Jason Lancaster

I need a shoe for the trails. Started out with the mindset that I should get myself a pair of nice hiking boots and bought a pair of Vasque Sundowner Summit GTX’s, which I know would be awesome in icky weather, but I’m going back on that decision and getting myself something lightweight — considering that I don’t backpack all that often. If it’s something I start doing more and I start racking up a lot of miles, I can see doing something different, otherwise I’m hoping one of the following will do what I need:

• Garmont Eclipse XCR
• Garmont Nasty
• Salomon GCS Pro
• Asolo FSN 95 GTX

The heaviest shoes listed are the Asolos, but they’re just over 2.75lbs and are totally made for light backpacking. That’s not too bad, considering the Eclipses are 2.5lbs. I ordered a pair of the Nasty’s from Zappos.com since they have such a good return policy. The Nasty’s are not even a pound! Can you believe that? If they really are up to the hiking challenge, I’ll be walking on air!

I really can’t see lugging a boot over 3lbs around on day hikes — which is my usual adventure. What will I be taking backpacking this weekend? I honestly have no idea. Maybe just an old pair of tennis shoes? Maybe my Alaska boots? Maybe I’ll find something at REI tonight that is just too good to pass up. On that note, I better leave to go shop!

That’s goal two. Actually, goal two has higher priority over goal one.

The last time I got to ride my bike was almost 2 weeks ago when Emily and I went down to the gunpowder. That was Easter, I think. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was Easter. Things keep bluring together. Anyway, the day after I rode over to Austin Grill for swing dancing and locked the bike up and didn’t take my seat. I know it was stupid, but my seat was beat to hell. I mean, the padding was literally like fuzzing out the side and it was torn and everything. Why would someone want my crappy seat? Who knows, for whatever reason someone stole it. What a pain in the ass.

So, to make all of that worse, I busted up my rear rim doing something on the ride to AG or on the Easter bike ride in gunpowder. I’m thinking it was this huge hole I jumped into on my way back from AG and didn’t quite get my rear tire up to roll out and kind of slammed into the side. Woops

Seat + seat post + new rear tire + already failing rear derailure + need of new chain = $185. Top that with the need for a serious tune-up — considering my Giant Boulder SE was about $250, it just isn’t worth the price of keeping.

Now I’m trying to decide what in the world to get. I really liked my old Jamis Dakota, but they’re quite expensive and it’s hard to find a dealer around here. REI has this hardtail bike called the Novara Ponderosa HT, but the components aren’t exactly what I’m looking for (they’re close). I always thought of Haro as a BMX bike company, but the Haro Shift R5, which used to be known as the XLS R5, has a seriously sick set of components and is full suspension. In fact, I should write about the compenents further. It has the exact combination of components I’d use if I were building a bike from scratch. Well, almost. I don’t know anything about the rims they use but, well, whatever. Distributors for the MTB line are hard to find around here, but I found a bike shop in Fells Point that can get me one. I’m going to guess this would set me back about $1100 or $1200, which sucks because I’m seriously considering buying a house. But that is a whole additional entry…

That’s goal one.

I spent the day hiking in the Catoctins. It’s the first time I’ve done some serious hiking since my knee was messed up. It’s a bit sore now, but I’m not sure if it’s a good kind of sore or a bad kind of sore. I took some Ibuprophen just in case.

It was so hot. After this incredibly cold, rainly week it ended up being about 87 degrees or so with some nasty humidity of what felt like 85% at least. That might not seem like much but I’m really not used to it. I sure miss it though! I just have to remember not to wear jeans next time I go hiking. Shorts are the way to go even if I have to worry about poison ivy.