A bad omen?

If your Furnace Creek 508 totem is "Desert Coyote" (mine is) seeing this has to cause you to pause:



Were the locals playing with cupie dolls? Was this a sign that all Desert Coyotes should not proceed any farther?

I kept a wary eye out and pedaled onward. ;-)

It was an absolutely gorgeous day.
Ken and I started out from Tygh Valley at 9AM. He is competing in the Lewis and Clark Ultra in a month, and Race Across Oregon in 2.5 months. He's is hard into training right now. Me not so much, I was just there for a 100 mile bike ride in the sun! There is a lot of snow in the mountains and a lot of water in the rivers. It all bodes well for a good water year and makes for some very pretty sights at waterfalls. Shearer's Falls on the Deschutes is no exception. It was a great day on the bikes. It is always a pleasure to ride east of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. I presume in our neighbor state to the north as well, but I don't have as much experience riding there. Every time I've been riding in this area a good portion of drivers will wave and smile as they pass. Even though Ken and I would be riding 2 feet outside the fog line, overtaking cars and trucks would pull completely into the opposing lane as they passed. This was happening on US 97 which we rode on for about 30 miles as way made our way from Grass Valley to Shaniko. The rest of the day we hardly saw a car. We rode the entire 30 mile stretch of Bakeoven Rd without seeing a single car until we were just ready to drop over the edge to the Deschutes River when one car cautiously went around us. What is it about big cities that makes folks so ....mean? Riding in the rural east side brings back hope. There were just mile after mile today just like this: Blue sky with very few clouds and roads with even fewer cars.

Tomorrow will be decidedly more crowded. I am commuting by bike to Salem to ride Salem Bicycle Club's Monster Cookie Metric Century. I should end up with about 135 miles. There will be more cars, and a lot more people.

.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......100..............0.............0..........0.........100
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
YTD.......2040...............0............21..........7........2068

repeat of hill repeats

I returned to Rocky Butte tonight to lead the second rendition of Rocky Butte hill repeats. The plan is to do this every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Tonight was a bit wet, and a lot cooler than Tuesday's ride. The thermometer showed 44 degrees at our 6PM start.

Traffic was horrendous, taking an hour and 40 minutes to get there when it would take about a half hour if there weren't traffic. I arrived at 10 minutes to 6, cutting a little close for being the ride leader. One of our "emerging riders" showed up with low tire pressure so I took a few minutes to pull out my floor pump and bring her tires up to pressure. By the time we got that all taken care of I was 7 minutes late in starting. In addition I had a call that I needed to take during my 2nd repeat. All tolled, the delays cost me one repeat... oh, and the fact I didn't ride as hard tonight. I ended up with 5 repeats tonight as where I had 6 repeats on Tuesday. There was more wind tonight also. Enough of a head wind on the descent that tonight's maximum speed was only 32.8 mph, a full 10 mph slower than Tuesday.

All of us had raingear on to help ward off the showers. That caused us to heat up as we climbed the hill.... and meant that we were wet by the end of the ride and would be chilling rapidly. That was enough of a thought for all of us to decide that going straight home rather than meeting for a little post ride social was probably the best plan.

It was a good evening, despite the weather.

Really looking forward to this weekend, sunny and 70 degrees is the forecast!

Average heart rate: 125 bpm
Total elevation gain: 2196 ft
average speed: 8.2 mph
calories burned: 1094

.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........14..............0.............0..........0..........14
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......424..............0.............0..........0.........424
YTD.......1940...............0............21..........7........1968

hill hill repeats repeats

I was joined by 8 other riders from my social bike club for an hour and a half of hill repeats tonight. We choose Rocky Butte for our self imposed torture. ;-)
It was a perfect evening for such an endeavor, not too hot, not too cold, and dry roads!
(5 in the photo, 1 taking the photo, and two late for the photo but in time for the hill!)

Even coming off a couple of weeks of sub par health I did well tonight.
I had a 136 bpm average heart rate, and was able to hold 155 bpm for the climbing. I had a 166 max heart rate.

I had a 1 mile commute to the ride (and of course a 1 mile commute back) for a total of 20 miles with a very respectable 3800 ft of climbing.

We plan on doing this every Tuesday and Thursday evening for the foreseeable future so come join us if you are looking for a good evening workout.



.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........20..............0.............0..........0..........20
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......410..............0.............0..........0.........410
YTD.......1926...............0............21..........7........1954

Over the river and through the woods

My mom had a family gathering at her home in Hillsboro today. Her plan was to celebrate Easter and avoid scheduling conflicts with in-laws. I've been doing my best to recover from a respiratory problem but with the predicted awesome weather I couldn't help but think that a bike commute to the event was in order. My brother-in-law Dave decided to join me.

I had two things to consider (besides my ability to actually ride there and back!) The first was that I was to bring juice for the masses. No problem, I picked up a few cans of frozen OJ concentrate less than two miles from Mom's house. The second issue was figuring out "street" clothes to bring that wouldn't wrinkle in the backpack on the way over. Didn't take long to figure that out either.

I decided to wear my "Sunday go to meeting" formal bike attire! No need to bring extra clothes, riding clothes and formal attire all in one!

It was a gorgeous day, blue sky, light wind, high in the low 70's. We need more days like this!

Dave and I rode a 16.4 mph average to Hillsboro. Not bad for me since I haven't hardly been on a bike in two weeks... and still can't breath well.

Even better was the 17.2 mph average on the way back.

1947 ft total elevation gain
131 bpm average heart rate
94 rpm average cadence
3267 calories burned

.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........56..............0.............0..........0..........56
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......390..............0.............0..........0.........390
YTD.......1906...............0............21..........7........1934

felt almost like Spring

It was a beautiful day. I just needed to get on the bike. I took off tonight with very low expectations, luckily I wasn't disappointed. ;-)
Actually, it went better than the last time I was out. I didn't have those sharp pains in my lungs. I pedaled a 22 mph pace for just over a mile just to test that out and managed pretty well. I spent the rest of the ride just pedaling, albeit a bit faster than a few days ago. I was seeing about 16 mph more often than not. I know I could not keep that up, would run out of O2, but that's to be expected. Recovery is coming, slower than I'd like, but coming none the less. I was supposed to lead a century with a lot of climbing this weekend, already sent my regrets to those who were joining me. If the weather is nice I'll get out for something, just nothing on the maniac side of the scale!

While I'm not really riding much I was wondering if I could teach any of my bikes to ride themselves. As it ends up, that might not be such a hard thing.


.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........13..............0.............0..........0..........13
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......334..............0.............0..........0.........334
YTD.......1850...............0............21..........7........1878

cycling as therapy

I came home from Tacoma and the Daffodil Classic last weekend with pneumonia. Yup, bummer. I've been able to work but it has just drained me. I've been increasing my hydration and greatly increasing my sleep. I finally started feeling a bit better about Thursday but still have a lot of lung congestion.

It is a beautiful sunny day in northwest Oregon. Been told it extends east of the Cascades as well. I had planned on riding the Tour de Van Oeste Portlandia today.
It's a fun 47 mile ride in Portland's West Hills with nearly 7700 ft of climbing. Gives me a chance to show those racer boys the value of a triple crank!



I figured I could just pedal easy and be okay, but soon realized that there is no way to pedal easy up Brynwood (31%)

I think a nice easy bike ride would be beneficial, help loosen up all that "debris" in my lungs, it's just that my planned ride has nothing easy about it. So instead I'm going to hop on the bike and just go for a pedal. No set destination, no set avg pace, just pedal in the sunshine.

An update will follow later today.

Evening update:

I did indeed hop on the bike shortly after noon today. The sun was shining brightly and I figured an easy ride would do me good. I had toyed with riding a moderate paced ride with my social bike group today but felt.... well, felt lazy.
As it ended up it was probably a good thing. I thought that my only riding issues would be lack of O2 uptake when riding. I thought if I held around 50% normal capacity I'd be fine. Alas, anything above about 115 bpm on the heart rate caused stabbing pains in my lungs. Didn't take too much of that stuff to make me decide that a slower pace was called for. I assumed an upright position, hands on the aerobar forearm pads, and just pedaled like I was out for an ice cream ride. Despite the sunny day and moderate temperature I was chilled and couldn't ride hard enough to warm up. I stopped once to sit in a 3 sided "glass" bus shelter. Futzed with the adjustments of my new brakes while I used the breeze sheltered area with warm sun to warm up a bit.

Finally got back on the road and finished up.... a whopping 21 miles. Pretty flat and pretty darn slow too. :-O

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........21..............0.............0..........0..........21
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......321..............0.............0..........0.........321
YTD.......1837...............0............21..........7........1865

Spring showers bring flowers

Today I was in Orting Washington, in the general area of Tacoma, to ride the Daffodil Classic. The Daffodil Classic is organized by the Tacoma Wheelmen in coordination with the Orting Daffodil Festival.

I had posted it to my social bike group's calendar, but couldn't convince anyone else that they really needed to go up to Tacoma and ride in the rain. ;-) So one way to look at it is 100% of those signed up, showed up!

The forecast was for showers and light rain in the morning with heavier rain and wind in the afternoon. It was raining lightly with a moderate wind at daylight. I jumped on the course right after the 7AM opening, knowing that is was likely to get worse as the day wore on.

I was pleasantly surprised when the rain quit about 15 miles into my one hundred mile ride. With the brisk wind it didn't take long for the roads to dry out.
There were a couple of hard showers near the end of today's ride but not all that bad. The wind was more of an issue than the wet.

The route is two loops, a 40 mile and a 60 mile. A person can ride one, the other, or both. Hey, if I'm driving all the way to Tacoma I want the full meal deal!

There is also strawberry shortcake at the end and I wanted to feel like I had earned it. ;-)


..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......101..............0.............0..........0.........101
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......300..............0.............0..........0.........300
YTD.......1816...............0............21..........7........1844

Another newbie ride

Once again I organized a "newbie ride" for my social bike club. Many, me included, find that a low mileage and slow ride has little to offer, so I always include a bonus mile option. Today we rode 37 miles before the newbie ride beginning from Cornelius Pass Rd and Hwy 26 and climbing up to Skyline Rd.
Here are the hardy souls who volunteered for the preride (and Mark H, who was behind the camera)


In due time, and right on time, we arrived back at our starting point and joined our less hardcore brethren for a laid back hold yer hand style ride. We pedaled a 21 mile route with a staggering 439ft, (NOT a typo!) of climbing. Average speed? A very sociable 7.8 mph. (I've been told that if you try to ride 7mph you tip over, so I am thankful for that extra point eight!) Just about perfect for this group.



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........58..............0.............0..........0..........58
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......199..............0.............0..........0.........199
YTD.......1715...............0............21..........7........1743

Rolling on the rain bike

A friend and I watched a perfect biking day pass as we toiled for our daily bread. We made a pact to ride tonight after work. Of course with plans to bike it ended up being a long day at work. I didn't get out the door until I was 2.5 hours past due. That put me late, but my friend was gracious. We pedaled off just as the sun was going down.


We tootled around the urban neighborhood then turned toward Rocky Butte. As we climbed Rocky Butte we were treated to a nice sunset over the city.

It was such a nice evening that my friend decided we should do hill repeats.
Okay, so not a lot of repeats, but more than one or it wouldn't be a repeat! ;-)
The view toward Mt Adams from the summit of Rocky Butte was worth a photo stop.


We had our lights and used them as we made our second descent of the butte and continued as we rode back to our starting location.

I rode my new "rain bike" just to put a few miles on it and see if I needed to tweak anything before taking it up to the Daffodil Ride near Tacoma on Sunday. Tonight was perfect biking weather, Sunday is predicted to be more weather appropriate for a rain bike.



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........15..............0.............0..........0..........15
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......141..............0.............0..........0.........141
YTD.......1657...............0............21..........7........1685

Riding in Clark County with the PWTC

Today I was invited to ride the Clark County Cruiser with the Portland Wheelmen Touring Club. After a month of rain they couldn't have picked a better day for this ride. It was the first time I've ridden without shoe covers in months. I started the ride with an STP Tyvek jacket, but soon took that off opting to ride in my jersey and long sleeved base layer. One of the riders even had (gasp!) bare arms!

It was the perfect way to spend a leisurely Sunday afternoon. We pedaled at a social no drop pace and had chances to visit about biking and other less important issues. ;-)




The ride leader handed out maps but I tucked mine in my pocket knowing that I planned neither to get dropped nor to drop anyone. I just followed along and took in the sights, sounds, and smells of Spring as we pedaled. We rode along Lacamas Lake, overlapping part of our route last weekend when a group of us rode the Ride Around Clark County route. Today's ride had better weather. :-)


It was a pretty easy ride for me, I didn't feel any effects from yesterday's ride. Perhaps if I had to expend more effort I would have felt a little low in the tank. But at today's pace I was just fine. I enjoyed the company of my fellow riders and hope to have repeat adventures.

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........32..............0.............0..........0..........32
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......158..............0.............0..........0.........158
YTD.......1674...............0............21..........7........1702

37 and rain at the start, 38 and rain at the end, but in the middle is was pretty decent!

The forecast for Vernonia today was 100% chance of rain, highs near 40 give or take, winds out of the NW at 10-20, snow down to 1500 ft, and to top it off a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Ken, John Henry, and I decided to go for a bike ride... a 126 mile bike ride to Astoria and back.

It was 37 and raining as we shoved off at 8AM. We grumbled a bit, but not one person suggested we scratch the ride.

Despite the rain at the start we were surprised on just how nice the weather was. We had dry roads for about 80% of our ride today. When we arrived at the Jewell Wildlife Meadow viewing area we took the obligatory stop to observe the elk.

We had to climb just over 1300 ft in elevation to get to Astoria today. We hoped that the forecast was correct and the snow would stay above us. Right after the wildlife viewing area we began to climb up. When we got to the top there was no snow on the road, and no slush at the road side. There was some snow on the hills just above us. Perfect!

We arrived in Astoria and took a little loop up to the Astoria Column for the view. The weather cooperated and we got a nice view today.




My two biking partners today have big plans for the summer and are riding hard to reach some serious biking goals. I don't have any biking plans so I'm taking it a bit easier this year. Today was my longest ride since last October in Death Valley.
The boys worked me pretty hard, but that's okay, I needed to get in a good ride.

It was 38 and raining in Vernonia as we arrived just prior to 6:30pm this evening. From the amount of water in the bed of my pickup I'm thinking it probably rained most of the day there.

Today's stats:
126 miles, the longest one day mileage since last October
14,3 mph avg
8457 calories burned
124 bpm avg heart rate
167 bpm max heart rate
92 rpm average pedal cadence
5508 ft of climbing

and a lot of fun!

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......126..............0.............0..........0.........126
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......126..............0.............0..........0.........126
YTD.......1642...............0............21..........7........1670