Galbraith....good people

This weekend was gorgeous, so I took the chance to do lots of riding before the rain settled back in. On Saturday, I rode Galbraith Mt. near Bellingham. This place is awesome and I met lots of other riders out on the trails who I could tag along with since the trail system is expansive and its very easy to get lost. I was having a blast up until I realized that my camera was no longer on my back! I went looking for it and had given it up for dead, so I just tried to enjoy the ride and not be too pissed at myself.

Sunday was perfect too and I rode Japanese Gulch again. I have a pretty good mental map of the place now and know where the good stuff is. And where the freeride stuff is. I'll take photos next time I'm there....its absurd.

Monday I got an excellent surpise. I had posted a lost ad on a local mountain biking forum and received a response from a guy who had found my camera! Its back now and I even have a few pics from Galbraith. Steve, you are the man!

Mt. Baker





What's around that corner?

Working Stiff

Today marked my second week of working a real job. I have been both excited and terrified of this point in my life for years now and I'm happy to report that its going to be OK. I'm still a bit in shock that I managed to find a company like this and managed to get hired. Electroimpact is completely lacking in any kind of training and they really throw you into the mix as soon as you walk in the door. I've compared hiring and early experiences with quite a few other engineers there and they all coincide, almost perfectly.

I've been assigned to a project team that is building a "small" 6-axis riveting machine. Small is everyone else's word. I call it large considering its yoke is about 12 feet tall and has a 5 foot throat. Picture a gigantic horseshoe. I've been assigned to design and make a prototype section of steel and carbon fiber paneling and then test it to failure. And adapt the A and B axis actuators from another machine. And design the test jig for when we initially build and test the machine in our facility before delivery. I'm making progress on all fronts and learning a ton as I go and ask questions of the more experienced guys.

The work environment is great too. There's no dress code at all. I'm given an almost scary amount of autonomy and I can come and go at will.

Here's a few pics from the neighborhood.

Dicky's house where I'm renting.



Yikes

In Rainbows

I'm listening to the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, right now...pretty damn good if you ask me. Similar to their other stuff, but somehow simpler. You can download it at the link above for whatever price you choose to pay.

walk score

I found this nifty little widget that calculates how good your neighborhood is for walking based upon how close certain necessities are. Current location.....20 out of 100. Pretty poor, but very accurate. Sidewalks are almost completely unknown in this part of town too. So are shoulders for that matter.

You can get your score here...




I'm looking to move to a more permanent location pretty soon anyway, so I've been using this to see whats around my perspective locations. Now I'm looking at neighborhoods in the low to high 80's. The one irritating thing about this is, that these neighborhoods are 3 times further to work and driving is absolutely mandatory.

slipperier than snot

Its been pretty rainy since I got to Seattle, but today looked like a good day for an after work ride. Japanese Gulch is advertised as the best place within about an hour of here and its only 10 minutes from the office. I chatted with another rider in the parking lot about where the best trails are, etc. His one gem of info was, "Watch out for the bridges...they're slipperier than snot."

Point taken.





Overall a great place. Can't wait to ride it when its really dry, but it will see plenty of action nonetheless.

Cross Country

Went something like this....

1.5 day blast from NJ to Minneapolis...




Weekend with my aunt Deb and her family near Minneapolis...got to do some riding, see the sights and catch up...




from Minneapolis to Chadron, NE via the Badlands, Black Hills (more riding) and Buffalo Gap Grasslands...





spent the night in Chadron with Russ and Julie and then on to Jesse in Colorado Springs...guess what we did when I got there...





From CO Springs, it was a relatively short drive to the other side of the Rockies and Fruita, where I rode my bike and camped out in the desert...




Here's where it got rough. I was very excited to see Utah and Nevada because I have never experience the high desert. Well I got my fill. It took me something like 18 hours to get to Lake Tahoe. The scenery was fantastic for most of the ride, but the wind in Nevada was brutal! I felt like my car was going to come to a dead stop at times.



Good thing I had Nate to greet me when I got there! Here's what I saw when I looked out the window in the morning...



On Sunday, Nate skipped out on work, so he, Jay and I did a local ride where I was both thoroughly humbled yet completely ecstatic by the end...



Monday morning entailed a quick breakfast with Nate in Truckee, then on the road again to Corvallis, OR where Sarah lives. This was another stretch that was rather grueling. Getting through the Sierras was OK, especially with views of Mt. Shasta leading me on...but Oregon seemed to go on forever...



Sarah took me out to an awesome vegetarian place in Corvallis when I got there so I could gather myself for the last day of driving...

And wadayano....I didn't take a single freakin picture on the last day. I was pretty nervous about moving into a new place and going to work the next day so I spaced...

off again

Wow, I haven't posted in a month. Since then I've found a job in Seattle, a place to live out there, moved out of Storrs, graduated and said goodbye to almost everyone I know. Its been a fun last month on the east coast!











Tomorrow I'm packing up the Camry again and heading west. I'm very excited about living in Seattle and the job, but nervous too. I'm going to be working for Electroimpact in Mukilteo and living in Lynnwood. On the way out there I'm visiting family and friends that I don't get to see very often (except Jesse...who I've seen way too much of).

Google maps route

Thanks for a great send-off everyone! Keep in touch and I'll do the same!

Bigelow Hollow to Storrs

There's something I've been meaning to do for a while. I've been wanting to ride from Bigelow Hollow to Storrs on the Nipmuck trail. The idea first got implanted in my mind 2 years ago, but somehow it never got done. Last summer I rode solo from Storrs to the point where the Nipmuck and Natchaug trails meet and back, which is about 10 miles south of Bigelow. It was a brutal ride, but the best part was the area right near the trail junction.

This year I found a willing partner in Jesse, my soon to be moving to Colorado roommate. The Nipmuck north of Storrs doesn't see much traffic of any form and it's entirely possible you could lie there for days without anyone passing by, so a partner is a wise choice. We got a ride to Union and started pedaling at 9:45am.





Only a couple of miles in, we ran into trouble.


Luckily we're engineers and know how to use tools. We were soon back on our way.




As we had hoped, this section of trails was awesome! It followed lots of narrow, steep ridges and had a good combination of technical step up and downs with flowy fast sections connecting.









We were very relieved to finally hit the trail junction as the northern part took us way longer than expected.




By this point, Jesse was out of water, I was low and we were both out of food. Luckily the trail crosses Rt. 74 about a mile from a gas station, so we reloaded there.






The worst part of the trail followed, but we had to finish it up. Once we crossed Rt. 44, the last step was to climb from the Fenton River to the top of Horsebarn hill. This was the second longest climb in the 30 mile ride. Despite being only 30 miles, it took us almost 8 hours.

disappointment

About 2 weeks ago I had and interview with a company in Germany and really wanted the position. I also really want to live in Germany again. Unfortunately, they turned me down. Damn. So I'm back on the job hunt again. Its a bit depressing.

Things to do when knocked down:

1. apply to more jobs. check.
2. ride bike. check.
3. climb. check.
4. go to beach. check.
5. repeat. check and check.

Andrew making Chocolate Party look way too easy.