36hrs of Mudslinger

Last weekend was the 23rd Annual Peak Sports Mudslinger. It's a race I try to never miss if it can be helped. Back in high school the Mudslinger lay dormant for a few years. The promoter lost venue that was currently being used. My Junior and Senior years I put in a lot of hours of trail work out at the current course. And the best part is, at the time, I could ride my mountain bike from my house on Alsea Hwy, over the skirts of Marys Peak and ride the trails that are now used for the course, without ever seeing automobile!

It was a super quick trip. Luckily, three good pals joined me for the weekend! Logan Wetzel, Ben Rathkamp, and Whitney Anderson. It was quite a good bunch. So we all piled in the trusty 4runner and pointed it South.

Well, I won't bore anyone with details, but the 4Runner blew a headgasket and to get back home we had to refill the radiator 3-4times to keep her from over-heating.

Here's the 4Runner all loaded down. I know, she's a beauty in her old age. 277,000ish miles old that is.

But to the really great news, the race was amazing! Conditions were incredible, though not the conditions that the race was named for, it was still a super fun race. Here I must put in a few words about Race Director Mike Ripley. The dude knows how to put on a great race. check out his other races at mudslingerevents.com. The races he promotes are truly all about having a great time racing/riding your bike. Always timely, badass raffles, and it's my opinion that he wouldn't put on a race where the course doesn't kick ass. He's a rider too, and he know what to look for in a great race course. If anyone is curious about the race, there is the Test of Endurance50 miler that is held on the same trails, and then some, on June 19th. Check it out!

Race a good race and you should feel like this.

Results: Logan only won the damn thing, in front of fellow S&M Teammate Sean Babcock (2x Mudslinger champion). A sprint up the finishing hill was the only thing that could separate those two riders. I came in a few minutes behind them and another rider in 4th place. Ben smashed it! Dude came in 10th overall in his first mtb race. Nevermind that he's a super strong road and cyclocross racer. He is strong like buffalo. Whitney finished a super strong race in her large field of lady racers.

Ben shredding up Panama Canal. (Thanks to oregonvelo.com for the photo)

Finding my way down Panama Canal for the last time. (Thanks to oregonvelo.com for the photo)

Logan. shredder. (Thanks to oregonvelo.com for the photo)

http://www.oregonvelo.com/ for more great photos! Although, I couldn't find one of Sean...

Mom and Allen just after the race. They were an amazing support group!

Logan, myself, and Ben; just after finishing.

Tall skinny white dude on the top step!

Since we'd be getting back to Bellingham late no matter what, we decided to enjoy the fruits of our location a bit and stopped in Portland for a beer and burger. It was incredible to say the least. We were beyond hungry, frankly, maybe getting a bit hangry.

Galbraith Public Meeting Today

For those that don't know, our local mountain biking hotspot here is "under attack" for lack of a better term.

The following is from my friend Mike's blog: http://mountaingoatblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/galbraith-public-meeting-4182011.html

"

Galbraith Public Meeting 4/18/2011

There is going to be a public forum on 4/18/11 to discuss the current situation on Galbraith. Word is council chambers hold 250 people, so 500 riders should help get the point across. Ride your bike to the event and tell all your friends.

Stay civil and strong - we want to look organized, motivated and respectable. This meeting is a chance for the local riding community to show how valuable Galbraith is to us, as well as demonstrate our sheer numbers.

Galbraith Public Forum
Date: 4/18/2011
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Bellingham City Hall Council Chambers

"

Time for the post!

Life is good. Lots of bike riding and coffee making. Not much coffee drinking though. Unless I'm in Oregon with my friend Chris... Then caution is thrown to the wind. I still love riding my bike! I've come to terms with Winter weather, after last weeks multiple sub-20 degree days, 35 degrees and raining feels downright balmy! I took a long weekend trip to Oregon with Chris. He raced Cherry Pie, the OBRA season opener. Crushed it too. He took 2nd place on the day. Hats off to you my friend. Besh wishes for the coming season. The other days we were down there we cruised out some really nice Corvallis pave. Lots of good food and games with family and friends. It was a great trip.

I'll leave you with a couple photos. The first two are from Galbraith Mountain, just outside Bellingham.

Lookout Mountain's svelt curves leading down to Lake Samish.

Looking South at Lake Samish and Blanchard Mountain, the Skagit flats beyond...

Chrisp and I driving back from a great Oregon weekend.

Marys Peak looms over the small town of Philomath, and the even smaller cyclists. The top was our goal this ride but her morning robe of white beauty told us we'd never make it... We barely made it to 1200' feet, until ice and snow turned us around. The top is 4097' respectively.

food essay

For myself, I know that there are foods that I should not eat. Gluten is one of them. I won't get into specifics, but I generally just feel bad when I eat it. I've never been tested for intolerance, but I don't need to be tested for something that has proved itself again and again is real-world testing.

Then there are foods that I still eat, and I pretty much know I should not consume, or rarely consume. But I love them! Or that's how I feel sometime, but they can be a slippery slope. Here it is, coffee and sweets. They go together like peas in a pod! I love the taste of coffee, but something in it, for sure the caffeine, but maybe something more, does not make me feel good. Caffeine, I know is no good for me. Being an athlete, my adrenal glands are pretty taxed as it is, caffeine on top of this is dangerous. Adrenal fatigue can wreak serious havoc on your mind and body. The list is long, but includes, depression, sensitivity to cold/chills, mental fog, decreased ability to handle stress, decreased ability to recover, muscular weakness, increased food allergy sensitivities, etc. Sweets can be a slippery slope too, the energy you get from them is so instant, you just want more and more (not to mention they freaking taste great). Do I really need to get into reasons why simple sugars are bad for you? Insulin roller-coast, weight gain, cancer feeder, trace-mineral thief, dental-nightmare-bringer, etc. Today, the average American eats about 175 pounds of sugar per year, compared to about 15 pounds per year in 1915.

Breakfast in New York City. Somewhere in Greenwich Village.

Now a short story. This one time, I went off sugar and coffee for 3 months. It was amazing. The first two weeks were almost hell. I had headaches (I was drinking lots of coffee leading into this). I craved sweet stuff ALOT (one must know that I was eating more then my fair share of the zucchini bread from the local coffee shop). But I stuck to my guns, and after that two week period, I didn't even look at the sweets anymore, and when I did, honestly they kinda grossed me out. I knew how they would make me feel. So life is good, it's summer in Bellingham, lots of bicycle riding and rock/mountain climbing that summer. I lost 10lbs, (for me that's huge, I'm already pretty fit and super active) and had all the energy of the world.

From the same New York breakfast.

Today is February 2nd. Let's cut to the chase... I'm giving up, no no, that sounds wrong, because what I'm "giving up" is really just going to make me feel better. I am no longer going to consume coffee and sugar until November 24th. Cause that day my Mom always rolls out a really amazing homemade espresso torte that I plan on enjoying a slice of. After that date, I won't be dogmatic about it anymore, but I believe that my relationship to sweet stuff and caffeine will have changed for the better. I probably wont blog about it after this. But feel free to ask questions in the comment field at any time. What I am doing is bringing about real change in my relationship to food. I know these things don't make me feel "good". Action now.

This is a photo Deanna took of an incredible paella that her and friend Thomas made while I was at work. I was speechless when I came in the door. Tom had harvested the clams down in Skagit even!

My challenge to you. During the coming week, I challenge you to feel/listen/be "in", your body for even a short time (start with 30 seconds) during every meal that you sit down to eat. I'll explain. Our society doesn't believe it's okay to have a "body". Sometimes, a lot of the time, our body knows best. Sometimes it wants to sneeze, fart, cry, scream, laugh, run, or just wiggle and make lots of weird movements. Think of how many places "in" our society that it's OK to do these things?! They are few. We're taught to ignore our body and not listen. I am challenging you to listen. At some point in every meal, just be with your food. Don't read, don't surf the internet, don't talk, don't think about other things that you have to do, just be "in" your body while you eat. Maybe the conversation is boring, or the food is really freaking good, or your eating alone, whatever. Look for subtle reactions your body makes, changes in breath, a tensing or relaxing of different parts of the body, tingling, sensations, etc. Just observe, try not to judge. Take delight in your food! You may find after practicing this for a few days, that you start to prefer less seasonings on your food, because you are actually tasting more of the food! You may find that some foods you thought you liked, really don't appeal to you, and others that you thought maybe were bland or boring, are completely incredible. Have fun with it and enjoy food!

Deanna is quite the cook sometimes. These she busted out, meal for one! Salmon, quinoa, on mustard greens, and a cabbage/carrot salad of some sort. Food is sooo good!

Mountain bicycling is one of my favorite things

I've been back in Beautiful, Bountiful, Breath-taking, Bellingham, Washington for almost a full two weeks now. It feels good to be back here. It is a place that I love. Not as much the city, but the hills and trails that surround it. I've been on the mountain bike exclusively, taking my camera (almost) every time, planning to get photos of the rad trails that I get to rip. I'm happy to report, the following two photos are literally the only photos that I've taken the time to snap. It's just been so hard to actually premeditate anything when you're stuck in that all-consuming body/mind experience of rallying your bike around in the woods.

Skim the good stuff off the top

My last full day in Oregon ended with a mid-winter's skim board sesh with my brother Johnny, and brother-from-another-mother, Thomas. Nothing like ice cold water, waves, beautiful scenery, good company, and running around lots in your underwear to light the fire of life and ring in the finish of year Two Thousand and Ten.

I have a debt to even up...

I've got a debt to even up. One of these years, I'll get back on track. But as it sits right now, I'm down one summer and up one winter... A few years back Deanna and I went to New Zealand. It is a stunningly beautiful country and the people there are equally friendly. It was an amazing trip, and I wouldn't take it back for anything, but I can't tell you how hard it was for me to give up an entire summer, go back to winter just as it's starting to really get into summer weather in the Pacific Northwest. I love the heat. Summer is my favorite season, long days, hot weather. Energy everywhere.

2008 was a wetter, cooler spring then normal in Bellingham, then I left for winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Now, I know people who do this every year, follow the snow to the hemisphere where it's currently the cash crop. I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not and never will be one of those people. I like snow sports, they are fun, but I don't love them. The sports that I love, don't (usually) involve snow.

So I'm down a summer, my body and mind and soul are down on all that expected sunshine and energy that comes with it. En Zed was nice, exciting, new, strange, incredible. But it really made me realize, how badass this land is that I grew up (and continue to grow) in.

Some photos of our trip to En-Zed. It's summer there right now... (click photos, they get big)

We hiked the Abel Tasman track. A stunning hut system on the North tip of the South Island.

Waterfall on the West coast of the South Island.
The Alps of New Zealand.