Tingey Tahoe Family Reunion

Last weekend we had a great time at the annual Tingey family reunion in Tahoe! Thor got official medical clearance to get back on his bike and return to all his normal activities - so he was excited to rent a bike while we were there.

We got to have our traditional morning coffee with Garry, Linda, Ralph and Nori - which is a treat we look forward to every year. I also got to spend some quality time catching up with cousin Erica -which  was a blast. 

The weather was a bit iffy - on Saturday there were howling winds, and sideways rain/sleet, and the temp dropped to 37 degrees. brrr! but by Monday temps were back up to 70 and we were able to sneak in a paddle board before we left. 

Day 1: clear skies, but the wind was already picking up. 

Day 2: 37 degrees. why did we even try to ride?! we made it about 200 yards. 

Day 3: Ironman Tahoe! The start was a 15-min walk from our condo so Thor and I got up early to go watch the swim in the fog.  

Day 3: clear skies and about 20 degrees warmer - so we snuck out for a ride. 

Day 4: goodbye breakfast with John, Erica and Kirkham

Paddle boarding. I could get used to this sport. so much fun! and at 70 degrees the weather was perfect. A great way to end our trip!

Oregon Enduro Finals - Mt. Hood

I wasn't able to fully ride, but I managed to hobble up two stages and roll down to collect enough points to win the series overall! Plus our good friend Emily came down to race from Seattle and we had a blast camping with her for the weekend. This was two weekends ago - my leg has healed up well since then and I had my stitches taken out two days ago. yay! I'm still supposed to take it easy for the next month to let the fascia around my artery heal up (but easy biking and light hiking are ok - so I'm jazzed to get back outside!)

view from camp

Thor and Jamie helping me onto the podium with my bum leg. it was too high!

women's expert overall series champion for 2013!

Adele - sport women's overall series champion for 2013!

Labor Day Excitement: Two Trips to Emergency Services

it's all fun and games until someone steps on glass, or spears their quad with their brake lever. Unfortunately i did both this past holiday weekend. UGH!

i am so late posting these I'm just going to do a super quick recap:

Saturday - Adele, William, Thor, Sookie, Laea and I went to the Columbia for a relaxing boat ride and sunset picnic. Instead I promptly stepped on a piece of glass in the water and gave myself a 3" long - 3/4" deep slice in my left heel pad. ouch.  I was irked and it was so lovely out I didn't want to leave right away - so William helped me fashion a bandage out of an old towel and dog leash. We stayed long enough to eat our snacks and let Sookie and Laea get some good swimming in - then we hopped back in the boat and zipped into Gresham to hit the only urgent care center in Portland open past 5pm on Saturdays. Sheesh - don't they know people hurt themselves at night?

Sunday!  Well - Sunday I tentatively weighted my foot, decided it wasn't feeling too tender, and told Adele I'd join her for a trip to Skibowl to preview the course for this coming weekend's Oregon Enduro race. I tested my foot pedaling the bike - no problem!  Since I wasn't pedaling with my heel it was fine.  Adele and I got one run in down the course and hit the lift for round two. About midway down I caught my front wheel in some loose dirt and went over the handlebars. It was a pretty benign tumble - except that I managed to catch my thigh just perfectly on my brake lever and give myself a pretty wicked puncture wound!   It was pretty scary for both Adele and I - I won't go into too much gory detail (and no worries - there are no wound pictures below) but let's just say there was a lot of blood.  

Adele was a real champ and raced down the hill to get help - while i stayed above and made a bandage/tournequet out of my jersey and my long sleeve pads that I was wearing.  Once I had that in place I called 911 which sent the Highland paramedics on their way to check me out at the base - and I was glad I did!  The first responder from Skibowl that showed up on the mountain was a Grade A, first-class, A-hole!  He was terrible - dropping f-bombs everywhere and screaming at both me and the people who had stopped to help me for riding a closed trail (there was no closed trail sign up top).  He was horrendous.  The Highland Fire guys were awesome though - super friendly and calm.  They made such a difference in how I was feeling about the whole situation once I got to the bottom that I actually sent them a thank-you letter.

Anyhow - once they confirmed that my wound was stabilized they gave me the option to drive myself to the ER instead of taking the ambulance. Since I was there with Adele and she could drive I went with this option - and Adele and I loaded up and headed to the ER at Legacy Emanuel in Portland.  I had a GREAT experience there too - awesome staff!   I was soon joined by Thor, and then Mom & William showed up too!  We had all been planning on going to a cello concert at Timbeline that evening - I was sorry to throw a wrench in the group plans. 

I couldn't watch any of the ER work - I held a magazine in front of my face the entire time - but Adele and Thor said it was very interesting.  For anyone who wants to see them Adele has many gruesome pictures on her phone - if you text her she will send them to you. 

Goodnight everyone!

All smiles pre-injury.

The offending section of trail at Skibowl that I went down on.

Buoy 10 - Salmon Madness

Ever since the Lund showed up from Alaska (April?) Thor has been desperate to get out and do some fishing. Unfortunately the arrival of the boat coincided pretty neatly with his head injury - so a long day out in the sun was pretty much out of the question. 

With T's sleep and overall brain health rapidly improving however (yay yay - everyone keep sending positive thoughts) we decided to take a fishing trip before they closed down the fishery at Buoy 10 for the season. Buoy 10 is out near Astoria, and is legendary for great salmon fishing. 

We were almost skunked before even leaving when it looked like the quotas were going to be reached by the middle of last week, but they decided to leave it open for hatchery fish over the weekend so we lucked out. Our friends Brook and Corrina came out with us and we had a great time hanging out and catching up with them. At the end of the day we were 8 fish reeled in for 11 hooked - with three of them hatchery fish that we could keep. Not a bad day of salmon fishing!

We put a tow hitch on the sprinter - it pulls the boat like a dream! More than enough power. 

Thor setting up Saturday night to do a late-evening test run 

Beautiful evening skies 

And a gorgeous sunset to boot as we squeaked back into the harbor just before official sundown

Sunday's weather was great too. While Portland friends sat in the rain we were dry all day. 

Thor fights the first hatchery chinook of the day. we fished all day with one bite (that got off) until the afternoon high tide - then the fishing picked up and we had some hot action for about 3-hours

Fish in boat! Everyone's happy - and the fishing bug bit hard. 

Of course - a long day on the water in a simple aluminum skiff means no bathroom. Here I am learning to pee off the side - cant believe this is the first time I've ever had to do this!

Brook brought in the second hatchery chinook - and it was a beauty!

My hatchery coho. I was excited to land a fish! I forgot how much I LOVE to fish!!!!

Corrina landed a fish too - but it was wild so we had to send it back to it's ocean home. Overall we had an amazing day and can't wait to go back! 

Those Summer Nights

The summer nights are getting cool, but still warm - and Thor's head is starting to feel better so we took the Lund out on The Willamette in anticipation of going fishing at Buoy 10 next weekend. We needed to test the motor after having the carburetor fixed - success! The engine is screaming along like a champ now. We had a very nice short spin on the water and enjoyed our time immensely - there will definitely be more evenings on the water this fall - especially once we acquire some lights!

Who let this guy drive?

Tingey's gone wild!

I drove for a bit and Laea got some lap time. 

Crankworx Enduro - Finished!

I'm done! I'm pretty sure I finished 9th overall. Stages 1-4 went great and I was in 6th - then on Stage 5 I snapped my rear derailleur cable while in the hardest gear and had to ride the whole stage that way. Super bummer, but a great day overall! Such awesome trails - and an amazing opportunity to race on such technical terrain!

oh yeah - I'm in one piece too. no crashes!

Whistler Crankworx - pre-ride days

so far so good! it's beautiful here, but the riding is gnarlier than anything else I've ever done. tomorrow is going to be an ass-kicker.