Archive for the ‘Pavement’ Category
You’re on your own on the big streets
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010Thursday hill climbs
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.
Living in a cycling mecca
Friday, June 18th, 2010
After putting the Kona back together I felt it would be appropriate to take it on a ride around town. From a 32×18 perspective, Portland bike traffic is insane. It’s not just the numbers that can be overwhelming, but the skill level of the average commuter. I don’t mean this to be an exercise in bitching, but it’s clear that summer is here. The beginning of summer usually reminds me why I really enjoy riding in the winter.
I’m all for more people on bikes, but do I have to be near them?
Now for something completely unrelated. If you were ever into Deep Elm Records, might I suggest this gem from 1998? Hell yes.
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.
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!
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.
I hate when the Giro is winding down
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Picture from Steephill.tv
Waking up at 6 every morning to watch the live feed of the Giro has been great. Coffee and a bagel and yelling at the tv is a great way to start the day, and I’m bummed it’s going to be over on Sunday.
I really dig the expression on Scarponi’s face. Using Basso to pull him right up to the finish line and then pulling ahead for the stage win was awesome to watch. Perfect execution in my opinion.
If today was awesome, tomorrow will be even better. Unless Evans or Arroyo can get their shit together, Basso is going to take this one home.
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.
Roubaix from my perspective
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Real race news will give you insight and drama. I’ll just leave you with pictures. And a few words.
Roubaix is a pretty depressed town. Granted it was a Sunday, but the town had a creepy feeling to it. Following the signs from the city center to the Velodrome led down some pretty rough streets, and eventually we found the route.
We were about an hour and a half early. When we left the hotel in Roubaix to find the route the riders had about 120km to go. It took us an hour to get to the velodrome and once we were there we secured a spot to watch.
Once settled in the anticipation grew. First the team cars. Then the press. Then the officials. Then the leader board. Then the sponsor parade. And finally the racers.
First was Cancellara. Fresh off a win at the Ronde, his name was blasted by the leader car minutes before he arrived. We knew he was coming and all hope of Hincapie winning(yeah yeah yeah) were gone.
He was moving so quickly the camera couldn’t even focus on him the second time.
Soon after came Flecha and Hushovd. We were really expecting Boonen to be sitting on Cancellara’s wheel, but no luck. Good on Flecha though finishing so well.
A few minutes later, Boonen finally came through.
Everytime a group of racers came through the crowd went nuts. Even on down to the last bunch.
If you look closely, the Sky rider in this photo lost his seat. That’s bad ass.
After the race we made our way back to the city center for some dinner and a cognac. It was an amazing time. I highly recommend a trip to Roubaix if you like bike racing. It’s awesome. And stay at the Hotel Francais in the City Center. Do yourself a favor and don’t save money by staying at Hotel Formula1. Seriously.
The bloody face of racing
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
from Steephill.tv
Jose Serpa on Stage 5 of Tirreno Adriatico 2010. To wreck your face out, get bandaged, and come back to the front says a lot about this guy to me. I like to think I have some big marbles, but this guy knows he does. This guy isn’t a Boonen, a Contador, or a Cavendish. He’s a worker and he takes it seriously. This guy is a real badass.
Cowboy hats?
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
I have a great idea for a team photo! Except you on the left. You’re gonna have to sit on a barrel.
New Content. New outlook on life.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010It’s time someone stepped forward and said enough is enough. I’m not sure that’s me, but hell, I stare at a computer all day now so I might as well do something productive.
Velograph is back.