Sometimes Life is Real

Thursday night was girls ride night but we were cut short by an unfortunate incident. We came across a man that was unconscious on the trail. It looks like he was riding his bike up Phil's Canyon and just collapsed because when we came upon him the bike was still between his legs and he was on the ground. CPR wasn't able to bring him about and he never regained consciousness. I can't say I've ever had that kind of hands on experience with death. RIP Ray.

On a happier note, Friday night was the First Annual Bend Bicycle Film Festival and it was sold out! I love the cycling community here, everyone is so fun and supportive and the movie submissions were great.

Today was trail maintenance day so I helped out on a crew that worked on a section of the new trail Funner. It was tough work in the hot sun and we were treated to Phil's Trail Ale and a BBQ afterwards. Yet another chance for friends to hang out and enjoy life.

Saturday was my first ride up to Bachelor this year. Derek was doing the bike leg for a PPP team so I rode my bike up to the mtn and then flew down. Along the way I caught up to a guy who was down from Seattle for the weekend to visit some family so we rode together and chatted. It was good to get out on my road bike and grind away.

Sunday I got a little lesson on fly casting at a park by my house. I definitely don't have it down yet...I'm using too much power and not enough finesse. No fish were harmed during this activity since we weren't even using hooks and not near any body of water! I don't know if I have enough patience for fly fishing but we'll see.

Yesterday afternoon I left work and rode out of town to the bottom of Whoops trail to meet some friends. We had decided to move happy hour to the dirt. After a couple loops of riding Whoops we settled in to enjoy nice cold beverages the fine Friday evening. It was a busy place as rider after rider came down the trail and it was fun to see everyone back on their bikes after the winter.

Girls Ride

I met up with some of my female friends for a ride after work tonight. It was a little bit chilly bit we didn't care. 6 of us flying through the forest was a cool site to see when I looked back. We started by riding Marvin's Garden in it's entirety and it is pretty cool. New trails are always fun and I'm lucky to live in a place where we get new trails.

This weekend I think I'll ride my road bike up to Mt Bachelor to watch some of the Pole Pedal Paddle happen. Derek is racing on a culinary team doing the bike leg.

Friday was the Epic Trail Ale launch party which basically meant hanging out with every mountain biker in town that I know. I love that about Bend - still a relatively small community and we all support each other as best we can.

Saturday I did a nice mountain bike ride and enjoyed the sunshine and heat! I'm ready for summer...just so you know. After the ride I helped out with registration for the Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race that took place Sunday. The race was a huge success with 312 racers of all abilities and ages. All the way from the itsy bitsy little kids with training wheels doing the little kid race, to World Champion professionals. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding to give back to this sport that has given me so much over the years.

I was even home in time to call my Mom to make sure she received my Mother's Day present!

Spit on us if you want

Saturday I led a group of beginner mountain bikers on a ride of the upcoming Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race course. There were 17 of us! The weather started out nice enough but turned cloudy and even spit at us a few times. Nevertheless, we persevered and everyone had a great time.