Just counting down the time until Happy Hour starts. I walked to lunch today and it is soooo nice outside - 68 degrees!

Tomorrow we have a big mountain bike ride planned and I'm looking forward to it.

In case you are as bored as me:

Ride/Shuffle

Soooo nice outside today! I went for a nice road ride at lunch today, and got two flat tires about 5 miles into it. So, with only 1 spare and no patch kit, I decided to jog walk my bike home and swap it out for a new one. I miss running, I used to love the simplicity and ease with which it came to me. All that was before my knee injury though. I shuffled down to the river trail and took the South Crossing Bridge across, then follwed the river trail up the cliff and through my neighborhood. It only took about 30 minutes for the shuffle home but my knee isn't happy with just that.

Still, it was a pretty lunch ride/shuffle

When I ride to the gym at lunch I take the most direct route…the parkway. For those who don’t know, the speed limit is 45 on the parkway but I’m not sure why, because no one is even going close to that speed…except me on my bike. Today in the bike lane there was a little smurf figurine. Remember The Smurfs? When I was little they were huge! I had Smurf sheets, pillowcase, and comforter. I would help me mom make homemade blueberry muffins and then watch Smurf cartoons on Saturday morning. I was too cool

Here is me right before putting my helmet and glasses on and stepping outside for my ride to work yesterday in subfreezing temps.



You know, even though it isn’t legal to drive around with studded tires until November, I heard at least 3 cars with them on yesterday while riding to the pool. Come on people, it’s a little early. Besides, it’s supposed to get up to 70 this weekend I heard!

There is so much weirdness on the internet. This whole site is dedicated to little yellow ducks traveling the world. Duck Travels.

My favorites:






I checked weather.com before riding to work this morning so I'd know what to wear. It showed, "23 feels like 13." WHOA, out came the balaclava. That's the first time this year I've had to wear it and it is for sure earlier than last year. It's supposed to warm up and be mid 60's this weekend so I'll start planning my big rides. Is it Friday yet?

For those of you here in Bend reading this, here is a great deal! I've gone to Karen for massages in the past and will continue to do so in the future. She's been working on my back and shoulders that get tight from rowing and swimming. She is fully licensed now, and practices out of her house over by Newport Market. I recommend her to anyone and everyone. So please, if you take her up on these great offers, tell her I sent you!

Here is and exerpt from the email she sent out:

Last week I received license # 13420 from the state of OR- just in time to head to Hawaii as the massage therapist for the Timex Multi Sport Team competing in the Ironman World Championships.

As a way to say thanks to all those who helped me during school and as a way to welcome new clients, I will be offering some introductory pricing and package deals.

Introductory Prices:
1st massage is only $35 for a 75 min therapeutic massage (regularly $65)
$10 for a 20 min sports recovery massage (regularly $20)

Package Deals:
4 x 20 min sports recovery massage $65
8 x 20 min sports recovery massage $120
Unlimited monthly sports recovery massage $180


Thank you,
I look forward to seeing everyone soon!
Karen Kraus
541-550-0849
circlekay@gmail.com

AWESOME DEAL!

Sunday was the last official group mountain bike ride of the season for the Bend Bella Cyclists. I went out with the spirited group on a nice 3 hour ride from Swampy Sno-park to Pine Mtn Sports. Upper and lower Whoops was in awesome condition, as was all of Phil's. There's nothing like railing those long sweeping corners under tacky conditions. The riding doesn't officially stop for our club, it's just more spontaneous over the winter months.

I borrowed these pics from my friend Chandra who actually was good enough to take some of the ride.

Here is the whole group up at Swampy Sno-Park getting ready to ride.



Chandra and Kim were good enough to take pictures of the conversational ride. Check out Broken Top in the weeee background. SNOW!



Here we are afterwards eating chips and the BEST salsa ever! Some people are drinking beer but I would never do that, it isn't good for you.

Happy Monday

This seems appropriate for today.





With something like 7 hours of riding this weekend, I have no pictures to share. This might be a first. It was ideal riding conditions both days with the trail nice and tacky from the recent rain we had and the freezing nightly temps. I covered a lot of the trails in Bend and only encountered limited mud. The newer section of Mrazek is SWEET and the berms were recently rebuilt/beefed up. It is a GREAT time to get out and ride.

Three bent derailleur hangers in one riding season…is that some sort of record? The one on my cross bike was the most recent. They really are in the way. The ACE was the first victim and it died whoopin it up on Grand Slam. It didn’t go alone though, I was there to comfort it. The second was the 575’s hanger and it died on some rocky switchback in Chamonix, “bashed and bent” should be the title on its gravestone. Unlucky for me, it caused me to ride the most impossible gears all the way up some freakin steep mountains for the rest of the day. The cross bike was the last and it was really just a fluke along the Deschutes River Trail. I loved them all and they served me well. Amen

It was freakin cold the other morning - frost everywhere! I bundled up for my ride to work and took this on my way.



Here is the one from later on that same day on my lunch ride.



It's Friday and the weekend is going to be so nice! All I can think about today is my black bean, rice and cheese burrito. Baby steps.

Patience

How many times can I make the same mistake? I haven't ridden over on the east side for quite some time now. Yesterday was a weird weather day and after finally deciding what to wear on my ride, I took off out east. With my mp3 player pumping out tunes I just rode. I have several loops I generally follow, turning here and there and adding on this or that. I snapped a couple photos but left my camera at work yesterday so they'll have to wait. When I'd had my fun fighting the headwind and trying to allude the raindrops, I headed back into town. I chose Wilson as my route and dammit, why didn't I remember that trains come around 1:00 and block up that intersection? The line of cars backed up was almost comical and as I sat at the crossing guards I began to wonder if I shouldn't turn around and go down to where the road dips under the train tracks. I wonder exactly HOW long is too long to wait? At what point would people turn around? One poor fellow was sitting at the front of the line and I don't know how long he'd been there, but he did about a 70 point turnaround to get out of line and just as he got it facing the right direction, the train started to move! hahahahah

Anyway, I really like this photo. Sometimes black and white is the way to go.

Have you ever heard a deer cry? It's heart wrenching! Yesterday I went for a lunchtime ride and as I was pedaling along the road to the trail I saw a line of cars stopping in the middle of the road. I kept watching, and one by one a group of deer crossed the road. When they were safely across, the cars started up. But, being on a bike closer to the side of the road, I could see down the embankment and there was a little fawn down there crying and wailing looking terrified. So sad.

My spirits quickly picked up when I hit the dirt and was treated to some fun and great views.





It's been chilly out and winter is definitely approaching. Last night I rode home from the pool to find Derek sitting in front of our fireplace...with a fire going! Wow, that's the first one of the year.

The Man Who Couldn't Wave

THis is one of the short films I saw at the film festival this past weekend. IT IS HILARIOUS!

Rain down in town meant SNOW up at the mountain!



I'm pretty glad we got our ride in this past weekend because right now that little shelter I posted a picture of yesterday is in at least 7" of snow! This will do wonders for the trails if it does indeed melt away. I'm already drooling and planning my upcoming rides.

It's FINALLY raining!!! That means I'll be riding the trails FOR SURE tomorrow. No more dustbowl. Woohoo.

Friday we went to BendFilm and watched "Dark Heart". It's about a soldier who returns from Iraq and encounters great hostility at home. A group of guys overhears him talking to a buddy about the gold stashes Saddam had. This group kidnaps him and attempts to coerce him through violence, to tell them where the gold is. It's a very "dark" movie but I enjoyed it still.

Saturday we rode Edison Lava, with a detour up to the top of Kwolh Butte on the way there. So, in the first 8 miles it was around 2300' of climbing. It's sandy and loose in some spots on the way to the Butte, but we'd never been there so we gave it a shot. ATV's have chewed up the trail pretty badly in some places but it was a very pretty ride still.

This is the little Kwolh Butte shelter. It sits out on the point with a great view of the backside of Mt. Bachelor, and then all the various lakes and rings of lava rock that encircle the area.



We went and watched another set of films Saturday night. The short was hilarious...about a man who had to learn to wave at his neighbors and be friendly. The feature was "Modern Love". It was quite possiblty the worst film/movie I've seen. If it wasn't for the fact that I could eat cajun tater tots and drink beer the whole time, I may have walked out. Most people did in the room of 130 seats. Oh well.

Scientists now think that Spider webs could help heal injured knees! I'm going to stop knocking down the ones by our front door then.

We're off to ride Edison Lava...haven't ridden that this year yet believe it or not. We bought some French Bread at the store and made some sandwiches for the ride just like we had every day in France. I don't think it will seem the same though. We'll see.

Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th! Derek and I went on a night ride last night - started riding about 5:15 and the parkinglot was packed. Ran into two friends but other than that, surprizingly, we didn't see many people out there. We rode through sunset, switched on our lights and kept going. It's such a different sensation riding at night. I have to focus so hard on the trail and really "feel" where I'm going. About halfway down from the helipad I heard a coyote howl. I stopped to listen, there was another, then another, then a bunch of yipping and howling. It was truly spooky. If you've never heard a pack of them hunting AND CATCHING their prey, you're missing out on raw life. Anyway, I snapped this before my camera ran out of battery.



Two hours later we arrived back at the trail head to find not one car there...deserted!

Tonight we're heading to the BendFilm Festival. I'm excited.

Number of riders seen on the trail yesterday at lunch...ZERO!

Lunchtime rides are some of my favorite rides because I usually have the trails to myself. I rode my cross bike again yesterday and did a new loop. If I do a moderate paced ride from work to the Phil's trailhead, then ride up Phil's to the chicken, turn right and head up and over to Kent's, make another right and loop all the way back to the trailhead again and back to work then I can be near the building in one hour 15 minutes. For people not in the know - a cross bike is most easily explained as being a hybrid mountain bike/road bike. It looks mostly like a road bike, but has fatter tires and sturdier wheels with no suspension. So, it's a bit slower on the road but can take mellow trails with no problem. It is a different feeling riding those trails on a cross bike.

Pedal, pedal, pedal leeeeean into the corner
Tires cut through the sand
Will the line hold?
Will I go down?

Bank it off the berm
Shoot through the trees
Hammer up the rise
Coast with the breeze

It's a great feeling to get something out of your surroundings. In my past jobs I have spent far to many lunches sitting at my desk working. No more.

No pictures from the ride, I was lazy and didn't bring my camera. I did snap a SUPER quick picture this morning though. It isn't the best, but hey, it has to do.

I usually ride to the gym at lunch and yesterday was no exception. I came out after my core workout to find some contstruction dude hunched over my bike. At first I was thinking, "What the hell?" Then he sees me, stands up and says, "Nice bike!" He told me he is out here from Virginia for a couple months working on a new store that is going in next door to the gym and he brought his bike out because he heard there was good riding. He wanted me to give him some street names of some good routes. I gave him some rough ideas of some loops and pointed them out on his map and we chatted for a bit. See, bikes bring the world together!

Last night Derek met me and we went for a good after work ride. It gets chilly in the evenings now so I wasn't surprized when it got downright cold by the time we finished. I was on my cross bike so the ride up the backside of Awbrey Butte felt a little more challenging than usual. It's so pretty when you crest that butte and get to see the sun setting over the mountains and see the fields of greens that spread out around the outskirts of town. That's one of my favorite parts of riding...the scenery.

Castle Rock

About 1:20 drive from Bend is a trail called Castle Rock. Again, we were in search of something new to ride, again, we weren't disappointed. The book suggested the route as a 14.5 mile loop of 3-5 hours which would put us climbing a gravel road and then singletrack. I pushed for an out and back on the singeltrack and am really happy we did the ride that way. Even though it turned it into about a 12 mile ride, those miles were packed with climbing (2370'), switchback heaven, heavily forested trails, and panorama views. Some of the picture didn't turn out that great because it's so dark back in the forest.





Don't stop for too long or moss will start growing on you!



The switchbacks got increasingly steep and difficult, the progression was nice.






Those clouds are coming for us!



Upon getting back to our car, we decided to tack on another loop ride in the area. This one was another doozy of a climb (2390') over 6 miles, followed by a 3 mile roaring descent. Rain was threatening for our entire second ride so we kept the pace as high as our legs would allow. The downhill section is a gigantically long straight singletrack that follows the ridge in the forest. It was downright dark in spots! It switchbacked some before popping us back out at the car. Once in the car, it started raining.

Unfortunately, the sign was not kidding at all.









Tired and happy again.

No, it isn't ALL about riding, sometimes I rock climb too.

Busy weekend so far! Yesterday I spent most of the day up at Wanoga Snopark helping COTA to build new trails. We had a giant turnout and finished one entire trail. It's just a baby loop right now, but there will be waaaaaay more out there. It was kind of fun to decide what exactly to do with the surface. Berms went in, a couple log obstacles, a giant log ride...there will be more features but for now it's cleared and ready for rain and snow to pack it down. Work on the higher up stuff can begin after another biologist comes in and does an owl study or something like that. Sure, the snowmobilers can ride out there, but mt bikers might disturn the owls. Huh?

Off for a new ride today, pictures to follow so check back.