Hutchs Bicycle Shops Blog

So you’re sitting around looking at the thermometer as it hovers well below freezing when someone rides their bicycle past. “Hey,” you think to yourself, “isn’t that dangerous?” Naturally, as a dedicated cyclist yourself, your next thought is “I wonder if I can do that?”

In short the answer is yes you can. But you should have a good understanding of this different medium before you set out. Since I know a bit about riding on ice and snow having enjoyed 14 winters in Central Oregon I thought I’d share a few key bits of knowledge. It also helps that I’ve raced our local Twilight Ice Criterium a half a dozen times.

Part One: Understanding Ice

While it’s easy to think of ice one dimensionally – as simply frozen water – it’s important understand the process of its formation. Like life, it’s the journey and not the destination that determines its quality. First let’s consider the most key factor, temperature. Obviously you must have freezing temperatures to have ice. There are several reasons for you to pay close attention to the temperature. The first is the formation process. Let’s go through three typical scenarios that result in ice.

• Snow derived ice results from cold temperatures aloft and to the ground. As the air temperature looses its ability to hold moisture crystals form around nucleus particles (dust, etc.) and snow results. It layers to the ground where it can be compacted. In this process the resulting surface will have texture and, if the individual crystals are allowed time to bond together, very good strength.
• Freezing rain derived ice results from warm moist air above cold ground level air. As the precipitation falls there is no crystal formed and the rain freezes on contact with cold surfaces. This results in a very uniform paint-like surface. There is very little surface texture and it easily becomes polished from vehicle traffic. This can be the most slippery ice to ride on.
• Melt-Freeze cycle ice results from any water sitting on the surface when temps drop sufficiently low enough to freeze. This is the most inconsistent ice to ride because low spots will have a very smooth low traction surface while other better drained areas will have a nearly bare surface. Complicating things further is sun exposed areas will freeze later than shady spots making your traction calculation continuously variable.

Part Two: How Do Your Tires Grip?

Okay, here’s where the rubber meets the ice. Remember that an ice skater is not gliding on ice actually. What is happening is that the ice is turned to a thin film of water between the blade and the ice in response to the pressure the skater places on the blade. This makes for amazingly low friction. The same phenomenon can happen with your tires and it is another reason why it vital that you pay close attention to the temperature. Between about 28° and 34°F you can pretty easily create this condition under your tires (or shoes for that matter, especially when you first exit a warm environment). So between those temperatures be very careful, you might have very little traction.

However, when it’s less than 28° it’s time to rally ice rider. The ice is hard and you won’t be creating any water film under your tires. All you have to do is be accurate in predicting the available traction in your particular kind of ice. This is where understanding the ice formation process comes in. If you’re on snow derived ice the surface imperfections – and embedded cinders or sand particles – will give you some pretty good grip. If you’re on freezing rain or melt-freeze ice it’s going to be less grippy but perhaps still ridable, you’ll just want to keep good balance and practice very smooth braking.

Part Three: Tire Choice

The best tires for ice and snow riding combine an open tread and lots of edges across the direction you need to generate grip. The open blocks grab snow wedges and bumps like little fingers. The corner edges are like little squeegees gripping the smaller imperfections (this effect is enhanced by sipes). Studded or spiked tires are only necessary if the ice is very smooth. The cost you’ll pay is they are heavy and roll slower due to the constant flexing of the studs or spikes.

Part Four: Prepare Yourself

Don’t forget that just because you’re now mentally prepared to go out on the ice the rest of you - and your bike – must be as well. Obviously dress warm. Beyond that consider things like:

· Shoe cleats – adjust them looser and spray something non-stick to the cleat and pedal to keep ice and snow from jamming up the works. The last thing you want to happen is not be able to unclip. Also remember those plastic shoe bottoms are almost useless if you have to put your foot down. Consider using less high performance shoes with rubber soles.

· Cables – if you’ve done any riding at all in the wet be sure your cables and housings are completely dry and well lubed before you set out. That wetness will freeze - paralyzing your shifting and perhaps even your brakes.

· Chain – in very cold weather you will actually feel more drag as all your lubricants stiffen up. Wheel bearings are hard to do much about but you can help yourself by using the lightest, thinnest chain lube you can.

· Handlebars – consider that your aluminum bars will be very effective at transferring heat from your hands. If you don’t use carbon bars for fear of damage then at least use thick bar tape or grips.

As soon as I have a bit more time I’ll update this post with some pictures and layering tips. In the mean time get out there and ride. Until the temps get back above freezing – and start that nasty melt-freeze cycle – the ice riding is sweet!

Be safe and have fun!

RJ

Hutch’s riders Greg Bruce and Scott Seaton recently competed in the epic mountain bike race “El Reto Del Quetzal” in Guatemala placing solidly in 2nd place in spite of numerous challenges. The story is quite a tale - you can read more about it here:

http://trailboss.livejournal.com/

Great job guys - it sounds like it was brutal!

RJ

I’ll admit upfront that I never drank the 29er Koolaid. As many of you know I have quite a bit of engineering background with things that have wheels - especially two wheels. And while the concept of a larger wheel - and therefore a larger radius and longer contact patch - on a MTB has merit I believe that the 29″ wheel is taking it too far for many situations. There are just too many compromises - in geometry, rigidity and rotational weight just to mention a few. In the back of my head I was thinking “too bad there’s not a MTB wheel size that’s in between 26″ and 29″.

Actually it turns out there is - 27.5″, or in metric sizing the 650B. Recently I discovered that bicycle manufacturers are stepping up and it is looking increasingly like 650B will be the next big thing. I have the impression that the 29er market took a long time to develop because the folks building the critical parts were slow to come around to the belief that people would buy into the concept of a big wheeled MTB. And they may have learned their lesson as 650B specific stuff is popping up left and right. I’ll detail some of my finds later in this post.

So, even though the bicycling community has largely embraced the big wheel MTB wheel concept there are a couple opinion trends I’ve noticed. One is that a lot of people like the way 29ers roll smoothly over the trail. That’s the good part. On the other hand some of the more demanding riders I know are disappointed with the handling characteristics of the 29er when the trail is more technically demanding. Paul Thomasberg summed it up something like this: “Sure I like my 29er. But is it my ‘go-to’ bike for my everyday rides? No, it’s best for really long days where I am just rolling over relatively mild terrain.” He went on to describe in more detail the feeling having to put a lot of energy into repeatedly reaccelerating wheels with high rotational mass and the significant difference in turning radius when compared to a 26″ wheel. But he thought that the 650B could be an ideal wheel size and was interested to try it out.

Another opinion comes from a long time bike retail guy, Mike McMackin. He said that the first time he tried a 29er he thought it was going to revolutionize the MTB industry, that soon everyone would be on one. He has since realized that the biggest fans of 29ers are larger riders looking for a physically bigger bike. But many others that are in the not-so-big category are not as enthusiastic about such a tall ride.

That brings us back to the 650B - Goldilocks would like it, “this ones too big, this ones too small. And this ones just right!” 650B wheels work with the tried and true geometries developed around 26″ wheels (in fact two of my current frames will handle 650Bs no problem). The biggest issues with getting going with 650B are what you’d expect: tires and forks. And that problem is quickly being addressed. There are currently two tires available and no less than five more soon to be released. There are four MTB specific rims to choose from. There are four fork models and others are rumored in be in development.

Here’s a recap of the 650B options I’ve rounded up as of Interbike:

Tires:

• Pacenti Neo-Moto, 650B x 2.3, 740g, tube type
• Pacenti Quasi-Moto, 650B x 2.0, 550g, tube type
• WTB Wolverine, 650B x 2.2, (shown at Interbike, available spring ‘09)
• IRD Fire650B, 650B x 2.1, 600g(?), (shown at Interbike, availability TBA)
• Schwalbe Racing Ralph, 27.5 x 2.25, (shown at Interbike, availability TBA)
• Kenda Nevegal 2.35, in development (drawings released)
• Kenda Nevegal 2.1, in development (drawings released)
• Kenda, 1 other model?

Rims:

• Velocity Blunt rim: 32 hole, 28mm wide, Black or Silver, 459g
• Hayes Sun Ringle EQ27: 27mm wide
• Stans Hope Pro II / NoTubes 355: 24.4mm wide, (lightest current option)
• WTB Laserdisc Trail: 27mm wide

650B Specific Forks:

• White Bros 650B Magic 80 A/C 464mm - QR or 20mm
• White Bros 650B Magic 100 A/C 484mm - QR or 20mm, 3.9lbs/1770g
• White Bros 650B Fluid 100 A/C 484mm - QR or 20mm,
• White Bros 650B Fluid 130 A/C 517mm - 20mm axle only

So, if you’re interested in learning more the following sites are excellent sources of information on all things 650B.

http://650b.com/

http://650bpalace.blogspot.com/

Happy Trails!

RJ

Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes, stopped by, offered to help, and kept the laughter quotient high. Even if it is at my expense. Due to forced one handedness (adding the insult of right handedness to injury), I have thus managed to dump an entire pitcher of beer on an Oregon Public Broadcasting display, pour a bottle of water on myself in front of a crowd at Juniper fitness center, rock some really terrible hair (try washing, brushing, or putting YOUR hair up with one hand!) drop 1000 items, and force dozens of people sitting next to me to cut my food. I still don’t have knife privileges.  My photo taking stinks as well, so this post will be prose intensive.

The first half of recovery has flown by, as I spent a few days in a drug-induced stupor and the following three weeks stumbling about constantly tired and taking lots and lots of naps. I’m just getting up to speed and starting to get antsy. I think that whenever my body notices something wrong it makes me sleep, thus avoiding the redundancy of crazy pain. My Dad does the same thing.  What should be viewed as a miraculous act of physiological defense seems to have confirmed in my surgeon’s mind that I am a loose cannon (or was it the finishing a race with a shattered arm part?).

“How is the pain?” he asked gently this morning. “It really doesn’t hurt, not since a few days after surgery” I said, with a one armed shrug.  Certain that I am “abnormal” (he used that word), he has interspersed our conversations with “it IS pretty shattered” to prevent me from doing something stupid, like trying to ride down Flagline, reach for a mug, or go swimming. I have listened and do Nothing as ordered, though I would prefer the phrase “dashed to arm rubble”. His prognosis is 4-6 more weeks of only active assisted range of motion. No strengthening, no bike riding, no shenanigans.

In my life B.S. (before shattering) I would optimize off the bike time to play guitar, kayak, swim, knit and dance.  A.S.S (after shattering + surgery) I am left with limited time-passers. I Walk. I Read. I go to dinner with friends, the ones I usually neglect all summer because I am riding. I spin a bit. Getting on your trainer on a beautiful sunny day is really the most demoralizing thing you can do to yourself so I try to keep it to a minimum. All in all I know I am lucky. I could have just as easily have landed on my back, my head, or shattered a leg. I can’t imagine maneuvering through the grocery store on crutches! This should be (and is) a time to reflect, to empathize, and to learn from it all. I am just not quite sure what it is all going to amount to. Time will tell. And according to my surgeon (aka Jefe), there is plenty of contemplating time to come.

Greg Bruce reports on the Hutch’s Masters team:

Better late than never! I have been quite busy and traveling since High Desert, so this is long overdue.

We had an absolutely successful weekend at the High Desert Omnium.

The race started out with the Summit High School Criterium and everyone rode really intelligently and safe and when the dust settled, Rick Johnson finished 3^rd and picked up some valuable omnium points.

Later that afternoon, was the 9 mile Skyliner Time Trial. Scott Seaton scorched the course and was the top finisher picking up the 16 points that came with it. Also turning in good TT’s were Gregg Strome and Ambrose Su who finished 7^th and 9^th respectively.

Speaking of TT’s, Andy Su also won his TT that day in the 13-15 year old age group.

Sunday was the Road Race and it was on a new course up at the mountain. We staged and finished at Edison Sno-Park. We went into the day with the goal of launching Scott from his second place overall position to first place by the time we were done. He sat 2 points back at the start. The math can get fuzzy with these omnium’s, so the bottom line was that we really needed for him to win to be guaranteed and at the least, he needed to score points and finish ahead of the guy who was ahead of him by 2 points. The guy ahead of Scott was on a very strong team (De Salvo) with a number of riders represented and there to help him. Our best strategy was going to be and offensive one. We needed to put on the pressure - make them work, chase, suffer and eventually tire them out.

So, Jurgen went to the front from the start and kept a very high pace for the first 10 miles. After we rolled over the first climb of the day, Rick Johnson launched the first attack on the descent, as others of us patrolled the front and kept the pace moderate and allowed him to get a good gap. After 4 miles, the De Salvo team realized the threat and marshaled there team to the front to bring the break back. They eventually did, but it took them 6 miles or so and they were looking spent. So, as soon as Rick was brought back, Ambrose launched off the front and got a gap. This caused the De Salvo team to keep chasing and working. Ambrose got caught and then Scott tried his hand, testing the waters to see what would happen. This caused the guy who was ahead of Scott on GC to have to react, as his team was exhausted. I sat on his wheel as he tried to bridge up to Scott and witnessed his pain and torture first hand. He was really hurting to get across, but eventually did and brought all the rest of us with him. Scott reintegrated into the peloton and just as he did so, Gregg Strome launched his attack. He got a nice gap and extended it down Cascade Lakes Highway. The De Salvo team was hurting and they were lucky to find an ally in John Slawta from Team Landshark who was on his own that day (without teammates). John was desperately wanting to get away himself and not leave it up to an uphill sprint. So, he started chasing Gregg down and the De Salvo guys did what they could to help. Gregg was eventually brought back before the turn back onto Trappers Road.

We still had cards to play, so when Gregg was brought back, James Wellington launched his attack and John Slawta went with him. This looked quite promising and was going to really make the De Salvo guys work. Eventually, they too were brought back ½ way up the Trappers climb. When they were brought back, Scott went back to the front to test everyone out over the last mile of the climb and kept the pace just hard enough to keep things interesting going over the top. As we began the descent, Scott’s De Salvo adversary, together with Jon Slawta and Turner Waskom (from Half Fast velo/BBNS: we weren’t sure who Turner was riding with that day, he had a jersey from one and shorts from another) got a jump on the field from the back and got a good gap. This was potentially very dangerous, so I bridged across and got into their rotation. I slowed it down by not pulling through and sitting on the wheel of the De Salvo guy as he rotated off the front. This disruption was enough to nullify the move and bring the peloton back together. They attempted 2 more times to get away and we chased it back both times.

As we turned the corner and began the climb back up to Edison, Rick Johnson and I went back to the front and set the tempo that would keep things together until the right time. We didn’t want to see any further attacks from other teams that had been sitting in all day. With about 5K to go and at the steepest pitch of the climb back up, Gregg Strome launched off the front and started pulling away. No one reacted - no one could react! Gregg got a good gap and started moving up the road. With 2K to go, Scott attacked the field and began bridging up to Gregg. Again, everyone was too wasted and Scott was too strong for anyone to do anything. Scott made his way to Gregg at the 1K to go sign and Gregg then put his head down and broke the wind for Scott toward the finish. Scott got the win and Gregg got second. The rest of us rolled in at the back of the peloton having done our work for the day. Mission accomplished!

I can’t tell you how many guys from the other teams came up to me after the race and even in the last couple weeks since the race to say how impressive our team was that day. They were really in awe and extremely complimentary of our tactics and execution. Things do not always work out the way you plan them, but on this day they did. A big congratulations to everyone and to Scott for winning the Omnium overall.

Greg

This is an email I sent to the Hutch’s race team back in June after the stage race in Baker City.  Rick suggested that I start blogging, so this is my start.  I plan on doing more, we’ll see!
> Hey All!
> Good job at Pickett’s!
> Hutch’s had an awesome showing at Elkhorn this year.  We had six guys
> in the top 17 of the masters 1/2/3 and Sorlie took 5th in the masters
> 4/5 after a stellar climb up Dooley mtn.
> We had 4 guys in the winning break of 14 guys on Friday and I had what
> I thought to be a good 3rd place sprint finish only to be denied later
> by the officials relegating me to the back of the pack for crossing
> the center line with about 100 m to go.  It was a flat wide open
> finish and often it is legal to do that for the last 200m, but
> apparently not this time.  Mike King got relegated also, lawbreaker!
> Greg Bruce suffered with the cat 3’s but I wish he had raced with us,
> next time I hope.
> Other than sucking in the time trial, we had a succesful weekend.  We
> really need help with time trialing, don’t we?  I can understand why,
> they are no fun at all.  Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment.
> Some of the crits got cancelled due to thunderstorms and very slick
> roads but the masters crit went great, no rain, no crashes.
> We started the last day with clear skies and full bellies to prepare
> for the 100 mile sufferfest.  The pace was pretty tame until about 25
> - 30 miles into it.  Mike and Erik got into a breakaway with 9 others
> and Strome and I sat at the front controlling the pace until we got a
> time split of 7 minutes.  Enough of a gap to start racing again, so I
> went to the front and pushed over the 3rd climb.  I looked back and
> there were 7 others, 3 of which were  my teammates!  The group of 8
> kept it rolling with a lot of coaxing out of the other riders who were
> hoping to latch on to a Hutch’s train.  We not only kept our gap but
> we caught the lead break at the bottom of Dooley.  They were rested
> however and proceeded to drop me and leave me to solo up the climb
> just slightly ahead of the shattered remnants of the break.  We all
> felt good up that final climb of 7 miles, no one bonked, which you
> just never know after 90 something miles in your legs.
> Anyway, epic weekend!
> Adios
> Scott

So a Spanish guy won the Olympic bicycling road race today. From what I read it was a thrilling race. I think the ancient Greeks would be proud. I say that because I recently saw an OPB program about the history of the Olympics (”the Real Olympics“) and it was quite educational. From the very first games the Olympics were all about true sporting competition, real athletic accomplishment. The first games had one event - sprinting (on foot of course) and that was it. See ya in four years folks. Later they added longer distance running races, boxing, wrestling, jumping, vaulting, the pentathlon events. Eventually chariot races. All were very serious athletic competitions, some exceptionally bloody, and the outcome was often fatal to the losers.

This went on for something like 1200 years. Wow.

With that historical perspective still fresh in my mind I flipped on the idiot box while making dinner to see what kind of Olympic coverage was on. They were just starting feature piece about, get this, Olympic beach volleyball. Yea, you read that right - beach volleyball is an Olympic sport now.

TV off.

I don’t know if anyone reading this has these moments of clarity like I do. Sometimes all the pieces of a particular mental puzzle just fall into place all of a sudden. I can imagine what Einstein felt like when he finally figured out all the details of the theory of relativity. My thought was this - I suddenly know why China has had so many devastating earthquakes recently. It all fits together; it’s the ancient Greeks all turning over in their graves about beach volleyball being in the Games! Just when they had all finally settled down over the curling thing…

Well folks, hope you get to enjoy some coverage of some real sports during these modern games.

RJ

I just had an opportunity to speak with our Hutch’s teammate Nicole Strong and find out more about her crash and how she’s been doing since her surgery on Tuesday. She said she’s not typing too well at the moment so I’m passing along the word.

For those of you who - like me - had a little trouble deciphering the x-ray she posted here’s a more detailed version of the story. Nicole was competing in the Gorge Games Super D on July 19th when she took her fall. It was in a short shoot in a dip section of the course and the crash happened suddenly. She was unable to even identify what happened exactly but the end result was that she went down hard on her left shoulder. Knowing immediately that something was wrong she actually still finished the run, walking, since that was the nearest aid. At first it wasn’t clear that anything was broken since she had passive movement of the shoulder. However, later examination would reveal that she fractured the greater tuberosity of her humerus into ten small pieces. Ten pieces! Ouch!!

Believe it or not her effort still resulted in a fourth place finish only 14 seconds out of third place - in spite of her injury and having to carry her bike to the line. Think of that next time you have a flat in your XC race!

So, back to the breaking of her shoulder into rubble - that’s where the surgery part comes in. All those little parts had to be carefully put back into place. It sounds like no small feat since they were too small to use hardware and had to be put back into place with sutures and other such medical trickery. At the moment Nicole has been doing well enough to quit the pain medication (only three days following surgery - way to go Nicole!) but is very limited on the use of her arm. She’ll be in a sling for some time to come and, while she can use her hand, any other movement of her arm is very limited. You can imagine the inconvenience since she’s left handed. It will be a couple weeks before she gets going with physical therapy and somewhere around 3-6 months before she can again enjoy the full range of her normal activities.

Anyway Nicole, from all your Hutch’s teammates we wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see you out there soon!

RJ

PS - inaccuracies (if any) in this post are strictly my responsibility and I’ll be glad to correct them if they are brought to my attention.

RJ works on catching up on his blogging…

Each of us has things we do besides riding and racing bicycles. In my case one of the big things is motorcycles. This summer I had an invitation from a long time friend of mine to join a group doing what’s known as the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route. It’s a 900 plus mile primarily off-road route winding its way through the eastern half of Oregon. It’s like mountain biking with camping gear, but also having an engine so covering miles and climbing hills is easier. And that happens to be my favorite kind of motorcycling; rough, remote and challenging.

The only problem is that this week long trip was scheduled for the same time as the Cascade Cycling Classic. Tough choice… but I decided to go motorcycling for a change.

The trip started out a little different than we had planned. The plan was that two of the group would meet me in Bend; we would then ride together to Lakeview to meet two others. Later in the week a couple more had planned to join us to finish the route. That plan went awry in the way up to Paulina when one of the people ran their bike off the road and totaled it. You can read his story here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=360373

I’m not going to detail the whole trip here at the moment. It would make good story telling but quite frankly I’ve got a lot to catch up on. Suffice it to say we rode some beautiful country, visited some out of the way places and traveled on some roads where I swear the last tracks were made by wagon wheels. At times it was some of the roughest riding I’ve done in 30 years, certainly the roughest I’ve done carrying the heavy load of gear I had along on my KLR. And yes, I call that fun.

But unfortunately the organizer of our ride had some trouble with her bike. It was just a stupid little thing – the cooling fan on her GS gave up. That meant that on the low speed steep climbing part of the ride her bike would overheat. It also meant continuing the ride with that problem was not possible. We decided to quit early and come back another time to finish the route.

That is how I wound up back home in Bend in time for the CCC after all. Unfortunately registration for the Cat 3/4 race was closed and there was no doubt in my mind that taking on the Masters race under the circumstances would be foolhardy. Hearing rumors that the race was in need of someone to fill a need for some last minute driving duties I checked in with Karen Kenlan at MBSEF. She said that she’d have Molly give me a call about what they needed, but before that happened I talked to someone else who had a job that perfectly suited my talents. Later I heard from someone that the rumored driving position was driving a team car for Astana. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that but it would have been cool to support Chris and Levi.

But what I did was way better anyway; riding the CCC Mt Bachelor Road Race in the Pro peloton – on my motorcycle carrying a photographer. Carte blanche to go pretty much wherever, whenever – in front or behind the race, zooming up ahead, pacing alongside, jockeying among the caravan. What a great way to see the race!

The most fun part (from a motorcyclists point of view) – zooming past cops on blind corners, while speeding, on the wrong side of the road. And having them give a friendly wave. Priceless.

Most challenging part was being in the middle of a rolling feed. Team cars moving up, team cars moving back. Escort motos coming through. Refs on motos moving around, comm car directing. Peloton moving side to side, accelerating and slowing. More stuff to keep track of than even LA rush hour traffic! Whoa, I was tired afterwords just from the mental load of keeping track of all that structured chaos. So if you see any great photographs by Tracy Smith from the 2008 CCC that look like they where right in the thick of the action there’s a good chance I helped make it happen.

I also got to take care of the one of the other little things I usually do before the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race, the Saturday night sweep of the climb up from Tumalo. Since the race takes place in part on the Hutch’s Adopt-a-Road section I try to make sure that it’s the cleanest part of the course. Traditionally that involves a lot of sweeping gravel (and sometime glass). This year it was both, unfortunately.

Sunday was a little mellower; I got some training miles in doing the course in reverse and then helped out at the start/finish area with the Hutch’s Kids Race. After that I headed back to my house to make sure the feed zone – which was just across the street from home - had everything they needed (the race was using my water for the neutral supply). All was well so I had a chance to relax a bit before the racing was done and the traditional post race cleanup of OB Riley Road got underway. I’m not saying that MBSEF doesn’t do a good job of picking up after the race but there’s always stuff they miss. And since the feed zone happens in the middle of our Adopt-a-Road our standards are a bit higher. Thanks to some help from my neighbor we got it done pretty quickly.

Never a dull moment!

RJ

Looks like my life is going to change focus the next few months. surgery, sling for 6 weeks and baby steps from there.

I could kick myself for not wearing body armor, for stacking a line i had cleaned several times prior, for taking such chances. but i won’t. this seems to be the nature of the sport. hope to be up and running by cross. In the meantime, if you need a friend to attend a play, watch a lame movie, or accompany you in any sedentary type activity, I’m your gal. Nicole