Playing in the Forest

Another pretty good day of riding. It's hard to see the trail in places because there are so many pine needles blanketing the ground.

Best Headline of the Day

Scientists Find Oldest Living Animal, Then Kill It


The team from Bangor University in Wales was dredging the waters north of Iceland as part of routine research when the unfortunate specimen, belonging to the clam species Arctica islandica, was hauled up from waters 250 feet deep.

Only after researchers cut through its shell, which made it more of an ex-clam, and counted its growth rings did they realize how old it had been — between 405 and 410 years old.

Another clam of the same species had been verified at 220 years old, and a third may have lived 374 years. But this most recent clam was the oldest yet.

"Its death is an unfortunate aspect of this work, but we hope to derive lots of information from it," postdoctoral scientist Al Wanamaker told London's Guardian newspaper. "For our work, it's a bonus, but it wasn't good for this particular animal."

Silence

Shhhh, listen closely...do you hear that? Nothing...that's what I heard Saturday as I stood alongside Mrazek Trail way up in the forest close to Happy Valley. It was a cool afternoon and in the shade of the towering trees where sunlight hadn't warmed the ground for a few hours, it was downright cold. When the wind started it came from way up high in the tops of the trees and it spread slowly, bringing with it a soft hushed hawwwwwwwwwwww kind of sound. I was slightly damp with sweat after having ridden up singletrack all the way from town and the chill felt kind of good.

Manzanita EVERYWHERE!



Spooky! The flash lightened it up back in there but this section is dark.



Time for a snack break.



After the round of rain and snowmelt the mountains got, the berms have packed down and are so much fun.



Derek on a little rock.



I always have so much fun riding my bike. Almost equally as fun is eating afterwards, we cooked up a big batch of monterrey jack, corn and roasted red pepper risotto. DELICIOUS!

-8

It was a chilly ride at lunch today. I didn't plan for it to be quite so cold when I left in the morning - thought it would warm up a bit more than it did. I got about 10 minutes into the ride and decided to swing by the house and change out my wind vest for a thermal vest! Brrr! Tonight it's supposed to get down to -8 celsius...that's 17 degrees!!!!!! Sorry for the lack of pictures, i haven't been in the picture mood for some reason. This weekend I hope to get some good rides in both days and I'll dig the camera out for those.

Hope your Friday is a good one!

Night Ride Time

I went mountain biking after work yesterday...hit the trails at 4:40 and got almost 2 hours in before it was too dark to see. Next time I'll have to hook my lights up so I can extend the ride. It was as fun as usual. I hammered up to Phil's Helipad and then turned around and came all the way down before adding on a shorter loop. Good little ride. This morning when I put my gloves on to ride to work they were still damp with sweat from the night before. Ewwwwwwwwww!

Have a good Wednesday wherever you are!

WOW! I saw this on the LA TImes website: Twelve firefighters are trapped atop a ridge off Santiago Canyon Road in Orange County after flames jumped the road. The blaze roared up the hillside and prompted the crew members to deploy their fire shelters. They were surrounded by burning brush, but they made it out alive. "We just remained calm, everyone did," one firefighter said after he was checked out by paramedics. All of the firefighters were treated at the scene and did not want to go to the hospital.

San Diego Fires

San Diego is on fire again. It was only 2003 when the last big fires ravaged the area. I'm hearing they are worse off this time. Bonnie, Jen, Andi, Mark, Lisa....hope you are all ok and drop me a line when you get a chance. The lines are all tied up but I'd love to hear from you.

Weekend Recap

I was half kidding when I woke up Saturday morning and saw Derek peeking out of the blinds. "Did it snow?" I asked. IT HAD!

Here's a dog eye's view.




Sunday it was bright and sunny and we took to the trails. I'm not religous but damn, there has to be somebody to thank for what an awesome day it was. If you haven't ridden a mountain bike through the forest lately I don't know if words can do the experience justice. The trails were hardpack from the recent rains and snowmelt. There was just such an energy out there that causes a smile to takeover my face even as I sit here now at a computer. Taking a corner at high speed as you lean into it and bob and weave with a bit of snap is electrifyiing. It's you and a bike having all that fun out there together.

Make Like a Tree

and leave!




Derek took these while waiting for me for after work yesterday.

See you in a Hundred Years

I'm talking about the book. I just finished it after checking it out on a whim. It's not for everyone, but the thought of doing something like this is appealing to me. It's a simple story of a husband and wife who quit their jobs and move to rural Virginia and attempt to spend a year living life as it was circa 1900. Good read and I give it two thumbs up.

It is finally raining which is GREAT news. I didn't ride to work since I'm still on the fence with this sore throat/sinus thing. What I did see yesterday after work though, was amazing. A guy was riding up Brookswood towing a canoe behind him! I wish I could have gotten a picture of that.

We're almost to Friday...hang in there!

Edison - Lava Lake

Here's a fantastic ride we hadn't done yet this year for some reason. Trail conditions can get really dusty but after the recent rain and snow up towards Bachelor I had a feeling there would be no dust Saturday. "Highway" 45 just opened back up after having been closed all summer for repaving and widening. We had to follow the pilot car down to the snow park.



The ride winds through lava rock fields and tree cover. The soil was a nice damp, tacky surface. In the shaded sections it was cool but the sun would always find a way to welcome us back and shout with glee while we hunkered down for the climbs and let it fly on the descents. I love this ride, hell, I love most rides.










This might be the last weekend we ride comfortably at that elevation - rain and snow are in the forecast for the coming weekend.

Just to throw it out there, this coming Saturday is Biketoberfest. If you're looking for some way to help all these trails out, come join COTA and even get some free food! It's not a huge time committment and it's a great way to give back. If I can ditch this ridiculous sore throat I now have, I'll be there for sure.

First Pumpkin

My nephew Cameron took his first trip to the pumpkin patch!



It was the best fall weekend yet. I didn't upload the pictures from my ride but I will tonight. Hopefully some of the magic of the trail came out in them.

Politics Anyone?

It isn't often that you'll see much political content on my blog but I thought this might interest some of you. Maybe you've seen it, maybe not. It's a site where you can go through a couple of pages of statements on different topics. The statements were made by presidential hopefuls and after you check which ones you agree with on however many topics you care to go through, it tells you who you're top choices should be based on how many statements you matched with each candidate. Pretty interesting. Have at it. My Election Choices

No hands!

Do you remember as a kid when you first learned to ride with no hands? Remember how cool you were? I still feel cool whenever I ride no hands. It's a very useful skill to have when you're trying to get your jacket off and shove it in your pocket, or take your arm warmers off or whatever. Yesterday on my ride home as I was coming through my neighborhood there was a group of little boys practicing riding with no hands and I had to chuckle to myself as I pedaled by. I should have stopped and taken their picture.

Welcome to the color. The weather was PERFECT for my lunch ride and I had a great time out there.

Why

Why can't people get that the more people that ride their bikes to work, or walk or skateboard or whatever, means there are less cars waiting in traffic?

"I don't think encouraging cycling is going to reduce congestion or significantly change the transportation makeup of our cities," says Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "There really is very little evidence that any of (these efforts) are reducing the amount of driving. They're just making it more annoying to drivers."

WOW

Hop Trip!

I stopped by Deschutes yesterday to have some Hop Trip beer. It was just as good as I remember it from last fall. I think overall, the seasonals in fall/winter are better than spring/summer so there is a lot to drink these coming months.

It isn't all about drinking though. Aside from the strong winds, it was a good day for a bike ride. Hopefully I can get some more rides in for the next few weekends - I love the forest this time of year. The cold temps are gone and we're back in the 60's now.

Derek got some of his pictures published here. It was getting dark so he said it was hard to get some good shots.

Hope everyone has a nice Monday!

Friday fun day!

Fun Bend City Code fact of the day:
Except in an authorized parade, no person shall lead, ride, tie, or fasten a goat, horse, cow, sheep, swine or similar animal in such a manner as to permit it to remain on or go along a parking strip, sidewalk area, or public pathway.

Autumn is a blur.

Happy Wednesday

Not much new going on for me. I raced a storm home last night. The wind was out to get me and it would hide until I got into the open away from everything and then it would rush up in a hurry like there was an emergency or something. I like stormy skies with the different colored clouds and character.



I felt a couple spits but nothing major and I pulled into the driveway breathing heavily.

Tomorrow night is the big Bend Bella Cyclist meeting and I hope we get a good turnout. I prepared a slideshow with pictures of different rides we did this past season - should be fun.

Happy October

BAM, just like that September is gone and here we are in a new month. I've been scraping together some rides the last couple weeks at lunch and after work. At least at lunch it's sunny and I can appreciate the leaves and fall colors. After work though it just gets a bit chilly out.

We spent last weekend in rainy Portland visiting some family and breweries. Hey, breweries can be like family. I'm extra excited to get over to Deschutes ASAP to try out my favorite seasonal Hop Trip. YUM!

I see snow on Bachelor and lots of it!



WOOHOO!