The Walking, Hiking, Biking, Climbing, Skiing and Snow Shoeing Thread

[Sir Henry]

Yup, eh.

The smaller sprocket is about lower gearing need for the heavy pedaling effort needed when off road, especially in sand or snow.

Mine is geared low too.

[RudyN]

I do a little hiking in the park by my house. It is a little hilly, but not to bad. I am also a bicycle rider, both road and MTB. Of course with the rain here in California I haven't been able to get out to much.

[Sir Henry]

I walked with the Wednesday Walkers today. About twenty of us started the three loop trail but only five of us did the 5.01 miles at an average pace of 3.4 mph. The trail was nice but one place had fifty feet of standing water. Deep enough to make it interesting but not so deep our feet got wet.

[Sir Henry]

I did five miles on the Tolt Pipeline just before the sun went down yesterday.

I've made my schedule for Spring and on March 20th I will be hiking on Mondays and Thursdays. These will be more of a conditioning hike/climb as Mount Si will be the destination most of the time. But by June the snow will start to disappear from the higher elevation trails and I will start heading to the pass area.

[North Country Gal]

Did over 100 miles on the road bikes, this week, out on dry pavement, thanks to our crazy February thaw. Had a storm, though, yesterday, so back to the fat bikes for awhile. Our big nationally known cross county ski race got cancelled for only the second time in its history for lack of snow.

As I write this, I can see our two otters out on the ice that do a lot of fishing where we can watch them from our kitchen window. They come every winter to our lake.

[Sir Henry]

Did over 100 miles on the road bikes, this week, out on dry pavement, thanks to our crazy February thaw. Had a storm, though, yesterday, so back to the fat bikes for awhile. Our big nationally known cross county ski are got cancelled for only the second time in its history for lack of snow.

As I write this, I can see our two otters out on the ice that do a lot of fishing where we can watch them from our kitchen window. They come every winter to our lake.

That has to be the coolest thing to watch. I see lots of deer and coyote and a bear or two but nothing like an otter.

[RanchRoper]

We have otters in the River across from our place, don't see them very often. Coyotes in abundance and no wolf tracks yet this winter in our yard, but with spring coming they will likely be around. We have a cougar in the neighborhood the last few weeks too. It's like wild animal kingdom some nights.

[North Country Gal]

Yeah, we love watching the otters. Amazing animals.

We get bears, too, and we are starting to see cougars in Wisconsin, now, but I think I'd rather take my chances with bears.

[Sir Henry]

Yeah, we love watching the otters. Amazing animals.

We get bears, too, and we are starting to see cougars in Wisconsin, now, but I think I'd rather take my chances with bears.

I had a bobcat in my yard three years ago. I took a picture and the local newspaper printed it. I was famous for a week.

[Sir Henry]

I've been going in streaks of walking and not walking but yesterday was the first day of spring climbing training. I met a neighbor at the trailhead and climbed Mt. Si in two hours and thirty minutes. Not a fast time but we did have to use spikes on our boots because of the hard snow and ice. Its four miles in and four out but more important its over 3,000 feet elevation gain.

The temperature was just above freezing and the wind was howling at 15 to 20 mph. It was very cold but the neighbor lady did fine.

[Deadwood Dutch]

Glad you had a good time, looks like you are off to a good start.

[Sir Henry]

We climbed Si again today. It took us eight minutes longer this time but the last thousand feet had fresh snow and the top was covered in snow making foot placement on the boulders difficult.

[Sir Henry]

Last Monday I hiked on Orcas Island but yesterday it was back to Mount Si. We did it in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 47 seconds. After these hikes the bottoms of my feet are score and my hiking partner showed me some stretches to do. I did them before I got out of bed this morning and could walk normal.

The hike was easier because the snow and ice are only on the last few hundred feet and we didn't even bother to put crampons on. Then right at the top we had a heavy snow flurry. I hike in shorts even though the temperature was in the 30's so if I stop I get cold. Makes for a faster pace.

[RetiredSeabee]

Glad you got out for the fresh air. I would have frozen to death in shorts. Matter of fact I would have frozen fully dressed.

The feet thing has been hitting me too. It seems that I am susceptible to Plantar Fasciitis. I do some exercises every morning before getting out of bed. And any time I have been sitting for any length of time. It sure helps a lot.

[PT7]

I got some forwarded photos from a friend this morning, and thought this one to be exceptionally beautiful. I particularly love any scene involving snow/ice, especially coming off of rock formations.

Wonder what the fellow's view looks like from where he's standing on that peak? His must have been quite a hike.

peak.jpg (57.55 KiB) Viewed 1493 times

We climbed Si again today. It took us eight minutes longer this time but the last thousand feet had fresh snow and the top was covered in snow making foot placement on the boulders difficult.

[Sir Henry]

Glad you got out for the fresh air. I would have frozen to death in shorts. Matter of fact I would have frozen fully dressed.

The feet thing has been hitting me too. It seems that I am susceptible to Plantar Fasciitis. I do some exercises every morning before getting out of bed. And any time I have been sitting for any length of time. It sure helps a lot.

What exercises do you do?

[RetiredSeabee]

Glad you got out for the fresh air. I would have frozen to death in shorts. Matter of fact I would have frozen fully dressed.

The feet thing has been hitting me too. It seems that I am susceptible to Plantar Fasciitis. I do some exercises every morning before getting out of bed. And any time I have been sitting for any length of time. It sure helps a lot.

What exercises do you do?

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I was on the road and took a little time off to enjoy a trip to Nashville with my wife and granddaughter.

What I do is real basic. I start out just alternating curling the toes and straightening and stretching.
Then pressing the heels away and toes up gently for about fifteen seconds. Then increasing the press to stretch the back of the calf. Then alternate pressing the toes away then the heel for maybe ten repetitions.
Then I separate the feet about hip distance apart, tilt the toes inward toward each other. Then rotate the ankles making circles with the toes about five times in each direction.
Hope that makes sense.

[Sir Henry]

Glad you got out for the fresh air. I would have frozen to death in shorts. Matter of fact I would have frozen fully dressed.

The feet thing has been hitting me too. It seems that I am susceptible to Plantar Fasciitis. I do some exercises every morning before getting out of bed. And any time I have been sitting for any length of time. It sure helps a lot.

What exercises do you do?

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I was on the road and took a little time off to enjoy a trip to Nashville with my wife and granddaughter.

What I do is real basic. I start out just alternating curling the toes and straightening and stretching.
Then pressing the heels away and toes up gently for about fifteen seconds. Then increasing the press to stretch the back of the calf. Then alternate pressing the toes away then the heel for maybe ten repetitions.
Then I separate the feet about hip distance apart, tilt the toes inward toward each other. Then rotate the ankles making circles with the toes about five times in each direction.
Hope that makes sense.

We climbed Mount Si again yesterday and did it in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 7 seconds. Not bad for some old people.

Three others have shown me the same thing you are doing and I found that if I do it often enough I have no pain.

[RetiredSeabee]

Yep Gene, foot pain is one of the "benefits" of aging.
Our feet are one of the first victims of getting older and not necessarily wiser. The muscles and tendons in our feet and legs begin to lose some of their elasticity. And the fascia which is a sticky fiber web which covers pretty much everything in our bodies becomes less able to stretch. When we rest, it cools down and gets stiff. That is why stretching feels so good when we wake up. We put a lot of strain on our feet every day. The fascia that surrounds the tendons that connect the heel bone to the front of the foot is subject to a lot of strain.
I wore size 10 1/2 and 11 shoes from age 19 to 60 then I found that shoes didn't seem to fit any more. I now wear 11 1/2 and 12.
Now anytime I am resting sitting or laying down I will flex the feet, calves, and ankles before standing up.

[Sir Henry]

I'm now climbing on Mondays and Thursdays. Yesterday's time was 1 hour, 56 minutes and 29 seconds in the pouring rain.