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Everything You Need to Know About Period Tracking

“Track your period and train smarter.” That was the promise of FitrWoman, an app I downloaded on my phone last fall. I’d decided to try it out because my fitness level seemed to drop off precipitously last year. Even though I was healthy and there were no major changes in my training, my endurance tanked. My joints and muscles were unrelentingly tight and brittle. My body didn’t seem to recover—ever. I’d have one or two good weeks followed by a lackluster one where I could barely rally to run more than three miles and do some physical therapy exercises. The cycle repeated over and over.

All year, I tried every trick in the book to get back on track, but blindly following the advice of the latest fitness articles and sports research papers felt like a crapshoot (and not a very smart strategy). I was desperate for some concrete guidance. When nothing else seemed to help, I wondered if I should pay more attention to my hormones and menstrual cycle. Honestly, even though I’ve written about the myriad ways that women’s cycles can impact health and performance, I don’t regularly think about it in the context of my own life. I don’t compete at a high level, and I wasn’t training for a goal race. I like to run, swim, practice yoga, and play outside as much as possible, and I wasn’t sure my period really mattered. But I’m in my early forties, and recently my period started acting finicky when it used to run like clockwork.

To the extent that I did think about my period, I considered it a liability when it came to sports—a nuisance at best, and a barrier to peak race-day results at worst. And I’m not alone. A 2016 study in the journal PLOS One found that 55.4 percent of female athletes felt that their monthly cycle impacted their training or performance. However, menstruation is usually a taboo and embarrassing topic to discuss with friends, coaches, and teammates—so most women are left with few strategies to mitigate the effects of their cycle on their workouts except to grin and bear it. In fact, according to a 2019 analysis of responses from over 14,000 female Strava users, 72 percent said they have received no education about exercise and their periods.

Yet according to experts, understanding how women experience the menstrual cycle is fundamental to sports and performance. “Women’s physiology changes dramatically across the whole cycle,” says Emma Ross, the former head of physiology for the English Institute of Sport, which supports British Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Hormones like estrogen and progesterone ebb and flow throughout the month, influencing everything from how women respond to training, metabolize nutrients, and regulate body temperature and hydration levels. In other words, my fueling needs and ability to recover from workouts may change depending on whether I’m in a low-hormone phase or a high-hormone phase.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of why my fitness was stuck in the doldrums, I tracked my period for two months using two apps: Clue and FitrWoman.

According to experts, understanding how women experience the menstrual cycle is fundamental to sports and performance.

Let’s back up for a minute. You may remember from biology class that there are two phases of the menstrual cycle. The first phase is the follicular phase, which kicks off when a woman starts her period: the body prepares to release an egg from an ovary and begins to rebuild the uterine lining. Generally, hormones are low during this period but start to rise. Ovulation occurs mid-cycle, when the egg is released. This marks the end of the follicular phase and the beginning of the luteal phase, when hormone levels are generally high and the body prepares to either accept a fertilized egg and support a pregnancy, or the body gets ready to shed the uterine lining.

In the past few years, researchers have begun to dig deeper into sex differences in sports science, with a particular focus on the impact of the menstrual cycle. There is mounting anecdotal evidence that when you adjust training protocols to the specifics of female physiology, athletes perform better. The biggest endorsement for period tracking came last summer, when it was revealed that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team—who won a historic fourth World Cup last July—tracked their cycles leading up to and during the tournament. The team implemented training, nutrition, recovery, and sleep strategies based on where each player was in their cycle. Chelsea F.C. Women (a women’s soccer club based in England), the Brisbane Lions Women’s team (an Australian Football League women’s team), and others have also followed suit.

While recognizing monthly fluctuations can be useful, period tracking isn’t a silver bullet. There isn’t enough high-quality research to create evidence-based guidelines, especially given women’s highly variable experiences with their period. In a Twitter thread, Kirsty Elliot-Sale, an associate professor at Nottingham Trent University and a researcher on female physiology, cautioned: “We, the scientific community, have not yet reached a consensus on the direction or magnitude of changes that occur during the menstrual cycle and as such it is impossible for us to guide women’s sport on this basis.” (In July of this year, Elliott-Sale and her colleagues published a meta-analysis of the research on the menstrual cycle and exercise performance in the journal Sports Medicine, and called for further investigation because of the inconclusive results.)

However, menstrual cycle tracking can be an opportunity to empower women to appreciate their own physiology, says Dr. Ellen Casey, associate attending physiatrist in the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. “If it’s really true that risk of injury and performance fluctuates across the menstrual cycle, we can either say, ‘That sucks,’ and not deal with it, or we can say, ‘This is fascinating. Are there things we can learn from this? Can we harness these changes and train in certain ways at certain times?’”

In the past, most women have relied on pen and paper to keep tabs on their periods, if they did at all. Today there is no shortage of apps to help women understand their bodies better. It’s all part of the booming “femtech” market, broadly defined as products, apps, and digital services centered around women’s health and well-being. The category is projected to be worth $ 50 billion by 2025, according to Frost and Sullivan, a marketing consulting firm.

While most period-tracking apps are geared toward ovulation and fertility, a growing number like Clue and Flo allow women to log exercise and energy levels as well as more traditional symptoms like cramps and cravings. Garmin and Fitbit also offer period-tracking functions, so women can make notes on their cycle alongside their runs, bikes, and swims. MyFlo suggests different physical activities that may be more suited to the current phase of your cycle. The app then sorts through your data and looks for patterns and trends.

FitrWoman, which is targeted specifically to active women, takes things a step further: in addition to menstrual cycle and activity tracking, it provides educational snippets on what’s happening in your body based on your current menstrual cycle phase, and offers strategies to mitigate those effects. On the home screen, you can swipe through a few slides and read how hormonal fluctuations may affect your physiology, training, and nutrition. There’s a link to recipes, too, which are tailored to support training and recovery for the phase you’re in.

Each day, I opened the apps, clicked on the calendar (the main hub in both apps), and reported any symptoms I experienced that day. In FitrWoman, I scrolled a single page and chose from 20 different symptoms.

Clue, on the other hand, groups symptoms into nine categories (bleeding, pain, emotions, sleep, energy, cravings, digestion, mental, and exercise). Each category has four options: like cramps, headache, ovulation, and tender breasts for pain; or happy, sensitive, sad, or PMS for emotions. Just swipe and tap to log the relevant symptoms. I also have the option to create custom tags. Each month, I noted when my period started, its flow, and how long it lasted. The apps then predicted when my next period would start.

At first, chronicling daily symptoms was like starting a brand-new puzzle. I was excited to dig in and figure out what all the pieces would reveal about my physiology. For example, I noticed that I typically feel great in the follicular days between the end of my period and ovulation, when my hormone levels are relatively low. I’m happy. I have plenty of energy. And I feel strong during my runs and strength sessions, so I can push myself harder.

On the flip side, during the luteal phase I tend to feel flat, battle daily headaches, and have less energy and motivation to work out. This makes sense, since estrogen and progesterone levels are high, which can lead to bloating and fatigue. I also want to eat all the sweet and salty foods I can get my hands on during this time. “We know that cravings are likely caused by increased insulin resistance in this phase,” says Georgie Bruinvels, an exercise physiologist and the creator of FitrWoman. This can make blood-sugar levels more unstable. Instead of criticizing myself for being lazy and giving into my cravings, I was more proactive about fueling throughout the day to keep my blood sugar stable and switched up harder workouts for yoga, swimming, or a rest day during this phase.

Both apps also let women share information with their real-life coach. FitrWoman uses FitrCoach, a separate fee-based platform on which coaches can see where an athlete is in her menstrual cycle and which symptoms they’ve logged. It also sends a notification if an athlete hasn’t logged a period, which may be a sign of amenorrhea, the absence of menstruation. Amenorrhea can have a long-term impact on a woman’s health and signal the presence of a larger issue like the female athlete triad, or relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S).

Since many women don’t talk openly about their menstrual cycle, this setup can be a way to facilitate these private conversations, says Adam St. Pierre, an ultrarunning coach based in Boulder, Colorado. Previously, athletes would send him a text or email, or leave a note in their training log when they started their period or if they experienced troublesome symptoms. “It wasn’t super scientific,” he says. “FitrCoach allows for more tracking, letting me make sure things are going well.” The equivalent setup for Clue is called Clue Connect: you can invite others to view your cycle, such as a coach, partner, family member, or friend. The app will show them the dates for your past, current, and predicted periods, fertile windows, and PMS. Other symptoms remain private.

While logging symptoms and collecting data about my cycle was easy, figuring out what it all meant and how I could apply it to my life wasn’t so simple. Both apps provide educational information about menstruation and common symptoms, but the information is generic. I had to triangulate between FitrWoman, exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist Stacy Sims’s book Roar (the go-to training and nutrition guide for female athletes), and my own experience to determine which adjustments I could make and when.

There is currently no easy way to step back and get a macro-level view of my cycle and symptoms alongside my training log in either app. While FitrWoman syncs with Strava, I can only see that information for an individual day, not on a weekly or monthly basis. My basic activity stats (distance, pace, time, calories, elevation gain, etc.) automatically feed into my FitrWoman calendar and appear alongside symptoms I’ve logged for that day. The data isn’t pushed to my Strava feed. Plus, I normally use TrainingPeaks, not Strava, to track my workouts, and right now the app doesn’t sync with TrainingPeaks. So I had to manually jump back and forth between all the apps, making it harder to see trends and process the overall picture of my health and performance. Bruinvels says FitrWoman plans to develop a higher-level view of the data over a longer time period and overlay it with training information. It may also move toward predicting when symptoms are likely to occur based on previous cycles. (The timeline for these developments is unclear.)

For its part, Clue does begin to analyze your reported data after you complete two cycles. It plots recurrent symptoms across each recorded cycle and predicts when you’re likely to experience them based on past cycles. It also presents an overview: the average length of a cycle, the average length of a period, and the typical cycle length variation. Clue’s cycle analysis starts to get at the macro-level insights I crave and provides the data points to start piecing together the puzzle.

Admittedly, I wanted period tracking to be a fix, and to offer me a prescriptive path back to better fitness and strength. But it’s never that easy. I’m still in the process of parsing out the data and testing different adjustments to get back on track.

Still, the simple act of noticing how I felt each day gave me a framework to interpret the signals my body was sending. Instead of berating myself for a bad run or lack of energy during strength workouts, I can put those workouts into context: Where am I in my cycle? What’s going on with my body that may make me feel this way? Should I expect to feel good today? Now I have a plausible explanation for how I feel, putting a stop to some of the second-guessing going on in my head.

“There’s no part of the cycle that’s negative,” Sim says. “It’s about gaining awareness of how you are across your cycle” and learning to work with that.

If you want to take a peek under the hood and understand your menstrual cycle and how it affects you, here are some tips to get you started.

How to Start Tracking Your Period

Demystify Your Cycle

Whether you use an app, a fitness tracker, or pen and paper, the first step is to commit to tracking your menstrual cycle and determine its length. “Not every woman’s period is a textbook 28 days,” Sims says. Cycle length can vary greatly from woman to woman, and even fluctuate from month to month. Even women at the same phase of their cycles can have vastly different experiences and symptoms, so it’s important to understand the influence of hormones in your own body.

Sims also recommends using an at-home ovulation predictor kit to determine when you’re ovulating, especially if your app doesn’t provide this information. (Clue does. FitrWoman doesn’t.) This will tell you more precisely when you’re entering the higher-hormone luteal phase of your cycle.

If you’re taking hormonal birth control, it’s a little more complicated. For IUD users, you still experience natural hormonal fluctuations, even if you don’t get a period, and can track your cycle and find your monthly patterns. However, if you’re on combined hormonal birth control, you don’t experience the same high- and low-hormone phases, since the contraceptive provides stable levels of estrogen and progesterone for three weeks out of every month. “You can track, but you’re not going to have the same benefit as if you were using your natural cycle,” Sims says. While you may identify days when you feel good and bad, the whole concept of employing specific strategies for high-hormone versus low-hormone phases doesn’t apply.

Note Patterns and Trends

Sims recommends tracking your cycle for at least three months. This will begin to give you enough data so that you can start to see trends. “If you track for one or two months, what you experience may just be an off day,” she says. “But if it happens three times, then you know there may be a real pattern.” Overlay this information with your training log to spot connections between the menstrual cycle and workouts and races.

While the research isn’t quite strong enough yet to make general recommendations, simply increasing your body literacy is beneficial. Ross, the UK-based physiologist, says that when you’re in tune with the physical and emotional experience of your cycle, you may be more confident in planning your training, nutrition, and recovery, which can eliminate a lot of anxiety.

Adjust, Adjust, Adjust

Once you notice patterns, begin to dial in your training and nutrition. “It doesn’t have to be prescriptive like, ‘I’m in a low-hormone phase so I’m going to do high-intensity training this day, this day, and this day,’” Sims says. Instead, use those patterns as signals for when to ramp up activities or take things down a notch.

For example, during the high-hormone phase when women are likely to feel flat physiologically, it’s not the best time to work hard. Instead, focus on technique like running drills. “With drills, you get the neuromuscular stimulus when the body is tired. Then, when you do the same drills when hormones are more optimal, you’ll perform that much better,” says Sims.

While “listen to your body” feels like cliché advice, it’s still a good mantra. Every woman’s experience is different across her cycle, and there’s no one-size-fits-all template. Pay attention to what’s happening and make reasonable adjustments based on your personal experience.

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

Here’s what you need to know about skiing Vail Resorts this winter.

The company just released a plan that includes reservations and masks for upcoming season. Here’s everything you need to know.

It might mean your favorite powder run might not get tracked up as quick, but it comes at a cost. Emphasizing its commitment to safety in the age of COVID-19, Vail Resorts recently released its operation plan for the upcoming season at its 34 North American resorts. Included in the new schussing strategy: face coverings and social distancing protocols, including a “reservation” system for skiers and riders. One can only suspect that other resorts are examining the policy for their own operations.

“To help protect our guests, our employees and our communities amid this pandemic, some changes will be required this season,” wrote Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz in the letter posted on the company’s website. “Our goal to design an approach that can remain in place for all of this season…While it will be a little different than we are used to, we are very optimistic it will be a great season.”

Read full letter here: http://news.vailresorts.com/corporate/vailresorts/winter-operating-plan-2020-letter.htm

Read more about the reservation system here

Below is a synopsis of the skiing and riding protocols:

Face Coverings

Guests will be required to wear face coverings in every part of the resorts’ operations, which includes loading and riding in chairlifts and gondolas; when inside all buildings; and during all ski and snowboard lessons.

Physical Distancing

Lifts and Dining:Physical distancing will be promoted on chairlifts and gondolas, seating only related parties together and distancing singles (opposite sides of four- and six-person lifts and gondola cabins). On-mountain restaurants will be open in limited capacities, with cafeteria-style dining, cashless transactions, and spaced-out seating. No bars will be open, but they will sell packaged libations.

Reservation system:Vail Resorts is also implementing a new reservation system for all skiers and riders. (“The good news,” writes Katz, “is that we operate many of the largest mountain resorts in North America, and for the vast majority of the season, we believe everyone who wants to get on our mountains will be able to.”). As part of the system, early season before Dec. 8 will be reserved for pass holders only (no day ticket sales); and all pass holders will be required to make a reservation before arriving at the mountain. Pass holders will be able to make as many week-of reservations as their pass type and availability allow, and will also be able to book up to seven Priority Reservation Days between Dec. 8-April 4), or as many days as their pass allows during the booking window of Nov. 6 until Dec. 7. Katz added they don’t believe pass holders will need a reservation to access their partner resorts (Telluride, Sun Valley, Snowbasin, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Hakuba or Rusutsu). Day tickets will be sold on a space available basis after Dec. 8, through websites and call centers only (no ticket window sales).

“There is no doubt this season will be different, but we are committed to what matters most: working to protect your safety and wellbeing and providing you with great skiing and riding this winter,” concludes Katz.

Photo Tom Cohen, Vail Resorts

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

We Interviewed Our Moms About Their Favorite Gear

Reliable, trusty, go-to: sometimes longevity is an obvious sign of a great piece of gear. For Mother’s Day, we wanted to learn more about the apparel and equipment our moms keep coming back to years (and, in some cases, decades) later. So four members of the Outside gear team dialed their mommas and asked them the hard-hitting questions about their most used pieces.

The North Face Women’s City Breeze Rain Trench ($ 179)

Everybody needs a good raincoat, but especially my mother. She and my father live on the damp southern Oregon coast and spend a lot of time walking the beach between—and often during—rainstorms. Before quarantine began, they chartered sailboats three months of the year at various locations around the world where protection from salt spray is essential. Mom relies on the stylish two-layer City Breeze because it has “the versatility I require,” she says. She wears it while washing the dog after strolls on the sand, as well as to professional meetings in Portland, and she dons it on sailboats when squalls roll through. This is her second raincoat from the North Face, and, according to Mom, “It’s worth every penny.” She loves the waist belt, which gives the jacket a flattering shape compared to most others in this category. Her only issue? The sleeves are too long, but she uses the cuff adjustments to deal with that. —Will Taylor, gear director

Nikon Monarch 5 10×42 Binoculars ($ 330)

Before my mom was a bona fide birder, she was a bird nerd in denial. “I wouldn’t say I was ashamed of it, but it wasn’t something I was celebrating,” she told me. This changed in 2015 when she discovered that a neighbor shared her proclivity for stalking avian creatures. No longer flying solo, my mom was prepared to make an investment in her new hobby. “You really can’t be a serious birder until you get binoculars,” she says. She went on the hunt for reasonably priced binocs that had a ton of zoom and were lightweight, an important consideration because she also often carries a camera on a sling around her neck (a requirement for birding). After doing some research, she purchased the Nikon Monarch 5 10×42. “It’s a phenomenal buy for an amateur birder,” she says. Not only does the Monarch meet my mom’s original criteria, it’s also waterproof and has a 25-year warranty. The one drawback is that, because the Monarch has so much zoom, it doesn’t let a lot of light into its lenses, meaning she likely won’t witness any nocturnal bird action. This is a fair trade-off for her, and she doesn’t plan on shelling out for $ 3,000 Swarovski binoculars. Four years later, the Monarch is still her sidekick on birding expeditions large and small—whether staking out a great snowy owl that was reportedly seen at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport or ogling the African paradise-flycatcher in the Serengeti. —Claire Hyman, editorial assistant

The North Face 700-Fill Down Jacket ($ 20 to $ 40)

In 1998, Annie Larsen was a recovering dirtbag climber, Park Service employee, and mom of a (cough) delightful three-year-old. Back then my family frequented a lot of garage sales—mostly for the deals but also for the toddler entertainment value. That’s where she found this almost pristine periwinkle puffy jacket for somewhere between $ 20 and $ 40 (“kind of a lot of money” at the time, she says). But it fit perfectly, so she pulled the trigger. The 700-fill down jacket has been on every single camping trip since, no matter the season. “I can’t tell you how many times I was absolutely freezing, and I would put it on, and it was like, Ahh—instant warmth,” she says. Plus, it’s her second-favorite color—an important consideration for a woman who regularly wears earrings in the backcountry. And my mom isn’t the only family member who loves the jacket. On one frigid Canadian vacation, she zipped our shivering seven-pound Jack Russel mix into the coat with her. She has one gripe: the fit of the stuff pocket is just a little tight. —Maren Larsen, assistant editor

Handy Unknown Cartoon Sweater

My mom isn’t a hardcore backpacker or an adventure junkie, but she still has strong opinions about gear. When I asked her, “What’s your favorite piece of apparel?” I expected her to pick one of her rain shells, sweat-wicking midlayers, or running shoes. I was mistaken. She sent me a picture of this simple cotton sweatshirt that she’s had for decades and wears frequently around the house. “I got it when I was living in Hong Kong over 30 years ago,” she told me. I tried to find out if the design was inspired by a famous cartoon, but I came up short. On Wear Your Sweats Day at the school where she teaches, she gets “a lot of compliments from the kids, because they’ve never seen cartoon characters like these in the States.” One thing is certain: she’s taken great care of it and keeps it looking as clean as the day she got it. I think that’s the sign of a truly well-loved piece of gear. —Jeremy Rellosa, reviews editor

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

Earthquakes Can Teach Us About Disaster and Resilience

Along the southern shoreline of Alaska, underneath the Aleutian Trench in the Pacific Ocean, two tectonic plates converge. One presses beneath the other at an annual rate of about two and a half inches, causing a moderate earthquake about once a year. But at 5:36 P.M. on March 27, 1964—Good Friday—the plates slipped dramatically, setting off a violent quake that rippled across the state for nearly five minutes—long enough, according to journalist Jon Mooallem, “for some people to question if it would ever stop.” The great Alaskan quake, as it later became known, hit a record-setting 9.2 on the Richter scale. It remains the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America and the second-largest recorded worldwide.

In Anchorage, just 75 miles away from the earthquake’s epicenter, a main road cracked in half, and the wealthy enclave of Turnagain slipped almost entirely into the sea. Power lines went down. And very little information entered or exited the region until Anchorage’s local radio station, using backup generators, burst back onto the air.

One of its local reporters, Genie Chance, was in her car with her son when the quake struck. After it subsided, and after she got a glimpse of the scale of destruction, she only stopped to drop him safely at home before rushing back into the field to start reporting. “For the next thirty hours,” she recalled later, “I talked constantly.” She quickly emerged as the voice of Anchorage in the wake of the earthquake, dispatching critical updates to listeners across the region. (This included her own relatives: “The Chance family is alright,” she told her parents over the air.) Her programming was picked up by other Alaskan radio stations, then nationally; she later won numerous journalism awards for her disaster coverage. But history soon forgot about the earthquake and the female reporter who covered it best. Chance died in 1998.

Small business owners clear salvagable items and equipment from their earthquake-ravaged stores on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, in the aftermath of the 1964 earthquake. (*Photo:* Unknown/AP)

Decades later, Chance is at the center of Mooallem’s new book, This Is Chance!, which will be published March 24. The veteran journalist first learned about the great Alaskan quake when he spotted black and white photographs of the wreckage from tsunamis caused by the earthquake on the wall of a diner in Crescent City, California. His interest piqued, Mooallem later spent years poring over contemporaneous interviews, news accounts, and scientific research, including a report Chance produced for the U.S. Geological Survey, trying to piece together a cohesive account of that weekend. “No one had written this story before,” Mooallem told me recently.

Before long, Chance herself became the beating heart of the story he wanted to tell. Perhaps intuiting that her records might one day be of historical significance, Chance had sent reel-to-reel tapes of her broadcasts to the University of Alaska, where Mooallem found and listened to them decades later. Her daughter, Jan, also had a separate trove of recordings. As Mooallem writes it, Chance underwent a transformation from a working mom and frontier-town journalist (a typical story of hers might have been on sled-dog races) to the most indispensable voice of a city thrust into disaster. “I was just really moved by the role that a radio person could play in that situation,” Mooallem says, “because that role fundamentally connects other people.”

Mooallem tried to interview as many survivors of the great Alaskan quake as possible, traveling across Juneau, Sitka, Anchorage, and rural Washington State to speak with them. Many people who had lived in Anchorage in 1964 are scattered now, getting old, with their memories failing or already gone. The bulk of his research was archival—he spent a lot of time in the Newark, Delaware, archives of the Disaster Research Center—and Mooallem, who usually reports on more contemporary stories, found the gulf between himself and his subjects strange. “It layered the whole experience with this weird feeling of dislocation, that I couldn’t quite connect with those people,” he says.

Decades of hindsight add nuance to an otherwise straightforward narrative about disaster and recovery, allowing Mooallem to examine social issues that accounts at that time did not. He writes, for example, of the sexism Chance confronted at the radio station, the “persistent, backhanded disbelief that a woman could work so hard and proficiently during a crisis.” When she asked for a raise, she was told she “was already making the highest salary ‘for a woman’”—she wrote later that the station only employed her to begin with “because I worked hard and cheap.” Chance faced similar sexism in her later work in Alaska’s state legislature and endured an abusive, alcoholic husband at home.

Mooallem addresses the “overt racism” some Anchorage residents directed toward Native Alaskans immediately following the earthquake, a “shameful exception” to the narrative of harmony and inclusivity that the city wanted to tell about itself during the crisis. He describes a tense standoff between journalists from the lower 48 who arrived to cover the quake and the Eskimo Scouts, a contingent of the Alaskan National Guard made up of Native Alaskans, who were tasked with securing that area for everyone’s safety. The journalists, hoping to get as close as possible to the disaster zone, soon became antagonistic; one called the Natives “little soldiers” to belittle them.

Genie Chance is the subject of Mooallem’s new book <i>This Is Chance!</i>, which will be published March 24. — Genie Chance is the subject of Mooallem’s new book *This Is Chance!*, which will be published March 24. (*Photo:* Courtesy Random House)

At its core, This Is Chance! succeeds at creating the first contemporary history of how Anchorage responded to the unexpected crisis, and it paints a picture of a community coming together in the face of tragedy. It seems to offer a blueprint for us now: a possible route forward, when previously unthinkable environmental and political catastrophes seem to have become a daily occurrence.

Earthquakes, by their nature, disrupt something we take for granted as stable: the solid ground beneath our feet. Though that experience provokes a queasy, vertiginous fascination and tons of press coverage, “then, somehow, life stitches back together and you move on,” Mooallem says. “I really wanted to spend time seeing what happens afterward instead of just looking away.”

What he found, when he peered into the void the earthquake ripped open, was encouraging. Sociologists with the Disaster Research Center touched down in Anchorage just a few hours after it ended to study the city’s response. Despite prevailing fears about mass hysteria and stampeding crowds, what they witnessed seemed to demonstrate that people are inclined toward goodness. “Many of us have enjoyed—actually, taken a great deal of pride in—seeing the way the people of Anchorage can rise to the occasion,” Chance said shortly after the earthquake. It supported then controversial social-science theories, which have since been borne out by decades of research, that disasters might actually bring out the best in people.

“I don’t think we have a real way to talk about what happens next in those situations,” Mooallem says, echoing an observation in Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell, a compilation of case studies about how communities respond to catastrophe. “We lack the language for that aspect of our existence, the language we need to describe what happens during disaster,” Solnit writes, describing the compassionate human response that arises in the wake of a catastrophe. “And yet the experience happens anyway.”

Mooallem argues that Chance, for one, provided the language, that her live-broadcast coverage became “not an antidote to that unpredictability, exactly, but at least a strategy for withstanding it.” In moments of chaos and upheaval, strong narratives can make sense of what previously seemed senseless. “The disaster had no narrator,” he writes. That is, until Genie Chance got back on the air.

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

10 Things to Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak

The coronavirus disease—officially known as COVID-19—is hitting Europe and the Middle East and has made landfall in the U.S. with more than 100 cases. Like a lot of you, we’ve followed the outbreak with a mix of dread and fascination, and with frequent refreshes to the amazing coronavirus map published by Johns Hopkins. The good news is that activities in the mountains—where people can remain at a safe distance from each other—will probably continue to be safe. But everything from yoga to the Olympics could get dicey.

Coronaviruses might live for up to nine days on countertops.

Nobody knows yet just how long the COVID-19 virus can remain viable on surfaces, but other coronaviruses—a category of virus that can cause illnesses ranging from common colds to deadly diseases like SARS and MERS—can stick around for up to nine days. That means you’ll want to be careful about what you touch (looking at you, iPhone and airplane tray table). One of the most common forms of transmission is to get virus particles on your hands and then rub your eyes, mouth, or nose. Fortunately, SARS and MERS can both be killed by alcohol solutions (62 percent alcohol or more) or hydrogen peroxide, so possibly the new coronavirus can, too. In hospitals, technicians also use more powerful Cavicide to disinfect sensitive areas, although it’s nasty stuff and best used by gloved professionals.

The most effective protocol is to wash your hands with hot soapy water for 20 seconds or so. The foaming and rubbing action is important as it works viral particles out of the folds of your skin. Then apply an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It takes alcohol 15 to 20 seconds to break down the lipid envelope that surrounds the virus proteins. Luckily, enveloped viruses are the easiest to destroy with alcohol. And while some enterprising homemakers have pointed out that ethanol may be more destructive to viruses than rubbing alcohol, it’s also more dehydrating to your skin, so use hand sanitizer.

It’s much deadlier than the flu and has the potential to kill millions of people.

Everyone from NPR to the president has made the point that the flu is currently a greater threat to public health than COVID-19. But the phrasing here is key. In a typical flu season, between 12,000 and 61,000 Americans will die from the flu. And COVID-19 is just getting started; by the time of this article’s publication, it had already killed more than 3,000 people worldwide. But COVID-19 has the world on edge because of what it could do. Experts think it has the potential to infect an enormous percent of the global population—some say as many of 70 percent of all adults—and cause enormous social and economic disruption.

What makes COVID-19 so scary? Well, it’s highly transmissible: one infected person is likely to give the virus to between two and three others. There are a few reasons for this. One, because COVID-19 is new, no one in the world has any immunity. Two, most—roughly 80 percent—of the cases are mild or even asymptomatic, which means that those people with few symptoms can walk around infecting others rather than spending a couple of weeks laid up in bed. Three, the incubation period is relatively long: people can harbor the virus for two weeks or so before getting sick.

So how deadly is it to individuals? “Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s director, on March 3. That’s still much higher than the flu (0.1 percent) but lower than SARS (10 percent), MERS (34 percent), or Ebola (50 percent).

Lastly, and frighteningly, it appears that you can get reinfected. Unlike the flu, whose victims build up immunity to a specific strain after their illness, there have been reports of people recovering from COVID-19 and then getting it again.

Fun things might be canceled.

For now, things like Mount Everest season, the Summer Olympics, and your favorite yoga class are still a go. But Olympic organizers are understandably worried. Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee told the Associated Press last week that the IOC could afford to wait until May to make a decision about whether to move forward with the Games. The question they’re asking themselves: “Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?” And if the virus is not under control, according to Pound, “you’re probably looking at a cancellation.”

Meanwhile, Everest expedition leader Adrian Ballinger, a fixture on the mountain for the past decade, tells us he’s altered his team’s plans to fly into Kathmandu and avoid major Chinese cities. The season kicks off around April 8, when groups begin flying into Nepal’s capital city. “Of course it’s still an unknown,” said Ballinger, “but the Chinese have hit all deadlines so far, and we have sent full payment for our permits.” Nepal has, to date, reported only one case of coronavirus; however, if the disease were to spread there, it could quickly overwhelm the small nation’s health care resources.

But when it comes to public crowds and normal human interaction, things may get sketchy when the disease starts to spread in the U.S. If the fallout in places like Italy, Spain, and Austria are any indicator, professional sports events could be played in empty stadiums, large gatherings and festivals could be canceled, and hotels and whole neighborhoods could be placed on lockdown.

Yes, you should stock up, but maybe not on what you’re thinking about.

In Hong Kong, coronavirus fears sparked a run on toilet paper, causing supermarket fights and even an armed TP heist. In all seriousness, experts say the most important things to stock up on are prudent amounts of any prescription medication you might need, as well as a small supply of dry goods like rice, beans, oats, and canned food that won’t go bad and that you’ll eat regardless. This is less about fears that supplies will run out and more about not wanting to stand in a pharmacy line during an epidemic (or worse, if you yourself are sick).

Surgical masks probably don’t help.

While most of East Asia is outfitted in doctor’s masks these days, that’s more a social custom than a medical necessity—mask-wearing “fosters a sense of a fate shared, mutual obligation, and civic duty,” anthropologist Christos Lynteris wrote recently in The New York Times. The World Health Organization says not to bother with masks unless you’re a doctor—or you’re sick yourself. The best defense is washing your hands. If you do have to go into a high-risk situation (say, visiting a hospital during an outbreak), the mask to get is not the paper kind but an N95 respirator, which can filter out at least 95 percent of tiny particles. Even then you need to be sure the mask fits snugly against clean-shaven skin—sorry, that dirtbag beard has to go—and that no air seeps in around the edges.

Get ready for “social distancing.”

Places from Japan to Saudi Arabia to Italy are already implementing what public health experts call “social distancing,” which basically means discouraging people from hanging out in groups. This can be anything from canceling school to forbidding social gatherings (the Chinese megacity of Guangzhou has banned eating in restaurants). Should coronavirus hit the U.S. hard, employers will likely call for work-from-home arrangements. But—fair warning—that means actually doing your job. Young bank trainees in Hong Kong were recently named and shamed in the local press for getting caught hiking when they were supposed to be working from home.

You can spread the virus without showing symptoms.

This is part of what makes coronavirus so scary to infectious-disease experts. While SARS could only be transmitted via the obviously sick (i.e., those who were hacking and feverish), coronavirus carriers can fly under the radar with few or no symptoms. A 20-year-old woman from Wuhan infected five members of her family but never had symptoms herself. And another woman infected a coworker at a meeting despite feeling nothing but a bit of fatigue. According to the CDC, people are the most contagious when they are the sickest. However, the agency reported that “some spread might be possible before people show symptoms.”

The difficulty of asymptomatic transmission means both that there are carriers out there spreading the virus around unknowingly and that people who get sick will have no idea where they contracted COVID-19. It’s a recipe for rapid transmission.

The worst part of the pandemic—if it becomes one—will probably occur November through next March.

Coronaviruses fare better in cold air, which is why flu season is in the winter. If the new coronavirus follows the patterns of past pandemics, it will spread during the spring in the Northern Hemisphere, die down over the summer, and then come roaring back as the weather cools in the fall. If the fatality rate is actually above 3 percent, the new coronavirus would be comparable to the 1918 influenza pandemic, which followed a similar pattern. The pandemic actually emerged in late 1917 at a military hospital in France, spread through the winter and spring of 1918, but didn’t really take off until the virus mutated into a more virulent strain that emerged in August of that year and was far deadlier in its second wave than in the first.

Some people are highly infectious “super-spreaders.”

A British businessman attended a sales conference in Singapore, stopped off at a French ski resort to see some friends, then headed back to the UK. Little did he know he was spreading coronavirus the whole way. By the time he realized he was infected, he’d tagged 11 other Britons. Oh, and he still didn’t feel sick himself. No one is exactly sure what makes a super-spreader, but it’s probably a combination of factors, from the host’s immune system to their behavior (if they’re a hand washer) to where they happen to travel. Whatever it is, they’re dangerous. During the SARS epidemic in Singapore, just five super-spreaders managed to be responsible for 144 out of 204 cases.

Don’t panic. It’s not time to go to your doomsday ranch time-share.

In fact, hoarding could make things even more dangerous. If masks and other protective gear are snapped up by the “worried well,” there’ll be nothing left for the people who really need it: medical professionals.

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A 200-inch, 17-pointer: There’s nothing typical about this buck

A monster Georgia buck has been killed, a 17-pointer with crazy thick mass and tines that look more like tree branches than antler points – including one growing out of its cheek right behind its eye. For the complete story, click here.

Categories: Hunting News, Whitetail Deer

Tags: Deer, Hunting, white-tailed deer, Whitetails

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Winter Riding – Things to Think About

Just because winter weather is upon us, that doesn’t mean we can’t still get out and ride. It just means that we need to prepare and plan appropriately, to make for the safest and most enjoyable experience possible. With the bike, gear, and apparel options that are available these days, year-round riding has never been easier. Here are a few tips and ideas that will give newbies the confidence to try winter riding, and help the brave souls that are already out there to enjoy the adventure a bit more.

THE BIKE:

Just about any bike will work for winter riding, but think twice before venturing out on your high-end road bike. Even when the roads are dry, the salt, sand, and grit can wreak havoc on your drive train.

If you are commuting or just heading out for a ride, consider going with a sturdy older bike that is set up specifically for the conditions of the road. Tire choice is critical. Wide tires with decent tread should do the trick in most conditions. If you are specifically riding in snow and ice, investing in true winter tires with metal studs can be a great choice. PRO TIP: when traction is questionable, let a bit of air out of your tires to increase surface contact with the road and improve traction.

ACCESSORIES:

Fenders are especially important if you are commuting by bike in the winter. They do a great job preventing snow, water, mud, sand, and other grit from spraying your face and clothes along the way. If having a muddy racing stripe down your back when you finish the ride is your thing, then forego the fenders. If not, then the are highly recommended. Mucky Nutz is one of my favorite brands of fenders. There are fender options out there that provide more complete coverage, but there aren’t any that I have found that are as versatile and as easily installed onto nearly any bike. Lights are great to have on any ride, day or night, even in the summer. In the winter, however, with more glare on the roads and less daylight, they are an absolute must. The importance of both seeing and being seen cannot be overstated. There are a ton of options out there for any budget. Key considerations are brightness and battery life. You can find headlights and taillights sold separately or as sets. A nice choice is the Lezyne Strip Drive Headlight and Taillight set, which provides 300 lumens up front and 150 lumens in the rear, will mount to any bike, and has multiple flash modes. Price for the set is $ 67.99 – a small price to pay for safety.

CLOTHING:

Simply stated, without proper clothing you will be miserable and will find excuses to avoid getting out and riding in the first place. When considering clothing, the simple goal is to maximize comfort on the bike. How to best do this? First, you need to ask yourself a few questions. How cold is it? Is any precipitation expected during the ride? What about expected road debris (sand, gravel, etc.) where you will be riding? Time of day and risk of running out of daylight if anything goes wrong (flat tire, etc.)? Any wind expected? How hard do you plan to ride? How much do you tend to sweat? The answers to these questions (and probably more) must be taken into consideration when getting dressed. Regardless of the specific answers, the key is usually to layer. It all begins with the base layer, which should provide both warmth and moisture management. Synthetic fabrics do a great job of wicking moisture away from your body – both your own (sweat) and Mother Nature’s (rain and snow). I consider the mid layer to be the “utility player” of winter cycling clothing. It is a versatile layer and is not even always necessary. If used, it should provide additional moisture management as well as warmth. It can be used under the outer layer for additional warmth, or as the outer layer – and will sometimes be used as both during different times in the any given ride as temperatures and efforts change. The outer layer is there to provide not only a good thermal barrier for warmth but also a weather barrier for wind and water resistance. A proper approach to layering should keep your core dry and comfortable, but keeping your head, hands and feet warm is equally important for a comfortable and enjoyable ride. You should stay away from riding with a hood, as they tend to funnel in cold air as you move. Tight-fitting but insulated beanies (preferably with a synthetic wicking material) work great under helmets. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to shield your eyes. Sunglasses can work fine in most cases, but also consider ski goggles, which offer a more complete protective barrier for both your eyes and face. On more than one occasion cold fingers and toes have caused me to cut rides short. A good pair of gloves is great in most conditions but when the temperature really drops, or if you have suboptimal circulation in your hands, consider a bifurcated “lobster claw”/mitten hybrid.

For your feet, heavy socks and water/windproof booties can really do a nice job of keeping your piggies warm. In more extreme weather, winter-specific riding boots should be considered. When in a pinch, putting plastic shopping bags or small trash bags over your socks before stepping into your shoes can be great. I know this from first-hand experience.

I hope these tips have helped. Now get prepared, put on your layers, and get out and ride!

Trent Newcomer is a veterinarian and the franchise owner of Velofix Colorado, a mobile bike shop operation that serves the Front Range, from Fort Collins to the entire Denver metro area. Book a bike service appointment and have them roll up to your home or business at velofix.com.

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5 Things to Like About What’s Happening in Silverton

High off my discovery of wet canyoning in Ouray, I navigated the awe-inspiring Red Mountain Pass in route to Silverton. Unlike Ouray, which seems very settled in its personality, Silverton is undergoing various changes and could be ushering in a new wave, at least in part, thanks to new residents and some fresh takes on old establishments. Here’s what going on in Silverton:

There’s still a disagreement about the direction the town should take.

Some residents want growth and change; others don’t, and yes – that’s a good thing. Small town politics are never easy, but it’s important to point out that destinations who receive push back against tourism typically stay authentic longer than ones that embrace it with open arms. Take Molokai in Hawaii, for example, and compare it to some of the other Hawaiian Islands.

Regardless of which side of the progressive coin you land on, the split situation itself is a good one from a traveler’s perspective. It ensures that any change will be incremental, that the town, even as it evolves, will have a good chance of keeping its character – it might open a new brewery or a new hotel, but it won’t become a different place overnight. That’s a promising sign for everyone involved, visitors and locals alike.

The main drag in Silverton, Colorado. Photo by Wake and Wander Media.

Right now, they’re creating the present by re-purposing the past.

So far, most of the “new developments” in town are in the form of re-purposement rather than new construction. The Avon Hotel, known as an old miner’s hangout and complete with an authentic, old-style saloon, recently re-opened after 25 years of vacancy. The Wyman Hotel, while seemingly out of place in Silverton with its uber-modern design (walking in off the trail, its pristine white sheets, designer rugs, and pink curtains seemed too nice), occupies an old corner building on Greene Street that was built in 1902 and once housed a gas station. The Notorious Blair Street is currently being revamped to make the old new again – improved street lights, walking paths, and a performance center to complement the historic buildings: saloons, gambling halls, and brothels.

This is the sort of thing I speak of, small, reasonable change where everyone wins – the past is preserved, sometimes re-purposed, but not steamrolled. By spending money to restore the historic sections of Silverton, the town can attract visitors and maintain its personality simultaneously.

Increased comfort and modern offerings could encourage more overnight visitors, which could take the focus off single-day tourism, which might be a good thing in the long run for Silverton.

Right now, tourism in Silverton lives and dies by one thing: The train. Three hundred days a year, more than 1,000 people are brought to Silverton from Durango via a tourist train. The train stops in Silverton for a couple hours, then turns around and goes right back to Durango. It does this a couple times per day, with approximately 500 guests per train.

On one hand, mass tourism such as this seems like an okay solution for a town split on tourism – they arrive, walk around, have lunch, then get back on the train. They don’t hang around town, but still impact the local economy.

The downside of this is that it encourages fleeting businesses – that is, businesses are created not because they are supported by the local population, or repeat business, but because they cater directly to day-trippers who need certain things, like food and drink, served quickly and efficiently. While there are some exceptions, this almost always results in mediocrity – when you don’t depend on repeat business, you don’t sweat the small stuff (take a look at any cruise ship port in the world, for example).

The Avon Hotel is now open after 25 years of vacancy. Many of the buildings original features, like this wooden staircase, remain intact. Photo by Avon Hotel.

Chatting around town with Silverton locals, at bars and in outdoor shops, I learned that many restaurants in town were places they would never dine. That’s not the kind of thing you want to build your town around.

But this most recent push of “development” in Silverton features new projects and modern offerings that could change things. From the Avon and Wyman hotels to the Golden Block and Avalanche breweries, these “modern” attractions will help to draw, increase, and diversify overnight traffic, which could, in turn, change some dynamics of the town. A visitor that stays for multiple nights is now all of a sudden a potential repeat customer, and is more likely to dive deeper into the local businesses of the town, supporting places who specialize in quality, not convenience.

There are still many secrets to be discovered.

Anyone who has been to Silverton knows that it’s a small town in a big wilderness. Even though you might be able to explore the town in one day, and even though places like the Ice Lakes Trail are growing in popularity, the forests and mountainsides surrounding Silverton have hardly revealed themselves to the world. There is more to discover in the wilderness around Silverton than a local can complete in a lifetime, much less a visitor in town for a couple days, from hiking and biking to fly fishing and off-roading.

First timers should start with the basics: A trip to Animas Forks, a visit to the Silverton Avalanche School, a hike up around Kendall Peak. But to get into the good stuff, to find out where all those random dirt roads lead, you’ll have to pick the brain of a local.

View of Silverton during fall. Photo by Visit Silverton.

OHVs are allowed, but they don’t stand out.

OHVs – also known as off-highway vehicles – have become controversial in Colorado (and many places in the Western United States). Many towns have banned them from using local paved roads, and some people loathe motorized recreation altogether on principle.

But Silverton has embraced the OHV crowd. It allows them to drive upon the town’s roads, creates mountain trails for them to explore, and offers support to their clientele via specialized outdoor shops and tour operators.

From my perspective, some towns are better set up to handle them than others. I can’t imagine Ouray allowing them – something about that town seems unfit for it – but it works for Silverton. Half the roads in the town are unpaved anyhow, and there’s enough room in the surrounding wilderness for hikers and vehicles to coexist. It does not appear that the OHV crowd will, reasonably speaking, threaten the natural enjoyment of anyone in Silverton.

While I am a hiker at heart, I did take a guided, informational Rock Pirate OHV ride through the nearby wilderness, and it taught me a thing or two about their appeal. I can see now why people love their capabilities, and why OHVs will continue to be a big part of Silverton’s future. If you’ve never given it a chance, Silverton is a good place to try.

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