Susitna 100 bike race and car crash

Tomorrow is the Susitna 100 trail race. I'll be competing in the bike division, riding a Salsa Fargo with Snowcat rims.

I was planning on posting regular updates on my training to include you all on a rich and compelling blog journey. Instead, I've been on a grand total of five training rides and last week I crashed our car (c'est la vie).

My biggest concern isn't the lack of training however, it's the weather. A couple days ago when the Susitna trail crew went out to mark the course they got rained on. As a Fairbanks winter commuter, my forte is cold weather. I've got clothing and gear selection dialed well past -40F, but right now it's 32 in Wasilla. I don't even know what pants to wear for that. Also, trails get sloppy and soft as it gets warmer.

Trail conditions permitting, I've got a goal to finish in 15 hours. If you happen to be online tomorrow, check out the race website for progress updates www.susitna100.com. Things start at 9:00 am Alaska time.

All things considered I'm just grateful to be able to ride at all. Miraculously, everyone walked away from the Saturday crash. My bike (which you can just see crumpled in the back of the car) had a bent fork and broken handlebar but after some emergency resuscitation and community-based part sourcing I will be able to ride it tomorrow.

When I got home after the accident Ingrid walked calmly across the room, took my hand, and asked, "Next time Daddy, can you not break the car?"

Ingrid's Three Dreams or The Tiny Baby Moose Was so Cute

-50F campout

We took Troop 16 camping this weekend. It got down to -50F.

After we got there, Riley prayed, "Please help, that when we wake up we can all count to ten."



All my eye hairs grew serious cicles when shoveling the snow piles.

Four of the scouts camped under the stars and seven slept in snow caves. By under the stars I mean, little skinny bodies in crusty sleeping bags lying on crinkly tarps on the snow. Serious.

The snow cave sleeping was more comfortable. I dug a narrow 10' long tube into a berm pushed up by the snow plow. With my two sleeping pads under me the bag touched the ceiling. I was actually totally warm but every time I moved snow and condensed ice would tinkle down on my face.

Here's a view from the entrance of the tube (secondary bag wadded up at the end of the tube)

Me, my pads, tarps, bags, and the vans

It is amazing to think that we've figured out a way to keep our mostly hairless bodies warm when the air temperature is 150 degrees different. I felt like a caddis fly in its cocoon in my snowy den.

You and me . . . and Leslie?

I've always been embarrassed when I hear that song "Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon." It comes on in totally respectable establishments (Fred Meyer, Jamba Juice, Barnes & Noble) and every time I look around wondering "Has anyone actually listened to the words?" I mean, I've got nothing against white guys singing Afro-Cuban soul, it's just that last line, "Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie!" Turns out it actually says, "Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly." And to think, I didn't have to spend my whole childhood in shame.

Fun on the front deck

Hamster wheel

Do you ever feel like life is less like a bicycle and more like a hamster wheel?

11:41pm Saturday night, with as many todos on my list as I had on Monday, I can almost hear the wheel squeaking.

I guess I'm not totally stuck though, since, thanks to autocorrect, I just learned that hamster doesn't have a 'p' in it.

We've got a family video of me as a three year old trying to shove my guinea-pig named Fire into a plastic model of the Millenium Falcon. Maybe my sense of futility is due to that early insensitivity. Did you know the Wikipedia article on the Millenium Falcon is almost twice as long as the entry on the entire field of biogeochemistry?

At night recently, Ingrid has been asking me to tell her stories "about when you were a boy." The other day I told her about all my different pets: Raistlin and Caramon the fire-bellied toads, Chunk and Jimbo the free-range iguanas, Jimmy the box turtle, Flash the gerbil, Kitty the cat, Tol the cat, Flea the cat, Honey the golden retriever, and Perky the mutt. I feel a lot of regret for missed waterings and feedings through the years but I hope that all those little friends on the other side know that I loved them and loved to hold them. Some day I'd like to do a few laps with each of them in the great hamster wheel in the sky just to catch up.

Happy birthday Ingrid, goodbye Wikipedia

Reading about freemasons and just happened upon this: Wikipedia shuts down to protest web legislation.

I guess Ingrid's birthday will be without our favorite free encyclopedia. Seems like a good cause though.