Cap'n's bLog

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2017 Ride 1  Monday October 23rd Latté at Zoka Coffee Zoka Coffee, Kirkland WA Latté I followed Mark downhill from his house conveniently rolling to a stop at a coffee shop in downtown Kirkland.  Bike parking consisted of us leaning our bikes against the glass.  I wasn't too worried about bike theft since I was borrowing Vinnie's bike.  The place was bustling with youngish business types that had lost hipster status due to their current tax brackets.  Mark had a quad Americano before showing me the Kirkland lakeside.  We gram'd on a dock, rode by his original west coast place of employment, cruised through a Google Campus and then eventually climbed back up to his house hauling "burritos as big as our heads" for a hearty lunch. Distance:  6.6 miles 3,466 kCal positive ride after burrito Vinnie's beautiful 333 Ti Fabrications 650b (don't look at the front fender line) Mark's head for scale Ride 2 Dou

In the Spring of 1991 I learned that there is one day every year in Ireland when the pubs are closed.  Good Friday is that day.  The holiest day on the Irish calendar.  I was traveling on a weekend with two classmates and we had just checked into a hostile in Sligo.  We had planned on a pub meal for dinner but when we asked the hostess about pub recommendations she said, "They're all closed today, or they are for you anyway."  As we ambled downtown in search of food we began to better understand her statement.  The pubs were all locked up.  The curtains were drawn and the shutters closed tightly but we could hear people inside.  I would check the door but they were all locked. It was a "locals only" night at the pubs.  We reckoned that they were entering and leaving via back doors but our hostess was correct.  The pubs were all closed to us. This year Good Friday falls on April 14th.  How ruined can one day get?  The assassination of Abraham Lincoln fell on Go

Today we visited Monument Valley near the Arizona Utah border. It is entirely contained on the Navajo Reservation. We were led by a Navajo guide Will and shown the spectacular monuments and numerous iconic film location sites. Will knows his way around an iPhone pano. https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/arts-entertainment/12-movies-shot-in-monument-valley-on-the-navajo-nation/. Clare recreated an iconic Marlboro Man shot on horseback at John Ford's point. So we didn't get it exactly correct. I like it better. Tofu Woman > Marlboro Man. We also visited native Navajo homes called hogans. They have a log skeleton and are covered in dried mud. The women's are round and the men's slightly elongated. Both have a fire in the middle and a door facing the east. When the sun enters the door in the morning it marks the month on the wall and the time of doing different things such as planting or hunting. We especially liked the rock formation called &

This is going to be more of a photo journal than a blog post. Clare, Patrick and I just did a 3 day backpacking trip off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at Grandview. We hiked and camped with a guide and a father and son from Oklahoma. It was an amazing experience. The Canyon is massive in scale. That point is driven home as you hike down into it. The hiking was strenuous but we had been forewarned. An email from Wildland Trekking Company 4weeks ago asked how our training was going. That caught my attention but still wasn't enough to move me to perform the suggested training of 2-3 hours of stair climbing with a loaded pack. In retrospect it would have been wise. On day one we hiked off the South Rim to Hance Creek, a five mile hike that lost 3,500' in elevation. When someone tells you it's all downhill don't necessarily think that it will be easy. We camped under some Cottonwood trees and were serenaded by a choir of frogs as we Cowboy camped under a clear star fille