Critical Exponent

Thousands of cyclists, noses dripping, thighs burning, converged on Bainbridge Island for, what to many of us, was the first serious bike ride of the season: the Chilly Hilly. Though only 32 miles long, it had some steep hills that required perseverance and low gears. Unfortunately, I seem to be having gearing problems on my new bike—it could just be grime from today’s rainy ride, but I think I’ll have to take the new bike for its first “well-baby” tune-up.

Today I conquered the rugged trails at The Summit at Snoqualmie. OK, not exactly conquered, but made it through. And, fine, it depends on what your definition of “rugged” is. It may have been (technically) a green trail, but it felt like a very dark green to me. Especially fresh out of my first every cross-country ski class. But I made it through, anyway, with only a handful of falls. It’s too early to tell whether I’ll take to X-country skiing. Once my neural pathways have adapted to the concept of gliding the gravitational field with controlled grace, I’ll be able to evalutate how I feel about this, uhm, rather silly means of locomotion.

This morning, my first weekend as a Seattle resident, we met a friend to go snowshoeing in Snoqualmie Pass. It wasn’t strenuous, but it was certainly beautiful. I found out two things:

• it is not normally bitterly cold here, so I’ll enjoy winter sports just fine
• I need proper hiking boots to use in snow shoes or my ankles will be a mess.

If you are reading this, then you too can swap soup!

The First (Inter)National Soup Swap Day is scheduled for January 23, 2007. There will be soup swaps occurring in Seattle (here’s the last one), Boston (here’s the last one), and Washington, DC (new location). If you are not in any of these cities, or want to participate with your own crowd, set up your own soup swap (here’s how) and tell us about it. If you are in one of these three cities but have not participated before, let us know and we will add you to the invite list.

Click on the logo for more info:

Contacts

Seattle: Knox, me

Boston: Wolftone

Washington, DC: Gracious Bowl