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.

Lakes Ride

Sunday we did the same ride we had attempted to do a couple weeks back but had found that it wasn't cleared of downed trees yet. Cogwild helped clear it and so we headed for it again. I love this loop for several reasons...it's semi-technical, has a long gradual climb, beautiful scenery, and pretty secluded. It's rare to see many other cyclists out there and it's a fantastic trail. We went counterclockwise, but I'd recommend anyone attempting it to go the other way. That makes for some pretty technical downhill sections. It took us about 3 hours which included getting lost for about 20 minutes and having to hike through mosquito meadow. Enough words.

King Castle

Saturday we met Dana, a guy that we rode with about 6 years ago when we took a trip to Arizona, and then three years ago when a group of he and his friends visited Bend to ride. I got an email a couple weeks ago that he was going to be staying over in Salem and would we like to show him a ride. We decided to meet in the middle and ride King Castle. Well, we couldn't just ride up King Castle and back down...we'd done that before. So after checking out a map, we decided to make a sort of loop out of the ride by riding up the road about 3-4 miles and then up a fireroad for another few miles before coming to Castle Rock trail and taking that up the backside of the mountain to King Castle. By now you know that I'm not a stranger to adventure rides. This ended up being no different.

First attraction of the ride was Cougar Dam where, of course, I took a damn picture.


You can read about the Cougar Dam story if you're interested.

After climbing a few miles I saw a "trailhead" to the left and a sign indicating that in fact, we were headed in the right direction. Apparently though, we were the only ones that had headed this direction in quite some time. Here is a picture, no kidding, looking back at Derek as he rode the "trail".



I was point person and here was what I rode into/through. I swear, there was a trail there underneath all the growth. I just couldn't see it at all really.



Needless to say, it was overgrown and slow going for the next few miles. When we popped out on a fireroad we opted to take it up for another half mile or so instead of continuing on the jungle trail.

Hmm, seemed to have picked up a little bit of vegetation along the way.






This put us onto King Castle trail which was perfectly groomed and a gem. A gem, that is, if you don't mind climbing. It's a steep effort with at least 19 switchbacks of varying difficulty. I don't mind climbing so it was fun. At the top we took a short break and then blasted back down 7 or so miles of pure heaven.











Great view from the tippy top of the trail.


Hopefully Dana doesn't hate us too much for the torturous ride.

I'm tired just thinking back about this and I haven't even written about Sunday's ride yet!

Laps

I did two laps of the circuit course from the Cascade Cycling Classic race the other night. I was just out enjoying the evening, the heat, and the beautiful green fields with horses grazing and sprinklers shooting. I couldn't resist stopping a couple times to gaze at the wonderful riverscape scenes.






Have a great weekend!

Sanitized

I was out of town racing during the Central Oregon Trail Alliance work party again this year so I'm not on the details here, but on Phil's trail they did some work...to make it easier. I'm not sure that was the sole intention, but that was the outcome. I'm less than thrilled with it. The difficult section was filled in with rocks and dirt.

Here is Derek riding down it with his eyes closed. (hahaha - not really)



It's almost Friday!

Sometimes a swimhole or a little dip is all you need to keep yourself going. When sweat is dripping down your face and your eyelashes have salty residue on them that swipes across your sunglass lense every time you blink, leaving a filmy streak that annoys you to no end...and then you see this:




Everything is alllll right.

Long Hot Day

Yesterday we went for a monster ride in Oakridge. I can't give you exact mileage, I can only piece together what I think it was from our map. It looks like around 30 miles with somewhere in the field of 5500' of climbing and uh, yah, some hiking too. We actually probably hiked a few miles all together. The sun was smothering us and it was impossible to drink in all we sweated out. The first 6 miles were pretty flat and then the next 10 were all uphill and then the rest was downhill followed by uphill with lots of undulation. No crashes, but plenty of near misses, and lots of scratches from overgrown brush Enough words.










You can't see the salt sweat stain on my shorts good enough.



Derek had a minor meltdown about 2/3 through the ride and while I waited, I looked for the lucky 4 leaf clover.



Here he is REFUSING to smile or look at the camera.

Brrrr

I went swimming at lunch yesterday and the massive swarm of kids that usually covers the kids area like a busy clan of ants rushing to rebuild their nest after destruction was absent. I had the lane to myself and did an easy mile before riding back to work. The day was kind of cool and when I rode after work I actually caught a chill coming downhill. I did two laps of the circuit race - so out past Shevlin and around to OB Riley and up Archie Briggs past the college and down around for the loop. Not a bad nights work before heading to my friend's place for halibut fish tacos and wine. YUM!

As I softly pedaled home afterwards, watching the sun set and the colors morph and swirl around the clouds, I couldn't help but smile to myself and think how lucky I am. What a great day.

Bike Polo

I got this email the other day and was intrigued:

This thurs. July 19th at 7:30pm at the the Highland Magnet Elementary School (7th and Newport) parking lot (in back caddycorner to Harmon park), Bend will have its first (that I know of) Bike polo game!!

"Whats bike polo?" you may be mulling over in your not-so-metro-savvy-head. Well, its a game, supposedly a national sport for some country but most importantly its a chance to get together and move at breakneck speeds towards your friends and strangers with a golf club sized mallet in your hand...... just remember the whole eye for an eye, whole worlds blind and not biking thing.


Heres a site thats got a YouTube thinger so you can see what you might be getting into: http://www.myspace.com/vanbikepolo
or bikepolo.com we'll probably be playing a version of their game

any bike will do, we have some crochet mallets but anything like a golf club or make your own device will do.... Also, I have to advise helmets and knee pads are recommended but not manditory...play at your own risk. Come and play or just watch the madness unfold!

Rain, Sweet Rain

Just coming awake I listened intently, straining to hear over the constant white noise of the air purifier. Yes, I believe that is, yes, it's rain! I hopped out of bed and rushed to the window where I peeped through the blinds. It looked like it had been raining for quite some time and I swear things were already greener than they were the day before!

My commute to work was fun. With my waterproof shorts, backpack, a light rain vest, and fenders, I streamed to work. Just think what good this rain is doing for our lower dustbowl trails!

Woohoo - happy Wednesday!

Oh yah, and guess what these magically turned into:



Fruit crisp! Oh so delicious.

Hell On Wheels

I went to Webcyclery movie night last night at McMenamins. Hell on Wheels was playing. It's about the 2003 Tour de France and it follows mainly one team through the 3 week stage race. It's tough because two of the guys that star in it have come forward now and admitted to doping in the past (not specifically in 2003). So they are cheaters. But, it's insightful to watch what they go through over the race; their feelings about racing and the pressures of the sport. They doubt themselves, they are scared they can't win or do the job they are paid to do. I'm not condoning doping, but the movie is still very good.

I watch the Tour every year regardless of the doping allegations, the lack of Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso, or Jan Ullrich. I watch it because no matter what, that sport is amazing. What other sport can you get that close to the competitors, participate in on the same roads they do, go to for free, and see amazing countryside? It's a tough sport and I love it.