I hate intervals, love Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin? WTF?

Whoa, this has been a crazy couple of days. Yesterday, around five, we headed down to the Blue Loon (the cultural epicenter of Fairbanks, Alaska) to watch Barack Obama's acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president. It was, without doubt, one of the best speeches I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I don't want to venture far into politics here, but this man, Barack Obama has everything necessary to be president. He is the real deal. Vote for him.

After the speech I headed out for a bike ride. I did a series of intervals heading up the hill. They suck, suck, suck. Suck. And hurt. But I do them because I know they are good for me and when they were done, it just felt good to ride for a few more miles. I single-tracked down the hill then wound my way home via some dirt roads in the last of the day's light. It is very odd to have to worry about getting home before dark, or remembering to pack a light. Very odd indeed after months of constant light. But pleasant to again see the stars in the cool evening air.

Then this morning I woke early for day of field work. As I drove the 1/2 hour out to the field site I was listening to NPR when the announcement was made: Sarah Palin, first-term governor of AK, with less than two years of executive experience, former mayor of a town of 9,000, former beauty queen and high-school basketball player, with absolutely no foreign policy experience was named by John McCain to be his vice presidential running mate. What the f***? Is he crazy? I don't hate Sarah, far from it, I think she's got some good characteristics (she's dead wrong on quite a few issues) but she not an evil person. Still...Vice President? Just weird. Weird, weird. I guess Alaska will be getting some more attention, for better or worse.

This evening I had a sublime run with a friend. We ran about 7.5 miles (and 850 vertical feet) in the evening sun. The leaves are slipping toward yellow and the first are speckled on the forest floor and the trails that pass through. It was a rare effortless run, at the end, all too soon. I felt like I could have run another four miles, no sweat. What a treat.

Mileage 28 and 29 August
28th- Biking: 10.5
29th- Running: 7.5

August Totals
Running: 73 miles
Biking: 136 miles

Almost a day off

Well I'd planned to take the day off yesterday and not do any real exercise, and I almost did, though not quite. When I got home from work and looked at my bike leaning against the porch, I heard something in my ear: "go for a ride...go for a ride...go for a ride". I shook it off and went inside, had a snack and collapsed into a chair, prepared for an evening of general sloth. Then there it was again, coming from outside the door, "go for a ride...go for ride". Well who was I to deny the call of destiny? so I slipped into my biking clothes, donned my helmet and mounted up. I did not, however, ride at all hard. In fact I made a concerted effort to not raise my hear rate over about 65% of maximum. I essentially just chugged along at an easy and very enjoyable pace. I meandered up the lower slopes of Ester Dome, up a dirt road for a mile or two then down a piece of single-track that I found a couple weeks back that is full of enjoyable turns and obstacles. After the descent I found myself on another little used dirt road which I followed back up a long hill onto some pavement and then home. I never even got out of breath, so I figure the day still qualifies as a rest day.

Unfortunately the rest of the evening was not that restful. My partner and a neighbor went for a walk with the dogs and the neighbor's sweet, though hyperactive husky, got a face full of porcupine quills about a hundred yards from home when it made the ill-advised decision to attack the spiky beast. The two of them spent the next hour and a half de-quilling the poor dog with a pair of pliers before I was called down at about 10:40 to help with the last few spines. Holding down a very strong and squirming husky while a friend yanks porcupine quills from the roof of the dogs mouth is a strength workout in its own right...though not one I'd recommend.

Mileage 27 August
Biking: 9 miles

August Totals:
On Foot: 65.5
Biking: 125.5

It's the thought that counts

Well I'd planned to start taking it easier, but yesterday instead of scaling back my work out, I just sort of kept it at the same level. At lunch, fighting off the sluggishness of a slow work morning I went out for a run. Just a trot around my 2.5 mile loop clocking around 9 minute miles (not that it matters). I felt a bit lethargic for the first mile and then hit my groove, concentrating on my form, picking up my feet, back straight, lean. Before I knew it I was back at my office wondering what the hell happened to my run. After an equally slow afternoon I headed home and promptly went running with a friend. We followed a now usual route for the two of us. The run climbs up the lower slopes of Ester Dome for about 750 vertical feet over 3 miles, winds down some steep old mining roads though the aspens pops out on a little used dirt road, climbs back up a couple of hundred feet, hits pavement for a couple of miles before winding through a short, fun, and ankle-twisting single-track back to our neighborhood. 5.5 miles. Add those two runs together and you get 8 miles. Making this, inadvertently, my longest running day so far this year.

Today I'm taking off, dammit.

Mileage 26 August
Running: 8 miles

August Totals:
Biking: 116.5
Running: 65.5

Progress

I fought my mental bonk of yesterday by taking as fast a bike ride as I could. I followed the same loop as the day before leading me through the UAF trails and back home, about 11 miles. This time however, I just cranked, I tried to embrace the pain in my quads and just keep stepping down. It worked. By the time I got home (58:30 later) I was tired and feeling great.

The bonk could have been because (and I hate to admit this) I've been working out too much. My body just may not be used to ten work-outs a week. Few are really exhausting, but there have just been a lot of them. However, I fear slowing down because I hate to lose the momentum I've gained. Still it may be time to reevaluate the routine.

In skipped my morning run today in exchange for rising at 5:30 to go photograph birds at a local refuge. It was worth skipping the run:


Finally, this morning was my weigh-day. The results: 236 and 29% body fat. Down 4 lbs and 1% body fat in two weeks. That seems to be a fairly healthy rate, right?

Mileage 25 August:
Biking: 11 miles

August Mileage:
On Foot: 57.5
Biking: 116.5

Yesterday and the mental Bonk

We went for a hike today on Wickersham Dome which lies about 40 miles north of Fairbanks. It is a lovely, easy hike that rolls about 1500 feet from a shallow pass where the Elliott Highway lies up to a broad summit, down into a valley and on up the dome. The fall colors were rising quickly toward the peak and the dwarf birches were an elaborate mosaic of colors. We ended up retreating a short distance from the trail's high point because another party had just spotted a Black Bear using the trail and we had failed to bring any bear spray, an unwise thing to do. Had I been alone, I probably would have just continued but my partner is a touch more cautious around bears than I and we, perhaps wisely retreated. The wind was blowing and there was certainly a feel of autumn in the air despite the bright blue skies. I dread and love this time of year, but it all seems so short.

Back in Fairbanks, later in the afternoon, I still felt energetic and so grabbed my bike and headed down the road 2.5 miles to the University's trail system and spent a happy hour exploring the network of single track there. I hadn't explored the trails there this year and was happily reminded at how pleasant they are. And I've got to say that the new bike performs way better on the many root-infested sections than my old ride.

The day still wasn't done though and after dinner we took off for Creamer's Field where the Sandhill Cranes are congregating in force. The evening light was soft through the high clouds and beautiful for photography. It was a reminder of how much I love to photograph birds. Towards sunset we watched a Peregrine Falcon plummet out of the into a flock of mallards taking off out of the grain. The falcon latched onto a duck and dragged it to the ground. My camera was almost forgotten watching the spectacle and I was trembling by the time the mallard's last struggles disappeared into the barley. Quite a night.

Today however, I am having some sort of mental bonk, and I think it relates to what I've allowed myself to eat. I ate less healthy than I should have today and I think it has a direct relationship to my current lack of energy. I'm dying to get out on my bike, but I can't quite make myself go and ride it. I'll force myself out for a run later, at least, but I'm struggling through a bit of a downer right now.

Mileage 24 August:
Hiking: 6 miles
Biking: 11 miles

August Mileage:
Running (or hiking): 57.5
Biking: 105.5

Long(ish) run

Though no ultra-marathon, I did my longest run of the year today. A friend and I did a meandering 7.5 mile loop that led half way up Ester Dome then wound down slowly into the village of Ester. We then found our way back on pavement and hard roads for the last couple of miles back home. I knew today that I finally had reached that glorious point in personal fitness when running again feels fun. Trotting along the level section, the sun on my back, watching my shadow run in front of me, I couldn't help from grinning. The muscles in my legs moved smoothly and each foot seemed to be placed in the ideal location. Runners refer to such moments as flow, and this was the first time I'd found it in quite some time.

It was a crisp fall day without a cloud in the sky. Days like this make me wish fall would last forever. Flocks of migrating songbirds were flitting in the yellowing leaves, moving south. Why does this season need to end?

23 August Mileage:
Running: 7.5

August Totals:
Biking: 94.5
Running: 51.5

20 miles yesterday.

I hit the 20 mile mark yesterday and it didn't even feel hard, and it shouldn't, considering it wasn't. I was a good environmentalist yesterday and rode my bike to work, 8.25 miles each direction for a total of 16.5 miles on the bike. And I went for a run at lunch, 3.5 miles. Add that up and you get 20. I wish I were more impressed, but I'm not.

The run was bit on the odd side. I started out feeling kind of stiff and crummy. Just un-enthused about the whole prospect. But then I just sort of loosened up, my stride got longer and faster, my heart rate climbed up to around 82% of maximum and I just held it there like I was on cruise control. I followed my 2.5 mile loop and decided that wasn't enough and turned out another trail to add another mile. At one point, when I was starting to hurt, I thought to myself: I can't possibly keep this pace up for another mile, and I thought about taking a walk break. But I didn't and a few moments later I was on cruise again. It was as though my engine stuttered and then rode smoothly. With about 1/2 mile to go, I put on the gas, brought my heart rate up to 87%, then 90% and on up to 93% in the final sprint. I was hurting, but good hurt. The this sucks but its good for me hurt. The I CAN do this and so I SHOULD do it, kind of hurt.

Which leads me to think that we are supplied by evolution (or God if you so care to believe) with these rather extraordinary machines to carry us around this planet. We are capable of incredible feats, even those of us with only marginal levels of natural talent. These bodies are a gift in a way, and gifts should be used. Take care of, maintained, but used. Seems like it might be a bit insulting to our genetics and history to have these tools at our disposal and not take advantage of them to the greatest extent possible.

Mileage 21 August
Biking: 16.5
Running: 3.5

August Totals:
Biking: 94.5
Running: 44 miles

All sorts of things

I took it a bit easier today than yesterday on my exercise routine, mostly because I have a lot of other stuff on my mind (like thinking about buying a house which is time consuming, if not downright terrifying). But I got out for my morning trot with the dogs and after work and the meeting with the realtor I took off on the bike for a short ride. Essentially I explored my usual trail network with no clear destination or idea where I wanted to go. I just wandered taking paths I haven't used before. It ended up being about 6.5 miles, not terribly far, but it got me out of the house and onto the trails. I also got to take my first spill on the new bike. Nothing big, just slipped into a rut while slowly climbing a steep hill, couldn't pull out of the pedal and toppled over with the bike still firmly attached to my feet. If it hadn't been me, I'm sure I would have laughed.

Mileage 20 August:
Running: 1.0
Biking: 6.5

August Totals:
Running:40.5
Biking:78.0

Ester Dome

Fairbanks from the top of Ester Dome

As I was avoiding work today by looking at various biking websites I revisited for the nth time the Trans Rockies page where the results, photos and reports from this year's race were recently posted. I'd love to race the Trans-Rockies. Since I think it unlikely I'm going to be prepared for the GDR by next year (or even the next perhaps) then I think I'll aim for the Trans-Rockies in 2010. I can use next summer to learn a bit about mountain bike racing and take on some of the local and Anchorage races. Then I can focus my training on the Trans Rockies for 2010. Well nothing like a brainstorm for some inspiration. I could hardly wait to get on my bike.

Gratefully my bike with its new upgraded X-9 shifters was finished at the shop so I bailed out of work a bit early, picked up the bike and headed home. We ate an early dinner and I took off for a ride. I expected to just be out for an hour, but it just felt soooo good. So I kept climbing up Ester Dome until there was no where else to climb. On top there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the evening sun was throwing long shadows across the hills. I love this view, the White Mountains were visible far on the horizon and the local rolling Tanana uplands set the foreground. There is a local folk singer here in Fairbanks, Robin Dale Ford, who wrote a song called "Soulful Hills". The chorus goes: "If I had one prayer/Let this be Heaven/Let this Be Heaven for me". At introspective moments such as this when I stare across the hill of my home, I think this way. Some days, I can never imagine living anywhere else.

Soulful Hills

When the moment passed I tumbled (not literally gratefully) down a steep mining trail into the town of Ester and rode on home. If only every evening could be like this.

The route: enjoy.

Totals 19 August
Running: 3
Biking: 12.5 (about 2000 foot vertical)

August Totals
Running: 39.5
Biking:71.5

2nd Weigh-In

Got on the scale this morning:

238.5 lbs and 29% body fat. Down one pound and 1% body fat since last week. I try to take these measures under fairly identical conditions, but I'm sure I never get it exactly right. Considering how much I exercised last week, and how I've been trying to avoid sugar and other generally unhealthy food I'm honestly a bit surprised it wasn't more. But hey at least its progress in the right direction. If the body-fat decline continues at this rate I'll be down to my target range by December.

I'm not going to hold my breath.

First problems

Well I suppose it was too much to hope for that my bike would be immune to the break-in woes that bikes are susceptible to. And it was. Yesterday as I headed out for a ride, I pressed the shifter and the thumb lever broke off in my hand. I expect some rumblings from the drive train but not a shifter breaking off on me! Granted the x-7 shifters are probably the weakest link in the bike's componentry but I'm still surprised and more than a bit disappointed in their performance and durability. I headed on down to one my local outdoor stores, the only one open on a Sunday, to see if I could get it fixed on short notice. I was helped out by a kid who had no idea what he was talking about, (showing me a rear deraileur when I asked about front) then eventually gave up, rode home with the chain stuck on the largest chain ring and vowed to call the better educated folks at another shop today. I'm trying to look at this as a good opportunity to upgrade the stuff I wanted to upgrade anyway.

When I got back home from this ill-fated ride, I found a friend had called wanting to go for a run. Nothing like more exercise to excise a bad ride so I went. We headed out for a steep 5.5 mile run that climbed about 750 vertical during the loop. After a few days of riding, the running felt really good, but I could feel every foot of the steep climb on the bike the day before. The result was that despite the run not being all that far, I was quite wasted at the end and ready for a day off.

Hopefully today I can get the bike fixed...

Mileage 17 August:
Running: 5.5 (750 vertical)
Biking: 10

August Totals:
Running: 36.5
Biking: 59

Quartz Creek Trail

The Quartz Creek Trail descends down the west side of the ridge toward the storm

I ventured today with my girlfriend and another friend to the White Mountains. The idea (for them at least) was to pick wild blueberries off the rich tundra. I however, picked the bear minimum, which is ironic because I do in fact love picking berries, in fact I've been called obsessive, but today I had other plans. After filling a 1/2 gallon container, I ran back down the trail, pulled my bike out of the truck and headed toward the Quartz Creek Trail. I headed down the gravel road for a mile to the trailhead. This pullout was marked less so by the trail itself than by the line of very large pickup trucks with trailers parked along the road. Unfortunately this trail is often frequented by dirt throwing, rock chewing, over-powered, under-brained, power toys. However it also leads through some truly incredible country.

My bike parked by the trail during one of several breathers on the steep climb up.

I turned up the lower part of the trail, geared down and began the long, steep slog up the hill. I have to hand it to the BLM who manages the trail, they have done a good job avoiding erosion on trail that runs basically straight up the ridge for 800 vertical feet. They have accomplished this by creating very steep water bars that direct the water into a ditch, a noble task. This has created both an obstacle and a goal for the climbing mountain biker. It takes an effort to get up these steep stretches but atop them you get a good ten feet of level ground to catch one's breath, or in my case after the first 300 feet, stop and gasp.

Again, my lovely bike setting the stage for the fall rising fall colors.

Of course the gasping gave me the chance to admire the first stages of the autumn colors. It seems early this year, I'm glad I didn't miss it. I pushed on, sometimes actually pushing, until I reached the lower angle stuff closer to the ridge. There, it was well above the tree line offering views of the White Mountains in all directions.

The long descent to the next valley

An afternoon thunderstorm was passing over the mountains to the west. I couldn't tell what direction it was heading but I could tell it was dumping one hell of a lot of water. Being the daring fella I am, I carried on down the much milder slope on the west side of the ridge, praying that I wouldn't get drenched before I returned. This slope, though milder was muddier with several fairly technical rocky stretches to descend, where the 29er wheels really thrived. I think I went about three miles down the hill until I again entered the trees about 150 feet above the valley floor. I was tempted to continue, not wanting to turn around and climb up that hill, but in the end decided to stop, eat a granola bar and listen to the silence. The granola bar eating was successful, the silence less so. Somewhere in the valley below, I could hear some motorcross bikes playing. Playing very, very, loudly. For all I complain about four-wheelers, at least most of them are relatively quiet. Of those I passed today I heard them from about a hundred yards and then their engines disappeared into the wind noise. The high-pitched squawk of the engine of a dirt motor-bike however will carry for miles. Funnily, I even drive a motorcycle. Not a loud dirt bike, granted, but you'd think I'd have some sympathy...I don't. Anyway after my snack I turned around and climbed the 700 or 800 feet back up the mountain. The bike really shone in the technical uphill and I was able to climb the whole way up without stopping save for a photo or two.

Some rugged terrain where the 29er tires really showed their stuff

Back on top, I was still dry and the storm had rolled off to the south. I plunged down the steep descent back to the road. Along the way I learned something fascinating about disc brakes. After 400 vertical feet of heavy braking they get really, really, really hot. Hot enough in fact that water squirted from my camelback boiled immediately to steam and disappeared into the Alaska air. Just about the point that my hands were beginning to stiffen from pain, I hit the gravel road and cruised off toward the parked truck. Not a bad day.

Mileage
Biking: 9 (1600 vertical feet)

August Total:
Running: 31
Biking: 49

Hah! Hah! Mountain Biking! Wheeee! Part Deux

Another great ride this evening. Nice 9 mile loop on the slopes of Ester Dome. I climbed up my usual trail network with the plan of continuing on up the Dome but instead I veered off and rode up a rough dirt stretch of road. About 1/2 mile up the road I saw some yellow flagging. Afraid it might be surveyors tape for some new development I stopped to investigate and saw that written on the tape was the Gary Fisher Logo. Not surveyors tape, nope, but a blaze for a bike trail I had not previously investigated. So I turned off and started following the tape. The blazes led me on a mix of ATV tracks and beautiful technical single-track through the forest. It wound around and about and down before plopping me out on a dirt road I've ridden many times before. My fine local bike/ski shop, Goldstream Sports, has been working on a mountain bike trail network on Ester Dome, I figure this must be one of the new paths. But I also fear I may be missing some cool new race...anyone know?

If you live in Fairbanks, give this loop a try:

Click on this for a bigger version.

Mileage 15 August:
Running: 1.0
Biking: 9.0

August Totals:
Running: 32
Biking: 40

Hah! Hah! Mountain Biking! Wheeee!

My playground- I can live with that.

After managing to get the Bianchi to run smoothly, which took a few more disk brake adjustments I mounted up and took off down the neighborhood trails. I moved up through the maze on the lower slopes of Ester Dome climbed up past the slowly regenerating tailing fields of an abandoned mine, and continued up the marathon trail. Some ways up Ester Dome I found a trail I had never explored before and decided to take the opportunity.

\The recently discovered trail through the Aspens

It ended descending a long rib of the dome. It was a bit torn up from ATVs but very rideable and with lots of roots to test the new bike's Rock Shox Reba front suspension (it worked like a charm). I plummeted down the trail remaining mostly in control before popping out into an old dirt road. Hitting the smooth gravel I let go of the brakes entirely and let gravity carry me down into the community of Ester. A quick and very enjoyable ten miles.

Afternoon storm.

14 August Mileage:
Running: 1.0
Mountain biking: 10 (1000 vertical feet)

August Total:
Running: 31
Biking: 31

This Just In... The Bianchi has arrived!

It got here! And putting it back together made me feel like a kid in a candy store... Well a kid who couldn't figure out how to open the candy wrappers. So I did what a kid would do. I asked an adult. I called the good folks at Goldstream Sports and they offered to give me some guidance and let me use their tools I spent about an hour there putting the bike back together trueing the rotors on the disk brakes until I had the bike back in good working order. Now I just need to get out on a ride...which will happen shortly. More later.

Why I Hate ATVs

This is why I hate ATVs.

I hate ATVs, actually its the idiots that seem to ride them. But I particularly dislike them when they take over what used to be a beautiful piece of single-track trail and turn it into what you see above. This trail was a lovely windy path through the aspens when I last ran it back in May. Now it is has been demolished by irresponsible, disrespectful, piece-of-shit ATV drivers. Why can't they just stick to the hundreds, probably thousands of miles, of off-road vehicle tracks that already exist in Alaska? I just don't get it.

Yesterday I meant to take the day off, but at work we had a potluck to say goodbye to one of the last interns of the summer season and there was an ice-cream cake. I'm a sucker for dessert, a sweet-tooth that more than just nags, it begs and pleads to be satiated. And in the face of a chocolate cake layered in a two-inch coating of home-make coffee ice cream (made by leaving whole roasted coffee beans to soak in milk for two-days prior to making the ice cream) I buckled, I caved, I fell victim to temptation and ate a big piece. It was soooo damn good. But guilt shortly set in and I decided yesterday evening to relieve my guilt by going for a run. It was a good one too, a great one in fact. I ran from the house down to a network of trails which I just explored for awhile, prospecting down paths I hadn't been down in while. I took an easy pace, what I refer to as my marathon pace. The pace that I feel like I could hold up for a few hours. It was easy and fun and when I got home and checked my GPS I was surprised to see that I'd covered nearly four miles and the guilt was gone!

Mileage 13 August
Running: 4 miles

August Total:
Running: 30
Biking: 21

First Weigh In

I woke up this morning, went for my morning run then stripped and weighed myself. The result? 239.5lbs and 30% body fat (using my bio-electrical impedance scale). I'll use that at as a place to start.

On the bright side I took my old Barracuda for a interval ride up Henderson Hill. I rode for 55 minutes, about 40 minutes of which were up the hill. I warmed up for five minutes then sprinted for 2.5 cooled back down for 7.5 and then sprinted again. Repeat for four sets. It hurt like hell, and I was more tired after that than a three hour ride. I guess that was the point.

Oh, and my new Bianchi is stranded in some Fed Ex dimension, not to be seen here in Fairbanks until at least Thursday. Dammit I want my new bike!

Mileage 11 August
Running: 4.5 miles.

Mileage 12 August
Running: 1.5 mile
Biking: 7 miles (hilly intervals)

August Total:
Running: 26
Biking: 21

Another afternoon run...

You'd think that after being gone from work for two weeks that I'd feel crazed today trying to catch up on all I missed. Well... I don't. It is not as though there are aren't things to do. I have plenty. There is data to analyze and reports to outline and calls to make and emails to send and all the other shit that goes along with my work but I'm just not doing it. Actually, that isn't true, I am doing, but I'm still bored stupid. So I did my usual escape from that by putting on my running shoes and heading out the door over lunch. I ran a three mile loop from my work that carried me through the Creamer's Field Waterfowl Refuge. There were a few other people out, mostly families with kids and a few other runners. Mostly though I was alone. I ran through the fields and watched the few early arriving Sandhill Cranes wade through the acres of Canola flowers. I passed along a usually dry pond, now filled by the recent rains. I ducked back into the woods and ran along a boardwalk through the usually dark, but now vibrantly green birches and black spruces of the boreal forest. Then I burst back out into the glowing sun and wound back across the fields right back to my desk where I finally put my fingers on the keyboard and did a little work.

Back home...in the Netherworld

Rainbow in the Boreal Forest Netherworld

I'm back home in Fairbanks where it has been raining nearly non-stop since I left. Flooding has swept through parts of town swamping cars and lower floors of some houses. I'm not terribly disappointed to have missed it. Today is one of the first days in a while where the sun came out for any length of time. Thinking the constant cloud cover had broken I drove to the top of Ester Dome to run the Out and Back stretch of the Equinox Marathon trail. This is a six mile round-trip over a rolling ridgeline along some old jeep roads. I started off in sun, trotting up a single track trail for a short distance through wet alders and brush before popping out onto the old road. Low clouds and sheets of rain were dotted across the landscape covering and revealing the surrounding hills. About a mile into the run it started to rain. It didn't pretend or stutter, it just rained, hard.

In my opinion these are the finest long-distance,
rugged terrain running/hiking shoes on the market: the Montrail Hurricane Ridge

I ran on listening to my feet splash in the puddles and to the sound of the drops hitting the surrounding brush. Up steep and down a few steep inclines I went before heading down a long hill where the turn-around sign is. Right there, the sun emerged again and created a dull rainbow to the north which added flash of color to the green and gray landscape. In the improving weather I reversed my steps and ran my way the three miles back to my parked truck. In the end, it felt easy...more than easy in fact. Really. Damn. Good.

The plunge-pool at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge

Yesterday, prior to leaving Portland, my girlfriend and I rented a car and drove up into the Columbia River Gorge. The southern wall of the gorge is line with waterfalls and we stopped a the popular and beautiful Multnomah Falls. We threw on light packs and walked up the trail toward the top of the falls. It is far from a wilderness experience with many other walkers and an asphalt trail. On the other hand it is still beautiful with old-growth Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedars.

A flower I should remember from my years in the Pacific Northwest...but don't.

Creeks tumbled down through the greenery and reminded me how beautiful the Pacific Northwest is. At the top of the falls we continued on for another mile or so down a less-used trail which took us past numerous smaller falls and deeper into the forest.

Multnomah Creek tumbles through Old-growth forest

It was a nice way to spend our last morning in Portland.

Mileage 9 August
4 miles
1000 vertical feet

10 August
7 miles
600 vertical feet

August Totals:
On foot: 19
By Bike: 14

Portland 5K

I now find myself in Portland Oregon in the final few days of a conference. It has been a rather grueling event, though clearly not physically so. I find it odd that I volunteered, hell, not only volunteered but paid (!!) to spend four days in one fifteen minute lecture after another. Wasn't this the same kind of thing I daydreamed my way through during high school? On the bright side, as part of this conference there is a 5K race. At least one, period of good physical activity. It was yesterday morning. The course ran down the Willamette River, across a bridge up the other side for some distance, back over another bridge and back to the start. I finished it in about 27 minutes, some four minutes off my best ever 5k time. I realized, I'm not a racer because I have no idea how to pace myself. However, unlike most racers, I don't start out too hard, I start out too easy. In fact when it came time to pick up the pace in the last 1/2 mile, I still had plenty of energy left and finished the race winded only from the final sprint. Something else to work on I suppose.

First adventures on a new bike

My new Bianchi SOK, one cool pedal powered machine.

Big news in my world yesterday: I bought a new bike! AND it comes fully equipped with Bianchi written in big letters on the frame. I love Bianchis. I’ve had thing for them ever since I my first mountain bike. That was way back in the days when the company still made entry level bikes. But thanks to a Craig's List post I found a beautiful, brand new, never ridden Bianchi SOK 29er. It’s got an old-school paint job which I really dig and is equipped with good components (though I will probably upgrade the front derailleur from SRAM X.7 to X.9 when I get it back to Fairbanks).

I took it out for the first real rides today. The first short morning ride started from my folks’ home and scoots down a short stretch of pavement then cuts down some single track for about 1/4 mile before climbing 150 feet up into a valley created by two hogback ridges. It was about 8am and the sunlight had reached the valley floor and it already felt hot. The double-track of red CO soil and gravel was smooth and the riding fast. There is a marked difference between the 29 inch wheels and the 26s I’m used to. These ride smoothly and offer more stability but seem to take a bit more effort to get rolling. In the downhills they excel offering speed and the ability to roll over obstacles that may have caused problems to other bikes. I sped down 200 vertical feet then turned up a single-track that leads up one of the ridges taking me back in the direction I came. The bike climbs well in the steeps, though I think there is some loss in mechanical advantage with the 29 inch wheels and I gasped more than I though I should (though that may have something to do with the 7000 feet of elevation here). On the way I up I encountered some sand boxes and after struggling through the first few patches, I bogged down and had to walk the bike for a hundred meters or so before mounting up again and speeding through the downhill section. The bike performed well in some technical single track filled with loose gravel and larger rocks. Before long I was back on the pavement and on to my parents’ driveway.

3.75 miles and 400 vertical feet.

A few hours later when the family took off for other activities I donned a helmet mounted the bike and headed west where a network of trails climbs up into the foothills. I found a few stretches of rolling single track as I passed by some sandstone outcroppings that pop up in the neighborhood open space. Eventually I found my way to the trail I was looking for and climbed up out of the houses and into the shortgrass prairie that dominates the lower elevations. The trail rapidly climbs up out of the valley. By “rapidly” what I of course mean is really, really effing steep. I made it a couple hundred feet before I stalled out when my rear tire slid off a convenient rock and brought me to a standstill. Frankly, it was a welcome respite and I leaned over the handlebars and gasped for a several seconds.

My new SOK looking tough on the way up the trail.

The trail got increasingly technical as I climbed with lots of large rocks and water bars blocking the way. I ended up walking several stretches because I just couldn’t ride. I figure I’ll be pretty fit when I can ride that trail without stopping. Eventually I found my way to a cutoff trail which wound around several ridgelines before plopping me on an old jeep road which I followed for another 500 vertical feet until I reached a picnic shelter which lies on the ridge. I was grateful for the storm clouds rolling in because they kept the 90+ degree temperatures to a bearable level though they provided a rather brooding view over Mount Evans to the west. I rested for a few minutes there on top allowing the storm breeze to blow the sweat off soaked back. After a cookie or two I climbed aboard my bike and continued another five hundred vertical feet to the summit of Tin Cup Mountain. The views out over Denver and the surroundings seemed to go on forever. The wind blowing through the trees here must have been carrying the city’s pollution away because the air was as clear as gin without even hint of the usual toxic haze that hangs over Denver. Atop, I turned my wheels downward and descended in a few moments what it took me 20 minutes to ascend. I continued down the old jeep road over easy gravel at a near breakneck speed until ten minutes later I skidded to a halt on my parent’s front porch. More than an hour up and less than fifteen minutes down.

Mt. Evans from the foothills

Day’s totals:
Mountain Biking: 14 miles (2 hours 45 minutes for both rides)
Vertical Climbed: 2600 feet
Calories burned (according to my Polar heart rate monitor): 2356 (both rides)

August Mileage:
Biking: 14 miles (elevation climbed 2600 feet)
Running: 5 miles (elevation climbed 300 feet)