stage 6

We rode rad trails today. Pics won't do it justice. You should visit Squamish.

write up.

Stage 5

I "bumped" into a tree on about 20min from the finish today and though it feels like I did, somehow I didn't break my shoulder, collar bone, or anything else...though I couldn't be any less mobile.

What started as a play day ended up not being too bad...2nd on the stage and hopefully I can ride a bike on Thursday.

Sneedon is leading his home providence race on a stage that finished and later started in his home town. Cool.




Some of these starts kinda suck. Everyone wants to be a hero...can't they just relax?



I was really proud of Nat. I was trying to trick him by talking about beers...and he was able to do math. Maybe he can only do math because we were talking about beer.



Dre. He made a strong split early on of Seamus, Shep, Plaxton, and myself...big guy was climbing strong. So strong his bike couldn't handle the watts.



Seamus is going to China in August. He doesn't even seem to be trying in this race...but then again, he and Shep are on the the every other day program.



Trek guys. I like the Trek guys, but I like even more working them over. You won't see us initiating attacks when folks flat or at water stations or when exiting raging rivers...no names mentioned.



Props to Kona and their boys...but they're damn lucky we flatted on day two...though I suppose we all have our battles out there. Doesn't hurt when you grew up on the trails we're using, either.



whittling down things...with us having missed yet another turn, kona was gone...so we worked through traffic until none remained.

BC day 4

We went slow today. I'm carrying my camera on Wednesday. The BC version of single track is burly, to say the least...but Bart and I are shredding the bridges. Well, at least we haven't fallen off them yet.



More boring stuff here.

bc day 3

tour de canada's ferries fire roads, eh?

I haven't brought my camera so far during the race...mainly because I need the pocket space. What I have been taking photographs of are our times at the ferry(s).

The ferry is the biggest Canadian time sink aside from snow and hockey.


First you drive to the ferry and arrive at least an hour early with little to do.



Have a beer and mock the cripples out there.



Then you park your car in the belly of the monster and get CO poisoning.



Then you sit on the deck and get older while absorbing killer views. Or talk in the cell phone.



This race so far really hasn't had selections based on getting dropped..more like something going wrong or goofy stuff like feed zone snafus, missing turns, stuff like that. We lost the jersey today but we have a real race on our hands.

I'm just looking forward to the racing being about what happens while pedaling. Not while not pedaling.

BC stage 2

We had a flat at a really bad time. The chase was long, painful, and fruitless.



More here.

BC Bike Race

Rider meeting.



Press conference.



In the bowels of the ferry.



On the ferry's deck.



Bart and I won stage 1 and get to wear leaders jersey. Tinker and Mitchell had a rough day.



Bart rode like a champ and threw up on himself three times. I told him "don't stop pedaling."

Shredding it up on BC singletrack

Braaaaaaap. Get some.



Forget mountain bikes, I'm sold on these.

I love summer daylight at the higher latitudes

You can leave at 3pm and still do 6 hr mountain bike rides.

shady

The other day I was cruising around some the surrounding neighborhoods...exploring. NW Portland is a bizarre mix of old neighborhoods, new ones, pop-up style ones, and nuevo-riche communities.

The general theme they've kept is a semi-walkability or bike-ability factor overall....like this sidewalk cut through...



that goes to the local elementary school...



one problem, or, maybe...opportunity has arisen: a rather shady but authentic and original neighbor has taken the good old fashioned 'Merican can do and set about making a few bucks.



He's been saving these vending machines for 30 years, or maybe, he's been selling out of them for that duration...as kids walk to/from school, they're finding the equivalent of the back alley sugar dealer, hustling product they otherwise couldn't (or shouldn't) be able to aquire.



He even cuts them a deal on price.

Otherwise, when I'm not chasing school kids down the bike paths, I've been trying to prepare for next week's BC Bike race by trekking DEEP into the back woods on dirt and gravel roads...



I should write a coffee table book on the different flavors of red necks. Southern vs Texan vs Colorado-an vs PACNW vs urban vs....

Cross training

I've been doing some bike riding, of course, to get ready for the BC Bike Race that I'm doing with Bart, Tinker, Mitchell, Sue, and Ohran...but what's been better training is the sleep deprivation, and little bit of not-so-heavy-object pushing.