Day 216: And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Well, actually a word TO my sponsors, and not for this site, but for my upcoming ride....much love, and many thanks.

I haven't made a huge campaign to get sponsors for my upcoming Livestrong Challenge ride, aside from an initial blog post, a few direct emails to some friends, and the link off to the right. But with about 25 days left, I wanted to say thanks to those of you who have offered to make a contribution. I'm not a full time Armstrong Foundation worker, nor do I do fundraising for organizations outside of the Middle School group at our church very often, so I hate asking for dough. Again, thanks to everyone who has chipped in and will chip in...it IS for a great cause.

Yesterday I started actually having some second thoughts about the ride. For lots of different reasons I've not had as many training days as I'd like. By now I was hoping to have some 50 mile rides under my belt, but that hasn't happened. I was also hoping to be riding at least every other day, but that hasn't been possible either, and I didn't get a chance to take advantage of the holiday weekend to log some big miles. But as the day was ending I received a notice that one contributer made a four figure donation to the cause in my name, and I realized I couldn't really NOT do it at this point.

I set a goal of $2500 in fundraising for the LAF, with a minimum of $250 needed to be able to ride. I didn't really think I'd hit the $2500 mark, but now I'm over halfway there, and think I just might have a shot. The team I'm a part of historically has one of the largest fundraising efforts for the Portland ride, and I'm happy to be helping the cause. I won't mention the name of the person, but if you hop over to my page (since it IS a public page) you can figure it out. A very generous gesture from some really good friends of ours.....who would have thought all those years ago when I was a punk high school student....well, I won't go on and on.

Anyway, I'm going to keep trying to squeeze in rides where I can, and get as prepped as I can. I may have to find a garage sale and get one of those old lady beige colored Sears indoor bike machines so I can ride after everyone's gone to sleep, but one way or another I'm going to ride those 70 miles at the end of the month!

Again, BIG THANK YOU to all the sponsors! I appreciate it!

Hasta!

Day 214: What a Hagg!

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

I'm posting a night blog, which I never do. Tomorrow (today for some of you) is the first day of school for our oldest -- first full year of high school for us.

Last week we drove up to Henry Hagg Lake, the place of the most elevation gain in our 70 mile Livestrong Challenge ride. I'd been nervous because I'd been getting mixed information depending on where I turned to find out what exactly we were in for. Some reports said 3000 feet of elevation gain in about a 20 mile span, and others were between 1000-2000. Turns out that the 100 mile route has all the elevation gain, with the hardest part being the Bald Peak climb, which is in fact supposed to be one of the toughest climbs in Oregon. Fortunately for us, the 70 mile route skips all the Bald Peak fun.

Anyway, I still wanted to see for myself what we would be in for, so we hopped in the gas guzzling SUV and made a day of it. Along the way we stopped in Newberg for some breakfast, and to my surprise there are not really any quaint little cafe's in the Foxy City, aside from a couple of coffee shops. We were hoping for some great dive diners, or some little country good eats kind of place, but sadly we ate at Shari's...so yeah, nothing really to speak of there. After breakfast we hit one of the local feed stores to find some boots for the Missus, but they didn't have anything that struck her fancy, so we got back on the highway and headed off to Hagg.


Hagg Lake is apparently a man-made lake, officially in Forest Grove, and you need a day pass if you're going to stop. They didn't charge us to just drive around, so I was thankful for that. Total distance around the lake is about 13.5 miles, and according to The Edge, there's just under 1000 feet of climbing. Now, the crazy thing is, you have to take off from one place, and come back to that place again, as it is indeed a loop around the lake, however...it really felt like all I was doing was going up, up, and more up. I told myself that I must be letting my imagination run away, and that 1000 feet in 13 miles wouldn't be a breeze, but would totally be doable.


On the way back home we stopped in Gaston -- not to be confused with Gaston of Beauty and The Beast fame, of course. There was some sort of City Wide BBQ Fest going on, and we pulled over to get some drinks and snacks. Right on the main street were a gaggle of sweet older ladies pimping their baked goods, so we bought a plate of cookies from them to eat on the drive home. While the rest of the fam was in buying their snackins, I chatted it up with three cyclists who pulled in after us. I asked if they had just ridden down from the lake, and they said no, but in fact had been riding over Bald Peak...go figure. But one of them had ridden Hagg Lake in last years Livestrong and he said 'oh man, that's a pretty tough ride.' When I asked him why he said that, especially since it was less of a climb than the BP trip they had just done he said it basically feels like you're going uphill all the way around the lake! That's what I thought!

I'm still fairly confident I'll be able to make it, it just may be uncomfortable along the way. As of now I've still only done 30 miles at a time for my longest rides, and have been pulling 25 miles as my go to ride the past couple weeks. With just 27 days till the ride, I'm not sure if I'll have any days to do a real ride...maybe one weekend, but we'll see how it goes. Until then I think the max I may get is 25 miles at a shot, but at least I won't have to tackle 3000 miles of elevation come September 30!

Ok, that's it for me...it's after midnight now and we gotta get up before 6 for school...yeehaw!

Hasta!

Day 210: Shout Out To The LBS

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

It's funny how the internet can connect people. My self proclaimed 'biggest fan,' on my less-oft travelled music site is from Hong Kong, or Korea, or somewhere I've never been to out in the big, big, world. Makes me laugh...I get an email about once a year from him...or her, I can't tell by the name.

Anyway, I'm out at the LBS (local bike shop) yesterday, having my derailer (or derailleur, for Le' Mick) looked at because it's been slipping gears a little, and they're the folks who can make it go away. (And they did, got it up on the rack, turned some magic knobs, and got me back on my way.) Before I even get in the door the owner says "Hey, you can't be blogging about how your gears are slipping on a bike you bought from me!" Ha! Wow, I had no idea he was one of the 4 people who has been reading this here blog -- and actually turns out he wasn't. Another customer, who has been kind enough to become a reader here mentioned that he read it on my blog, and that's how he knew before I got there. Here I was thinking I might actually hit double digits in readership before end of the year.

So in my little effort to throw some blog-loving back to the LBS, (lest you think I was complaining about mine) here's a little plug post for South Salem Cycle Works and local bike shops in general. As Nick once texted me, 'support your local bike shop.' You won't get the most screaming deals on bikes or equipment - they are definitely not a Walmart or Target in terms of how much product they can move. But you should be able to find an LBS where you connect with the staff that work there. When you do, you should find a place where they take the time to help you understand your needs, and then help you purchase the right product to fill those needs. Once you make a purchase they should also support the products they sell and continue to provide service to you, the customer, long after you've laid down the cash.


I can say that I've purchased bikes at WalMart, and they are what they are. I've also purchased bikes at other shops here in town and they were most interested in getting my $$$ and then moving on to the next guy behind me. Mike at South Salem Cycle Works has been a good guy to deal with. He walked me through the bike options that might work and helped me select the one that made the most sense, and has been helpful with each newbie question I've had since then. Almost 5 months and almost 1000 miles later, I'm still making the 40 minute round trip drive out south to take my bike business there. As a local business owner myself, I can appreciate supporting those that make their living here in our town, as long as they can provide the service needed.

As David Wilcox once sang "go to East Asheville Hardware before you go to Lowes....before it disappears." I doubt Mike's bike shop is going anywhere soon, but if you need some cycling assistance head on down there...and tell them Paul sent you.

Hasta, Miguel!

ps - for those of you that are a little more ecologically-minded, they also recycle everything and haven't had dumpster service in a million years. Apparently, eveything they can't recycle, they just eat.... :)

Day 208: Stone Cold at Stone Creek

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

No, this isn't a post about me going hogwild at an expensive ice cream shop in the great outdoors. It's the sad tale of a beautiful golf course that got the better of me.

Stone Creek Golf Course is a crazy pretty course somewheres out in the vicinity of Oregon City, and was a course I hadn't even heard of before last week. Not sure when I'll be going back to play again after the showing I had today, but they had a great deal for 18 holes - $29 before 7 am, with a cart, for 18 holes. A 6:25 tee time means getting up at 4 to grab a shower, grab stuff for the day and heading out by 5 to avoid a rushed start. Yeah, I know...that's a little ridiculous, I won't argue that.



The course is easily the most picturesque course I've played all year long. It's also the most make-me-play-like-a-little-girl-esque course I've played as well. From the sand on the first hole that I bladed out of, and across the green, (the first of 6 sand holes) to the bad putting on the rock hard greens, I logged an adjusted 98. I should also mention that I took a BIP out there (Ball In Pocket) on one hole after hitting out of the sand, across the green on a par three, into the crap. Found the ball, but there was a foursome waiting to tee behind us, so I pocketed it while the others putted out, and carded a 7 - the maximum the club allows me to score on a hole right now.



Here's a shot of one of the par three hole greens, looking back to the three tee box areas. You shoot across a gully/canyon/raveen to a narrow green, which is heavily shadowed. Missed the birdie putt, but was really ok with getting a par after so much ugliness on one day of golf. I won't go on and on about the round as most of you are probably not too interested, but I wanted to put up a couple pictures because it is pretty enough that even most non-golfers can appreciate the beauty!

Hasta!

ps - Rarely do I Allow myself to get Yanked into chain-blog surveys, polls or Tag You're It Middle Name Games.

Day 204 - Crash!

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Not on my bike, just my iPhone. But let me tell you, it was a bummer having to reset that factory settings and losing some sweet pics I hadn't sync'd yet, including C-dub in a suit playing GH at Uptown. But I digress...

Yesterday was a crazy day that started nice and early. I had planned to get up and put down another day of training first thing in the morning, but my 3 year old buddy got up with the sun and wouldn't let me slip out the door. So after some web work and solving the worlds computer issues, I took a long lunch and did 23 miles before coming back and cooking a whole mess of meat for nearly 40 of our closest buddies at the All Staff BBQ Night.

For some reason the ride just did not start off great. I think I was a little tired, and had an overwhelming sense that I still had a lot to get done for the evening, including picking up stuff at the store, unloading the bbq I snagged at the church, getting food prepped, and cooking - so I couldn't quite focus on the ride at hand. Within the first few miles I also noticed that some of my gears were acting funny, not quite shifting properly and hopping an extra gear over when I just wanted one changed at a time. If those two weren't enough to make me want to turn back around, it was already pretty windy in the afternoon and I was riding straight into it for the first half of the ride.

I had strong desire to turn back at least twice, and maybe three times in the first 15 minutes of being out there. I had to really fight the urge to call it a day and make up the miles somewhere else, but I also had the big reminder in the back of my head that the 70 miler was just around the corner, and I bad better overcome obstacles like these if I was going to make it for that distance on that ride. It's entirely possible that I'll be tired, unmotivated, with a bike giving me some sort of fit, and a wind blowing right on me for the Livestrong, and it won't really be an option to just turn back. Well, it would be an option, but what kind of loser would I be then? So I pressed on.

Somewhere around the 12 mile mark there was a pretty decent hill that felt good going up. I wondered how steep it had been so for some crazy reason I turned around, went back down and came back up it with the Garmin set to elevation so I could see. Not too shabby - it was an 11% grade for a good amount of it. Halfway up I noticed some sweet looking wild blackberries, but figured if I tried to stop I'd have a pretty good change of laying the bike down, so I passed. Got to the top and thought about going back around once more, just to do it, but remembered the upcoming bbq and decided to just get back home.

Too many times I think I'm willing to let those obstacles turn me back around, but the times I press on and push through, I'm really satisfied to have accomplished the goal I set out on. 23 more miles logged in the training journals and another several hundred feet of climbing under my belt. Not too mention I didn't feel as bad when I wolfed down more of Erika's peanut butter chocolate treats last night!

Hasta!

Day 202: The Corn Is As High...

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

...as an elephants eye, and it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky! Although I couldn't quite say it was a beautiful morning, it was nice to be out on the ol' bike again after almost a 2 week hiatus. But my how things change.

I felt a bit like Gordon Macrae this morning as I took my loop around the backwoods of K-town. While I've been out not exercising, eating more food than I should, and generally just being a bum, the corn that was just beginning to sprout last time I looked has shot right out of the ground into big stalks. For a few moments I actually had chills as I remembered those high school summer days of moving irrigation pipe for the Zielinskis - a job I passionately hated. Although I should have felt right at home with a job my people have done for years and years, I couldn't stand being all zipped up in a hoodie in the 90-100 degree heat, lifting heavy pipe above my head and pushing through rows of corn to set it up at the next location. The only good thing that really came from my irrigation days was driving down the roads to the farm in Nick Lelacs fast back Celica, listening to Howard Jones on his cassette deck. It's a good thing I learned how to work a computer...

Anyway, it's amazing how being off a bike for the past couple weeks makes me feel out of it. I felt sloppy on my bike today even though I still kept a pace of 16 mph for the entire 15 miles. With only 39 days until The Big Livestrong Challenge 70 mile ride, with a bunch of elevation, I really need to focus on some serious training. Golf, camp, meetings and tons of other things have taken away some of the time for riding, but I'm going to have to carve out some time and get going...I don't want the medics to have to cart me off the course!

Yeah, and you read that right at the start...up 3 lbs. Seriously, the food at Triangle, a few too many Fests of All Kinds with friends and family, and I've just lost control of the Calorie Cutback. The ride today kicks off my official return to the wagon. I'm gonna get back to skinnyville one way or another.

Hasta!

Day 198: Que Bueno Blachly!

Update: 205.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 7 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Blachly, Oregon is a little tiny town about 2 hours from here, that we have simply grown to love. Founded in 1892, and named after William Blachly, the city leads into one of our favorite little getaways -- Triangle Lake.

I never like to be the last one to the party, but figured there could possibly be Triangle Lake posts from multiple people who blog about such things like Kristi, Thorsons, or Nick -- and as it turns out, I was right on at least 2 of the 3, and I'm guessing the third will step up to the plate once he's regained his strength again....poor fella, getting older. But needless to say, Triangle Lake was once again an amazing time with our Mid High buddies.

This year was a new experience as I wasn't really the man in charge for the trip, our new fearless leader, K-bowd was the go-to guy, and from the first blasting of Sadie Hawkins Dance to kick off the mosh pit, to digging the trench down the beach for sandy Slip-N-Slide, to the stage built on the edge of the lake for evening sessions - he busted his butt to provide a great time for the kids. Now, the rest of the amazing volunteer staff also really stepped up to pull off an extrememly memorable end of the summer bash, and the adults who came up to drive boats, work in the kitchen, and just be extra eyes, ears and hands were priceless. Many big thanks to everyone who helped....it was a fantastic team effort!
We had our largest group ever this time around, with about 125 people attending - roughly 70 students, 40 adults, and 15 children making it up for the 3 days of sun and fun.

Our good friends the Glancys also came up and Nate was our special guest speaker, sharing about his life in Mozambique, and helping kids understand about God's love. I was busy leading music most of the time, so I never got to look out from the back, down over the beach and out onto the lake as the sun was going down while kids were singing and listening to Nate talk, but both nights there was just an amazing energy and a buzz in the air. At one point, caught up in the moment (and there is video on file, unfortunately, to prove it) I raised my hand while leading music and actually found myself psuedo-raising the roof, or something like that...I don't know how to reallly explain it, except I looked like some sort of Jason Alexander character in a Brad Paisley video...sad really. All that to say, some of the greatest times of music and talking could be found right there on the edge of that lake this week.

In keeping with the food/diet portion of the blog, we had some pretty decent grub. Hamburgers and hot dogs, of course, but also lasagna, pancakes (banana and vanilla on the last day) and egg burritos with guacamole and mango salsa, nachos, cookies and candy. And Morrows brought up their new DeLonghi (welcome to the club!) so we were making espressos and iced coffee drinks around the clock. I worked hard to not go overboard, but probably did have a bowl or two too many of the Frosted Mini Wheats....dang those get me everytime. At least I countered the extra calories with tons of walking from the lodge to the trailer and back with my little boy on my shoulders or hip most of the time.

Amongst all the fun the kids were having spending the day out on the lake and running around the camp, we had a touch of sadness as we said goodbye to the Thorsons (above, listening intently to Pastor Kevin) on their last official event with the Mid High group. They've been a huge part of our team, and we hate to see them go, but we know they will love this adventure in their lives, and hopefully we'll see them back in the next year!

I think all us oldies are still catching up on sleep and waiting for our strength to come back, but it was totally worth it. Already looking forward to Triangle Lake '08!

Hasta!