Sunday, March 30, 2008

More Pizza

Pizza excites me and I am happy to hear that Bend is supposedly getting two more spots. One will be in the Old Mill over by Cafe Yumm and the other will be downtown where Hans used to be. We'll see.

Saturday was decent outside so we went mountain biking again. It's about the 6th time I've ridden at Horse Ridge in the last 5 weeks or so, but it's fun every time. We got two laps in before it started to look really stormy out and we packed it in. I truly let it fly coming down the canyon both times...almost to the point of scaring myself but that's what it's all about.

Sunday was skate ski day at Bachelor and I was surprised to find the trails relatively empty of people. We got around 20-22 km in before my knee started hurting and Derek's arm started hurting. Hey, we're old, what do you expect?

Friday, March 28, 2008

I haven't been feeling inspired to write much of interest lately. I've been busy keeping busy. After riding all last weekend it looks like I'll be skate skiing all this weekend. I had to laugh at my next door neighbor who turned his sprinklers on about 2 weeks ago and has been watering his lawn in the snow. What a waste.

I'm sure anyone in Bend reading this is sick and tired of hearing about it, but folks out of town absolutely need to know that apparently Bend has "made it". heheheh - the Grand Opening of Trader Joe's is today. I probably won't go for a few weeks because I am not fond of shopping with crowds. I do need to pick up some ingredients for the most awesomest ginger cookie ever. They carry the candied ginger I need. I'll post the recipe.

Well, have a good weekend!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Be Aware

I saw this a couple weeks ago and maybe you have by now too. If not, give it a try.



I rode home from the pool at 7:30 last night and it was almost dark. I have a red blinkie taillight and a bright headlight as well and try to stick to back neighborhoods with little to no traffic. Please look out for cyclists.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Riding Weekend

Saturday Derek and I rode up to Smith Rock and back for a total of 66 miles over 3 hours and 26 minutes. It was a pretty nice day once it warmed up and I felt good after the effort. We met some friends down at Deschutes for drinks afterwards and I was shocked to see Cinder Cone Red back on tap! WOOHOO. We had dinner at The Summit - they have the best veggie burgers in town. They make them there at the restaurant and I always get mine with pepper jack cheese and hummus on it. SOO tasty.

Sunday we mountain biked out at Horse Ridge. I can't believe how sandy the trails are in places there. We are barely into spring and that place dries out so fast it always amazes me. I'm not sure if it was some sort of sick joke or if some hunters lost their load, but just off the highway on the road to Horse Ridge there were about 5 dead rabbits. Don't worry, I didn't take a picture.

Friday, March 21, 2008

We had silly movie night the other night and gathered to watch Blood Trails which is a slasher movie about a bike messenger who is stalked by a killer downhiller. It was amazingly funny for a slasher movie. The couple who hosted it is starting up a chocolate business and so we got to taste test some amazing chocolates!!!! I'll post links as soon as they are up and running. You will HAVE to buy some.

Tomorrow is a 100 mile bike ride. Luckily, the weather has cooperated this time and it's supposed to get up to 60 degrees. Too bad it will probably be 32 or so for the start time. Bundle up!

Happy Easter everyone.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Not much new is going on lately. I've been keeping up with my swimming and did my longest to date yesterday - 3100meters. It was brutal and my shoulders are sore this morning.

We had an Executive Committee meeting last night for the Bend Bella Cyclists. We're working on the upcomng ride season so if you're female and know how to ride a bike you should join us for some rides. Tonight is a special bike maintenance session at Pine Mountain Sports so if you want to learn some basics about fixing stuff on your bike you should show up. It starts at 6:30 and they would love to have you.

Derek and I have also been doing some work on The Bend Guide. It will be nice to have green grass and flowers back so we can take some more pictures. There are only so many winter pictures to be taken.

I got our taxes done and am expecting my refund to be direct deposited in a week or two here. WOOHOO - what should I buy? I've never been much of a buyer, which is good because Derek is. I don't need or even want anymore bikes, winter is almost over so something wintry is out of the mix. Hmmmm, I'll have to think about this.

I leave you with this... The other day I hopped in the shower after one of my workouts and found this.




What the hell is that you might ask? I shed hair a lot and it happens to be two pieces of hair that someohow ended up in the shape of the numbers 29 in my shower. I asked Derek if he purposely did this but he profusely denied it. Looking at the calendar I see that the 29th is a Saturday. I'm fairly certain it means I am winning the lottery that day. I KNOW what I'd do with that kind of money!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Ski or Ride?

Well, it was one of those weekends where it's hard to decide which to do. Saturday we went up to Bachelor and did a giant skate ski day. None of the black diamond stuff was groomed so it was an extra workout to skate through powder on Oly's Alley. I didn't mind though - we were the only people out there!

Sunday when our thermometer hit 35 we hit the road and went riding. I froze for the first 15 minutes or so since it's mostly downhill but then I warmed up just fine. I can ride all day when there are views like this




I'm guessing this refers to a racer it the last name Ween, and not the band

Friday, March 14, 2008

Friday afternoon ski

The mountain was actually very nice in that the wind was low today...at least on the Nordic side. I had a great skate ski and feel ready for a night on the town. WOOHOO

If you're in the market for a nice hardtail bike frame I have one you can buy.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

More Winter

We were supposed to head to the coast this weekend to ride, but the weather forecast is dismal at best so we canceled and I'm bummed. I've taken the last two days off from working out because I could swear I was starting to get sick. Now I'm just bored and itching to get outside and get some exercise. I think I'll head up to the mountain tomorrow and enjoy the snow.

LOST is on tonight so at least I have that to look forward to!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Mudballs!

It was a beautiful weekend for riding so I did just that. Derek is still sick so I went out to Horse Ridge and rode a couple loops out there. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just good old fun singletrack riding with lots of little rock sections thrown in for good measure. The upper shaded part is still a bit sloppy and the oozing squishy sound when I rode through a couple of the mud spots actually made me smile because I remembered my childhood dirt playing days.

Growing up in Washington State gave me plenty of opportunities to get dirty..so did growing up with an older brother. I may have told this story before, but I’m going to do it again. We lived on a property with a fair amount of land, surrounding by a giant wooded area on two sides. During growing season we cultivated our own vegetables and I have lots of memories of digging up potatoes, carrots, and beets, and picking green beans and peas. Anyway, back to the mud. One fine day my brother and I, along with a few neighbor kids I think, decided we were going to make mudballs. We went out back and scooped handfuls of great mud and packed them with drier dirt into baseball sized mudballs. Once we had built up our arsenal of ammo we proceeded to run down the slope and throw them at the side of the neighbors pale yellow house. Mud stains. We spent some time later that week repainting the side of her house.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Sunday, March 02, 2008

I stuck with riding this weekend since it was so nice out. Saturday we went to Horse Ridge to mountain bike again and found it much drier. There is really a great view of all around when you are up on that ridge and despite the rain and snow that was taking place in town, it was sunny and warm out there. I almost didn't want to stop riding because everywhere else I could see looked to be having crappy weather!








On Sunday Derek was feeling under the weather so I did a road ride by myself. I clocked almost 35 miles in two hours and had a really nice time enjoying the sun. I'd forgotten my mp3 player at work so I borrowed his and wow, does he have some different songs on his!

We watched a few episodes of 30 Days and I found it pretty interesting. In the first one the couple had to live for 30 days on minimum wage jobs to experience the difficulties that millions of adults in America face. Episode 2 a thirty-something former athlete battles back at his expanding waistline and lowering libido by going on an anti-aging drug regime prescribed by a doctor for 30 days. You see the effects of HGH, steroids, and tons of stimulants do to his health and his life. And lastly, David Stacy, a 33-year-old Christian man from West Virginia, makes a drastic life change for 30 days when he moves to the largely Muslim community of Dearborn, Michigan. David struggles with his feelings and previous prejudices against a religion that does not believe in Christ and in the minds of many Americans is associated with the September 11 terror attacks, as he befriends his new host family and adopts their customs.