It may be Tuesday, but my head is still stuck in Saturday. 96 of some of Oregon’s most beautiful miles.
Fast girls, fast bikes, green trees.
An old road in the forest on the side of the river.
Accelerations. Quiet.
Sun glare and spots of light.
Historic Columbia River Highway… Read the rest
Economy? Bad. Weather in Portland? Crappy.
Time for a California road trip to see Sal’s crazy Sicilian family in San Jose. Truck filled with bicycles and bicycle stuff. Music up. Windows down. Cycling as it’s meant to be. Free, unfettered, joyous, warm. No racing. No drama. No bullshit.
Just miles… Read the rest
What a difference a year makes.
2008: I decide to give road racing a shot. My first race goes well – a relatively fast-paced Banana Belt 3. The pack stays together until the field is obliterated up the last climb and I finish comfortably in the middle of the pack.… Read the rest
I hate rollers. I’ve always hated rollers.
I hated them last year during the Covered Bridges 200k and I hate them now, at this moment, on this circuit called Sublime, in this town called Sublimity.
Cruel. All of it. I can see it come together.
The race organizers smirking while… Read the rest
It’s too bad I didn’t have the GoPro Helmet Cam on Sunday, because you would have gotten some gnarly crash footage. My season opener for road racing was somewhat less glorious and far more painful than I’d hoped it would be.
Barring some road rash and serious tenderness on the… Read the rest
I’ve just returned from a week of cycling in the warm sun of Tucson, Arizona and, let me tell you, for a girl who’s been zipping around on her bike all winter in 35 degree rain (or worse – snow) for two months, the vacation was nothing short of mind-blowing.… Read the rest
Soft-pedaling at 37mph on Sal’s wheel. That may be the best vacation moment ever.
I run out of gears. Ty Lambert opens up the throttle and I am out of gears. The compact crank – a blessing and a curse. In a heartbeat, Sal comes through to my left –… Read the rest
It’s snowing.
I think this at precisely the same moment that Tina says it:
“Dude, it’s snowing.”
The flakes are soft and small and intermittent. Hesitant, aware of their imminent demise. There will be no sticking this time around. The effect is calming.
Inside my chest there is a heart. … Read the rest
The sunlight is obscene.
It comes on strong in that all-consuming way that lovers do. Blinding. Disorienting. White hot. Dangerous.
We don’t want to fall for it, but we still do.… Read the rest
I know, I know.
You’re probably getting sick of hearing about our crazy winter storm, but you have to understand – this is a one-ever-50-years occurrence for us. I mean… it’s been snowing consistently for a week.… Read the rest That’s just plain unheard of in these parts.
So suffer us a few
