First off, thanks to Steph and Issac and Jenn and Noah for letting us crash at your places and acting as tour guides while we were up there. It made for a very enjoyable weekend.

So what did we do?

• Drank a lot of beer – We went to the Deschutes and Laurelwood brewery taprooms, besides just the normal sampling of local beers at most of the places we ate at. When somebody tells you that portland has a lot of microbreweries, it’s an understatement.
• Ate at Voodoo Donut, which was one of the most commonly recommended places. It was pretty delicious, although we went to the original location, and it was about a 30-45 minute wait to get a donut. Was the donut worth it? Probably not, but we weren’t doing anything else.
• Walked around the rose gardens, which was absolutely amazing. They had hundreds of different kinds of roses there with more colors than you thought were possible in a flower. It was really amazing, and it’s a nice place to get a view of the city as well.
• Saw a lot of sweet bikes. Tons of people on really nice city bikes including an Ahearne locked up downtown. I’ve never actually seen one of those anywhere but online or at the handmade bike show. It’s a work of art, and as functional as it is, I’m just not sure I could lock it up outside a building…..
• Went bouldering at a local gym with Jen and Noah on saturday morning. I haven’t been climbing in several months, and it was probably a year before that when I went. It was a good time, even though I got through about 3 problems before I couldn’t close my hands anymore.
• Sunday we did a hike in the Columbia River gorge to Angel’s Rest. It’s a pretty sweet rock outcropping that gives you a great view of the river in both directions. Pretty damn cool that you can do something like that in less than an hour drive from the city.

All in all, Portland was a lot of fun. I really liked the feel of the city, it felt more ‘small town’ than I was expecting. I think I came to the conclusion that it feels like that because it seems a little more compartmentalized into cool little neighborhoods than a lot of big cities I’ve been to. Every little nighborhood you went to was easy to walk around and see all the cool little shops and restaurants and such. I definitely enjoyed it. The bike-friendly atmosphere there was also pretty cool, although I’m sure that goes without saying considering how highly regarded portland is in that respect.

I wish I had more time there, but alas, back to the real world for a bit.

In an effort to make this post easier to read, here’s the gallery, just click the first one and use the arrow keys to see all the pics. Enjoy.

Portland Trip

The sign at Tin Shed, a super-tasty breakfast joint. Dogs are allowed in one part of the patio, but not where the rocks are, lest they are tempted to ‘relieve’ themselves.	Tin Shed, delicious breakfast.	Ahearne Bike, seen locked up downtown. Beautiful.	The awesome wood carvings at the Deschutes brewery.	The line for voodoo doughnut.	Yes, there were transients outside.
Donuts!	Roses and a bee.	Some of the names of the rose varieties were downright ridiculous.			Tons of people sailing on the river on saturday.
The hike to angels rest.	I told Jen to ‘look like a marmot’, this was her marmot face.	Angel’s Rest.	Columbia River.	Wildlife, of the fearless variety.	Bitchin waterfall on the way back from angel’s rest. The red stuff is a bunch of new shoots from a plant that hung down the full length of the falls.
Another waterfall, note Jen over to the left for scale.

Not being one to miss out on the fun, my plans immediately changed.

And as a result, my legs are SORE tonight. Which, in hindsight, is what I was going for anyways.

Mission accomplished. 7 laps of a little over a mile up in snowbowl ranch plus a few lead-outs and sprints at the end just to ensure that the pain was here to stay for a little while.

I mused with Antol on the way back about how you just can’t get the same sort of workout by yourself that you get in something like the crits or the saturday morning group rides. It just doesn’t seem to happen. There’s something about measuring up against someone, about the pack mentality, about the legs that are on the verge of cramping, and about the subtle taste of vomit in your mouth that just can’t be recreated while riding solo.

And all of those things happened to me tonight. I am pleased to say that I hung on until the very last lap of 7 in the ‘race’ when Silverman decided to give me the one-two punch with a couple hard attacks in a row. Realistically, he only needed the “one” part of that combo, as the moment I stood up to try and hang on to number two, my legs turned to mush and it was over before it even got off the ground.

Regardless, the workout intensity was there, and I’m ecstatic that it was, as I haven’t had a good high-intensity beating on the bike in a little while. Ok, maybe this weekend’s race was an OK start, but I learned tonight that I am not able to hang on nearly as well as I was last year. Apparently training for a long ride doesn’t do so much for that super-high-intensity ‘pop’. Oh well.

You can bet I’ll be out there next week (and probably as long as they keep doing them). But, I will say, getting those high intensity workouts in a situation like that is always a bit of a struggle for me, because I really do enjoy riding solo for most of my after-work rides. More often than not I don’t actively recruit riding partners for the majority of my endeavors. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t also enjoy riding with others, as I truly do, but it’s more of the act of seeking somebody out versus just grabbing my gear and going after work is a big part of the reason I get out so much during the week. I’m not sure if I don’t like to have to deal with the coordination, or if it’s just the best time for me to decompress from the work day. I think it’s probably a little of both.

I was actually telling Ada yesterday while we were out walking the dog that my rides provide a time for me to organize my thoughts and come up with a lot of ideas. Everything from the initial concept for HandlebarSandwich, to the Crazy 88, to the logo for this site, to plans for my next home improvement project, to the plans for my next bike, to organizing my finances, to what I’m having for dinner. It’s all fair game, and more than likely it’s all been through the wringer while I’ve been bombing down a trail somewhere or trying to puke up a lung climbing snowbowl.

It’s actually kinda interesting that I don’t really do much of that organizing and thinking while I’m at home, as there are always a million things going on. It’s almost like I need that distraction, that auto-pilot which comes from thousands of miles of riding to free my mind of the all the other things that are getting in the way.

Kinda like white noise. Occupy the physical so that the mental can do it’s thing.

Or maybe it’s like Ritalin.

Yeah, that’s probably more like it.

Seems like a much better solution to me. Although I’m not sure which is more expensive…..

I decided to hit up the Absolute Bikes race this past weekend, since I needed to get in my ‘once a year’ short XC race. Last year it was the state finals, where I got a nice little 3rd place finish in the process of trying to tear my legs apart. This year, I again, tore my legs apart yet again and ended up (yet again) with a big 3rd place finish. I think the last time I did that race was in 2005, and I have a third place trophy from that as well…… Strange.

I was pretty happy with the result, especially considering I kinda trained right through it. It was a week of long miles and big climbs on the road bike and mountain bike. I did a couple laps up elden lookout on monday, a big road ride on tuesday, and another long mountain bike ride on wednesday. Am I ready for the Vapor Trail yet? No, but I’ve got another 3 weeks to get ready for it, so hopefully I’m well on my way.

Did anyone else go and see 180 degrees south on thursday at the orpheum? I’m sure several of you did, as the place was pretty packed. If you didn’t get out there and see it, I highly recommend it. It was a really good movie, and definitely inspiring. The only problem is that it made me want to quit my job and travel the world for a while. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing…….

I was chatting with one of the girls from work about it, and she told me that she was trying not to let her husband see the movie because he always starts planning to quit his job and do some hairbrained trip after seeing films like that. I fully support those kinds of thoughts, so…..

Dan – if (for some odd reason) you’re reading this, here’s the trailer for it, go watch the movie and then give me a call…….

On another note, I had a travel voucher floating around about 4-5 months ago that I needed to use up ASAP (because letting one of those expire is like burning money), so Claire and I are heading to Portland this coming weekend. Why? Mostly because neither of us have been there, both of us have friends there, and I’ve heard good things it. So, thursday evening I roll out of here, catch a plane heading north, and then spend the weekend chillaxin in that area. If you’ve got any suggestions on what to do up there, definitely let me know, we’re pretty open and have 3 full days to burn (yes, I know that’s not much, but I’ll do my damndest to fit whatever I can in those 3 days).

That’s all I got for now. Peace out.

It was a great weekend, and I always have a good time seeing those guys. We did some killer mountain biking on friday and saturday, including some trails that I’ve never been on around here. To be fair, one of them is not quite 100% finished yet, but still, I love new trails.

Friday night we checked out the New Belgium Clips of Faith. In case you aren’t aware, it’s a film tour/beer festival that New Belgium is doing around the country. It features short films submitted by fans of New Belgium that are about either bikes or beer (or both!). They picked the best ones to fill up about an hour and a half, and had a screening and beer tasting. The beer tasting had their normal ones and also had some of their special edition ones (the ‘lips of faith’ series, in case you aren’t familiar). It was a ton of fun, and we tasted some really good beers. If they’re anywhere near you, I highly recommend checking it out.

We also raided the garden and had homemade jalapeno poppers a la Emeril on saturday evening, and zucchini bread sunday morning. This is the time of year when I have to start coming up with new recipes for all the veggies coming out of the garden. I love it.

Sunday we took a hike down to “The Crack” at Wet Beaver Creek to do some swimming. If you haven’t been there, it’s well worth the 4 miles of brutal heat on the way in to do some cliff jumping, some swimming, and a little beer drinking.

Mike even got up the courage (after staring at it for about 15 minutes) to hit the high one. I did a little image stitching to commemorate the occasion.

The only downside that I can see of sunday’s hike is that Heidi had her first experience chasing after a lizard in the desert and we had to pull cactus spines out of her front leg for about 20 minutes. I’m hoping that she learned her lesson, but only time (and another trip to the desert) will tell.

If you’re looking for something to do this thursday night, BVO recommended a movie to me which is screening at the orpheum. It’s called 180 degrees south, and is about some guys who take a trip to south america inspired by a similar trip taken by Yvon Choinard in the 60s. It’s got climbing, surfing, mountaineering, and a hippie bus. Sounds pretty good to me.

That’s all I got for now, peace out.

I actually have a confession to make. I pretty much wrote an entire post about leadville last night and then re-read it this morning because I wasn’t entirely happy with it, and ended up deleting it.

Why?

Because I was being a hater. I got off on a rant about how expensive leadville is, and how much of a media circus it’s turned into with all these pro road-racers toeing the line. I jumped on a soap box and it spiraled out of control. Yeah, it happens sometimes…..

When I re-read it this morning before posting, I realized that Leadville is what it is. It’s not for me, but that doesn’t mean I should hate on it for what it is or what it’s become. Sure, it’s a media circus; sure, it’s got an ungodly amount of road for a ‘mountain bike race’; and yes, you could buy 2 entries to old pueblo plus a tank of gas to get there for the cost of the entry fee.

But in the end, there are a lot of people out there who are totally stoked on training for it, riding it, and enjoying the scene that goes with it. And you know what? That’s cool by me. Those people may not be the same people who are going to come out for the Crazy 88. I may meet a few of them at some 24 hour races or NMES or AZES events, but certainly not the top-10. But they’re out there on a bike pushing themselves to see how far they can go, and that’s something I can get stoked on.

I wish everyone luck who’s gonna be up there this year racing, and I hope you all have a good time.

I will say this, though: You know what I would love to see this year? Jake the Snake get his time in the sun. I saw him at Late for the Train thursday morning before he was about to head north, and would love to see him on his way back through wearing yet another giant belt buckle and a 1st place finisher grin.

So, if I’m so down on leadville, what am I getting stoked for this year? I’ll tell you what: The Vapor Trail 125. Now THAT’s a mountain bike race that speaks to me. 125 miles, 20,000 feet of climbing, tops out over 12,500, starts at 10pm on saturday night. I’ll even forgive the $125 fee, because it’s gonna be so damn epic. It’s gonna hurt, and I may even cry at some point. I’m stoked.

I’ve been on and off the bike this summer, never really putting in huge miles, but still riding halfway decent. The last few weeks it’s been time to ramp that up. Now that my little race directing gig is out of the way, I’ve got even more time and I’m packin’ in the miles. I’ve got a lot of training to do, and not as much time as I would like to do it in, but I’m motivated again, and that’s what counts.

The carrot is sitting right in front of me, and I’ve got a few weeks left to go get it…..

No, really. If there’s somebody upstairs, they apparently aren’t too happy with me and have decided to show it through a string of events leading up to what turned into a very epic weekend.

As you all know, the Crazy 88 got cancelled this year due to the shultz fire. I was bummed, but decided to make the best of it. After some map reading, and some pre-riding, I came up with an alternative ride and basically told people “I’m gonna do this ride, if you would like to join me in camping and/or riding, head out to this location at this time.”

I had a very positive response and decided to call the ride the ‘turn and burn’ in honor of the fire that killed the plans for the 88.

So, friday evening I headed out to the designated campsite and unpacked all the gear for the weekend. It was looking like a perfect spot and I was thinking somewhere around 30-50 people might show up when all was said and done.

Then it started raining at about 1:30 in the morning friday night………

And didn’t let up until about 3:30 on saturday afternoon.

And I’m not just talking sprinkles, I’m talking driving rain. Like ’3 inches of running water on the Arizona Trail’ rain.

I had about 20 people show up for the ride in the morning, and we all bucked up after the low-down and pep talk and headed out. I think at least 4-5 turned back within the first mile or two. I can’t say I blame them. We all regrouped where the arizona trail crosses 418, and I explained options and bailouts to everyone, and the fact that nobody should do anything stupid, ’cause there’s plenty of beer for everyone. About 8 people decided to stay on course, another 10 decided to skip some singletrack and cruise on to the forest road loop that I had put together around kendrick peak.

I stayed on course, and the next 10 miles were pretty damn slow (and cold) going. It ended up taking the 8 of us around 3 hours to do the first 15 miles of the course. I had estimated it would be slow, but not that slow.

Personally, I have to admit, I was completely underprepared. I had spent so much time on friday making sure that the beer, bbq, and other assorted logistics were in order that the only thing I threw in my riding bag besides bibs, socks, and a jersey was a crappy windbreaker. I was immediately soaked and cold from the second I got on the bike, and never thawed out. I’ve done rides that were cold and wet like this before, but had been ready for them. This one just hit us out of nowhere, and wouldn’t let up.

Based on the fact that most of the group was feeling the same way, and not a single one of us had an ounce of brake pad left, we all decided to pull the plug around mile 16 and trek it back up the Arizona Trail.

I called my sister at the aid station and she said that 5 people (of the 10 who had kept going on the AZT) ended up coming through, and that the other 5 had bailed. The 5 who came through the aid station were treated to bacon and red vines (among other things) and sent along their (merry?) way.

I have to admit, I was absolutely floored. I didn’t think anyone was going to keep on riding through the (still) pounding rain. It had to be an epic slog.

Turns out ‘epic slog’ was an understatement, as the final tally for the 5 brave souls was around 40 miles in just under 8 hours. Now that’s slow going.

Craig, Ben, Mark, Dai, and Jason all pulled out an amazing ride, and although Jason pulled away from the other 4 at the aid station, they were all winners in my book.

We got everyone into dry clothes and got a nice raging fire going to help warm everyone back up. Oh yeah, and the beer, brats, and burgers didn’t hurt either.

Of course, about an hour after the fab 5 arrived from their epic ride, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day, just to spite us.

All in all, I was a bit disappointed that the elements thwarted us a second time on this weekend’s festivities, but I was (as always) overjoyed to see everyone who came out and braved another epic that I put together. I really enjoyed this one, and I think it’s a great ride. I may have to put it on the calendar for next year in addition to the 88. I’m envisioning a spring ride this time, though. Maybe somebody will finish the full 65 if it’s not epicly dumping rain……

Thanks to everyone who came out, and everyone who supported this idea. I hope there are many more like it in the future.

p.s. for an alternative take, check out jason’s perspective on the ride. Good stuff.