Words to Describe the Weekend: Sun & Bikes!

Thor and I had been eye balling the weather forecast allllll of last week - but I was trying not to let myself get too excited about the double blazing suns until late Friday night when they were still in the forecast for Saturday/Sunday.  Thor organized a Tireless Velo group ride out at Syncline for Saturday - so we were really happy to have nice weather for everyone rolling out to join us.   First stop - Dan & Laurie's house to pick them up - along with super shredder Rachel who I haven't ridden with in almost a year. Waaaay too long!  I love the way bikes look stacked across the back of a truck. I think I probably have this exact same picture from about 25 different places - i know it's the same composition, but I just can't stop myself. 

We headed out to Syncline early and headed out on a large loop from Hospital - over the top and down Cry Baby - back up and out to Loose Lucy and over to Hidden Valley and down to the very bottom, and then we turned around and climbed all the way back up Cry Baby and rode back over and down Hospital.  So fun!  We ended up with about 28 miles of riding and ~6600' of climbing!!! Oof - I was tired by the end of the day - but it was fantastic!  Off to Double Mountain for a bite to eat and good times chatting with our friends - such a lovely day.

Sunday we got up early and rolled out on a mellow road ride with William and Adele - they split off about half way through so Adele could get to work - but it was a real treat to get to spin with them for a bit in the sun. We headed out along Marine Drive towards Troutdale and then back. About 45-miles total and I would have gone longer - the temperature was absolutely perfect!  Yard work called to us though - so we spent the afternoon adding soil to our raised beds, weeding, planting ferns, mowing the lawn, and potting some little plants I bought with my mom at Joy Creek Nursery about a month ago.  It felt great to be out in the yard - I haven't been interested at all in doing any gardening so far this year in the terrible weather we've been having - but the sun woke up the gardening bug again!

People weaving their way down Cry Baby - a little blurry!

Emily - practicing her wide arms!

The view out east along the Columbia

Sarah & Em. love these two!

Post pizza. There are some great faces in this picture. I'm not entirely sure what i'm so excited about...maybe the fact that we'd just decided to go get ice cream? although i would think that news might have made Thor look happier.

 

Me - riding along the Columbia.

Ant madness!  Check out this fury of ants on the sidewalk around the corner from our house - they were the craziest jumble!

summer has arrived!

I know it will rain more this spring - but this weekend made us remember why Portland is SO amazing in the spring! 70+ both days, bike riding, great friends and grilling on patio. love. nothing = happiness quite like a mid-afternoon gin & tonic in the sun.

A Relaxing Weekend in Seattle

Last weekend Thor & I headed up to Seattle to visit Kathryn and Brian in their new house, enjoy a nice Saturday brunch and walk with Aunt Susanna, and check out the trails at Duthie Hill - a ride area just east of Seattle that we've never been to. 

Kathryn and Brian's house is beautiful! And back in the old neighborhood where I used to live with Kathryn - so it feels much more like 'home'.   Brunch on Saturday was fun - it was great to see Aunt Susanna and catch up a bit, and we all enjoyed a post brunch walk out to the locks in the sun - very relaxing!

Sunday we got up and strolled our way to Herkimer Coffee with the dogs - it was all I could do not to order a delicious old-fashioned glazed donut like I used to do back in my studying days. So tempting! Thor and I packed up to roll out to Duthie about mid-day to give Kathryn a chance to catch up on yard-work and get herself ready for the week.  Duthie is super fun!  They have everything from beginner trail to experienced free-ride trails with large drops (large from my perspective....probably not large if you're used to Whistler style riding).  Anyhow - we had a great time puttering around on the trails - and I rode my first step down off a skinny!  Check out the pictures from the weekend below.

I think this might be my favorite family picture of late. Thor/Kathryn are hilarious - Aunt Susanna has a beautiful smile - and Brian's face is priceless: "really? I married into this?" 

The stepdown I rode. It's a baby-one, but it's a start! I'm including this pic so you have a clear idea of what I was riding. All the pictures with me are suuuuper fuzzy!

Coming off the step down. You can see once i'm in the picture that it's not really all that big. Fun though!

April Showers bring.....April SUN!!!!!!!!!!!

After a cold, cold, COLD and wet first ride of April on April Fools Day that had both Thor and I swearing we'd never ride our road bikes again (the weather played a cruel trick on us!)  we were leery of trusting the weather reports for this past weekend that showed sun and balmy mid-60s temperatures forecast.   Saturday dawned clear and bright however, so we hopped out of bed and rolled out to Hood River to put down a loop that we've been eyeing for quite some time.  We were on our bikes early and headed out for what turned into a 7-hour ride!  Awesome.  We were both totally beat by the end, and had such a fabulous time out there in the sun that we went again on Sunday!  This time we headed out there with a group of friends, and on our first climb we met a couple from Vancouver, BC who rode with us for the rest of the day. It's always fun to meet mtn. bikers from other places!   I linked the entire Hidden Valley trail together for the first time (3-year project!) and our friend Laurie rode a switchback that she's never cleaned before - so it was exciting all around.

Thor - contemplating the view of Mt. Hood from the top of one of our climbs.

A section on Little Moab that I rode Sunday.

Laurie and I celebrating after she rocked her switchback.