Saturday Bike Ride

Or the one where I fell off my bike…

The sun finally came back to Portland on Saturday, and we saw our first 50 degree since Feb. 2nd. I know, I know, 50 degrees sounds REALLY warm for winter (at least, for anyone who grew up in Central NY like me) but in Portland being below 50 for this long is definitely a cold snap.

So, we took advantage of the glowing ball in the sky to get in a long bike ride. The past several bike rides have been bordering on somewhat miserable – cold, close to town because … Continue reading

On slowing down

Last Friday four us climbed Mount Saint Helens. We all skinned up from the parking lot, topped out just shy of the summit (because, cornice), and then skied back down.

Heading up – cloudy and warm!

One person in the group was brand new to the challenges of skinning. The conditions were generally good, but there were some steep spots and areas of hard snow that made good kick turns and edging a must.

I don’t know about anyone else who’s learned to skin, but when I learned there was a lot of bruises (mainly from falling on my … Continue reading

Just another training ride.

Never really got into the groove for today’s ride. Legs were tired from a weekend of incredible skiing. Backcountry laps on Tumalo Mountain on Saturday in knee high + untouched powder and a day of downhill on Mount Bachelor on Sunday.

Nevertheless, a big push up a nemesis of a hill did earn me this:

Tied for third place for women!

It probably won’t last, and I thought I was definitely going to vomit at the top, but it was a high point on a chilly, damp, tired kinda day.

Slightly sick slow spin

Otherwise known as: today’s morning training ride. I didn’t actually start until 6:40 AM, which was later than planned because I spent 15 minutes laying on the couch trying to decide if it was smart to go biking while recovering from a cold. I looked at the internet hoping smart people would tell me, “Of course not, biking while sick is a terrible idea!”. But really all I found were articles saying that as long as it’s not “in your chest” you’re fine to exercise. Screw you internet people.

So after finally getting up I added shoe covers AND (get … Continue reading