The Bruggelen Hike

Last month Dutchman and I went with the Dutch family on a weekend hike in Bruggelen near Apeldoorn (Gelderland provincie) in the eastern part of the Netherlands. We first had some tea, coffee and tart in a restaurant where we parked the cars. It was a beautiful day; dry, not so cold, very little wind and the sun is up. A totally different day compared to the day before that was raining cats and dogs, I was already a bit worried that the hike will be cancelled but the weather forecast promised for a great day on Sunday and it did!


These fotos were taken just before entering Bruggelen forest in Beekbergen, we came across a manege and it looks like the horse likes me! lol


Progressing with the hike here, the forest lays quietly on a bed of bright red orange dried leaves, so beautiful! There were many needle-like trees in Bruggelen forest.


Mushrooms, acorns and dried autumn leaves...


A button red mushroom with white spots, I tried recollecting where I have seen red mushrooms with white spots, something like a cartoon show, then I just realized it was 'Super Mario' (Mario Brothers) and the mushroom kingdom, haha. I used to play the video game Super Mario like crazy in the early eighties.


Here is another red mushroom with lesser white spots that we spotted. The pole in the middle foto is part of a vast network of colour-coded directions in the forest. Next pole shows that we should watch out for dogs and horses as we are walking on their trails.


And good enough, we saw a couple of people on horses and this one is the most impressive, a little horse carriage, they were going so fast! We also came upon a group, a Dog club walking their dogs in the forest.


Beautiful forest in Bruggelen... I look a bit tired here, we have walked four hours already...


Almost there! I love the yellow colours of the plants and trees in this foto and the greyish blue dramatic backdrop of the skies.

More fotos can be found here: Bruggelen in Beekbergen, Apeldoorn - The Netherlands

Somehow we lost our tracks in the forest but found our way after asking a couple of people along the way. The three-hour hike became an almost five-hour hike! Although we stopped and rested in between, we were tired from the long hours of walking. I have good physical condition so I’m not really complaining.

I love nature walks, especially during autumn when forests are most beautiful. Looking forward to the next walk!

Pashley and a Burning Bush

The Co-Habitant's Pashley Roadster Sovereign has not made an appearance here in some time, but today he demanded to be featured by posing handsomely next to this beautiful "burning bush." The Co-Habitant loves this bicycle. He has been commuting to work on it since May, and says that it only gets more comfortable with time and that he is even happier with it now than on the day he got it. That is a pretty glowing review! Lately, he even seems to prefer the Pashley for longer rides, like the 25 mile trip we made today.

He is also extremely pleased with the B33 saddle, which is super-sprung to support the weight of a large man in an upright sitting position (the Co-Habitant is around 6ft and 200lb).

Tall, dark, handsome and brooding. Perfect.

You can't really tell in this photo, but the bicycle is enormous for someone with my body-frame. The saddle reaches past my waist, the handlebars to my armpits, and I can't clear the top tube. Still, I like to pose with it and pretend that I can ride it. It is a beautiful bicycle and a great partner to my Eustacia.

Fishing Pier at Myrtle Beach State Park

I think fishing piers are kind of like boardwalks. They may not scream summer in quite the same way, but they do seem to have the same air of relaxation about them. They seem to say, "pull up a seat and stay awhile". The pier at the State Park was one of the nicest ones we have seen at a State Park.



There are benches to sit at and fish, or just watch the water. The pier has places to measure and clean your fish. And there are people both young and old and everywhere in between. I could sit and people watch here for hours and hours and hours.





The view is not too shabby either!



I like this one much better though because you can't see the buildings as much.



I'm going to miss this place when we leave here.



Living the life in SC!

Roadbike Shopping Complexities

I've mentioned before that I've been shopping around for a road/racing bike since last May, and that I hoped to write about the process once I bought one. With Spring just around the corner, I am getting emails from readers who are going through the same ordeal and feeling lost, wondering whether I plan to post a guide of some sort. The quick answer is "no." I am sorry to disappoint, but I can offer no helpful advice on this topic at the moment.




Many roadbike shopping stories I hear or receive from readers are very similar to my own experience. It starts with a decision to buy a roadbike. Nothing unusual - a fast modern roadbike for paceline rides, group rides, and so on. So at first you're thinking "Well, since I don't necessarily want anything 'lovely,' this should be easy. There are bike shops filled with roadbikes and nothing but roadbikes after all." And optimistically you head to these bike shops... only to discover that there really aren't as many options as you thought.




Most guides to buying a new roadbike will tell you that fit is the main thing, and that once you have that down everything else will fall into place. Okay. So I've been fitted by several different professionals now, with the consensus that I have fairly standard proportions for a woman of my height and that I require a road frame that is52cm x 53cm or thereabouts. It is not difficult to find a stock roadbike with these dimensions, so in theory I should be all set. In practice however, there is much more to it.




For one thing, there is the dreaded toe overlap. I do not want to spark a debate on this topic yet again, so let's just say that some cyclists dislike TCO and leave it at that. I happen to be one of those cyclists, and it is not easy to find a stock frame in a small size that does not have this issue. So even though the right frame size is easy enough to find, the right frame size with no TCO limits the pool of available bikes considerably.




But a much larger issue that tends to be glossed over in bike shops, is that roadbikes don't all handle the same and don't all have the same ride quality. These factors are important to me. I would be miserable on a bike with a harsh ride or on a bike that I cannot control on turns. Realistically, I need to test-ride a roadbike for at least 20 miles on hilly terrain in order to determine whether I am comfortable with it - essentially, I need to simulate the sort of ride I would normally be doing on the bike.And that is usually not possible.




Apparently many bike shops expect you to test ride a bicycle either in their parking lot or around the block. At most they expect a test ride to be a couple of miles. Taking a bike on an actual 20 mile ride? In my experience, only a handful of shops will allow this, and those shops tend to be high-end with expensive bikes.




An additional problem for me personally, is that I cannot use Shimano STI levers - what the vast majority of demo roadbikes in the vast majority of bike shops are fitted with. There is something about the shape of Shimano STIs that my hands don't like, and I cannot safely brake on a bike with these levers. This limits me severely on the bikes I am able to test ride, even if I am allowed to take them on a long ride.




The problem of testing before buying is also what made me wary of going custom. Framebuilders are wonderful, but no matter how much you communicate there is no guarantee that the bike they make will feel and handle as you want it to. Very few framebuilders offer demo bikes, and most of us are not lucky enough to have acquaintances whose custom bikes we can try. A blind purchase of a custom roadframe seems risky to me - especially if you are relying on it for a particular date/event and do not already have a roadbike to fall back on if something goes wrong (or takes longer than expected).



Going semi-custom, building up a stock frame from scratch, or refurbishing a vintage frame with new components, similarly involve risking the unknown, albeit at a lesser cost.




So what solution am I proposing? Well that is just the thing, I am not. Ultimately everyone will need to find their own solution and for many that will involve trial and error. Not everyone is sensitive to a bike's ride quality and handling. Not everyone cares about things like toe overlap. Individual preferences and skill levels play into it a great deal. As does simple luck. Some get lucky and buy a roadbike they are comfortable with on their first try. And reading this, they will no doubt think I am overcomplicating things. But others will face one frustration after another, and may even give up roadcycling as a result of not finding a bike they are comfortable with. If you find yourself in that category, I can only encourage you to be patient and not give up. Try to identify the problems you are having with your current bike or with the bikes you are trying in stores. It may, after all, be something as simple as trying a different brand of levers you never realised existed.

Ohiopyle (Meadow Run) Conditions

Today I stopped to check conditions at Lower and Upper Meadow Run today. Overall, Lower Meadow is looking bleak. The short supply of ground water is keeping the ice from forming here. Good news is that there IS ice forming on the start to an awesome looking route that I've tried several times over the years. Its in the middle of the overhang between Anger Management (L) and Captain Caveman (R). It comes out the steepest, longest part of the roof. The seep coming down the short face below the roof is almost ready for some action. I think by next week this line will be ready to try. Please don't knock down the icicle that is almost connected to the Rhodie. This is the start to the route.

Just about ready to go. Next weeks line?

The rest of the lines are looking thin, but as you can see in the picture, the finish to Anger Management is looking great for any aspiring senders. Now is the best time to do it. Captain Caveman is also in great condition, but the extension hanger isn't formed up enough to support body weight. Soon enough.

Hemlock is looking thin, but climbable after a thin start.

Walking up to the thin start of Hemlock WI3

The Main pillar is in horrible shape for the amount of cold that we've had. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone at this point. Don't waste your time if you're planning on coming here to climb the normal ice lines, they don't exist yet.

On a positive note. Upper Meadow Run is looking very good so far. The School Yard has a very nice flow for most everyone. Its forming an nice gully runnel just to the right of the normal ice lines. It appears to be thick enough for any length screws. Get it while its good. Here's a photo of School Yard area.

The "NEW" right runnel that usually doesn't form

The steep mixed climbs in the cave are good for dry tooling, but the ice doesn't appear to be long enough for body weight or use. So if you're into the upside down antics give it a little more time and they should be good for some tries. Above all, the best part of climbing at Upper Meadow is how beautiful the area is. Come out to Southwestern PA for some great winter climbing.

The beautiful setting at Upper Meadow Run with the Amphitheater on the right

Another photo looking out of the cave

Alpine Strawberry

A 'White Delight' alpine strawberry flower in the vegetable gardens of The French Laundry.

A Good Idea Gone Wrong :: But, I've Done It Before...

If you don't publish a Blog and you don't use Blogger you may want to skip this post... I'm venting...



I did what I've done for the past couple of years. But this time a change made to Blogger (probably when "New Blogger" came on the scene) has caused extra work as well as a little frustration on my part.



A group of posts was created a few years ago that I call "Index Posts" and they list the blog posts that have been published for a given surname. As new stories are posted for a surname, the Index Post gets updated with links to the new post and periodically the date of the post will be changed. The date is changed so that when someone does a search on the blog for a specific surname or clicks on a surname label at the bottom of a post the Index Post will be displayed near the top of the search results.



Maybe I should have known better, but, in the past, doing what I've done did not cause any problems. But what I learned today means I won't be doing the same thing again!



You know that thing called a permalink, aka the url for a post? Well, contrary to it's name, it isn't a permanent link. At least, not if you click on the button that says "Revert to Draft" while you are editing a blog post AND you change the publication date of the post. If you've done that and you then re-publish the post or page, the permalink (url) could change. That's not good. Especially if you have linked to that post within other posts. It's now a broken link.



So, I had updated all of the surname Index Posts (19 of them!) before I discovered the error of my ways. And then it was too late. I tried to change the url by using the "custom url" but that didn't work. It only allowed me to enter the last portion of the url (the part after "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../12"). If a post had previously been published, say in July .., the beginning portion of the url would have been "kinexxions.blogspot.com/../07". When I changed the date, Blogger changed the date portion of the url to "../12". And therein lies the problem.



After a few choice words, and thinking about it for a while, I edited the "Master" Index Post to update it with the new links. And then edited the two "Pages" for my Maternal Ancestors and Paternal Ancestors, as well as the links along the sidebar that list the surnames that I am researching. Those are the obvious links.



The "problem" now is that I know there have been times when I've linked to an Index Post from a another blog post. I don't think I've done it very often but, in my opinion, one broken link is one too many. For one thing, it leaves a bad impression. And for another, it's irritating to the reader.



If I had thought about it, and if I had kept track of the date the posts were last published, I could have edited all of the posts a second time and then reverted back to that publication date. I think that would have worked and I wouldn't have the broken link problem. Each of the Index Posts does have the date it was last updated, but that isn't necessarily the date of last publication. In other words, I may not have changed the date when the post was updated.



I've spent all afternoon and evening working on this. I'm irritated. I'm frustrated. Mostly at myself but also with Blogger. So,I'm going to "sit" on this for a few days and think about it some more, then decide if it is important enough to go looking for broken links to the various Index Posts.In the meantime, if anyone has any great ideas regarding this, please let me know. Oh, and if you come across a broken link, please notify me. I won't yell at you. I promise.