Laps

Saturday was odd weather with the inversion. Coming down the mountain into Bend I felt like I was entering the twilight zone. It was sunny and warm up at Bachelor but icy and cold in town. Sunday proved better weather and we went riding. All the way up the shady side of the trails the trees were frosted over. But, there was no mud, the sun was warm, and it HAD to be in the 40's out there. Derek and I rode a few laps after getting a bit lost. It was nice to be back out in warm sunshine riding dirt trails. I snapped a few pics...enjoy.

Time Waster

Soap Bubble

Have fun wasting time and Happy Friday!

Top Chef

I must admit, I watch Top Chef. It's down to the final two chefs now and I'm torn between who I want to win. Is anyone else watching this show? I have decided I want Marcel to win. Is he really as bad as the other contestants make him out to be or are they just jealous? In honor of Top Chef and cooking, I'm posting one of my favorite recipes.

Monterey Jack, Corn, and Roasted Red Pepper Risotto
From Cooking Light

1 3/4 cups water
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup uncooked Arborio or other short-grain rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeño peppers
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn
3/4 cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers

Combine water and broth in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep broth mixture warm over low heat.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice, cumin, coriander (if desired), and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 cup broth mixture; cook 2 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of liquid is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Stir in the onions, cheese, hot sauce, corn, and bell peppers; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 383(24% from fat); FAT 10.4g (sat 4.6g,mono 3.9g,poly 0.9g); PROTEIN 12g; CHOLESTEROL 17mg; CALCIUM 198mg; SODIUM 583mg; FIBER 3.8g; IRON 3.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 63.3g

More sun

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I rode at lunch again today. The river trail is snow and mostly mudfree. I caught site of another rider behind me and well, I just have a competitive spirit so I turned on the speed. You can take me out of racing, but you can't take racing out of me. I did stop to take a couple of pictures - nothing great really. I love the water. I could sit and watch/listen to the river forever.

Here ducky ducky.



It doesn't come across well in the pic, but this little ice/snow shelf was built up on a rock as water rushed all around it.



The stick trees end up ruining this picture I think. They just get in the way instead of lending to it at all.

I'm melting!

Yesterday around noon I looked outside and saw that it was in the 50's! What the heck is going on with these warm temps? I'd prefer snow since it IS technically winter, but what the hell, when it's nice I ride. So off I went. The versatility of my cyclocross bike is sweet. I can ride it anywhere and it does fine (through fields, on trails, pavement, gras, etc). I picked a nice loop and hammered across town down to Shevlin Park, did a spin around the dirt trails, and then back to work. The soil is nice and tacky right now, no dust in sight! If this keeps up, I'll be out in shorts and a tank top this weekend.

For those stuck inside, enjoy:

It wasn't me

Apparently someone in Bend has a winning $1million Powerball ticket and I just wanted to let everyone know...it isn't me. I play every once in awhile though, even if it's just to dream in those moments before you check your ticket against the winning numbers; dream about what I would do with the money. I'm fairly certain most of it would go towards traveling. I think I'd sponsor some kids with racing mountain bikes too. Maybe set up a little program.

Dream a little dream.

Goal accomplished

I've mentioned it as a goal of mine before...to skate ski the Great Nordeen course. Saturday I accomplished that goal. I had never before skied that far - 36k. The course was challenging for me since I'm not good at downhills. It starts at Sunrise Lodge up at Mt Bachelor and immediately dives down into the forest on some very twisty trail. I crashed twice on some steep hills (my snowplow wouldn't work because there were berms and my skis couldn't fit to plow). On one of the hills I stopped at the top and just stared down it...totally intimidated and pretty scared. It took me a few minutes to get up the nerve and then I finally went for it..and crashed. The course had quite a bit of uphill to it - not steep ones, but loooooong gradual ones. It was absolutely gorgeous weather out, perfect snow, and we had a good time. We stopped a few times to rest, eat, and for me to take pictures. I am so happy we did it, I had a fabulous time and got a great workout.

Cate is happy to be out here!



Blue skies and plenty of sunshine.



Derek takes a break.



Derek crosses under the highway.



We're getting farther away from our starting point.



Sunday my shoulders we sore but when I looked outside the sky was somewhat friendly looking and the roads were dry so I hopped on my cyclocross bike. I rode around for awhile enjoying the tolerable temps, then ran some errands, then rode to the pool. After about an hour of laps I was feeling completely exhausted.

I've been sitting here warming the couch for a couple hours now. Ahhhhhhhhhh Monday is almost here.

Make it a Double

Right out of college I worked for a giant public accounting firm. We had a Japanese exchange worker that sat behind me. He spoke BARELY any English, but it didn't matter because his clients were all large Japanese manufacturers. He slowly started picking up the English other people in the office would teach him. Problem was...guys were teaching him the wrong times to use things on purpose. I remember we went on a nice lunch to a restaurant and when the waiter came to leave our bill he asked if we needed anything else. The guys had prompted poor Masa with what he should say in response and he proudly blurted out, "Bite me". His other favorite phrase was, "make it a double" - referring to drinks when we would all go out. Well, in honor of Masa, I'm going to "Make it a double" today.

I went skate skiing this morning before work with a friend. The snow was unbelievable sticky and slow on all the uphills, and slick on all the downhills. I only fell once though! I'm sure I'll have a bruise on my right thigh and knee later today though for that little snowflop. Tonight I'm heading to the pool for a swim workout. Hence, the double.

Life doesn't have to be so busy and hectic that you don't get to enjoy it. I remember one of my bosses at my last job always saying, "You know, when I'm on my death bed I'm never going to look back at my life and say, 'I sure wish I'd spent more time working.'" Thinking about this was brought around by an email I got from out of town friend who works all the time and never does anything "fun".

I like living here because it's convenient for me to do the things I love. It's easy to get caught up in work, but I like to get caught up in life instead.

So go for a walk along the river, hike up Tumalo Mtn, get up early and watch the sunrise...(did you see the bright oranges this morning to the east?) but for what it's worth - live.

To the mountains

We skate skied Saturday but decided on an adventure Sunday. We had snowshoed out to Todd Lake before, and xc skied out there once, but we put together a good sized loop starting from Bachelor, going out to Todd Lake, up the Todd Ridge through a series of uphill switchbacks and traverses, then down the backside into the meadow and around. It looked like only one person had been the way we went because there was only one set of tracks past the lake and up the ridge. It was tough going. Then at the top, those tracks just ended. So route finding down the backside was up to us which was no big deal because it was such a clear day and you could get your bearings by always looking around. We had a great time and are still slowly getting better at the backcountry stuff. It took us almost 3 hours and we probably went 8 or 9 miles.

Broken Top from the East side of Lake Todd


MT Bachelor looms.



Another picture of Broken Top. The lake was completely snowed and frozen over of course.

Through it all

I think yesterday started beautifully. My ride to work, while cold, was very nice. I just love the mornings. When I got to work I took this. It isn't my best picture, but if you look closely you can even see the moon!



When I rode to the gym at lunch I passed by a place that I've never been sure what it is. At first I thought it was a church because it kind of looks like one, but then I noticed broken down cars outside, burnt out motorhomes and various sundry items. Today when I rode through the lot there were a group of hobo like men gathered in an old rv smoking. Lovely.

Well, if blue sky riding starts the day, you know what finishes it?

Defining Moment

My friend has to write a bio to send to her birth mother and it got me thinking what I would say about myself. I think there are a couple "incidents" that would do the trick in defining who I am. My favorite...Big Wheels are cool when you're little right? I mean, hell, they would be cool as an adult! When I was little riding mine was one of my favorite things to do...no surprise looking back and figuring that was true. My mom would take me on walks where I would ride my big wheel and she would walk alongside me. This particular day we had gone quite a distance and she told me it was time to turn back for home. I defiantly rode on. She marched over and reached down to the big plastic handlebar to guide it in a U-turn and I bit her! hahahha I love that story.

Yesterday I rode my mountain bike at lunch along the river trail I thought it would be icier but nope, just spots of mud. It was a beautiful day out and it was hard to believe that tomorrow night the low is forecasted to be 3!

Nifty 50

I could hardly believe it myself, but for my lunchtime ride yesterday it was 50 degrees out! I actually rolled my arm warmers down and was wishing I didn't have full leg warmers on. The crazy thing is that it's supposed to be 51 tomorrow and then dip to 30 Wednesday and even further to 20 on Thursday! Totally crazy weather.

Winter Play

ODOT closed the road to the mountain Saturday morning because of extreme weather and from the looks of Bachelor's website with the total white out and strong winds, it would have sucked to skate ski. Instead we went classic skiing up by the falls. We followed the wide path out to the falls then opted for a more adventurous woodsy ski back. Trail breaking wasn't too bad except for the narrow stream crossings where extreme care had to be taken to not fall in. We are slowly getting better at the non-groomed xc trails and actually have some semblance of control at times! It started out a very snowy dark day but after a few hours the sun was out, the skies were clearing and it was beautiful.






Finally back on a "main" trail.

On the juice!

Thursday was our monthly Bend Bella Cyclists meeting and I presented my slideshow of pictures from the Switzerland/France mountain bike trip I took back in August. Have you seen those pics? I never tire of looking at them. I think this summer we're going to stay closer to home and explore mountain bike trails in Idaho/Wyoming/and parts of Montana.

My sister and brother in law sent me home from California with a giant paper bag filled with oranges from their trees so I have been making fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. It seems like a sin to drink it since it's so good.



It's almost as sweet as my new little nephew Cameron.

San Juan Trail

The San Juan Trail was another one of our favorite trails so we simply HAD to ride it again when we visited. The parking area was empty as we started up the switchbacks...maybe it was due to the strong gusts of winds that blew across the side of the mountain the whole climb up! After our short break at Cocktail Rock we did the loop around the top and then headed back down under calm conditions. Another great day of trail riding. Although - I did pick up a bit of poison oak on my right ankle somehow.

Seems Wrong

It was odd sitting on the beach with friends drinking margaritas a couple days after Christmas. Odd because I felt like I should be skate skiing or something.

Nobel idea

New bikes are cool...especially the Glamour Girl. How cool is that, it comes with a backpack attached to the front of it! Forget titanium frames and weight saving fancy parts.



We couldn't visit San Diego and NOT ride Noble Canyon so that's just what we did one day. It sure felt weird to climb with the sun beating down on us. The trail is every bit as fun as I remembered it to be...the San Diego car traffic is every bit as crappy as I remember it to be. I know you're used to my pictures filled with trees and streams and what not so here is some different scenery. Sit back and get ready for the picture explosion.