One More Time :: The Piedras Blancas Elephant Seals

Wednesday, May 1st - - A drive along the central Coast of California is not complete without a stop to see the Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas, a few miles north of San Simeon. It is just plain fun to watch them interacting, getting annoyed with each other, and playing. If it is a warm day and the breeze is coming in off the ocean you may not want to stay long (the smell can be a bit overwhelming at times) but it is definitely worth a visit.



Carol has some cute pictures of the seals that she took in April of this year. And here are some photos from my visit in April ... There was far more activity and movement amongst the seals today than on past visits.

Conditions after the rains look good

Most "local" ice climbers are figuring that the season has just ended with all the rain. What ice could be left? I'm happy to report the the community that most held in with minor damage. Here's a photo conditions report from today. Hope this motivates you to come check out SWPA!

Irishtown, The Prow WI4, M3 a little washed, watch the top.

Irishtown, Mouth of Madness WI5-

in slightly easier conditions. The best its looked this season

Irishtown, Dynamite M6+, almost a drytool line.

Not much ice at the top.

Irishtown, Pale Wildwood Ice Tower WI4

makes another appearance

Irishtown, Dirty-T M4 is in great shape for a moderate mixed

Irishtown, Upper Wall, currently OUT

Possibly by next weekend it will rebond.

Upper Meadow Run, Ohiopyle State Park, School Yard WI4- to 3-

held up and is in great shape.

Upper Meadow Run Amphitheater is looking good.

Upper Meadow Run, Ohiopyle State Park, Buckey's Line WI3+

This rare former is in good shape. Watch the thick top out.

Lower Meadow Run, Season Finale M6 R is ready

Lower Meadow Run, Ohiopyle State Park, Main Flow WI3,

Anger Management M6 climbs up through the daggers, currently in great shape.

Lower Meadow Run, Caveman M7 the ice is a little short, but should go

Lower Meadow Run, The Flows WI2 still nice and thick

Other local ice conditions...

The Beast WI5+/6 formed more right due to wind.

Its tentacles are about grounded. Son of Beast WI5+ filled in nicely.

The Infinite WI5+ and The SICK-le WI6, M7

Still plenty of ice and new lines to be climbed...

So there it is. There's still lots of ice in most areas. The forecast looks promising for improving conditions. Now is the time to climb. The ice has finally become smooth and good sticks are easier now than in weeks past. Get out and enjoy the great conditions we've been given. If you have any questions about other local conditions or areas, drop me a line. Hope to see you out there. -Tim

Lake Superior Lightning and the Spirit Tree

I was going through some older shots again last night and came across this one that I wanted to share. One of the "dream" shots that I want to get someday is a huge lightning bolt filling the sky behind the spirit tree. So far that hasn't happened, despite many tries. Whenever there is a thunderstorm heading our way that looks favorable, I head down to the tree hoping to catch that dream shot. While I haven't yet captured the giant sky-filling bolt behind the tree, I have captured some smaller ones that are quite interesting in their own right.


This is one such shot from back in June of . This particular storm was moving very slowly and as the storm hit Hat Point in Grand Portage, it changed course and headed out over the lake. This meant that I was able to photograph the lightning and the tree with minimal risk of getting wet from rainfall. I did feel a few drops here and there, but most of the storm was out over the lake so I stayed pretty dry. Most of the lightning was "heat lightning", which just flashes up in the clouds, but there were a few bolts as well. This was the best picture of a bolt that I captured that night.

The Geldings

Tucker and Caesar are Desi's geldings. Tucker is a big boy. The tallest and heaviest of the horses.

Velo Suicide (Don't Do It!)

An alarming phenomenon has been brought to my attention that I wish to share with my readers. We don't give this a great deal of thought, but perhaps we ought to: People are not the only ones effected by the winter blues; bicycles feel them too.



[velo suicide; image by Astroluc]

In Boston, this most recent and serious victim of vSAD (velocepedian Seasonal Affective Disorder) plunged to his death off the bridge into the frozen Charles River. Thank you to Astroluc for bringing this tragic and under-reported story to the forefront. We do not know why this bicycle chose to end his life. Perhaps he was not ridden enough once the winter season began. Perhaps he was not loved enough. It could even be that I am to blame - with my incessant talk of "lovely bicycles" and my rants against welding marks. Clearly I have been insensitive to the fragile self esteem of our dear velo friends, and for that I am truly sorry.



[velo suicide: close-up; image by Astroluc]

To all the lonely, isolated, unloved bicycles out there: Please do not despair. You are all lovely and special in your own way. If your owner has neglected or abandoned you, know that there are options out there - such as Bikes Not Bombs, who will take you in, feed you hot soup, restore you to good health an find you a new home. Stay warm and keep away from the Charles River. And to all the bicycle owners out there, be aware that velo suicide can take on epidemic qualities, as one of my favourite educational films so poignantly illustrates. Take care of your bicycles and don't forget to tell them you love them this winter, even if you don't ride much.

Pilen Lyx: the Pragmatic Romantic

Earlier this summer, I had a Pilen Lyx lady's bicycle in my possession for over a month, on loan from the US distributor BoxCycles. During this time I got to know the bicycle fairly well, and it is one of the more unusual classic bikes I have ridden so far - with a combination of qualities that makes it difficult to categorise. A city bike and an off-road bike in one, the Pilen is attractive, durable, amazingly stable, and is capable of hauling a great deal of weight.



When the blue Pilenwas delivered to me, I was taken aback by its striking looks. I knew that this bicycle was designed to be practical, not pretty. A Scandinavian friend described its reputation as that of a "tank" - resistant to rust, tolerant of neglect and abuse, and indifferent to getting dropped on the ground or crashed at slow speeds - all around "solid." In a region that is no stranger to heavy-duty bikes, that is quite a statement and it led me to expect a purely no-nonesense machine. But in person the Pilen has a romantic quality to it that transcends the practical aspects.



It is not a quaint bicycle. But it is graceful and evocative. My imagination immediately went into overdrive with daydreams of seaside forest trails and lush meadows under stormy skies - the Pilen gliding through them with a stack of firewood strapped to its rear rack. While in a way such flights of fancy are absurd, I think that a bicycle's ability to inspire is tremendously important, and the Pilen inspires.



Aside from the looks in a general sense, I was impressed with the frame construction. I knew that the frame was TIG-welded (not lugged) steel, so I was not expecting to swoon over it. But as far as welded frames go, this is swoon-worthy. The frame joints are beautiful, with the welding marks nearly invisible - visually on par with custom frames.



The curved seat stays are capped and meet the seat tube in the most elegant manner. No shortcuts, no ugly blobs here. The top of the seat tube has a "collar" that completes the quality feel.



The crisp, lugged fork crown balances out the details at the rear. It is really very nicely done and I prefer a frame like this by far to frames where the main tubes are half-heartedly lugged, with a welded rear triangle or a unicrown fork slapped on.



My one criticism of the frame construction, is that while there are details such as a braze-on for the front wheel stabiliser spring, there are no braze-ons for the shifter cable and it is attached along the down tube with black clips. Why not add a couple of braze-ons here?



The Pilen headbadge: "cycles from Malilla." The word pilen means "arrow" in Swedish. The bicycles are designed and assembled in-house, with the frames built in Taiwan to their specifications.



Pilen bicycles come equipped with Brooks B66 saddles (B66S for the lady's frame) in a selection of colours. Frame colour can also be selected - the other options being black, dark green and dark red.



Rubber grips and a Pilen-branded bell. You have to spin the bell to ring it, which can work nicely for those whole finger hurts from trigger-style bells.



The version of the Lyx I had was equipped with a 3-speed Shimano coaster brake hub with a twist shifter. Other possibilities are available, including hand-operated brakes and 8-speed hubs. The bicycle comes with a dynamo hub-powered headlight, which can be attached either below the stem or on the side, via a braze-on on the fork - depending on whether you plan to attach a basket. When the headlight it attached below the stem, the wire is contained within a long spring that attaches to a braze-on on the fork. I have never seen this method before and spent a lot of time examining the spring.



The tail light is battery powered - as is increasingly the trend with many European bicycles that previously used dynamo-powered lighting front and rear. I think the trend is an unfortunate one, and wish the Pilen had a dynamo-powered tail light.



The tires are 700C x 48mm Schwalbe Big Apples, black with reflective sidewalls.



One feature that gives the Pilen its distinct look is the custom rear rack. It is beautifully made, with hand-painted insignia, and is unusually large.



For reference, this is a large pizza box (17"x17").



Jammed under the saddle and held in place with a rat-trap spring. Yup, that's all it takes to transport a pizza on this bike.



This is the only rack I've seen with not one but two rat-trap springs, and they came in handy when devising creative ways to carry shopping bags. I have also attached stacks of large, heavy boxes to the rack with bungee cords, and it hardly flinched. The platform is so wide, that the packages stay very stable. The one downside of a rack like this, however, is that the tubing is too thick for pannier systems that attach via hooks. Ortlieb, R&K, Fastrider and Basil hooks will not fit around it. Only a system such as the one Po Campo uses (shown above and reviewed here) will work with the Pilen rack.



An optional front rack is also available with the Pilen (shown and reviewed here), but I opted not to install it. This front rack felt excessively heavy, and at 47lb the bicycle was already borderline too much for me to handle without it. I was also told that installing the front rack scratches up the head tube and headbadge, so all in all it did not seem appealing. For all of my needs (workbag, grocery shopping, and the occasional transport of boxes and bulky packages) the huge rear rack was sufficient.



While in possession of the Pilen, I went back and forth between riding it and my mid-'90s Gazelle, marveling at the differences between them despite their superficial similarities. While my Gazelle is a prototypically hardy Dutch bike, it seemed almost flimsy in comparison to the Pilen's visibly thicker tubing, wider tires, and overall "heavier set" looks. The Gazelle's rear rack looked downright scrawny next to the Pilen's mighty platform, and the Gazelle's handling at slow speeds was like that of a drunker sailor compared to the Pilen's unwavering stability. On the other hand, the Pilen was slower to accelerate and more effortful to push for me than my old Gazelle - an experience that seems to be a factor of my size and weight, as described here.



Compared to traditional Dutch bikes or English Roadsters, the SwedishPilen's geometry is not quite as relaxed, and its handlebars are considerably less swept back - positioning the cyclist's hands almost straight in front of them, mountain bike-style. This makes the handling both more controlled and livelier, with the cyclist's weight more evenly distributed between the front and rear of the bike. While I like the lower positioning of the handlebars, I would prefer it if they had more sweep to them - but this is a matter of personal preference.

The thing that impressed me the most about the Pilen's ride quality, is its stability. When starting and stopping, itfeels extremely sturdy and safe. I wrote earlier about all the different things people mean when they describe a bicycle as "stable," and the Pilen is pretty much all of them. It does not want to go down, no matter what - a factor that can be especially important to novices who are worried about faltering at intersections in traffic.



I also soon discovered that the Pilen handled excellently on a variety of off-road surfaces: grass, dirt, gravel paths, even narrow trails with roots and rocks. This is a very fun and safe bicycle to ride off pavement.



All in all, I have probably ridden about 100 miles on the Pilen - most of it in the form of short (< 5 mile) trips. The longest I have ridden it in the course of a single ride is 20 miles. Initially I was reluctant to take a longer trip on this bike, because of how relatively effortful it felt to accelerate. But in the course of the longer ride it "blossomed" and we developed a flow that made it faster and easier than I expected. The bike also did surprisingly well on hills, particularly if given a chance to pick up speed beforehand.



The more experience I gained with the Pilen over time, the less certain I became about how to define or explain it. A classic "swan" frame reminiscent of vintage bicycles, it really handles more like a contemporary mountain bike with upright positioning. The on/off road handling can be especially useful for those who regularly travel through pothole-ridden neighbourhoods, or for those who have access to off road trails for commuting. For those who enjoy touring on an upright bike, the Pilencould be a good candidate as well.



The one size only 56cm lady's frame is best suited for taller women, which is good news for those who have been unable to find step-through frames in larger sizes. Theheavy-duty tubing and wheels are designed for carrying serious weight, which is great for heavier riders and for those regularly traveling with the bike fully loaded. No bicycle is for everyone, but I think the Pilen fills a niche that needed filling: It is a hard-core, elegant transport bike whose mountain bike-ish handling should be inherently familiar to a North American cyclist. Though I would have liked to see a full chaincase, dressguards and a dynamo-powered tail light on thePilen, it is otherwise fully equipped for daily transportation.Having housed it outdoors for the duration of my guardianship, I can attest to the bike'sresistance to the elements and its general durability: There is not a scratch on the powdercoat and the components are free of rust.

Last month I hosted a contest to give away the Pilen to one of my readers, and the winner should be receiving the bicycle shortly. I wonder what she will think of it, and how her impressions will compare to my pragmatic and romantic musings. Many thanks once again to Will of BoxCycles for the opportunity to get to know this bicycle, and for so generously donating it to be given away.