Just in the nick of time.

We’ve done our best to get our permanents ridden before it got too late into a month so we wouldn’t be stuck under pressure like this. The month of December seemed to have plans to keep us from getting our R-12. There were 14 of us that were all antsy to get a ride in before the end of the year for one reason or another. Some had to for the R-12 eligibility, others just had cabin fever from 2+ weeks off the bike thanks to snow and ice.

There was nothing that was going to stop me from finishing this ride. Not the left over ice, not my lack of fitness right now, and definitely not the fact that I should be working.

The turn out for the ride was pretty amazing. It made the ride so much more enjoyable. A good chunk of the group played sweep up and in the end, about 8 of us stuck together and chatted all day.

We were the second Guinea pigs for a brand new route that is pretty much designed with bad weather in mind. Over the 130 miles, we never really got over 400 feet or so, and most of the route was insanely flat through the valleys in southern Washington.

We left a Tully’s at 8am out of Mercer Island and caught back on with the I-90 trail out towards Factoria. We quickly hit our first road block of the day near a wooden bridge that crosses some swamped area. It had a few hundred yards of ice layered snow still. We were forced to walk the distance to stay right side up.

The rest of the ride out to Redmond was pleasant enough, even with the ride up and around Lake Sammamish. Going South bound on the West side is always full of debris and tight (but usually light) traffic. We always seem to end up there one way or another. There was a bit more ice coming out of Maymoor park, but nothing that had us walking.

From there, it connected to the East end of the Lake Washington trail and a much needed water break at Kidd Valley. We took most of the Seattle to Portland route out through Renton. I figured we would latch on to Interurban trail going South, but Geoff found some great low traffic streets and trails that I had never been on before.

The route rode straight into the valley of Mount Rainier in to the town of Orting. If the mountain ever blows, they will be one of the first off of the map. It was around mile 70 by this point, and the control had an option for Subway. Their sandwiches are nothing special, but after that much time on the bike, it tasted like heaven. I ate my turkey sub dangerously fast.

The break seemed to bring everyone’s spirits up a bit, and it also gave us all a chance to catch up with one another. The ride out of town was filled with pleasant banter. We seemed to get called quite a few names from the locals though. There seemed to be pre-teen children everywhere just waiting to sling a barb at us.

The funniest of the day? “Hey look, it’s the Ninja Turtles.”

The weirdest? “I have to pee!”

We spent the next several miles retracing some routes and taking new ones up towards Interurban trail. There was one area with tight shoulders and lots of big trucks backing up behind us as we climbs up some short but steep pitches. The traffic caught behind them was getting very angry and it made for some frustrating riding. Still, once we got back on the trails, things were very pleasant.

The Interurban eventually linked up to the tricky Green River trail. I didn’t look at the cue sheet much in the last 40 miles because it was basically every Thursday night ride I’ve ever had rolled into one package. I helped guide everyone through the tricky turns in the area so we could keep on the water front and not miss any major turns. I suspect that area will be trouble for future riders, especially after dark.

Once we hit the info control at the Harbor Island bridge, we all voted on Peter McKay to take us back home. The last 15 miles is basically his work commute, so he was more than happy to go in to (a little too efficient) auto pilot and guide us through the area.

The final kick in the pants was a loop around Mercer Island. It is a fun loop, but it is frustrating. You are so close to the finish and then are pushed in to a victory 10 mile lap around the island. It wouldn’t be a SIR ride without a double digit grade hill right near the end of the ride. This was was no different.

Chris, Joe and I met Chris’ wife Emily at the Roanoake afterwards for a much needed beer and food when all was said and done. I’ve never been so happy to have completed a 200k.

A coworker of mine found these photos laying around on an old roll of film and gave them to me this morning. They brought back some great memories.

2007 was the first year that Jane and I rode the Seattle to Portland Classic. It is 200 some odd miles from the University District to Portland, Oregon over one or two days with 9000 other completely insane people.

2007 was such a special ride for us though, because I only had three goals that year. Beat the crap out of some cancer, complete STP, and survive our (amazing) wedding. They all felt equally daunting at times too.

The cancer was no big deal… *cough* I finished my stem cell chemo around the beginning of April of that year, and I literally had four months to try and get back in to shape for what would be the longest ride I had ever done. I told all of my oncology nurses that I would be doing the ride so I wouldn’t back out of the whole thing. Some other friends had done it the year prior and I wasn’t able to, so I really want it.

Jane’s butt wasn’t excited to sit on a bike seat for two straight days (leather saddle or not), but she was more than supportive of the whole effort. We spent just about every weekend ramping up our training rides until we had it up to about 70 miles with hills. We weren’t completely prepared, but given the amount of time on hand, we did pretty well.

The home stretch in to Portland brought tears to my eyes.

I made probably my best meal ever this last week. It was pinched from a wonderful site/magazine that Norman pointed me towards called Saveur. You can find the full recipe for “Aunt Polly’s Lamb Shanks” here. I completed them with some pretty amazing (read: fatty) mashed potatoes full of heavy cream and loads of butter. It was a red wine meal for sure. Even the left overs are outstanding.

Last Tuesday I had a much needed work day. Thanks to the snow and ice, I took the bus to work for the first time… ever? It was completely loaded. I was standing next to the door and we were packed in like sardines. This, coupled with my relative laziness the week prior, encouraged me to try walking through the snow home. It would be “an adventure”, I told myself. Randoneurring seems to work itself into my day to day thinking about suffering and epic-style exercising. Anotherwards, my judgement is always clouded. My fifteen minute bike commute turned into a brutal 2 hour hike home.

I used muscles in my legs that I wasn’t even aware that I had. Every inch of muscle was active while I was trying to keep upright as the ground shifted underneath me all the way home. Because my judgement is clouded, I jumped between, “This is awesome”  and “Why the hell am I out here? Is there a bus on the way?” every fifteen minutes or so.

The snow plows pushed every inch of the snow off to what little was left of the sidewalk, making it especially rough going over the train tracks on 1st ave South. It is hard to tell in the picture, but it was over a foot deep, and sections had large footprints that I had to walk in. This meant that I had to lift my leg much higher than I normally would and step into the next hole. The slope down hill felt like a reverse stair stepper with ice platforms.

It was getting dark by the time I got to the main bridge over the Duwamish river. There was a beautiful layer of snow all the way up and down it. It wasn’t very fun to walk on, but it sure was pretty.

The weather is changing though. Warm rains came at a good pace. Fast enough so we can still get a ride in tomorrow, but not so fast as to flood out the region. It looks like we will have good company to break in the newest SIR route, Mercer Island – Redmond – Orting. The ride hugs most of the major cities around here, so there should be plenty of coffee stopping along the way. I’ve never been so eager to play hooky.

I am on day five of my mini snow vacation and am starting to get cabin fever.

Part of me wants to enjoy the (much needed) days off, and the other part of me knows that the month is quickly coming to a close with no weather relief in sight. I have exactly 9 days left to complete a 200k ride and I don’t know if I can do it. I haven’t had any vacation or sick time left at work so I’ve been trying to get them in on weekends. There was only one weekend this month that was “warm” enough to ride without facing ice and snow. Worst case senario, Chris and I start over in the new year.

We only have 3 left so this is looking like a disappointment.

Still, not all is bad. Jane and I have holed up for an intense amount of video games, cooking, and painting. I couldn’t ask for a more calm and beautiful week.

Norman and I managed to sneak in a trip up to West Seattle for groceries on Saturday. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea though. It was a complete madhouse. We got what we came for though, and have been cooking amazing meals ever since. I am pretty positive that I’ll end up fatter than I was a week ago. Oh well…

Friday night we attended a holiday party for Jane’s work at a swanky downtown restaurant where I felt a bit under dressed and over serviced. Still, it was a nice meal and good company. We wanted to possibly leave after the party for Portland. My body needed some rest though, and we opted for Saturday morning.

I’d canceled trips to see my Mom probably 3 or 4 times since the we decided that we would make a trip down to see her new apartment. With the holidays, I had felt an even more pressing need to get down and see her. Unfortunately, the holidays also brought even more reasons to cancel. Things have been so hectic and schedules are so tight. Jane and I committed to driving down this last weekend, rain or shine.

The weather could not have looked worse for us, but we took the chance anyways. The last thing I wanted to do was cancel yet again. The rest of the month was already planned out.

Our drive down was cold but uneventful. We got some snow on the way down through the middle of Washington but nothing was sticking to the roads too badly and I was able to not slow down too much all the way down.

We had a lovely and delicious thanksgiving style dinner with my mom, her boyfriend Tom, his mother, and our friend Maggie. Tom’s mother is a very sassy older woman. She never remembers who I am, but she never forgets that she intends to hit on me. We always enjoy visiting her.

Saturday night we decided to go out in Portland and have a drink or two. Our first stop was at the Doug Fir on the East side. Jane and I hadn’t been, and Maggie was nice enough to take us despite her better judgement. The bar was beautiful with a fake wood cabin type feel, but the crowd was just… interesting. There was a raver couple near us that were hanging all over each other for hours. I almost offered to buy them a room so they could get it over with.

We went further east to a second bar that had Chimay on tap. I am more than okay with that. We called it a night pretty early. It was a long day and we all needed sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up to waffles, coffee, sausage, and a whole bunch of snow outside. It would have been a perfect day if I didn’t have to drive back home. The local news in the area was screaming about the sky falling (as usual). Portland metro was requiring tire chains throughout the city and we of course didn’t own any. When it snows outside here, I just stay home. It has worked for a number of years until this weekend.

Jane and I left my mom’s place around 11am to get a jump on the commute.

We managed to find the chains in the third store we went to. I felt comfortable without them on the backroads, but I knew that highway 26 on down past the Zoo towards I-5 would be very sketchy. It has a 6.5% grade on down towards a tunnel without much in the way of shoulders. We quickly learned how to put on the chains in the snow, outside… numb fingers and all.

With the chains on, we crawled out towards 26 at a much slower pace than everyone else that decided to drive without them. It was clunky, noisy, and pretty damn annoying. It wasn’t until we actually got on the highway that we understood how smart the choice was. Coming down the grade was a pretty tense moment, but I felt much safer with my handling abilities. It was the 80% of everyone else that I was worried about though. We crawled at about 25 mph through the tunnel and eventually got on to I-5. After we crossed the river in to Vancouver, WA, I felt much more comfortable and took the chains off.

At one of the gas stations, I noticed this little gem (click to enlarge it). It was a condom dispenser with a twist. You have a one in six shot of actually getting a condom. The other “prizes” include a “tingler ring” and “body paint”. Ick. I love road trips sometimes.

The roads cleared up a shocking amount to the north. There wasn’t even snow on the ground in some portions. Olympia held lots, and places like Tukwila had almost none. It was a very intense commute though, and we spent almost 5 hours doing it.

Once we got home we pretty much laid out and watched movies. I passed out earlier than I had planned.

I woke up this morning actually very excited to try and bike in to work. I knew that fixed gear is better for icy conditions, and I wanted to give it a go on my bike. It took me about 10 blocks to fall on my ass and give up the dream. One of these days I’ll actually buy studded tires. Yeah, I’m an idiot.

I feel like I’ve kind of neglected this thing because life has moved so insanely fast this holiday season.

Aside from my regular 9 to 5, I’ve been doubling up on websites for clients, attending too many birthday related events to count, rekindling my love for video games, and I started my first painting in about 10 years for Jane.

Backtracking a bit (my memory is fading quickly, so bear with me)…

Thursday night I went out on my usual ride except I planned on meeting up with Jane, Jen, Mike and Kim for dinner to celebrate Jen’s “official” birthday. I was stopped at a light on the way up to Capitol Hill when the light turned green on me. I was already sitting so I clipped in and started to stand to gain some momentum. My left foot unclipped on me (or wasn’t firmly in place to begin with), and I was locked in with my right. My entire body rode the up and down of the crank’s circle motion about 3 times before I slowed down enough to topple over in the middle of the street. I cracked the side of my helmet and broke my brand new helmet light. Insult to injury, someone gave me a “Nelson” laugh from a passing car. If I was thinking clearly at the time, it might have been pretty embarrassing. Some kind stranger helped me up and grabbed my broken helmet light for me. I wiped off and moved on. The bike is fine too. I’m not even seeing any obvious cosmetic damage (oddly).

Chris mentioned later that he wished he was there to see it. It would have been pretty damn funny.

We had dinner at Smith on 15th and had a fairly good time. It seemed like there was something in the air all night though. I couldn’t quite place it at the time.

Friday I was beyond sore and nursing a hang over (okay… so one of them was my fault). Belgian beer is my friend and my enemy. Work felt like it took an eternity and I topped it off with a 3 hour visit to the dentist.

Somehow I talked myself into going to a show that night, and boy am I glad I did. The Comet Tavern had a metal show with an outstanding line up. Helm’s Alee (pictured above) out of Tacoma headlined and featured Ben from Harkonen. They played pretty heavy doom type metal with amazing vocal harmonies over the top of it all. The female drummer was amazing. I don’t like to be that guy that points out the gender obvious, but I’ve never seen a woman who could throw it down like that. Sue me.

Sandrider opened up the set. They were 2/3rds of Akimbo and one guy from Ruby Doe. It was their second show ever and it sounded very polished. Keep and eye out for those guys. I’m a huge Akimbo fan so it made my heart happy.

Black Elk out of Portland played second on the set and were amazing again. I hadn’t seen them in a while so I secretly hoped that I wasn’t delusional about the initial experience. One of the best new bands out of the Pacific Northwest to be sure.

Jane and I had a great time and saw some good friends (Boo + Alana). My neck still hurts.

I’m already spacing out on all of this. Thanks for letting me bore you. I’ll try to get pictures of the painting when it is finished.

This is Chris’ beautiful Tournesol that he had built up and finished earlier this year. I’ve been meaning to draw it for a while now, but things have been busy… all year… I know that he is very happy with it. The bike has a very subtle flair with muted earthy colors. It doesn’t jump at your like a fancy race bike, but once you take it in, you really notice the amazing little details. Line art doesn’t exactly convey that, but you’ve got what I give you, damn it.

Things have been delightfully non news worthy lately. We spent time with our friends Norman and Maggie for most of Thanksgiving weekend. He was house sitting a nice place near Lake Washington and we decided to feel wealthy for a day or three. It was nice and low key though. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see family, but we’ll be visiting my Mom in a few weeks anyways.

I haven’t been on the bike as much as I’d like. I’m having a rough time waking up with the weather and it being dark again. Most of my on bike time is a quick ride here and there on the weekends and the occasional commute. Chris and I have big plans for the end of our R12 though. January 31st and February 1st fall on one weekend. We want to plan an out and back style ride with 200k on Saturday and the return on a Sunday to finish off the last two months on the ride. I may suggest tackling another 200k in January just to be safe though. I’d hate to have something go wrong right at the end of our year.

We have our December ride tentatively planned for the 20th. The Three Rivers Cruise is looking like the winner so far. If anyone is interested in tagging along (I’m looking at you, Matt)… let me know ahead of time so I can get the proper amount of paper work done.