Adventures in Onionism

I'm packing up to move today. I'll be moving into probably my seventh place in Berkeley, but it could be more depending on how you count friends' couches or "the woods." Regardless, hopefully this will be the last move until I graduate (hopefully next year). Other than my having been distracted lately, research is going well. I was busy grading exams, I may have to file a FOIA request, bla bla bla. The cool stuff: I went to Ventana Wilderness for three days. I took two friends from high school, one who lives in SF, and one who's visiting from Chicago. Here they are at the trailhead on Hwy 1 near Kirk Creek. We didn't get to the trailhead until 7PM, so we just did three miles or so to the first campsite. We made a big campfire, which was only the third time I have built one in all of my 10,000+ miles of hiking since 2002. I set them up with lightweight gear (we all used ULA packs), and I mostly had enough lightweight non-cotton clothing to outfit all of u...

I just learned to roll a kayak. I took a lesson from the UC Aquatic Center, with the same instructor who taught the basic class I took last fall. I assume it will be harder when I (1) go under accidentally instead of deliberately (2) go under in the cold ocean instead of a heated pool, or (3) go under in my gigantic sea kayak instead of a tiny whitewater boat, but for now, I'm pretty stoked about the C to C roll (on my right side, and actually, more just "righting myself" instead of a complete revolution).

Scott Jurek is crazy, awesome, and vegan .

Ran the Redwood 50K in 6:03 today. It rained pretty hard for almost the first hour, which made the mud pretty fun and the chafing pretty not-fun. I had hoped to ride my bike the 11 miles there to save carbon and get a better workout, but I slept pretty crappily and I thought it wouldn't be a good idea with the rain. Ultrasignup.com now has a pretty decent results page for every ultra schmoe out there, including me . They show 20 of the 23 I've run. A better person's list to look at is this one . Let me just end by saying there are few better feelings in life than to have an uplifting episode of Fresh Air end and an amazing rock song [see below] come on your iPod, and all the sudden have the endorphins flowing and all the sudden start running twice as fast when you're 3/5 of the way through an ultra.

Just watched The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers . Great movie. Somebody put caltrops or nails on the PCT near Tehachapi, so watch your step . Outside magazine article about the Berkeley grads arrested (and still imprisoned) after accidentally hiking into Iran from Kurdish northern Iraq. Last weekend in the midst of trying to buy a bicycle I went for a run in the Marin Headlands while the Miwok 100K was going on. Yes, it's pretty over there. Rodeo Beach Wolf Ridge Tennessee Beach I'm running my first ultra of the year tomorrow, a 50K in Redwood Regional Park. Whatever. Maybe it's the fact that it's 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm still in bed, but mostly I'm excited about riding my bike there.

Last weekend I went down to San Diego (Lake Morena campground, specifically) for ADZPCTKO, AKA, the best weekend of the year. Thursday was Trail Jeopardy, Friday Nano, Gazelle, and I ran to Boulder Oaks and back. That's not that long a run (11 or so) but it was at a pretty good tempo with some good hills. Then instead of one Class of '09 video (that's typically just a bunch of photos of '09 hikers with way too much Ken Burns effect) as has been the case for the last five years, the organizers showed several short films submitted by hikers. The most memorable was probably Jester's Wizards of the PCT . It was fairly Squatch -esque in that it showed a bunch of silly hikers' exploits while also describing the trail. We just saw the desert portion, the whole thing will be finished later this year. (Also later this year, Squatch is hoping to film some friends going after the current 29-day speed record for the high point in each of the lower 48 states.) Saturday D...

Behold. It's a beautiful 51cm Lemond Tourmalet. Probably a 2002, which was maybe the last year they made steel frames. I'd long been considering a Surly Cross-Check or Soma Double-Cross. I test-rode a used Cross-Check yesterday, but the 2x9 setup wouldn't work well for touring. I could have changed that pretty easily myself, but finding the Lemond exactly the way I wanted it for $50 more was easier. I do have to buy some shoes before I can really take this one very far, however.