Coquilles Saint-Jacques

Coquilles Saint-Jacques, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

My latest attempt at French cooking...

At first I though I would overcook the scallops, or add too much wine, or not reduce the wine enough.

Nope.

Coquilles Saint-Jacques is a lot easier to make than it sounds - try it!

Anyone been up to French cooking lately?

Pink Geranium

It is so hard to get any decent photos of the Sandia Mountains and my flowers without getting the power lines in them.

Re-Trying the Moustache Handlebar

Iconic of the Bridgestone XO era and later championed by Rivendell, the Moustache handlebar is perhaps more popular today than ever. The dramatic forward sweep, the sideways-mounted road levers and the bar-end shifters make for avisually distinct and intriguing presence. The design is easiest to understand if you think of it as a flattened out drop bar, with the brake levers installed on what would have been the hooks. Grant Petersen designed the Moustache in the early 1990s specifically for the Bridgestone XO bicycles, as a kind of a hybrid between upright and drop bars. Today several manufacturers produce their own versions (including Soma and Origin8), though likely the Nitto/ Rivendell model remains closest to the original.






I first tried Moustache handlebars three years ago, and I remember being surprised by the leaned-forward position they put me in. Unlike the handlebars you see on city bikes, the Moustache is swept forward, rather than swept back - putting the rider's hands way out there, forward of the stem. Depending on stem length and handlebar height, this can be quite an aggressive lean. Recently I tried the bars again: I've been getting questions about them from readers and wanted to refresh my memory.




Riding with Moustache bars again was fun; my riding style has changed so much since the last time. These bars are unique and remind me of no other handlebars I've ever tried, so it's hard to find a point of reference. The forward sweep is vaguely North-Roadish, with two notable exception: All the hand positions are forward of the stem, and the brake levers are in the forwardmost points of the sweep, rather than in what we are accustomed to thinking of as the gripping areas.






The shape of the handlebars feels pretty good, and I have no trouble squeezing the levers from their location (here is anillustrated guideto the hand positions). However, I find the setup counterintuitive. Squeezing the brake levers puts me in a forward-leaning position, whereas using the bar-end shifters puts me in a leaned-back position: the exact opposite of what I am used to. After all, when I squeeze the brake levers I am trying to reduce speed - and the aggressive posture counteracts that - especially when coming to a complete stop. It was interesting to experience the discrepancy between what my body wanted to do when stopping and what the bars wanted me to do. On my own bikes, I prefer for the brake levers to be in a location that allows my posture to be more relaxed.






A friend who rides with Moustache bars explains them as a variant of riding with vintage, non-aero drop bars (where you brake mainly from the hooks). He believes those who are used to that will find braking with the Moustache intuitive, whereas the likes of me who mostly brake from the hoods of modern drop bars - or from the edgemost gripping areas of swept-back handlebars - may have trouble with the setup. He could be right. Either way, it's a handsome handlebar that I enjoy seeing on others' bikes.

Zebra Slot Canyon

Today we hiked Harris Wash to Zebra and Tunnel slot canyons in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This was an amazing, albeit tiring, hike. Total hike distance was almost 9 miles over quite a variety of terrain. Quite a bit of the hike was in deep sand, something we are not used to and hiking through the sand was pretty exhausting. It sure was worth it, though!



Zebra slot canyon is short in length but amazingly beautiful. The walls of the canyon are lined with stripes, making one think of the stripes on a Zebra, hence the name. Unfortunately the most beautiful part of the canyon is very, very tight and I was too big to make it all the way in. That's okay, though, because the part of the canyon that I saw was plenty beautiful. Jessica was able to go in further than I was, and while she went ahead I stayed back and made this image.



If you look near the bottom right of the image you can see a thin stripe of sand. This is the floor of the canyon and is less than 1 foot wide. You had to wiggle through this with your feet sideways. One could always use the "chimney" technique and walk upwards along the wall using outstretched hands and feet, but I did not want to attempt this with my camera gear. So, I stayed in this spot and enjoyed the beautiful lines and colors laid out before me :-)

The Age of Ascent

Ian Elliottis a modern sport climber.

Heclips bolts, he grabs draws, he uses tricks, sticks andkneepads.





But he's no slouch.

Tenacity like a cockroach. He comes back from injuries again and again. The kind of stuff that would stop someone half his sons age.











He's known almost exclusively as Old Ian. Not sure how he got that name.



Style:Gandolf meets Harry Butler. Rocking these Arthritis support kneepads in blue, poly pro underwear in black, and red polar tech beanie by Hot Tuna.

He gets the covetedjjobrienclimbing tick.











Ian channels Bhagwan Shree Rajnessh as he works the moves on "Weapon of Choice" 27, Coolum Cave.Spooky, huh?



I somehow feel proud that the cave has such a climber as Ian, as though I gain some prestige just by association.Climbers, I have to confess to being ageist. I know, coming from me! Old people, they gamble, they take drugs, they drive like maniacs.But then there are exceptions that give us an alternative model.







I could watch it again and again:The scene where this kindly old gentleman shows a Forester load ofbumpy boyshow to do the route they've been dogging all day. And then offers to retrieve their draws.Priceless.









Grow old, stay strong.jj

Caddo Lake Revisited

Tuesday, April 12th - - It seems like it has been much longer, but it was just 12 days ago that I was here at Caddo Lake State Park near Marshall, Texas. There seems to be a little more green now, which is just fine with me ;-) and the water lilies are about to burst out into bloom.



It was nearing sunset when I arrived this time, and like my previous visit the light was amazing.

Paddling the Pigeon

My favorite place to paddle! I love the Pigeon River... especially when it is calm like it was the evening that I made this image. The upper Pigeon River is a wildlife paradise. Every time I venture out on the river I see at least a few different critters. Beavers are almost guaranteed, as are a few different species of waterfowl. Kingfishers are sometimes seen patrolling the banks of the river, and now and then a Moose or two will show up. I’ve even been lucky enough on more than one occasion to see a Black Bear swimming across the river! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Otters and Muskrats! Muskrats are seldom seen, but I almost always see at least one Otter when I visit the river. I’m heading up now to spend the late afternoon and evening on the river… I wonder what I will see today?