Archive for the ‘Cthulhu’ Category
Keeping things dirty.
Friday, July 23rd, 2010Dank is like my security blanket
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Thursday hill climbs
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Custom Double Darn Cthulhu hat
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
At first I thought a short ride sounded like a good idea
Friday, July 16th, 2010But then I made the mistake of looking at this page. Next thing I knew I was headed out on Stark not entirely sure if I was ready for a long day in the saddle. A couple weeks ago, after the 6 hours of Mt Hood and the Test of Endurance, I was in primo shape. Everything was working smoothly, and my endurance was on point. But a week and a half of traveling in a car, and little to no sustained riding took it’s toll. I may only be thirty, but I’m fully aware that if I want to stay in good shape, I’m going to have to work on it – constantly. Not like that’s a bad thing.
Unlike the heat we had last week, yesterday was a mild day. But it was still warm in the sun, and I was happy to find small amounts of shade where I could along Stark. That’s a nine mile stretch of sprawl. No trees, no tall buildings.
After paying the traffic dues, a turn onto Historic Hwy 30 is a welcome reward. The climb starts about here, and it goes for about twenty miles. Eventually leaving Hwy 30 and taking E Larch Mtn Rd means the last fourteen miles await. The mile markers click it off all the way up.
Once at the top, there’s a short trail leading to a look out. If you’ve ridden this far, you would be an idiot to not take the extra 1/4mile bit. Once on top, everything comes into focus.
Mount Jefferson, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier, and Mt St. Helens are all visible from this one spot. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was about 80 degrees. This is what Oregon is all about.
I’ve lived in Portland for almost two years now, and I’m becoming more familiar with our nearest mountain. Mt Hood has many faces, this being one of my favorites. Sharp, tall, and covered with snow. After a short stay, it was time to head back home. Forty miles to go. Back in Corbett I stopped for a can of coke and while I was enjoying it in the shade, my rear tire blew. But I was in such good spirits, I took it as an excuse to relax a bit more before dealing with the city traffic, which was in full swing by 5: 30.
This weekend: Rickreall farm roads.
Almost dialed in full
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010The top portion of Sandy Ridge may not be open, but the lower portion is nearly dialed in. There are a few gravel turns still needing to be bermed out, but for the most part it’s close to perfect.
The old pinball section has been reworked with steeper walls, and a couple choice tabletops. We went out on Sunday and rode the section five times, each time a bit faster. I can’t wait for the top section to open next week. I think I know where I’ll be on the twentieth.
I’d have photos, but I’m a numbskull and I forgot my camera. Bummer.
Wreck’d on the Umpqua
Friday, July 9th, 2010Where do I live? I live in paradise. It seems like around every bend is another beautiful mountain, river, trail, or valley. I truly am a lucky man. My luck also has something to do with working for myself. Which means that when I received the call from R Kelley about a four day mountain bike adventure in Southern Oregon, I didn’t have to ask the boss for the time off. Well actually I had to ask the wife, she’s really the boss.
And so Friday morning we loaded up the bus, and ventured south on I5. Somewhere around Sutherlin we exited and worked our way up the mountains. The campsite we found wasn’t very private, but there was a small loop to ride around and the hot springs were just a short hike away. After four hours in the bus, and what seemed like two in the market stocking up, sitting in the sulfur water was amazing.
Bright and early the next morning, before the hippies descended and before we hit the trails we spent a little more time in the tubs. If I could soak before every ride, I think I would. But we didn’t drive all this way to sit in hot tubs all day. We came to ride.
We were camped at the bottom of the “Dread and Terror” section, so we took the gravel road to the top. Thirteen miles of loose gravel in the hot sun.
When we finally hit the turn off, Mason and I were greeted by a mint Westfalia that looked much like Marv, but in much better condition. It was indeed a sign of good things to come.
Down the road a bit, before the trail started we crossed Lemolo Lake and got a great view of Mt. Thielson. Another half mile down the road we found the trail.
About a mile and half after dropping in we paused to check out Lemolo Falls. A 102 foot tall waterfall that we sat on top of. I climbed down to the edge to find an beautiful site. I have never seen colors so vivid before. We put our feet in the water, ate some food, and stared at the waterfall for quite some time.
Having ridden only a mile of singletrack all day, it was finally time to start moving. While I never felt dread or terror, this thirteen mile section of trail was a doosie. Technical rock sections, multiple streams running down the trail, constant ups and downs, and steep drop offs into the river far below made this a long day in the saddle.
Close to the bottom, on the brink of running out of drinking water, we came across a pool of turquoise water. I must have stared at this pool for a good ten minutes. I’m thirty years old and I’ve never seen colors like this. It might have been the dehydration, the beer, or the grass, but everything in Oregon looks good.
The next morning we broke camp and headed towards Oakridge. Highway 138 comes ten miles from Crater Lake, and being the tourists that we are, we tacked the extra miles on to get a couple pictures.
We finally made it to the bottom of the Alpine trail, set up camp and shuttled to the top. I know what you’re saying, and I would have gladly ridden to the top, but this is a democracy we live in. I gave in and was happy sit on my ass the whole way up the mountain.
It’s been a couple years since I last rode this trail and wasn’t quite sure where the drop in was, so when I finally found it I celebrated with a “frosty” beverage while I waited for the others to arrive. From there on out it was nothing but yeehaws! and woo hoos! all the way to the bottom.
I offered this trail in contrast to the Umpqua section we rode the day earlier and it was met with much fanfare.
Back at camp we broke into the Four Loko. By Ryan’s suggestion we bought four of these horrible cans. Fruit punch and blue raspberry. I pretty much blacked out after I took this photo. I also poured some on the shrimp we were cooking. This is a great way to make sure you feel like shit the next day.
In the morning, with the sweet taste of hangover a couple of us rode up the mountain to take one more swing at the trail. Two hours of climbing in the sun was rewarded with an hour of shaded descent. At the bottom, Mason was ready to roll, I was exhausted, and the reality of it being Monday started sinking in. We had to go home. When you work for yourself, you can’t blame the lack of production on anyone else.
God damn I love Oregon.
In the days since, my legs still feel like jello
Friday, June 18th, 2010
One of the benefits of working for yourself is deciding how to split your workday up. Getting up with the alarm and stumbling into the “office” to get a jumpstart on the day means there is time to work on bikes in the afternoon. After typing on the computer for a number of hours I finally got to work on overhauling my Kona for the race on Sunday. As with most overhauls I do on my bikes, I start late and have a couple beers in the process. This usually leads to cleaning the important parts (pieces that touch eachother) and leaving the cosmetic stuff the way it is. This is more true for the mountain bike than the rest of the stable, but so it goes.
I am not the most attentive mechanic, meaning that I let things go for quite some time before I give them attention. But today I found myself with enough free time to pull the rear hub apart. I’m really glad I did. This is after about 15 rides since the last overhaul, most of which were in typical Oregon weather.
It would seem that a good cleaning should be done on a regular basis. Sounds fair enough.
Summer sun + beer + racing = ouch my head
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010Frankly, I should know better. But that doesn’t stop me from doing it over and over. After a prolonged wet season (which doesn’t seem to be giving up) we finally got a weekend of sun here in Portland. Two weeks after the Westside the remainder of the food was bbq’d at Ken’s while we watched the Mississippi Crit. Sitting right on the course we spent a couple hours drinking, heckling, and shouting.
As can be expected, the sun fried our collective brains and bad ideas became good ideas. Tradition stands for something right?
Full of meat-on-a-stick and number of tall boys I headed home to prepare for the 6 hours of Mt. Hood.
We woke up at 5 and hit the road at 5:30. The weather was top notch the whole day. Hot in the sun, but a nice breeze kept the staging area cool for the most part. The course had a good flow, although the climbing started to really wear me down by the 5th lap. By lap number 6 I had reached my goal and felt perfectly ok with calling it a day. The other riders in the solo singlespeed category did more laps, but I was really only racing myself. Being that this was my first “endurance” race I kept a reasonable pace and enjoyed the work.
Team Beer had a strong group out, most notably being that English fellow who completed 8 laps from what I understand. And he was part of a two man team. Balls!
After the sixth lap I devoured a giant burger and polished off a couple beers. I was babbling, exhausted, and in a state of euphoria. Partly sad it was over, partly looking forward to next week.
Finally we made our way down the mountain. I was drained. Misia was sunburned. We were both happy that we had spent a nice day in the mountains among friends, but it was amazing to get home and pass out.
6 hours of unrelenting singletrack
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010First the source: Portland Racing
The Cthulhu caravan is leaving Portland at 5:30am on Sunday morning. Destination: Mt. Hood. Reason: why not race for six hours. After our monthly meeting last night all is in order for a good race. We’ve got the bbq, pop-up tent, music, and plenty of beer to ensure a good time. And as of right now the weather looks like it’s going to be cool.
In preparation for this race I’ve been spending a lot of time on the road. The mountain biking has been non existent thanks to the torrential downpours Portland has been receiving. So the team is going in cold for the race.
My dad however has been getting some riding in down in California. Kernville looks dry, but the presence of waterfalls is always a good sign. Here’s hoping we get to ride this weekend too.
Picture from this guy. Thanks for the photo.
It’s not about the hitpoints right now.
Friday, June 4th, 2010The final Westside Invite has come and gone. There was one large “Cool Guy” style hill, but no somersault races were to be had. It was a weekend filled with good riding, good weather, good friends, and a couple strip clubs thrown in for good measure.
First off these guys showed up late Friday night. Instead of tracking down the shitshow we headed back to the house and caught up on old times. These guys own the only courier company in Reno, Bootleg Courier and they’re fast as hell.
Saturday we headed to the group ride, but found ourselves at the Triple Nickel first. The Seattle shitshow had arrived and was in full force. After a couple bloody mary’s and some pork sodas we aimed for the park where the main group ride was headed.
Not feeling like riding, we instead detoured to Sassy’s. I’ve been there before on a Saturday night and it was great. 1pm though? Yeck. This was all Corndog’s idea.
Around that time I got a call from the wife. My long awaited new bike had arrived and was sitting in a box waiting for me to unpack. I’ve been in the market for a new road bike and this one fell into my lap. It helped me during the mainrace which netted me a new Thomson Elite seatpost, which replaced the setback that came with the bike. It now fits perfectly, and boy it hauls ass.
New bike in hand I caught up with the re-formed group ride. By the time I arrived at Mt. Tabor, the shitshow was in full effect. From atop the maintenance shed the view was breathtaking. Grass slides, can tossing, bike crashing good times. Those with weak stomachs should not click this link.
By this time the troops needed food, so naturally we ambushed a taco truck. After which we made a move to Matt and Clair’s to watch the hockey game. Refueled, rested, and ready for more we headed to the goldsprints. That place Migration had a cool outdoor area, but man did they hate us. And why not, they had a couple hundred rowdy drunk messengers to deal with. But in all honesty, they were dicks. The goldsprints were awesome though. We made the male finalists take their pants off.
Which of course the crowd loved.
And now it was getting late, which meant most of us were ready to swerve home. One broken collarbone later we made it there – sorry Chad… The next morning we all felt a tad rough, but so it goes. We headed into the bright sunny Sunday morning and headed for the start of the main race.
Ross and I worked together, towing a large group behind us for the majority of the race.
After pushing the pace up and up during the race, we notched it even further into the red a couple blocks from the finish(Rose City Park). It was there that we were handed one final manifest directing us to the top of Rocky Butte. Utterly drained, Ross and I motored up the hill and back down to take 7th and 8th(or so I’ve been told). A couple burgers, some beers, and a rest in the grass were sorely needed. But eventually we headed into Old Town for the awards ceremony, but not before a stop at the Magic Gardens. A fortuitous stop for a couple people I believe.
Finally the night started heading to a close as prizes were handed out for various feats of stupidity and Matt showed off his underpants.
The gift that keeps on giving. And giving.
By this time it was getting old. We were all tired and each made our way to our holes for the night. The next morning at polo the majority of the Seattle shitshow had already headed north. Polo happened and some guys won some belts or something. I went home and fell asleep. The last Westside was amazing.
Fireball!
Where’s Tom Cruise?
Friday, June 4th, 2010So that tour didn’t go as planned. I’ve got a full report coming. Until then, enjoy the above. Yikes.
I’m going on tour
Friday, May 28th, 2010
The 10th and last Westside Invite is starting in a few hours and will be over Monday afternoon.
Tuesday morning I’m headed out on a short tour. Four days starting in Portland and ending in Seattle, where I’ll catch a train back home. I’m headed out to the coast, and then back east, eventually jumping on a ferry in Bremerton.
After a weekend of drunken riding, racing, and bullshitting, I’m going to need those four days to get it all out of my system.
The focus of this short tour? Eating well. No dehydrated ziploc food. Nothing but the freshest of vegetables and meats and local food. I promise to have photos and thoughts when I get back.
Until then, with a beer in hand I welcome the weekend.
Getting the dirt in and dreaming of touring
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Mason through the switchbacks
I’m averaging two to three days of mountain biking per week right now. I guess I would say that I’m making up for lost time after my broken foot last year. It didn’t happen on a bike, but it happened at a bike “event.” I’ll spare you the details on that one. Suffice it to say my summer last year kind of blew.
This time around things are much different. A successful freelance contract is keeping me busy work wise and I have plenty of free time. Sunday I met up with Mason and Billy to ride some trails. We headed to Bingen and took in some pretty intense cattle trails. Lots of off camber, foot-wide, eroded trails on steep climbs. Once at the top of the gorge we chased some cattle down the trails and then bombed back to the bus. The trail we took down had a rather wide section with small boulders down the center, kind of like large lane markers. Small boosts on the for about half a mile made for some sweet little airs.
We’re headed to Mollala River tomorrow and probably Sandy Ridge on Sunday. If this is what they call training, then I’m totally game.
And if that wasn’t enough I’m set to take off for a 4 day bike tour to Seattle in June. It’s in preparation for another tour I’ll be taking in September. I’ll have more on that later.
Step throughs, roots, beers, traffic, and the wind in my hair.
Sunday, April 18th, 2010And it’s pretty decent, If you can find the office to fill out the paperwork. It took some searching but I finally found it. Ten euros to get started, 5 for the card, 5 for the initial loading.
Once you sign the documents you can find a bike. From our apartment there are a couple locations, none of which are very close. The closest being right near the forum and coliseum. I didn’t want my first ride to be in such a hectic place so I headed east and found a bike in a much more typical city setting.
I had chosen a large park as my outing as I figured I could find some dirt to pedal on. It’s been 14 days since I was atop a bike and I’ve been missing the dirt immensely. The park I found, Villa Ada is Rome’s largest.
The park is filled with wide dirt paths that circle around and criss-cross each other.
Eventually I took a break for a sandwich and a couple beers along the little lake.
After a light lunch I set out to find some singletrack. While I didn’t find much, I did come across a couple little ribbons that were obviously for two wheels. One wound around a horse compound and dropped right back to the lake I had lunch at. On a cruiser bike with marginally functional brakes, this was a real thrill. I wouldn’t suggest a cruiser for going uphill, but downhill was awesome.
I’ve still got 4 euros left on my card so I think I’m going to take another couple spins this week. 50cents per hour is a pretty good deal for a bike.