Bridge of the Gods and Beyond!

Saturday I had the pleasure of joining Drew, Robbie, and Joel for a delightful ride out to the bridge of the Gods in Cascade locks and back. My unfortunately undependable cyclometer turned 95 ish miles which sounds about right, maybe a mile short. So what was billed to be the first century of this years riding for me turned out just a hair shy, I'll have to do an official 100+ miles in the upcoming week or two. (Photo courteous of Google)

The rest of Saturday was capped off with cooking an authentic Italian dinner for couples "Chamgame Night". Dinner, sparkling wine, and board games. I turned in a good effort but came up in third place for Balderdash, next time I will have to work on my bluffing skills and go for the Gold.

Today Ky and I took a rare opportunity to sleep in and enjoy a nice Sunday morning, although Kona was not thrilled about the late start to the morning. He was up for his 5:30 morning constitutional and feeding. Next we are off to spin around Portland on a beautiful spring morning and then off to celebrate with my cousin, Adam, for his 3rd Birthday! I can't wait to see him and Paul, it's been way to long and I am sure I will be shocked at how much they have changed since Christmas. Check back tomorrow for a photo or two.

A Day in Heaven and a Day in Hell!

Today I was finally able to get back out to Multnomah Falls via bicycle on the cascade scenic Hwy. If you've never been I highly recommend it, hands down one of the most beautiful and enjoyable bicycle rides in our fair state of Oregon. An added bonus, as being the earliest visit I have made, there were numerous named and unnamed waterfalls that I have never seen before and all of the major waterfalls were in full bloom. Along the beautiful 30+ miles to Multnomah Falls I also encountered the Vista House, although I didn't stop to appreciate the view.

Now it is time for Lunch and then a brisk walk up to Mt Tabor with a well deserving Kona. This day exemplifies why I moved to Oregon and cannot return to the Desert. Don't get me wrong, I love Arizona and it has it's own beauty, but not many places can compete with Western Oregon.

The true reason for my ride out to "The Falls" was to more or less kick off my training for an assault on Mt Dooley a little less than 10 weeks from now. I have scientifically analyzed the stage and have established my plan of attack. That attack requires 1500 training miles and 10 lbs of weight cutting. For those who are numerically challenged 150 miles / 1lb a week. Unfortunately Monday I was shut down by a freak hail and thunder storm so I have another 80 miles to put in this week. Looks like 10 on Tabor tomorrow evening and 70 Saturday morning!

If you think that 1500 miles seems like a lot, take a gander bellow and then think about it.

Yeah, 6000 Ft of Climbing and 100.3 miles!

Why Not?

In the land of feelings of general entitlement, everyone has the right to feel entitled to "Their God given rights as an American", so I figure why shouldn't I have a blog. Some might say, because you have nothing meaningful to contribute. Well I agree, that is a pretty good reason, but I'm going full steam into this anyway, for now. So what should my loyal readers expect to get out of my blog, exactly what they invest, pretty much nothing. Maybe a laughable quip or two to get them from their third, to their fourth cup of coffee on Monday morning. Maybe a small insight into what I did that week or I plan to do in the upcoming week. Maybe more, maybe less, but mostly spelling and grammar errors. No need to spend any effort to point those out to me, it won't help, It's just how I roll. If you are lucky I will try and proof read before I hit post, but don't count on it.

So what did I do this last weekend besides work and eat egg based meals in celebration of Easter? I bike raced, sort of. I say sort of because as usual, I was only in "the race" for a short period of time before I got dropped from the race commencing a nice hard training ride. The good news, if you are in my corner, is that the time spent in the race is increasing each time and maybe by the time the crits roll around, I may be able to finish in a race, maybe.

Post race, seems like I enjoyed it

At least it is fun, right?