Spring on Hollow Rock Creek

I haven't been spending much time with the camera lately. I guess the main reason is because I spent so much time pursuing images during my month-long southwest trip that I sort of got tired of it for a little while. Plus, the weather lately has been kind of cold and wet, which is more conducive to sitting inside. Today I had to get out for a hike, so I decided to do some exploring on a section of Hollow Rock Creek that I had never been on before. I found some nice rapids and small waterfalls, and had fun creating exposures of the rushing water.



Some sections of the creek only had a few inches of water flowing over the rocks and some of those rocks had some interesting patterns and colored lines in them. Combined with a long exposure to smooth the water, the images that I ended up with were kind of interesting, too.



Spring is a great time to explore your local creeks and rivers. They possess a character in the spring that is unseen the rest of the year. Get out and explore while the water is high!

Our Satchels: a Review of Two

The Co-Habitant and I are often asked about our satchels. And as they are bike related (we use them to transport our laptops while cycling), I thought I'd review them here.

Mine is a brown leather satchel from Scaramanga. His is a black leather satchel from the Cambridge Satchel Co. Both are from the UK and both were purchased last summer.

The bag from the Cambridge Satchel Co. is technically not a satchel, but what they call a "batchel" - a satchel with a handle on top, so that you can carry it like a briefcase in addition to messenger style. The Cambridge Satchel Company offers traditionally made satchels, batchels and music bags in a variety of colours ranging from classic black, dark brown and navy blue, to eye popping red, yellow and purple. Their logo is a very cute bicycle, which is appropriate, as Cambridge is one of the few towns in England where bicycles rule the roads. The bags are handmade by skilled artisans in the North of England using traditional methods. I have to admit that I am biased in favour of this company, because the owner and I have a common alma mater and she generally seems like such a nice person. I wish her all the best, and definitely see a batchel of my own in the future once I have a smaller laptop.

This bag is the 15" size, measured on the outside. They come in a variety of sizes, but this is the largest. It accommodates a laptop that is 13" across (such as the smaller MacBooks) but will not fit a larger laptop. All satchels and batchels are available messenger style or backpack style, which I think is great. And notice the cute bicycle logo at the bottom!

Our favourite thing about this batchel aside from its beauty, is that it is structured. The leather is thick and stiff and retains its shape perfectly when the bag is empty. You can place the batchel down on a flat surface, and it will stand up on its own. This is great for carrying a laptop, because it provides support. The bags are unlined, but given the way they are made, I feel that lining is not necessary.

Closure is via the beautiful chrome coloured buckles you see in the photos. Everything is very sturdy; very well made, with beautiful forms and stitching.

Here is what the batchel looks like from the front, worn messenger-style. If you are male, the 15" size is really the only one that will fit your proportions, unless you are very short. If you are female, the smaller ones can be worn as a purse. And of course for children the smaller sizes are ideal and absolutely adorable in the red, yellow and purple colours.

I do not have any photos of the Co-Habitant wearing this bag while cycling, but he says it's great. The one alteration we had to make (to this and to my Scaramanga satchel as well), was to punch extra holes in the strap to allow us to shorten it - otherwise it is too long for cycling. Everything else was marvelous and perfect out of the box.

Now for my satchel! I do not know as much about Scaramanga Co. as I do about the Cambridge Satchel Co., but they sure make beautiful and comfortable bags. Available in a variety of sizes and styles, they offer purse-sized bags, laptop-sized bags, and enormous travel bags, in a choice of messenger style (the front flap is longer and has no buckles) or satchel style (shown in these photos). The natural, slightly distressed leather of my bag is the only material/colour available. It is a similar colour to Brooks "Honey", but perhaps with more tonal variation.

I love the way this bag is made - from the natural look of the leather to all the beautiful hardware, such as the rivets around the handle and closures. My bag is the "large, wide satchel" model, with handle (which is an optional add-on). It accommodates my 15" MacBookPro with room to spare. This is a very different bag from the Co-Habitant's batchel. The leather is soft and slouchy and the bag does not retain its shape when empty. Also, the leather does not provide enough thickness to support or cushion a laptop. If this is an issue for you, you will need to keep your laptop in a protective sleeve.

The sea green lining is beautiful! Inside, the satchel has two main compartments - each of them large enough to fit a 15"+ laptop or some books. There is an additional, smaller zipped up compartment in the front. However, as with the Co-Habitant's batchel, there are no small inner pockets for a mobile phone or camera, no pen loops, etc. For me that kind of stuff is actually important, but the overall quality of the bag nonetheless won over other bags that did have the small inner compartments. Perhaps some day I will make some pockets in it myself.

View from the front. As I have mentioned, we had to punch extra holes in the straps of both bags in order to make them short enough for cycling. So this is why you see the excessively long folded-over strap here. It is not entirely convenient, but not uncomfortable either. My only problem with this bag is that when I put my laptop and books in it, the overall weight is too much on my shoulder and back for cycling in the summer when I am wearing no extra padding over my skin: I get sores if I cycle with any bag other than Chrome worn over my bare skin. So if I am carrying something heavy, I can only wear satchels like this one once Fall begins and I have a sweater or a jacket on. However, with a smaller and lighter laptop this would not be a problem.

You can see some photos of me cycling with this bag here and here. I keep it either in the front basket or wear it, depending on the bike. Hope these reviews were useful - satchels are such wonderful things!

More on leashless gloves

My Outdoor Research, Verts, after 50+ pitches of water ice and dbl rope rappels. Seams, material and leather palms still intact and still good to go after some literally smoking raps on thin, twin ropes.







I keep being reminded how a really lwt, breathable and not water proof glove like the OR Vert performed this winter on Canadian ice. The longer climb I did where the gloves where soaked through and my boots filled with water while rapping down comes to mind. I was able to literally wring the gloves out twice on route and put them back on. As the sun went down I was prepared for the worse and ready to pull a dry pair of gloves out of the pack when I got a chance but half way down the decent I noticed the Vert gloves were warm and dry again. "Amazed", isn't too strong of word.

So may be being water proof isn't such a big deal in radically changing conditions and may be getting the gloves dried out while still in the field is even more important. For those that can remember back that far the wool Dachsteins come to mind as a mitt that never failed, no matter what the conditions were. They did breath and they were not water proof. They are a hard act to follow actually when I think back on it. Every water proof glove to date I've used just gets wet from my perspiration and have been very difficult to dry out. More food for thought for glove choices.

I have also found out recently that both OR and Mtn Hardware offer "lifetime" guarantees on their gloves. A guarantee I tested this week with Mtn Hardware. Money well spent on any of these gloves imo.

Here are two more models that I am now using and easily fit into my glove selection and my criteria from the previous post on leashless gloves.

"My list of features for a good glove?
Leather palms and fingers, Shoeller material in the glove body, nose wipe, medium to long, well tailored, wrist cuff. Both finger and cuff hangers and preferably a low profile velcro seal on the cuff and wrist. Or at least a better elastic draw cord arrangement than what is common in most everyone's design. Easy to turn inside out to dry....or at least easy to dry. Thin removable liners might even be better if you could minimise the bulk. And most importantly FLAT SEAMS on the bottom of the little finger and hopefully those seams on the side, not the bottom of the finger. Seams there, when climbing leashless, will make your life miserable in the extreme."

Either could easily become a favorite with the other three climbing gloves I am using. Mtn H's Torsion is certainly a best buy money wise if you buy into the non water proof glove idea.

They also fit my personal want list very closely, hitting every point except drying easily. But easy enough.

Mtn Hardware Torsion retails for $60. Little more insulation/bulk than the OR Vert and a much better cuff. More insulation means they are a little harder to dry out. A very nice glove.

Mtn H's spiel:
"Torsion Glove
A snug soft shell glove for alpine climbing. Articulated cut for excellent dexterity, with flatlock seams for a comfortable fit. Durable, water-resistant goatskin palm and fingers stand up to rock or ice.
Alpine Climbing / Mountaineering
Weight 3 oz. / 98 g.
Lining Brushed Tricot
Body Deflection™ Soft Shell
Palm Material Water-resistant Goatskin Leather
"

These are the OR Storm Tracker glove. $69 retail. Thin glove and maybe better dexterity than the Vert. Nice cuff length even with the added hassle of the zipper. A little steep price wise compared to the other lwts but these guys rock as a technical climbing glove. Durability my be a question so we'll see if that O.R. "INFINITE..guaranteed FOREVER works" :)

OR's spiel:
•Intended Usage: Versatile backcountry work glove for ultimate dexterity
Breathable/water-resistant WindStopper Soft Shell fabric; tricot lined
•Full leather palm
•MotionWrap AT construction for added dexterity
•Elasticized wrist chili
•Gusseted entry with locking zipper

Daydreams

Cycling through the city yesterday, I almost felt as if I was being shown one of those videos of "How Boston Could Be 5 Years from Now"... except it was real.

Passing through a stretch of the Charles River trail, it seemed that almost everyone sitting by the water had arrived there by bicycle. And the majority of the bikes looked to be personalised and well-ridden - rather than the sort of bicycle that is either a rental, or ridden once in a while on a sunny weekend. The velo-atmosphere is distinctly different from last summer.

Having crossed the BU Bridge, which is now under construction, I then looked at it from the trail and thought about the Charles River Bridge Campaign that I had mentioned in a previous post. This campaign aims to ensure that along with the scheduled repairs to the bridges, practical improvements will also be made that will make the bridges more walkable, more cyclable, and generally more enjoyable. The possibility of benches and shady promenades was mentioned.

Can the huge, dangerous bridges over the Charles really be made to resembles these lovely smaller ones? That would be utter Utopia.

And Utopia is not necessarily impossible.

At least the bicycles of Boston are hopeful.

EZ Tools? Finding What Works

I knew that I was pushing my luck, riding a bike that had just been assembled the previous day. And sure enough: 5 miles into the Vermont Fall Classic my dynamo headlight rattled loose. I was just about to rummage around for my folding multitool, when a riding companion, Vorpal Chortle, whipped out a little wrench-looking thingie with multiple heads that I'd never seen or used before. "Here, maybe one of these is the right size?" It was. Without getting off the bike, I tightened my headlight and amoment laterwe were on our way again.



No one thought that anything out of the ordinary had transpired, but I was stunned. This was not what tightening bolts on a bike was normally like for me. This was done without effort, and more importantly, without the usual flood of shame and anger at my helplessness.



I've explained before the situation with working (or rather not working) on my own bikes. It's not that I don't know how or don't want to learn. I can give others tutorials on bike repair. But I have problems with my hands that limit my hand strength, dexterity and fine motor skills. Even just holding some tools is difficult: They fall out out of my hands, because my fingers can't grip them tightly enough or wrap around them in the right way. In the very best case scenario, I might be able to do an easy repair (like tightening a headlight bracket) but it will take ages. I have tried individual wrenches, Y-wrenches and folding multi tools, and it's always the same story. How or why the flimsy looking Park Tool MT-1 was any different was beyond me.



Shortly after the Vermont Classic I bought an MT-1 of my own (available locally at Harris Cyclery), and can now easily handle anything on a bike that requires a 3/4/5/6/8mm allen wrench, an 8/9/10mm socket wrench, or a straight blade screwdriver. That does not cover everything, but it's a start. There is something about the size and shape of this thing that both stays put in my fingers and provides enough leverage to compensate for my lack of hand strength. The joy this has brought me is almost embarrassing (thanks Vorpal Chortle!).



Granted, this particular tool may not work for everyone. But my point is,if you are finding bike repairs physically difficultthere might be something out there that does work. I am going to experiment more aggressively from now on, and maybe I will find tools for all the other tasks I still have trouble with. For instance, I might be imagining this, but I recall watching a woman use a collapsible type of lever that connects to the hub axle(?) to remove a tire in one fell swoop. Maybe I ought to look into that and try to get my flat fixing time to under 30 minutes. In the end, I would love to put together a list of "EZ Tools" suggestions, but I'm not sure how universally applicable these things are. Ultimately, we must keep experimenting to find what works for us, and for some this will be tougher than for others.

Lake Louisa in Clermont, FL

Today we visited Lake Louisa State Park.

0% Alcohol Beer and Garlic

Last Friday I was in Eindhoven (south of the Netherlands about 120KM fromAmsterdam) having a little kick-off with my partner. I managed to get my messageacross during my presentation and the food was a success. We had Spanish tapas and booze.

Since I am in the Noord Brabant region which is where Eindhoven is and where Bavaria beer comes from, I had to say no to wine and drank the local beer. Firstly, I had the normal Bavaria beer, then for my second bottle I tried the 0%alcohol Bavaria wit beer. I was curious of course.
One thing I know: It may be the beer for Hugh Hefner and his old comrades (the TV advert of this beer) but IT’S NOT FOR ME. It tastes funny.
After the kick-off party, I didn’t realized that I was carrying with me a very strong garlic accent. Blame the gambas al ajillo, cooked in oil and garlic! The gambas were literally swimming in ground garlic but it was sooooo yummy, I came back for a 2nd serving.
Thus the consequence: When I got home in the evening Dutchman was complaining that I completely stunk.
Oooops, sorry. LOL