incoming

September 13, 2009:

New Season

The end of the road racing season - Jordan Louie hammers at the Blackberry Criterium in the pouring rain. Photo by the girlfriend of the guy on the Ciocc.

Temperatures are going down, arm and leg warmers are welcome additions to the kit for riding home at night, and snow is falling above 6,000 ft. in the mountains. Both the road and track racing seasons are over for the bikers among us - time for cyclocross. And skiing.

A system rolling through the Northwest on Sunday and Monday of last week laid down several feet of fresh on the Cascades, and those of us who could found two to five feet of wind deposited fresh above Paradise. I was chained to the restaurant on Tuesday and Wednesday, but made it up on Saturday to find patches of fresh still cushioning the gritty ice above Pebble Creek. Amar and Kyle slid by after a relaxing night at the Muir shelter, and I gave the rando spiel to several groups of climbers who seemed really interested in my gear choices.

Herd mentality rules on the Muir Snowfield - temps in the mid 70's and perfect visibility made for a nice day on the mountain. The two guys on the left really want to be skiers.

I usually stay away from politics, but here's a shout out for Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn. In addition to being anti-tunnel, he's a level-headed environmentalist who considers public service a serious responsibility. He's a bike commuter as well. The pic below is from Mike's Twitter page . . .

"Lunch with Ballard Kiwanas at Louie's Cuisine of China. Greg Louie commutes by bike every day from Lake Forest Park"

Previous Incoming Pages:

"Incoming" covers developments that have personal interest to me (ie. gear I might consider acquiring, or events I feel may impact the sport of skiing) - it is by no means meant to be a comprehensive enumeration of gear or events in the ski world at large. Feel free to contact me via the randosaigai.com link below with news or images that may be of interest . . .