New Car (buh-bye Luna (the Mazda))

We haven't gotten rid of Luna just yet - need to call OPB to donate it.  But, we did get a new car.

Yup, a Prius.  A Prius V in fact - which is the larger of the 3 Prius models.

I had been thinking of just getting a car to replace the commute vehicle (the Mazda), but Mary wisely pointed out it might be nice to have a fuel efficient car for all around family use.  With that in mind, there really wasn't much choice other than the Prius V.  It's just bigger enough than the Prius to make quite a bit of difference: I can sit upright in the back seat, it's wide enough to comfortably (relatively) sit 3 people, and the trunk/cargo area is twice the size of the standard Prius (i.e. it's a usable size now).

Mary and I both liked the hybrid Civic, but its trunk was tiny.  I really liked the console of the Civic - and don't like the Prius' at all, but that's not really a sticking point for me.

Once we'd decided upon the car, the question was, how do we go about buying it?

I'd read a couple accounts of people calling around for quotes and doing all the "wheeling and dealing" over the phone, and I was excited to give that a try.  Mary just didn't want to spend a bunch of time at the dealer bartering over a price, so she let me go ahead with the plan.  We were also going to try the Costco deal (a no-haggle thing where the dealer offers $X over dealer invoice) - but we didn't have an account.  I also put a request out through USAA's auto purchase program and got a couple bids that way.  But the real leg work was done by getting a listing of all the dealers within 100 miles of Corvallis and calling them.

I ended up calling 12 dealers, giving them all the same spiel (have financing, no trade-in, 2012 Prius V model Two, dark interior, any exterior but Red or White).  Half called back with quotes, and half called back asking me to call them to get the quotes (arrrg!).  Two of the sales guys I talked two were not at all interested and just quoted me the MSRP.

The dealer in Springfield (winning dealer) told me of their standard offer of $2500 off MSRP, and I was pretty much sold at that point.  The Corvallis sales guy told me they really wanted to keep our business (stay local and all), and then proceeded to give me the highest non-MSRP quote.  I told him it was way high, and he asked to be given the last chance.  A few minutes later we got a call from the Eugene dealer with the best quote (by $100) - but they didn't have any of the cars in stock, it'd be subject to a dealer trade.  The local dealer called me back and said he'd match the lowest offer if I could give him proof so he could show his GM.

Mary and I talked about the choices, and decided to go with Springfield.

I didn't call the Corvallis dealer back, but instead sent him (and the sales manager) an email describing my experience - I felt very awkward thinking about asking for proof from the Springfield guy and then taking that offer to a different dealer.  I figured I gave everyone the same chance, and I even told the Corvallis guy what my best offer was (nobody else had that information), and as opposed to just giving me a straight-up offer, I would have to use a different dealer against himself.  It just felt weird.

So, we drove down to Springfield, did the paperwork (1.5 hours, sigh... still took long), and due to a mix-up of one hand not knowing what the other was doing, we didn't get the car that night.  We got an identical one delivered to our door the next day.  Other than that little SNAFU (which did seem like an honest mistake), the experience with Springfield (Lithia) was good.

The guy who delivered the car got lost trying to get to our house, and was a little late.  But Simone was getting over a cold, so we were just hanging around anyway.

Hopefully the new car will last as long as the Mazda: 20 years and 260000 miles.

Kid's Day For Conservation

It turns out there's been an event going on annually for 10 years that I had no idea existed.  Today was Kid's Day For Conservation, which is an event that educates kids about a huge variety of things in the natural world.

Simone and I biked there and met Mary (who ran some errands first).  Immediately upon arriving we heard the pounding of hammers so we went over to check it out.  You could build your very own bird house.  We hopped in line and waited our turn.

Simone did a great job hammering the nails in - not a bent nail to be had.

16 nails later we had a bird house and a very proud girl.  Now we have to figure out where to hang it.

Right after making the bird house we ran into an old friend, Maddie.  Simone and she hugged - it was like the  meeting of long-lost sisters.  Simone and Maddie played together during outside time last year nearly every day, but Maddie is at a different school this year.

Inside the fairgrounds there were all sorts of tables/booths.  You could make a seed bomb, a hairy buddy (nylon filled with seed and dirt which grows "hair"), paint, touch snakes and turtles, pet goats, learn about recycling, wetlands, listen to a story inside a huge inflatable fish, and even dress up a an animal and participate in a parade.  Simone chose to be a beaver:

On our way back to the bike to head home we saw a pretty butterfly in the flowers next to the bikes.  It flew away before we could get close, but I was able to snag a photo of a bee.

We'll probably check it out again next year.  I got to talk to one of the guys responsible for the wetland restoration project which is right next to the fairgrounds.  Pretty interesting stuff.

Abbreviated Fall Festival

We went to the Fall Festival this year, but got there a bit later than planned.

Right when we got there we saw a dance exhibition from Mexico - which was fun (and just try to keep Simone away from dance).  Then we ran into some friends, which was also very fun.  The downside was we didn't get time to actually view the art.  On our way back to the Burley (we did walk there and back which was lovely) we did a quick scan of about 1/10th of the booths - a number of which were new (to us) artists.

Maybe next year we'll make a little more time.

While hanging out, Simone and her friends were climbing trees.  I was very proud that Simone climbed up and down all on her own.  One of her friends quickly got into the "I'm stuck, I can't get down" mode where she didn't want to climb on her own any more.  Simone got a little of that - especially when she made a decision to climb into a really awkward position.  With a little coaching and encouragement, she got herself turned around and made it down to the ground safe and sound.  I was very proud that she stuck to it and did all her own climbing.

On the way home we found a tree that was shedding conkers - they are so pretty when they're bursting out of their cover.

Bounty from our yard

We got chicks this year, and they've been growing and growing.  I think it was less than a month ago we started getting eggs, and just the other day we got three!  Today we got four!

How exciting.

And, our yellow raspberry bush is producing more raspberries that are very tasty.

Bath Time!

Mary and Simone took a bath the other day.  I knew Simone was taking one, and what a surprise I had when I opened the door to find the two of them packed into a bubble filled bathtub!

How lucky I am.

Farm to Farm (to Farm...)

I rode the F2F century again this year. http://www.farmtofarmride.com/

It is a fundraiser for the Monroe Sharing Gardens and exposes people to a fee of the wonderful farms we have in the valley. As a ride, it has pretty much all the elements I could want in a ride: breakfast, dinner, food stops with awesome fresh (and real) food, pretty scenery, support along the way, and a swag bag with only good things in it.

I borrowed Mike Ripley's bike for the ride (thanks Mike) which is an awesome racing bike that weighs maybe 17 pounds. I certainly felt fast on it. One of the mechanics admired it fondly. I'll be giving it back this week with a little sadness.

The ride starts in Monroe nice and early with a breakfast and then a short tour through Monroe out towards Alsea falls.

I'd parked next to two guys and made small talk in the registration line. They were from Eugene and Tillamook and ride together often. They seemed like they would ride about the same pace as me and I thought of joining them, but we got to breakfast at different times and left separately. I didn't want to be that creepy guy who hangs uncomfortably nearby wanting to be their friend. So I rode off toward Alsea ahead of them.

I felt like a pro biking past lots of people. It seemed like this years crowd was more recreational riders than serious ones. There were two recumbents biking side by side taking up the entire lane (and cyclists wonder why drivers sometimes resent cyclists).

The climb up to Alsea falls is pretty steep and I passed even more people. There were quite a few who were walking there bikes. I crested the peak after climbing 1000 feet and enjoyed the windy descent.

The first rest stop is at a goat farm and they had pasties, zucchini bread, and cookies again. I had a sampling of each of them and chatted with the two guys from the parking lot who had rolled into the pit stop a couple of minutes after me.

We set off together making some pretty good time and chatting. The next climb was up to the base of Mary's Peak - another 1000 foot climb though not as steep. The two guys were named Dan and Mike. We were pretty well matched - Dan was a bit faster than me and Mike a bit slower due to coming off an illness.

The ride down has to be my favorite section of road in the area. We were behind a car that luckily was going fast enough not to get in the way.

We stopped next at Gathering Together Farm - for a snack of watermelon and potato donuts. The donuts were awesome as usual.

We cruised through the the farmer's market and then headed down Peoria road. Last year the entire second have was into a strong headwind. This year there was a slight tailwind.

We cruised through the second half pretty fast. We found out we were the first riders to come through. There were a couple of guys not far behind us. It wasn't a race but we were WINNING!

Dan's rear wheel started leaking air pretty fast, so we stopped a couple of times to pump it up and limp in.

We finished up clocking in 100 miles on the dot. After changing into real clothes we headed back to the start to eat some dinner.

All in all a great ride.

I really enjoyed riding with Dan and Mike. We had quite a bit in common and had a good time chatting it up while riding. Plus it helped to have some people to draft off.

I'll be doing the ride again next year.

Jam Packed Day

Toward the end of August, Albany puts together an Art and Air festival, where they have an air show, hot air balloons, art sale, food booths, music, etc.  We'd gone once a long time ago, I've got a photo somewhere of Simone asleep on my arm that was taken there.

The festival had moderately interesting art - about what you'd expect at a Saturday market, but we had a fun time poking around looking at things.  Gin joined us, and it's nice to hang with her.

They had a kids area for crafts, so Simone made a necklace and a paper-bag hat.  We missed out on painting a square on the big plywood boards by one person (they'd just filled the last one) - next time we'll show up a little earlier.

Simone modeling the necklace.  Note the heart necklace underneath - all the gals in the booths thought she'd gotten it at the fair, but it came from home.

The paper bag hat, a thing of beauty.

Then after the festival we came home, made a fire, roasted marshmallows to make s'mores, and slept outside.  So much fun!

Our roaring fire, the coals were perfect for s'mores.

A  benefit of sleeping outside was that Jupiter slept next to me all night long.  In the morning Simone came into the bed and snuggled up (Mary had gone inside in the middle of the night because she wasn't sleeping at all).

While lying in bed we heard our chickens wake up.  One sounded a little unusual.  She was making a "kakruu - kakruu!" sounds.  Uh-oh.

Yup, one of our girls had decided to let us know she was a he.  It was official two days later when I saw him mount one of the hens, and a couple days after that he found his voice and cockle-doodle-do'ed all day.

We now have 6 chickens, and Maddie made a nice pot of chicken soup.

Flowers

I like closeups of flowers.

They're pretty.

Hydrangea in Newport.

Hydrangea in Newport.

Sweet pea in Gearhart.

A sweet pea in Gearhart.

Sunflower in our garden.

Newport

It got pretty hot for a few days in August, so one Sunday we headed to Newport where the temperature was a nice, cool, 68 degrees.  We had a lovely lunch, played in a park, saw some Sea Lions, met two guys who had biked from Patagonia up the east coast and were headed back down the west coast.  A good day.

Waiting for a table for lunch.

Got milk?

Warm and sunny in Newport.

Sculpture

In the art exhibit, looking through the salt-stained windows.

Artsy shot of a boat.

The sea lions

Simone in August

This is what Simone looked like this August.

Lounging around in the back yard.

Notice the pool in the background, we have a pool!

Horse Camp

Simone spent a week at horse camp.  She rode a smaller horse this year (I forget his name), and during the show on Friday, she rode around the barn all on her own.

Simone and Mary warming up around the barn.

Simone riding backwards.

Simone, Robin, and one of the assistants.

Where to Start

So much since the 4th of July, including the 4th of July.  It's now September, and Simone has started school, kindergarten.  We had some vacation, some hanging out, some biking.  I'll try to post some memories, we'll see where we get.

Prejudices

I went for a bike ride this morning. We're at the coast and the clouds and drizzle have set in, but I still wanted to ride.

It turns out, there aren't many (any?) mountain bike trails around the cities of Seaside/Astoria. At least, none that show up on MTB forums, or are known by my team, or that the usual trail web sites know of. I have done a trail at fort Stevens years ago, but didn't feel like driving.

So off to the logging roads I went.

The hills just east of Gearhart and Seaside are privately owned and are heavily logged. I noticed them last year when I did some road riding in the valley over the hills.

I donned my Lycra and headed into the mist.

As I reached the main logging road I noticed the gate was open and some guy was working on it. I stopped to ask if it was ok for me to ride on these roads.

He looked up and I could see he was a bit older, was missing quite a few teeth, and given the company name on the side of his truck (Seaside) he was from around here.

I don't know exactly what preconceptions I had of him, but I was a little surprised when he said I had a nice bike and that he was real happy with his 29er. He continued with talking about how well it rolls over bumps his 26" Cannondale had trouble with, and that it's got to do with the lower angle of attack that the bigger wheel presents to obstacles.

It's at thus point I realize I'd totally judged him wrong. Bad Trey.

We walked over to the sign to see what it says about bikes, and it looks like I've got free reign until sunset.

All inspired that I'd met a fellow biker who lived locally - I asked him where he rides. He mostly road rides, and commutes with the bike. He even has slicks on the 29er.

He then continues by saying he sometimes goes into the skate park on the bike. Sometimes he gets drunk before the skate park, and it's pretty sketchy biking in the park in the dark, drunk.

There's my prejudices coming back.

Pickett's Charge

Last weekend was Pickett's Charge, a race on trails outside of Bend, and the last of the Oregon XC series of races.  Mary had a women's mountain bike clinic over the weekend, so Nana and Grandpa came down to hang with Simone.  Dad and I headed over to Bend Saturday night to avoid having to wake up at 4:30 to make it to the race on time.

Sunday morning we woke up and had a disappointing breakfast at Jackson's Corner (the potatoes were incredibly salty, and my scramble was pedestrian (how's that for a high brow description?)), and then drove out to the Wanoga Sno-Park.  The parking lot for the area is an oval, and in the middle there is a BMX course - lots of bumps and corners and way fun.  They didn't have a kids race, but the kids were very content riding that for 2 hours.  Heck, I would have been happy riding it for 2 hours.

As we drove out, the weather was gorgeous, if a bit chilly.  I picked up my registration and changed into my race clothes.  I rode around a little bit, hopping on the course for a couple miles and saying "hi" to various people.  As the race start approached, so did the clouds and the rain.  Quickly all discussion turned to how much to wear for the race.  I opted for an undershirt, a long sleeved shirt, and my jersey - I might invest in a "team dirt" jacket next year to make wearing warm stuff easier (since you're supposed to race with your logo visible).

During the TOE50 I discovered that while my homemade energy bars/balls are delicious, they are difficult to eat while riding, so I opted to carry Clif Bloks, Dots, gummy bears, and jelly beans.  Mary found some gummy bears and sour jelly beans that were made with real sugar, and I mixed that with the Bloks (real-ish sugar) and Dots (mmm.... corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors).  And then I put them in my new "Aero FuelBox", basically a little zippered pouch I attach on the toptube/stem of my bike.  That worked really well, I ended up keeping it open and just digging my hand in there for a few pieces at a time.  It was so much easier than digging around in the jersey pocket.  And the sugary snacks were small and easy to eat - I could either chew them or let them melt.  I really like the taste of the Clif Bloks, but compared to the other flavors, they were kind of flat - that said, they were the easiest to eat (softest).  The Dots are yummy, if a bit sticky on the teeth.  The standout of the bunch were the sour jelly beans which had a great burst of flavor (my mouth is watering just writing about it).  I'll definitely use this in all my future races, supplementing the longer races with the DIY energy balls at the rest stops.

The start was very nicely staged, with good-sized signs for each category.  This was a gripe I (and others) have had about other races, and these folks did a great job of making it very clear.  Plus, each wave started 2-3 minutes apart, ensuring lots of separation.  As a result, the 11 clydesdales had plenty of time to bond - which was kind of nice.  About the only downside was that we were the 2nd to last wave, with only the Cat 3 riders behind us - and they were doing just one lap, so the race was a bit lonely.

The official OBRA timer blew the whistle and we were off, climbing up hill for 1/2 mile, then down a dirt road for 1/2 a mile, and into the singletrack.  I took off like a shot and shouted, "I'm winning!" just to say I was in the lead at one point.  We all settled into the climb, jockeying around to find the pecking order.  Surprisingly, if you look at all of the folks who did the climb on Strava, I have the 7th fastest (of 40), including significantly faster than my buddy Scott - who finished the race way way way ahead of me.

My goal at the start was to try to be in the top 3 of the clydes when we switched to the singletrack, and I couldn't quite do that - I was fourth.  Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a slow Cat 2 woman right at the singletrack, and clyde #3 put some distance between us right away.

The trail has a number of places where the trail Y's into two trails and you get to choose which direction to go.  The first one was pretty early on the single track, and I chose poorly and followed the slow Cat 2 gal... which allowed Clyde #5 to jump past me into position #4.  That was the one mistake I feel I made during the race - he quickly put a gap between us, and got past a couple slower Cat 2 women, and within 5 minutes he was gone from view.  In the end, he finished at least 7 minutes ahead of me (dunno if he finished #3 or #4), so he was definitely faster than me for the day.  Still, had I chosen the left branch, I could have held him off a little longer.  I fretted about that mistake for a chunk of the ride, but kept telling myself I'd just have to catch him.

The rain stopped about 3 miles into the ride, and it slowly got a little nicer.  The sun was welcome, but it never got very warm.

After the initial climbs we got to descend on a trail called Tiddlywinks for nearly 4 miles, and man was that fun.  Lots of windy, banked turns, little whoops.  It'd rained (and snowed) the day before, so the trail conditions were great - no dust at all.  I had adjusted my seat about an inch lower than I normally have it, and the climbs seemed normal - but on the descent I really noticed a difference.  There was one spot where I chose to go over a large rock (2' high) as opposed to around, and the drop off was steeper than I expected - and I had absolutely no problem adjusting myself on the bike to cleanly ride it out - feeling very stable the entire time.  I think had the seat been at the regular height I might have gotten stuck and felt in danger of going over the handlebars.  So, key learning: ride more with the seat in the slightly lower position to see how that feels overall.

The riding in Bend is definitely different than in Corvallis.  The Bend trails are just so windy and banked, you really need to have good separation between you and the bike.  I felt a little more confident with that skill on this ride (versus Sister's).  In Corvallis, the rides are much straighter, and of course less rocky.

On the way down there was a corner which had 10-15 water bottles scattered around.  I asked the team if they had any clue as to why this was, but nobody had a definitive answer.  The best guess was that the turn was after a straight section and people were caught off guard while getting a drink.

A nice surprise was that I passed a couple people on the down - yay fun.

After the wonderful descent, the climb began.  At the end of the descent/beginning of the climb some folks passed me - they were some pretty fast Cat 3 guys.  One clydesdale passed me during that chunk, but we started climbing and I got past him quickly.

One really young Cat 3 kid passed me on the climb and I stuck with him through the end of the first lap.  I could have passed him but chose to just ride his wheel because I was near my limit.  He turned off at the finish, and I kept on going for lap # 2.

The second lap was like the first, only a little bit slower.  I tried to go faster, but the overall time was longer, so I'm sure it was slower.  The down was probably even more fun the second time, and the up was bearable - though my legs were pretty tired.

This was the first race my heart rate monitor worked, and it appears that my anerobic threshold is around 166bpm.  Whenever I was above this, I could feel my legs starting to fail, and when I was below I could feel that I had just a little more to give.  I checked the rate many times during the race and it was pretty accurate.

The second lap was also a bit lonelier.  I didn't see anyone for most of the lap, I think one person passed me, and near the end I caught up with a slower Cat 2 guy.  With one kilometer left (really, a 1km sign...) I decided to catch the Cat 2 guy, and luckily I caught him just a little before the last 'Y' in the trail - I took the other branch and passed him.  At the end of the race I finished alone, leaving him behind.

I finished 5th of 11 clydesdales, and you can check out my ride on Strava.  I was a bit disappointed to not have finished higher, but given the 7 minute gap between me and 4th place, there wasn't any one thing I could have done to fix that (as opposed to the TOE 50, or Sister's Stampede), and I really did push myself pretty hard for nearly the entire 2.5 hours.  So all in all, a great race.

Dad and I hung out for the awards, munching on the food they provided.  They had a few giveaways, but nothing like the bike/wheels/roof rack stuff that Mike gets.  People started drifting away as the awards went on, probably because it was difficult to hear and it was kind of cold.

I drove to Sisters where Dad and I got a milkshake - fresh banana for me, mmmm.... then Dad drove and I took a little nap.

I talked with Scott after the race, and we both agreed that a better warm-up was needed.  While I was significantly behind the other clydes in front of me, I still think that a stronger start would help.  I don't know if a stronger start itself is the cause of the final positions, or if it's just that the stronger riders have stronger starts - I imagine it is a bit of both.  Key learning: work on hill starts for next year.

As this was last race of the XC series, the winners of the series were announced (not official until Thursday, but good enough for me).  I ended up in 6th out of 21 clydes.  Next year I'll try for top 3, but the way the scoring works, a big part of placing is racing in 6 of the races (only your top 6 finishes count), and then placing high.  The top two guys from this year look pretty tough - both of them placing either 1st or 3rd in all 5 of the races they each raced - so unseating them will be some work.  The rest of the racers either didn't race enough to get a good idea of how good/bad they are, or seem to be in my ballpark already.

Test Of Endurance 50

Two week ago I rode in the Test Of Endurance 50, a race in the same forest as the Mudslinger, and it shares a couple of the trails.  It was essentially two 25 mile loops, with 4500' of climbing on each loop.

My goal in the race was to finish in one piece and have fun.  Mission accomplished.

I finished after 6 hours 41 minutes and 32 seconds, a mere 36 seconds behind 3rd place.  Crazy.

The day looked to be pretty warm, so I just wore my jersey and bib and a bit of sunscreen.  I was talking with Jason Stowers before the race and he pointed out the jersey unzipped all the way - so I sported my chest hair for most of the race to keep cool.

What do I remember from the race?  Well, it was a rolling start and the Cat1/Pro folks took off pretty fast.  I settled into a relatively comfortable pace as we began to climb.  Jason Stowers and I kept passing each other, mostly me passing him as he putzed with his water bottle cages, then him passing me.

The first two trails were named "first" and "second" respectively - not very original, but entertaining on the climb up.  Then we popped over to my new favorite in that forest named "Side Hill" or something like that.  The trail cuts right across the side of a really steep hillside, jogging up and down.  Then we rode "Dinner" and "Movie" (get it? - not everyone riding caught it), which were pretty fun downhill singletracks, with one fairly exposed/steep section which I panicked on the first time around (damn signs).  It was very ride-able if you don't psych yourself out.  I felt pretty embarrassed as people flew past me.  Then more climbing up to the aide station. 


I'd been having issues with my chain not staying in 2nd & 3rd gears in the back, so the mechanic took a look at it, adjusted it some, and for the most part fixed the issue - which was nice because I really could use the low gears on this continual climb.


The aide station had plenty of food - the chips were my favorite, mmmm... salty.


Then up briefly to a descent whose name I forget - probably the most difficult in some ways because it ducked in and out of small stands of trees, and the transition from sun to shade made visibility really poor.  Then we were on the Mudslinger course, up the singletrack... and then down Panama to the second aide station.


I felt pretty good at the first aide station (12 miles in), but kinda weary at the second.  I hung out for a few minutes.  I saw Maggie Rising there, but she took off pretty quickly whereas I hung out taking in a bunch of liquid.  I refilled my 60oz bladder at this point, plus my water bottle.  This was the aide station where you could "ship" yourself a bag/box/cooler - two guys sent themselves pizzas!


Then it was time for lap number 2, more or less a repeat of the first.  I rode the first half of this leapfrogging some nice young lady (gah, I'm old), but she eventually put the distance between us at Dinner/Movie down.  I saw her briefly at the 3rd aide station, but I decided to rest there.


Just before the 3rd aide station I biked past a guy who was cramping up real bad - he walked his bike up to the station just before I left, and it was a good reminder to keep taking in fluids/food.  I took my time at the 3rd aide station, sitting in one of the chairs there, sipping a cold can of Coke - it tasted awesome!  I also created my first ever nutella/bagel sandwich with potato chips (the bagel was whole wheat - making the whole thing healthy).


The ride down was good - I joined up with a gal from Bend for the last 10 miles or so, and we chatted on the road back to the school/finish.  At one point she picked up the pace, and I asked if we were going to pass the guy we saw a ways ahead of us.  She said "yes" and off we went - catching him.


At this point I really thought about my learnings from the Sister's race, and I made sure nobody caught me on the last mile.  I left the gal from Bend in my wake as I powered/puttered up the hill to the school.  I was pretty tired, but it felt good.

I hung out with a number of folks from Team Dirt and ate the big burrito (delicious), then hosed myself off before going to change.

The awards were a little haphazard as the scoring was messed up, and I was accidentally called up to the podium to receive my 3rd place medal.  But here's the picture anyway:

I like this photo of me during the first lap, only I wish the camera had the horizon level to show how steep the trail was at that section.

And this photo, on the 2nd lap, makes me look good.  All the shadows are in the right spots, I look thin and fast.  Soon it'll be reality, not just a lucky picture.

If you look closely, you can see me in the mass start.

What did I learn from this race?  My conditioning was pretty good, my descending is still my weak point (that's where I was passed, almost never on the climb).  The energy balls and bars I make are very tasty, but not very practical to eat while riding (too hard to breathe while chewing actual food).  Oh, and don't sit at the last aide station for 5+ minutes only to lose out of the podium by 36 seconds.

All in all, I was happy to have done the race, it was very well organized, the trails were fun, the conditions were perfect, the support was great.

Next year I plan on trying to come in under 6 hours - that's a bit of a stretch, but I learned that Melissa Norland took nearly an hour off her time from last year to this (6 hours to 5 hours), and I've got more room to improve than she did.

Other than that, I think I'll take less food with me and rely more on the aide stations.

I drank at least 200 ounces of water during the race (2 bladders and 5 bottles) and another 100 after the race. Even with that, I didn't pee until after I got home.

I'll get to practice this in the 6 hours of Alsea - pretty much the same race for me since I was on my bike for 6 hours.

Oh, the bib worked pretty well, a little bit of chafing, but that's par for the course for me for rides over 3 hours...

Thanks to Mary and Simone for supporting me in going to this race, I'm glad they didn't come to "support" me because it would have been a long, boring day for them.

The next race is Pickett's Charge...

Family art night

We occasionally have family art night, where we all work on some bit of art. I drew with colored pencils, I forget what Mary did, but I do have an action shot of Simone painting. It was such a lovely evening that we did art outside.

You can also see Jupiter and the Jade-lookalike cat we're calling Chester. He has adopted us. He's very friendly, but belongs to a vet student we've never met (we took the cat to the vet and looked up his chip). Chester is over at our house nearly every day. He's very friendly.

Knitting

Mary and Simone were knitting the other day. Simone can finger-knit with the best of them.

Who wrote the book of love?

I think this photo makes it pretty clear:

Flowers on Simone's Birthday

I took some photos of flowers on Simone's birthday, and some turned out pretty well.  I could see that a real macro lens would help (slightly larger depth of field would be great).

Enjoy.