Where's Waldo?

My guests are in town and we have been very busy riding and drinking. Last night's thunder and rain storms hopefully packed down some of the dust for today's outing. Waldo Lake is on tap which will be tough after riding for 5 hours Monday, 5 Tuesday, 3 Wednesday and 3.5 yesterday. All good rides that will be followed up with good pictures soon. I haven't had a chance to upload any so just know that they will come probably on Sunday or so.

Have a good Friday!

It wasn't me!

Derek and I rode from Swampy Snowpark up to Dutchman Flats, Flagline, and back to the parking lot on Saturday for a nice loop. There are still a few trees down but nothing major.




I finally got new cleats since my other ones were really worn down. Cleat placement on your shoes is a delicate thing. If you don't have them setup just right, knee problems can result. I already have my fair share of knee problems so when I started riding I could tell that they weren't set up perfectly. Trail side repair ensued for a bit.



It was a perfect day for riding with temps in the high 70's up there. PERFECT!
Perfect, that is, until Derek sideswiped some stupid little tree with a pokey branch that dug a foot long cut into his shin. I have NEVER ridden with someone who gets more rocks and sticks to the shins. He was fairly certain he was going to die of course :) For once it wasn't me injured.










Saturday night I was a corner marsall for the High Desert Omnium Criterium...looks like everyone had a really good time and it was relatively safe! I'm picking up out of town guests today for a week of riding for more pics will be coming this week.

Have a good Sunday!

Fall is in the air!

The mornings this week have been chilly! It barely hits 50 for my ride to work and I've broken out the vest and arm warmers once or twice. It's a good feeling though with the sun warming everything while the air is still crisp and clean smelling. I rode last night - climbed up Awbrey Butte every way possible and even doubled up on the Summit climb. Boy, 12th sure is a brutal hill!

This morning I switched it up and rode my cross bike along the river to work.

High Desert Omnium

The Cascade Cycling Classic isn't the only race that hit's Bend during the summer. This coming weekend is the High Desert Omnium. The Bend Bella Cyclists are hosting it this year and there are a lot of new sponsors as well. If you are around, you should definitely stop by Summit High on Saturday afternoon to watch the crit. That's the one that goes in a short lap around the school for a set amount of time. So, you get to see the riders a lot. Cheering is encouraged because believe me, crits are tough. Check the website for details.

I've been on my road bike a lot this week after my monster mountain bike ride Saturday. It's amazing how fast the road bike feels compared to the 30 pound, 6 inch mountain bike. I can zip up hills and around corners like a little butterfly. The only thing of interest I've seen on my rides this week was a bag of those styrofoam peanuts that were on the side of the road. You know how those damn things stick to you and don't come off easily? Well, try getting them stuck to you when you're sweaty too.

5 hours in the saddle

Saturday Derek and I had plans to start from Skyliner Snowpark and ride across Tumalo Trail, up North Fork, up Metolius Windigo to Flagline, down Flagline and down South Fork back to the lot. However, about 6 miles into it Derek broke three spokes on his front wheel. There was no way he'd make it the rest of the ride so he had to walk down North Fork and pedal gingerly back to the car. I marched on with the plan to ride as previosuly decided, only instead of going down South Fork, I'd continue across Swede Ridge, down Sector 16, Whoops, and Phil's and then ride home. Whew. That was a total of 5 hours actually riding. It was beautiful up on Flagline. It really did feel like a fall day with a bit of crispness to the air. I passed at least 10 people up on Flagline but was surprized to find NO ONE on Phil's. That hasn't happened very many times on a Saturday afternoon!



Self photos are hard to take.




Afterwards we went back to the Bend Brewfest to finish off the beers we hadn't tasted on Friday night. One of my favorites was the New Old Lompoc C-Note Imperial IPA. At 6.9% alcohol it isn't a lite beer. It's a very hoppy beer that packs a punch. Overall the event was great - 50 or so beers all in one location for you to try. It's a great way to spend the evening chatting with friends and hanging out. I saw people there that I hadn't talked to in months. I would have liked the bands to be a bit better, but oh well.

Relief!



Mmmmm, beer.

UHG

Long weekend and I'm recovering at my desk. Big ride, Brewfest, and a wedding. Must sleep. Pics of two of the three coming tonight. I have to just get through this week and then next week I have a bunch of company coming to town to ride. Should be a blast.

BEES

Check out this bee hive - picture taken in downtown Bend. That's a pretty healthy sized hive!

Wildflowers

They are everywhere around Bend! It's a great time to ride a bike and smell the flowers. Of course, it's always a great time to ride a bike!











Take time today wherever you are to stop and enjoy the scenery.

More pics

This is from Millenium Park and is called the Cloud Gate It's very bean like looking.



This guy was very serious about patroling the sidewalks. Can you believe that tourists can be even MORE lazy now and rent seways to drive around the city? What happened to good old fashioned walking?



So much to see. This is the Crown Fountain







Here's the Pritzker Pavilion


What's a trip to Chicago without doing the tourist thing and checking out Navy Pier? There are free fireworks shows every Wednesday night at 9:30 so we stayed and watched those while we ate fudge. YUM!





And at last, a skyline pics

Chicago

My trip to Chicago was interesting. I went there for training and I really did learn a lot. The weather was ridiculous. I'm not sure why anyone would live there and tolerate the humidity and the pollution. It was in the 90's every day with humidity outrageously high. I'd return from a night on the town feeling disgustingly dirty. Oh, how could I forget the thunder and lightening storms that hit the city twice?

Here was the view out of my hotel window looking right.



and left. That's the Trump tower that is currently being built. It's going to be 92 stories when it's finished!



I had some excellent food while there and took full advantage of the trip and checked out the city each evening. We went for authentic Chicago deep dish pizza one night at Gino's East. Interesting inside decor.




Unbelievable pizza.


I spent some time in an Irish pub another night and feasted on some top notch fish and chips, washed down with beer of course.

Let's see, what else? Oh yah, I had to check out Goose Island Brewery while I was there. I had a lovely pint of their Celebration Red, a taster set, and a pint of their Pale Ale as well. All very good and I left with some souvenirs for Derek.





So far this post is largely food related! To work off all this food, I spent some time doing laps in the hotel pool, on the stationary bike, or on the elliptical trainier at the gym. Not to mention, I walked at least a couple miles everyday after training.

I'm happy to be back in Bend where it's cool at night, the air is fresh, and the humidity is low. Cheers!

More Chicago pics later.

Another Crater Ride

Before I left for Chicago I had to get in one more ride so we went to Newberry Crater. It was warm and sunny of course, and the views were astonishing as usual. The trail conditions are less than stellar because everything is loose. We took a side trail down to the Obsidian rock area and then Pumice Flats. That was something new and the trail down was really sketchy. Onto the pics

Finally Back

After an interesting chain of events yesterday, I'm back in Bend. Air travel is a pain. More details later.

Dessert!

I'm going to have to post about today's ride later - I don't have the pictures uploaded and I'm short on time. I'm headed to work training tomorrow morning so I won't have any ride write-ups this coming week, but I should have some touristy pictures to share.

This right here is chocolate peanut butter pie... or heaven. I made it from scratch and it is fabulous. On top I added chopped peanuts and shaved milk chocolate. YUM!

Fire

Good thing I rode out China Hat rode last night after work because today it's on fire. The plume of smoke is pretty big. When I was out there I did see some guy that appeared to camping in his truck. He was sitting on an overturned bucket eating when I rode by.

I rode home at lunch today and swapped out my road bike for my mountain bike and then Derek and I went mountain biking after work tonight. It was perfect weather at the higher elevation. I never get tired of evening rides, they are so peaceful feeling and a great way to unwind at the end of a day.

No pics today.