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'Magazine Article'
Everyday Cyclist: Getting In Sync On A Tandem
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I’M REMINDED OF HOW much fun riding a tandem bicycle is every time I see a couple riding one. It’s like synchronized strolling through the park or synchronized running on a road, which is essentially the best thing about a tandem—you ride together. But riding a tandem does not come without some cautions. When my wife and I got our bike twelve years ago, the owner of the local bike shop referred to it as a marriage validation device. It didn’t take very many mistakes on my part for me to understand why.
“READY FOR YOU TO GET ON.”
Tandem riders consist of a team: the captain and the stoker. The captain not only pedals but also is responsible for steering, gear selection, braking and keeping the bike upright when it’s stopped. The stoker—the namesake of those who tended to steam locomotives many years ago—is responsible for supplying power. The captain sees the path ahead while the stoker sees the captain’s backside. The captain has complete control and must earn the stoker’s trust. The stoker relinquishes control and can thump the captain’s back when the captain makes a bone-jarring mistake. Yes, it’s quite likely I’m speaking from personal experience.
“SLOWING.”
The key to riding a tandem is effective communication. The captain must tell the stoker what is going on and give the stoker enough time to prepare for what the captain is about to do. The unexpected makes riding a tandem unpleasant for the stoker. And if the stoker is not happy then the fun of riding a tandem is over. For example—and this is a critical one—if you’re riding a single bike and you’re approaching a speed bump, what do you do? Most people stop pedaling just before the bump and raise their seat off the saddle so the bump doesn’t jar them. Once over the bump they sit back down and resume pedaling. This technique works just as well on a tandem, but consider it from a stoker’s perspective if the captain forgets about her.
“RIGHT TURN.”
You’re riding along and enjoying the warm sunny day when suddenly the captain stops pedaling. Since your pedals are connected with a synchronized chain, the leg that was just pushing down meets sudden, unexpected resistance. Your legs have jarred to a stop and you barely have time to think, “What the…?”, when the rear wheel passes over the bump. Bam! With your legs frozen in mid-stroke and your full weight on the saddle, the bump propels the saddle upwards connecting to your backside with the force of a batter who was given the sign to swing away. Ouch! Do that one too many times and the captain’s kidneys suffer retaliatory blows from the stoker’s fists and it’s time to put the bike away.
“SITTING UP TO TAKE PICTURES.”
That example alone should be enough to clue you in on the necessity for effective communication. There are common commands or you can make up your own, but the point is you must work them out together and ensure you have a common understanding. Taking the speed bump example, when I see a bump or pothole that I can’t avoid, I give my stoker the warning, “Bump!” Once I give the warning, we pedal one complete revolution before we stop and raise our backsides off the saddles. That last bit of pedaling gives my stoker enough time to process my warning and prepare to stop pedaling. In order to give the warning in enough time I have to keep a close eye on the road ahead. My stoker trusts me to either avoid bumps and potholes or give ample warning about them. My stoker is my wife of nearly 32 years so it’s understandable why my communication skills are so well developed. She has trained me well. And I value my kidneys.
“STOPPING.”
The stoker has responsibilities, too. The stoker pedals. The stoker can sight see and take pictures of the scenery. (Don’t forget to tell your captain your hands are off the bars.) The stoker stays upright and centered, because leaning to one side or the other throws the bike off balance and makes the captain unhappy. The stoker does not get on or off the bike until the captain says she’s ready for you to do so.
“COAST.”
A tandem is great for riders with different strengths who want to ride together, which was the reason my wife and I got the bike in the first place. The tandem bike is also great for allowing children and disabled people to enjoy riding. If you’d like to learn more about tandem riding, I recommend reading the late Sheldon Brown’s web page on the topic (http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem.html).
“SHIFTING DOWN.”
Just because you have two engines, it doesn’t mean you have to go fast on a tandem. There is something to be said for those slow pleasure cruises through the neighborhood. By the way, a good opportunity for that is coming up with two events in June for Summer Parkways. (Go to summerparkways.com for details.)
“READY, GO!”
Punish Stuff: All-Purpose Shorts
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HURLEY PHANTOM WALKSHORTS
• Price: $60
• Pros: stretchy, quick drying, durable, no cargo pockets
• Cons: women’s version is girly (is that a con?); pricey?
• Website: www.hurley.com
IT’S MAY. It’s been shorts season for a solid month now. Last year, in April, I visited San Diego and only brought one pair of shorts. My wife went to a local surf shop and picked up these Hurley Phantom Walkshorts.
These are not bike shorts! They’re just “walking shorts.” And they are hands down, the best shorts I’ve ever had.
Here’s why I love them:
COMFY: These shorts are made from a stretchy poly blend with 85% poly and 15% spandex. So they’re just silly comfortable and stretchy wonderful. I wear them almost every day in the summer. I can cycle in them for hours a day over many days with no bunching or binding or other weirdness.
NORMAL LOOKING: I’m really tired of the cargo pant thing. It seems that most shorts today have cargo pockets, and I don’t want them or need them. These shorts are a welcome change from the cargo style: they have normal “trouser” style pockets and straight legs.
Generally, these shorts are SoCal in their styling, which happens to suit me just fine. I like the clean lines and sort of fuddy-duddy, almost-but-not-quite Bermuda short vibe. Even though they’re “spandex’y,” they hang nicely and don’t feel or look form fitting.
They even have normal belt loops, instead of the ubiquitous internal webbing belt thing that so many shorts now include. Style-wise, they seem like shorts my father would’ve worn growing up in Downey, California, in the early 60s.
DURABILITY: I’ve had my initial pair for over a year now. I’ve ridden at least 1,000 miles in them. I’ve swam in them. I’ve camped in them. They are well-used and abused. They show very little wear. Most shorts that I ride a full summer in usually start thinning or tearing at the seat bones, but these shorts are holding up fine. There are no loose threads and no tears or rips.
It’s worth noting that I’ve blown out many shorts and pants over the years in much less saddle time. In fact, aside from bike-specific shorts, I can’t think of another pair of pants or shorts that have held up as well as these Hurley shorts have in the sit bones.
DRY QUICK: In the summer, I try to plan rides around swimming destinations. I don’t want to swap between riding shorts and swimming shorts, so I always try to find a good short that works well for riding and hopefully dries reasonably quick. I tend to just wear the same shorts all day while riding and swimming—and if I’m camping, I’ll just keep wearing them to bed. These shorts work well for this scenario because they dry in an hour or so.
THE CONS
Both of these cons are questionable. The first has to do with the women’s version of this short. Men are allowed to be fuddy-duddy. And in this case, there is sort of a cool ironic element to that fuddy-duddiness. To be clear, the authority a dorky 40-year-old white dude like me wields in the realm of “cool” and “ironic” are highly-suspect. That fact is not lost on me. That said, I find the women’s version of these shorts to be equally “SoCal” in their styling. I like them, but with their low-back, short-short cuts, they’re not at all similar to the men’s version in styling. I have to wonder how versatile they’d be to wear all day while riding and swimming. If it’s not clear so far, one huge benefit I see to these shorts is the fact that I rarely take them off.
The final con is the price. Which is silly. Yes: you can buy shorts way cheaper. But you can also spend a bunch more on much less durable shorts. And I have. These shorts are a value if you buy them to wear them all the time.
Paddling Upper Priest Lake As Easy As 1, 2, 3,***
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IT’S A UBIQUITOUS SUMMER PHRASE in Spokane: “Going to the lake.” For some, the body of water referenced is Coeur d’Alene; for others, Newman or Hayden lakes. For many, though, the “lake” in the phrase is Priest, probably the most popular water destination in the area and certainly the most scenic (apologies to Pend Oreille enthusiasts). As is often the case when those two words (“popular” and “scenic”) inhabit the same sentence, the conflicting energies of access and conservation can conflict. For Priest Lake, this friction is certainly a fact; for nearby Upper Priest Lake, the conflict would probably be better described as a crisis (***more on this later).
Still, despite overuse and abuse, Upper Priest Lake remains a beautiful and worthwhile paddle destination, probably one of the premier lakes of this sort in the Northwest. Let’s hope that, in the next decades, this statement can retain some semblance of truth.
1. BACKGROUND AND FACTS
In 1846, missionary Father Desmet originally named this body of water Lake Roothan after the controversial Jesuit Jan Roothan of Amersterdam; about twenty years later, Captain John Mullan changed the name to Kaniksu, which probably means “black robe,” referring, of course, to the garb of the Jesuit missionaries. Over the next fifty years, the name was simplified to Priest Lake, probably in reference to the long-standing history of the Jesuits in the area, as well as the mission on Kallispell bay that dates back to the 1840s and the time of Desmet.
The lake is one of the largest in Northern Idaho (third behind Pend Oreille and Couer d’alene); it is about 19 miles long and 4.4 miles wide; its deepest spot is about 370 feet. The inlet at the north end of the lake marks the beginning of a channel called the Thorofare that connects the main body of water with Upper Priest Lake, a 3.5 mile long body of water that is part of the Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area—a designation given in 1968 that provides some protection for the area.
Dolly Varden, Lake and Cutthroat trout all inhabit these waters (although the Thorofare is closed to fishing, and you should check regulations on the lakes and tributaries); black and grizzly bear, cougar, elk, moose, deer and other mammals inhabit the lush terrain. Mushrooms abound (including morels). In fall, huckleberries can be plucked from their squat bushes. Rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, kayaking and, most importantly for our purposes, canoeing are all viable activities in the area.
2. THE PADDLE
If you’re thinking about making this trip before mid-June, then call before you go (208-443-2512); the Priest Lake ranger district can give you information about the strength of the current in The Thorofare—only the most experienced of paddlers should attempt this trip before the end of late spring/early summer snowmelt. Run-off makes the usually negligible current quite strong and submerged hazards and debris are possibilities before the water and channel have stabilized. To be safe, call the rangers to get an accurate estimation of such challenges.
After the drive to the lake, you need to decide your launching point. There are two possibilities. Both have minor drawbacks. First, you can park at the main paddle launch onto the beach near Beaver Creek Campground on the northwest corner of the main lake. The beach here is nice and offers a nice place for a swim; the view of the Selkirk crest to the east is splendid.
If you’ve gotten a late start driving to the lake, then Beaver Creek campground is a serviceable (if busy) option for a place to pitch a tent, roast some marshmallows, and get a good night’s sleep. In order to use this launch to get to the Thorofare and Upper Priest Lake, though, you have to paddle across about a half mile of Priest Lake; on some days, this is no problem, the clear and smooth water will make for a magical start to the journey. However, if the wind is strong from either the south or the north—and especially from the south—then you might be navigating over huge waves that could, if your boat is laden with gear for an overnight stay at the upper lake, create challenges and potential danger.
Be prudent; the main lake is long and the wind can create a hazard. Look for the sandy opening at the west end of the jetty where you can slip-slide a quick portage and avoid paddling all the way to the end of the structure. Remember, you’ll have to paddle this corner of the lake on your way out unless, of course, it’s so violently windy that humping the canoe up the portage and walking to retrieve your car is a safer option (do this if the wind is brutal!). Regardless, once you’re in the Thorofare, the paddle up to the lake is mildly laborious (there is a downstream current, of course), but the clear water (where you might see huge pike minnows and other fish darting about), overhanging trees and the peaceful scenery will make for a calming float (***probably—more on this later).
If you elect to park your car and use the portage launch to start your paddle, then you’ll be faced with, well, a portage: it’s only a quarter of a mile, but, when you factor in gear—paddles and PFDs and tents and sleeping bags and coolers and etc., etc.—it’s usually quite a challenge to make it down to the launch in one trip. Factor in that a quarter of a mile feels like three miles when you’re carrying a canoe; take your time, allow for a few trips up and down the gentle hillside. Canoe carts can help, but the trail is bumpy and demands careful attention. The portage launch is about a half mile upstream from the jetty protecting the Thorofare’s entrance into the main lake. It’s a great option on windy days.
The towering trees on both sides of the channel create a watery tunnel about thirty yards across. Varying in depth, the channel is relatively shallow (creating a challenge for some of the larger boats that try to chug, chug up from the main lake—an obstacle that doesn’t seem to discourage them). Mosquitoes thrive here early in the season—in fact, early in the summer, this whole trip is one for which you need either strong repellant or a staunch resistance to the pesky bugs. I have seen deer, moose, osprey, heron, eagles and a swimming black bear in this short stretch of water; caribou may or may not haunt about the area; grizzlies are certainly around. The slow paddle to the upper lake can offer a glimpse of wildlife both common and rare to the area; the entire Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area is a rich and relatively intact eco-system rife with diversity. Of course, it helps to paddle along quietly, and it helps if loud motorboats aren’t blaring party music and breaking the five mile-per-hour speed limit (***which happens quite a bit—more on this later).
After the 45-minute or so paddle to Upper Priest Lake, you can have a picnic, enjoy the scenery, fish, swim, hike on the trails that surround the lake, and then head for home toward the end of the day, or, you can decide to utilize one of the four developed and numerous undeveloped camping sites that literally surround the lake.
The first one, Geisengers, is literally right at the mouth of the Thorofare. It’s a pleasant spot that witnesses a lot of traffic (it’s a first bathroom stop for some), and you should plan on picking up some trash if you stay here and know that every boat and kayak that journeys to the lake will pass within fifty yards of your camp. Does that sound like a buzzkill? Well, it is, but this campground also boasts the best sunset of the four campgrounds.
Farther up the eastern side of the lake, Trapper Creek, there is a very popular site where this small creek enters the lake. I have to admit that I’ve never camped at this site; every single time that I’ve paddled to the lake (from June until September), it’s been occupied by a host of speed boats; I have, though, hiked by it while staying at another campground, and I think that this site might exemplify the problem with unchecked motorized usage. Let me explain.
Just before Memorial Day weekend—say, the Thursday before—have you ever seen a large pick-up truck loaded with “camping gear” rushing out to “reserve” a spot at a popular campground? The bed of the truck is trussed with a propane grill or two, six or eight lawn chairs, a half a dozen tarps, nine bicycles, three dog kennels, fifteen sleeping bags, a wheelbarrow or two, a half a cord of wood, two chainsaws, a boom box (or two), a gas powered generator, six Coleman lanterns, four coolers, two propane stoves, and at least eight plastic storage bins containing at least half of everything on sale at the White Elephant store’s outdoor section. Well, the camps at Trapper Creek seem to adhere to that same Memorial Day Weekend principle: they are mini-boat cities. Usually there are two to three large motorboats beached or anchored just off the shore. Six to eight tents create a village where friends have obviously planned to stake claim and gather for several days.
Is there anything wrong with this? Well, I’m not going to pass judgment on the aesthetics of different people’s idea of camping, but that this tent city has been staked in the middle of a fairly sensitive eco-system is troubling at best. Every single time that I’ve walked by this campsite, I have encountered mounds of unburied toilet paper and human feces. Perhaps there is no causal connection between the tent city phenomenon and the human waste; perhaps there is (***as you may have guessed, more on this later).
The other two developed campgrounds on the west side of the lake are Plowboy and Navigation. Navigation, the site to the extreme northwest, is set back a bit from the lake in the woods; it is near a pleasant stream (Deadman Creek) and affords a good view of the outlet where Upper Priest River flows into the lake—a place that larger mammals often frequent. Plowboy—named after the peak just to the west of the lake—is at the southwest corner of the lake. It receives a bit more foot traffic than the other sites (trail 291 connects it to Beaver Creek Campground on the main lake, which can be a great option for a group of four that only have one boat; two people can hike in on the trail; two can paddle up the Thorofare—and they can all switch roles on the way out). Plowboy has a couple of nice beaches; both of these western shore sites have the luxury of early morning sun on those crisp autumn days.
Besides these developed sites that feature fire rings, picnic benches and pit toilets, as well as bear boxes in which to store food, there are numerous undeveloped sites around the lake. Rules prescribe that these sites are to be 100 feet from the lake; they rarely are, although there are a couple of nice areas on the eastern shore about half way up the lake where campers seem to have taken the distance into account. Undoubtedly, crowding has created the “overflow” need for these sites. If you do use one of them (and I’d urge you to try to use an already worn site if you’re forced to because the developed campgrounds are full), then please try to practice “Leave No More Trace” practices. At least leave the areas better than how you found them. The best dynamic, though, would be to use the developed sites, which, leads us to:
3. ***THE MORE ON THIS LATER:
IMPRESSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
I first made the paddle to the Upper Priest Lake about ten years ago; on that first trip, my family and I encountered two other paddlers and saw less than ten motor boats, more than half of them small fishing boats with tiny outboard motors. I know that others who had the privilege of paddling up The Thorofare in the 70s and 80s can recount trips even more blessed with solitude, resplendent with wildlife sightings. In the ten years since my first Upper Priest Lake trip, I have hiked and paddled in many times; without fail, every single time that I’ve gone has been an emotionally mixed experience. Let me try to explain why.
Because everyone “goes to the lake,” the Priest and Upper Priest Scenic Area receive a great deal of impact. On weekdays, I have encountered more than thirty boats traversing the Thorofare, several of them obviously oblivious to the 5 mph, no wake, speed limit. On weekends (a time that I try to avoid), the number might be over a hundred. Old timers remark on how erosion from the boat traffic has substantially widened the Thorofare, radically changing the fishery and the navigability of the channels. I have seen skiers, tubers and wake boarders skim across the surface of the upper lake; I have picked up (literally) a complete trash bag full of litter and human waste (while burying many other piles), gathered a dozen or more beer cans and bottles (some broken); I have found cast-off fishing rods, soiled underwear, lost swimsuits and forgotten shoes.
And yet, in spite of this horrific overuse, I would still recommend this place—for the beauty, yes; for the possibility (however slim) of solitude, sure; for the chance at wildlife viewing, undoubtedly. On late summer afternoons, I have whimsically decided to head up there, packed the car, made the drive, paddled up the Thorofare and loafed and leaned on a lakeshore with a stunning mountain view. What a blessing. Besides the pleasurable aspects of this paddle, though, I’d recommend Upper Priest Lake as a canoeing destination to other enthusiasts so that they can see the importance of protecting this unique area of the world.
I am doubtful that environmentalist and conservation efforts will ever succeed in transforming Upper Priest Lake into a non-motorized haven. Although this saddens me and may ultimately spell ruination for the area—some might contend that it already has—I believe that people can shift toward more responsible usage. Whether this is a naïve attitude or not, those of us who still want to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere that the area can provide (if you walk a hundred yards into the woods, you’ll quickly forget the jet skis and pleasure cruisers that might be marauding the lake) must take on some of responsibility about these efforts: clean up any debris that you find at the campsites and report any boats violating the rules of the Thorofare and lake.
These may seem like minor efforts, but barring a radical reversal in legislative practice in the area, these minor efforts may be the only recourse to protect a historically important and scenically stunning part of our region.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
From Spokane, drive north on Highway 2 to Newport; cross the Idaho border (stop at the boat check point) and continue to Priest River, Idaho. Turn north on Highway 57 to Nordman. Turn right on Forest Road 1339; follow the signs to Beaver Creek Campground. Follow the signs to either the boat launch area or the trailhead for the Navigation trailhead parking if you elect to use the portage. Driving time: about 2.5 hours.
Meet The Founder Of The Pacific Northwest Trail
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IMAGINE THROWING ON A backpack and walking from Glacier National Park in Montana to Olympic National Park on Washington’s coast in one long 1,200 mile hike. An increasing number of long-distance hikers are making that trek each year. Day hikers who aren’t up for a three- or four-month slog are also ticking off segments of the trail section by section over a period of years. The reason is the recent publicity surrounding the newest of American long trails: the Pacific Northwest Trail (the PNT).
In 2009, the PNT, which connects the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in the Rockies to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in the Cascades, was granted National Scenic Trail status by Congress. This designation, which is reserved for the nation’s Crown Jewel hiking trails, includes a half dozen other long, exceptionally scenic routes like the PCT, CDT and Appalachian Trail (AT). The recent attention from Congress has touched off a wave of publicity and interest in the trail, including great coverage in this year’s March issue of Backpacker magazine. Time will tell if the good PR will translate into more hikers setting off for a 1,200 mile walk on a trail that was nearly four decades in the making.
ROOTS OF THE TRAIL DATE BACK DECADES
Ron Strickland, an easterner who was drawn west by the mountains, wilderness and trails after hiking part of the PCT, dreamed up the idea of a new long trail that would become the Pacific Northwest Trail. He began taking steps to make his dream a reality in the early 1970s and spent the next thirty plus years hiking, route finding, promoting, lobbying and writing several additions of a guidebook for the trail. He documents this quest in his new book, Pathfinder: Blazing a New Wilderness Trail in Modern America, which was published last year.
Strickland describes his book as a “backcountry stew where the hiker chef has thrown in as many tasty ingredients as possible, not necessarily in any particular order.” That’s an apt description for a text that travels some diverse topical terrain: part memoir; part historical and cultural narrative; and of course plenty of hiking history, trail musings and accounts of the politics involved with such a huge project. The 1968 National Trails System Act set the stage for protecting future trails like the PNT, but as Strickland found out, getting a new trail added to the system required Congressional action and would not be easy.
That daunting task wasn’t yet on Strickland’s radar screen as he pieced together the PNT route. “Unbelievable as it seems to me now,” Strickland writes, “I went AWOL from grad school in the summers of 1970-1973 to begin piecing together an east-west route from Montana, through Idaho to Washington, using everything from bushwhacks to unmaintained abandoned pathways and drovers’ tracks.” Strickland’s path-finding work convinced him that his route across the Pacific Northwest was not only possible but would become a world-class, long-distance classic.
In 1976, after locating routes, forming a PNT Club, raising funds, lobbying and pulling a few political strings, a trail study bill was introduced in Congress. Strickland was full of youthful optimism. “I was fully confident that they would urge Congress to add the trail to the National Trails System,” he writes. Unfortunately with little on-the-ground community support and a concept route that “lacked signs, blazes, and, sometimes, even tread,” the trail was shot down, amazingly enough, largely by preservationists who argued against the trail because of perceived impacts to wilderness.
ENDLESS PRESSURE ENDLESSLY APPLIED PAYS OFF
Instead of giving up, Strickland charged ahead, determined to build the trail himself if he had to. Over the next several decades, he befriended locals, recruited help to get new sections of the trail put in, and, wisely, founded the Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA) to help make the trail real both in peoples’ minds and out on the ground. All of Strickland’s efforts and the grassroots work of the PNTA paid off; it just took a little longer than expected. Today just north of Spokane the PNT meanders west from Montana through many of our favorite places, like the Selkirk Crest, the Upper Priest area, the Salmo Priest Wilderness, Abercrombie Mountain, the Kettle Range, and onward to the Cascades, beckoning to be hiked.
WHAT’S NEW ALONG THE PNT?
Earlier this month I called Strickland to find out what’s new with the PNT and how much use the trail is seeing these days.
“About a half dozen or more people have been thru-hiking the entire trail every year recently,” he says. “But with the recent Backpacker article, and a new book about the PNT by outdoor writer Chris Townsend coming out this summer, I expect a surge of interest in the trail this year and more people attempting to hike the whole thing.”
He also noted that he’s hoping to revise the guidebook again soon, which should also increase interest in the trail.
I also had a selfish reason for wanting to interview the founder of the PNT. For the past five years, I’ve been piecing together a new long-distance trail route like the PNT—except it’s a loop trail through the Inland Northwest that starts and ends in Spokane, and I wanted some advice.
Strickland was excited to hear about my proposed Inland Northwest Trail (INT) that would share trail miles with the PNT across the Idaho Panhandle and offered this advice: “Tell everyone you meet about your trail. Attract people to hike parts of the trail by getting articles published and other media attention. Form a friends group to support the idea and help build local, grassroots support.” Read more about my INT proposal at www.inwtrail.org.
For more information, visit the Pacific Northwest Trail Association online at pnt.org.
Additional PNT Resources:
• The Pacific Northwest Trail Guide, by Ron Strickland, 2001, Sasquatch Books, Seattle
• Pathfinder: Blazing a New Wilderness Trail in Modern America, by Ron Strickland, 2011, Oregon State University Press
• OTM May 2010 article that highlights some PNT hiking trip suggestions
Editorial: Open Letter To The Soccer Gods
12:02 am
MY DAUGHTER SCORES a hat-trick in a soccer game. Girl on the other teams says to her, “You’re gonna need those goals.” My daughter wants to know, “Was that girl being mean to me?” How do you explain trash talk to a seven-year-old? Or that her best teammate from last year was “poached” by a rival coach who’s trying to make a seven-year-old girls super-team?
For three years in a row my son’s club soccer team has been dismantled by parents not satisfied with the coach, the players, the league, or all of the above. Each year we start from scratch.
Do we go with a rec team or a club team? Premier or Select? Does he play his age or play up? A traveling team or local team? Sanctioned by US Youth Soccer or US Club Soccer? Indoor in the winter or futsal? A team that practices near home or one that practices in Coeur d’Alene? Should he be a Scottie, a Breaker, a Shadow, a Cobra, a Puma, or join simple-sounding FC Spokane? (Formerly River City).
When I began playing soccer in Spokane there was only one game in town: SYSA. I started in the mid-seventies and some of my teammates and I played together for ten years or more, including high school. Today new leagues seem to form all the time. They splinter, they merge. They re-splinter. Today some club teams even forbid their players from playing high school soccer.
Our family loves the outdoors. We love hiking, camping, biking, paddling, and even climbing when we can. But we also love soccer. I want to give my kids a chance to experience team sports and individual outdoor sports, but sometimes it seems easier to rebuild a bottom bracket than figure out what soccer team they should be on.
When all else fails we follow coaches we like. If they change teams we do too. If they change leagues, we do too. Even if it means games in Cheney and practices in Idaho. But I sure wish it were simpler. I wish higher level Spokane teams played each other more often so there was less travelling to do. And I wish there were less complaints about coaching style, less arguments with the refs, and less concerns about future soccer scholarships. When all else really fails we can always hike, bike, or camp whenever we want to. We don’t need a club for that.
JON SNYDER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
editor@outtheremonthly.com
P.S. Check out the online browser edition of OTM at issuu.com. Just search google “Out There Monthly issuu.com.”
What’s Your Gear?: Distance Running, Heather Le Friec
12:02 am
“RUNNING IS MY LIFE,” says 40-year-old Heather Le Friec. For some runners, this might be an exaggerated self-assessment, but for her it’s not.
As she explains, “My husband, Andy, is an avid runner. I’m a Fitness & Health teacher and girls’ cross-country coach [at Lewis and Clark High School], president of the Spokane Swifts running team, a run ambassador for the ‘Inspire Daily’ program for Brooks Running, and a run ambassador for Lululemon. Most every day of the week I’m involved in a running commitment or activity.”
Nicknamed “race junkie,” Heather loves to compete. “When you race, you see the benefits of your training,” she says.
Her best performance, so far, was a third place finish at the Portland Marathon in 2002, with a time of 2:56. At Bloomsday that same year, she won $500 for being the third place Washington finisher, with a time of 45:13.
This year marks Heather’s 23rd time competing in the Lilac Bloomsday Run. She will toe the start line for the elite women’s wave, which begins at 8:45 am. She says she most enjoys “the black vulture at the top of Doomsday Hill—once I get to him, I know the hardest part is over and it’s time to drop it down a gear to the finish.”
On Bloomsday morning, she will complete her usual pre-race rituals. This means eating toast with peanut butter, drinking black coffee, and listening to “Jock Jams” on her iPod.
When training for a marathon—her favorite race distance—Heather builds her mileage to a peak of 70 per week. “In any given week I include one speed interval on track, a tempo run on the road, and a long easy run,” she says. “My other days are ‘recovery runs,’ and I always take a whole day off from running [each] week.”
She has completed 35 marathons. “I’ve ‘hit the wall’ every time,” she says, “[but] I love the distance because it comes down to finding the physical and mental toughness to run through ‘the wall.’”
Her favorite local training runs include the trails below the South Hill’s High Drive bluff and “mixed relays” on the track with the Spokane Swifts and Spokane Distance Project—two local running clubs.
Heather’s other recreation interests include tennis, triathlon, rollerblading, skiing and rock climbing. In fact, before she became a runner during her junior year of high school (she grew up on Whidbey Island, in western Washington), Heather was a committed tennis player. “Once I started, I instantly was hooked and discovered I was much better at running than tennis.”
She ran for Gonzaga University’s cross-country and track teams—earning West Coast Conference All-American honors in 1992 and 1993. A bone spur during her freshman year made her miss that year’s track season as well as most of her sophomore XC season because it was not properly diagnosed in the beginning. She describes this experience as her “greatest setback.”
Still, there is nothing she doesn’t enjoy about running. “I love the challenge. I love to see how fast and far I can push myself,” she says. “It never gets easier, and whoever thinks it does isn’t pushing [herself] hard enough.”
Heather’s enthusiasm makes her a natural coach. “I love coaching girls and women, because I feel that running is so empowering for anyone. When you experience the challenge of running, it makes you a stronger person and a more confident person in life,” she says. “My advice for [the female high school runners I coach] is to never underestimate yourself. Your mind is very powerful, and your self-talk can help you or harm you. When races get hard I tell my athletes to give themselves positive self-talk—to start reminding themselves of all the hard workouts they’ve completed, that their bodies are not tired, it’s just their minds trying to tell them that. I believe what makes someone faster than another person has a lot to do with her mental toughness.”
As a devoted runner now for more than 20 years, Heather says the sport has taught her three significant lessons. First: “The most important thing, when you have a bad race, is to remember that you had the guts and courage to finish. Second: “Sometimes it’s not about where you finished but about what you learned during the process of getting there.” And third: “Running is like ‘ebb and flow’—you will have good days and bad days. It’s all about sticking with it.”
SHOES: Brooks Launch and Brooks Racer ST
SOCKS: Fitsok ankle socks
SHORTS: Brooks Infiniti
SHIRT: Brooks Infiniti tank or Brooks Equilibrium LS
RUNNING PANTS: Lululemon Run Spirit Tight
WATCH: Garmin Forerunner 305
MISC. GEAR: Lululemon no-slip headband and Brooks Seamless Arm Warmers.
How To Buy A Longboard
12:58 am
FINDING THE RIGHT LONGBOARD setup, as a novice, can feel overwhelming. Because manufacturers offer so many styles, it can be hard to decide what to buy. Riders must not only choose the style, but they must also choose the length, shape, flexibility, wheels, trucks and bearings that will best fit them.
Like any sport, new enthusiasts sometimes get discouraged by the thought of buying the wrong gear. If you’ve ever ventured into a new sport you know how expensive gearing up can be. Since the initial cost for the various components can quickly add up, many people hesitate to start.
Here’s what you need to know to be more confident about investing in a longboard.
First, estimate your budget by considering the style of riding you will be doing and how often you will ride. According to Mike Thompson, owner of Concrete Reef Skateboards in Spokane, whatever type of riding you plan to do you want your set-up to fit your needs.
“If you are just getting started I wouldn’t recommend getting into a downhill board… you won’t be able to turn it as well,” he says.
If you plan to ride large hills for speed, you will want a longer, stiffer board for stability. You will also want larger, wider vented wheels with high quality hubs, ultra smooth bearings and stronger trucks for supporting the additional weight and vibration.
For sidewalk surfing, it’s best to have a shorter board with lighter trucks for better maneuverability and harder wheels for power slides and other tricks. You might also consider a board with a kicktail.
After determining how you want to ride, decide how much you can spend and if you want a kit or if you’d rather piece a board together. A great place to start is a local shop like Mountain Goat Outfitters. Many websites also offer complete longboard kits ranging from $99.99 to $489.99. Although kits offer initial savings, often times they’ll need some tweaking. If you go this route, set some money aside so you can replace components you don’t like.
If you’d rather piece one together here’s a general idea of what you’ll need and how much money you can plan to spend.
The board itself is known as a “deck” ($50-$180) and varies according to length, thickness, material, shape, graphics, flexibility and durability. When selecting a deck, you’ll want to make sure it will work with the other components. Some decks have cut-outs or routered wheel wells to prevent rubbing while turning depending on the wheel size you select.
All skateboards, long or short, have “trucks.” These are what mount the wheels to the board. Shortboard trucks are wide and light for turning quickly or tricks. They are usually made of lighter materials like aluminum and tend to be cheaper than longboard trucks and less durable.
Longboard trucks are more narrow and sturdy and have a higher stance providing more clearance for larger wheels, which adds leverage for turning. Trucks made for longboards also offer better bushings for a smoother ride. Trucks range in width from 6.125” to 10” (cost $20-$220/pair). Companies like Randal, Paris Trucks or Gun Metal offer a good value ($40-$50/pair).
Wheels ($18-$120/set) are classified by size and hardness (durometer). Sizes range from 49mm to 107mm in circumference. Wheel hardness on the durometer ranges from 54d to 103a. Lower durometer numbers are softer and grip better to provide a smoother ride. Higher numbers are harder and slide easier. For the rough roads and sidewalks in the Inland Northwest, Thompson recommends a 70mm-85mm wheel. Kryptonics or Sector 9 offer a good value at $30-$45/set.
Bearings ($8-$100/set) vary substantially depending on quality—measured from Abec 3 to Abec 9. Abec 3s are the cheapest. These are commonly made from low-grade steel and tend to pit providing poor movement. Abec 9s have the best movement and are made from super hard carbon steel, ceramic or titanium. Titanium are considered to be some of the best, but ceramic bearings ($25-$45/set) can be a good value—they won’t pit or rust.
If you’re looking for a more personal approach or prefer to buy local, you can have a board custom made locally by Thompson’s company, Concrete Reef Skateboards—starting around $180.
Be sure to set money aside for safety gear. Basic necessities include a helmet and gloves. Pro-Tec helmets offer a good value for $40-$60. Good gloves with pads in the palms and fingertips are $60-$70. Additionally, elbow, wrist and kneepads are always a good idea for big hills ($40-$60/set).
Although you can drop a couple hundred bucks for safety gear, the investment can be significantly less than a single trip to the emergency room. “Always wear a helmet, the pavement is a very unforgiving medium for your head,” says Thompson.
One of the best ways to get started is to talk to a friend who is already riding. Ask him or her to try his/her board for a few runs and get the feel of it. Then ask about what components are on that board. If you don’t know anyone with a board, try finding a blog or forum with other local people who ride. This will help you figure out what you want.
Over the years, boarders have beautified their boards with paint, decals, carvings, engravings, lacquers, stains, varnishes and just about anything else you can think of. It’s this part of the process that truly allows you to make your board your own. Just remember, no matter what your board looks like, it’s not a matter of what you ride, it’s simply a matter of whether you ride or not.
Editorial: Clubs To The Rescue
12:53 am
LAST MONTH IN OUR Everyday Cyclist column we attempted to locate every no-drop ride around. We missed a few.
Turns out some of the area’s best and most competitive cycling clubs also have some great regular rides for range of abilities. And they all like to recruit new riders.
VERTICAL EARTH in Coeur d’Alene (verticalearth.com) has no-drop mountain bike rides on Tuesday evenings year round except during the summer when they move to Thursday so they don’t conflict with the Twilight Series races held on Tuesdays. They also host Wednesday evening road rides from roughly April through September. These are no-drop rides but they’re at a 17-18 mph pace.
EMDE SPORTS – FITNESS FANATICS USA Cycling and USA Triathlon Team (emdesports.com) is a mix of cyclists, triathletes, and runners. Outside of racing season they hold regular weekend rides. They welcome other riders to join them. Like Vertical Earth, although the rides are no drop they do have an expected pace to keep. They have rides set for 15-17mph and as high as 22mph. Fitness Fanatics (fitfanatics.com) has shop rides too, including a no-drop mountain bike ride Mondays at 6pm and a 12 mph and up road ride on Wednesdays, also at 6pm.
ZUSTER CYCLING (www.zustercycling.com) is a women’s racing team. Their training is somewhat spontaneous with members sending an email for rides they want to lead. They do road and mountain bike rides. They try to have a few road rides geared towards beginners so they can work on handling, riding in a group, and riding in traffic. New members must be sponsored by a member who’s been on the team for at least a year.
RIVER CITY RED is a new team sponsored by River City Brewing. They will be doing a “Friends of the Shop,” no-drop ride leaving from Steve’s On Cannon Street around 5.30 pm on the last Thursday of each month, April through August (April 26, May 31, June 28, July 26 and Aug 30). The ride is about 20 miles and paced to keep everyone together or re-grouped. They will ride a loop out to the Seven Mile Bridge on the Aubrey White Parkway and back on the other side of the river. For more information: RiverCityRed@gmail.com.
Thanks for everything these clubs do for our cycling scene. Hope to see you on the road (or trail) soon.
JON SNYDER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
editor @ outtheremonthly.com
For info: http://targetzero.com/Plan.htm
Book Reviews
12:07 am
Climbing Dictionary: Mountaineering Slang, Terms, Neologisms And Lingo — An Illustrated Reference To More Than 650 Words
Matt Samet
Mountaineers Books, 2011, 250 pages
THE CLIMBING DICTIONARY by Matt Samet brings together all the terms, phrases and lingo that climbers unconsciously speak, and explains them for everyone to understand. The book easily skips past the dry, serious tone of most definitive books and follows an ingenious path that shares all the comic slang and actual jargon that climbers use.
Surfers, skaters, snowboarders and kayakers all have terms and slang that define their sport as well as their culture. Climbing, a much older sport, follows a similar thread, and English language climbing terms are actually more prevalent around the world.
Samet might be overqualified to write the Climbing Dictionary. Beyond his remarkable career as a freelance editor and writer for dozens of outdoor magazines, he served as editor-in-chief at Climbing magazine. He has bouldered V11 and climbed some of Rifle, Colorado’s earliest test pieces including Fluff Boy (5.13c) and Dumpster BBQ (5.13c/d). He also solo managed an early repeat of Peter Croft’s mega-route Evolution Traverse (VI 5.9), in Sierra Nevada, California.
Truth be told, Samet’s impressive climbing résumé itself contains terms that are not easy to understand, which offers a hint at why he wrote the Climbing Dictionary. The book truly runs the gamut, from technical terms (belay, harness, rappel) to slang (dab, Gaston, old dad, pumpy), to regional (such as the Southwest’s baby-butt slopers), antiquated (Goldline, headpoint), and foreign terms that have achieved universal usage (a cheval, colonnette) and much more.
Each word’s definition includes its part of speech, origin (if known), meaning and a humorous but factually-sound example sentence to demonstrate usage.
Whenever appropriate, illustrations by Mike Tea provide a pinpoint explanation. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications, but he’s arguably best known as Black Diamond’s technical illustrator. In a sport as complex and equipment-oriented as climbing, knowing the terms and the language are crucial, and Mike’s visual contribution dovetails perfectly with Matt’s definitions.
Seasoned climbers and beginners should definitely read this book because it provides insight into the history and culture of climbing, as well as mountaineering. Best of all, the pages are unique, interesting and often laugh-your-harness-off funny.
Jon Jonckers
The Global Forest
Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Viking, 2010, 175 pages
I READ THIS BOOK SLOWLY, putting it down several times. I repeatedly found myself having feelings unlike anything I can remember from a text. Sort of like having a sense of well being after returning from a long, solo hike. Two reasons: first, the author is a poet and a storyteller—Irish, no less. Second, she is telling you scientific information that, for me, was utterly new.
A wide range of good scientists today profess that they balance their evidence-based inquires with a religious or mystical awe. There are even a few more writers who possess perhaps a bit less scientific depth but who can somehow use philosophical language to produce a sense of wonder of the non-human world. Beresford-Kroeger has raised the bar.
Some things I learned: Talking about how hemoglobin in humans and chlorophyll in plants exchange oxygen, she writes, “It seems like part of a divine plan, these twin sister molecules working hand-in-hand in their quantum homes to forge life for the entire planet.” How bioplanning will, in time, form a new safety net. The way trees capture and transform sunlight into food and gases could, if we can ever fully understand it and produce technology to mimic it, become a remarkable new source of energy. How every species finds its own medicine in the world, from plants and trees to ants to hippos. How the ancient pharmacopoeia of the pines emit a medicinal aerosol that literally has a stimulating effect on the process of breathing itself. How, as amazing as it may sound, the biochemistry producing human dreaming, melatonin, has a counterpart in trees called auxin. Both are aromatic hydrocarbons produced in response to the changes in sunlight of the seasons. In both humans and trees, sleep and respiration is balanced so dreams may arise.
We know a great deal about what is happening in our world and suffer terribly as a consequence. “Consumerism bores holes of unbearable solitude,” writes Beresford-Kroeger. “Seek the dignity of life, all life.”
Terry Lawhead