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!

Day 192: 20 Years Later...

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

20 years ago I had just graduated high school, and wasn't quite sure what I'd be doing in life 20 years later. I had no idea life would be as great as it is in these current days -- a wonderful wife and 4 amazing kids later, I just had no idea.But last night was a night for reflecting back a bit as we had the first of our 2-night Class of '87 McNary 20 year reunion.

I didn't make the 5 or the 10 year reunions we had leading up to last night. Both times before something else came up, and it just made more sense to keep my original plans. I contemplated pulling a hat trick and not going last night as well, but ultimately decided to go. Plus, we were going down with Casey and Laura, and Chris and Suzzane, so we at least knew we'd have fun with them. I've also heard that the older you get at the reunions, the more fun and less pretentious they are, since most people are just living life, and not so much worried about impressing one another.



Anyway, I don't really have much to report back on. Last night was the Informal Gathering night of the weekend, held down at The Big Kahuna, so we gathered at La Casa De Dunn, and carpooled down together. I had golfed earlier in the day and left my wet shoes in the rig, and when we got in, it was basically like hot steamed shoes....really awful, and a great way to start out the evening. I felt like a goof when I put them in a plastic bag and asked the Dunn folks if I could leave them in their little garden so we could survive the drive down. Time for some new golf shoes. On the way down, I told Chris we should tell everyone we invented Post It notes...but I'm not sure if my reference totally got across.

For most of the night, my lovely wife and I stood in more or less the same spot greeting old friends and schoolmates - waving, shaking hands, or hugging depending on the level of friendship and/or the level of alcoholic consumption they may have had by the time they found us. I was actually surprised at how many people I recognized and how many names I remembered, which has actually been a nightmare of mine coming into the reunion. I've been worried that my brain would fail, and I'd just look like a bigger butthead than I already am on my own. We hung out for a couple of hours, and then headed back to relieve the kids of their babysitting duties.

On the way back Chris and I chatted about how funny it was that for a good portion of the evening the two crowds we had in high school kind of self-segregated themselves between the two floors of the bar. It wasn't completely a black and white drawn line, but big chunks of each group kept to themselves in two different areas for sure. And speaking of big chunks, it's nice to see that the years have been good to so many people, and that I wasn't the only one who's enjoyed the fruits (meats, vegetables, breads and cheeses too) of their labors along the way. On the one and only real reference to my calorie cutback for this post, it was kind of sad to think that even though I've dropped 53 lbs since February, to most of these people I'll have just gained 15-20 lbs since high school. Ha! "Hey, Lopez has put on a few, hasn't he? Gotten a little chubby." Most will really have no idea.

20 years later, life it good. I never really find myself pining for the good old days, and love every day I get to spend with my family, here in our little home in the 'burbs. Anyway...official dinner tonight, and unless something super exciting happens, I may not report back again on it. But if I bust out a closing scene dance sequence tonight, I'll be sure to post the video.

Hasta!

Day 189: Hills

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

Something is wrong with my bike. I can't believe it, I've only had it for a few months, but I'm going to have to load it up in the rig, haul it down to the shop, and have a little chat with the fella who built it to see how we can resolve the issue.

The problem is, it doesn't seem to like to go up hills. If you've been following along for any length of time you know that I have a hill in my normal 12 mile loop, The Ravena Hill, that likes to beat me up. There are actually two hills, the one that eats me up for breakfast, and the one that I can make it up without too many problems...'the girl hill' as my wife likes to call it -- to point out just how much of a sissy rider I am. She's the Mick to my cycling Rocky....

Anyway, Ravena...she's been an evil hill temptress to me from the first time I laid eyes on her. Since I found out earlier this week that there will be 3000+ feet of elevation gain in our 70 mile ride in September, I've been focussing mind and body power on getting prepared for that ride. Nick thinks I'm pretty worked up about it, and well frankly, I suppose I am. So this morning, first thing I got out and decided I would attack some hills...and since I didn't have a ton of time before needing to be at the office, I just headed for Ravena and figured I'd run up and down it a few times...but Ravena had other ideas in mind.



Since I hadn't tried the steep side since the last time I went up it on my comfort bike, I figured I'd give it a shot. I've got a hot, fast bike, I'm 25 lbs lighter than the last time, I'm stronger, faster, tougher, with more stamina and endurance than the last time I almost popped my head off trying to make it up that side...so surely I could get up it...right? Wrong. Even on the easiest chainring, in nearly the lowest gear, I got 1/3 of the way up, and hit that same wall. Stopped. And I knew it was coming fairly soon on, and this time I had a new challenge...I was clipped in, and all I could see was me getting to the place where I had no leverage, and had to pick which one of three ways I wanted to fall down...left, right, or straight back down the hill!

Fortunately, from somewhere deep down inside, I dug down, heard the Eye of Tiger playing, knew the giant I was facing, and found the strength to push myself....and unclip my shoe. Really, that's all I wanted to be able to do at that point, just not fall over and slide back down that hill. I then found the strength to get off my bike, and do the walk of shame up the hill to where I could re-mount without falling down. Oh the shame. If you're following along, that is now: Ravena 2, Paul 1.

Since I had one defeat under my belt for the morning, I figured I'd better find a way to have some success, so I headed out past Brooklake, down the Wheatland hill where I can rip it up past 30 mph for a few seconds, and as soon as I hit the bottom of the hill, I turned around, and headed back up. I then went back to the 'girl side' of Ravena, went down it, turned around, and came back up. I repeated this process another time, so I could get two good climbs at both hills, for a total of about 600 ft of elevation climb for the morning. Nothing amazing, but I am still hacking a bit from my cold, so it was at least a little victory for the day.

Somehow I need to figure out how to attack that steep side of Ravena and make it another notch in my belt, but it's going to have to wait for another day...maybe even another month. For today I'm just happy to have the extra calories for Paddingtons tonight!

Hasta!