Stunning facades along Gran Via de Colon

So we’ve found a strategic underground parking in the center of Granada near Puerta Real (Royal Gate) on Calle de Recogidas, very easy to walk to the heart of Granada, Bib-Rambla where we had our afternoon tapas, but before we got there, we went for a nice stroll along Gran Via de Colon, the main street of the city, home to many stately buildings. The architectural styles of the imposing mansions are a divine synthesis of Spanish Rococo, Mudejar and Art Nouveau.

Beautiful facade details of windows and balconies of a building along Gran Via de Colon, they remind me of the buildings along Erzsébet, Budapest and the difference here is the Spaniards maintain their buildings well while the Hungarians they let theirs rot.

Me having a souvenir foto at Puerta Real (Royal Gate) just before Gran Via de Colon. I did not even know the area is the Royal Gate, just thought it was a pretty street!

Gran Via is not just lovely, it is grand, imperial and stunning. I was awed with its beautifully designed buildings, its unconventional colours and the stunning characteristic details on the windows, they are really a work of art. I can stare at them for a loooong time! Glad the Dutchman have his music on his ears, he didn’t mind waiting for me at end of each block, haha. Sigh—it can be a sore when traveling with someone who’s suffered art and architecture overdose; they can’t seem to appreciate it anymore.


Stunning, lovely window and balcony details, and a door.


Gran Via, main street of Granada, now check out the impressive window details of the building on the right foto.


Church on Gran Via and another building with lovely facade details, Mudejar style.


Foto on the right is not on Gran Via but in a busy shopping street nearby--love the flowers decorating the street, as well as I manage to catch the biker in action.

Anyway, we spent sometime walking and snapping fotos and didn’t realize that the Tourist Office closes early on Sunday at 15:00, and because of this we were not able to get a map which was a pity because the not-gadget-girl like me didn’t know how to use the walking OVI maps on my Nokia Mini. I also don’t have the patience to learn the trick so what we did was to trust our instincts, and I of course relied on asking people for directions as well.

In summary, a stroll along Gran Via is a must, if you love art and architecture.

An Illinois Round Barn

Tuesday, May 3rd - - As I left Argyle State Park this morning, I turned right instead of left thinking that the road would loop around back to US 136. It didn't. But I came across this neat old Round Barn. I would have loved to take a look inside but it was some distance from the road and it was on private property. As you can see, blue skies and sunshine were in abundance! It was a cool 41 degrees but there was no wind so it was actually rather comfortable.

Chipmunk

Look hard and you can see the tiny chipmunk on the left side of the tree stump. We saw him last time we went to the mountains.

Prickly Pear Cactus

This is our local wild prickly pear cactus and a blossom with a green bug in the center.

Chainsaw Art

On our outing today we stop at the Pueblo Montano Trailhead area and took a walk around to view the chainsaw carving done by firefighter Joesph Mark Chavez after the fire of .. that killed so many big, beautiful cottonwoods. He used his chainsaw to make the sculpures and to remind people to be careful with fire. Unlike so much of the art work seen around Albuquerque that has cost the taxpayers untold amounts of money, these were done for free by someone that could see the beauty that the dead trees held even tho no one else could. Thank you Mr. Chavez.

Chamois Creams: a Comparative Review

One of the first cycling-specific products I began to use when I started riding for longer distances, was chamois cream. Pronounced "shammy cream," this type of product is applied either directly to the crotch or to the inside of bicycle shorts (or underwear), in order to reduce chafing. The creams also have soothing, wound-healing and antibacterial properties that feel nice and help prevent infections. I have extremely rash-prone skin and I am prone to UTIs, but using chamois cream has virtually eliminated these problems. I go through the stuff fairly quickly, using up a tube every 1-2 months when I ride regularly. I have tried a handful of different brands. When I run out, I usually buy whatever the local bike shops sell, which can vary. A couple of the creams I've gotten based on friends' recommendations. Here is what I think of the ones I've used over the past 3 years:






I will start with Chamois Butt'r, which was the first cream I tried. It is available in two versions: regular and "eurostyle" - the former being non-tingly and the latter tingly. I bought the regular version first, and it did not work for me all that well; I found it somewhat bland and not entirely effective in preventing chafing unless I used a huge amount. It also did not stay effective for very long - maybe an hour tops. So next I tried the eurostyle and liked it a lot better; it did a better job preventing chafing than the regular version and lasted longer. It is worth noting that some people can't stand the tingly/cooling types of chamois creams and find that they burn or itch, so be careful. However, I do not have this problem and prefer the cooling creams.




The consistency of Chamois Butt'r is medium-thick.Ingredients of the eurostyle version include witch hazel, aloe and menthol. But the dominating scent is oddly medicinal rather than herbal. While not my favourite cream, the eurostyle Butt'r does the job. I also like that it comes in smaller tubes, making it easy to keep in a jersey pocket in case you need to reapply in the course of the day.






I tried DZ Nuts because it was the only cream a nearby bike shop carried when I ran out and needed more. I remember distinctly how reluctant I was to get it, because the packaging put me off (the image just says "crotch on fire" to me). But once I tried it, it became my preferred product. DZ Nuts has a cooling feel similar to the eurostyle Chamois Butt'r, except it works better for me and the effects last longer. The soothing and healing properties are excellent, and I have even used it to soothe sunburn and rashes outside the saddle area.There is now a woman's version of this cream (Bliss) and I tried a sample at some point, but did not care for it. They basically eliminated the cooling effect for the women's cream.




The consistency of DZ Nuts is on the thin side, similar to body lotion. Ingredients include tea tree oil, sandalwood, barley extract and menthol - which the scent reflects. The scent is pretty strong and that might put some people off, but it does not really bother me. I like that this cream comes in a tube, though I wish a smaller size was available.






While Vaseline/ petroleum jelly is not marketed as a chamois cream, it can work in that capacity. I learned about this on Rivendell's website (here is the article) and decided to try it, since it's so much less expensive than actual chamois cream and readily available in any drug store. Vaseline both lubricates and heals. There is no tingling to bother those who are sensitive to it, there are no ingredients than can irritate, and the smell is more or less neutral. When traveling long distance, a cyclist can stop at any pharmacy and get some.




However, the problem I found with Vaseline is that it can seep through bicycle shorts (especially if they are unpadded) and discolour or otherwise damage leather saddles. It can also discolour the shorts themselves, leaving grease-like stains that resist removal. I stopped using Vaseline fairly quickly for these reasons despite its effectiveness and low cost. But I would still use it in an emergency, and I often use it post-rides.






Mad Alchemy is a local-to-me company. Their chamois cream is all-natural, paraben-free, and US-made in small batches. So far I have tried the Pro+ and the LaFemme versions of the cream. They both feel markedly different than the mass-produced creams, especially the texture and smell - both are somewhere in between the filling of lemon pie and old-fashioned cold cream. It looks whipped, semi-transparent and almost luminous. As far as chafing prevention, I find the Pro+ version more effective than the LaFemme. The Pro+ has a mild tingly effect and combines some of the properties I like in DZ Nuts and eurostyle Chamois Butt'r, but suspended in a different type of base.




The consistency of the Mad Alchemy Pro+ is medium-heavy. Ingredients include grape seed, tea tree, sweet orange and lavender oil. The scent reflects this, but is very mild. While I like everything about the Mad Alchemy cream in itself, I find the packaging inconvenient as I can't carry it in a jersey pocket and reapply when necessary. I wish they made a version in a tube.






I bought the Sportique Century Riding Cream on the recommendation of a friend, who rides long distance and is crazy about it. I was complaining that no saddle seems to feel comfortable to me after 60 miles or so, and she recommended liberally applying this cream as a solution. I did, and I wish it worked. The cream is described as anti-microbal and anti-fungal. But honestly, it just feels like thick moisturising lotion. Sure, it prevents friction if I absolutely pack my shorts with it, but the effect fades fairly quickly and I do not experience the healing and soothing properties as I do with the creams I prefer.




The consistency of theSportique is medium-heavy. Ingredients include shea butter, wheat protein, sweet almond oil and beeswax. The scent is heavy on the shea butter and quite strong, almost candy-like. While this creammight work wonders for some, it is not for me.





I tried the Rapha chamois cream over this past winter. I forgot to apply my own cream before a long ride, and a local shop had it in stock as a new release. Like many Rapha products, this cream has a whole romantic narrative attached to it ("...inspired by the flora around Mont Ventoux") and comes in some pretty fetishistic packaging including a slender tin jar with raised lettering. But this aside, the product works very well for me: It cools, soothes, prevents chafing and its effectiveness lasts a surprisingly long time (possibly the longest of the chamois creams I've used).



Consistency ismedium-thin, similar to DZ Nuts. In the jar it resembles the original Noxema face cream I used as a teenager. Ingredients include glycerine, shea butter, menthyl and rosemary extract. However, it smells rather aggressively of pine - which I can't stand in any context other than on actual pine trees. So while I like the cream quite a lot, my dislike of the smell prevents me from purchasing it again. That, and the pretty jar is awkward to carry in my jersey pocket.






Boudreux's Butt Paste is the product Pamela Blalock recommends, so of course I had to try it. I ordered myself a sample and am not sure what to make of it. Not an actual chamois cream but a diaper rash treatment, the consistency and smell are like nothing else I can reference. Ingredients include zinc oxide, boric acid and castor oil. The scent is medicinal and odd; I can't really place it. While mildly unpleasant, it is not overbearing. The colour is tan-brown. Consistency is half way between toothpaste and putty.




True to its name, this stuff is definitely a paste and not a cream. It feels a little stiff to apply and does not spread quite as easily as actual chamois creams. The upside is that it stays put rather tenaciously. If your saddle discomfort is concentrated in a specific spot, this could be a particularly good product to use because it will actually stay in the area where you apply it. I have not yet decided whether I prefer Boudreux's over the other creams I like, but it is certainly an interesting one. And the fact that it comes in tubes of different sizes is very convenient.




All things considered, the chamois cream I gravitate toward the most is probably DZ Nuts. It works for me, it can be purchased at several local bike shops, and it's available in a tube. But as with most other products, preferences differ. I like the "euro" style creams with the tingly/cooling sensation, while others cannot tolerate them. Despite being female, I consistently prefer the men's/unisex versions of creams and don't like the women's formulas. I find tubes more practical than jars. And I am relatively indifferent about a cream's consistency and texture, while others have very specific preferences in this regard. Chamois creams differ in their properties and it may take you a couple of tries to find one you like.While some popular names are absent from this review, these are the products I've used so far and I hope my descriptions are helpful.

A Ride with Irene

And so we have weathered the storm. Here in Boston, the general attitude toward Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Irene has mostly been one of sarcasm. Sure, there was some anxiety - stocking up on water and that sort of thing. But for the most part it's been a collective rolling of the eyes, a general feeling that the whole thing was unnecessarily hyped up by the media. One local establishment posted a handwritten sign stating "Closed tomawrah due to wicked bad hurricane!" Other businesses ranted against the public transit system for shutting down - drafting "Closed for the Day Thanks to MBTA" signs explaining that their employees have no way of getting to work - but that otherwise they would have happily remained open.

My own feeling was that the hurricane/ storm was not so much intentionally overhyped, as unpredictable - and there was a conscious decision to err on the side of caution. I also felt that it was insensitive of some to make light of a potentially destructive phenomenon just because it did not cause havoc in their neighbourhood. We live on the border of Somerville and Cambridge, MA, where the storm felt mild - but it did damage even here. Around mid-day Saturday, a large tree toppled over onto a major road around the corner from us, knocking out power lines and blocking part of the street until the city cleared it away. Had anyone been walking, cycling or driving on that side of the street at that exact moment, they could very well have been killed.

Today we carefully cycled around the neighbourhood and discovered more trees uprooted and large branches strewn across side streets.The strange thing is that the wind did not feel all that strong even during the worst of it, so we were surprised to see some fairly large trees knocked over. Does this mean they had shallow root systems?



Powerlines were downed in quite a few places, too. One local coffee shop that decided to stay open lost power on Sunday afternoon, yet remained operational for as long as some pre-brewed coffee remained. Customers would come in and sit with their drinks and pastries in the dark - quite happily, since this was one of the very few places open.



Surveying the damage in our neighbourhood, I think that the calls for caution were justified, even if the storm did not reach hurricane level. Overwhelmingly, motorists chose to stay off the roads here and the streets have been mostly empty - which I am certain accounts for the lack of injuries and casualties, considering the fallen trees and dangling powerlines. Cap'n Transit wrote a post a couple of days ago about the connection between driving and hurricane deaths that is worth reading.



I hope that all my East Coast readers are doing well, and that the storm has not been too severe for you. Has anyone been cycling?

We'd Like a Table with a View... of Our Bikes!

It is perfectly normal to stare at your bikes while out having coffee or dinner. Right?...

California Poppy Seedlings

A small group of seedlings out of thousands that have germinated.

Boom, LOUD... Road closed...

The bombing operation referred to last week went by without a hitch (i.e. no one was blown up). However, it didn't solve all of the threats to the road. Unlike a typical ski patrol operation where they mitigate the hazard regularly, the snowpack above the road to Paradise grew so large that it required larger amounts of bomb making material to blast the heck out of the slopes. Good thing too, because those bombs released a substantial amount of snow that was more than ready to slide... And as for the entire day, avalanche control with the use of bombs made for a really unique NPS experience!

The explosive activity took place in an area called "Washington Cascades." That's about 1.5 miles below Paradise and just above the "Canyon Wye" (where you turn right to visit Stevens Canyon, Box Canyon, and Ohanapecosh.) As you can see to the right, Chris Olson is strapping some blasting caps to a 50 lb. bag of ammonium nitrate. This is something of a new operation for most of us (not so new to Chris). Anyway, this explosive was lowered on a plastic sled (the type your kids slide upon) into avalanche terrain where they were ignited with a "shock tube." All in all, it was impressive and really effective. Last Friday, those bombs released a number of large slides in "Washington Cascades." The slides buried the road with debris and took care of the looming avalanche hazard that threatened the road crew operators.

At this time, the road to Paradise remains closed. But that's largely due to the frequent and thunderous slides that have occurred lower on the road (i.e. well below Paradise). The rain and warmer temps activated a number of avalanche slopes. In one area, the "Christine Hairpin", located just below the Comet Falls trailhead, a slide covered both lanes of the road with over 20 feet of deposition! As far as we recall, nobody has seen this sort of debris at Christine Hairpin in the almost 20 years. Above the Glacier Bridge, there are four other significant slide paths in what we call "Glacier Hill". Slides in that area also produced similar piles of wet, heavy snow. The NPS road crew is now scratching, digging, and plowing away at the massive mounds, but it's considered that the road to Paradise may not open for another 4-7 days. As you can see in this image to the left, the road is gone/buried. Nobody has ventured above Ricksecker Point, roughly 5 miles below Paradise since Monday. Hopefully, we will be able to ski up to Paradise tomorrow, dig out the telemetry site, and see what's going on.

When thinking about the avalanche threat, we are somewhat fortunate. Warm weather has started to consolidate the snowpack and things appear a little safer this week. There is some rain in the forecast for the next 24 hours, but probably not enough to produce the large slides that observed so far. The NWAC has dropped the hazard level from Extreme to Considerable/Moderate (below 7000 feet). Stay tuned, we'll keep you up to date on what's shaking. For now, don't rely on being able to visit Paradise over the President's Day weekend. Top image by Stefan Lofgren, second by Chris Olson "The snowcovered road above Glacier Bridge."

Tracey Hua - The Wool and Voodoo Vibe Shoot

The Shoot

Brief: Photograph the i/o merino Crop Top in pure merino wool

Location: Mt. Ninderry - Sunshine Coast Queensland

Model: Tracey Hua

The Route: Nitroglycerin 25, a deceptively steep crimp ladder with a balancey heart breaker to finish.













Tracey wears Crop Top from i/o merino. Shop it here at:















It struck the photographic location team at jjobrienclimbing that Nitro and Tracey would be the perfect collision of route and climber for the brief.

The shoot was fresh of the tail off her Red River Gorge USA trip, and she has returned stronger than ever.

Thanks to Henk Morgans for rope tech support.









Who's that girl?



Brizzy girl, Tracey's exotic looks come from her Chinese/Vietnamese family. You'd think that would be enough to be taken seriously as an Asian. She's always trying, but her friends only seem to see her Aussieness. What does an Asian have to do in this country to get recognition? She says she likes Asian food. We all like that. What else have you got?













She also claims to be a Tom Boy, but that's not flying either.








Graceful? Maybe. By her own admission, she's clumsy on the ground and "falls over".
A girl of contradictions.



















Beyond the brief: Get in a plug for jjobriens' own "dangerously dark" jewellery design.

Model wears: "They only come out at night" necklace.

Obsidian andpyrite skulls and crosses, lava stone anddyed turquoise

$120.00from Red Phoenix Emporium.























From the Red Phoenix website:
Guest designer JJ O'Brien has added some dangerously dark pieces to the Skulls and Crosses collection for primitive man and voodoo girls!

They Only Come Out At Night features a Pyrite skull and glossy Obsidian cross with matte black Lava stone and matte black Obsidian skulls. There are five different coloured feature skulls to choose from green, red, orange, bleached or blue turquoise.

Tracey Huafor Red Phoenix Emporium.






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