Spring

The last couple days have been a little sneak peak at the season to come. I rode in short sleeves with NO vest or jacket or anything on Thursday! It's still cold in the mornings so I have to bundle up for my commute in but the mts are amazing to look up at so I don't mind. I saw a few flowers poking through the frozen ground over by the amphitheatre, nobody told them that this is the false spring still. Still don't have any pictures but I'll get back into the groove.

Call me crazy, but I'd never been to karaoke before last weekend. Shilo Inn has it in their bar every Saturday night and so a group of us went to check it out. WOW, there are some really good people that get up on that stage. I had so much fun watching and listening to everyone else, it was hilarious. If you haven't been, it is definitely worth checking out. Free entertainment!

Duck Abuse

Ok, I'll admit that I like too chase the ducks and geese in the park to make them quack at me, but this was different. I was just enjoying an afternoon walk through the park when I witnessed a father and son heartwarming event. The father was throwing chips out in the river for the ducks who would then swim/swarm to get them. The son (I'm guessing he was about 11), would torpedo the ducks with pinecones when they got close. I'm not talking a soft lob of a pinecone in their direction either. These ducks were being fully submerged by the force of the pinecones! The father would then exlaim joyfully, "Good one, you got that one good!"

What a great parent.

I haven't been bringing my camera with me as much as I used to, but I'm still out there enjoying nature. Thursday I went xc skiing with my friend Sherri and it was awesome. Hills of fresh powder glistened and called our names. Yesterday I skate skied up at Meissner and despite the relatively warm temps I had a pretty good ski. I'm getting better at V2 and really seeing the value of it. I think I'll head up again this afternoon. Today we're brewing a nut brown beer and I sure hope it turns out!

Yay beer!

It was a soggy ride home today but I'm not complaining. Rain in town means snow at the mtn, plus, I figure it was punishment for skipping my lunchtime swim. It's just that I was craving a peanut butter chocolate milkshake and they just happened to have one at the Bend Burger Company just down the street from my work!

Ice Crit

Saturday night was the ice criterium up at Swampy Snowpark. We weren't racing, just cheering, and socializing. I think this year the costumes were a step up from last year and the crowds were very entertained.

It's official, Derek and I are racing a tandem bike at the mountain bike race in Eastern Oregon this Sunday. It should be hilarious and fun all at once.

I spent this past weekend doing a lot of skate skiing. I just love the snow and want to share this with everyone out there.
Tour de Meissner/Family Fun Race

Skippin work to ski

That's right, I skipped out on work this afternoon to go skate skiing. Conditions were a bit soft, but still better then sitting at a desk. My teammate Rob and I slammed out a loop on Zigzag and then one on Woody's before we passed out. MORE SNOW!

Saturday we met up with some friends and tested out their tandem mountain bikes. Tandem cycling feels quite a bit different then regular riding! We pedaled through the neighborhood to get used to it a bit and then we hit the dirt. Check us out!

2 days in a row now I've ridden my bike at lunch. I just can't help it, it's in the 60's! If it isn't snowing then I'm happy it's at least riding weather. I wore short sleeves both days!!! My friend Angela joined me today and it was nice to have some company. After all that time out in the fresh clean air and nature, I walked back into the office to the stench of fish. Yes, fish. Someone had warmed up leftover fish in the kitchen microwave and the place stunk! Really? Who does that?

Ode to the windproof jacket.

Without winter I am left to ride more. Yesterday afternoon after a lunch of homemade Chicken Tikka Marsala warm in my belly, we set off to meet my friend Angela for a ride. The roads are mostly snow free now in and around Bend. With temps probably around 50 we set off. The windjacket is a necessity on light spring days like this where the wind blows down off the Cascades and chills you. I can look up as a I peddal and see the snowy mountains looking down on me and I know they think I'm a traitor. After skate skiing probably over 50 times last year, this year is not the same. We didn't buy season passes this year so I've spent more time classic cross country. Without any real snowfall in a month now, I haven't been up much. So you see, it's not my fault I have to betray them. They are betraying me by not producing snow! In fact, I think I tweaked my neck last week when I was doing a snow dance.

Get me the duct tape

It was so warm that I rolled my window down in my car the other day and it stuck down. Somehow it came out of the track. So, with a flashlight and a screwdriver, Derek took my door apart to fix it. Half an hour in I heard the dangerous words, "Get me the duct tape." I can't complain though, he fixed it and saved us money!

I think I'm opposed to the proposed law where cyclists don't have to stop completely stop at stop signs if a car isn't coming. I mean, it's not that big of a deal to me to stop and then start back up. I have a bigger objection to stopping at a stoplight when there are no cars around.

Ride on.

Mountain Bike Race in February?

I'm toying with the idea of trying to race a new mountain bike race here in Oregon in...February! It's out east in Echo, Oregon and I think it would be fun to race it on a tandem with Derek. It would be more just for something fun to do. We'll see.

Last night we went to Webcyclery movie night and watched Bikecar. It's a movie about 4 snowboarders who build a pedal powered car and ride from Moscow, Idaho up to Silver Mtn, across Washington to some mountain, to Mt Hood in Oregon, and then on to Mt Bachelor here in Bend. It was just the kind of adventure that I would LOVE to do and I really enjoyed the film.

What a beautiful week! My rides to and from work were under unseasonably warm temperatures and my lunchtime rides were down right warm. It's still slightly dark when I start out in the morning but the sun rises as I quietly spin through the neighborhood. Some mornings the colors are magnificent and it's those mornings that I pedal a little slower so that I can admire the lasting effects of the sunrise.

Winter seems to have taken a break so with temps nearing 50 we we went mountain biking at Horse Ridge.



Last night we had dinner with a big group and everything was yummy!

I'm sure the topic of conversation all over town is the weather so I'll spare the discussion other than to say...what the hell is going on and where is winter?

I passed by a new store in the Old Mill Marketplace...just says ELECTRIC BIKES. Pretty self explanatory what they are probably selling, but I'll have to go check it out.

So far I haven't noticed an increase in people swimming at Juniper but the gym sure looks busy when I walk by. I wonder if any studies have been done regarding the average intelligence level of people using saunas. I have the most interesting discussions in there - surely the average user is smarter than most people.

That's about it - is it Friday yet?

Awesomeness

Yesterday we were up early and went to Meissner to skate ski. The lot was only partially full when we got there and one of the high school teams was leaving so it was relatively quite. The conditions were pretty nice and we did the Tangent Loop with ease. Great weather, good skiing.

We bought some ingredients to brew an amber ale so that's our next project.

Happy New Year

New Year's Even was great - we met up with a bunch of people and cross country skied out to one of the shelters. With the wood stove going and the music pumping we celebrated. Good times.

Christmas Ski

Yesterday after some homemade pancakes in my belly, we went xc skiing. 4 hours of breaking trail in deep powder was exhausting. All we could do after is sit on the couch and eat. Perfect day.

XC Ski Weekend

Saturday we were up early and went xc skiing at Swampy. It was a lot of trail breaking in deep powder since we were the first ones up to the Swede Shelter. Plenty of snow and relatively good weather. Sore legs.

Sunday we skied downtown to The Summit and joined some friends for beers. It was then settled that we are going to try our hand at homebrewing in the new year. That's an easy enough resolution to keep.

Sunday up at the shelter.







Derek on his way for beers.



Me skiing along the river on the way downtown.

Ski!

The snow was so light and dry today for my first ski. Everything just felt right shoooshing along. Afterwards we stopped and snowshoed in for a Christmas Tree. It's always quite an ordeal to find just the right one. This time we went to Wanoga Snowpark and hiked back up in for a nice 8 footer or so.





href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOb_ekaHSfz7A3QyF_flCZqJ54DMBNLaYgCdGXybCF7eQIj47kisBmu0-nYOrIQktAVWPL2vvqsnInqqmN_anmn_dmqAd8-l79vrk0c6US6q2yR87JlCCsJX6j2EE-WbZTO7_i/s1600-h/snow-3.jpg">