California Dreaming

I am soo stoked! Clare and I spent eight days in California, traveling through the Northcoast redwood country, camping, biking and staring at the big trees. We also got in some excellent friend and family visiting time with my buddy Dave and his wife Rosemary in Eureka and with Clare's family down in Mendocino County. We hit all of the main redwood parks, including Jed Smith Prairie Creek, Redwood National Park and Humboldt Redwoods. Riding our bikes among the giants was a big highlight of the trip. We also spent a night at Patrick's Point and fell asleep to the sound of the ocean crashing on the beach hundreds of feet below. Thanksgiving was spent with Clare's family on the amazing property that her grandma (also named Clare) and her (Roan) own in the hills above the Anderson Valley. Grandma Clare spoiled us with amazing food, wonderful company, and big warming fires in the kitchen hearth at every meal. Can't wait to get back there for another visit!

Clare barely escaped from this roadside Tyrannosaurus!

A big fat one in the Stout Grove - Jed Smith Redwoods State Park.

A beautiful old oak tree on Clare's grandmothers property. She owns 3,000 beautiful acres of steep forested hills that we're amazing to explore.

Before and After

Cross Crusade Race #8, The big finale for the series. Before the crash... Everything going well, in a good place, maybe top 20???

After the crash... Blood and mud cleaned out of the cuts, flapper on my knee cap cleaned out, hopefully it will all be ready for the next race! 26th place out of like 150 or so. Not too bad.

Cross Crusade Race #7

I got a little muddy this Sunday during the cyclocross race. It was a fun course though and I did really well. It was probably my best race of the year in terms of how I felt during and after the race. The mud was really deep in places though and that made it really challenging. I fell three or four times (hard to remember) but I managed to ride fast when I wasn't rolling around on the ground! Can't wait for next Sunday.

Alaska Photographs

Although Clare and I went to Alaska in August, I'm embarrassed to report that I am just getting around to editing the photos that I took during that trip. We had an epic time up there, visiting friends and family and getting out into the wilds. I started the trip with a little bit of volunteer work for my friend Erica who is running my old research project. We we're catching Kittlitz's Murrelets to put satellite tags on them (see image below).

The work went well and we had a good time in the process. Afterwards, Clare met me in Homer Alaska and we stayed with her Dad who lives there part of the time with his wife and two children. They treated us to incredible food and warm hospitality. We then moved onto Anchorage for a visit with my good friends Andy and Lili. They took us to a great berry picking site on a cloudy, wonderful Chugach day. Next up was Denali National Park and three days of camping at Savage River.

More Alaska Photos...

Here are a few more images from our Alaska trip:

Yumi Arimitsu and Liz Labunski, two old friends who I had the pleasure of working with again!
Lili, Clare, Andy and Tchau - the pooch. Lili and Andy are two of my absolute favorite people. Just being around them makes me happy, but picking blueberries in the mountains with them is fantastic!
Ammanita muscaria, the magic mushroom from Alice in Wonderland. This one is growing in my buddy Andy Alvarez's yard.
The view from near the Savage River in Denali National Park.

SSCXWC

Sunday was the third and final edition of the SSCXWC, the single speed cyclocross "world" championships, held here in Portland. This race has become a huge spectacle and the stuff of legend. Basically, 250 costumed riders, race around a muddy cyclocross course on singlespeed bikes, for glory, fame, and a free tattoo! The start was crazy (see above), with 250 bikes laid out in the center of a field and all of the riders lined up 50 meters away, 125 riders on one side and the other 125 opposite them. The race course featured the ususal cyclocross obstacles like wooden barriers to jump over, hills to run up, and a mock up of the "Thunderdome" from the Mad Max movie with Tina Turner (hence the poster advertising the race, below).

Oh, and most everybody was in costume, including this cross dressing nun!

Halloween Cross in Astoria

The Annual Cross Crusade Halloween Costume Party/Bike Race was another smashing success this year. I raced on Saturday and did pretty well (24th) despite crashing into the side of a barn on my last lap. I sat out the race on Sunday but I was there to cheer on teammates and dig the costumes on all of the riders. The weather was unseasonably beautiful, the beer was flowing, the races were competitive, and a good time was had by all.
The costumes were really good this year but my personal favorite was a pack of oompha loomphas that I think were worn by the Veloce/Felt team

My New Computer!!!!

Well, I've gone and done it! After resisting it as long as possible I have given into the temptation and bought a brand new Apple iMac. I've been a PC user forever, but after struggling with Windows service packs, endless updates, ridiculously slow start up and shutdown time, and all sorts of adware, malware, trojan horse etc. I finally had enough. All I can say now is that I love my new computer. It's the best purchase I think I've ever made...

The Goat Rocks Rocks!!

Wow, I just got back from four epic days in the backcountry with my best buddy Bryan and we had an absolute blast. B-man and I have been taking backpacking and mountaineering trips for years, from Shenandoah National Park way back in college, to the summit of Glacier Peak, we've always managed to have a good time. This trip was no exception. The Goat Rocks is an amazing wilderness, complete with lots of mountain goats, and lots of rock pinnacles. We got in there right before the snow really started to fly and enjoyed a few great days of hiking and camping. I hope the pictures (taken with my trusty iPhone) do the trip some justice.

Mt. Adams from Snowgrass Flats.

B-man on top of Old Snowy Peak.

The Goat Rocks central peaks.

Cross Crusade #1 - Alpenrose

Wow! The official start to the cyclocross season has come, and I am lucky enough to have been there for it. My knee has been improving steadily over the last few weeks (thanks to Dr. Seth Hosmer at HP chiro), and despite not training at all this summer I lined up for my second race of the season. The course was nice and fast, and despite starting in about 80th place, I managed to finish in 37th, out of 190 riders. I was pretty pleased with the result, especially since six weeks ago it looked like I wasn't going to be able to ride a single race this season. We had a strong turnout for our team and all the guys who raced did really well. It was a great way to kick off the Cross Crusade!