June Bike Tour Day 2. The Day of the Bike Wreak.

Ride length...longest day:  77.5 miles.  Hard but oddly, not the toughest day of the trip.
From Paradise Park Campground to Oakridge.

Here's highlights:

We woke to a coolish morning and found this awesome ART on the parking strip of our campsite:

We guessed it may be an ancient cave painting from a long gone race of early humans or perhaps a less dressed up Ganesha, Hindu Goddess of Compassion....or maybe just an elephant some kid drew.  Nice way to meet the morn none the less.  

The trip out to Oakridge involves a long climb.  Not a hard climb...just a long one.  We stopped for snacks right before the climb which involved mostly sugar.  Not a good idea as part way up the first part of the climb we starting getting 'bonky'.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'bonky' its the body's way of communicating to you that you are out of fuel for it.  Can happen one of two ways...eat too much sugar and mess up the balance of homeostasis as we did or just simply ride alot without putting more fuel/food into the body.  The rain kindly waited until mid morning to begin which then lasted until evening.  But at least it wasn't too hot during riding.  : )   After awhile things started looking really pretty: 

And then...we met Luna the puppy with her owner at Terwilliger Hot Springs (which we walked to but didn't get in as it was already pretty occupied by many people).  She is a schnauzer blue healer mixed with a huge amount of adorable.  This pup was smart and believe it or not in this picture she is about 10 months old.  Luna will always look like a puppy.  Oh and there was also this amazing water fall into a lake.  Did I mention there was a puppy??

Now we began the hardest part of the climb.  Steeper and the rain was coming down hard.  I was wet, cold and grumpy.  I started complaining about all this to Justin and then do what I usually do in situations like this...shut up and get to work.  I dug in and started dropping Justin.  After a while of watching me slowly pull away, Justin decides to try and catch me.  Notice I wrote TRY to catch me.  There is nothing better then kicking your husband's butt at something he excels at.  : )   The Sweetpea Bike is really made to fit me which means I ride better on it then anything else I have ever been on.  Period.  We celebrated my achievement by having a snack and photo stop.  

But we weren't done climbing.  Ugh.  So back on the bikes we go coming to camping shacks in the woods and old growth trees at the crest of the climb.  

The kinda bummer part of this climb was we didn't get to drop for miles majestically after reaching the top and thus get to take a break from the constant work.  We had a very mild descent after which the road just leveled out.  While is was really pretty, lots of trees, not much traffic and a lovely river to follow there was no place to camp along the road so we just had to keep going until the next town.  Now we were REALLY tired and cold and out of fuel.  We indulged in another snack stop out of exhaustion.  Then dragged our very soggy, sore butts back onto the bikes to ride onto Oakridge.  

Here's Justin eating carrots and peanut butter at said pit stop.  Yeah I know, not very gourmet but when you're hungry and cold you'll eat just about anything.  

And here's me with 6 miles left to go at the covered bridge where Michelle P and Dawn began a girl ride once long time ago.  Yep I'm really tired in this picture.  In fact the complaining started again by yours truly.  We of course had to ride up a 3 mile hill to get to town, which felt like 80 miles.  Once in town we asked for where a motel might be.  We got directions and headed straight for the first one we could find.  And then it happened.  I was tired, cold, my judgement was off and I cut a bad turn over a curb and wreaked my new bike.  GRRRRRR!!!  I was okay and the bike ended up only scuffing a pedal and tearing a bit more of the rear chrome fender (that Justin in his ultimate wisdom had already torn) and I got an awesome bruise on my butt.  After a little dusting off and reassuring the husband I was still up for riding tomorrow we got a room, had baths and slept in a bed.  WOOHOO!!!  End of day two.  

June Bike Tour 2012....Day 1

Today's that day.  I've got my new bike, my new Ortlieb panniers, and my husband.  We's going BIKE TOURING.  This one thing brings me some of my best memories and moments.  And yes there will be many pictures posted for this ride.

Here is the break down for day one:

Ride length: 45 miles.
12pm departure from Waltervillie (just outside of Eugene OR) to McKenzie Bridge.   Our friend Davin drove us from Portland to Waltervillie whom we got to wax esoterically with on the car ride down.

Camped out at Paradise Campground which was technically 8 miles further up the road from the very small town of McKenzie Bridge.

Some of the highlights were:  The AWESOME tail wind the whole day!! Our speed was crazy considering we were totally loaded down for touring.  The first stop to rest was at the Scott Kelley outdoor metal sculpture garden.  So many neat-o statues and buildings all erected from metal.  Here is a sampling:

Our next really fantastic moments were finding the covered bridge crossing over the unbelievably blue McKenzie River and....the Nimrod sign.  Nimrod is a really, really small town in OR.  And here's the proof:

And wow look, there are two wild NW Nimrods near the sign.  : )

Next was the very necessary cheese burger (no bun for me) and milk shake at 3pm or so.  Temps were around 95 at that point.  

Coming in closer to our campsite for the eve both Justin and I belted out verses from "Almost Paradise" off the Footloose sound track.  OH the 80's...best power ballads ever created.  Link:  Almost Paradise  just in case you want to torture yourself a little.  Other wise here is the chorus:

"Almost Paradise, were looking on Heaven's door, Almost Paradise, how could we ask for more.  I swear that I could see forever in your eyes....Paradise....."

We finally rolled in to an exceptionally lovely spot, the tempatures cooling down quickly as the light was beginning to fade.  Justin got our tent up even though our ground cover had finally quit us, as I got dinner ready.  After dinner we had a chance to wonder around a little.  Here is what we saw:

After that we curled up and fell asleep cuddling.  Now how can you beat that....except that we got up the next morning and did it all over again.  Next post coming soon....

FINALLY!!! Gosh

Well well well...its been a long time since I paid any attention to my blog.  So here I am, late but not never...whatever that means.  My husband and I moved to Spokane, WA after residing in Portland, OR for the last 11 years (13 for him).  The move was based on our need to start up a new meditation center in an area that did not have one as well as to get out from under the giant veil of rain that covers the coastal NW 9 months out of the year.  Spokane on the other hand has snow and looks like this:

Spokane has the largest set of urban falls in the US other than Niagara Falls (which it can be argued is not completely in the US).

Things are slow at the moment...waiting to be licensed so I can legally massage the public and not really working just yet.  For a while that was disconcerting but now I am starting to just enjoy the time off...not many people get the opportunity to have so much free time.

So I will be posting a bit more frequently on my blog, building my website and working out mostly.  The next posts will be from this summer's bike tour with my hubby and the new bike that I still love more than most things.

Be well world....

Oh PS:  we got ourselves a second dog...just cause we like complications.  Of course its another pug, a little boy named Toby (the black one) whom I have nicknamed Tobeast as he has food aggression issues and sometimes poops on the floor.  UGH to have a real dog some day.  Anyway here are a couple of pix:

Oh, my gosh, nothing better than a new bicycle except maybe a pony.

WEEEEEE!!!

Here is the New Bike Report Card.  Awesome, awesome, awesome. 

Now for some details.  I love the color, deep foresty green that has a mat finish, rather than the usual shiny.  This means it will less likely show up the odd ding or two, so I am told. 

The bike handles really well.  The turning ratio is tighter, thus making the bike far more responsive than the Red Roamer, my old Surly.  Wheelbase is shorter on the Sweetpea allowing for tighter turns and easier climbing out of the saddle.  It will take some getting use to as I was accustom to really pushing the handle bars from side to side when climbing to compensate for the bigger wheels and longer wheel base on Red Roamer.  The other big plus: because it is essentially a custom bike, my back does not hurt during riding and I am able to engage in proper pedaling.  It is geared low enough that I am able to completely rely on my legs and gluts rather than my back to help with motion.  This above all else has made this worth the whole project.  

Disc breaks ROCK!!  Oh man, the ability to slow down without having to crank down on the breaks is really saving my hands and wrists.  This also is important as I am just beginning to notice some issues with my wrists.  Not carpel-tunnel but some issues with adhesions in the right hand.  This does not decrease my grip strength at all, just shortens my endurance. I am currently getting some treatments for that which hopefully will reverse that.  Anyway so it’s nice to be able to rely on the precise machinery of the disc breaks and to not stress my hands more than they already are doing what I do for work.  Weee. 

I know there are some out there who would scoff at this idea, but this bike is ART.  Yes I will stand by that…I am riding AAAARRRTTTT.  :)

So first real ride was along the Banks, OR to Vernonia, OR rails-to-trails.  Round trip, 42 miles and a beautiful day for it.  Weather was hot, for Oregon.  And it was marvelous to be out with my beloved husband.  He ever so sweetly suggested the next tour we go on (after the one in June around Crater Lake) that we take 2 weeks off for a ride.  I was hoping more for 2 months.  : )

And here is some old bike poetry to inspire you all to ride more.  Heart Bikes!!

Exodus

This morning, flat out over the lost highway,

following the push through to another

and another, then another, eyes

still damp with sleep and greedy,

I carry the sun in my belly,

warm my center.

I reach forward, bent

over spinning wheels, distended over

melted layers of stone as immense

as the wide valley spreading

loosely below.

Scars in the sky seep through a bleeding dawn

staining the ground, revealing the shallows,

what to avoid.

Untied ends fall away.

I leave them behind

for I am moving

ever westward creeping upon

escaping horizons,

still becoming.

And here she is.  Yummy.