Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour - Aug 12th 2007

Two days after the Mt St. Helens climb with a strained quadricep to boot , we were heading down to the mid Willamette valley methopolis known as Albany to the start line for the Covered Bridge Bicycle tour http://www.mvbc.com/. Not sure if this is the Albany mascot? German Shepherd sniffing drugs; Chasing crazy hillbilly's...








Larwood Covered Bridge

First bridge we came across during our 75 mile route...

Shimanek Covered Bridge
Bridge #2

The falling bikes lunch stop. Everyone got their bikes knocked over in our group except for me. The worse was when some pre-pubescent boy was aimlessly wandering and knocked over an older gentleman's $5000 Scott. The owner was noticeably PO'd, I am not sure if I had a $5000 bike if I would have been as calm. The boy showed no remorse when scolded by his father. The offenders sister was then crying (for 20 minutes straight) about what I assumed to be nothing. Suddenly I remembered to pick up my birth control prescription on the way home...

Gilkey Covered Bridge

The third and final bridge (we were supposed to see 5 in total).

My competitiveness came out and shortly after I got excited trying to catch a woman who consequently turned off to do the 100 mile route. Result was unexpected climb (which quads needed like a hole in the head) and bike rest stop in Deliveranceville...

Not sure what the yokels in Lebanon thought of the cyclists passing through (note to self - do not EVER, at ANY cost pull off I5 to stop in this town while by myself without toting one or both of the following - Rottweiler and/or hand gun); one guy came up to scroy and angrily asked "is that your bike with the flashing lights". It wasn't but I wanted the light to stop flashing for I could sense a nam or LCD flashback coming on...

Thanks to shortcuts we only ended up adding 7 extra miles to the planned 68. We borrowed hubby's truck, sent on our way with the instructions "to not to lean up against the truck for it might dent the sides". As we were discussing this the guys next to us were making fun of my hubby in his abscence commenting "trucks are meant to be beat up". When we arrived back from our ride this was left as a present for the beloved truck. Happy early b-day Nick!!!

No better place to advertise cock fighting then off the main west coast traffic artery otherwise known as I5..

Stuck in 2 hour traffic jam on the way home; good thing I had my muscle toothbrush.

5th Annual 80's Party Sat August 11th

What an amazing tradition this has become amongst us 30 somethings. Brings back nightmares from Junior High. Do not forget to Double Click all images for a full view of like the totally tubular pictures!! I tried to get hubby to leave the house in the cutoff jean shorts but it was a no go. At least I got him to sport the mullet wig and pornolicious historic woodburn tshirt. Sorry Tonya, I think Chad Kroeger has another hair twin ;-)

sHEEMAN, Sheera, and some other random character from the 80's.

Had a 70's party to attend beforehand so went for a late 70's/early 80's theme. Terry cloth and attempted feathered hair were my contribution.

Mt. St. Helens - August 10 2007

After living in Portland for 10 years I finally ventured up to Mt. St Helen's! Steph had some passes she had pre-purchased months ago (there are only 100 people allowed on the mountain per day). I thought "12 mile hike no big deal". I quickly learned, and am still learning 4 days later with blown up quads that being a reasonably strong runner and cyclist doesn't mean crap when you are ascending over 4000 feet of elevation gain, climbing over boulders, then using muscles you never knew you had to break and descend down the same 4000 feet. am clearly not outfitted for hiking (I am wearing cycling shorts with gator and hiking boots). Nick thought I looked dead sexy!






Started the climb 2 miles from where you see the trees in the picture. At this point we were barely an hour into the hike.












So much energy expended after an hour and a half we had to stop for a snack.








Where the true mountain climbing started. No, the rocks are not background, this is what we crawled over for a few miles as we pushed upwards. I thought I had turrets bad until I met Mark! He couldn't hold back with the comment "Yea, there is a lot of cows up here" as an urban cowboy passed on on the way down (some random guy in a cowboy hat). He retorted with some disparaging remark about my cycling shorts ;-) Another guy was coming down the mountain and when I told him I was from Portland Mark replied "she's from Tigard" I then fictitiously told the man Mark was from Coeur d' Alene Idaho. Since I incessantly joke about "white trash North Idaho" the inner circle laughed as expected. What was disturbing was the 10 year old boy who overheard also started laughing. They must have had white supremacy week during his history class that week.



Here is one of those volcanic movement monitoring thingy's. I was trying to simulate kissing my ass good by in the event this started screaming/flashing while we are on the mountain. For those of you still wondering, Mt. St. Helen's is indeed still an active volcano.











Finally reached the summit about 4.5 hours later. Above the clouds (not steam).












Another amazing view from the top.

Bull Lestor (double click on image to view name)

Found this little treat posted on the window outside of Fat Jacks (where we call the place we sign in/sign out). If you ever bear witness to the area between the Couve and Mt St Helen's running across characters like this is not the least bit shocking. This particular catch had an affinity for 15 year old girls in wheelchairs. Nice.

One of 5 people we saw stop and look at the sign within 5 minutes. We were all hoping this woman was not looking for a baby sitter.

Midsummer Olympic Triathlon - July 22, 2007

On Sunday, July 29th I completed the Midsummer Olympic Distance Triathlon (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) out at Blue Lake. I was powered by my usual breakfast of Oatmeal, banana, and a Harvest Powerbar . It was the exact same course and close to the same weather conditions as the Blue Lake Triathlon I completed June 10th. I beat my 2007 Blue Lake Tri time this last Sunday by a little over 6 minutes! Thanks coach Julie for your butt, thigh, hamstring, quadricep, calf muscle burning workouts! I guess barf intervals do pay off!

My swim sucked as usual (I am currently seeking out masters swim group to join this fall). Nothing exciting to report on the swim; no violence needed; everyone stayed out of my space ;-). On the bike I managed to keep up with Bridget Dawson, an ex pro triathlete (she is 50 now, but still gives all the 20 and 30 something’s a run for their money at any event she chooses to partake in). My proudest moment of the tri was looking down at my odometer and seeing I beat my previous bike time by about 4.5 minutes! Result was annoying perm grin for the remainder of the race. On the bike my average HR was 160-165 for the first 16 miles (able to maintain a higher HR for longer because I am stronger then I was in June). During the last 8 miles kept in high 160's to 170's. Almost finished an entire bottle of accelerade on the bike.

My run was uneventful and consistent. I started off with an espresso 2x cliff shot and grabbed water at the first two aid stations to wash down the syrupy contraption. I kept my hr about 170 for the first 4 miles then the last 2 wavered between 174-180. I beat my Blue lake time by an entire 20 seconds (I say this sarcastically). My goal was to try to run sub 8 min mile in my run portion this year (close but no cigar – hey, every blog is entitled to at least one bad cliché). I guess I have a new training goal for 2008 in addition to not being a flailing fish in the water. Overall this is the proudest to date I have felt about any of my triathlon accomplishments. Especially when I looked at the race results and beat out two women overall (one by 9 minutes and one by 7 minutes) who have whipped me by 10 + minutes in the past!!!

Results Summary for Midsummer Tri (comparing to Blue Lake) - Double click image to expand

Bike Pace 20:85 mph
Run Pace 8:06 mpm

This is my last Olympic Distance Tri for 2007. I am preparing for my first ever Half Ironman Distance in Enumclaw Washington September 22nd 2007. This is the Black Diamond Triathlon http://www.racecenter.com/blackdiamond/halftridu/index.htm (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run).

Event Photos http://www.finishshots.com/racerresults3.php?raceid=487&bibnumber=108