Burnin' Down the House

Well, burnin' down the office is more like it. After my lunchtime ride I took a shower and was going to do my hair when my hairdryer blew out. I turned it on low and nothing happened, so I turned it on high...still nothing. I turned it off and it started up! BUT, only after sputtering and making some engine burning sounds and then having smoke pour out of it! What a sad day.

Here is a bike related Christmas comic I got a chuckle out of.

SHOUT

Thank god for fenders on my mountain bike. Brrraaaaaaaap



The detergent companies should pay me to test their products

Weekend musings

I rode home Friday after work and Derek informed me that my sister had her baby! So I'm an aunt again. Welcome aboard Cameron Jacob! I hope to get a picture of him soon.

Saturday we went skate skiing in COLD temps. It was in the low teens up at the mountain. Brrrrr. I sure wish they would bring back the little fire tub they used to have down by the lower trails. It was nice to stop and thaw my hands out there.



Saturday night was Candy Canetinis, yes, that's right. Rumplemintz, vodka, and a candy cane. We were at a party for a friends' birthday and it was good to see everyone together.

Sunday was even colder at the mountain. 4 degrees supposedly. The snow was wet and slow but fun nevertheless. We added a loop around Rich's Range. It was always intimidating last year because it is VERY rolly and twisty and it was our first year skate skiing.

Hill Intervals anyone?

Candles Like the Old Days

Our power went out this morning at about 6:30. It going out actually woke me up since I'm such a light sleeper. I gathered up the candles, found my cell phone, and called the power company. We have the number already written down by the phone because this isn't the first time in the past week the power has gone off. My neighbors behind me have power, Crap, all their lights are probably why I DON'T have power! I take a shower and get dressed for work, eat my breakfast while reading the paper by candlelight, and get ready to go. I was going to drive today because my car will die if I don't drive it at least once a week and I have errands to do after work anyway. So I go out to the garage and realize the door won't open. I find the step ladder and with flashlight in one hand, pull the handle attached to the rope that is hanging down. It reads "Notice, if door is obstructed pull down on handle to open." So I do this and the handle rips off the cord and I almost lose balance and fall off the ladder. I try pulling the cord a couple more times but by now I'm late and really pissed. So I stomp back inside, get changed into my riding clothes, and ride to work. I just called our house and the power is still off.

Happy Monday.

1+1

I only WISH the equation was that simple. Instead, this is what I worked with =IF(AND($A9="new",$E9<=F$6),($C9*F$4*8+$D9*173.33),IF(NOT($A9="new") ,IF($E9<=F$6,($C9*F$4*8+$D9*173.33)*(1+$D$5),($C9*F$4*8+$D9*173.33)),0))Yes, that right there was the crux of my problem yesterday. I've moved past it and am feeling like a superb conqueror today.

It snowed last night! But, not before raining hard and then freezing. So, the ride this morning to work was great fun. I knew I made a good choice when I got down to Brookswood and the line of cars was at least 50 before reaching the roundabout. Instead of taking the "busy" street, I cut through some backroads to stay away from the crazies. Crossing Wilson I was witness to one lucky driver who couldn't make it over the overpass because he had NO traction in his tires. He gunned it, slid around, then backed down the hill onto a side street before giving it another go as he was treated to honks from people all over. Way to make him feel better people.

I was happy to not have to wait in a line at all. I smiled as I cut down the hillside and across the field of white towards the building.

TGIF!!!

I'll huff and I'll puff

Dang is it windy outside! Apparently gusts are supposed to get up to 100 along the ridgelines of the Cascades tonight. I know better than to take a bike out with the winds around 30-45 right now. Not so funny story...It was in 2002 I think that I was racing mountain bikes out in Fontana, CA. The wind was reportedly 60 miles per hour and rounding one of the corners up on a ridge, I was knocked off my bike by a giant gust. That was the first incident of scraping my elbow up. Anyway...since it was so windy, I decided to go home for lunch and ride my trainer. SO there I am spinning along in front of the television having a good workout, and the power went out. Good lord, the gods are against me riding. I went ahead and finished my workout in silence.

Rollng puke

I've done a crappy job blogging this week, I know. The high winds kept me off my bike one day, and then a gazillion errands after work kept me off it another day. That's ok though because I've been deathly afraid of getting sick and have been resting up. EVERYONE around me is sick! I got a flu shot this year so hopefully I'm covered in that respect. I know my sister reads this so she should love this story...hopefully she remembers it. We grew up, family of 5, in a house with one bathroom. Getting ready in the mornings was a lesson in time management and sharing. I remember one particular day when I had the flu and had to, well, puke. I ran to the bathroom and pounded on the door. My sister replied with something like, "I'm doing my hair." Well, that wasn't good enough for me and I puked on the floor. Our house had hard wood floors and the puke went running right under the door. Boy did that door open fast!

It's raining up at the mountain. Yeah.

Not much new going on. Riding is hit or miss with the showers we had yesterday, this morning was fairly nice out though. I'm hoping to go skiing tomorrow before work, we'll see how I feel. I fear I will be coming down with whatever the rest of Bend has. There are sick people everywhere I turn! I saw in the paper today that there is a group of climbers lost on Mt. Hood that rescuers are trying to find. Oregon Live Report. This winter 2 people have already died in the area and let's hope this group gets down safely.

Is the grass greener on the other side?



No, but I'll tell you, the mud is deeper!

Another weekend down

December is flying by! I was in Webcyclery waxing my skis on Saturday and saw a flyer for the Great Nordeen ski race that is in January. I mentioned before that I would like to either just preski the course, or actually do the race...just to have a goal. That leaves precious few weekends to work up to 36k. With that in mind, I put in some more good time up at the mountain. It snowed the whole time we were up there on Sunday and despite the layer of powder that covered the trails, I felt really good after 1.5 hours out there. I even convinced Derek to tack on an extra little loop down Woody's and up Devecka's to end. I'm evil.

How cool would it be to get a rowing bike? Make sure you scroll down for the moving demo picture. SWEET!

Happy Friday!

We can all give a big sigh of relief...Friday is here at last.

I've been putting in a lot of time on my bike this week since the weather was so nice. It's funny because you just never know when you'll be able to do some quality riding again. When I used to train for my races I'd get bummed when the weather turned nasty because then I couldn't train outdoors easily. Now though, as much as I miss training and racing, it's nice to just shift focus to skate skiing and other winter sports. So when I hear about snow in the forecast I get excited!

Have a good weekend!

Moonlight Ski

Did you ever have one of those snowcone machines when you were little? You know, the kind where you put ice cubes in it and then turn the plastic handle and it would make that grinding sound as it magically turned the cubes into a snowcone? Think back and get that sound in your head....THAT is the sound of night skiing on Tuesday. It snowed all this great snow but now has been warm the last few days and melted down the snow. Then of course, it refreezes at night and makes a big ice sheet. I saw on the calendar it was going to be a full moon though, so we went cross country skiing. It was actually kind of warm that night and the glow from the moon was amazing. We skied for about 9 miles or so and I had a great time. It DOES get a little eerie out there when all you hear is the scraping of your skis against the snow/ice.






Here is Derek crash...I mean testing out his light, yah, that's what he told me he was doing. Yep, it works!

Old and New Trails

My ride to work yesterday morning was a meander and I stopped to take a couple morning pics. Then as I worked away in my cube I saw the temp on my little desktop gauge go up and up. 51 degrees at lunch meant ride time! Suited up in my mud clothes I hit the trails. I wandered around and found a new little trail as well.

Some random shots from todays ride. You have to look closely in some to see the trail. And sorry, they aren't my best shots this time.

Summer is here!

Break out your bikini or swim trunks! It was "warm" and sunny yesterday so I went for a mountain bike ride at lunch along the river trail. In the shaded woody areas there was still packed powder and sections of ice, but dang, it was "warm" out. Today is supposed to be much of the same so I'll probably ride something this afternoon.

Happy Full Moon! I hope the skies stay clear to make moonlight skiing or snowshoeing a success tonight.

Birthday Extravaganza

I awoke to another nice day outside, so after my birthday pancakes we headed up towards the mountain. First up, we snowshoed to the top of Vista Butte to take some pictures. Not being one for following the marked trail, we went straight up the side of the butte. OOOOF! Before long the leg burn was going. We didn't see another soul out there. For the second leg of our adventure we went up to Bachelor to skate ski. I couldn't dream of a nicer day.

Sunny skies

Since the mountain has opened, I think every time I've been up to skate ski it has been snowing and windy. Saturday however, was GLORIOUS! I'm tossing around the idea of skiing the Great Nordeen race in January. Now, I've only been skate skiing for one year and still am not "good" but the race would be fun to just have some sort of goal...36k. I don't intend to be competitive, and it may turn out that I just ski the course on my own the day before, but I'm going to try to get up to that distance. So, Saturday we skied for about 1.5 hours. That may not seem like a long time to those of you who haven't tried skate skiing, but it kicks your ass! I had a great time in the sun. I just love being outdoors.

We went out to dinner Saturday night for my birthday at Zydecos. I absolutely love that place. Nice owners and staff, great food, superb atmosphere. I had the steelhead and loved every bite of it. I highly recommend eating there.

Wed Morning Snow

It's somewhere between 8 and 10 degrees as I step out into the snow. The weather forecast was for clear skies but cold and as soon as I saw that I knew I had to go ski before work. Except for one other guy just leaving on his skis, I'm alone and the world is completely silent. It's like a film without a soundtrack. I carry my gear to the start of the trail and clip into the skis. Off I go. Before long I'm heating up, I've set an agressive pace and my heart is banging away. It's that magical time of morning when the sun is coming up. Sure, it rises in the east, but to the west is where the real beauty hits. Pink hues are spotlighting the mountains, the trees around me are lit up in yellow glows. After 25 minutes there is a split that isn't groomed. I look left at the incline of powder. Why not, I'm up for an adventure.





Those are my tracks up - it's a great workout.



On my why back to the car over an hour later I'm treated to the glorious sun.



Life is good.

Lunchtime on the River Trail

It was snowing at lunch Tuesday but still nice enough out for a ride. Bundled up in all my warm gear I took off for the river trail. Cutting through the Old Mill I tested out the traction on the dirt...perfect. I had the trail to myself except for one jogger. The snowfall up under all the trees was minimal and had been tramped down pretty well. I stopped to take a few pictures along the way.

This little guy was all alone and was not amused by my outfit. He took one look at me in my balaclava and took off.





The studs on my bike tire make such a cool tread pattern.



One hour of riding through snow left me sweaty and tired. Perfect way to spend a lunch.

Keep it coming

Still snowing! My ride to work this morning was fairly plain. Only saw one car in a ditch and it looked like it had been there all night because it was covered in snow. I took some back roads to stay off Brookswood because the line of cars was sickening and I wanted some solitude. With the heavy studded tires on my commuter, that thing has a lot of rolling weight and I'm huffing and puffing by the time I get to work after having pedaled through the snow.

I'm thinking of doing some nightime xc skiing after work. There is just so much nice powder out there and it makes for a good workout to break track.

Ho hum, not much else going on.

Snow, snow, and more snow

What have I been up to? Skate skiing and cross country skiing. The road to the mountain has been less than stellar. Seems every day we head up we pass at least 2 accidents.





And these weren't even the little cars with bald tires and no chains that fishtail all the way up the highway!

The grooming at the Nordic Lodge has been a joke. I think they are grooming once in the morning and then just letting the powder pile up all day. I've skied "Woody's Way" more times than Liza Minnelli has been married, and been around the oval at least 40 times. I'm ready for them to groom more trails. GOOD AND READY! So Sunday we xc skied out to Tumalo Falls for a change of scenery and pace. That sure woke up the stabilizer muscles in my knees!

Tumalo Falls in the winter is still very pretty.

Thanksgiving

I started the day with skate skiing - hoping to burn the calories off before they got there! That is one tough sport. It was snowing the whole time we were up at the mountain and they weren't continuously grooming so the powder built up over the groomed surface and made for some serious quad burn since I had to lift my skate skis up out of the snow each leg motion. I'm not sure what the ratio of hours of skate ski to hours of cycling is, but it can't be one to one. After 1.5 hours of skate skiing I am near dead but I can ride FAR longer than that and not feel tired.

I made a mean green bean casserole and a fresh loaf of Italian herb bread and we headed to our friends Linda and Stu's house for a big get together. I think there were around 12 of us there - all serious mountain bikers! We weighed ourselves before we started eating and drinking and then after. I had gained 5 pounds!!! It was superficial weight since a lot was liquid and food that err, uhh, wouldn't stay in my body, but still! Colin had the highest with 8 pounds!!!!!!!!!!