Change of plans

My question to a half-awake Doug at 5:50 AM - "How about the one with a rainbow, a unicorn, and a gnome, Okay?"

(You know you want a new sweet swimsuit like this one... Psst, Splish is having a sale!)

Swam a couple of laps in the New Town lake as part of the Big Shark Open Water Swim series finale.  Would have followed that up immediately with my Big Shark tri club teammates and a ride to St. Pauli, but alas - still had the mountain pedals on the road bike from last week's Urban Assault.  Of course, I didn't realize this until I tried to clip in.  Doh!

This necessitated a long drive (40- minutes) home kicking myself the whole way.  Once I switched pedals, I traded the flats of the Missouri Bottom Lands for the bluffs and valleys of the Meramec River hill zones West of Clarkson Rd. and beyond all by myself.  I say that, but there were so many people I recognized on the road that the term "alone" really didn't apply.  Part of the reason I saw so many riders: I took different routes and changed it up a little bit so that I was riding up hills I normally ride down, effectively salmoning people's typical bike routes.  Made for a pretty sweet ride - change is good.

In summary, one Saturday, one swim, one ride, one chocolate banana recovery smoothie.

Ride report- the Missouri MS150

48 hours.
202 miles of cycling.
Hills.
Carbohydrates.
and a pink bike.

First off,  I had no intention of riding 202 miles.  I was perfectly happy contemplating 150 for this little adventure.

Saturday morning started off soggy and muggy.  I rode out with the Monsanto Mavericks (getting all mavericky :-) on the bike, rockin' my Pacific Power/Blue Sky Jersey.  I felt a little out of place amongst the 75+ members of the MM team all in their fine "genetically modified" kits.  I don't really need to dress differently to stick out in a crowd!

How do you sum up 100-miles in a paragraph.  5:15 on the cycling computer... 7 hours total.  I DID take a nap in the middle there.  But, I get ahead of myself.  I went out slow, then I picked it up, then I bonked a little just in time for lunch.  Newly sustained, I fell in with some fast guys who proved way to fast for me.  I stopped at the Amish aid station and ate homemade ice cream (cCarbohydrates) with two women (Kathleen and Carolyn) on the Mavs team.  One of them commented that the ice cream tasted funny.  I thought about that for a second and then looked around for the cow.  Pretty sure the milk coming out of that black and white heifer was whole and unpasteurized.  Brilliant!

That night we sat around and glorified our prospective adventures around the course.  Turns out two Monsanto guys saved someones life with CPR and cool heads.  Another of our number went down hard and had to check out the local hospital.  But mostly, it was sore legs, tired lunges, beers in hand, and big smiles.

Later on in the evening, the band played and Big Shark Cyclery raffled off a bicycle... but not just any bike.  A PINK Cruiser bike!  Here's the short story:

Fred won it.
Brad claimed it.
Travis rode it.

The long story is that, we couldn't figure out what to do with it!  10 people standing around laughing about the ridiculous pink bike and taking turns "safely" weaving around the tents.  Then Travis says "I'm going to ride that bike tomorrow....I'm going to ride it 100 miles!"  The collective fell silent, we came to a telepathic consensus, and then proceeded to enable him.

Day two, the pink bike is ready for Travis.  My Dean seems to be in working order.  My legs wake up slowly with the help of coffee and bad waffles and then we roll!  The pink bike heads out early anticipating a slower pace.  And we intention to catch him before the first aid station.  For me, though, I fully intention 75 miles  at a more moderate pace (notice how it already got 25 miles longer).  But, the pace is fast from the start and the mishmosh of riders on the course is disconcerting.  It is hard to stay in a group, and within minutes, my 75-mile ride partner is missing and I am committed to a faster paced group.

We hit some HILLS!  Along highway 70 out of Columbia, it is nothing but giant rollers.  To break it up a bit, I get a few tractor trailers to sound their horns as they go by (that never gets old).  We come upon the pink bike around mile 15 riding alone!  And, he's holding a more decent pace than the one I had established.  It took all of 1.5 seconds to decide to do the 100 at his pace and get a few jokes, digs, videos, and pics out of the deal.

That was the plan.  But, to make it all the way on the pink bike in a timely fashion, he was skipping aid stations, and Sunny had to go to the bathroom.  So, 50 miles in, Brad and I put a surge on to stock up on water, drink, sunscreen, and munchies and to evaluate the Honey Pot facilities.  We waited at that aid station for well over 15 minutes before getting phone call from Travis saying that he had taken a wrong turn (followed the 45 mile arrows) and was going to ride backwards on the 100 course towards us. ??? OK.

We hauled to lunch at 75 miles in order to quick stock up and meet Travis coming, but my bike was not feeling it.  Apparently the miles are catching up to him, because the mechanism on my right shifter is shot and it took some major arm extension to get my rear derailleur to move.  Not good news approaching the hilliest section of the course.

HILLS... again.  With my inability to shift, I decided to hammer the hills and fell in with a fast couple of the Mavericks guys.  Turns out they just wanted to get off the bike and I was happy to oblige.  We pushed the pace the last 20 miles and finished around 5:30 for ride time and 7 hours again for total time.  And the pink bike beat us!  Turns out we dawdled to long at lunch and he turned around in order to only get 100 miles (he really rode 104 because the course ended up long!).

Post-ride cool down :-)

So, again, all for charity.  I raised $250 dollars for my part.  Not bad for less than a month of fundraising and living in a new place.  Next year, it's on!

Going in circles

I didn't start off going in circles. Nope. First, I bolted from work right at 5:00 pm (gasp!). I ran/hobbled (foot still boloxed) to my car where I had stashed Dean the road bike and sprinted to Brent and Pam's house to meet them.... we were supposed to leave at 4:45 (whoops!). Because you see, after a five-year retirement and a solemn promise never to do another criterium race, I was on my way to another crit race.

I had good reasons, for racing that is... if I didn't get some more OBRA (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association) points, I was going to spend another season languishing (sandbagging) in the Cat4 women's division. A source of embarrassment and derision.

We drove down the I-5 to the Eugene house of one of Pam's teammates on Therapeutic Associates. There we be-spandexed ourselves, grabbed extra water (for the 90+ temps and the 45 min pre-ride to the race), and bike posse-ed to the crit course. Over bridges, across highways, through residential neighborhoods, and along the bike path (where one "funny" resident thought we looked hot and lovingly diverted his water hose to soak us as we rode by... good thing the iPhone was safely stashed). Finally arriving just in time to watch the first race go off... a "practice" crit for newbie riders consisting of just 6 laps.

Following Pam along the bike path and displaying mad skills to take

an iPhone picture while riding a bike!

At the sign-up, it didn't take much convincing for me to register for both the Women's B and A races... for one thing, there was potential for more points toward my upgrade to Cat3 if I finished well in both races. And the critical mass for scoring a women's race is 5 riders (of which there were only 4 at that point and Pam really needed the points to keep her standing as the state-wide points leader... she races far more than I do!) So, not only did I break my stand against crit racing... I did it double time. Oh well.

I don't pretend to know tactics, but from years' of racing I've gotten pretty good at knowing how long it will take me to catch up to someone and how long I can sustain my top-end. As well as being able to recover my breathing pretty fast. All of these things came in to play!

The start of the B race was cake as every rider struggled to clip in. A Poplolly (the host team) hopped off the front first, but I grabbed her wheel and we went around a few times until the pack got organized. There were three prize primes (races within the race where if you win a lap, you take home a small prize). I sprinted for the first one and thought I had, but was a half a foot too sow. The pack surged and slowed until the second prime where I was going head-to-head with another Poplolly, this time easing off the pedals as I had my race plan set in my mind. The third prime came on the 5th-to-last lap of the 16 lap race... I sprinted down a single-woman break away to take the prize and kept going! I settled into my time trial position, practicing holding a fast line around the curves, managing to stay ahead until the final line... Sweet! But, dude... I was wiped!

I got to recover about 15-minutes between races, refilling water bottles in between. The A race started fast and just kept getting faster. Break after break... it was like the B race on crack! I chased down some... while I confusedly watched the girl's with teams (Pam included) alternatively block, lead-out, and break throughout the race. With 15 of the 20 laps completed, a prime was announced and I selfishly "helped" chase down a break away to get a chance at the prime... I closed pretty well into a head wind on the back stretch, passing the break and keeping going. I rounded the final bend and surprisingly held off any final attacks in order to take the prime. Brent —super fan extraordinaire — yells out "Great! Now work together to take it all." What? I looked behind me to find Pam on my wheel and the group gone. She and I hammered for the next couple of lap until lap 19 when she said "Sunny, I need the points." To which my response was "Oh-gasp-kay-gasp-cool." And with that and one lap to go, she jumped off my wheel. She gapped me by about 20 yds and we both mostly respectably soft-pedaled to the finish line to take 1-2. Very cool.

The aftermath. We still had to ride home in the dusk. Pam's teammates took us a super-cool, different way home that wound through downtown, past UofO (Hola, Ducks) and along a bike path that took a bike-bridge over the Willamette (wow!). And as night fell, we arrived back at our car and their house.

A little on the caloric-deficient-side after my 45-mile, 2:45 ride that included essentially an hour of zone 4, I was ready for some ice cream. We rolled into dairy queen on the way home. Brent pulled up to the drive-through and patiently waited for the trash can to take our order. When it appeared that the tinny voice would not in fact materialize from the DQ wrappers and napkins he tried to stealthily pull up to the actual intercom... Pam and I were not fooled!!! LOL.

After all that, I managed to get a few more points to bring my grand total for the year to a paltry 18. On the way home we figured I needed two more points (sigh) to get my upgrade, even after the seven I earned that night. You might be hearing about another criterium, soon.

Wish they gave points for cyclocross!!!

Shout out: Tom Zirbel racing in the Cascade Classic Stage Race in Bend, OR. I'll be out there this week-end to cheer him on in the Crit and Sunday Road Race!

Stage 3 of Tour de California: Happy Canyon

And the aptly named road was a perfect metaphor for the ride that Pete and I put together.  Today being a rest day (of sorts), we added in a little wine touring.  Literally.  It would have been sacrilege to not visit some of the local wineries.

We avoided the recent addition to tourist trappiness (The Black Jack winery made famous by the movie Sideways).  Instead utilizing the system of tubes that is the internets (and map my ride) to find a local ride that would take us along Happy Canyon.  I overlaid this with the google maps search of wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley... and Voila!  A perfectly (almost) flat 30-mile ride that took us by a number of wineries that we could decide to visit on site.

1st up- we rode through the town of Los Olivos... a town seemingly built entirely around wine tasting rooms and a single general store.  Because it was before 10 am and it would be more fun to visit the actual wineries... we pushed on, up Baseline Rd. to the Bridlewood Winery.  We smelt and tasted our way through five wines... renewing our palate with some baguette and goat cheese from the grocery.  Try the Pinot Noir for sure... it's the best.

Part of the tasting: keeping the glass.  A little difficult on a bike, but in our slightly "happy" state (we are heavily training, slightly dehydrated lightweights), it made perfect since to wrap the glass in a paper bag and "secure" it in water bottle cage.  But the wine glass was no match for the rough country roads and one good bump sent it flying — and shattering — on the roadside.  Lucky though, al the shattered glass stayed inside the paper bag.  So, we would not have any future unknown cyclist cursing our memory on Happy Canyon Rd.

We rode around to the town of Santa Ynez, CA searching for the second stop on our wine tour: The Artiste Tasting Room.  If you have never been to Santa Ynez... there is one stop light (on the highway) and one four-way stop in this "horse town".  In place of a white line on the road at the stop sign, there is a concrete slab with imbedded horse shoes that spell out "whoa"!

We found the tasting room tucked away down a side street, across the street from a post office straight out of Bonanza.  The tasting room doubles as an art gallery with flair.  The flair being provided by unfinished canvases, two easels set up in a sunny window, oodles of acrylic paints, paintbrushes, smocks, palettes, and a beret for patrons to test their artistic skills.

Each unique wine has its own original art work label from a guild that the winemaker supports.  Right now they are all Impressionists (my favorite), but they are also working on a modern artist label.  Anywho, the tasting included five wines, with the last being a port.  We also got to try a signature wine from the last wine club offering... that's six tastings each, on top of the tasting from the previous winery.  Let's say we wouldn't have blown a 0.08, but we were very "happy", especially Pete, as we rode along to Mission Dr. back to Buellton, CA.

We would have made it to without incident, if Pete hadn't have had a blow out just as we were leaving Solvang.  He being a cyclist for longer than I know how to ride a bike, I figured he could handle the tube change.  As a I watched, he took the tire completely off the wheel, accidently bent the valve stem on the new tube, couldn't get it aired on the tire, realized it had a hole in it, switched to my tube, aired it up, blew it out, then realized that the tube was pushing through a slit on the sidewall.  By this time, we were both laughing hysterically... and since we were only three miles away, rode (or shimmied — Pete) our way back to the hotel.  Something tells me that the normal bicycle wine tours have support vehicles that change flats :-)

Stage 1 of Tour de California: Winery stop

Finally got out for a ride.  Mucinex sufficiently clogged the holes in my dripping sinuses enough that I could get out on the bike.  Heather and Pete and I made it a little bit of a — ahem — recovery day, me from my day of hacking cough, them from the wicked climbe that Jim took them up on Saturday.  We decided on an out and back, that turned into an out-and-bread-and-cheese-and-back ride.  We would have gotten the wine, but $10 for a tasting (it was a big glass) would have left us a few dollars short, so we just devoured some flatbread and goat herb cheese.

Part of our course followed the time trial of the Tour de California and we got to follow in the direction the pros rode on the way back.  I can't believe those guys take some of those downhill curves in their aerobars.  Dude.

The ride was amazing — ly windy!  But so green, and warm, and DRY! Gorgeous.  This is what I came for.  And despite still recovering from being sick, I felt really strong.

 Yesterday's ride:

Day one of the Solvang bike training trip...

in bed.  And this is not the end of a message from a fortune cookie.  The 14 hour workdays and the see-food-eat-food mentality that I had adopted in my build up to vacation (trying to get too much done and avoid having to go to the grocery store) finally caught up with me.

On the drive down, my head was pounding and I faded in and out of being hot, cold, lethargic, or restless.  I knew I was in for a big one... The cold.  Or as it is known in my current neck of the woods:  The Corvallis Plague.  All day Sunday, my nose ran like a faucet: out the front and down the back of my throat.  I was starting to get those really productive sounding coughs... you know which ones I'm talking about.  My legs felt like lead just getting out of the car.  And I had to stand at the top of the stairs to catch my breath (I would not stoop to taking the elevator in a three-story building).

Heather, Jim, and Pete wanted to go for an afternoon ride... and I just let them.  My place was in bed, watching March Madness, and trying heal enough to make the rest of the training week productive.  Just to show how out of it I was:  I was watching the MU-Marquette game and I fell asleep at half-time!

Well, my Tigers are in the Sweet 16 and I am felling much better today... ride details to follow.

Ridin' high.

Imagine one of those old school roller coasters... like the Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags over Mid-America or some wooden rickety thing straight from Coney Island.  Remember how your momentum from one downhill flew you up and over the next hill?  Now picture those hills far enough apart so that you don't have even the semblance of momentum and instead have to get out of the coaster car and push it up the hill.  And instead of a roller coaster, you are pedaling, pedal-pushing, out of the saddle, cranking it like a peppermill, willing your chain not to break.  You are beginning to understand what the "Sublime Sublimity" was like.

The course began with a series of four such hills, the last of which was paved with chip-seal half-way up.  Chip-seal is the cycling road surface equivalent of walking/running in sand. Oh but the best was yet to come.  After three loops (and four turns on the roller coaster), the course turned toward the finish line... at the top of a hill so steep it had earned the moniker "Flypaper".  Many people physically got off their road bikes and walked up the last of the hill... maybe the first that their cleats had ever touched pavement.

I raced the women's 4s and it was good.  Brenda Spinney (teammate on PPBS and rockstar timetrialist), Dawn (from VeloShop),  and I made a move early after the roller coaster section and escaped for 3-4 miles before being caught by a group of five women.  All along the fast, slightly downhill, into the wind backstretch we formed a sweet paceline with 1:00 pulls.  By the time we turned the corner for the second lap and I looked back over the fields in the direction we had come, noone from our group could be soon.

At the first set of roller-coasters, one woman tried to shift two-gears at once while pedaling, and became a victim of chain-meets-spokes (been there, King's Valley 2008, no mercy!).  I jumped off the front and in the confusion another woman got left behind.  And then there were five.

One more time around and then there were three: Mackenzie, Dawn and Me.  We were going for the last round, and I could feel my quads misfiring every time I rose out of the saddle.  Dawn bid farewell after an impressive ride.  I tried to suck Mac's wheel for a hill or two, but she built a 10 second lead and never relinquished.  I left my broken spirits and added to the creakiness of my bottom bracket with me never-say-die attitude stuck to the Flypaper.  I didn't walk across the line, but I crossed it going 1.2 mph.

The only thing that would have made this race less painful and more fun, was to have Heather along for the ride (pun intended).  Next week.  Banana Belt #1...

And here's what I won (not really, but Heather and Jim were in Portland and stopped off to get me a little treat at Cupcake Jones, a shop that makes me salivate each time I think of it!):

Cupcake:  "Velvet Painting" -  red velvet cocoa cake filled with vanilla pastry cream and iced with cream cheese icing topped with a candied edible rose petal.  And all mine!!!

The Art of the Potluck

When I think of a potluck, food comes to mind.  And people coming together for these gustatory celebrations.  Sometimes, the potluck is centered around an event: Thanksgiving, Superbowl, the Inauguration.  Sometimes, we put a theme on the potluck ala Iron Chef: Everything must have chocolate in it, you must bring red food.  And sometimes, it is a competition, like a chili cook-off or a pie competition.  But, you know, more than the food that shows up, its the people that make the difference in a successful potluck, and the unique talents and gifts that they bring.

So, I suggest that a potluck can describe just about any group where the uniqueness of each individual is celebrated... even, say, a bike ride.  What got me thinking about this?  Well, I actually did start over with my training for the year.  No more sickness, dehydration, or snarky stummy.  And last week, was my first "base week".  And to help me get out the door for my long run/ride, I joined the groups.

On Saturday, it was the HOTV runners for a turn around Bald Hill, Mulkey Creek, and back to Oak Creek.  I jumped into the middle of Gerhard's and Jeff's 2:45 run for my piddly 1:10 (it will get longer!).  The potluck part:  Between the five of us, not one attended the same church, worked at the same place, or spent our free time the same way (even family time we discovered differs among us).  But, for that brief time, we were all running 7:45 miles, discussing the football play-offs, TV shows, Sports Illustrated, and of course food (we were hitting up Great Harvest for their anniversary celebration after the run... free coffee and cookies, baby!).  It was a potluck of personalities where we all brought something new to "the table".  Gerhard even brought a new runner :-).

On Sunday, I joined a different kind of group.  I met up with the OSU triathlon team (a collection of alumni and current students and faculty like me) for a little pedal-pushing.  And did I ever push those pedals!  These guys are pretty speedy, multiple Hawai'i Ironman qualifiers among them.  We headed for the valley, "stagnation inversion" be-damned (which I can't tell the difference) under clear skies and light winds.  After a little 10-mile warm-up, the groups split and I jumped behind the longer group and just held on for dear-life.  The ride proceeded like many others before... with people off the front, hills, pace-lines, pee-stops (where it was discovered that I am a girl when I jumped into the woods... up till that point I had fooled at least one of my fellow riders).  And then a dog ran into our group... taking down Ben.  He took it like a champ, rolling off the pedals onto the ground and only sustaining a sore shoulder and a de-trued wheel courtesy of running over the dog.  We gave the owner a piece of our mind.

I probably took it a little too hard this time, but it was hard to tell my fitness before-hand.  Among the group, I was one of the few who still had some legs on me for the final push.  And as it turns out, I got to go to a real potluck that evening... the best kind.  The impromptu kind where someone says, "Hey, I bought this huge salmon and it is about to expire.  Let's grill it up and potluck."  That's what we did.

I want to dedicate this post to my friend Smeth, who still gets my award for "Most classic potluck moment".  Smeth was bringing the bread and butter to our Thanksgiving celebration of the Usual Suspects a few years ago.  He was late, and we were all wondering where he was.  Within minutes he triumphantly arrived, proclaiming "I went to three grocery stores, but I finally found turkey-shaped butter!"

Thanks, Smeth!  Shaped butter always tastes better.

Sunday Skirt ride

Looking for an excuse to ride a bike in a dress (and biker shorts underneath)... Erika scheduled brunch for her and Heather and I at Gathering Together Farms to be preceded by a leisurely ride in the country last Sunday.  If you've never been to brunch there... it is a veritable spread of all things breakfast.  It is not your hotel style eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and choice of warmed over pastry.  No, no, no.  Instead it is a mouth-watering menu filled with organic, breakfast foods with a gourmet twist, accompanied by an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of breakfast appetizers (think mini-quiches, fruit salad, intricate donuts and puff pastry, etc.)

But before we could partake in the gluttony, we had to work up some perspiration (women don't sweat, they perspire).  Meeting at the corner of 53rd and Country Club Rd, I in my sundress, Erika in a lovely floral number, and Heather wearing the only skirt she owned (we'll work on this) we proceeded toward Decker, getting more than a few glances from cars and cyclists along the way.  It was a really superbly satisfactory riding experience... it doesn't always have to be hard core boys! 

At breakfast, I think that I took in more calories than I burned.  Oh well.  It was worth it. Breakfast was amazing.  A denver omelette of sorts, made from farm fresh eggs and veggies that might have been picked that morning.  The coffee kept coming and we toasted the morning with some "sparkling" orange juice.  Afterward, I picked some flowers for my new place (oh yeah, I moved, more on that later).  At $0.25 a stem, who could resist?

Sweet morning!

Friday night Sunny ride

Sorry about the extended absence.  Occasionally, I am outside doing the runs, rides, swims, and such that I love to write about it.  But, this particular week was confounded by Labor Day, moving, and something called "werk" (work with a little er in it).

My week-end plans changed everyday this week, starting with Tuesday.  The first plan was to camp out near Hood River and triathlon the Escape from the Gorge.  Then the Corvallis Running Project decided to do a rave trail run trip in the Bend, OR area and my race wheels finally went enough out of true to make it really, really annoying.   By Wednesday, the possibility of amazing weather in the valley and the fact that my friend and favorite Corvallis riding buddy Heather is back to cycling again (yeah!) kept me town-bound.  Then, enter a friend of a friend visiting in Portland (never pass up a chance to day trip the big city) and the opportunity to house sit for Marshall and the kitties (Erika's beasts) and you get the picture.

So what to do with a gorgeous Friday night?  Road ride.  On Dean.  I managed to make it home by 5:10, and thought that I could just sneak in a ride to the base of Mary's Peak (2.5 hr ride) before the sky went to dusk.  I suited up with all the necessities (sans chamois cream, whoops) and headed out the door feeling awesome.  I did the weave and bob through the SW side of town, passing OSU, Country Club, and Gathering Together Farms.  In the blink of an eye, I was out on HWY 34 heading South on the brand-spanking-new blacktop.  And then I ran into the first trouble... bugs.  Bugs everywhere.  Giant clouds of them.  The afternoon sunning glinting off there wings nearly blinded me at some points (and literally at others when I got them in my eyes).  And the cars zooming past just stirred them up more.  And then, about 3 miles from the base of Mary's the smooth pavement ended and the graded "pavement" began. Og!  My brain screamed abort! abort! but I thought if I could just make Decker Rd., I'ld be smooth sailing.

It seemed to take forever.  And by the time I made the turn, my girly parts were numb, my limbs felt like jello, and my brain was slightly addled.  I tried to sit-up and eat but couldn't keep the bike upright with no-hands.  I stopped to nutrish and pulled out the first of a new box of Clif Bars... Oatmeal Raisin Walnut.  I had gotten to try a few iterations of this flavor in the development stages (even getting to vote on the name!) a few years ago, but since then have stuck to the old fave flaves.  But, whoa, it was like eating a fresh-baked cookie, and just about perfect for the moment.  So, there I was, sitting on the side of the road, covered in bug guts, eating a cookie and staring up at Mary's Peak, defeated this time, but swearing to come back (and avoid the bumpy road).

I managed to remount the bike and pedal convincingly for another hour or so, all the while inundated by sun-bugs (def - because they seemed to cloud up in the sunny parts of the road and not so much in the shade) and looking forward to my dinner-date with Erika's pets. 

Bellingham ride

What a whirlwind week-end! Canada and back in 3.5 days. We (me and JoeM) left Friday night for Bellingham, WA where we were to pick up a third OSU triathlete. Purpose of this adventure: they were both planning on signing up for next year, and I was going as an "Official A&E Athletic Supporter".

So, starting out in our rented Toyota Corolla, we crossed over the Oregon/Washington border and it was officially the first time I had ever been in Washington State. And the way I spent my first night in Washington State, you ask... huddled in my sleeping bag on the side of the road in Larrabee National Park, right on a cliff side that led down to a bay. You see, we didn't get there until 2:00 in the morning, clearly after hours for the camp site.  And with no other choice and wanting to get out of the car, I chose the open air!

A short 4 hours later, it was morning.  And with nothing better to do and 8 hours to kill in Bellingham before we were to pick up Stacey at the airport, we took off for a little road ride around the Washington countryside:

Aside:  I had browsed the offerings and downloaded a map off of mapmyrun.com before taking off on the trip.  If you have never been to this site, it is excellent for finding rides and runs in almost anywhere you could possibly be traveling to.  It helped me find rave runs in New Haven, CT and San Diego, CA during my post-doc interviews.  I've also posted maps of my runs in around Corvallis and Boulder.  And fora small fee, you can print off colorful maps with directions and POIs that others have entered.

So, the chosen run was meant to offer something of everything:  a tour of Bellingham, a roll in the country, lakeside vistas, and seaside spances.  And it did not disappoint!  First up on the agenda was a little coffee and donut action from a local joint with an obnoxious 50's theme that might have been a little too much for a morning coffee stop.  But Joe was happy, feasting on a Simpson's donut...

Doh!

After taking in sustenance, we headed East and South from town.  The directions I downloaded took us toward Lake Whatcom, ostensibly through neighborhood roads.  But, not wanting to pull out the map every time, we stuck to the main road and eventually met up with the lake road, sans twisty turnies in rural subdivisions and the potential for rutted roads.  The only time we had an issue with the directions came when it specifically said "turn right on Colony Rd."  Well,  Colony Rd. did not go right...left turn only.  That's when the new iPhone came out.  A couple of GPS tracker clicks in iMap and we were back on the move (I love that phone).

Way too soon, we were back on the coast and only a few miles from our parked car.  What a great ride!

Race Report: Poser Triathlete races OBRA State TT Championships

How could I resist?  The race was only 10 miles from my house, 40K, flat, fast, a chance to ride the Orbea, my Pacific Power/Blue Sky cycling team is number one in the state... resistance was futile.

Initially, I thought I was in the clear, having missed the August 1st sign-up deadline...but last Monday, the Emerald Velo team that hosted the State Time Trial Champs, opened up the entry for a few more days, and I found myself out of excuses.  So, I signed up.  And come Sunday morning, after a dose of Olympics and latté, I donned my blue and green team kit, pumped up the tubes on the race wheels, grabbed Heather's aero helmet (mine is sadly inoperable... awaiting duct tape), and used the ten miles to the start as a warm-up.

But first, I had to run the gauntlet.  I've mentioned before that my commute to town goes through Wilammette and Crystal Lake Parks.  Well, this particular morning, the parks were playing host to the largest youth soccer tournament in the state. And my 8:45 am warm-up along the bike path that bisects the parks coincided exactly with the arrival of the tourney attendees, resulting in a frogger-like procession of people walking in my direction, taking up the entire bike path of course.  I was nice.  I proceeded with caution, keeping it below 10 mph and yelling out "biker".  I wonder that I had to yell warning to people walking toward me, supposedly looking in my direction.  But it was amazing how many near misses and not-so-near-not-exactly-misses I had.  So, I apologize to the teen-age girl that I buzzed who would do well to focus less on talking on her phone (maybe we should make it illegal to walk and talk on the phone at the same time!) and her mom who may have almost dropped the Starbucks in her attempt to confront me (news flash: I was on a bike... quick getaway).  And I do not apologize to the man that I almost hit head-on who found his feet way more interesting that anything around.  Maybe his feet are really just that good-looking.  I didn't stop to find out.

Eventually, I cleared the park, and it was smooth sailing to the start of the bike race in Peoria, OR.  Smooth sailing, except for the fact that I was running late, and therefore, arrived a scant eight minutes and 40 seconds before my start time... plenty of time!  I was already warmed up and everything.

The race itself was pretty uneventful.  I caught and passed two women in my category almost immediately.  I leap-frogged with a Poplolly a couple of times, and after conserving a little during the first half, I turned and burned at the halfway turn-around, jumping up to 25 mph and trying to maintain that for as long as I could. No huge amount of wind, plenty of bright sunshine, a limited number of cars, and a few riders passing and getting passed.  Even me - I was passed 200m before the finish line, but it was by a woman whom I had started 30 seconds behind of... so I let her go since I was still ahead (and dead-tired).

As a poser triathlete, I managed to eek out a 2nd place finish among the cyclisma.  The top three were all really close.  And I've always liked the saying "if you can't win, make the person in front of you set the record".  Well, the winner set the Cat 4 women's state record (and incidentally, so did I but, no records for 2nd).  My team also did spectacularly, successfully getting their names in the record books with state records and medal finishes. Very nice!

Oh, and I completely avoided the park and the bike path on the way home.

Hills, part deux: Mary's Peak

As if the two mountain bike rides and speedy hill run weren't enough, I got Bill to climb Mary's Peak with me on Friday night. I was sad earlier in the week when the powers-that-be decided that the Mary's Peak HIll Climb, a time trial style road bike race traditionally held in August would not be held this year.

Aside: Reason it is not being held- impact on the mountain. I think the parks department made a rule that no races could be held on the road in July and August... since there is still a good chance of snow on the road in June and in September pretty much all road racing is done for the year... you get the picture.

And so, on Friday afternoon/evening at 5:15, Bill and I were heading West on HWY 34 and the start of the Mary's Peak Hill Climb 2008. Now, for the non-Corvallisians, Mary's Peak is the highest mountain in the Oregon coastal range, 4,087 ft. high, and the road from the "base" (you have to climb about a 1000 ft on HWY 34 before getting to the entrance) is 9.5 miles. It has a few dips to break up the climb, including about a 0.75 mile downhill around mile 4, and a nice 100 ft. gravel section about halfway that surprises you out of a turn. But the steepest part is the beginning and especially once you get in a rhythm, you can really enjoy the climb by checking out the periodic water falls and parts where a break in the trees reveals just how high you've climbed. On a clear day you can see the ocean to the East and the snow covered Cascades to the West (It was not clear when we climbed it, next time).

Bill and I stopped at the entrance to the park to refuel and drop off extra bottles and clothing that we wouldn't need (lighten the load and it hadn't gotten cold as fast as I thought it would at dusk). He coached me on the course with tips about the grade and certain sections. I was planning on taking it easy, but as we headed out Bill says "If you are feeling good, you might as well see how fast you can do it." Everyone feels good at the bottom of a climb, so I started my stop watch just to see how long it would take me, dropped the Dean into the lowest a gear (a 25) and took off.

At first, Bill and I were climbing together, but then I started to feel like Sastre on the Alpe D' Huez. Legs pumping, I slowly pulled away from Bill, all the while singing Rihanna's "Umbrella" in my head. "You can stand under my um-brella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh..." That eh-eh-eh part happens to be perfect for my cadence. Eh?!

About half way, I realized that I was making pretty good time and I got it into my head that I could maybe beat the women's winner's time from the 2007 hill climb which I thought at the time was 53:47. So I started really pushing it, timing my breathes with pedal strokes: breath-in-right foot-left-foot-breath-out-right-foot-left-foot. I pedaled through the downhills to keep blood in my legs for the last climbs. I came upon the two-mile-to-go-sign around 44 minutes and almost quit (I had to average more than 10 mph for the last 2 miles uphill!). But I got a surprise with the appearance of two short downhills that brought up my average speed... still it was going to be close. As I hit the final parking lot and the sign announcing the summit of Mary's Peak (a very welcome sight), my lungs and my legs were burning and I was getting a little light headed, but I managed to stop my watch at 54:14! Not bad at all. I'll take that (it was not until later when I rechecked the result that I discovered the 53:47 belonged to 3nd place last year, and the winner actually went 47:46). So, I would have been 4th place, but first in the Cat 4 :-) It's all good.

At the top, we were disappointed not to be able to see either the coast or the Cascades...darn Oregon weather! But Bill had phone service (I did not..hhhmmm, "Eh, Verizon, you have a cell phone tower on Mary's Peak and I still can't get service!") so he called Erika to meet us at Gathering Together Farms because it was getting dark (it was 8:00 after all). And we headed down the mountain.

But before we clipped in, there had to be a small measure of trash talking. Bill told me his PR for the downhill was 18 minutes. I told him he had an aerobike and about 30 pounds on me. He told me he would give me a handicap. I said I wanted three minutes.. he compromised with 1:30. I took off before he changed his mind and tried my hardest to be in the most aero position possible... think Big George Hincapie. He is built like a sail and can downhill with the best of them. Why can't I? Because I am chicken. But, I still took sweeping turns and came as close to the center line as I dared. And Bill still caught me about halfway. It was thrilling! In and out of the trees, sunlight dappling the road. Only one car passed on the downhill and he very politely waited until a straightaway and got all the way over on the left. Very decent of him.

I hit the bottom in 21:59 and was really proud of my descent. There was only one tight turn where I almost crossed the double yellow. Bill was happy, too because he hit every turn perfectly and came really close to breaking his best time. But by then, it was starting to get cold and we had hot burritos and cold sodas waiting with Erika (best sag-wagon ever and a welcome sight when we got back into town). So, we packed up our stuff and hit the mad descent down HWY 34 with almost no cars on the road at this point. That descent is super fun without cars and Bill and I played a little Tour de France again.

Wouldn't it be cool... if there could be one or two days a week where the prettiest roads in the US are closed to cars. On my list of roads:

Left-Hand Canyon, Boulder County, Colorado (Ward and Jamestown)
Alsea Highway, Oregon
Big Sur, California
Peak-to-Peak Highway, Colorado
Arches National Park, Moab Utah
LaSalle Mountain Rd. Moab, Utah

Got anymore to add?

Triple T (OBRA TTT championships)

On Saturday, I pretended to be a hardcore cyclist. Heather, Gretchen, Sarah, and I all lined up for the Oregon State Team Time Trial State Championships in the Women's Cat 4 division. My team, Pacific Power/Blue Sky, hosted the event just East of Corvallis on the country roads that are laid squarely out across the Willamette Valley. And it was a beautiful day, not to windy, not to sunny (after all it is Oregon), and not rainy (are we sure it was Oregon?).

The start went smoothly with Sarah lined up on the inside, Gretchen, then Heather, then me. At least it was better than our practice on Friday in which I snookered my lady lips when I missed clipping in to my pedal on the Orbea. Rookie move. Sarah took the first pull and we were keeping to 30-45 second pulls on the front as we got into the groove of following each others wheels ...in aerobars ...through turns. The course was laid out as a 7-mile square, but along the route the road took several dangerous Z-curves and had a few small hills tossed in for good measure. About five miles in to the first lap we made a few adjustments in the order and Gretchen got behind Heather and started pulling off with her in the pace line. This happens occasionally when a rider isn't strong enough to take a pull, but we still wanted her there because she is our teammate and it is always better to draft behind three than two.

Heather and I started taking 2-3 minute pulls on the next few laps. Sarah was in front of me and when she pulled off I waited about 10-15 seconds for her to jump back on before picking up the pace. We passed two women's teams in the second lap, one was the other Pacific Power Team and one was a very competitive Senior Women's team. Actually, we passed the Senior Women just after the first lap and then they passed us back going into a little head wind and uphill during my pull! Oops, they were some seriously strong women. It happened when we were trying to figure out our new order, but once we got back on, we were able to pass them back.

On the third lap, we were gaining on another Cat 4 team, the Poplollies, when all of sudden their fourth rider went tail over top, bike flying through the air (they really aren't meant for that) and she went down in a heap. You never want to see stuff like that. We found out later that she just crossed wheels with the rider in front of her. It happens.

On the fourth and final lap, we were all breathing hard (even me) but somehow managed to find another gear. I pulled through a slight section that had the biggest hill on the course and then moved to the back to rest up for the final straight away. It layed out perfectly for me to be pulling through the last sort-of-long-straight-away before the final turn in to the sprint finish. As soon as I got on the front, Heather yelled out "get ready to haul!" and we picked it up to 26 mph. I felt like Lieutenant George Hincapie pulling Lance along (even have the height thing going). I pulled off just before the curve and Heather picked the perfect line to maintain our speed. On the straightaway it is the third rider to cross that stops the clock, so our pace line fell apart as I used Heather's lead out to pull Sarah and I around in the final meters. I nearly gave myself asthma pushing to the finish, but it was such a rush!

After the excitement of the race, I sat back and volunteered at registration and then was asked to go out and marshall the course near the finish line. It's great day when I get to race and volunteer (makes it a lot easier to meet my volunteering quota).

The men were racing and the finish line happened along the course so that teams that had just finished were slowing in front of teams that had more laps to go. I got to yell a lot for riders to get out of the way. Most of them looked at me with barely comprehensive oxygen-debt blank stares but still followed my direction (I must look authoritative). Sadly, complicating the issue was a finish line bike crash that took out a whole team of four riders. They all should be fine, but I think two were taken to the hospital.

Be safe out there!

King's Valley Bike Race Report

Just West and North of Corvallis there is a tiny town called King's Valley. Tiny in the sense that there is a general store there and that's it. I mean, not even a stop sign. So, on an unusually warm and sunny Saturday in Central Oregon I found myself driving the Dean to King's Valley for a 56 mile road bike race attended by pretty much the entire state of Oregon and some from as far afield as Colorado, Washington, and Idaho.
I am still a Cat 4 racer (someone please write OBRA and tell them I should be classed up!), but at this particular event the race director decided to combine the Cat 1/2/3/4 women and eliminate the Masters category. We started the three lap race at the sound of the tractor horn with 50+ women on a narrow country road. Big mistake starting in the back as I spent the first 10 miles alternatively breaking and sprinting and avoiding a couple of women who were having trouble riding their bikes in a straight line. Once we hit the hills though, it was cake! Even with all the categories combined, I was able to stay on the front pack among the 30+ Cat 1/2/3 riders in the field, as weaker riders fell off the back. I even pulled the main field back to a dangerous break around 20 miles.
The course was mostly rolling hills with one mile-long hill per lap that came right at the finish line on the third lap. I was feeling so good that 2/3 of the way through the 2nd lap I had decided to start hammering that hill about a third of the way up and to see who came with me. My three other teammates on Pacific Power Blue Sky at that point were still in the main field and we had decided that Sarah W. and I would together try to make that push as she is a really strong climber (very small and lots of power in her legs).
But the race gods conspired against my plan and our field was neutralized for the entirety of the hill to let the Cat 4 men pass (they had started 5 minutes behind us). Bollox!!! That ruined my plan. On to Plan B. There were a series of rollers from mile 40 to 48 and I though if I was ready to go hard on these I could push the pace on the field and spread it out for the final straight away that was flat and fast and into the wind, leaving only a few riders to make that last uphill sprint to the finish.
We get to the first hill and I started to move into position to really push on the second (there were like 7 hills all together broken by a mile or so straightaway in the middle and lots of curvy forest road). I was sitting around 10-15th at this point. Then, on the second hill I shift up a gear to hammer and instead drop my freakin' chain completely off of the chain ring on the inside!!! ARGHHH! I saw my team start to stay back for me, but I roared for them to keep going.
I had to wait until I could safely dismount before fixing it and in the less than 20 seconds it took for me to get-off, fix it and remount, the peleton was gone up the hill and out of sight. I got back on the bike and started hammering up the hill. Seeing the field ahead, I realized that someone else had been thinking the same thing as I and had split the racers and in the words of Emerill "Bam, kicked it up a notch!" I could already see riders getting dropped off the back including two of my teammates. At this point, my thoughts turned to other goals, and I got down on my bars in aero position (yes my forearms are a little sore today) and decided to time-trial to the finish as there was no way with the twisty roads, wind, and final finish, that I was getting back in the race. Along the way, I must have repassed almost the entire Cat 4 women's field, because after all that, I still finished 5th overall. Can you believe it?
Stay-tuned for pics of me in my new race gear. :-)