Smoothies All Around!

No sooner had I returned from New York over the weekend, than the Soma Smothie I'd been anticipating for review had arrived. So I took a break from the loop frame delirium of the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show and immediately took it for a spin. Soma roadbikes are not very common here on the East Coast. So imagine my surprise when on my way home I encountered another Smoothie!





As I stopped to snap some pictures at the end of my ride, these gentlemen recognised me and we had a nice chat about their 650B conversions - one a vintage Andre Bertin and the other a Soma Smoothie ES with a Bontrager fork. I am so happy to be back home! Where else but in Boston does one encounter this sort of thing?







But enough about other people's bikes for now, and here is more about the one I am riding. This Soma Smoothie is on loan for review directly from the manufacturer. It is a 52cm steel frameset that was built up to accommodate my Campagnolo lever preferences, which was very nice of them. Everything shown on the bike is directly from Soma, except for my bag and pedals.





I have not weighed the bike yet, but (without saddlebag) it feels pretty similar to my vintage Moser - so I'd say around 21lb.Described as a road/race frame, the Smoothie nonetheless has eyelets for fenders and clearances for 28mm tires.






One thing it does't have? Toe overlap! That's right: Here is a stock 52cm road/racing bike with no TCO. They exist. I wear size 37-38 shoes and with 23mm tires there is a boatload of clearance (well maybe it's a small boat, but still). I can definitely fit it with 25mms without a problem, maybe even 28mm.




The pearly white colourscheme is adaptable to a wide range of aesthetics, from classic to colourful to stark. The TIG welded frame will not satisfy lug lovers but is solid and smooth-jointed. It is a versatile, unobtrusive frameset. A carbon fork is available in place of the standard steel one for those wishing to go that route.






This is not a review, so I won't go over the details of the build at this stage. But as far as first impressions (and mind you this is after just 25 miles), a couple of things stand out: First, it is smooth - as advertised. And I am talking about ride quality: very comfy over bumps and I do not feel any road vibration. And second, it handles tamely and predictably. No twitchiness and very precise cornering at the moderate speeds maintained during my conservative "shake down" ride.








The Smothie ES owner I met on the road is very happy with his bicycle, which he's got outfitted with 32mm tires and fenders. I will refrain from writing more about the bike I have on loan until I ride it extensively, but at under $400 for the frame, I am impressed so far. We need more of these on the East Coast and I hope some local shops will carry floor models in the near future.

Tombstone Tuesday :: Jacob and Malissa Wise

On the left is the marker for Jacob Wise in Section "J" at the National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. On the right is the marker for Jacob and Malissa in the Hively Corners Cemetery (now St. Matthew's Church Cemetery) in Thorncreek Township, Whitley County, Indiana.

JACOB WISE / BORN DEC 8, 1827 / DIED MAY 7, 1865
MALISSA A. WIFE OF / JACOB WISE / BORN APR 21, 1833 / DIED AUG 6, 1901

Melissa Ann Stem was the oldest of six children born to Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem. Malissa and three of her sisters were born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. About 1844-1845 the Stem family moved from Pennsylvania to Chester Township in Wayne County, Ohio where another daughter was born. By 1852 the family had arrived in Thorncreek Township, Whitley County, Indiana where their last child, a son, was born.

On June 27, 1850 in Wayne County, Ohio Malissa Ann Stem was married to Jacob Wise who was also a resident of Chester Township, and probably a son of Peter and Christena Wise who are buried in Gilead Cemetery, Miami County, Indiana.

Jacob and Malissa had seven children, three of whom died young. Their last child was born two weeks after Jacob was drafted. It is not known whether or not he ever saw his youngest daughter. After Jacob's death, Malissa remained on the family farm, and with the support of her oldest son, 13 year old William P. Wise (my 2nd great-grandfather), went about the task of raising her family.

In March 1876, Malissa married Jacob Scott. After he passed away on June 2, 1890 Malissa resided with her son William. A very short obituary was published in the Columbia City Post on August 14, 1901 which stated "The most of her life was passed in the vicinity where she died, where all learned to esteem her for her kind and careful life and many virtues. Her last days were fraught with suffering being a helpless invalid for several years, but she endured her suffering with hopeful patience making no complaint, but with faith looking forward to the relief of the coming dawn of Eternal day."

A Visitation of Cows

The grass is always greener over the neighbor’s septic tank.




There are two places where we are separated from a neighbor’s land by water.

Several times a year it rains hard enough or long enough to make the creeks rise more than just a few feet, and the force of the water knocks the fences down.

Cows are a lot more observant than you might think.

More observant about fences than the neighbor's workmen, most times.

They view it as an invitation to visit us.




Jasmine the wonder homestead dog chases them back where they belong.

But they get spooked, and run fast enough to tear up the soggy ground. They also leave us smelly presents.

This month it happened often enough for me to start thinking about free BBQ.

Blue Door

This little garden was behind a shop with lots of Native American gift items. They also had a coffee shop with outdoor tables to sit at. The walls were the traditional adobe tan color, and the door and window frames had been painted blue. I love the color combo.

Cycling Through the Neighborhood(s)

The small street where I live is positioned between two radically different neighborhoods on the Cambridge/Somerville line in the greater Boston area.

In one direction is an affluent Harvard neighborhood with brick sidewalks, historical mansions, romantic gardens, and overarching trees.

In the other direction is a stretch of concrete lined with multi-family houses with faded vinyl siding, shopping plazas, warehouses, and unfinished construction sites behind chain-link fences.

When we first moved here, it amazed me that two neighborhoods of such different character could border each other so crisply: There is no overlap, it is as if someone drew a line between them. Over time I got used to the divide and just accepted it as a given, but having begun cycling made me hyper-aware of it once again.

Cycling towards Harvard is relatively tranquil, with roads that are in reasonable shape and motorists who seem accustomed to bicycles. I would not go so far as to call it a "Disneyworld version" of a vehicular cycling experience, but close to it.

Cycling in the other direction, the roads are covered with pot-holes, the drivers are more aggressive and impatient, and traffic patterns are chaotic. Recently, Somerville has painted "sharrows" all over the major roads and this has helped a bit with the driver aggression. A bit.

When I first began cycling, I dealt with this by staying away from Somerville and only going to destinations that could be accessed via the calmer Cambridge route. But in the long run, this was not a reasonable solution. So I started to get myself used to the area by cycling with the Co-Habitant. Gradually, the anxiety of it began to subside. And then, one morning I got on my bike and rode on my own to a hardware store that is in the very thicket of the area that used to intimidate me. It suddenly felt fine.

I know that there are many, many people who cycle through Somerville constantly and probably find my comments here ridiculous / pathetic, but so be it - cycling there used to honestly give me anxiety attacks. No more though. In some ways it is up to the person to make the area where they live accessible to themselves.

Brooks-Range Cirro Hoody

This is a jacket I should have written up a long time ago.



It can be found here:

http://brooks-range.com/cirro-hoody.html



Last winter when us rookie Americans kept missing the last Midi tram off the mountain at the end of the day we had few options. The Loo or the walk over to the Cosmic hut. Being on a budget we would stay in the Loo unless the tram crew kicked us out because of the bad weather and over crowding.



Even in the Loo it was a miserable night for the most part. Not very comfortable with no gear and colder than I would have liked but not the typical -30C it was hitting outside either.



I think it was the second night up there that I started dropping theCirrus in my ruckas my "last" layer. And it did make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. I was comfortable with that last layer when I hadn't been previous.Less than a pound and worth every penny. I would have used it a lot more this summer and fall if my plans had worked out. My only complaint was this particular one was in black. Hard to get good pictures with a black jacket:) More so if you only use it climbing at night or on an uncomfortable bivy. When and where the jacket did get usedis high praise though for a garment designed just for those exact kind of instances.



Here is why it is so good:



It has a great hood, that does fit over a helmet, and a stand up collar in addition to that hood. The fitis relaxed so I could easily layer under it. Slick as well so nothing to hang up when layered. And it all stuffs into one of the side pockets easily for packing. As good as it gets for materials and insulation when a lot of the 60g jackets have gone to Primaloft Eco, Brooks didn't dummie down this jacket.



•Insulation: Primaloft One®, 60g/m2

•Shell Fabric: 15 denier Pertex™

14.7 oz on my scale for a XL







No joke, layersix is a Brooks-Range Cirro.The Midi upper station Loo, 2am, Feb .60g of Primaloft One and 2 layers of Pertex areenough to make a stark difference when it is cold.

Arches National Park :: Devil's Garden

It was early on Thursday morning (May 13th) when I arrived at Arches National Park, which is north of Moab, Utah. And the awful weather of the previous two days had finally drifted away! It was a beautiful day. The campground is 18 miles from the entrance station and visitors center. Bypassing the latter for the time being, I drove on out to the campground in hopes of getting a campsite for the night. I was dismayed to discover that this year the campground was switched to a reservation only system.

This meant that I “might” get a site if someone canceled or was a no-show. There was an older gentleman who arrived at the same time I did. The camp host was very nice in explaining the situation to us and, luckily, said that it was likely that “something” would be available later in the afternoon. He suggested that we go take a hike and return about three o'clock.

So, that's what I did. The Devil's Garden Trail was just down the road and since it was still early (about nine o'clock) there was plenty of parking available. This trail is the longest of the maintained trails in the park and goes to eight arches with views of several others. It is actually a series of trails with a total length of 6.2 miles round-trip. It wasn't “easy” by any means, but overall it wasn't all that difficult with the exception of several crucial spots that involved scrambling over rocks and walking along the tops of fins (large, very long, sometimes narrow rocks).

Pine Tree Arch.

Tunnel Arch.

There were several groups of school kids on the trail.

Landscape Arch, taken at an angle to get the entire length in one shot, even then I didn't get the ends of it completely. At 310 feet long (with a 290 foot span), it is reportedly the longest freestanding natural arch known to exist. At its thinnest point it is only six feet thick. When I visited the park in 1979 there was a trail where you could walk under the arch. (Somewhere, I have a photo from that trip that shows someone walking on the arch!) It has become more fragile with age, and several large chunks fell off in 1995, so for safety reasons and to help preserve it a little longer they closed the trail that went underneath the arch.

There was a bit of a bottleneck with the school kids traversing the rocks. The trail split a short distance ahead. They went one way and I went the other!

A southwest view of the valley from near Navajo Arch.

The valley view through Partition Arch, looking east.

A portion of the trail went along the top of a fin, with the “added bonus” of several rocks on top, which provided challenging obstacles. It was about 25-30 feet to the ground.

Fins alongside the trail.