Practically Pro!

Wellll....not quite. But Thor and I did both make it farther around a
skinny log feature than we ever have before! We rolled out to Family
Man near Hood River to play around on the features and camp on
Saturday night. We had a great time riding the pump track, going over
a teeter-totter, riding on skinnies, and even trying a few table top
jumps (that's more Thor than me. I can't catch any air yet).

Smells Like Cream Puff Spirit

This past weekend we rolled down to Oakridge with our friends Abby, Rachel, Ira & Craige. Rachel and Abby are training for the Cream Puff 100 so we needed to get some long training rides in - even though the weather wasn't ideal the first day (read: rain). The joke of the weekend whenever someone complained about something was - "sounds like someone needs to work on their Cream Puff spirit!"   Hmm...maybe this was only funny if you were there!

Anyhow - we rode Moon Point, Alpine, and then scooted over and did the Mckenzie River Trail out-and-back - it was a full weekend and lots of fun!  Here are some pictures from our trip.

Truck loaded up for shuttling. No matter how many times I see this I never get tired of taking this picture - I love all the bikes lined up!

Rachel on the fire road on the way to the top of Moon Point. We had to turn around before we reached the top because there was still too much snow!

Rachel - riding in the light rain

Ferns along the middle fork of the Willamette

We get to ride in such lush, beautiful woods!

The weather was better on day two - a great view from mid-way down the Alpine trail

Myself, Abby & Rachel

Yellow Fin Yumminess

Anna, Dad & Brenda just got back from a week-long trip to Mexico where they did a little fishing, whale-watching, and swimming with sea lions!    Check out this awesome yellow-fin tuna Brenda hooked - it's a beauty!  Also exciting - they saw a pod of sperm whales!  Anna's first sighting ever for this type of whale.

Brenda & Dad with Brenda's 96 lb. yellow fin tuna. Yum!

Double 4th!

Last night was the second evening in the 8-series Portland Short track summer series.   Thor had the best race ever and finished 4th in the Singlespeed Men's division, and I finished 4th in Pro/Cat1 Women

Here are some photos of Thor and I to click through from Oregon Velo -

Thor:
http://oregonvelo.exposuremanager.com/p/pdxstxc061311r2/pdxstxc061311224_7_11_31
http://oregonvelo.exposuremanager.com/p/pdxstxc061311r2/pdxstxc061311304_7_11_31

Me:
http://photos.oregonvelo.com/p/pdxstxc061311r4/pdxstxc061311566_7_11_33
http://photos.oregonvelo.com/p/pdxstxc061311r4/pdxstxc061311602_7_11_33
http://photos.oregonvelo.com/p/pdxstxc061311r4/pdxstxc061311635_7_11_33

Yes, yes - i know i look mildly terrified in the third picture. I need to get better at rallying over obstacles!

Whiskey Soda Lounge

Went out for drinks with William and Adelle. They were out of the
noodley food item we wanted. The waiter recommend something else - and
we didn't really listen to what he said.

We got a plate of pig tongue, pork jowls, and fried pigs tails.
Somehow not what we remembered the waiter describing. Ick.

After going into the office early and working all day on a Saturday
(yuck!) Thor came and picked me up at 6 and we raced out to Sandy
Ridge to do a lap on our bikes. It was just what I needed! Lovely,
mild summer temperatures, dappled evening sun, and fresh air.

I caught this picture of Thor going off the rock at the top. You can't
see much, but I like the colors and how it captures the feel of th

6 Hours of Washougal MTB (plus a little extra)

In preparation for my long race in July I signed up for the 6 Hours of Washougal mountain bike race this past Saturday. (hmm...have I mentioned on the blog that I'm signed up for a 100-mile mountain bike race in July?  Maybe not.  I'm doing the High Cascades 100 on July 23! Yowzers!!!) My friends, Abby and Rachel, are also training for a 100-miler this summer (the Cascade Cream Puff) - so we decided to do the 6-hour race together....and then ride home from the Washougal Motorcross Park to Portland!   It was a big day.  The race itself was 7.2 miles/lap with 800 feet of climbing per lap.   We knocked out 8 laps in 6 hours - 4 minutes for a total of 57.6 miles and 6,400 feet of climbing.   After phase 1 of the day we changed clothes, pumped up our mtn.bike tires, and hit the road for the final 30 miles home to Portland.  Technically this put us at 87.6 miles for the day, but we're calling it 90 because we had to back track a couple of times due to route finding issues on our way home. :)  Fortunately the last 30 miles on the road are mostly flat or downhill - I'm not sure my legs would have tolerated too much more climbing!

I was lucky enough to have Mom, William, Adele & Thor waiting for me back in Portland - and they whipped up a delicious dinner of burgers (thanks Thor), with blue cheese (thanks Mom!), and a delicious rhubarb/strawberry desert (thanks Adele!).   William provided good company. :)

Overall it was a great day - I was glad to get to test my legs at a long distance, and I was happy it was hot out (~85 degrees) so I could see how I felt riding for that long at that temperature.  I am happy to say I did not have any trouble with cramping, or my stomach getting upset. Yay!  The worst part of the day was my feet - admittedly I do need new mtn.bike shoes - but my feet were going numb by the end of the 6-hour race.  I felt like my pedals were grinding a hole in my foot on every pedal stroke.Yuck!  Obviously I survived though - and although my feet are still tender today I didn't suffer any blisters - so that's a plus.

Anyone out there really like their mountain bike shoes? I am now officially in the market for a new pair!    

Abby and I at the end of a loooong day.  Rachel is already at home at this point!

Hood River Super D - Video

You can see a quick snippet of Thor riding at the end of the video - around 3:50.   The video itself isn't that exciting - mostly a lot of raw clips run together - but you can get an idea of the course.



P.S. Happy Birthday Mom & Dad!