computer. But that's just not like me.

I'm super excited, though - the weather report seems to change every day. On the summit today, the air temperature is 18 degrees with a windchill of -2 degrees. Last year on Feb. 2 (our climb day), the air temp was 8 degrees and a windchill advisory for temps below -40 was issued. So who knows? I can handle the 18/-2 degrees so if it stays like that - no problem.

Gear-wise, I'm all set. I'm planning on renting a pair of double plastic mountianeering boots once I get out to New Hampshire since I don't think my leather La Sportivas will do the job. Otherwise, I've got my own crampons, ice axe, base layers, outer layers, and a sweet new pair (although they're pink.....) of Smith goggles (many thanks to the Smith rep for Ada Bike Shop).

My training has really only consisted of lots of hours on my bike trainer so I'm hoping that's sufficient since there's nothing I can really do now. I've got a little bit of a soreness issue in my neck after this weekend's Snow Cross race - a few nasty falls where my head sort of bounced on the ground - but it's nothing a little Advil can't take care of. I hope.

So that's where I'm at. Wish me luck - I know it's going to be a great and exciting time whether we make the summit or not. Oh - and I've had a few questions about the new blog title. I'm not really ready to disclose what the FABG stands for as of yet but I'll accept some guesses.......

Tribute to Studs

Of all the studded objects available in this world, there is one that sets itself apart from the rest. So it is with great love and admiration that I dedicate this post to you, studded bicycle tire. Not content to be just another knobby tire - oh, no. On snowy side streets, you bravely keep me upright and straight. On clear main roads, you make me stronger with your beautiful steel nuggets of rolling resistance. So what if you weigh 2 pounds apiece? So what if you make me look like a slow, out-of-shape moron riding a bike in a snowmobile suit? You don't care - you just keep rolling down the road, squashing and biting every piece of ice and slush that comes your way. So thank you, studded bicycle tire - when all of your sleeker tire friends say "no", you say "hell yes."

Quick Trip

We had a fabulous time in California! I'm running a little behind today but just wanted to put up a link to my pictures before I leave for school - just click on this. A brief summary of the trip - fog, rain, hills, wine, clay, beer, friends, and sunshine for the plane ride home!

Also check these out - just a few interesting things caught up in the great spiderweb: My cousin's blog, riding bikes with high heels, and Prager Port Winery.

Gah!

Four things to sum up the last few weeks:

1. Looking for a job. My Christmas present from work was being told that I wasn't going to be put on the schedule due to a lack of billable work. As much as I'm going to miss spending my days working outside in the snow with a metal detector, trying to find steel monitoring well covers in parking lots full of rebar, I know that these things usually happen for a reason - see item #2.

2. Finding a job. I am thrilled to report that I will be returning to work at Velocity within the next week. A little voice in the back of my head has been telling me that I should have never left. But sometimes it takes a sellout to realize that you cannot be bought. I'm also definitely looking forward to commuting again, even if it's only a few miles down the road from our house.

3. Painting. I thought since I had some time on my hands, I would use it to do some home improvements. Although I was successful in killing the lavender on the walls in our kitchen, my sage green paint dried a much mintier shade than I expected. And I like it.

4. Training. My Mt. Washington climb is now a mere 24 days away so I've been working to regain some of my conditioning that's been lost over the last several months. My training has mostly consisted of riding on my trainer until I'm so bored I want to cry. I have managed a few short outside rides since the weather's been decent the last few days, although being run into the ditch by a man in a van makes me want to stay inside for the rest of the winter. Seriously.

So..... happy 2008 to everyone - I'll be sure to post some California pictures when we get back from our trip. For now, you'll just have to enjoy a cat picture (this one's for you, Margo....).