PUPPY

Over the weekend we made a trip to Performance...for no real good reason really, just seemed like the thing to do as we were in Portland. We made our purchase and were on our way out and stopped by the shop to say good-bye to Mark and lo and behold Cory was there! It had been quite a while since we last saw Cory who I think is a pretty great bike mechanic - he built my bike and it is AWESOME!

He instructed us to look in the Red Honda Element to see his puppy....PUPPY?!

I'm outta here...

WAIT, did he say a RED ELEMENT?! I never pegged Cory as a person that would drive an Element...at least it is RED...

Check this little guy out - so CUTE!

Weekend of too much FUN

This last weekend was another busy one...this may be the last jam-packed weekend for a while or at least until our vacation in a couple of weeks. Although that promises to be nothing more than hanging out at home and paying attention to neglected home projects.

Morning Ride
Saturday AM I met Kristen for a ride around 8:00 and we rode to the Vancouver Farmer's Market and did a quick walk-thru and then made our way back to our starting point via Fruit Valley / Lakeshore / 36th Avenue which turned out to be a very pleasant 20 mile ride. It was a lot of fun because I got to ride with someone other than Tom. I don't have many choices for cycling partners who are women, so when Kristen mentioned riding I jumped at the opportunity. It's been a while since we last had the opportunity to ride - way over a year or more. Also, all I have really been doing is commuting to work mostly and the organized rides in and around Portland. Hopefully this fall we'll get some Saturday rides in.

Company Picnic

Saturday afternoon we went to Tom's Company Picnic which was at the Oregon Zoo this year - a nice change from all the masses at Oaks Park. I can't even remember the last time we went to a DEA picnic...at least 4 years! Tom asked if I would be interested and that it would be at the zoo I thought it would be more interesting at least. The day turned out to be pretty nice and we had lunch then walked around for a little while before heading out. I would probably go to this picnic again if they don't change the location for next year. The funny thing is that at the picnic, Tom didn't recognize hardly anyone, just a couple of people! He met up with a fellow geek engineer and they were chit chatting a bit and his buddy said that these people work in their office. I mentioned that they might want to leave the 7th floor every once in a while, there are other people and other departments within the David Evans world.

Damara Zebras

Portland Century
I don't know what happened between last year and this year, but I thoroughly did not enjoy this ride. First I forgot my computer, so that was a huge let down AND the sports drink that I had ready to go....well I remember having it in my hands at one point, but it never made it to my gear tub.

Also, it is official, I am NOT in love with the Springwater Corridor, I don't even like it. It's a long bumpy trail and even a carbon bike doesn't help dampen the roughness of the path. There are too many approach roads that we had to slow down for and many cross overs at streets. The first 18 miles were so bumpy and unpleasant and tiring that by the time we got to the rest stop I was pretty much spent. Not totally, but enough to leave me with a poor attitude.

I did not take much advantage of the first rest stop except for the porta-potty and I was pretty excited to be using this one for the handicap which is quite roomy, but once I stepped foot in it and took a look at the toilet, I was done....I am not THAT desperate! Can you say Porta-Poopie? SO GROSS, I don't think that one was sufficiently serviced before being put in use especially since there could not have been THAT many people using it to cause that sort of mess. I went back to the line, informed the gal that was next and she was grateful for the tip...and promptly took my place back at that spot in the line-up for a less gross porta-potty.

The next part of the ride to the next rest stop was about 10 miles which went pretty easy and I was feeling pretty good still - we were actually on the road in traffic instead of trying to avoid being broadsided, we got to ride WITH traffic! Always a good thing. Got to the next rest stop and had a slice of pizza after using real FLUSH toilets and then made our way back on the course. Once we reach Marine Drive I was feeling the full extent of my tiredness and the wind was not helping. So my attitude sunk even further and I was just not having a good time at all. The last rest stop at Smith & Bybee Lakes was a welcome sight and I was able to regain a little bit of my sunken spirit to make it back to PSU which would be more than 7-10 miles or so - a piece of cake!

After spying the line for the gourmet salmon lunch provided by Madison's Grill, which was at least 150 people deep, we decided that we were not THAT hungry, so we grabbed one "goody bag" and headed back to the car at Tom's office. After a quick change into clean non-cycling specific clothing we went home.

Pizza Break

Still in good spirits...

Concert...????

You would think that doing so much to this point - a 20 mile ride Saturday for me, the zoo and then the 50 mile Portland Century - we would actually relax at home. Nope, we had concert tickets to see Lulu LaFever at Bethany. The only problem with that plan was that it started to rain and we were to go with Matt & Kristen. The sprinkles that came about mid-afternoon had turned into rain so after a couple of phone calls Tom and I went over to Matt & Kristen's and we had our picnic dinner and some wine in their backyard, under the patio! It was great to spend some time with them and catch up with recent happenings. You would think that I would have been disappointed by not going to the concert, but it was nice to hang out and relax with some good friends talking about cycling and cycling and more cycling. Well it wasn't all cycling, but they are a unique couple in our circle of friends - in that they both ride road bikes - and they are pretty laid back with a couple of really great kids. We certainly have enjoyed their friendship during the past almost 4 years that they have been here.

Kristen & I in her kitchen...

It's amazing that the month has gone by so quickly. Tom and I haven't been to church all of this month so far and he has decided that we will spend the remaining Sunday away from church and make up our own ride to end our month of Sunday Cycling Events - and one running event. It will be good to get back and worship with our church family, I've been missing my friends!

NO TV?

This week Tom and I went without TV in the evenings after dinner - we spent some time hanging out with each other instead of focusing on mindless shows, turning our brains to mush. We spent a lot of the week working on our bikes - I rotated my tires while Tom worked on his bottom bracket along with a good bath for my bike - there was Gleukos all over it from the Vine Ride.

This is good though, we have yet another busy weekend ahead of us with me going for a ride with Kristen, to Tom's company picnic at the zoo and the Portland Century on Sunday and a concert at Bethany Vineyards in the evening.

Mt Hood Jazz 5K Fun Run

Today was the first Mt Hood Jazz 5K Fun Run. As I was searching for 5K runs to do in the near future I spied this one which I thought would be fun to do after doing a 65 (71) mile ride the day before.

I was feeling pretty good after a good night's rest, going to bed at 7:30 last night, and was hoping to do pretty well. Unfortunately I did not count on the humidity to be a factor - and I was feeling sapped after mile 1! Even with 3 walk breaks and taking both water breaks we still did better than Livestrong and finished strong - 36:40 (11:48 mile). Not bad! We'll be training a little more after we are done with our August cycling events for the Gresham Jazz 5K on October 12.

Getting Ready to run... Post Run...non-sweaty clothes...
Corn Dogs!
I'm Hungry!

2008 VINE RIDE

This is our 4th year participating in this event and as always it was a blast! We signed up for the 65 mile route and as a bonus actually rode 71, I don't know what happened, I guess it was just the way that the organizers routed us around . After 3 rest stops, a couple of potty stops and a few hills we made it back to Newberg in 5:03:50. We beat last years time by 30 minutes AND the route was a little longer. (CORRECTION - A quick search in my previous posts show that we did 67 miles last year and finished in 4 hours 53 minutes.)

We started the ride around 6:40 a.m. and enjoyed the cool weather for 3/4th of the ride - it felt good to get off the bike at the finish!

Before heading out for the day....

A short break on the road...

Rest stop in Dayton - SNACK TIME! Fresh bales of straw/hay... A very tired and hot finish back at Newberg High School! Despite the heat it was a great ride and we always look forward to this one every year. Next week is the Portland Century!