Feman ramblings

Methow Training Week, Day 6

2011-07-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

My last big day and my last road ride.

I wanted to ride back up the Chewuch again but also wanted something a bit different than an out and back. On my last trip I'd started by riding to Twisp, then heading north. Since I'm in Twisp this time, I wanted to avoid highway 20 as much as possible and leave the Winthrop-Twisp eastside road to the end, thus making a loop out of the ride.

A document I found on the web piqued my planning interest. The mention of our "local Alp d'Huez" really got my interest. Nothing like a challenging climb to make me wanta go do it!

I wanted to get at least 60 miles so adding up the various distances (here to Winthrop, Winthrop to Chewuch turnaround, Falls Creek side trip) it looked like I could get it all together.

To get the loop started I headed north on Hwy 20, but took a parallel side road (old Twisp-Winthrop highway?) for a couple of miles. Then I turned off the highway and headed up around Twin Lakes. A nice diversion with a minor climb.

This brought me right down to the bridge at Winthrop.

On through town and north on the East Chewuch Road. This is also the road to Pearygin Lake State Park. All my maps showed East Chewuch Road joining the West Chewuch Road a few miles outside Winthrop but also showed that it continued up the east side of the Chewuch River. I made an on-the-road decision to follow the pavement to its end on the east side. Which it did in just a few miles. However, there is a paved road that goes east and uphill - exploration for another day.

I retraced my route to the bridge, crossed the river, and headed up river on the paved road. This is a very gently rising route with a few very minor hills thrown in so I could cruise along. To my surprise there was practically no car traffic. My experience has been that there would be at least the occastional vehicle, but this was a slow day for cars.

At 30 miles on my trip meter I stopped for a snack and a look at the Chewuch River.

Then back down-river to the Falls Creek road and my big challenge. On the way up I'd passed Falls Creek Campground and a signed trail indicating Falls Creek Falls. Ah, that's why it's named Falls Creek - it has a falls!

But I was too zoned to stop and take a side trip, just wanted to get going uphill.

My directions had said steeper at the start then easing off so I was thinking "Use your triple; spin, spin, spin." It was pretty steep at the beginning, actually for about 1.5 miles and I did use my triple a bit.

Then it just leveled right off and straight across the valley was the falls! After a moment to look and capture photons I was back on my bike and headed uphill, slowly.

Within 100' or so I came to a cattle guard which I walked across. Generally I'll ride them but this one was pretty beat up and I was moving so slowly that I didn't think I'd have sufficient momentum to carry me across.

This "flat" area was very short lived: it merely took me around a corner and over a 1-lane bridge that crossed Falls Creek, then the road kicked back up to triple chain wheel again. By this time I'm doing mental calculations: 4.5 MPH it's gonna take a couple hours to go 8 miles.

Then it eased off to relentless but steady climbing. No triple but no big chainwheel either. Just up and up and up.

From the directions I figured that I'd run out of pavement in 8 miles. However, 8 miles came and no pavement end, so I kept going. Big black clouds were gathering and it was getting cooler as I continued to gain altitude. Finally I just stopped at 9 miles, took a short break, and headed back downhill.

Now I hafta talk about the road itself. Even though paved it's pretty bumpy. There are sections missing along the sides and in some places the undergrowth has come right up to the edge of the pavement filling the ditch with plants. And there are lots of patches: asphalt patches here and there and bigger patched sections of this blackish material with a small layer of loose gravel/sand on top.

And then there are the cow "pies". It looks like a herd of cows with diarrhea have been using the road. No, not nice little piles but long splotted trails of bovine fecal matter. Mostly dry, but the occasional moist one.

So you can see that I really didn't want to go whipping downhill as fast as I could coast. If I did there's a good chance that I'd get my teeth rattled out, hit a chuckhole, and slide downhill through a bunch of cow poop. Not a pleasant image.

So, more mental calculations: 20 mph average downhill is still gonna take me almost a 1/2 hour. That's a long time to be squeezing the brakes. And it was a long time; my hands took turns going numb and I kept shaking them out.

I stopped for one last look at the falls then finished my descent back to the Chewuch River Road. From here it was just keep my head down, keep those pedals spinning, and battle the headwinds back into Winthrop then down the east side road to Twisp.

As I was posting this route on Map My Run, it revealed a posted ride to me that showed the pavement ends at 12 miles up Falls Creek. Ah yes, another time.

Methow Training Week, Day 5

2011-07-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Day 5, it's drawing to an end.

Today is trail running (and swimming, of course). On my last training week here I'd made the mistake of "running" to Slate Lake. Big mistake. The trail goes just about straight up so there was no running. And coming down was so hard on me that I had sore legs for days afterwards.

This time I wanted something more gentle. I knew that the Twisp River Trail (TRT) goes along the valley kind of paralleling the road. I knew that the valley didn't rise too steeply so that seemed like a good option.

The main issue for me was access and where I wanted to be. On my Slate Creek mis-adventure I'd gone on the TRT for a short distance, so I knew it was that far down the valley and that it went both directions. But I wanted to start farther up river to see some new country.

The Forest Service TRT information indicated access at Scatter Creek, so I elected to start there.

My geezer pass was useful as the access point is a fee area. Once again I was convinced that it's the best $10 I ever spent. One advantage of advancing age!

A short spur trail took me right up to the TRT and the intersection for the Scatter Creek Trail. The directions were well-signed so I started out.

This was a classical Eastern Washington drainage bottom: the occasional area with moisture filled with lush growth interspersed with areas of open timber. Since it's still spring like the air was filled with the smells of these plants. Most of the flowers have bloomed and gone down in the valley so the main color is green.

The trail in the first couple of miles is quite technical - narrow with lots of rocks and roots and ups and downs. In the wet places I walked because the growth totally obscured the path and I didn't want to trip on an unseen rock and break something.

After those 2 miles the trail really opened up. At North Creek it came right down to the road and crossed the creek using the road. Then back up into the trees.

From here it was just a short distance to an unsigned fork in the trail. Both looked good so I took the right-hand fork. This started me up a long, long climb towards North Lake along the North Creek drainage. On my way up I met a solo hiker coming down and that was the only person that I saw the whole day.
Without a target location to turn around, I just kept my eye on my watch and turned around in 1:24 (my goal was to run a total of 2:30). This trail was a mix of really good trail (even though relentlessly uphill) and mixed technical terrain. There was even a wild stream crossing at an avalanche slide.

It was a pretty narrow stream but running swiftly down a steep avalanche area. And I didn't want to get my feet wet by wading through. Some kind soul had put a couple of logs across but they were too small and slick to walk on so I crabbed across with my feet on the lower one while using the upper for balance. It worked OK; I just got one foot wet.

The lower log moved around as I walked on it, so when I returned I piled a few rocks around one end to stabilize it a bit more; worked great.

I turned around at 1:24, had an energy bar, and pretty much reversed my trip up to return to the car. Time back was 1:08 so I judged it pretty well for 2:30.

My new Nathan hydration pack is really getting a test on these runs. I love the way it rides on my back and I've had fluids left over after my 2 trail runs here. It's not been hot, but it looks to me as if the capacity would be sufficient for this amount of time in much warmer weather.

Plus, I got to see some great scenery and smell some great smells and hear some wonderful sounds.

Methow Training Week, Day 4

2011-07-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

No swimming today. I drove to Patterson Lake, got out of my car, and just felt too tired to get in the water.

So, with the extra time, I elected to return to Twisp via Elbow Coulee. We run on a section of this road for the Sun Flower Relay, but I didn't realize that the road goes through the hills from the Patterson Lake area to the Twisp River valley. Always good to know these things.

My plan for the day was more off-road, cyclocross riding, this time with gears.

Returning from Wolf Creek the previous day, I'd made a car foray up the Bear Creek Road. Right at pavement's end I saw Lester Road heading off into the hills. I looked very tempting so I consulted my maps and decided that this would be my next CX ride.

Turned out to be a good choice.

My maps showed a nice loop heading up Lester, then past Campbell Lake and returning via Davis Lake where I'd pick up the paved road and ride back uphill to my car. Sounded like a winner.

So, after my non-swim morning I did my usual work/eat/get ready thing then loaded up my bike and drove up to the end of the Bear Creek pavement. Boy was I glad to have some gears; the road really kicked up in a few place, but before I knew it I was up in a high valley with gentle terrain.

None of the intersections were signed so I stopped at each one to consult my map and figure out which way to go. I cruised down past Campbell Lake, noticing that there were 3 cars parked there. Where the people were I had no idea because I couldn't see them out on the lake and it didn't look like hiking country to me.

Just past the lake I rode through a herd of grazing Black Angus cattle. I'm always a bit wary around these animals because they're BIG and I certainly didn't want one kicking up its heels too near me. They seemed just as wary about me, however. As I pedaled by they lifted their heads from grazing to give me a stare.

Just past the cattle the road came to an end in a big turnaround! There was a gate with a posting about no authorized access beyond here. I could see a little path heading around the gate and through the bushes but it looked kind of gnarly and I'm a real CX weenie. Later I talked to a couple of people about it and was told that there's only a very short bad section where I was and then it turns into an unmaintained road. I was also told that there could be a lot of snakes there. The snake story left me with few regrets.

So, back through the cattle herd, past the lake and a return to my last intersection. At that point I elected to go more uphill to see what was ahead. Up, up, up until I got a great view downward to Campbell Lake. A little farther and I reached a high point and more map consulting.

At this point I could continue down, not knowing exactly where I'd end up and knowing I'd certainly have a long uphill to return, no matter what, when a kind soul showed up and helped me to decide.

A truck came up the hill and stopped just beyond me.

I walked over, introduced myself, and asked for some help. This was a local person, up to walk and glass for animals. He helped me to find myself on the map and also helped me to decide what to do next.

In the end I took his suggestion to go back down the hill I'd just come up then ride up to Cougar Lake and return down Bear Creek Road.

What a great suggestion!

After a short climb up from Lester Road I came out into a classic Eastern Washington high pine forested valley. A short side road took me over to Cougar Lake, a little gem tucked away in the dry hills of the Methow.

Then it was just a matter of controlling my speed and pucker factor as I pretty much was able to coast the rest of my route back to the car. Even though these roads were in good shape they still had plenty of pointy little rocks and chuck holes both of which I wanted to avoid with my wimpy tires and no-suspension bike.

Methow Training Week, Day 3

2011-07-12T18:27:00.001-07:00

Today was scheduled for running. I've been a bit gimpy lately with a sore hamstring/adductor. It really flares up when I run hard surfaces (read streets) but not trail running. So, after last Thursday when I could barely hobble, I was really looking forward to extended time on soft surfaces.

As has become my habit I started my day with a swim in Patterson Lake. This time I did a circumnavigation of the south end of the lake. I woke up to light, threatening rain today and noticed surface raindrops a time or two when I had stopped for new sighting.

Then back for breakfast, a little work, and off to Wolf Creek in the middle of the day - trying to catch a bit of mid-day heat. Not much heat today, though. Up high it was even more threatening than down in the valley and it had showered pretty good sometime during the night or early morning.

This left all the bushes wet. Just 10 minutes or so into my run I encountered a couple hiking out in full, wet rain gear. I remarked that they must have hit some pretty bad rain, but was I ever wrong. It was the bushes!

I encountered my first set just 1/2 mile or so into the run and sporadically thereafter. The plant growth was pretty close to the trail's edge and with a load of rain drops it bent down, sometimes totally obscuring the trail.

Soon enough I was all wet from pushing through the bushes. The worst part was getting my shoes and socks totally soaked. My shorts and shirt dried pretty quickly, in between the wetting places, but my shoes didn't.

Luckily the temperatures were comfortable. Warm enough for my level of dress even though a bit muggy. And today there was no wind, so no wind chill to deal with.

I have to admit that I did think about how uncomfortable an unplanned night out would be under these circumstances. This thinking made more more than cautious than normal.

My plan was for 2.5hrs total running. However, given the great deal of uphill I encountered on the way out, I decided to go a wee bit longer, figuring that my return would be faster, what with more downhill and all. In the end I ran out 1:24, took out my energy bar, and started walking back while I ate it.

By the time I was about 2/3 of the way back I was starting to feel heavy legged. Even tripped over a rock once by not paying attention and flew forward onto my hands. Luckily no scrapes, no broken bones, just dirty hands. Time back was 1:13 so I did time it pretty well.

Back at the car I was really glad to have a dry shirt and my flip-flops so that I could get out of my soggy shirt and shoes.

This trail is every bit as wonderful as I remembered from 2 years ago. It starts out with a pretty good downhill to the creek then works its way back up the valley side, staying a 100 yards or so above the creek. Plenty of ups and downs, meadows, open woods, trail generally in great shape. Due to our extra cool spring there were a couple of very short boggy sections, easily bypassed. There's a great foot log crossing where a side creek comes in.

The return trip was everything I thought it would be: mostly downhill, with some short, steep (and walked) uphills, and slowdowns through the brush-covered sections. The final 1/2 mile or so is uphill back to the car, but I could smell the barn so it went by pretty quickly.

All in all, my timing was impeccable. On the drive back to my motel the skies just opened up and it poured for a while. I'm sure glad that I'm camped in a motel room.

Tomorrow: back on the cross bike with Lester Road?

Methow Training Week, Day 2

2011-07-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well, today was Washington Pass day, and I was kinda dreading it. All I could think about was the last time I did this ride when my back hurt SO MUCH on the last few miles to the pass. That didn't happen today, but I still worked really hard.

My day started with another swim in Patterson Lake, this time to the south. It was somewhat shorter than yesterday, but my excuse was the big ride ahead of me. It was very pleasant to be swimming along the west shore as the sun came up over Patterson Mtn.

Then back to my room for breakfast and getting ready to ride. Id didn't know whether there would be water at the pass so I left prepared for a long time without access to fluids (4 bottles). That was a wise move as the rest area isn't yet very operational. The snow has been cleared or melted out, but the bathrooms with running water are still locked up.

The photo montage in this post is from the rest area overlook first looking across to Kangaroo Ridge, then up into the cirque that forms the headwaters of Early Winters Creek, and finally the ever-stupendous Liberty Bell massif. The view from the overlook at the east and north faces of Liberty Bell is just breath-taking, always.

I expected head wind on the ride up but didn't have much. However, there was a lot of highway repair going on with a pilot car to lead us through so I ended up with 2 stops, both up and down, to get through the construction zone. However the climb up was just as hard as I remembered. At Early Winters campground the road just kicks up and it goes on and on and on...for about 20 miles. In the end my ride up (42 miles) took 3:15, including my road construction stop.

At the summit I enjoyed the view, took pictures, and donned additional clothing for the descent. I was really looking forward to a wind-assisted trip back to Twisp. Alas, this was not to be.

After only about 3 miles coasting I was stopped for the road construction and had a long wait. Got a chance to chat with an Irish guy who was headed to Mazama with his family for a vacation. Then the flagger made me get in the BACK of the pack for the pilot trip, even though I could go as fast as the cars in the pilot group. Ah, well.

Once we finally got going I really sailed along. BUT I had a HEAD WIND. Really unusual as the wind is normal down-river. For the steep stuff back to Early Winters I could still manage to coast 30 MPH or so but I was really buffeted by the gust wind. Using the guidelines here I would guesstimate winds of 40-50 km/hr with some really strong gusts. It really took the fun out of the ride back, just grinding into the wind, going 12-14 MPH most of the time. It was just absolute joy to get in the lee of something for 2 seconds and get some relief. Time back: 2:30, including my traffic stop.

I dragged my butt into my room and just collapsed. Then sucked down a carton of chocolate milk and got a bit of energy back.

Now I'm eating real food and feeling better. That bed is really gonna feel good tonight.

Tomorrow: Trail running on Wolf Creek.

Methow Training Week, Day 1

2011-07-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bit hectic getting out of town and I didn't get here until 9:45 or so last night.

My plan today was to swim in Patterson Lake and try out my single speed cross bike on easy trails/roads.

After a good night's rest I was up and ready to hit the water by 6:30. The parking is a little funny at Patterson Lake with the big area reserved for cars with a Fish and Game parking sticker, so I had to use another spot just up the road. This was the same launching point I'd used when I was here 2 years ago: a short trail down to the lake with a quite decent cove to get into the water. NO ROCKS on the bottom, just coarse sand.

I swam a rough triangle - across the lake to the rocky cliff below the Patterson Lake trail then north almost to Patterson Lake Resort then back to my starting point. The only tricky thing is recognizing the launch beach from the water. Here's a map: Patterson Lake swim.

Back at my room I did a little work then prepped my bike for riding. Here's a picture of it as nobody but me has seen it:

It's all built up starting with a Nashbar frame and parts that I accumulated over months. Notice the purple theme. I gotta say, it's quite pretty.

Anyway, it rode really sweet. I rode a mix of single track and roads with some long climbs and some steep climbs. The bike handled like a dream. My only complaint is that it tends to skip a gear under hard load - and I can put it under hard load pretty quickly. My guess is that the chain tensioner needs some adjustment. I also had to loosen up the pedal release as they were really tight.

But I really liked the way that it handled bumps - way better than my TiCycles bike.

I rode for a couple of hours and was plumb tuckered out when I was done. It was HARD. Just wandered around the trails up by Sun Mountain and tried not to get lost.

Tomorrow: WASHINGTON PASS!

One gear, one rider

2011-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

April in the Northwest has been exceptionally cold, with our average highs about 10 degrees below normal. We've had more than enough of our share of drizzle in the 40s.

So, when Saturday showed the possibility of dodging rain drops even while still being cold, my regular group of riding partners was very eager to get out. I'm still in marathon mode, in the middle of my taper for Sunflower but still in 1-speed mindset for riding.

We had a big group for us and headed out - a mixture of tri-bikes, road bikes, and me on my 42x16 1-speed. It immediately became clear that I was going to be bringing up the far, far rear as the others kept riding away from me. I can only manage to hold about 18mph with this bike and they were clearly going faster.

As we headed out through Newport Hills I almost turned away as they attacked these monster steep hills with me struggling to turn over my pedals. They kindly waited for me at stop lights and hill tops until we turned onto May Valley road.

Then they were off in a testosterone-fueled hammerfest with me dragging along farther and farther in the rear. By the time I was half-way to the Issaquah Hobart Road junction they were no where to be seen.

Since I hate the section of road from the junction south towards the Tiger Mt. store I opted for the gravel bypass. This meant that I turned up a dead end road just before the intersection then rode through the gravel, bushes, and mud to cut over to the road. I hoped that they'd be stopped at the Tiger Mt. store, but no one was there so I figured I was on my own.

That was it for group riding for the day: mono me and my mono gear bike south past Hobart then to Maple Valley and the Maple Valley Trail back to Renton, around the South end of Lake Washington and my last push home.

It never rained on me even though it threatened. I worked hard the whole time and covered a wee bit over 50 miles.

4 Beavers

2011-04-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was quite a run day. I saw 4 beavers (and witnessed beaver aggression) and 2 otters.

Gary and I started out together and ran around Madison and Coleman Parks from Leschi. On our way back from Madison we spotted what appeared to be 2 otters cavorting in the water just offshore at Madrona Park.

We split up at Coleman Park and I continued south to the Genessee Marina. After spotting a beaver swimming into the cove I walked out to the point just to the south to see if I could spot any more. Sure enough, I could see a tell-tale wake heading my way from the south. I decided to wait silently and see what would happen, how close the beaver might pass me by.

As I was waiting I heard this distinctive beaver-chomping sound: ch-ch-ch-ch... - faster than you can say it. When I turned around there was a big fat beaver sitting up on the shore demolishing a branch that it had cut down and dropped into the water. You can't believe how fast those animals can cut off branches and peel all the bark and leaves off.

Anyway, it was working away like, well, like a beaver when the one swimming from the south came up. It noticed the on-shore beaver chomping away and turned and swam up to the branch beaver #1 was working on. It grabbed the whole branch in its mouth, flipped over on its back, and backstroked away with the whole thing, leaving beaver #1 with only a single tiny little branch that it was working on. The branch that #2 swam off with was about 6 feet long with all kinds of little side branches.

Beaver #1 swam after beaver #2 and when it got close swam right up to it. #2 would have none of this and gave #1 a big slap. #1 then swam disconsolately over to the shore while #2 proceeded to eat its spoils.

As I turned to leave yet another beaver came swimming around the point, perhaps to try for some breakfast?

So, 2 otters, 4 beavers. A good morning of animal sights. And this doesn't even count the bird song identification from Gary.

So much has happened

2011-01-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

I've been away too long...

One more Ironman Canada done (#18), a cyclocross season finished, and now starting to plan for IMC 2011.

It's been an eventful 4 months:

I broke ribs in a practice CX race in September and missed the start of races and the Grand Columbian triathlon.

Cyclocross season was another test of managing terror. I just can't seem to let myself "flow" in the sport. Thank heavens I don't feel the need to be competitive. Just by showing up this season I managed to finish in the middle of the pack for the season while finishing near the end of the pack in every race. Right now I'm gathering parts for a 1-speed cross bike and hope to race 1-geared and multi-geared next season.

There were some interesting race features this year: the "pumpkin patch" mud pit at Maris Farms, the sand at Silver Lake, the steep downhill and run-up at Evergreen.

I continue to have monthly outings with my "old guys" group. All our outings have been uneventful until the one last week when we went cross country skiing. I managed to do a full face crash on an icy surface and buggered up my ribs AGAIN! I will miss the Resolution Run 10-miler today and have doubts about being prepared for the 15-miler in a month. Maybe I'll need to switch to the 15K.

For now I just need to work up my mileage for the Sunflower Relay.

Last big ride for IMC 2010

2010-08-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today I went on my last long ride before IMC. My friend Tom and I had a great urban training ride following Puget Sound from downtown Seattle south. And this after a loop around Mercer Island. As we headed out to Alki we could look across Elliot Bay to downtown Seattle with the tall buildings rising up out of the fog.

Rounding the northern end of Alki we rode into a dense fog bank where we were serenaded by the ferries' fog horns. In a few miles we rode out of the fog at Lincoln Park then up into the sunshine (but still cool air) as we climbed the hill from the Fauntleroy Ferry.

We continued south for the breath-taking descent to Three Tree Point quickly followed by a climb back up Sylvester Road and another twisting descent to Normandy Park where we hooked back up to Marine View Drive.

Then Des Moines and White Center, more hill climbing, and another, final descent to the Kent Valley and the Green River. After a brief detour due to road construction we were on our way to Renton and finally the bike path north along the eastern side of Lake Washington.

Truly a great day for this final run-up to IMC. An easy weekend ahead to start taper time.

RAMROD, 2010 Version

2010-08-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

The 2010 RAMROD is in the bag.

My friend Gary and I rode together on this one. He was really hanging it out there as his longest training ride had been 70 miles and that was a while ago. But he's also tough and smart enough to ride within his limits.

When we got to Enumclaw at 5:00 am there was a heavy fog, so heavy that it was almost like a misty rain. When we took our bikes off the rack they were coated with condensation. Lucky that I had a towel in the trunk to dry off the seats. It would have been pretty unpleasant to mount up on a wet saddle.

The first 60 miles or so are gentle hills or flat to the Longmire entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park. At about mile 35 there was a water/fuel/potty stop which we took advantage of. Plus, I saw my old friend Marilyn Williams. Since she's close to my age I had to compare ride numbers with her: 45 (her) versue 41 (me). This is a game one can play all day long because the numbers are issued in reverse age order. I.e., the oldest rider is #1 and the youngest rider is the highest number. With 800+ riders a number in the 40's puts you into the seriously old codger cadre.

Gary and I hung together well to the second rest stop. We had a pretty short stop there, just long enough for us to get some fluids and food and for me to use the toilet (an ongoing theme for the day). Just as we were getting to this rest stop the fog burned off. Now we had sunshine. Then on to the park.

They were ready for us at the entrance with a special lane just for the RAMROD riders. Then it was several miles of gently rising road through old growth forest and paralleling a glacial river.

At Longmire we started up the first climb of the day. About 8.5 miles of steady up to the Reflections Lake rest stop where we spent about 30 minutes. A teensy bit more climbing and we were at Reflection Lakes with Mt. Rainier looming above everything to the left and the Tatoosh Range to our right.

Down, down, down, down: much descending to the Box Canyon aid station where we had chocolate croissants and no mosquitoes. This descent had some rough road, lots of drainage grates, and 2 tunnels. The last bit of Box Canyon followed this aid station then the short climb over Backbone Ridge.

More descending, this time with some pretty beat up road. The RAMROD folks were kind enough to mark the worst spots with fluorescent green paint. This was great because we were into and out of sun so that sometimes it was hard to see the rough spots until you were right on them. At 30+ MPH this is a bit un-nerving!

After this descent we exited at the Ohanacoposh entrance and turned left for the biggest climb of the day: Cayuse Pass. In total there's about 15 miles of climbing. The first part is gently rising through the forest. Then you go through a tunnel. It's long and uphill and VERY disorienting. The forest shade is pretty much gone from this point to the 4000+ summit of Cayuse Pass. Today was not beastly hot; this can be a real furnace some years.

After a quick toilet break we had the delicious descent to the lunch stop. About 8 miles of good road and gentle curves, open and sunny at first and eventually diving into the forest. A quick turkey and swiss sandwich plus drinks, fruit, and other goodies and we were on our way to the last section.

I've never liked this part. It's about 35 miles back to Enumclaw, slightly downhill but always with a headwind. It's just a slog. A few miles in we managed to hook up with 3 other riders in a pace line where we pulled each other along at 23 MPH or so. It was good to sit in the slipstream much of the time.

After Gary got on the front and did his pull the other 3 decided to pull off because their heartrate was too high! Gary and I continued on together through the last of the downhill and the long hill up to the Mud Mountain Dam turn. It was much more pleasant once we got off the highway as the traffic dropped off to nothing.

After the thrilling Mud Mountain descent back to the Enumclaw Valley we were back to farms and rectilinear roads. One turn and a straight shot of a couple miles and we were back to the ice cream truck.

We were very pleased with our day: less than 12 hours on the road, 10 hours riding time, 150 miles, 10,000 feet or so of climbing. And Gary was strong.

Ross Family Reunion, 2010

2010-08-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

(This posting is courtesy of my sister).

As the 2010 Ross Reunion drew near, we all prepared for our journey from near and far -- New Mexico, Arizona, California, Florida, Montana and Washington. We came by plane, automobile and motorcycle. Each of our journeys a little different than the others, but with one goal in mind, to meet up with the members of the Ross Family for a weekend of sharing, catching up and playing together, not to mention all the eating.

It was wonderful to see the little ones at the reunion. The great great grandchildren, great grandchildren and grandchildren of Ray and Lena Ross. Family and friends gathered together to celebrate family.

Beanbag Battle was the hit among the adults and older children. Competition is alive and well in the Ross Family. The only way the game was finally called was because it started to rain, and no one wanted the game to get wet and swell up, which would have meant no more Beanbag Battle.

What a joy to see the little ones pulling the wagons around, running through the sprinkler and swinging on the rope swing in the willow tree. At the end of the day they were exhausted, with one little one falling asleep in his Grandmother’s arms, and laying down on a blanket on the ground fast asleep.

It was a delight to see the Ross siblings loving on each other, telling tales and catching up on what they had been up to the past few years. Eight of the fourteen children were here. Fourteen children is just amazing -- 10 girls that resemble their mother and 4 boys that resemble their father -- kids that started out in a coal mine town in Montana. Each started their own lives spread out over several states, still caring for each other, coming together to celebrate family and each other.

There was abundance everywhere -- the love, the caring, the fun, the food, especially pies and cakes.

Happy Trails to each of you, may we all meet again.

Death Ride, 2010

2010-07-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Another Death Ride in the bag. For those of you unfamiliar with it, this ride occurs in the California Sierra Mountains just south of Lake Tahoe. Not huge mileage (130) but lotsa climbing (15,000 ft).

Janet and I arrived at Lake Tahoe (a gem of another story) a week early to enjoy the heat and the hikes in the mountains. There are 3 wilderness areas all in close proximity to the south shore of Lake Tahoe. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes hiking.

The Wednesday before the ride I took a tuneup ride from our motel to Luther Pass, just to see if everything was working well after a plane trip. It was.

Friday night arrived and I packed everything into the car. We had rented this monster Mercury so that we could easily transport a bike. Problem was that I couldn't fit the bike into the trunk with the back wheel on and was afraid of getting grease on the rent-a-car upholstery by putting the bike into the back seat so I had to remove both wheels. I just hate to start out a ride with greasy hands but it couldn't be avoided.

I allowed an hour to drive from South Lake Tahoe to the ride start in Markleeville, planning to be there at about 5:30 a.m. I left on schedule and actually got there a little early. Since there are 2500 riders and this is a teeny little place, folks park their cars all along the road that goes through Markleeville. I ended up 2 or 3 miles from the ride start.

There was sufficient light by 5:30 for me to assemble my bike and head over to the start area. Riding up the road and heard a faint tick, tick, tick coming from the bike. I thought this might be my cycling computer magnet so I stopped a couple times to fuss with it to no avail. At the ride start I used a Porta-john then coasted out to the highway to start on the ride.

Just as I turned onto the road my back tire blew with a load pop. Disgusted to have this happen to me at the start, I swapped in a new inner tube and inflated with a CO2 cartridge. This always worries me to be starting a long ride with only 1 tube and 1 CO2 cartridge.

I happened to glance down at my rear wheel as I was about to depart and saw that my rear (almost new!) tire had developed a sidewall hernia and the new inner tube was bulging out. There was the source of my ticking!

Since they had a bike support station at the start I rolled my bike up there, tore a piece of my bike number to use as a boot, stuck in the boot and used their floor pump to re-inflate my tire.

Now I could safely ride back to my car where I had a spare tire, tubes, and CO2. So back I went and made the change. Nervous nelly that I am I put an extra (3rd) inner tube in my fanny pack. I was finally ready to head out at about 6:30 and there were not very many of us. I pretty much had the road to myself.

The initial part of the ride is mostly downhill to the start of Monitor Pass, the first climb. The sun was coming up and illuminating the lower parts of the canyon. Steady climbing for 8 miles or so with the steepest parts in the middle. Monitor Pass summit is a big, broad plateau maybe 1/2 mile across. Since I had sufficient fluids for the descent I just continued through the sag stop to the descent.

Since the Death Ride involves 5 passes climbed it also has 5 passes descending. So, after crossing the summit plateau I descended the 9 miles or so to the eastern side of Monitor Pass. My descending weeniness came to the fore here as there are rough roads and some sharp corners. However there were some long stretches where I could let it run out.

At the bottom was another sag station. I hydrated, eliminated water, ate a little salty food, and took off my warm clothes for the ascent. Then back up the hill, ascending the 9 miles that I'd just come down.

After another quick stop at Monitor Summit I descended the west side. This was the most pleasant descent of the day with modest grades, long runouts and gentle curves. Very quickly I was back at the base and headed west up the Carson River.

This section was several miles of gently rising road, following the river through beautiful Sierra woods. At the sag stop partway up the river a person was calling out "Only 7 miles to Ebbetts".

Wow, what a 7 miles. There was a little more forest then the road just tipped back for the first steep pitch. It was on and off short, steep pitches all the way to the summit. I was very glad to have my triple granny gear. I had to get my head into spinning up hill at 5-6 mph, very challenging for me. By Ebbetts Pass I was getting pretty beat, and was starting to worry about not making time cutoffs. So I rode through the summit stop and down the west side of Ebbetts to the Hermit Valley sag stop.

The cumulative effort was starting to catch up to me. All the climbing and heat plus the tension of time cutoffs was getting to me. Luckily the race folks were providing V-8 juice which is LOADED with salt. I had 3 cans of it plus potato chips and my HEED drink before heading back up the hill to Ebbetts pass again.

At the summit I was at the 4th pass (out of 5) but had covered only about half the mileage. I was also pretty beat. More shady rest, V-8, and HEED got me ready for the second Ebbetts descent. This is the most technical with steep drops, lots of curves, exposure, and the potential for fallen rocks on the road. Pretty challenging for a descending weenie. Eventually the road straightened out to the valley road with longer straight stretches and more modest drops.

A few miles of this brought us to the lunch stop. The heat was really getting to me at this time and I didn't have much appetite so I just nibbled food and hydrated. It took a lot of oomph to push myself out of my chair and back onto the road because I knew this section to be pretty unpleasant.

We were pretty quickly out of the woods and onto the long roller climbs back to Markleeville and Turtle Rock State Park in the blazing sun. This is probably the longest section between support, about 20 miles to Woodfords.

Woodfords is the smallest of all the sag stations and precedes a very challenging piece of riding - up Woodfords Canyon. We had been riding on roads closed to cars up to the lunch stop and one can get really spoiled. Now we were back to sharing and Woodfords Canyon is challenging: steady climbing into a headwind and non-existent shoulders in the upper part.

When I rode past my car on the way to Woodfords the thought had gone through my mind that I didn't NEED to ride the 5 passes and maybe I should just stop and go eat the ride finishers dinner. But I didn't stop, and got to worry about cutoff times again. At Woodfords the support people were calling out that there was a 4:00 pm cutoff to leave for Carson Pass. I finally rolled out at 3:30.

The day's continuous work was starting to tell on me. I was tired and my back really hurt. Occasional standing to pedal and stretch could help momentarily but the pain would come back.

At the Jackson Flats aid station they ran out of water and Cytomax just as I arrived. Luckily they still had V-8 and I had about 1-1/2 water bottles for the 8 miles or so to Carson Pass. After a short rest in the shade and more warnings about missing cutoff times I was on my way.

This road was slightly rising and had a monster shoulder so it was possible to get up to 17 mph or so. What joy! After a couple of miles the road kicked back for the long, long grades to Carson Summit. My back was hurting so badly by now that I stopped a couple miles from the summit to stretch and drink. Then on up the last, long grade and over the top about 100m to the final sag stop.

This is famous for having ice cream so I grabbed an ice cream sandwich. However my stomach didn't like it at all. After eating a few bites I had to throw it out and scarf some chips and goldfish crackers. I actually laid down on the warm pavement using my fanny pack as a pillow and rested horizontal for a time.

After my stomach settled down and I felt more secure to descend I put on some clothing for the long run back down. Back up those 100m to the summit then down, down, down. The upper section of road has long sweeping curves but rough roadway so my weeniness kept my descent speed in check. Down lower the angle dropped, the road surface improved, and there were long straight sections. Past Jackson Flats the drop steepened through Woodfords Canyon. The road surface here was rougher and required more attention.

In the Jackson Flats area we had to stop for a helicopter evacuation. I assumed it was an injured cyclist, but don't really know. The police had all traffic stopped and there were aid cars in the middle of the road. The helicopter landed right in the middle of the road between 2 aid cars and the injured person was transferred to the helicopter for transport to medical care.

Then we were on our way again.

All this descending joy turned to work after we turned onto the road back to Markleeville where we had to climb a couple of easy grades. I was very happy to see my car again. Even with the helicopter wait the approximately 25 mile descent from Carson Pass took less than an hour.

Today my back is still sore but I'm very happy to have completed another Death Ride. Maybe I'll get in again next year.

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Marathon Mania, Done

2010-05-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

The second phase of my Marathon Mania quest was to run a second marathon within 2 weeks of the first. I finished it today.

My whole schedule was based on marathon availability, but this was a great choice for #2. The race organization runs 4 races simultaneously: 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. Plus there were some walkers. We shared the first half of our course with the half marathon runners. I gotta tell ya, it was hard to keep on going when they peeled off to finish.

I was a bit concerned about the temperature because it was projected to be as warm as 80° today. That's pretty hot for a Washington west-sider what with our recent highs in the 60s. I just planned to hydrate well during the run.

My motel was about a 12 minute walk from the race finish line. The start line was 13 miles away in the hills to the east of Boise. Since we were bussed to the start from the finish area I picked a motel that would allow me to walk to the start and walk back at the end. And it was a great choice! Nice room, small kitchen, walking distance to food.

I woke up at about 4:45 and it was pitch black outside. Funny how your placement in a time zone affects daylight. Boise is on Mountain time, but must be WAY west in the time zone. By 5:15 it was starting to get light out and by the time I headed over to my bus it was full daylight. Yesterday I picked up my race packet at the finish line area so I knew the route and the time it would take.

The toilets at the finish had no line so I took advantage of that. You just never know how long you're going to have to wait at the start area.

On the bus ride out I had a great conversation with a young man, 'PJ', who was running the half marathon, his second in less than 2 months and his second ever. He's hooked on endorphins!

Driving in to the start area it was clear that we were going to have a chilly start. All the trees were shaking in the wind. The bus dropped us off right at the base of a big earthen dam on the Boise River. Quite a start location. And it was COLD as we stepped off the bus. I felt sorry for PJ as he was wearing only his race togs. I was wearing a lot more clothing to keep my old bones warm. People were huddled in groups in the lee of any shelter: vehicles, buildings, trees. I got right in with them.

Far too soon I had to leave my shelter to go stand in the wind in the toilet line. Thinking I'd be clever I picked a line most downwind hoping to have wind shelter from the other bodies. Fat chance. The wind just whipped through. And my line hardly moved. Somebody must have been hiding out in the can or something. I finally got my chance and was back out into the wind far too soon.

Back to my original shelter and it had cleared out some. At first I was standing with the crowd outside this shed but when I returned room had opened up inside. In I went. The wind died away and it was warm and toasty inside. We even got to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Laurie who was celebrating her birthday by running the half marathon.

I kept checking my watch, not wanting to go out into the wind too soon. But the time drew near. So I stripped out of my warmups, packed everything up, handed my stuff over to the transport crew, and got into the runners pack. Folks were still picking up their race packets so we ended up starting off about 7 minutes late.

The first mile or so was on a road then we were on to a bike/running path that followed the river. Most of our run was on path from this point. There was a section of 1 or 2 miles in the first half where we were on streets and about a 1/2 mile at our turnaround. Otherwise it was all path.

At the 1/2 marathon end point most of the runners peeled off to the finish and I was left in the lonely crowd heading out on the marathon. Our route was spectacular as we wound along the river and past some pretty snazzy houses.

The miles started to drag as the pain in my legs started to build up and the soreness in my hip increased. Funny how one does mental math: figure out the miles left to the turnaround, can I bear twice as much soreness? At the turnaround we popped off the trail and made a little loop through a residential area. By this time I was taking a gel every couple of aid stations trying to stave off exhaustion.

At about mile 20 I had a fun duel with some young buck. As I gradually came up on him he picked up his pace slightly as I moved out to pass. Of course I took the challenge and picked it up just a little more. Within 2 minutes he was back, sliding past me. "Well," I thought to myself, "two can play at this game." So with 5 miles to go I took it up another notch and just held it. I could hear his footsteps behind me, slowly fading out of earshot. Then we came to a bridge with a slight rise to the crossing. I kept up the same pace and he was toast: no more footsteps.

Then I began to notice the mile markers on the path. Every tenth of a mile there was a marker counting down and the countdown was pretty close to the mileage to finish. Oh, cruel world! Every tenth of a mile. Interspersed with chalked mile markers for our race.

With 3 miles to go I was feeling strong but very sore. Mile 26 was just before we turned off the path into Anne Morrison Park to the finish. There was a very large crowd to welcome us home. I really warmed up to the cheering and encouragement and finished strong.

The heat had really sneaked up on me at the end. I sat down in the shade and it was very clear that I'd been working very hard as my body cooled down. Then on to potatoes (after all, this is the Great Potato Marathon!). I limped over to check the marathon results and the posted results weren't up to my finish time yet. So, back to the shade with a chocolate milk to sip, occasionally glancing over at the board to see if another page of results was up.

When I saw the big crowd gathered I figured they were up so off I went, hobbling over. I scanned down the list for my time and there I was: age group first! Oh man, what a finish to a great journey. Two marathons, two weeks, two wins. Both on gorgeous courses.

Marathon maniacs, I hope you will take me.

Cross in the Spring

2010-05-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

The sun was out and it felt like short pants day for bike riding. So instead of riding around the south end of Lake Washington I decided to ride my cross bike on the Seattle City Light Powerline right of way. I hadn't been here since last fall when I tried out my 1-speed, home made cross bike.

It was every bit as hard as I remembered.

There's a couple miles of streets to Cheasty Blvd where you can ride a gravelled path all the way up the hill instead of riding the street. It's in great shape with only a couple of street crossings and a handful of weeps so the trail isn't very wet.

Once you get to the top of Beacon Hill there's a 4 or 5 block ride to get on the grass and away you go. There's always a break by using the Chief Sealth Trail. You can see from some of the pictures that it's a continuous set of swales following the power line. So I could pick a line and make it as hard or easy as I wanted.

And the surface was SOOOO hard to ride on. It's this incredibly lumpy grass, like an old pasture, covered with grass. In many places it was mowed to about 4-5 inches in height. Where it wasn't mowed the grass was about 2 feet tall; I avoided those sections.

There were boggy places and hidden holes and ditches at the base of the swales.

I bounced and pedaled and tried to keep my front wheel down on the really steep hills and tried to avoid the boggiest places. My tongue was hanging out and I was working very hard. From time to time there was a street crossing just for interest.

And it was fun! And it was a workout.

Combined with my first lake swim of the season this morning it was a glorious NW spring day.

Brrrr - Early May Lake Swim

2010-05-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

It was great to get into Lake Washington early this year. The last couple of years it's been almost June by the time I hit the open water.

My pool was closed today due to Seattle Parks employee furlow, the sun was out, the wind was light - what more could I ask for the first day to dip?

This morning I dug into the closet and pulled out my long sleeve wetsuit, grubbed through a drawer of gloves, hats, etc. to find my neoprene swim cap and I was good to go.

I chose to go to Andrews Bay because it's frequently a teensy bit warmer this time of year and it tends to be sheltered from the prevailing southwesterly winds. Today the wind was coming from the north so there was a slight chop. Not enough to be bothersome, but not smooth water either.

The parking lot was filled with cars when I got there. The loop around the park is a popular walk so I figured these were walkers. In the lee side of the bath house the sun was shining down and warming everything. My bare feet felt warmed by the asphalt of the parking lot. The struggle to stretch the rubber over my body was like an old friend.

Double check to make sure I had my extra car key around my neck before slamming the trunk door shut.

Then off to the water, pulling on my two caps: neoprene first with a brightly covered latex cap over the top. Stepping out from behind the bath house it was clear that the wind blowing up the chop wasn't a balmy summer breeze, but had a late spring bite.

That first step into the water was a BIG one. The last step off the stairway is into water about knee deep. My feet instantly felt the cold. It brought back all those memories of early season swims. But numbness did not immediately set in and the discomfort did not quickly move toward pain.

I waded out and leaned forward into the water to get horizontal. My hands were chilled immediately but I wasn't left gasping when my face went into the water. With that, I settled into an easy free style across the bay to a prominent point. My hands and feet quickly adjusted to the temperature and the only problem I had was leaky goggles.

At the point I turned around and headed back, feeling a bit dizzy from the cold water. This got me to wondering what the water temperature was. The best approximation I could get was from the King County Lake Buoy. Their measurements indicate that the water is probably in the low 50's F (10-11°C).

It's done. Now I can truly feel like another tri-training season is underway and I get to escape the chlorinated monotony of the pool for the pleasure of open water.

The Sunflower Relay

2010-05-01T15:14:00.001-07:00

I did it! None of my trepidations came to pass and I completed The Sunflower Relay (iron division) today. This was a new version of the course, extending it to a marathon distance.

My previous 2 runnings of the race gave me some inklings about the course, but I had no idea how the added distance would work out.

This race is run as a relay with teams and iron persons. Most of the racers seem to be iron runners. According to the race website about 170 people signed up to run solo and there were about 75 teams. The race founder's vision was to have a low key race in a beautiful setting and they're continuing to pull it off. The historical teams are the most interesting as the team is required to have a young runner (14 or younger), an older runner (40 or older), and at least 1 female member.

Driving into the valley yesterday I immediately noticed the stiff, cold wind, especially when I got outside my car. At our race briefing this morning, the race director told us that it had rained (and snowed) earlier in the week. However, today started out with blue skies and puffy white clouds.

By the time we got out of the buses at the race start (this is a point-to-point race) the wind had picked up and was blowing something like yesterday. That was to be the theme for the day. There was even a very light sprinkling of rain just before the start. We could look back up the valley toward Washington Pass and see some kind of precipitation coming down.

At the race start I got to see and talk to friends and acquaintances. Earl was here and we rode up to the start on the bus together. After we got out there was Andy and Andrew and Nick and a bunch of Andrew and Nick's friends, all young. There was the usual stripping and hanging out for a few minutes in the raw air before the start and then we were off with a very casual countdown.

The first mile or so was on the paved road then we ducked onto the ski/bike trails. On this leg we got to cross a suspension bridge over the Methow River and boy was that weird! All the heavy footfalls caused waves on the bridge deck that were very weird to run with. The bridge swayed from side-to-side and the waves ran the length of it. More than once I stepped onto the top of a bridge deck wave. Kinda like running on an uneven surface and striking a rock.

This section took us to the 5 mile point and the old starting point and now the first relay exchange point. Then a couple miles on dirt road followed by a lot of twisty-turny stuff on single track and poor quality dirt road. The woods were very open and it was most pleasant to get off the main road as cars were driving along it and kicking up dust.

After aid station #2 we settled in for a long, gradual downhill on good quality dirt road to the river. Then great single and double track through the woods and cattle gates to Wolf Creek Road. This was paved and we ran a couple miles on it to aid station #3 where we left the road again to get back on the trail system.

This took us to the edge of the valley and the half way point - a sign stuck into the ground reading "13.1 miles get ready for up up up". And up it is - just over a mile of steady to steep uphill on a gravel/dirt road eventually leveling out and crossing the highway by Patterson Lake and just downhill from Sun Mountain Lodge.

A couple switchbacks brought us up to the trail along Patterson Lake. This is probably my favorite section of the run. We started out in forest with the lake to our left with the trail undulating and traversing the side of the hill. After a time the forest opens up to give even greater vistas and flowers. Just past the end of the lake is aid station #4.

This next section is nicer than the last time I was here when there had been logging activity. Now the logging scars have kind of healed over and we ran through very open, high altitude pine forest on nice single track. There was a short section on the road then back into the woods for a long downhill finish to aid station #5.

It was in this section that we passed the 17-mile mark and I was amazed at how good my legs felt. At that point I knew that I was going to finish well.

Right out of this aid station we went up a steepish hill maybe a 1/2 mile long - very challenging. After topping this hill we were treated to grand vistas of rolling grassland. Our route followed a descending, rocky road eventually coming out on a better quality dirt road and a high traverse above a lake. This was a long, long downhill and just past the end of the lake was aid station #6.

I had my second GU and refilled my water bottle for the last time. More up, down, up, down to pass the last little lake on the run. The dreaded final downhill was getting closer and closer as the miles ticked by. We crossed a pasture then switch-backed up this old, old 2-lane track to the last aid station, near the top of the run. At this aid station I ate a final GU and downed an electrolyte cap with a couple cups of water.

A bit more descent through a Ponderosa Pine grove and the final drop was visible. I had forgotten how we traversed way around the top of the valley. Today this traverse was into a blustery headwind. Somewhere in this section we had to go through a barbed wire fence. The race folks were kind enough to tie it up for us so I only had to bend over and slip under. Finally there was the technical downhill to the valley where we had a half mile or so of gently descending rocky road in a picturesque little valley.

This opened up to great, open grassy areas with horse tracks where I was really able to pick up my speed. I'd been hoping for a 4:15 finish but at mile 25 I was at 4:08 so it just wasn't gonna be.

The finally 200 meters or so were very welcome. This was a change from previous years as we left the road and ran across a pasture. I was very nervous about the footing as it was pretty uneven. That finish line was very welcome.

My legs held up well and don't feel too dead right now. A bit of ice, on to the awards/swag ceremony then some sleep.

Bring on Boise. I feel like it should be manageable.

Pre-race jitters

2010-04-30T18:25:00.001-07:00

Well, it's here. I've been thinking about this for months now and the time has just whipped by. When I made the decision in January to take a run at becoming an official 'Marathon Maniac' it seemed very far away.

Through nothing but chance the Sunflower Relay was changed to a marathon distance this year. It's a race that I love to do so I checked on the web and found the Boise Marathon 2 weeks later!

With that I was off and running.

Now the training is over and I'm supposed to be rested, but, of course, I'm plagued with all kinds of pre-race jitters.

Right now I've got my old guy aches and doubts. What have I got myself into? On the drive over all I could think about was how tired my legs will be at the finish tomorrow. Is that itchiness in the back of my throat a cold coming on? Will I step in a hole or slip on a rock and wrench my back?

O, woe is me!

Let's see how tomorrow goes.

A run at Coal Creek

2010-03-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

On the last Sunday of winter I wanted to run the Coal Creek Trail. This trail has a very interesting history: at the turn of the 20th century it was an active coal mining area. Photos posted on an information kiosk show an area that was totally industrialized.

Today the forest has reclaimed most of the land and there are only occasional clues to the past to be seen.

My interest was not historical but was spiritual. The lower section of the trail is almost magical with moss and ferns growing from the trees and the sounds and sight of the creek add to the magical effect. I've been on this trail in the winter after a cold, foggy night and the moss-covered trees have an additional coating of frozen fog.

Spectacular!

This was a much warmer day and I wanted to enjoy the sense of spring in the air.

In addition, I was returning to this trail for the first time since it had been reopened following flood damage repairs.

What a job the Bellevue Parks department has done. The lower section of the trail, where I started has been regravelled and the bridge that washed out has been replaced by a very sturdy structure.

The middle section of the trail is pretty much unchanged. However, the Primrose section of the trail is officially closed. This means that if you want to visit Primrose Falls you'll have to make an unofficial side trip. And there's a new side trail further along that heads off toward Lakemont. I didn't check it out but I assume that it goes to a new trailhead access point.

Much of the upper trail has been widened and barked. This really deals with all the mud that used to be here. I can never get enough of the 2 waterfalls that are just next to the trail in this section. Plus, the information kiosk is located here so that you can read about the history of Coal Creek and see the industrial pictures.

I wanted a teensy bit more mileage than the loop so I crossed the road to the Redtown access point to Cougar Mountain Park and ran a short loop before returning to my car.

This trail is just magical. I can never seem to get enough of it. The fresh forest, the creek, the use of industrial materials in the trail, the mud, the roots: it's all there.

2010-03-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

Our January trip to Hawaii...

The weather

Clearly the reason to go to the paradise of Hawaii is the weather. It’s balmy all the time, especially for a northwesterner, with temperatures mostly in the 70s. Never much higher, never much lower. This January we went to Kuaui, the ‘Garden Island’, so named because the central mountain, Mt. Waialeale, gets more than 400 inches of annual rainfall!

Our first week was sunny and warm; the second week brought some rain. We only had heavy rainfall at night, but even the daytime rain that we encountered was warm. However, the rainy period did leave the mountain cloud-shrouded and left us looking for hikes at lower altitude.

More on this later.

The food

One of the high points for us was the food. I, especially, was looking forward to lots of tropical fruits but it turns out that January is an off season so the fruit selection is pretty lame. We just had to make do with papayas, pineapples, and bananas. One of our days we went to a farmers market and bought an UNBELIEVABLY good pineapple – the best we’d ever had.

My friend Gary told us about the Koloa Fish Market and was that ever great advice. The grilled fish was terrific, but we were introduced to poke and just fell in love. Poke is raw fish mixed up with other ingredients: maybe seaweed and sweet onion or Korean flavored. Eaten with rice and some fresh vegetables it’s a meal to die for. You can get it at just about any grocery store, even at Safeway.

Gary also told us about ‘Savage Shrimp’ a roadside vendor of grilled shrimps. This was a van, kind of like a taco wagon, whose sole fare was grilled shrimp served with rice. Turns out this was just around the corner from us so we were able to go out our back door, walk across the street, and order up. The vendor was also kind enough to sell us a 1-1/2 order, just enough for the two of us.

We also found Papaya's natural/organic food store in Kapaa so we could buy organic. On one of our trips a woman just started talking to us in the bulk foods area. She told us about lilikoi chiffon pie at the Hamura Saimin restaurant. We had to check this out and ended up buying a whole pie. It took us several days to eat and every bite was good.

Hiking

Kauai has lots of hiking, from shorelines and beaches to lowland mountains to high mountain ridges. With the moderate weather of our first week on the island we were able to get up high without getting wet. Mt. Waialeale sits on the island like the hub of a wheel and numerous ridges radiate out to the coast. Many of these ridge tops have trails or roads. We chose to hike the Nu'alolo Trail. It went almost straight west and ended on an escarpment 2000 feet above the ocean. We could look down into the lush Nu'alolo Valley and see the surf pounding the Napali coast.

The downside of these ridge hikes is that you have to walk uphill to return. Our return gave back the 1500’ of elevation that we’d lost hiking out.

This trail showed the effects of heavy rainfall but even more dramatic was the Powerline Trail. As one of our guidebooks pointed out, this trail is clear evidence of why you see hunter’s pickup trucks with 4-foot lift kits. In some places the tire ruts were 3-1/2 feet deep!

On a couple of our hikes we were lucky to be able to eat ripe guavas right off the tree. We later found out that the guavas are non-native and are spread by the feral pigs.

Bookending our whole trip was a walk south from the resort strip to Maha'ulepu Beach (a real gem!). I ran part of this shore-side trail on our first day and Janet walked it on the second. It has long, sweeping beaches, dramatic surf, sedimentary (sandstone and limestone) and volcanic cliffs, sighing/breathing rocks, even a sacred Hawaiian heiau. We closed out our trip by taking our last walk in this place, as well. Got a little of that warm, tropical rain and all the drama of this shoreline.

Running

Before leaving home I had checked MapMyRun to see if there were any runs logged for Poipu on Kauai and found only one. My big need was to be able to get in a single long run in final preparation for the Death Valley Marathon. This scarcity of MapMyRun runs left me to my own resources to figure out a route.

My first run was exploratory, heading north from our condo toward the big Poipu hotels. This is when I found the Makawehi cliffs and trail. A great find because I kept coming back to it and liking it more and more. With each excursion it revealed a little more of itself. On my first exploration I was blown away by Shipwreck Beach and the incredible meadows just before …. On later trips I saw the diving board cliffs and the porous cliffs that breathed with the surf.

Gift shopping

The folks in Janet’s office have a tradition of bringing back “gifts” to each other when a team member goes on vacation. Generally these gifts are something that you keep at your desk out of respect to the giver but they’re not something you’d typically get for yourself. She decided to try something different so we went to the Salvation Army and went through their rack of Hawaiian shirts and she got one for everyone.

They loved ‘em and even scheduled a Hawaiian lunch shortly after receiving them.

Sites

Oh, the places to see.

The mountain: Mt. Waialeale, big, rugged, green, rainy, muddy.

The beaches: some with surfers, some with fish, one with glass, one with engine blocks.

The plants: one of a handful of sites with tropical botanical gardens, well worth an afternoon

Why do Ironman?

2010-01-11T11:32:00.000-08:00

The question how did you decide to race at Ironman was posted on the TRI-DRS list serve. Following is my response.

I started triathlons in 1986 by watching a friend compete in one the previous year. I'd known him for a number of years through climbing and he was about as far from appearing to be your typical slow twitch athlete as you could imagine. But it looked like FUN.

That started a winter of swimming followed by starting to compete the next year.

Within 2 years I'd become involved in a local tri club and had watched videos of Ironman Canada. I was just amazed that humans could do what I was seeing. And that video moment of Tom Price reaching out to the fallen race leader just after the run turnaround at OK Falls was such a pure demonstration of sportsmanship that you just had to love it. I got to hear the voice of Steve King on video before I heard it live. And those early years colorful folks: Z-man, Cowman, "The Moose", that guy with all the kids who wore blue jean cutoffs and ran barefoot. How could I not be intrigued?

My first time racing at IMC (1988) I has still a tri newbie and definitely didn't know much about the ironman distance.

But it was a mystical experience. I get chills right now, just picturing myself back out on that run course, heading back to Penticton. It was painful but being able to manage that pain and move ahead made me feel powerful and capable. Finishing was an absolute high - and not because someone shouted out "You're and Ironman!". I felt like I'd really accomplished something.

Over the next few years I build up a cadre of training partners who have become friends. This has been a part of the ongoing experience that keeps me coming back.

In 1997 I had an epiphany experience. It was a race when everything went well. The conditions were perfect, I was fit, and the race felt effortless. I just glided along. It was like the most incredible drug experience you could ever imagine. That set a new benchmark, one that I keep trying to get back to.

Now, in my more mature ironman experiences I have sufficient experience to anticipate the high, dread the pain, and manage it all. I've been lucky enough in life to be able to continue following this dream and to find it very fulfilling.

So, for me, deciding to start was just the first baby step on a journey that's led me to places in never imagined would be there for me. I think that may be what that first decision is all about. It's a truly life-changing decision and has the possibility to take you where you might never go.

Stuck on Tiger Mountain

2010-01-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

With the new year off to a running start at the Resolution Run 5 mile, my next goal was to run (walk?) in the Fat Ass 25K (7000+ ft of elevation). This is a very informal trail run on Tiger Mt., 15 miles or so east of Seattle.

Basically, you show up, sign the book indicating the distance you intend to run, and start running at 8:00 a.m. No money, no fuss. I'd talked it up after the Resolution Run and I was very pleasantly surprised to see Patty and Trevor at the start. We chatted until the official start time then we were off.

Trevor and his dog shot up to the front never to be seen again that day. Turns out he finished the 25K in 2:25.

Tiger Mt. is a maze of trails. I'm always fearful of getting lost when I go there because not all trails are signed on the ground nor marked on maps. The race organizer keeps the getting lost factor down by pre-running the course and hanging Christmasy ornaments and things at each turn. By being alert one won't get lost.

The run starts out with a gentle drop towards the west (Issaquah), passes behind Issaquah High School, then climbs for a couple of miles. It's a very gentle rise trending generally south and east. Ultimately we reached the summit of West Tiger #1, then Tiger #2, and finally Tiger #1 where we made our final descent.

Here's a cue sheet for those interested:

Miles	Cum mi	Direction
0	0	High Pt. Lower Parking Lot
0.5	0.5	Swamp Trail (Shortened) Right at Power Line off Upper Park Lot
0.6	1.1	Bonneville Power Line (Double Power Line) - jog to right
0.1	1.2	Brink Trail (Left)
0.4	1.6	Right at Power Line to Overlook
0.7	2.3	Issaquah High School Trail (Detour around Construction)
0.7	3	Poo Poo Pt. Trail
0.2	3.2	Cross Power Line
2.8	6	One View Trail (continue up)
1	7	Right on Tiger Mt. Trail (TMT)
0.9	7.9	Dieter Spring
0.9	8.8	15 Mile RR Grade
0.3	9.1	Paw Print Rest Station
0.7	9.8	Continue on 15 Mile RR Grade
0.9	10.7	Left and up Bootleg
0.4	11.1	Right on NIER bypass Trail (West Tiger #1)
0.3	11.4	Down Tiger Mt. Road, Climb over Gate
0.5	11.9	Up to Tiger #2
0.5	12.4	Down and Up Saddle to Tiger #3
2.7	15.1	Down West Tiger (Tradition Lk) Trail past Up Park Rest Room
0.5	15.6	High Pt. Lower Parking Lot
15.6	Repeat!

The day was pretty warm at the start so I had to remove my jacket a mile or so into the run. I packed it away in my fanny/hydration pack and hooked up with Patty as she was coming by. We ended up running/yakking together for the entire run.

At West Tiger #1 we came out of the forest and the wind was just howling across the ridge top. It was so cold that we dropped back into the forest and put our jackets on. I didn't know it at the time but when I pulled my jacket out of my fanny pack I also pulled out my car key.

This was clearly a BIG problem when I got back to the car and couldn't get in! Was I pissed.

Patty was kind enough to give me a ride to my house so that I could at least get home.

At that point I was faced with a decision about leaving my car at the trail head overnight or trying to get back to it that day. I'm the only driver in our house and that's also the only car that we have. After eating and clearing my head with helpful insight from Janet we figured out that I could load my bike onto a bus, ride the bus to Issaquah, and then pedal on from there to retrieve the car.

This is exactly what I did and it worked out just fine.

Now there's a key lying somewhere along the trail at West Tiger #1 waiting to be retrieved.

The race organizer took some cool photos on the run. Many thanks to Ron Nicholl for graciously allowing me to post them here.

2010, Off on the Right Foot

2010-01-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

One could also say off on both feet, but that sounds kinda weird.

For the past several years I've started the year with the Fort Steilacoom Running Club's "Resolution Run" series. Aptly named because the first race is on New Year's Day then 3 more races at 1-month intervals. Details here.

Today's race was the 5er (KM or miles) and I ran the miles. It's always fun to see my endorphin junky friends at this race so I was quite looking forward to it. This year, however, I've also scheduled myself to run in the Death Valley Marathon in February, so that looms pretty big right now. Funny sort of perspective for a 5 mile race.

Then the big surprise.

Janet calls out to me as I'm starting my morning routine would I like it if she goes with me. "Sure," says me. Then she says, "What if I were to run the 5K?".

Well, Janet hasn't run for some time what with her failing vision and the last time she ran in a race was a giant disaster. She ended up tripping over a curb and falling smack on her face and scraping up much of the front of her body.

I know that she's gutsy, but that's REALLY gutsy. There's a section of gravel where the run course leaves the track and at about the 1 mile mark it's pretty dark from overhanging trees. These kinds of hazards are very difficult for her to negotiate.

My goal was to run the 5 mile race in 36 minutes which would be a real stretch since I've been doing nothing but endurance running for months now.

This race is about the most civilized race that you could ever imagine. The start/finish venue is a high school and all the athletes have full access to the common areas and the locker rooms (with showers!). We both brought shower gear and a full change of clothing so that we could take full advantage of the showers.

I took a couple of warm-up laps around the track (the race starts and ends on the track) and Janet did some yoga poses for her warm-up. We separated for the start - me towards the front of the pack and her towards the back of the pack.

With the usual informal start we were off and running.

By the time we rounded the track and ran up the hill I was into heavy breathing mode. Runners from both races followed the same course out with the 5K athletes turning around at the 2.5K mark and the mile runners continuing on to the 2.5 mile mark.

After a mile or so everyone settled in to their pace and I was running with a group of the same runners. The lead runner in the 5K race went by me on his return 200m or so from his turn-around. And he was at least 100m ahead of the second place runner.

As I passed the kilometer turn-around, the pack really thinned out. Most of the runners were racing in the 5K event. Some little rises over the next mile and we were to the turn-around.

Back to the KM turn-around point and I started looking for Janet. There were still walkers coming out and she said she'd be walking.

No Janet, no Janet.

The 4-mile mark and no Janet.

Across the last big street and back towards the finish and no Janet. I was starting to get a bit worried.

Down the hill and back onto the track and there she was running along, heading for the finish. Cool, running!

I could hear Trevor shouting out my name to pass the runner ahead of me. All this got me was a quick backward glance from that runner and a pace pickup.

As I rounded the last turn in the track and headed down the finishing straight away I could hear the race director calling out the names of athletes. A little closer and I could see the clock: 34:36!

This urged me on to finish strong and I clocked in at under 35 minutes. A great feeling.

I walked a few steps, talked to Trevor, and turned back to the finish as Janet was walking out of the finisher's chute. She was really happy, I was really happy.

The wind had picked up a little and we were both sweated up so we headed in for a warm shower.

Showers were followed by hot food (chile), companions, and awards. Janet and I sat at the champions table. We had 4 AG first place finishers: 5K M35-39 (Trevor), 5Mi F45-49 (Patty), 5Mi M60-64(me), 5Mi M65-69 (Marv) and 2 second place AG finishers: 5K F60-64 (Janet), 5Mi F45-49 (Liz) at our table.

We brought home the software and started 2010 out right.

I'm off to a

Lost in China Camp

2010-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

It's one of those primal fears that trail runners have, sort of like getting eaten by a mountain lion. That fear is getting lost while on the trails.

I got to experience this twice over the past week.

Janet and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year in California (San Rafael) where she got to spend time with her ailing mother, we both got to work on some tasks related to her mom's move to her current living situation and we both got to visit her ailing Aunt Janet, and I got to get in some trail running.

We were staying in San Rafael (Marin County, California) and there are gobs of open spaces and parks in Marin (Marin County open spaces, China Camp State Park, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Pt. Reyes, etc. etc. ) suitable for trail running. It's a trail runner's paradise.

During our previous visits I'd spent most of my time exploring the Sleepy Hollow Open Space, near our motel. The last time there I'd made it all the way to the "Metallica Gate" and I was longing to explore a little more. With this in mind, I emailed a trail runner who I'd met at a family gathering a couple years ago to see if I could hook up and to get some guidance on other areas to explore. We didn't get together but I did get to explore.

China Camp was within running distance of our hotel and it rained on Christmas day so I thought that running mostly on paved surfaces would be desirable. The soil in that area is very, very sticky and I didn't want to run with big gobs of mud stuck to my feet. Using a published map I saw that I could run around the point and take some residential streets up to a fire road access point.

Every thing was fine to the residential road access point (Sunny Oaks Dr) and my run up to the fire road. I totally misjudged the distance to the Echo Trail entry point and started into the China Camp area on some unofficial trail. I ran downhill then back up hill and ended up on some very obscure trails and at one point bushwhacked uphill through an open stand of oak trees.

Eventually I got to a more well-traveled trail and ended up circling back around to my trail start point. What a relief! No mountain lion snack and back on familiar ground.

The next day I drove to a starting point and ran a loop up the Bay View and Echo Trails. This clearly showed me my error from the previous day as the trailhead was very well signed. The same fire road took me up higher and I was able to loop back down to my starting point.

Day three had me feeling more cocky and I had more time. This time I started from the same point as for day two but continued further along the fire road. I should have been more concerned as my map didn't seem to match the spare signage that I saw.

However, I was confident (filled with hubris?) and continued onward with what felt right. Never a good or smart thing to do.

When I finally emerged from the forest it was at a trail head at the end of a cul-de-sac in a residential area. My map didn't show any of the street names so I set off in what I thought was the right direction. Eventually I ended up at another cul-de-sac trail head and headed back uphill.

After much more uphill I ended back up on a section of the trail that I'd just descended!

So back down to the residential area again to look for someone at home on a weekday. I turned the other direction at the end of this street and kept my eyes open. By this time I was getting nervous as I was supposed to be picking up Janet and her mom to go to lunch with some friends and I was now late. Within a couple of blocks I saw a man working in his garage and asked for directions to San Pedro Road. I knew that I could follow it back to the car.

When I got to San Pedro Road it was clear that I was a long ways from the car. In fact, more than 4 miles away! I called Janet to let her know I was delayed by getting lost and set out running as fast as I could. Just after crossing the park boundary I saw a trail head. This looked much more inviting than running along the edge of a curving, shoulder-less road.

The trail name was intriguing, Shoreline Trail, and much more pleasant than the road. So off I went and it was a good choice. The trail pretty much paralleled San Pedro Road, except where it dipped way inland to bypass a wetland area. Unlike the other trails I'd been on it was also very smooth and rock- and root-free enabling me to move right along.

The mileage indicators at the Ranger Station were disappointing (4.6 miles to the campground and my car!) and I think were wrong because I covered the distance pretty quickly.

In any case I kept moving and in a reasonable time came out to a point where I could see the car across a big wetland area. Not wanting to make another wetland trail detour I took to the road shoulder for the last half mile or so. Boy was that car a welcome sight.

Once again saved by luck and pluck. With so much more open space to explore, who knows when I'll be back to China Camp. But I'll certainly remember it for a long, long time.

A New Ride

2009-12-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

After a taste of cross riding I got the go-ahead from my SO to buy a cross bike.

Because I love the ride and durability characteristics of titanium my first choice of frame material was titanium. I contacted Bill Holland to see what he would charge to build a frame and it turns out he doesn't build cross bikes.

So I turned to the internet. My searches turned up several builders of ti cross bikes and I eventually settled on (TiCycles). One of my regular training partners rides a TiCycles road bike and really loves it. That's a good recommendation.

Several email and phone contacts later we settled on a 52cm frame with Shimano components. One part of the setup that I'm particularly excited about is the disk brakes. I'm so sick of grinding down my wheels with road grit.

The final result is pictured here:

The fenders and light are for my first ride, but more on that later.

Once Dave (of TiCycles) and I settled on the specifics and he got a deposit the process moved ahead. This is a stock frame so it's welded in China. (He has all his stock stuff made in China these days.) After weeks of waiting I got notice that the frame had been delivered to Portland. It passed his QA review and he began the assembly process. A week or so later I got notice that he was done.

The final payment was on its way and I made my final preparations for the pickup adventure.

Since he's in Portland (Oregon) and I'm in Seattle I decided to take the train to Portland and bus out to his factory. Another twist: the single bus line serving his area stops about 2 miles short. "No problem" he says; I'll pick you up. Great; this adventure began.

On December 22 I was on the Portland-bound train at 7:30 a.m., decked out in my cycling togs. It's a beautiful ride with sections that go along right next to Puget Sound. The seats are comfortable, you can get up and walk around any time, there's a dining car, and even power for a laptop! Can't say enough about the quality of this trip.

My trip to pick up the bike went very smoothly. It was a peaceful trip to Portland. My only nervous part was that I forgot to put Dave's phone number into my phone before leaving and hadn't written it down to take with me. TiCycles wasn't listed in the phone book at the train station and my VZ Navigator didn't allow me to find nearby internet cafes. No libraries were with walking distance so I called Janet and she looked it up on the web for me.

The weather was very auspicious - by the time the train got to Portland the clouds had broken up and there were glimpses of blue sky! It was a 2-block walk to a bus stop to take me out his direction. Glad I was dressed warmly as I had to wait quite a while for the bus.

After that it was uneventful: got off the bus at its last stop on St. Helens Rd and called for a pickup. My ride was there in just a few minutes. It turns out that Dave has one person working for him (Eric) and his shop is in the basement of his house! So we were out in this rural area with a bike fabricator working in his basement. This spring he will be moving into a much larger workshop out behind his house.

The bike fit just great except the seat was a wee bit high. Dave lowered it about a half centimeter and it felt just right. Took it for a spin and it rode just fine. Dave took a few pictures of me and the bike to potentially put on his Facebook site. I put a pair of clip-on fenders on the bike and headed back to Portland.

My initial plan was to go back to St. Helens Rd and follow it back into town. Dave, however, suggested that I ride Skyline Blvd back in. Eric got me a GOOGLE map and they sent me on my way. Great suggestion! After 2 or 3 miles of heading uphill on McNamee I got on Skyline which wandered up and down and ultimately brought me right down into the west edge of Portland with a pretty much straight shot back to the train station. The route was about 15 miles.

Had a snack, waited around an hour or so, and got back on the train for a relaxing ride home. Got back to Seattle at 9:00 pm or so and got all hyped up riding back up the hill so that I couldn't get to sleep.

I can hardly wait to get out and ride it off road. Maybe early in the new year?

At the end of 2009 cyclocross

2009-11-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

After my friends shamed me into trying cyclocross this year I have to admit that I did have some fun. It put a whole new twist to riding in the fall and riding on into the bad weather.

This past week I found a great urban cyclocross/MTB route. It follows a Seattle City Light power transmission right of way right through the center of south Seattle. A combination walking/biking trail (article) also uses the same right of way. In places there's a gravelled path that parallels the paved path. However, for CX/MTB the entire right of way has been engineered into a series of great big swales.

The swales have low spots that get muddy, steep ups and downs, and are covered with lumpy grass. All this makes for challenging riding. I found that I could traverse the sides of the swales, go straight up if not too steep, descend on the steep sections, ride through ditches and muddy places. Every once in a while throw in a little paved surface variety. All in all, have quite an experience.

Plus the approach up Beacon Hill via Cheasty Blvd
View Larger Map allowed me to ride all the way up and down on a gravelled path that parallels the road.

Riding the length of the Chief Sealth trail and returning was quite tiring. Now to recruit some of my friends to go with me again.

Yesterday (11/22/09) was my last cyclocross race of the year Seattle Cyclocross' Sedro-Wooley event. And was it a doozy.

First, it was a ridiculously long drive from Seattle - 75 miles - for a 30 minute race. Then, it had been raining for several days so the venue was well-soaked. This made for interesting mud all around. My photo is evidence.

What did I find challenging?

The 50' mud pit. On my final lap I only had to step down for a single step; didn't even have to dismount. On another lap, however, I was brought to a halt in the middle and stepped out into a bog. People used may different strategies to get through from trying to ride all the way to dismounting and running all the way.

The S-mud-downhill. Made it down every time. This was an S-shaped, slippery downhill followed by a slight upgrade to a steep little hill out of the other side of the gully. A challenge to carry enough speed through to the hill and not spin out over the top (muddy again).

The straight away downhill. A nice little run down with a straight runout. Came in to it straight and let it run out. The other side of the gully was a slight up bit over some light mud and roots. Kept enough speed to get up with minimal rear wheel spin.

The log corner. Just a bit before the S-downhill. At a right hand turn half the path had a small log in the earth with a big puddle right behind. The un-log section to the right developed deep mud. So I found it tricky to maneuver through.

The pasture lumps. Everywhere we rode on the grass there were serious humps and bumps. Just jounced my way through.

The washboard. A non-deep-mud bypass to a huge mud section early on in each lap. I slowed down significantly to navigate through.

Post race cleanup was a new experience, as well. Start out with the hose to sluice off the thick mud then 2 cycles through the washing machine. I just hope that my shoes don't mold before they dry out; I've never had so much mud on my shoes.

Now to get my friends out on the trails and to get my hands on my new cross bike!

Pink is for boys

2009-10-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've always liked to be quietly tweaky of convention. Not enough to get too much noticed by polite people and who cares about the impolite ones. All my training partners note when I dress "conventionally". But since the wild lycra 80s it's become harder and harder to get loud and obnoxious clothing. I have found an online vendor who will sell you wild and crazy lycra stuff.

Doing a quick Google search reveals an interesting history of boy/girl color identities. It was only within the last half of the 20th century that the current boys=blue, girls=pink fashion came to be.

Some years ago, before I began my recent run of age group competitiveness, I decided that I could get attention by dying my hair pink for IMC and I could tweak the masculine sensibilities of lots of men. And boy did it work well. The first year I did it (pink hair) I got into the IMC video. Now it's old hat and doesn't happen any longer. But it still works full tilt boogey in the masculinity tweaking department.

It never ceases to amaze me how sensitive so many guys are to outward appearances of being "manly". And pink hair pushes buttons on lots of them. All my friends now think it's just quirky old me.

Same thing with clothing.

Men only wear black or subdued dark colors. Animal prints or loud and/or clashing colors? Never!

Sad to say, my obnoxiously loud workout clothing is wearing out and it's a lot more effort to find and replace. I've got some pink running shorts from the early 90s but those will be history one of these days and there doesn't seem to be readily available replacements. Nowadays I prefer shorts to lycra, so that really restricts my choices.

Ariadne's thread, my 2009 racing season

2009-10-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

The story
In Greek mythology Ariadne was the daughter of Minos the king of Crete. The half man half bull Minotaur inhabited the labyrinth on Crete. Every year 14 young men were provided as sacrifices to the Minotaur. After Ariadne fell in love with Theseus she provided him with a magical golden thread so that he could find his way out of the labyrinth when he was placed into it. Read more and more

This certainly describes my 2009 racing season.

The races
Steilacoom Resolution Run Series
Death Valley Marathon
Desert Half Iron
Ironman Canada
Grand Columbian Half Iron

The numbers
Resolution Run, age group first, mile series
Death Valley Marathon, age group first, 30km event
Desert Half Iron, age group first
Ironman Canada, age group fourth
Grand Columbian, age group first

The labyrinth
I started the 2009 season high as a kite from an incredibly successful 2008 season. In retrospect this was clearly dangerous. My aspirations were high.

My work career was winding down to retirement and I had time and inclination to train. During the fall I had a number of incredible trail running experiences in California. My in-laws lived in Cupertino at that time and their assisted living facility backed up to Rancho San Antonio Park and open space. The weather in Silicon Valley in the winter time can be great, the hills were challenging and beautiful, and I was stoked. On the day these photos were taken I ran all the way to the top of Black Mountain and enjoyed every second of it.

Then disaster in the form of a training injury struck. Running more than a few miles resulted in the most excruciating knee pain I've ever experienced and brought me to a crawl. I struggled through the 10-mile and 15-mile Resolution Run races. In both races I started out fine, but the pain returned some time during the race. At the 15-miler everything was great to about mile 12 at which point I slowed to a crawl.

All this was pointing me to the Death Valley Marathon which was going to be a whole new experience for me. It was not to be.

By the time I got there I was not healed so I switched to the 30km race. That was a smart decision but still a struggle. Bad weather resulted in a course change so we ran in Badwater (the lowest place in North America) instead of through the mountains. By the turn around my pace had slowed to a painful limp. That journey back across Death Valley, peering through the mist, was probably the longest 3 miles I've ever run.

Now I was suffering from serious testosterone poisoning: big aspirations in combination with a body that wasn't cooperating.

Following the thread
First, I went to a physical therapist. A PT had helped me to recover from a shoulder over-use injury the previous year, so I felt some kind of confidence in this approach. With my exercise bands firmly anchored I proceeded to follow instructions and I began to heal!

I was able to run again! It took a while, but it happened.

Then I worked at lowering my aspirations. This was really, really hard because I had set myself up.

But, if the fun was to go out of it, I didn't want to do it.

Training one day at a time became my mantra. Have fun training with my buddies and race up to whatever I was capable of doing and make my competitors work to win.

By the time the Desert Half rolled around I was feeling pretty frisky. But I was flat on the bike, just didn't have the snap I expected. The run was hard, hard, hard. It seemed that my plan was not fully executed.

Then some other mysterious injury settled on me: my right hamstring HURT LIKE HELL when I rode my bike. Massage and acupuncture helped and I could still run totally pain free.

Who would believe that it would be possible to get injured swimming in Lake Washington? It happened. On a training swim I collided with another swimmer who did a perfect head butt to my left rib cage. At first I could hardly breathe; couldn't cough or sneeze or laugh without awful pain.

Wow, I was really being tested.

The coup de grace occurred in mid-August when I was laid low by a hemorrhoid (hargh!) attack.

So, here I was getting ready to do an Ironman with: sore ribs, hurting leg, hargh! Whoa, would I make it to the starting line?

Off to Penticton with plenty of reading material just to make sure that I took it EASY and laid low. The days raced by, I was filled with self-doubt, and I meditated on my state of mind.

The race was a reprise of the Desert Half only twice as long: flat on the bike, struggle on the run. It seemed almost as if I had dug myself in even deeper.

Then the way cleared up: I was still good, I could still race, even in spite of it all. Holy, moly, what a revelation! It didn't matter. I had gone in to the race with self doubts about starting and finished really well. I could let go; I could let the day unfold around me.

That was it. Now I could focus on the fun again and let the rest of it happen as it would, without worrying. And I did. My last race of the year was total fun with a big success.

My first cyclocross race

2009-10-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years I've been "encouraged" by several of my friends to give cyclocross a try. My first thought was "That's a great way to get injured!", what with my lame bike handling skills. As I thought about it more, I became more and more intrigued with the idea and my fear level diminished.

So, last winter I decided to take a cheapskate approach to entry to the sport. I had this old hard tail mountain bike in the garage, demoted from commuter vehicle to taking up space. My second thought was: How can I make this harder for myself? Ah ha, I'll convert the bike to a single speed!

Charlie helped me by suggesting gearing that I could use and by being encouraging. Over the winter I removed all the components from the bike, bought the parts I needed, and made the conversion. This was challenge enough for me as I'm not what you'd call "handy". Here's the final result.

I did nothing over the summer with the conversion. As fall rolled around the only remaining item was tires. Again, Charlie to the rescue. He suggested a lot of options and I chose Vredestein "Tiger Claws". How could I go wrong with tires called "Tiger Claws". During the tire process I found that the rear wheel needed to be replaced. One new wheel later I was ready to go.

Once again Charlie to the rescue. He took me under his wing again, taking me to practice sessions at lower Woodland Park and a Wednesday night session at Marymoor Park. After several of these Tuesday sessions I was ready to give "racing" a try. With my skill level and the speed achievable with my bike racing is a loose way to describe my progress around a course.

Seattle Cyclocross sponsors an entire race series all through the fall. My first race was Beverly Park. As a side note, for those of you who aren't acquainted with cyclocross, the courses tend to be contrived. There are lots of tight turns around trees and/or artificial barriers, at least one run-up where you have to dismount and carry your bike up a hill, and at least one barrier where you must dismount and run over the barrier with your bike. Beverly Park had all of this plus a spooky (for me), steep descent and a weird, uphill, off-camber, S-shaped turn. I walked/ran both of these.

My only goal was to finish in one piece.

Charlie picked me up on Sunday morning for the drive to the race venue. We arrived plenty early, got signed in, and were able to ride a practice lap. The temperature was low and the sun was out.

We started in the infield of a track and within 200 yards were faced with the run-up. I was in the CAT4 55+ men. All the CAT4 men less than 50 started ahead of us and the CAT4 women behind us. It was quite a scene as the riders charged ahead and streamed up the run-up, carrying their bikes.

The first group was off and a minute later we were, as well. There was a barrier at the foot of the run-up to force a dismount. I felt reasonably smooth with my dismount and chugged up the hill. By the time I was a quarter way around the course the first women passed me. Soon I was totally surrounded by women and had lost sight of all the other men. Alexie went by me soon after with an encouraging call.

After the upper section we had the weird S-shaped hill; I walked it. On my third lap I crashed here during my dismount. Shortly after this we were sent down the descent hill which I also walked. This was a real time loser because the descent was followed immediately by an ascent which I then had to run up. Finally several circuitous laps around the track and back to the run-up.

On my third lap I dropped my chain just after the run-up and had to spend time getting it back on. By the time I got back to the track I was starting to overtake a few other men who were pooping out. This chain drop took enough time that I didn't get out on a 4th lap.

Next time.

I met my goal of finishing uninjured; my crash resulted in only a minor elbow abrasion and a sore ankle and shin. All survivable and rapidly healable.

My friends are right, it is fun. And now I've got another sport for the interim season after triathlons are done.

IMC 2009 lead up

2009-09-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Written the day before IMC 2009:

Well, it's almost here. Tomorrow morning we'll be in Lake Okanagan thrashing our way into another IMC.

Had a great dinner with the Deads on Thursday. It was good to see old friends and meet some new faces (thank you, once again, Tony).

The weather has been good for a race. Not too hot, should be manageable.
That's always my biggest fear - that it will be beastly hot. There's just something strange about setting out on a marathon in the middle of the afternoon when the temperature is over 90. I don't think we're going to get that tomorrow.

Lake swims have been terrific. The water temperature is cool and comfortable, wetsuit perfect. We've not seen any high winds on any day so far. In fact, when I walked back from dinner on Thursday night it was so balmy and calm in the lake the kids were out swimming and playing in the water under the moonlight. Their laughter was like music as I walked along Lakeshore Drive.

Yesterday I dropped off my extra wheels at the Bike Barn. I hope that I can save someone else's race by doing so. Mine was saved a number of years ago when I broke a spoke turning in to the out-and-back. Let's hope that the karma I experienced that day is still flowing.

Sister Madonna got a standing ovation at the carbo dinner last night. She was sitting at the table next to mine and we can only hope that we all have the drive, skill, genetics, and persistence of that woman. She's 79 this year and looks just great. Frank Cokan, her male counterpart, is also here. He's a relatively young 78, I believe.

My table was blessed with 2 of the Dick-Eds: Ed Wong and Ed Russell. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Dick-Eds, the 3 of them have done every IMC except the first. That's a streak of 26 years this year!) Ed Russell had special caps made embroidered with "Club Ed" and he gave them out to people at the table. I will proudly wear mine.

Today I'll get all my transition stuff together and give over my bike for its overnight stay in transition. We also get to sign up for the opportunity to sign up for next year's race. Since I've already reserved my room for next year, it looks like I'm on it again. This year will be my 15th IMC. Feels kinda special.

This morning I lay in bed, plugged into my Zune listening to Toby Keith, and thinking about Hurricane Bob's essay on being prepared. You're so right, Bob. I am ready. I've spent the last few days pushing all those doubts out of my mind and preparing for the challenge ahead.

It's a rare privilege to be here with all these dedicated athletes, all of us ready to take whatever is handed our way, and face tomorrow with a big smile and a heart full of joy.

Here's to tomorrow.