No Kongs Today... Just Sticks at Miller Creek!

This is the roadway to our first waterhole stop. We were lucky enough to be joined by Shasta and Shanti in our adventure!
All four of us are investigatin' pawsible stickies down under!
Hey hey hey! It's me, Sammie! I got the stick!
But here comes Avalon, trying to wrest it from me - woofers! Now... it's time to take our guests on the road to Squirrel Woods... gotta take some time out for some grazin'.
MOOOO!
So here we all are galloping through Squirrel Woods, with nary a squirrel to be seen - what a bummer! But we did meet up with....
Cupid! He's a Saint Bernard - see that white "arrow" on his forehead? That's how he got his name! Time to move on to... the BIG POOL! But first, a very satisfying roaching!
Here's Shanti, waiting, albeit soggily, for a thrown stickie!

Avalon: "Want this Shasta heheh?" (Isn't Avalon mean?) I paid her back!
This time, IIIIIIIIIIIIII got the stickie!!!
Here are a couple of very short movies you can check out - here
and here - enjoy!
Here's Shanti in the gorgeous light of the early evening! We sure had a great time!

Pitsford Water anticlockwise

Led by Mel. Barrie, Vera, Terry, Steph, Norma, Chris, Phil and me. Foggy start, then fine and sunny. Lunch at The Willow Café. Around 7 miles.

The mist begins to lift

Coffee break - I want to see everyone's face.

Pool Time and A Visit

Mom, mindless of the fact that we have a drought on, let my pool overflow - like a lot. See for yourself. Of course, I didn't mind, so I hopped on in - it was very hot and felt superlicious!
Here I am, playing with my football!
That squeaky thing is making me crazy!
Dang! I can't find it... but then I got distracted, cause the doorbell rang and I hoot and yelp and bark my guts out whenever that happens. Mom hasn't figured out how to stop me from doing this. Look who showed up! Sierra Rose!!!
Isn't she the sweetest thing you ever saw? Oh my dogness, look at her! And I couldn't "play" with her - imagine!
I'm trying to communicate a la doggie, but the moms didn't pay any attention to that!
It would be so perfect! She thinks I'm sort of her mom and I think I have a new fur-real playmate - right now - this little soulmate of mine! Why can't I play with her?
I get the pats and loving and the "it's okay Sammie, pretty soon you guys will get to play..." stuff.
OMD! There she is, just dying to play with me! (Sierra - you're never gonna have hip issues!)
Well, we still managed to play through the "fence" and I guess she tired herself out enough to pass out. Look at that sweetie pie! Can't wait to play with Sierra Rose!

New stuff in the shop

We’ve just added three new books to the shop, all very different.
First up is The Boulder by Francis Sanzaro, published by the Stone Country Press. What does it mean for us to be involved in bouldering? How does it’s movement and sporting challenges relate to other activities like Parkour, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, or even art disciplines like painting. Are you doing it to engage in a sport? Simply play on rocks? Compete with others? Enjoy movement. Possibly all of these and many more reasons besides.
The boulder explores the philosophy of bouldering, what it can mean for boulderers and how we can use and examination of this to improve both our bouldering and what we take from it. For many readers, discovering bouldering will no doubt have changed your life. But surely starting out in a new found activity isn’t the end of the story? There are many life changes to be found as you learn more and more about what bouldering is doing for you. I would expect most readers to be helped along this path. It’s in the shop here.
Next is Fiva by Gordon Stainforth, which is only recently out but fast accumulating a big reputation for a brilliant read. Gordon was previously more famous for his excellent photography books. Eyes to the Hills was one of the first mountain books I borrowed from my library as a 15 year old novice climber. We don’t tend to get many mountaineering stories in the shop, but Gordon’s big win with this book at the Banff Mountain festival in November prompted us to check it out and we were impressed. I won’t say too much about it other than it describes a death-on-a-stick epic on Troll Wall in Norway. If you know anything about how serious the Troll Wall is, the Fiva route sounds particularly toe-curling just to read about. Much recommended by us if you like reading about proper adventures. It’s in the shop here.
Finally, and with some satisfaction I can finally report that we have the first stock of the new Scottish Sport Climbs guidebook by the SMC. I wrote a reasonable chunk of the text myself, and since I first had a draft of ‘my’ crags completed in November 2004, I can appreciate as much as anyone how long it’s been in coming. A more substantial introduction to the book is coming in another post in a minute, but for now the book is in the shop here.

Hindsight is 20/20 (duh!)

I would like to think of myself as a reasonably healthy person.
I exercise regularly, I generally get enough sleep and, a few indulgences aside, I typically eat pretty healthy.
However, even healthy living can get bit by the occasional flu bug.
And that's where I'm at presently: At home and sick with what the doctor described as a combination of strep and an ear infection. My temp has been spiked for the last couple days and I've had a headache that feels a lot like a team of jackhammers going to work on my forehead.
It's been a pretty uneventful couple of days. Mostly just watching a lot of movies, listening to a lot of music and drinking more than my fair share of water.
It's also given me time to reflect on where my healthy habits went astray to cause this sickness. In this case, you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what went wrong. It can all be traced back to last Monday.
Monday happened to be a day off from work for me. Since my job at the Free Press is generally confined to a desk, my days off usually consist of anything but sitting around. Monday was no exception. Here's a breakdown of my activity that day, with the events being in order of occurrence:

• 90 minutes of racquetball (apparently a pretty intense session, as my coworker claimed to be worn down from it the next day)
• 5-mile run
• 40 minutes of rowing
• Donating/selling plasma
• 60 minutes of biking

Now, even without the plasma donation, that's a lot of physical activity draining water from my system throughout the day. Since plasma donation generally takes about a half-gallon of water from your system (and leaves you more susceptible to the flu, as mentioned in a previous post), it's not too far-fetched to believe that I was extremely dehydrated by the end of that day.
In my defense, I thought I knew what I was doing. I've donated my fair share of plasma, and I'm usually pretty good about keeping myself hydrated for it. If that wasn't enough, I gave myself a few hours after the donation to take a nap and drink some water before I decided to hop on an exercise bike at the Y and watch the Timberwolves game.
I felt fine after the biking and figured I took the proper precautions for such a cardio-filled day. However, when I woke up the next day feeling sore all over with a dry throat, it became pretty obvious that I bit off more than I could chew.
Two days later, enter sickness stage right.
Coincidence? I'm thinking no.

Tunnel vision

Yesterday was the long-awaited Burringbar Tunnel ride. I was expecting a relatively simple and easy cruise, with the daily distance promising to be no more than 140km. I should learn to never underestimate any ride -- ever. Yet for some reason, my own psychology continues to defy my experience. When will I ever learn?

First of all, there was the flat tyre on the infamous "beer bottle" stretch at Casuarina Beach. I had actually avoided riding through that subdivision for a little over a year, but my alternative route through Chinderah was blocked with a "road closed" sign, so I had little option this time around. In truth, the flat tyre would do little more than delay the start of the ride, and would be the extent of my mechanical problems -- I'd get off lightly.

Ultimately, there would be only three of us doing this ride. Dave from Tweed Coast Treadly, and his usual riding partner Mark. We set off over the beautiful climb of Cudgera Creek road, with it's pretty switchbacks in the rainforest, and great views over the Burringbar Range. This time we would head for Wabba road at the top, but I managed to find another access point which eliminated the 26% gradient that we had to contend with last time around. The view from this point was absolutely stunning, as it passed through a slightly higher cutting in the mountain.


We started to negotiate the muddy, leech infested, slippery trails of Wabba "road". I managed a minor crash here (my fourth in four consecutive months), but the bruise to my hand was nothing compared to what would happen when Mark broke his chain not once, but twice. I've carried my own chain tool since the famous chain-snapping incident on Tasmania's Strathgordon road in 2004 (when my own frozen fingers prevented me from using it anyway), now I was using it on someone else's bike. We eventually had to take six links out of that badly worn chain, which limited the number of gears Mark had at his disposal. Still, the climbing gears were available, and that's usually all that matters in these parts.


So it was on to Stokers Siding, and the track toward the Burringbar Tunnel. A narrow sealed road became a narrow dirt road, which eventually became a paddock next to the railway line. A little later on, the paddock disappeared, and we had to ride literally on the railway line. The sleepers caused a few (ok, more than a few) bumps. I realised that the best way to deal with them was to ride faster, but even that had it's limitations. The railway line has been closed (and accordingly unmaintained) for over five years. Without any trains using it, there's nothing to stop the incursion of lantana, which can result in a few additional scratches.


The tunnel itself lived up to every expectation, and more. The glow worms lit up the roof like the night sky, there were bats sleeping in any isolated patch they could find, and even a waterfall at the southern end (inside the tunnel). I rode through the tunnel, before walking back to explore it on foot (it was around 500 metres long). This was definitely worth all the aggravation earlier in the day. Lunch followed, before mopping up the final couple of kilometres and a rickety rail bridge into Burringbar village. Somewhere along the way Dave had buckled a rear wheel (probably a result of his crash, which I somehow didn't see).

I'm not sure what the final leech tally was for the day. I ended up with four, but that was considerably fewer than anybody else (who said being anal about sunscreen was a bad thing). I do know that with only a flat tyre, I got off pretty lightly in the mechanicals department as well. I was dead tired at Burringbar, and decided on the "direct" ride home over the Burringbar range and Tomewin. I started to feel better shortly after setting off (it's amazing what removing leeches can do for your stamina) and promptly slaughtered every hill that got in my way, including the 350-metre climb of Tomewin. The tailwind helped a bit too.
Everyone's reaction after this ride was "never again", but it's amazing what 24 hours of reflection can do for your enthusiasm for this sort of project. This ride really was a special experience, and it's not everyday someone can ride along an old railway line before it's developed into a rail trail. The closest I've come to that was the track to Montezuma Falls in Tasmania some years back. Thinking back on it, it's definitely a ride I'd like to do again some day... maybe not tomorrow, but some day.

Vipers B- Ball Game

We signed up for a group outing to a couple of Vipers Basketball Games at the State Farm Arena in Mcallen. $35 included 2 games, 2 dinners and the bus ride both days. The first Dinner was at Peppers Steak and Burgers. The choice was chicken and vegetables or burger and fries. Fortunately we opted for the chicken as the burger looked like an anemic frozen patty. The Chicken was good but a very small portion. Fortunately it was $1 hotdog and $1.25 beer night at the Arena! The 2nd night was at Macaroni Grill and was much better.

The parking lot was very narrow and the driver tried to turn right couldn't make it then tried to turn left and got hung up on the curb. Another driver came down to help her out.The Sand Sculpture Volcano from Borderfest was still standingEveryone was given Vipers Red T-Shirts - but mine was too big and we decided since Gary wasn't a senior he couldn't legally wear one!The 2nd night we were seated in a lousy section so we all moved over a section. Had a better view but during an intermission the winner of a dance contest was sitting in our old section and he won dinner for 2 at a restaurant and so did everyone else sitting in that section - oops!Here's Fang the Team MascotThe Cow from Chik-Filet was there



Caught Harold and Pam and Roger and Marlene having a good time! Vipers Fans - make some NOISE!Can you find us in the picture??Yes, we actually watched some of the game too!Though the guys were watching the "Snake Charmers"

Though this was my favorite part of the game
Game 1 we lost :(Game 2 we won! :)

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n