Where'd the time go?

Wow!

Feb has been a strange old month!

The poor old Monocog has not made it out of the garage yet - trails either too sloppy or other commitments keeping me away!

Still not been a complete waste. Superbowl weekend was spent Ice-climbing up in Pa. Great time had by all, travelled up with Todd, George, Mike and Spence on Friday - stopping briefly in Sunbury to restock with beer (I can recommend Molson XXX to anyone, useless you ever want to function properly again) and talk to the rudest man on Earth.

Saturday started with outside temps of 8 oF and blistering hangovers (think it must have been something we ate) and improved rapidly. discovered a skill I didn't know I had - I am now an expert at sitting on my arse with cross-country skis attached to my feet (less fun than it sounds).

Cold as a cold thing all day which meant the ice (on my first introduction to ice-climbing) was fantastic - hard as concrete. Saturday night was the traditional camp out! Tents pitched and fire lit. Temp was a disappointingly warm 14 oF by 10:30pm and just kept on climbing to a toasty 18 oF by morning - we had kind of hoped for a single digit low to boast about but it was not to be. Sunday and it was time for the "organized" ice-climbing - with a trip lead by students from Boonsburg Uni. Very different experience, high temps in the high 30s and climbing in T-shirts was an option. Wet ice, soft and the occasional icefall to remind us to keep our helmets on even when not climbing. Well I'm hooked - need to build some upper body strength, the cycling/running vestigial arms not so useful when trying to pull yourself up an ice face!

Happy Campers

One of most memorable weekends since been this side of the pond! MLW took a look at the "movie" put together by George and proclaimed "wow! that looks REALLY miserable" - women what do they know?!

Group Photie In Front of Ice!

Rest of month spent trying to prepare for GW Birthday Marathon (15 Feb). Meant to do loads, in the end did the bare minimum - longest run in preparation 16 miles. Just hope the training for last years JFK 50 has been maintained. Managed to get the trusty fixie back on the road - BIG UP to Princeton Sports for rebuilding my backwheel - super job!

Later

DB