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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
booyah achieved
I've been racing a bit of the old Cyclocross lately. Last weekend was a particularly awesome set of races. Quite close to home, with a race on Saturday and Sunday. Great! I'll let the photos do the talking...
You can make the slideshow full screen by clicking that box with the arrows in it. Please feel free to comment or silently enjoy.
You can make the slideshow full screen by clicking that box with the arrows in it. Please feel free to comment or silently enjoy.
Monday, November 16, 2009
weather report
Well, it's been super windy for days now. Here's kinda what we're dealing with.
A low pressure trough is moving Northeast through Vancouver island just Northwest of us.
The the only reliable weather forecast... Seldom and I check the current conditions.
A low pressure trough is moving Northeast through Vancouver island just Northwest of us.
The the only reliable weather forecast... Seldom and I check the current conditions.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
This post got a bit long, there are photos after the words that have captions for the quick readers. click on the photos for a larger view. As usual comments are encouraged and welcomed! Thanks for reading!
____________
I've got an obsession for using holidays as an excuse to get on my bicycle for long periods of time. Oh yes, I'll use any holiday, and it doesn't have to be Ameerrrican! You got a holiday and a bicycle? let's roll.
It started some Wednesday night over three weeks ago! One of my great friends, Matt, was over enjoying a meal and company. We'd both been really busy with different aspects of life and hadn't been riding together in too long! I had a couple races coming up and we set a date for October 31st to get on our bikes and pedal around for a while. We sketched up a "treasure Map", complete with six different inter-locking pieces that we could separate out and distribute to different places for safe keeping.
The routes inception
The route, dubbed "circa the towers", included 5 of the areas biggest climbs, all accessible by some form of trail, gravel road, dirt road, with only minimal pavement work. Up and over Galbraith mountain, then up Lookout Mtn., down Lookout and up Alger Alp, down to Alger, then a quick fuel up at the Shell Station/Blanchard Mountain Coffee Company. Up Barrel springs road to Blanchard Mountain via Lily & Lizard Lake trail, up to Oyster Dome, down British Army Trail and up a gravel road climb called "sick joke" that takes you up behind Pine & Cedar Lakes in the Chuckanuts, then down Hemlock trail, down to Arroyo park and back to Matt's place where we would find a crock-pot of goodness welcoming us upon arrival. We were guessing, over 50 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing? Galbraith, Lookout, Alger Alp, Blanchard, Chuckanut would be the climbs.
The anticipation built up over the weeks and we just talked about how great the ride would be, it was awesome. About a week to go we acquired a worthy accomplice in Chris. Chris and I got to know each other working at the bike shop together, but we spent hours training and racing together on the Western cycling team when he lived in Bellingham. He's since moved to the big city south of here.
The very day before the ride was scheduled, Bellingham was hit with a pretty serious wind storm, followed by torrential rains through the night. I love waking up and hearing the rain on the roof, but I have to admit I was just a little bummed. We were suppose to meet at the local coffee shop at 7am for an twilight departure. The rain was not letting up. Chris and his girlfriend Katja were asleep on the futon downstairs when I got up and called Matt just after 6ish. All I said was, "It's raining hard." We didn't talk much, just mumbled things about pushing back the start time an hour or two, hoping for a break in the rain.
Chris was up shortly after that and we set about making some morning coffee and a larger number of gluten-free pancakes. They were delightful. Between Deanna, Chris, Katja, and myself, we made easy work of the pile.
The rain started to let up and we even started seeing patches of blue! Phoned Matti... Meet at the spot at 10am.
We departed Tony's Coffee shortly after ten o'clock.
Climbed up and over Galbraith to Sudden Valley, then started the 6 miles of climbing to the top of Lookout. About 21-2200 feet of climbing later we emerged on a windy mountain top! We ascended through some clouds on the backside but the there were plenty more above us at the summit!
We set out towards the south tower of Lookout in search of a road (that was marked on a map) that would connect us to another "roadshed" that would save a bunch of time. We reached the South towers and never saw a road or anything! Lemons! Time to try and make some lemonade. We pulled up a satellite image of the area on Chris' iphone, bah, technology saves the day... this time... We saw an impression that looked like a road/trail that was close enough to the road we needed to get to that we could at least trail-blaze our way there. It was perfect! A 5 minute hike-a-bike lead us to another forest-service roadshed which allowed us to save probably 30-45 minutes of descending/traversing. Lemonade!
We ripped the gravel road descent, enjoying the views and skidding a whole bunch, when we ran into a nice Law Enforcement guy. Matt actually knew him, he was up checking out the hunters, making sure things were ok. We rapped for a bit then continued down the hill. At the bottom we emerged from behind a yellow gate, we had been recreating on Trillium Corporation's land. It's private land, but they also own Galbraith Mountain and encourage recreation on their land. (They primarily use the land for timber harvesting, but they also sell small portions to the private home/land owners.
So we cruise around the gate and roll down the hill towards Manley road, a paved road that will see us a mere couple hundred yards to the turn off to Squires Lake and Alger Alp from there. The mood is bright, smiling and warm.
We roll past a compound looking estate, huge white box building, kids kicking a soccer ball at the side of it! Awesome, kids know. We wave, and keep rolling down the hill.
There is a big truck, it looks to be hunters, stopped, talking to a man and a woman who are standing on the side of the road. The mood soon turns to lemons. The lady puts up an aggressive hand movement signaling we should stop. It is instantly clear these people aren't going to invite us cold cyclists in for some hot cider and corn bread with honey. Weak. Sour lemons. We were hit by a barrage of attacks about trespassing, private road this, take us off your websites that. Take us off your websites? We don't even know you. Ego's were so enormous they were clinically psychotic. It's incredible how when this happens, a part of you just wants to engage and become crazy with them. I think we tried to reason with them for about a minute? Maybe more? When the man said with quite venom to Chris, "I'm gonna call you a lier.. You're a lier." It struck me we were wasting our time. Matti had the right idea, he lead the way rolling down the hill saying, "We're leaving, we're sorry."
I'm not going to get into the details, but basically the people had no leg to stand on.
On with the lemonade! We pedaled up the road towards Squires lake, the sound of thousands of big leaf maple leaves rustling quietly under our tires. Aside from winter hibernation I'd like to think that the trees know the amount of joy others get from treading through their fallen leaves and are smiling down on the passers by. Lemonade.
The climb up to Alger Alp is great, first some nice single track courtesy of the Pacific Northwest Trail, then a short but steep pitch up to the top where you're treated to a view of Blanchard Mountain and Skagit Valley.
The next stop was the shell station in Alger and the Blanchard Mountain Coffee Co. Coffee and sea-salt vinegar chips were just what the body needed. More water, some juice and we left towards Blanchard.
It was just after 3pm when we left for Blanchard, Sunset at 5:52 that day we had no choice but to skip big mamma Blanchard. Lemons. We raced up to her foot and motored along stunning gravel roads, so smooth and clean it was as if everything was indeed how it should be. And it was! lemonade!
The last climb of the day is called Sick Joke. It starts out pretty mellow and then steepens gradually, until you reach a pretty tight switchback filled with huge baby head rocks and the grade instantly kicks up to around 25-30% Steep as poo. Lemonade. There is something amazing about digging into the body after 5hrs of pedaling, asking for a bit more - unless you haven't eaten/drank enough.
The twilight cruise down Hemlock trail was icing on the cake. Pedaling into Matt's driveway with the sky burning a brilliant harvest pumpkin orange was the cherry on top! Then the crock-pot surprise at Matt's house was the licking of the icing off the bottom of the cake box. Awesome.
We were treated to stunning fall colors all day long.
Cyclists sure seem to like coffee...
Adam and Audrey saw us off from the shop!
Rolling up to Galbraith
Others have been here, way up on the climb up Lookout. There was little/no water in this stream a couple weeks ago.
gleaming the cube
nice spot for an evening fire pit
Looking out
The hike-a-bike sweet as lemonade
Chris, showing how to properly crawl under a fallen log with bicycle in tow
Hang glider envy
a Matt in the woods
Someone's helping with the route up to Alger Alp.
Looking South-Southwest from the Alp, I-5 snakes into the Skagit flats
Slingerland
Velcro, the doug fir looks small from up here
perfect medium for blissful pedaling
Can anyone name the tree these leaves and cones belong to?
standard americana petrol stop
standard PNW petrol stop
Matti and the stumpy
velcro trying to throw down an spirited attack
a nice view of Alger Alp, from the base of Blanchard. Anderson Mountain is the slope to the left. In nice weather, Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters are nicely framed by the foothills.
Starting up Sick Joke
Quality air in these parts
it's all downhill from here
three big bike dorks, stoked on life
cameras rarely do nature justice, good thing being there is always the best canvas
about 46 miles and just over 9,000 feet of climbing for the day! Too bad there wasn't daylight for Blanchard. For now, time to rest, lay down roots, energy to the base, then when spring comes again, energies will again rise earlier with the Sun.
___________________
The title of this post is from a fantastic poem, 12 thousand snicker-snacks to who ever knows the name of said poem.
____________
I've got an obsession for using holidays as an excuse to get on my bicycle for long periods of time. Oh yes, I'll use any holiday, and it doesn't have to be Ameerrrican! You got a holiday and a bicycle? let's roll.
It started some Wednesday night over three weeks ago! One of my great friends, Matt, was over enjoying a meal and company. We'd both been really busy with different aspects of life and hadn't been riding together in too long! I had a couple races coming up and we set a date for October 31st to get on our bikes and pedal around for a while. We sketched up a "treasure Map", complete with six different inter-locking pieces that we could separate out and distribute to different places for safe keeping.
The routes inceptionThe route, dubbed "circa the towers", included 5 of the areas biggest climbs, all accessible by some form of trail, gravel road, dirt road, with only minimal pavement work. Up and over Galbraith mountain, then up Lookout Mtn., down Lookout and up Alger Alp, down to Alger, then a quick fuel up at the Shell Station/Blanchard Mountain Coffee Company. Up Barrel springs road to Blanchard Mountain via Lily & Lizard Lake trail, up to Oyster Dome, down British Army Trail and up a gravel road climb called "sick joke" that takes you up behind Pine & Cedar Lakes in the Chuckanuts, then down Hemlock trail, down to Arroyo park and back to Matt's place where we would find a crock-pot of goodness welcoming us upon arrival. We were guessing, over 50 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing? Galbraith, Lookout, Alger Alp, Blanchard, Chuckanut would be the climbs.
The anticipation built up over the weeks and we just talked about how great the ride would be, it was awesome. About a week to go we acquired a worthy accomplice in Chris. Chris and I got to know each other working at the bike shop together, but we spent hours training and racing together on the Western cycling team when he lived in Bellingham. He's since moved to the big city south of here.
The very day before the ride was scheduled, Bellingham was hit with a pretty serious wind storm, followed by torrential rains through the night. I love waking up and hearing the rain on the roof, but I have to admit I was just a little bummed. We were suppose to meet at the local coffee shop at 7am for an twilight departure. The rain was not letting up. Chris and his girlfriend Katja were asleep on the futon downstairs when I got up and called Matt just after 6ish. All I said was, "It's raining hard." We didn't talk much, just mumbled things about pushing back the start time an hour or two, hoping for a break in the rain.
Chris was up shortly after that and we set about making some morning coffee and a larger number of gluten-free pancakes. They were delightful. Between Deanna, Chris, Katja, and myself, we made easy work of the pile.
The rain started to let up and we even started seeing patches of blue! Phoned Matti... Meet at the spot at 10am.
We departed Tony's Coffee shortly after ten o'clock.
Climbed up and over Galbraith to Sudden Valley, then started the 6 miles of climbing to the top of Lookout. About 21-2200 feet of climbing later we emerged on a windy mountain top! We ascended through some clouds on the backside but the there were plenty more above us at the summit!
We set out towards the south tower of Lookout in search of a road (that was marked on a map) that would connect us to another "roadshed" that would save a bunch of time. We reached the South towers and never saw a road or anything! Lemons! Time to try and make some lemonade. We pulled up a satellite image of the area on Chris' iphone, bah, technology saves the day... this time... We saw an impression that looked like a road/trail that was close enough to the road we needed to get to that we could at least trail-blaze our way there. It was perfect! A 5 minute hike-a-bike lead us to another forest-service roadshed which allowed us to save probably 30-45 minutes of descending/traversing. Lemonade!
We ripped the gravel road descent, enjoying the views and skidding a whole bunch, when we ran into a nice Law Enforcement guy. Matt actually knew him, he was up checking out the hunters, making sure things were ok. We rapped for a bit then continued down the hill. At the bottom we emerged from behind a yellow gate, we had been recreating on Trillium Corporation's land. It's private land, but they also own Galbraith Mountain and encourage recreation on their land. (They primarily use the land for timber harvesting, but they also sell small portions to the private home/land owners.
So we cruise around the gate and roll down the hill towards Manley road, a paved road that will see us a mere couple hundred yards to the turn off to Squires Lake and Alger Alp from there. The mood is bright, smiling and warm.
We roll past a compound looking estate, huge white box building, kids kicking a soccer ball at the side of it! Awesome, kids know. We wave, and keep rolling down the hill.
There is a big truck, it looks to be hunters, stopped, talking to a man and a woman who are standing on the side of the road. The mood soon turns to lemons. The lady puts up an aggressive hand movement signaling we should stop. It is instantly clear these people aren't going to invite us cold cyclists in for some hot cider and corn bread with honey. Weak. Sour lemons. We were hit by a barrage of attacks about trespassing, private road this, take us off your websites that. Take us off your websites? We don't even know you. Ego's were so enormous they were clinically psychotic. It's incredible how when this happens, a part of you just wants to engage and become crazy with them. I think we tried to reason with them for about a minute? Maybe more? When the man said with quite venom to Chris, "I'm gonna call you a lier.. You're a lier." It struck me we were wasting our time. Matti had the right idea, he lead the way rolling down the hill saying, "We're leaving, we're sorry."
I'm not going to get into the details, but basically the people had no leg to stand on.
On with the lemonade! We pedaled up the road towards Squires lake, the sound of thousands of big leaf maple leaves rustling quietly under our tires. Aside from winter hibernation I'd like to think that the trees know the amount of joy others get from treading through their fallen leaves and are smiling down on the passers by. Lemonade.
The climb up to Alger Alp is great, first some nice single track courtesy of the Pacific Northwest Trail, then a short but steep pitch up to the top where you're treated to a view of Blanchard Mountain and Skagit Valley.
The next stop was the shell station in Alger and the Blanchard Mountain Coffee Co. Coffee and sea-salt vinegar chips were just what the body needed. More water, some juice and we left towards Blanchard.
It was just after 3pm when we left for Blanchard, Sunset at 5:52 that day we had no choice but to skip big mamma Blanchard. Lemons. We raced up to her foot and motored along stunning gravel roads, so smooth and clean it was as if everything was indeed how it should be. And it was! lemonade!
The last climb of the day is called Sick Joke. It starts out pretty mellow and then steepens gradually, until you reach a pretty tight switchback filled with huge baby head rocks and the grade instantly kicks up to around 25-30% Steep as poo. Lemonade. There is something amazing about digging into the body after 5hrs of pedaling, asking for a bit more - unless you haven't eaten/drank enough.
The twilight cruise down Hemlock trail was icing on the cake. Pedaling into Matt's driveway with the sky burning a brilliant harvest pumpkin orange was the cherry on top! Then the crock-pot surprise at Matt's house was the licking of the icing off the bottom of the cake box. Awesome.
We were treated to stunning fall colors all day long.
Cyclists sure seem to like coffee...
Adam and Audrey saw us off from the shop!
Rolling up to Galbraith
Others have been here, way up on the climb up Lookout. There was little/no water in this stream a couple weeks ago.
gleaming the cube
nice spot for an evening fire pit
Looking out
The hike-a-bike sweet as lemonade
Chris, showing how to properly crawl under a fallen log with bicycle in tow
Hang glider envy
a Matt in the woods
Someone's helping with the route up to Alger Alp.
Looking South-Southwest from the Alp, I-5 snakes into the Skagit flats
Slingerland
Velcro, the doug fir looks small from up here
perfect medium for blissful pedaling
Can anyone name the tree these leaves and cones belong to?
standard americana petrol stop
standard PNW petrol stop
Matti and the stumpy
velcro trying to throw down an spirited attack
a nice view of Alger Alp, from the base of Blanchard. Anderson Mountain is the slope to the left. In nice weather, Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters are nicely framed by the foothills.
Starting up Sick Joke
Quality air in these parts
it's all downhill from here
three big bike dorks, stoked on life
cameras rarely do nature justice, good thing being there is always the best canvas
about 46 miles and just over 9,000 feet of climbing for the day! Too bad there wasn't daylight for Blanchard. For now, time to rest, lay down roots, energy to the base, then when spring comes again, energies will again rise earlier with the Sun.___________________
The title of this post is from a fantastic poem, 12 thousand snicker-snacks to who ever knows the name of said poem.
Friday, October 23, 2009
October storm chasing
Today I awoke to the sound of rain on the roof top. One of my favorite things to wake up to. A friend Kirk and I had been planning for a mountain bike ride today. While making breakfast and watching the rain continue to cascade down, Kirk called, the words "rain-check" were thrown out. I'm not one to twist arms too often, but if it's for a good cause I'm all about it. This storm we're having is a pretty warm one and they only get colder from here on out. I called Kirk and told him what a beautiful day this is in the Pacific Northwest. (He just moved here from Utah, and grew up on the East coast.) I was prepared to throw down the East coast/ West coast poo slingin to seal the deal, but I didn't have to. He got excited about it and we made plans to meet up and ride.
Both of us opted for the full gore-tex suit, the rain was not letting up. I borrowed a 26er stumpjumper fully to try out from the bike shop. I hadn't ridden a full suspendo bike for years and I was stoked to rally this thing around in the mud for a few hours. WOW, it completely rekindled my flame for the 26 inch wheels. There is still a place for them. For sure. The bike just loves to leave the ground when you want it to, but the suspension keeps everything tight and ON the ground when you need it to. I also felt like two wheel drifting was way easier to do with the small wheels. And so much fun! You can do it with the big wheels but it's a bit more dire trying to get them to hook back up, while the 2-6 wheels are incredibly predictable. ok, enough bike gabbin.
The ride was absolutely superb. We headed out to Galbraith Mountain (although it's really a hill by standards of the West). Kirk showed me a super sweet loop that he's been doing. It was so fun, going down trails that I normally come up. The bike absolutely ripped, along with Kirk and myself. We didn't see anyone the whole day! Bummer so many people missed out on the stellar conditions.
Thanks for the ride Kirk!
The highlight of the ride would have to be rolling back down Galbraith lane and seeing a box and apples with a sign above that read, "Free Apples: have one, have some. hand picked. Enjoy!" We were in heaven. Mother nature and some beautiful person decided to share some incredible apples with hungry mountain bikers? Nothing could have been more perfect. The apples were enjoyed thoroughly, seasoned to taste with mud/grit from the surrounding country side.
Wishes granted! We definitely enjoyed some!
Sweet nectar for the tired body
Apple monster?
Both of us opted for the full gore-tex suit, the rain was not letting up. I borrowed a 26er stumpjumper fully to try out from the bike shop. I hadn't ridden a full suspendo bike for years and I was stoked to rally this thing around in the mud for a few hours. WOW, it completely rekindled my flame for the 26 inch wheels. There is still a place for them. For sure. The bike just loves to leave the ground when you want it to, but the suspension keeps everything tight and ON the ground when you need it to. I also felt like two wheel drifting was way easier to do with the small wheels. And so much fun! You can do it with the big wheels but it's a bit more dire trying to get them to hook back up, while the 2-6 wheels are incredibly predictable. ok, enough bike gabbin.
The ride was absolutely superb. We headed out to Galbraith Mountain (although it's really a hill by standards of the West). Kirk showed me a super sweet loop that he's been doing. It was so fun, going down trails that I normally come up. The bike absolutely ripped, along with Kirk and myself. We didn't see anyone the whole day! Bummer so many people missed out on the stellar conditions.
Thanks for the ride Kirk!
The highlight of the ride would have to be rolling back down Galbraith lane and seeing a box and apples with a sign above that read, "Free Apples: have one, have some. hand picked. Enjoy!" We were in heaven. Mother nature and some beautiful person decided to share some incredible apples with hungry mountain bikers? Nothing could have been more perfect. The apples were enjoyed thoroughly, seasoned to taste with mud/grit from the surrounding country side.
Wishes granted! We definitely enjoyed some!
Sweet nectar for the tired body
Apple monster?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
short track and mountain cross mini-report
quick update before I got to bed and pass out.
Whitney had a solid start until she crashed a few times, and lost enough time that she was pulled just a few laps into the race. Don't know how she placed.
My race started super fast. I was pulled 20ish minutes into the race. don't know placing but somewhere around top 20 or so?
Casey had some rough luck and flatted in his first heat of the 4x.
It was another beautiful day up here. Warm, lots of fresh air, people in speedo's yelling a lot and most others drinking a whole bunch of beer.
Lots of photos of the action but that will have to wait!
Whitney had a solid start until she crashed a few times, and lost enough time that she was pulled just a few laps into the race. Don't know how she placed.
My race started super fast. I was pulled 20ish minutes into the race. don't know placing but somewhere around top 20 or so?
Casey had some rough luck and flatted in his first heat of the 4x.
It was another beautiful day up here. Warm, lots of fresh air, people in speedo's yelling a lot and most others drinking a whole bunch of beer.
Lots of photos of the action but that will have to wait!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Race report
Whitney started out riding a really smart race until she got a huge nail in her tire on the second lap. She replaced the tube, but her co2 only put 10psi in the tire so she nursed it down the finish line where they pulled her because she lost a lot of time. She was in around 12th place when she flatted! They gave her 18th on the day.
I got tangled up with another rider on the first switchback of the climb about 2 minutes into the race and lost a lot of positions. From then on I was passing people for the rest of the race. I felt great all day and worked hard for 11th place.
Stephen Ettinger from Cashmere, WA took 1st in DII men. He's racing for MSU right now. Some tough guys from Union College in Kentucky cleaned up 2nd and 3rd positions. Last years champ Tristan Cowie came in for 5th.
wwu cycling alumni Zach Guy had a stellar showing and I think he took 8th place! He's racing for MSU in bozeman, MT.
Another wwu cycling alumni, Michel got 32nd place out of 57 in DI. Apparently this is his tenth mountain bike RIDE. Freaking awesome.
Here's a post race interview
I got tangled up with another rider on the first switchback of the climb about 2 minutes into the race and lost a lot of positions. From then on I was passing people for the rest of the race. I felt great all day and worked hard for 11th place.
Stephen Ettinger from Cashmere, WA took 1st in DII men. He's racing for MSU right now. Some tough guys from Union College in Kentucky cleaned up 2nd and 3rd positions. Last years champ Tristan Cowie came in for 5th.
wwu cycling alumni Zach Guy had a stellar showing and I think he took 8th place! He's racing for MSU in bozeman, MT.
Another wwu cycling alumni, Michel got 32nd place out of 57 in DI. Apparently this is his tenth mountain bike RIDE. Freaking awesome.
Here's a post race interview
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