Part 2: Thanksgiving in the NW

Here are the pictures from our second ride: Poodle Creek. It is about 50 miles of sheer beauty. It is breathtaking! I don't think you can find better rides then out here. The morning haze added a little to the beauty and we only got sprinkled on at first.

Thanksgiving in the NW

Getting ready to head out.

Doug climbing up Gimple Hill. It gets pretty steep in this section.

Jeremy finishing the climb.


Fox style shots!

Doug came out for a little visit to the NW. My knee is starting to feel better, so I took it out for a test ride with DC and Jeremy. It felt alright. I am a little rusty and the knee swells up pretty quick. DC is still recovering from his shoulder injury and can't stand up to well when climbing hills. I think he is about ready to sell his mountain bike. Jeremy, my buddy from Eugene, came along as well. He hasn't ridden his bike in 3 months (he is a runner) but can still hang (and crank it). We had a rare break in the weather and it wasn't raining. It has been pretty cold up here. We all over dressed and wanted to shed some clothes about 5 minutes into the ride. But this is Oregon so give it 5 minutes and it will start raining, so we always carry rain jackets. Fortunately, it didn't rain today.

I took them out to Bailey Hill, around and back over Gimple Hill. It is a 30 mile loop that is about as pretty as it gets. There is one spot that has my dream house. It is in the middle of no where, I love it. It was nice to have DC out for a few days and get some riding in. We are going to go ride Poodle Creek (65 miles of beauty and trees) in the morning. Maybe I will put some more pic's of that on later.


My dream house

To ipod or not to ipod?

To ipod or not to ipod? That is the question. Tonight while riding home I about hit this stupid lady. Why? Because she was rocking out to her ipod. Two bike paths met together and we were going to be meeting at about the same time. She saw some friends and turned to look at them, instead of what was meeting up with her - me! I started yelling, "Get out of the dang way!" while she swirved right in front of me. I barely was able to dodge her and pulled off into the leaves and grass. As I started yelling some choice words I knew she couldn't even hear me because her music was blaring. This is not my first encounter with the ever present headphone wearer.

Now I know I am the biggest hypocrit and listen to one myself, but let me justify my reasoning. First, I only put the headphone in on one ear, which allows me to hear traffic or people on my left side. Second, I don't crank up the music. I can still hear things going on around me. If I am riding in a group I leave the ipod at home. I love my music but am pretty frustrated by people and their lack of disregard for others. Be safe with the ipod or put it away.

Great ride

For the first time in a long time the Weber/ Davis county GC members were out on their bike together. It was great (and Kim didn't sound like he was going to blow a lung). The new legacy bike path was great (no cars) to ride and the weather wasn't to bad either (mid to high 40's with not much wind). I wish I had a few pics, but I forgot to take the camera out of the car.

In other non- bike related news- I believe the Utes will destroy the cougars (Hard call I know). Not that I'm a big fan of either team, but a majority of my neighbors and co-workers want the "Y" so I'm wishing or counting on the "U" to destroy the "Y". I myself will be cheering on the # 8 ranked Cats this Saturday. Weber State, Weber State, Great, Great, Great.

58,236 to 1

What are the odds? I was only able to ride 2 days this week, because of my knee. It is still swollen and bothering me. Still pretty frustrated. But in the meantime I was able to go to the Duck game on Saturday. My neighbor asked if I wanted tickets, so I couldn't pass it up. My friend Jeremy went with me. The Ducks got their brand new Nike uni's. You either love them or hate them, and I kinda like them. During the first quarter they choose someone from the audience to give a gift certificate to. I wasn't paying to much attention, until the guy next to me said I think I won! I still didn't pay much attention, but realized that the number was mine! 58,236 to 1. What are the odds. I won a $50 gift certificate to a department store out here. I would have been on the jumbotron if I had realized earlier if it was mine. It did a pan looking for the winner, but I didn't react until it was to late. Maybe next time?

Another funny thing during the game happened in the fourth quarter. The Ducks were up at half 45 to 17, but Arizona came back and the score was 48 to 45 in the fourth quarter. The guy behind me turned to his buddy and said, "You don't lose that many points unless you are playing Weber State!" I turned and said, "You have two Weber St. alum right in front of you." That shut him up pretty quick.

Boulder/Laramie

The kids cheering.

The bell ringing cheering section. That fuzzy face is Robby, now clean again.

Todd Wells the easy winner. Easy no.

Trebon and Johnson trying to chase down Wells.

Wells Johnson and Trebon heading into the last lap.

Todd Wells made the sand look to easy!

Chris on the barrier section.

Chris got behind the wrong guy in the sand pit.

This is how the big boys ride the sand.

Chris having fun. Pro road racer Matt Shriver leading the chase.

If sand wasn't enough there was this steep gravel climb. Chrispy looking good. Single speeder on the right, belt driven.

Race Start! The watts are flying!

Chrispy looks good on the second row with the big boys.

Front row call up, all the studs, Bishop, Powers ,Johnson ,Wicks ,Wells and Wells

Tree farms call up number one.

Xen with his highly guarded pile.

Betty and the kids trunking and treating. There were a ton a people at the church.

Xen, Clair and Hanna ready for the big night.

Some home grown pumpkin carving with Claire

Betty and I had a great time at Jill's. I talked them into a quick trip over the Boulder for the national Cyclocross race, about 130 miles away. There is a discount mall in Longmont, close to Boulder so it wasn't to hard a sell. We got there and the weather was great, 76 degrees and we found the race area just on are way into town. It was very cool to get there and walk around the team tents and get to see the race bikes up close and talk to some of the pro's. You can see from the pictures the course was a big sand pit. I don't know how they ride through it, but you can't believe how much power they put down to get it. The course was by Boulder reseviour and it was a gravelly, sandy, goat head infested impossible track. We watched the pro women and Georgia Gould was in a different race than the rest, what a power house and no strain on the face. She makes it look so easy. I got a close look at her Obrea cx bike and it is really ugly. Al. frame and a shock to all serious racers, she rides on clinchers, Maxiss, probably because they don't make a tubular. Local ladies did well, Kathy Sherwin and Chris from Kriegs was impressive. The pro men is always a treat to watch. I got to talk to the Tree, and stand by his Kona special, this is the truth, his seat tops out at my mid thorax. The seat post is about 18 inches long. I talked to Todd Wells at the GT tent and since I read his blog I said hi to Meg his wife and she looks at me like how do you know my name. Todd was great and we had a good laugh about blogging. I talked to her several times during the race and she appreciated the support of Todd. Local star Chris Petrazak (Chrispy got the call up number 14) he looked right at place with all the big time pro's. Wells, Trebon, Johnson and Powers were off and gone and I was amazed at how they powered through the sand. Trebon was really sick but he is so strong. He was covering everyone's move until the end when Todd Wells got away for good. It was a blast and Jill, Robby and the kids had a great time. The kids played in the water and had a ball. The equipment is fun to look at and so varied. Most CX bikes are not the beauties of the road but can take a beating. Probably the most impressive thing was Travis Brown riding a sad looking Trek single speed with no chain, belt driven. The guy has full beard missing teeth and is one strong dude, top twenty both days. We had a great Halloween with Jill's kids, pumpkins, trunk or treat and home party. I got to spend some time at the law school and see how my daughter lives. Hard work and alot of hours. She got home at 7 am one day after an all nighter, 2 hours of sleep and off to take a test. The kids are growing and it was fun to be with them. Hope you are all well and riding safely. I still can't ride so I'm into the serious running again. I can see another marathon in the future. I still want Boston. Doug