Rode Galbraith alone, climbing the Ridge Trail at night in the rain. When I got to the top of the Lower Ridge Trail, where it comes out of the trees, I stood for a long time and just let the rain drench me, like Richard Revoir did at Iceberg Cove when he and Mar and Lane and I kayaked on Lopez Island all those years ago. Moving a few feet under the forest canopy, it was still almost entirely dry since the trees hadn't absorbed enough to start dripping yet.

Lane and I have decided to get a divorce. This comes one month after we moved the family into the house on Humboldt St. in Bellingham, and slightly less than a month after I moved out into my office.

Approximately 1000 verts.

Vert Quest chronicles "The Man Known As Mongo's" pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period. Mongo's mountain bike climbing tricks are distilled in Mongo's Over-the-top Guide to Climbing.