Soldiers Meadow March

The SeanMan decided we should ride from his house to Soldiers Meadow and back. Being restless due to lower activity from my recent knee injury (that really means bored out of my skull) and the suggestion that the ride had monster climbs on steep, kick-your-butt-I-want-to-walk-instead-of-ride grades struck my adventure nerve. So I loaded up my trusted old geared Fisher Supercal-29 and met the SeanMan for a climbing fest he almost guaranteed would make me wimper (it takes a lot to make me snivel about climbing). I was seriously thinking about taking one of the single-speeds, but I did not want to push the knee that hard yet.

Up in the shades of the highest elevation there was some of this very strange looking cold, white stuff.



It was remarkably similar to snow...but it's too early for such a thing around here or at least I thought it was until now.





The SeanMan's word was golden - the climbs were super steep and long. The only rest on a climb when it was "less" steep for a short time. The downhills were fast and seemed rather short only because each downhill ended in another straight-up climb. Overall the SeanMan's altimeter said we did 6000 feet of climbing - it seemed like more. It was a perfect day - lots of vertical cycling!

When Bikes Bite Back

Earlier this week I was up on Moscow Mtn trying to get some ride time in away from the smoke here in the valley of hell. It was a beautiful Monday on the mountain with some of the foliage showing its end-of-summer color....








Well it was a great day that is until my bike decided to rip the skin off my body....
This is what a knobby tire does to a knee at high speed...I can't easily explain what happened other than speed was over 25mph, I was railing around a sharpish corner, there was a stick across the trail, a hole just beyond it, and my mind was thinking about other things. All I know is that my front end slide out on the stick then hit the hole before I could recover and my knee was acting like a brake on the knobby tire as my whole body was a friction mat on dirt and dead pine needles. It was the most spectacular wreck I have ever had and I feel fortunate that I could actually get up straighten my front wheel and ride off the mountain. My biggest worry was the grapefruit sized lump on the side of my knee and my knee was numb. After getting back to the car, drinking a cup of java, and eating something I decided I should have the lump on my knee looked at....grrrr
So I made a visit to the local emergency room in Moscow (at the hospital where I just so happen to work). I found out that there was no major tendon, bone, or knee damage. The swelling was most likely a hematoma and should resolve on its own. Well it did go down in 24-hrs the problem is that much of the fluid compartmentalized in my lower leg and has been slow to absorb back into by system. I'm sure it did not help that I worked three 12+ hr shifts this week at the hospital. Today I'm thinking a bit of light spinning on the bike may be feasible. We will see...

Slacker

So I've been slacking some...for the month of August I rode what I normally do in a week to a week and a half. Shameful? No way...I have excuses like I was studying for my RN boards scheduled near the end of the month, learning a new job at Gritman Medical Center, and there has been some serious smoke in the area from localish forest fires in SE Washington. The smoke is the big reason for not riding later in the month and now...I don't find pleasure inhaling 50 packs of cigarettes worth of smoke during a short 2-hour bike ride. Riding in smoke is not for me so I grump around, tinker with my bikes, work on the money pit (the house), and do other "stuff" waiting for the fall rains to start. In other words I'm going insane right now waiting for the right wind shift to ride.

I did get a short break once this week when the area was clear of smoke... Of course I powered up the steepest stuff I could find on my shamefully new LeMond Poprad cross bike...Hmmm. I found it to be tough duty though climbing 3000+ feet up 10-18% grades on gravel with170mm cranks and a 38x27 for a lowest gear. Let me just say that the initial 2000 feet up was a real two leg burner.

After reaching the high point of the ride some 30 miles into it I was not happy to see a massive plume approaching from those worthless, inconsiderate field-burning spud-heads. I could see the Idahole smoke plume drifting on the horizon throughout the day, but a small wind shift brought it right towards me. I hoofed it towards home in a hurry once I realized the Idaho smoke monster was coming to get me. I was too late though in my homeward assault and got swallowed by the smoke plume 17 miles out. Even with soft pedalling and mostly down hill efforts I was overcome and puked by the time I got home. Yuk! So shorter trips are in order for anytime the smoke clears again - if it ever does that is.

The RN boards? Let's just say that now I am an RN! And please remember...Nurses are here to save your ass not kiss it!

Trans What???

OK...Is it insane to ride a loop around Iowa in April = Rain + Mud Yuk for 300 miles? I've had some weird thoughts that this could be "fun" but I am not sure I want to drive all the way to Iowa just to ride in potential bad weather. Hmmm...maybe we (that really means me and my continuously talking inner-self) should make an unsupported off-road ride across Washington at the same time as the 2007 Trans-Iowa III (a show of solidarity if nothing else). It could be called the TWA. It could be a race, a challenge, or a just a damn long ride. The John-Wayne Trail could be a good option since it theoretically spans the state. But I am not yet clear on whether it can be ridden the whole way. Just a thought...and yes you have to take into account that this thought from an insane, bike obsessed geek.

Riding the Cave

I knew I would have a wee bit of spare time today (like half the day) so I packed Baloo (that's my Lenz Sport Leviathan 29er - a true mountain bike to you) in the Subaru this morning. After working half the day doing more orientation yuk at Gritman Medical Center (a fabulous place to work) I cruised up to the Pond-9 area on Moscow Mountain for some delicious singletrack riding...talk about attitude adjustment - there is nothing better than riding singletrack under a canopy of pines. Lately I've been doing some road-toad stuff for some quick stress relief, but all between the cars driving too close, the (cough, cough) SUV exhaust, and the lovely carcinogenic smells (which I'm told smells like money) from our neighborly, sharing, stinky-assed pulp mill....oh yeah the point - well between all that bunk I sometimes think road riding is more stressful than stress relief.

Up on Moscow Mtn. I took Headwaters Trail up and headed for the Cave Trail on the backside for some real fun.

Getting there...

Cave Trail...
The singletrack was soooo good I decided to ride it all again in reverse (which made for 20+ miles total)....

I got home and for some reason thought it would be fun to do a club time trial on my old road bike. It turned into a real fiasco...in the order of occurrence - rain, lightning, major gusty winds (of course it was totally calm when I started then 100 yards after the start I got blasted), a sticky front shifter (I was stuck in the small ring for about 2-miles spinning real fast), and finally a tumbleweed decided to commit suicide in my rear derailleur (that means I had to stop and pull it out...yeah it was dead). The overall idea of a time trial is not to stop but go as fast and as hard as you possible can to improve your time - it's only you (me that is) against the clock...needless to say I was a bit crabby after the tumbleweed incident...I finished in 25:40 not bad considering all the time sucking events that happened in that 10-mile stretch...my starting goal was to be in the 24-minute range...maybe next time...

Salute to Adam Lisonbee

Adam Lisonbee (a mountainbike endurance athlete) has said it all with this extraordinary writing about the "you's and me's of the world." Dang, his words hit my biking soul down deep.

He's right that we spend too much effort putting pro athletes aloft when it is ourselves we should be admiring - to heck with those drug infested, cheating pros and the crappy fiefdom they have built for all of us to both love and hate.

It's not about them anymore - it's really about you and me, the lowly want-to-be-fast cyclists...those of us with a real passion to ride just to ride and be a bit better tomorrow...where winning or placing is glory and loosing is inspiration to fight harder...Thanks for the redirection, Adam.

Headwaters Love

Donna (that's the love of my life, my soul-mate, my best friend...)
got back from a family/friend visit in Michigan late Saturday. I always miss her dearly when we're apart, but it is very therapeutic for our relationship to have time apart...when we get back together we seem to appreciate each other more and express more love toward each other than ever. I'm always amazed that we have more to give each other - just when it seems we have reached the highest plateau of love we find one higher. Now I'm thinking that these plateaus will end only if we put limits on them.

Sunday afternoon we spend hiking the Headwaters Trail up on Moscow Mountain. It was a super warm day and up on the mountain was the best place to be with my best friend.

Huckleberry 100

Ahhh...the Huckleberry, the fruit-of-fruits, the fruit I will go to extremes to taste. In it's raw form there is nothing more tasty...in a "properly" made pie it is worth the extra mile(s) to have just one bite. Just imagine what I would do for a full slice of Huckleberry pie topped with Huckleberry ice-cream...YUM!!!

On Sunday the SeanMan and I rode over 100 miles just for this tasty treat (at least that was my motivation).

And I must say that it was worth every pedal stroke to get to Elk River Idaho's Huckeberry Haven. It was so good that I'm thinking about riding up there again.
It is hard to have any facial expression with a mouth full of pie.

Riding Hot

It is done - I have completed my BSN (that's a highly respected nursing degree to you). Oddly enough I received my "post-dated" diploma and grades before I was done...what's up with that??? Oh well I'm not going to worry about it any. To celebrate I decided to ride my bike (gasp!) - yeah it's been some time since I've put some serious miles on, except those infrequent times I rode to work in Pullman at B&L Bicycles only to have the SeanMan pull my fat ass nearly all the way. Thanks SeanMan, so what if you've shot my ego all to hell, I really appreciated the wheel, the pain, and the reminder that mortality happens when you don't ride for a month (that's a lame excuse).

So I did a hill climbing road ride rode late yesterday afternoon for about 2 hours in scorching heat (101-106F according to my fancy bike computer). The pavement was like riding on Rice Crispys (air bubbles seem to form in boiling tar). OK the ride was good and I thought I was ready for what I really like - a long dirt-road MTB ride. This morning I took off planning to do a loop up the South Fork around to George Creek (I estimated it to be 80-100 miles), but I got 30+ miles into it and decided no way was I going to make it - I could feel early signs of heat exhaustion setting in and even though I was slugging down the water I was becoming dehydrated (hard to imagine that 100-degree temps can do that). So nearly at the top of the climbing I turned it around and headed home. That's when the real problem presented in the form a 15-20mph headwind making the lower canyon like standing in front of a blast furnace (which means it was dehydrating me much quicker than before). I stopped several times and jumped into Asotin Creek just to cool off. By the time I reached Asotin (56 miles down, 5 more to home) I was very well done, miserable, and had to stop in the park and just cool down for an hour or so. The place looked like Gehenna (that's Hades or Hell to you)... ...and it smelled like it too with the spew of that stinky-assed Lewiston pulpmill drifting in the winds...enough to make me puke! And I did (another sign of heat exhaustion) - Hello partially digested peanut butter! It tastes almost as good coming up as it did going down - YUM!

I limped the last 5 miles home, took a cold bath to cool off, took a 8 oz. dose of the miracle drug for exhaustion & nausea (Coke), then layed around waiting for my stomach to settle so I could rehydrate. Oh yeah, Donna (that's the love of my life) was not happy with my condition either...I got a well deserved ass-chewing for my Hot ride - there's more than one way to get rid of my fat ass I guess.