the long and short of it

I led my Rocky Butte hill repeats ride again tonight... sort of.
I pedaled in from Oaks Park giving me a nice 12 mile pre ride. I started everyone off at 6PM as planned but let them continue on without me after two repeats as I had another commitment.

It was a good night for riding the hill.  Rather than take a photo of Mt St Helens ( probably the most photographed volcano from this location) I took one of Mt Hood.  I used my phone to take the photo, not as good as my camera, but still worth taking.

After taking care of a bit of business I pedaled back across town to Oaks Park where my pickup was waiting for me.  I began the cross town ride just as the sun was setting..I stopped along the way for a bite to eat, so it was well past dark by the time I finished.  I did have my Planet Bike 2 watt on front tonight, good enough for urban riding, and always have my Superflash on back so being dark was not an issue.  As I pedaled along Oaks Bottom the full moon was reflecting on the water.  Again, the phone leaves a bit to be desired when used as a camera, but you get the idea..........if you use a bit of imagination.

July comes to a close.  It was a long month, with 31 days, yet I fell short of several self imposed goals. Early in the month I thought I would have a shot at my first 2000 mile month.  I had planned on over 1000 miles in a two week period beginning with a 204 mile STP, 100 miles on STP day two, 530 miles the following weekend on Race Across Oregon followed by 150 miles on Thursday with RAMROD, and finish up with the 104 mile Tour de Kitsap on Sunday.  I fell short on just about every one of those rides.  I did do my eighth consecutive 1 day STP, but did not ride day two as it was a bit wet in the morning and I didn't want to expend too much energy so close to Race Across Oregon.  I ended up only getting 378 miles of RAO, with digestive issues taking me out of the race with 130 miles left to go, and 13 hours left on the clock. I did manage to ride a strong RAMROD three days later.  Tour de Kitsap morphed into the 74 mile ride when I met up with some Seattle friends who were doing the shorter version and I thought company would be good. I did get on an old route for a bit and logged a few bonus miles so I ended up with 79 leisurely miles.

With my DNF at RAO my RAAM dreams are most likely dashed.  It would seem that perhaps the window of opportunity for me to compete in RAAM will close without me getting to the start line in Oceanside.  So now I'm trying to find direction. I suppose about the only thing left to shoot for will be my 4th consecutive 10,000 mile year. I have about 3500 miles left to go this year to achieve that.  Normally that is easily within reach, but no longer training for anything means I'll likely be riding fewer miles, especially when the weather turns wet and blustery.  If I'm going to reach 10,000 I'll have to ride miles when the weather is nice before the fall rains come.  I am helping support the Ride Around Washington all of next week.  While I'll have my bike with me and get some riding in, I don't expect to get any long miles in. I guess I'll just have to see where I am at the end of next month.


 ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today........40..............0..............0..........0............40  Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June..........1500...............0...............0............0.....1500 July...........1558...............0................0............0......1558 YTD........6336............142............20.........46.........6544