An Inconvienent Truth

This weekend I was speaking to 300 kids in Colorado Springs with my "Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History" powerpoint show and movies of my adventures. The emphasis of this show was to find your passion and follow your dreams, and I was also able to do a workshop with the kids after the show. We worked on writing timelines of our lives - looking at critical points in our lives, how they shape our reality and ourselves. We also worked on how to think about seemingly terrrible events as potential character building and learning events. We then worked on our list of future goals. I demonstrated one of mine goals - getting a National Geographic Grant - and how it has taken years of work and rejection. A few kids volunteered to put their goals and how to get there on the powerpoint projector, and we talked about what was good and lacking on some of their lists to attain their goals.

Overall, very productive, but lots of work. I was glad to squeeze in a road bike ride with my sister in Boulder to salvage some of my missed weekend. I also got to revisit their twins, Anika and Asher, who i helped deliver 4 months ago. The capping moment of the weekend came when they got a sitter and we went to see Al Gore's "An Inconvienent Truth". I was in absolute awe to see on the big screen, the issues that I have worked on for so long, all surrounding Global Warming. My non-profit ORE is going to really kick ass after people get out and see the movie. i have heard it is doing really well in the theatres - biggest first day release of a documentary and ranked 7th nationally out of all movies. I'm working on two trips, one to Pakistan and one to Europe, both ski expeditions aimed at raising awareness of Global Warming. I sure hope the skeptics like the film. Don't forget to do your own carbon dioxide calculations for your commuting, flying, heating, cooling, home bills, etc. - http://www.earthfuture.com/climate/calculators/ for all calculations. for flying - http://www.chooseclimate.org/flying. Try to do your part - buy wind power, get an energy audit (find and seal those leaks - way better than replacing those leaky windows), drive less, turn the thermostat down 3 degrees, buy a efficient car, Energy Star appliances, etc. see my website for more info. www.alisongannett.com

Solar Energy, Formaldehyde, LEED

This past week I've been spending most of my time working at my Non-profit, the Office for Resource Efficiency, or ORE. My main projects right not are doing the solar design and energy efficiency consulting for Crested Butte Mountain Resort's affordable housing project at Prospect, and working on the town codes for the Town of Crested Butte. For the codes, we are trying to allow super efficient woodstoves back in town, as the resource is sustainable and local. The problem is that in the 90's, woodstoves left a brown haze over town on inversion days, so they were basically banned, and switched over to elsewhere polluting devices like electric and gas. With the advent of uber efficient stoves like masonary stoves, there is no reason not to have our cake and eat it to, but there is lots of beaurocracy and education involved to make it happen. We are also trying to work on the outdoor heating problem - proposals presented include banning it, taxing it, or requiring the use of alternative energy (wind, solar, heat pump) to heat driveways, roofs, and sidewalks. The most likely scenario is to adopt a Renewable Energy Mitagation program or REMP, like Aspen has. This program would enable people to use alternative energy or pay a fee that would be used to implement alternative energy on other buildings like a public pool, town hall or affordable housing. The goal is basically to offset the carbon created by the outdoor heating. Hopefully high energy prices will also curb people's appetite for heating the outdoors, as you can only imagine how much three huge boilers heating a driveway in -30F temperatures would cost! The next hurdle is to tackle green and energy efficient building in CB. I helped write the original green points program in 1997, but it needs some updating and also a big push to educate consumers and builders of the toxic materials we build with. Some big problems we would like to tackle are formaldehyde, increased levels of insulation and air sealing, indoor air quality, and moisture and mold problems. Formaldehyde, the binder in plywood, OSB, and MDF particleboards is a known carcinogen and has been banned in Europe for over 20 years. Yet it remains the primary building material for houses to this day. It is also the culprit of Athsma, lower immune systems in especially children, and more. Not to mention the health effects for those cutting the plywood everyday. The other green initiative we wish to pass is requiring all buildings over 15,000 square feet be LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This would mainly affect large public buildings such as the proposed ice rink and arts center. The biggest advantage to the town and the tax paying public is that not only would these buildings be good for their lungs and the environment, but also will reduce energy bills by as much as 50%. The North Boulder Rec Center is realizing a savings of $56,000 per year with their LEED Silver buidling over the planned traditional construction. Wish us luck. Next meeting with the town is on Wednesday.

i'm a writer?

It's been a long few weeks of deadlines - my stories for Powder Magazine on the India and the Chile story for the Patagonia Catalog were due. Long hours at the computer, but I am enjoying writing these days. Back in High School, I really hated to write and loved math. Never would I have imagined that it would become part of my career. I was sure that I would be an engineer or something of that nature. But, what I really love about my life right now is that everyday is different. One moment calculating solar mass to glass ratios and the next minute making a movie - keeps those brain dendrites multiplying.

After finishing my first drafts, my boyfriend Jason and I were able to take off on a bike tour. He had to be in Steamboat to support his buddy's 24 hr solo bike race there. He wanted to ride there and tire himself out beforehand, so I jumped on board for part of the trip. He road from CB to Avalanche Creek, near Carbondale, where I met him to camp. Although a bit thundery, the site was spectacular, right next to the Wilderness boundary. I cooked up a great meal on my Disco - a huge wok-like campfire cooking gizmo that I brought back from Chile.

The next morning we biked out of New Castle, near Glenwood Springs, up county road 245 towards the needle in the haystack town of Buford. The road had just opened, but we only had 50 or so miles to go on the old dirt road, which sounded pretty cushy. We managed to get lost for the first hour, but as a bonus saw a mother and her hours-old fawn try to cross our path. The deer bolted, while the baby crouched down and froze for a good five minutes as its defense mechanism. As the young are scentless and spotted, their cammo is actually quite effective, as she did look much like a boulder. Later, five hours into the climb, we wondered if the top would ever appear - the ol' Flat Tops Wilderness/National Forest only appeared flatish from afar.

Finally the long downhill arrived and we coasted and skidded down the gravel for almost an hour into Buford. Nestled along the Flat Top Scenic Byway, the "town" is little more than a grocery store, 10 cabins, and a chuckwagon. We were mighty pleased with our rustic cabin. I lit the wood cookstove right away - our source of heat and food in the turn of the century log cabin. We cheated and ate dinner at the chuckwagon twice, between each of the thunderstorms, and then settled in to work on the bikes and discuss the finer arts of mountain man living.

Next morning, we rose early and parted ways - Jason going east on the byway, 100 miles to Steamboat, and me to the west. I then turned to the south on County Road 13 before hitting Meeker. The road was paved for the first 20 miles or so - with lots of farm traffic. I almost did not have one car pass without at least a finger wave - such friendly folks! Farms and population dissappeared as it turned to gravel, then dirt, then barely a road, on which I only saw two cars all day. I was expecting to be in the lower dryer areas that looked like the area around Rifle, but was pleasantly surprised by oasis after oasis of birds, aspens, pines, wildflowers and abundant springs between the two passes. After the last rise into Rifle, the terrain became a sage brush desert almost immediately, and along with that came fast trucks with gunracks, driving in the middle of the road, spitting gravel at me while hawling past at 50. My diet of Freetos and Clif Blocks was leaving me a bit hungry in the 6th hour, but there had not been a store for the whole 6 1/2 hours of riding. Arriving back at my car, I could only think of devouring the bag of Two Bite Brownies that I had left there as my reward.

This week I'll be working at my Non-Profit that I started, The Office for Resource Efficiency, or ORE. I'm working on new energy codes for the Town of Crested Butte - with special attention to new green building points, wood stove requirements, and requiring outdoor heating be powered with alternative energy.

Cross-Biking Colorado

Well, I'd say summer is officially here. Temperatures are soaring and the mountain bike trails are melting about two weeks earlier than normal. Snodgrass, Upper Loop, Upper Upper, Whetstone, Strand, Ferris, Deer Creek, and Lower Loop are already open. I plunged right into the season, riding Doctor’s Park on Saturday – with only 4 or so snow patches and rippin downhill singletrack. On Sunday, my boyfriend Jason Trimm and I drove to Powderhorn, Colorado for a cross bike ride. We just finished up putting her together – a custom Dean Titanium 42cm frame with XTR rear and 24-36-48 custom Race Face with Deore shifters on the front. I got these Salsa kids/women’s handlebars that I am stoked about because I can finally reach my drops. We rode for four hours up Cebolla Creek into a 30 mile an hour headwind that sometimes blew rocks into our faces. At one point we were only able to go 3 miles per hour! Cool scenery, though, as we passed between the Powderhorn and Weminuche Wilderness areas on our way to Slumgullion Pass at 11,361 feet. We then hauled ass down Slum to Lake City for a quick turkey cheddar roll at the Lake City Bakery, then averaged 25 MPH from there to Powderhorn in our big rings.
My shoulders and upper back were taking a beating, but it was good to squeeze in a long ride in training for some endurance events later in the season, I hope. I’m all stoked to explore the back roads of Colorado with my new setup – I’ve bought three new maps and two new guidebooks this week, and am attempting to work out some epic days and trips for this season. Any tips for some remote long ones anyone?