Peacocks and Chinchillas

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Adventures in being outside and eating well.

2011 Trail Care Crew Visit #2: Birmingham, AL

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Published on March 6, 2011, by in IMBA TCC.

When: February 10 – 13, 2011 Where: Birmingham and Pelham, Alabama Who: Birmingham Urban Mountain Peddlers (BUMP), Alabama State Parks What: The local club, BUMP has been working with the land managers at Oak Mountain State Park (a phenomenal model for a state park, with recreational opportunities that would meet everyone’s needs and provide incentive for outdoor-newbies to get outside) to build more singletrack in the park, including new singletrack around the existing dirt roads that riders use. We built about 1,000 of new trail around the dirt access road. Color Commentary: I wrote all about how good of a job BUMP does in their advocacy work in my IMBA blog post. This club is a model sustainable club, and a good example for anyone wanting to increase their trail access.

 

2011 Trail Care Crew Visit #1: LA

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Published on February 16, 2011, by in IMBA TCC.

I want to do a better job of documenting our work and wonderful Trail Care Crew visits this year. I figured a brief description of each visit would be a good travelogue, and would allow me to share any insight gained from the weekend. Here goes… When: February 3 – 6, 2011 Where: Boyce and Alexandria, Louisiana Who: U.S. Forest Service, Kisatchie National Forest, Calcasieu Ranger District; Kisatchie Bicycle Club (KBC) What: We led two projects on the Forest. One involved reinforcing trail tread that was seasonally muddy and wet, causing the trail to widen and the stream to become muddy. We built a ford under the stream, so the stream channel could remain tight, and the trail tread could be a hard riding surface for riders to simply roll over. There are also opportunities down the line for the Forest Service to reroute sections of the trail that are

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Riding the Womble…

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Published on February 16, 2011, by in ADVENTURES in biking, skiing, traveling, thinking, IMBA TCC.

Steve and I have been riding in some new places, which is one of our favorite parts of the job. At this point, the new places and new rides aspect of the gig keeps it exciting. We’ve ridden three IMBA Epics recently, how lucky are we?! Despite the horrid and terribly inconveniencing weather, which has threatened to literally throw our trusty Subaru into a tailspin one-too-many-times, we have been able to ride our bikes three to four times a week, which is a blessing. Here’s some fresh video of Steve riding even fresher tracks on The Womble in Northwest Arkansas last week. The Womble is a must-ride for anyone. You can turn the trip into a family vacation, since the easiest place to stay is Hot Springs, Ark., home of delicious BBQ, the oldest bath houses in the U.S. and beautiful scenery. Riding The Womble! from Morgan Lommele on Vimeo.

 

People For Bikes

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Published on February 2, 2011, by in ADVENTURES in biking, skiing, traveling, thinking.

Peopleforbikes.org is a campaign to unite one million people to make the U.S. a better place to bike. To kick of the year, they’re giving away five custom Timbuk2 messenger bags. All you have to do to enter is sign their pledge in support of biking. I’ve already entered — make sure you do too. This is a great chance to join this important movement to encourage more people to ride bicycles and support government policies that make biking safer and more convenient for everyone. Thanks!

 

50 States, 50 Eats – Texas

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Published on February 1, 2011, by in FOOD.

I’m going to end the blogging drought with some food talk! Steve and I visited about 35 states last year, and when I think of each state, one of the first things that comes to mind is food. I like to eat, and when you work on the road, seeking out good food is a hobby. If you know Steve and me, you know that one of our favorite restaurants in Boulder is Khow Thai. Not even because the food is good, but because the food and service are consistently good. I value consistency almost more than the food. It’s comforting to have a favorite restaurant that is consistently good. In any event, our favorite restaurant in Texas (not to mention Rudy’s BBQ, a post unto itself), was also a Thai restaurant: Titaya’s Thai Cuisine. This is the absolute best Thai I have ever had. I might have never been

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On The Road Again…

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Published on February 1, 2011, by in IMBA TCC.

If the title didn’t indicate it, we have officially hit the road for another year of teaching the art and beauty of sustainable trail building. We have one year and a half left as Trail Care Crew. This year we’ll work mostly in the East and the Midwest. Our visit schedule is posted, at least through March, on the IMBA website: http://www.imba.com/tcc/schedule. If you are in our neck of the woods (or, if we are in yours, I suppose), let us know! In the meantime, I never blogged about how wonderful our last visit of 2010 was in San Diego. The weather felt like vacation weather (i.e. warm and tropical), we built an amazing section of trail, and we were busy all weekend with some pretty hard-working and fun-to-be-with advocates. Here’s a slideshow of our work and times in San Diego (mid-December).

 

A Truck for Truckers

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Published on February 1, 2011, by in ADVENTURES in biking, skiing, traveling, thinking.

My dad “repossessed” this truck from an old tenant. Long story short, we scored an awesome truck that is perfect for hauling Christmas trees home, innertubes up to the put-in, and dogs around town. I love this truck. I’m afraid it might be a little “hipster” (who the heck even knows what that means!), but how cool is it?!

 

Show Support for the Buffaloes

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Published on November 9, 2010, by in FOOTBALL.

As a former CU athlete, I was rooting for Coach Hawkins up until his last days. Last January, as the Foundation, fans, Coloradans, and other Buffaloes called for his firing, I knew that he deserved another chance. I would have been upset if he had been fired a year ago, but I am not that upset now. Everyone deserves second chances, he got his, and unfortunately, he wasn’t able to to put together a winning CU football team. It’s not just him – the other coaching staff and the players are also responsible for the losses, but Hawkins is the one who hears about it when his plans don’t pan out. It’s unfortunate, but that’s what he signed up for. I liked him a lot. He’s a stand-up coach and a good person. I was an athlete when Coach Barnett managed the football team and its staff. Team morale, sportsmanship,

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Thesis is the Worstest

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Published on November 2, 2010, by in NEUTRAL.

Steve and I are both writing our theses to complete our masters in applied science. So cute, we’re in the same program. In fact, we’ve taken all of the same classes. Steve tagged along for my first couple of classes and then applied and got into my program at the University of Denver. It’s been a long haul – three years and counting in the program, we took all of our classes while also working full-time jobs. We finished our coursework prior to getting married (over a year now!), and were left with the daunting task of writing a thesis. Needless to say, we put it off long enough and it was time to get rid of that nagging sense of fleeting accomplishment. My thesis is that I don’t like writing a thesis! But I did. It’s been a grueling two months, filled with days cooped up in hotel rooms

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Erosion Wills and Ills

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Published on November 1, 2010, by in IMBA TCC.

This is a picture of a heavily eroded section of trail. It’s a multi-use trail at Granite Bay State Park, outside of Sacramento, Calif. This used to be a smooth singletrack trail. However, it wasn’t built purposefully. Instead of minding sustainability guidelines, the trail was built on a fall line and water streamed down the hillside on the trail itself. As it did that, it picked up both velocity and sediment (in this case, sand and decomposed granite). As a result, the trail became a gully. Trail users moved the trail over to the right hand side, and the same problem is happening. No amount of diversion or reroute will fix this trail. The only solution is to prevent people from using this trail, establish a sustainable reroute, and attempt to revegetate the unsustainable trail sections. All of the sediment that is being eroded is draining into the Granite Bay

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