Don't knock it till you've tried it.

What the?

It's Superman, no it's Spiderman, no...it's Lettuceman!!!

After helping out at registration for the local Pickett's Charge mountain bike race Sunday, I did a ride of my own. I was out for about 3 hours going pretty slowly, but really enjoying the trails, sun, and fresh air. I criss crossed the race course a few times and stopped to take pictures. There is no better way I could spend a day then with my ipod singing to me, the sun pulling me around, and my bike zipping through the forest. I had an awesome day.

Derek at about mile 28 or so



Tim taking a fast sweeping turn.



Cool new little feature at the top of Lower Whoops trail.

I got caught in a little of the afternoon rain while riding home today. It didn't last too long though. I am so happy to be back riding, it's all I want to do but I'm limiting myself so as not to get re-injured.

We went to Bite of Bend for lunch and I was happy to see that most places had small samples for $1 or so. I had some satay chicken skewers from Typhoon, a little Peruvian chicken tamale from Hola, a free little turkey sandwich bite from The Speedshop, and a tiny black bean tamale from El Burrito. The Hola tamale was hands down the best. I LOVED it and will definitely head over to the restaurant soon for a full order of it.

We watched the street performers for awhile. They were on stilts, juggling and flipping people in the air and putting on a good show. It was hard to capture on camera but I tried.






Friday we tried the new Italian place downtown called Ciao Mambo. Derek had Pasta Ravenna - Bowtie pasta, grilled chicken, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and mushrooms in a roasted garlic cream sauce. I tasted it several times and really enjoyed it. I got Linguini alla Pesto - basil, pignoles (pine nuts), Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil tossed with a touch of cream topped with fresh diced tomatoes. The portion was pretty big, especially after I had a few pieces of bread they deliver to your table. Good food, great service and a nice place in general.

Good thing I'm back riding since I love to eat!

Back to Dirt

Tonight was my first mountain bike ride in almost a month now. I didn't want to do anything too crazy to hurt my calf again. I rode from work out to Phil's trailhead, all the way up Ben's and then across and down Phil's, KGB and out COD to the highway and home. I was going pretty slowly and not using too much force on the pedals..a good solid hour and 45 minute ride to break me back in. I went alone and brought no music...just me, my bike, water, and some tools. It was bonding time with the forest and it felt good.

Mutiny at the Pool!

Everyone decided they wanted to swim from 1-2 today. Not sure why. Normally there aren't that many people there but today every lane had at least 3 people. Ideally the lanes start slow and then each lane gets a bit faster and you pick the lane that matches your speed. It just makes lane sharing easier if everyone is kind of on the same wavelength. But, since there were so many people in some of the slower lanes, people were choosing to just swim in the fast lane. This is where the problem started. Some guy in the fastest lane had the place to himself and as slower swimmers were coming to "his lane" he was telling them it was a fast lane and they shouldn't be in it. HAHAHA it's a public pool and in an ideal world, yes, he's right. But, the lane that swimmer did belong in had 5 people in it already! He spent more time stopping and yelling each time someone came into his lane then he did swimming! Luckily I was in the next lane over and had a pretty good cohesive group.

I'm sad I will be gone for the Elk Lake Open Water Swim competition in August. I have never swam anything competitively and I'm really not all that fast, but it would still be a fun thing to try.

It was a chilly ride into work this morning and I hear it's going to be even chillier tomorrow morning! I had to practice deep inner breathing to try to keep myself warm since I refused to wear a jacket or arm warmers.

Slight update: Saturday I rode my bike outside for the first time in almost 3 weeks. It was only a ride to the pool for my swim, and then a tour to find some achiote paste for dinner Sunday. My calf still hurts a bit up high so I was riding pretty easy, but it was good to get out.

Sunday I decided to test it a bit more and rode out Skyliners. I only got about 12 miles into the ride before I had to turn back because it started hurting more than I thought it should. I can't tell if the hurting is the good kind, or the stretching bad kind.

This coming weekend is Pickett's Charge - a mountain bike race here in Bend. Of course I won't be racing, but I'll probably help out with registration like I did at the Chainbreaker. I should definitely be able to get on my mountain bike and do some sort of ride next weekend too though. The last weekend of June I'm thinking of doing the Return on Jedi Super D race. It's down by Grants Pass and is a cool little event with free camping and a really fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Commute Option is this week. It's sad that it has taken high gas prices to get people out of their cars, but at least it's finally happening. I hope to see more people try riding or walking to work or even carpooling this week and then deciding they like it so much that they continue after commute options week.

Oh yah, here are some yummy pictures from dinner - Achiote seasoned grilled chicken tacos and grilled corn with spice!

Welcome back! I've been having a hard time thinking of anything to write about lately since I have no pictures from adventures. Good news, I'm off crutches and can walk again. I might even try out an easy spin tomorrow. Saturday I did trail work out at Phil's trailhead transplanting some bunch grasses and narrowing down a section of trail. It's very rewarding work to build trails.

We went to see the lit balloons Saturday night.



What else? Well, I've been swimming a lot and just counting the days to ride again. Our big summer mountain bike vacation is just a month away and I'm itching to get out and ride.

Hammer Needles hurt

I'm getting acupuncture treatment regularly and last Friday's session really showed results quickly. After yesterday's session I am able to walk a bit and I may be able to actually kick for my swim today! The pool is like a dog. It's always there for you when you need it. I don't know that I would have ever started swimming if it weren't for my knee injury years ago.

Not much new is happening in my world since I can't go out and ride and take pictures. This weekend I hope to be able to help at out the Spring Fling. If you live in Central Oregon and ride any of the trails around, you should definitely show up to help do some maintenance. You don't have to be an expert trail builder or really know anything. They will tell you what to do. Plus, afterwards you can enjoy beer, food and music! Sounds like a great way to spend some time Saturday giving back. Spring Fling

Good Food Weekend

Friday night was the Webcyclery Team Pizza party! I made the pizza dough and teammate Rob grilled them up on the BBQ and then finished them in the oven. My favorite creation was a pesto, feta, grilled chicken pizza. SOOO GOOD!

I'm out of riding for probably a couple weeks while my calf heals up so I went swimming on Saturday. The outdoor lap pool was closed when I got there since there were some lightening strikes. I sat in the steam room for awhile, and then hit the weight room. They have one of those hand cycles that I did for about 10 minutes before my shoulders were on fire. I wasted some time doing core work until finally the pool opened. It was stormy out and I felt like I was open water swimming with the rain falling on me and the wind whipping up little waves. I couldn't see the other end of the pool through all the steam that was rising...it was very creepy like a scene out of some cheesy horror movie.

Derek made an awesome stuffed chicken last night for dinner. It had sundried tomatoes and feta cheese inside. The chicken was moist on the inside with a slight bit of crunch on the outside...soooo savory and good.






The noodles were deliciously covered with a wine/lemon juice/herb concoction.

King Corn

I'm currently nursing a pulled calf muscle so most exercise is out of the question - hell, walking is a challenge. Instead, I sat on the couch after work and watched King Corn, It's a documentary about 2 friends from college that move to Iowa to learn where their food comes from. They plant and grow an acre of corn and try to follow what happens to it in the food system. Not the most exciting movie, but pretty thought provoking and interesting.

Race Weekend

This weekend we drove down to Weaverville, CA for a race Sunday. Saturday it was cold, foggy and drizzling when we got to the event. The 12 Hour race was in full force. That's the race Derek and I were going to do but had to cancel after injuries. So, we planned to preride the Super D race course Saturday and then race it Sunday morning. The registration said we could pedal up to the top of the course if we wanted to preride it, but that driving wasn't allowed since we would have to drive up the same road the 12 hour racers were riding up for the first 3 miles. No problem, we decided we'd pedal up. It was a 7 mile climb according to the map. The scenery was really different then anything I've ridden in.

It was the hardest 7 mile climb I think I've ever done. After the first mile of flatter trail, it became steep and steeper with no flat spots and around 2,500 to 3k of climbing shoved into the remaining 6 miles. Once we reached the top I was a bit skeptical because as I peaked off the side of the cliff it went pretty much straight down with lots of rocks and ruts. I dropped my saddle, zipped up my thermal vest and started down. For the first mile or so I was behind the saddle with my sternum actually resting on the seat. That's how far I had to get back to keep from going over the bars!

Here is the starting...I felt like I was in Costa Rica or something with the interesting scenery.





Top of the climb - start of steep decent down into the depths of the earth.




Fast flowing singletrack further down at the bottom.





Once I made it through that the course opened up into a fast twisty singletrack through the trees...plenty of mud and puddles to splash through as well. It was a bit over a 6 mile descent with LOTS of pedaling. We finished in time to take hot showers at the High School, make ourselves some sandwiches and wash it all down with some good beer while we watched the racers come in for laps of the race. Ahhhh, it was good to not be racing.



Camping in the rain was interesting. All night long it sounded like we were in a giant popcorn popper as rain pelted our tent. Race day arrived and after a treacherous shuttle ride up the same trail we had somehow ridden up the day before, it was time to race. My legs were really tired from the ride the day before and I just wanted to play it safe. Off I went through the steep chute, huffing and puffing, pedaling hard and pushing on. The last part of the 6 miles has more ups then I remembered and my legs were completely dead. It was all I could do to keep moving and I was tired. Sadly, there were no other females doing the race so I was really racing just against myself. Guess what, I won!

Campground views:






Whiskeytown Lake



Pretty flowers.

Another night of mountain biking. It ended up pretty chilly towards the end because we were out there awhile. We went a little harder than usual and it felt good. I must confess, I want 90 degree weather back. Whoever did something to anger the Warmth Gods, please apologize. Enough.

Brrr, a cold ride in to work yesterday! By lunch it had warmed up a tad for my ride to the pool and swim. The tent cover is mostly off the shallow end and lap after lap I cherished the rays as they warmed my back and shoulders. Back on the bike and to the office to finish off the day. Riding home I felt like a sail. The wind ripped at my jacket and steered my bike around.

Last night was as good a night as any for a mountain bike ride. We left from work and rode up Phil's Trail to the helipad where we were greeted with rain. It made the trail nice and damp and kept everyone else away. Going down Whoops was fun because the conditions are perfect after the snowmelt! We shot down Bens across to Kent's and then back up Mike's to Ben's and back. Good ride even if it was a bit chilly and sprinkled off and on.

I swam at lunch and the pool cover is coming off! That might not be too nice for morning swims since it was barely in the 30's this morning for my ride to work. Brrrr. My hands still sting as I type this.

Transitions

I did some video filming of the bike to run transition at the Pole Pedal Paddle on Saturday. It was blazing hot and even just standing there I had sweat dripping down my legs. HOT HOT HOT! I rode down on my cruiser bike for it and riding back uphill to our house on that thing was quite a chore in 90+ weather. It's heavy and not very practical but a lot of fun still.

Sunday we went for a giant mountain bike ride. We started out on our way to Mrazek only to be turned around by a forest fire that was burning up there! The snow just friggin melted, how could there be a fire already dammit. So, instead we rode back up Ben's and then up Upper Whoops until the snow started to be too much. We headed back down, up Phil's to Storm King and took that all the way across the highway and down the Southern part, back up COD to ELV, Kent's and Ben's. All told it was a bit over 3 hours of pedaling. Storm King, as usual, was free of people. I really like that trail for that very reason. I'm pretty sure I've never seen water running in the little gully along the trail but there was a stream running there today.






The manzanita is in full bloom and pretty.



This section is so cool looking.



These critters were swarming me when we stopped to decide which way to go.

Can you feel it?

Bring on the heat!

Yesterday I was busy. I rode to work, rode at lunch, rode to the pool for my evening swim, and then rode home! None of the riding was very tough or aggressive, just some good spinning. The pool was packed but I stuck with it and cranked out about 2000 meters before I had to get home for dinner and book club.

Tonight Derek and I are going mountain biking - can't wait to get dirty. The paper claimed trails were clear up to Skyliner Snopark but I imagine that isn't correct since I couldn't get even close to that far ealier in the week. We'll see though, maybe magic happened.

Derek has been tweaking his homemade salsa recipe and I think we are close to a keeper. Fresh salsa is the best.

Saturday was mountain bike day and all was well. I got the chance to catch up with a couple people I hadn't seen in awhile but ran into on the trails. For dinner we made from scratch a garlic chicken pizza with a rosemary seasoned crust. YUM!

Sunday was the big Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race that I volunteered at. Everything went well and there were about 285 racers. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it was fun to help out with again.



The Giro de Italia started Saturday over in Italy. It's a 3 week road stage race and the U.S. is heavily represented with some great contenders. In fact, after the prologue Saturday, an American was in 1st place out of the 197 or so racers out there. My mornings for the next few weeks will be less productive now that I have to check in on the live reports. I simply love cycling.

Chainbreaker

This is Sunday is the Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race here in Bend. I'm not racing but I'm volunteering to help with registration, setup, and operation of it. It should be a great day to race or spectate!

I've been doing a lot of swimming lately, got a bike ride in after work yesterday too. Most of the actual pain in my knee has gone away, now it just feels odd. It feels like there is extra stuff in there or something. I've been using a foam roller to massage my quads and IT band. I just lay on it and slowly roll down the muscle. It hurts pretty bad since my muscles are tight, but it's a good hurt. At acupuncture the other day we started using electric stimulation again. Little electrodes are hooked up to needles placed in points forming a circle around my knee. Then currents are sent across my knee cap at hi and low frequencies. It is supposed to stimulate soft tissue growth. I had a lot of this done both before and after my knee surgery. I'm so thankful that my health insurance covers these eastern medicine practices. $5 for acupuncture! WOOHOO

Minnie Ripperton Had it Right

"Lovin you, is easy cause you're beautiful." Maybe she wasn't talking about mountain biking, but it fits. Woohoo! A sunny warm day. We went for another mountain bike ride out around the lower Phil's trails. We took COD to ELV to Phil's, up Ben's to Phil's, down Kent's and Expressway, out KGB and back along COD. Whew...did I lose you? It was a great ride!



Our gourmet dinner was homemade grilled jerk chicken sandwiches with baked sweet potato fries and an apple & fennel coleslaw. YUM!