The Vaujany - that was the ride for the last day in the Alpes. We decided that after the Croix de Fer, we really didn't need another big day - so we decided to ride the "flat section" down to Vaujany, and do the short climb to the ski resort. Short climb meant about 8km and 3000ft. This thing was a pretty steady 10% grade for almost the whole climb. Yikes. The knees and quads were definitely starting to hurt a little bit. It's been a couple of hard weeks. 

After watching the sufferfest that was the final mountain stage, we decided that we needed to go back up the Galibier from the other side - the way the tour went up it, then over the Telegraph, and up the Croix de Fer. Well, we got to the top of the Col de Lauteret (we drove up it because it is a 40km Highway - with shitloads of traffic) and found out that the Galibier climb was actually closed to traffic - just bikes were allowed - woohoo! 

After the Izoard yesterday, we decided to do an easy ride today, and then head into town to see the Alpe d'Huez stage. We decided to ride straight up the road that our hotel is on, which was one of he most beautiful rides yet. It ended up being about 22km to the end of the road, and climbed about 3000ft. It is a dead end road, but for some reason, the French just repaved most of it. The first 10-12km were a pretty big climb, and then it was a nice fairly flat ride the rest of the way. There were waterfalls all over the place, and a super blue/green river running all the way down the valley. I have pictures on my camera,  but my camera is upstairs at the moment, so no photos yet. 

After doing the Col du Mort and the Col d'Ornon yesterday, we were hungry. We had actually gotten out pretty early, and didn't stop much, so the whole ride only took about 5 hours. Well, we were way too early for the pasta feed, so we decided to hop into the van and cruise up to Les Deux Alpes. Les Deux Alpes is this super huge resort just over the mountain behind us - about 15 miles by driving around (and up). The village is huge and the mountain is even bigger. There is so much stuff to do there that a kid would have an awesome summer hanging out there the whole time. People were still skiing up on the glaciers, there was tons of downhill mountain biking, those cement luge things, ATVs, tennis, soccer, basketball, dirt jumping, skateboarding, and a whole lot more. The line was too long for us to do the luges, but we are going to try to come back up on Wednesday - hope the line is shorter. 

Today we decided it was a good day to hop in the car and hit the Col d'Izoard. We drove over to Briancon right after breakfast. We dropped Toby and Larry off in Briancon, and they rode the Col from the North end, which consisted of a pretty nice steady climb for 20km, with most of it in the 6-8% range. Gary, Kevin, and I drove 30km down the highway and parked the car at the other end of the Col d'Izoard and climbed from there. From the South, we had 31km climb. The start was  a relatively easy 3-6% for the first 20km or so, then it kicked up, with a couple of the kilometers averaging 11%. We climbed all the way up to 2360m - which I think is about 7740ft.  I think this was probably one of the steepest climbs we've done (with the exception of going up to La Garde). Unfortunately my body wasn't really into it. I couldn't get my heart to go at all - I felt like I was working, but just couldn't go fast at all. My heart never rose above 170bpm, and it was rarely that high. I think my body is starting to get tired. 

Once at the top, we flew down and the rollercoaster top section had nice pavement and a ton of hairpins. It was a lot of fun. We had a huge headwind on the way down, which was probably good because it kept me from going too fast, I was still riding at 60kph. 

Today's ride - 5566ft/1666m

35miles/56km

I'm having trouble adding photos again today - but I have some from today. Hopefully this thing will work better tomorrow.

So Day 11 was a day off, and probably a good thing. I think I needed the break, as did everyone else. Last night at the dinner table, Leon, one of the owners of the hotel, gave his nightly speech and said that there could be winds up to 60-70kph. I didn't really want to be anywhere to exposed for that sort of thing. We decided to take off shortly after breakfast - Gary and I rolled out at 9:12, about 10 minutes after Larry, Toby, and Kevin. The first 20-30km was flat to slightly downhill, so we caught up before we turned off the main road an onto the first climb of the day - the Col du Mort. This was a pretty big climb, but we started from such a low elevation that it din't hurt as much as some of the other climbs. I think the climb was about 3500ft or so. After we dropped down, we climbed up the Col d'Ornon, which seemed really easy. I think the first half or more was 5% or less, so a lot of big ring. Even when the grade reached 7 or8%, it didn't seem too bad because instead of going through switchbacks we were rolling through fields of wild flowers. We hit the top and had one of the best downhills yet, super fun, some tight and twisty stuff, nice roads.....yay! The ride was one of our longest yet, maybe 115-117km or so, with 7000ft of climbing. A good day once again. I didn't take too many pictures today, as it was slightly overcast and I wasn't in the mood. I will try to add the few I took later today. 

It's raining a little bit this morning. Luckily we're not in a rush to get going. The hotel we are staying is called the Hotel Au Bon Accueil. It caters to cyclists, especially the Dutch. I just thought I'd through in a few photos of the place so you can see how plush we're living over here. We're outside of Bourg d'Oisans by about 10km (Bourg d'Oisans is near the bottom of L'Alpe d'Huez) - near a little commune called Venosc. From the hotel, we can ride a whole bunch of rides - Alpe d'Huez, Col de Sarene, Les Deux Alpes, Col d'Ornon, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col de Telegraph, Col de Galibier, and a few more that aren't quite as well known. We are also a short drive from a bunch of others. I think tomorrow we will drive to Briancon and hit the Col d'Izoard.

Today was an easy day. We don't really fit too well in the car with all of our stuff, so Gary and Toby drove everything up to Venosc, while Kevin, Larry, and I rode down from Villard-de-Lans towards Grenoble, then Toby came back for us and drove us up to the hotel - short ride - maybe 25 miles, 1000ft of climbing, 2500 ft descent -  woohoo!

For this first week in Villard-de-Lans, we have been staying at a place called La Tiaga. It is right outside of Villard-de-Lans, and we can take the walking path 15min to the center of town. The owner of La Tiaga is Dominic. He has been an incredible host. He is a cyclist himself, and knows all the routes around. We tell him that we want an 85km route with some climbing, and he gives it to us. 

I have been plotting courses on Bikeroutetoaster.com - with his help, and then we just download them to my Garmin 705 and follow the course. It has been great, because Dominic knows all the back roads, and has been taking us places we would never find on our own - definitely "local" rides. 

The hotel costs about 41-48 Euros a night (depending on how many in a room) and includes breakfast (typical French breakfast - Coffee or Hot Chocolate, OJ, cereal, croissant, bread, butter, jam). It also includes dinners, which have been great. Each night Dominic starts us out with an appetizer - a combination of slices of meat, fruits, salad, cheeses, etc., then brings out the main course, which is some other king of meat and some starch. This week we had things like Chicken, Pig, and Sausage, with rice, au gratin potatoes, and couscous. It was always delicious.

And after that, it was always time for dessert. I had Creme Brulee each night, because it was so damn good, but there were some other things available, like blueberry tart, pecan pie, ice cream, etc. 

I would highly recommend La Tiaga and the Vercors area to anyone who wants a great place to ride (or ski, or nordic ski, or hike, or base jump...)

Well, after much deliberation we decided that Ventoux wasn't in the cards for today. We all want to do it, but it would have a been a 3 hour drive, for a 40mile ride, followed by a 3 hour drive. As much as I have thought about doing it, I figure it gives me a good reason to come back. Plus, the riding here in the Vercors is so incredible that we didn't really see the point to such a long drive. 

So today, we did hop in the car, but only for 20k or so. We drove down to St Martin en Vercors, and rode down the Grand Goulet and the Petite Goulet - which is this super sweet gorge. Unfortunately, avalanches caused the French to close part of the road and they dug a tunnel for about 2km. It was rippin' fast and the pavement was smooth. It was a little bit cold in there, but that was fine. As soon as we came out the other side the Gorge opened up and the views were tremendous, and the pavement was super smooth all the way down.

Once at the bottom, the climbing began. This time we were climbing the Col de Pionnier and Chaud Calipier, then dropped and climbed the Col de Rousset. When  we got to the Rousset, we dropped through another tunnel - maybe .5km or so, and came out above this awesome switchback road. Unfortunately, we couldn't go down it as there wasn't a good way around (other than straight back up, which at this point of the ride wasn't an option).

We climbed back up through the tunnel, and then cruised down hill for most of the wat back to St Martin, with only a 2km climb at the end. 

When we got to town, Gary, Toby, Kevin and I sat down at a cafe, had a Jambon Beure and a Coca, and waited for Larry. Larry had taken the day off and was driving around a little bit. After about 30 minutes, he showed up much to our relief.

Today's stats -

90km/57mi

1615m/5300ft of climbing

Here's Gary thinking about dropping down the switchbacks. 
Here's Kevin at the Col de la Rousset

Il fait beau aujourd'hui. Kevin and I slept in a little bit today, waking up at 6:40 or so. Kevin felt like shit yesterday and did a short ride instead of the bigger ride that the rest of us did, and since he seemed to be sleeping, I didn't want too wake him up.

We walked into town this morning, which is a 15 minute walk. We went to our favorite cafe and I had my Chocolate, and Kevin had his Cafe au Lait. 

The sun was shining all over the valley and the surrounding mountains and plateaus. We walked back and the temperature was starting to rise. After breakfast, we decided the ride would start at 9:00-9:15, and it actually did. Kevin decided to take it easy again so as not to ruin himself for the bigger days to come. 

Today, we started out down the Gorge de la Bourne again. This is such a fun descent. We twisted our way down to Coranches which was about 20km

 away. We then headed up to Presles from there. When we

 made the turn to Presles, we stopped to strip down(the climb was about to start). After shedding the vest and arms, I snapped a few photos and remounted the Moots. Just

 before we took off, Toby heard a loud noise and said "Look". 

He thou

ght a rock had fallen from one of the cliffs high above. But then we saw this big shadow. It was actually 2 base jumpers that had jumped off the cliff maybe

 1000 ft above us. It was pretty cool. 

The first climb to Presles was about 10km with 700m of climbing (2300 ft). The road was about 8 or 9 ft wide. When we got to the top, we got on to an even more remote road for the descent. It was a little sketchy in some spots, but overall I loved it. Our friend Dominic (the proprietor of La Taiga) 

gave us a great route, following back roads wherever possible. We cruised through a couple towns taking strawberry shortcuts all over the place, knowing that had we planned the route ourselves, we would have been on the main road and never seen some of this stuff. My Garmin told me to take a sharp right, and all of a sudden we were climbing at 17%. That hurt a little bit and spiked my heart into the 180s for a few minutes. That only lasted for a little while, and got us up about 300ft pretty quickly.

Then we stopped for lunch in a little town before the big climb. As soon as we finished our Jambon sandwiches, we remounted and headed up the Col de Mont Noir. This was another beauty. In about 16km, we climbed about 1150m or roughly 3800ft - yikes. 

This climb was also pretty narrow (2.8m) but we only got passed by 2 or 3 cars altogether. The climb had more of the huge tunnels carved into the rock walls, big drops, lots of switchbacks, it was awesome. Again, my pictures don't do it justice. 

Once to the top, we had a rough descent to the Col de Romyere, which meant that there were some patches of gravel and dirt, but in the big picture, it was fine. Then we dropped back down to La Bourne, where we had to climb back up for the last 12km or so. 

This was our biggest ride so far - 

92km /57mi

2318m/7600ft 

After much deliberation and w

aiting and waiting, we finally headed out for a ride around 14:00 (they use the 24 hour clock here). We drove down the Bourne Gorge (which we had ridden a couple days ago) and parked the van in Pont de Rayons. From there, we r

ode past the col de la Machine (which we did on Saturday), and then into this small town that had this huge aquaduct. It was Bastille day, and it seemed like the locals had a big party going on in the local lake. They had these little boats covered the bodies of cars - cruising around. They were slow as crap, but they looked funny, and people were having fun. 

After we cruised through the town, we hit some flats and rollers, then up the Col des Limouches which was a good climb up to about 1086m (3500+ft) which is about the altitude of Bend. The weather was pretty good. The sun had come out and it was partly cloudy.You can sort of see part of the road that we climbed in the picture to the right. The climb itself was about 3000ft, so it took us a while. I've been trying to go easier and easier on the climbs, because I know that we are going to have some big days at Ventoux and then in the high mountains of the Alps. 

Larry and I rode together most of the way up the climb. Just 1 month ago, Larry hit a dog riding at full speed and broke 3 ribs and his scapula. It is a minor miracle that he is even here on this trip, but he is, and he's riding pretty darn well. The picture here is of Larry at the top of 

the col. When we got up the climb though, it got really windy and I was pretty glad I had my jacket and vest. The downhill was awesome. We had a headwind, which kept me in my comfort zone on the descent and I was able to hang with the Gary the speed demon - le diable de vitesse. Hopefully tomorrow the storm system will pass, and we can actually get out for a ride in the AM.

Ride Stats - about 85km/53miles

Total Ascent - about 4000 ft

(I'm still figuring out all the functions of my new Garmin 705 - the thing is pretty awesome, but I reset things now and then by accident)

A demain!

Well, our internet connection still sucks. Our hotel has a computer that is hooked up, but it has a zerty keyboard, so it is very difficult to try to email or type anything. So we keep driving into town and using the crappy wifi at the tourism office. Oh well. 

It's raining again! Merde! Kevin and I woke up early again and headed into town for our morning cafe au lait (I just have hot chocolate). Then I quickly did some laundry at 7AM, and hopped online for a few minutes. It was raining a little bit, and wasn't looking real good. We got back to the hotel and had breakfast, then went back to town to finish my laundry. When we got back, the rain really started to come down. We all cleaned our bikes a little bit (we got pretty muddy yesterday) and then got dressed. Then it rained some more. We all sat there in the dining room talking about bagging the ride, but I wasn't really interested in a rest day already. Larry, Toby, Kevin and I decided to at the very least get an hour or two on the bikes. Gary decided to take the day off and watch the Tour, but as I told Kevin, Notre Tour de France et plus importante que Le Tour de France! We rode out when the rain subsided. The roads were wet, but then a mile into the ride the roads were dry again. We decided to ride up to Autrans, which is where the Masters Cross Country World Championships will be next winter. They've got over 900km of groomed trails in the area. That's a whole lot of trails. 

We climbed up to Autrans and there was a little bit of rain, but not enough to really get us soaked. Within a few minutes of descending we were dry again. Autrans was a nice little town tucked away in a beautiful valley. Everything is very green here. 

We cruised down to Meaudre, and then back up part of the gorge that we went down yesterday (just for a km or two.)

The ride was a nice little spin - and hopefully the weather will improve a little bit, although quite honestly, I thought the weather was quite nice - we just need to dress properly. I don't mind getting wet if I have enough clothing to keep me warm. 

Ride stats:

Distance: 36km/22.41mi

elevation gain: 414m/1358ft

We got to Villard-de-Lans last night, had dinner, and went to sleep. When I woke up in the middle of the night there was a ton of thunder and lightening. Luckily I slept fine. Kevin & I woke up at 6AM. We knew that 

breakfast wouldn't be served until 7:45, so we hopped in the car and cruised around town. We first headed up to the ski area, then down a goat road back into town, where we found a cafe open. We came back for breakfast and the rain was coming down, but by 9:30 or so, it had stopped. We all went outside and and built our bikes. This time mine took me about 30 minutes to get it from the box to a test ride - so I am getting better. 

We finally took off around 11AM. We headed down a HUGE gorge with all sorts of tunnels and gigantic rock walls over 600m tall. It was beautiful.  We cruised down to a town called St Jean en Rayonne where we had lunch - actually, we just had crepes with Nutella and cokes - Yummy!, and then we headed toward the Col de la Machine. 

La Machine rises from about 800ft up o 3900ft in about 10miles. The Col de la Machine was AW

ESOME! Huge drops into a beautiful gorge,  with giant tunnels carved into the rock and gorgeous views. The weather was pretty nice, rain was threatening, and we were climbing in the clouds, but we could still get good views of the sun trodden valley below. The cooler weather also helped me keep cool on the climbs, which was good.

After the Col de la Machine, we climbed a little more to the Col de Carri. We then dropped down again through a couple of small towns like St Martin en Vercors, and with about 25km to go, we took a sharp right and started climbing again - this time up to a ski area called Herbouilly. Another climb of about 10k, this one topped out close to 4400ft (started around 2200). This climb was featured in the 2004 Tour (when Lance proclaimed "no more gifts and attacked Kloden at the end for the victory in Villard de Lans). About 3km up the climb, the rain started to come down. We pulled over and hid in the trees for about 15 minutes hoping it would stop - and remarkably, it did. It was a good little rest. 

After we topped out, the final 10k was mostly downhill, but on a mountain road that was under construction. So it was a very rough, muddy mountain road. I had a blast, but I think my new Schwalbe Ultremo tires might be trash already. We'll see. 

I think tomorrow we are going to take it a little easier.

Ride stats:

Distance - about 100km/62 miles

Climbing - over 2100m/over 6700 ft 

This shows meters, not feet, but you get the idea. 

Whew!

A Plus Tard!

Jour 2 - Mont St Martin

I woke up around 6Am today so I could hop on my computer and Skype Angela. My computer was running out of juice, so we kept the call pretty short. I quickly ate my breakfast - yummy bread with Nutella, some cereal, hot chocolate, and some OJ, then I hopped on my bike. I decided to ride through town and head up Mont St Martin, which is also called the mini Alpe d'Huez. After finding my way through town on the bike paths, I finally got to the base of the climb. It is only a 5 or 6km climb, but it stays above 10% grade most of the way. I think I saw it drop to 9% on a switchback or two, and I saw as high as 14%. It had a ton of switchbacks and the views were pretty awesome. It had rained there before I got there, so the roads were wet, but I was able to stay dry (well, with the humidity as high as it was, I was pretty wet). The descent was pretty slow, as the road was narrow, twisty, and wet. Overall, the ride was only about 46 or 47k. I had to get back to the hotel so I could shower and re-box my bike before the 12 o'clock check out.  I don't have any really good pictures from today - it was a really great climb with a lot of switchbacks, but not many views, and it was cloudy as well. 

After getting everything set, I went and had lunch and then sat there waiting for the rest of the guys to meet me at 4:30. They had all flown in on different flights and were driving the rental van. Unfortunately they didn't realize that today was the Friday before the Bastille Day weekend, so traffic sucked (and it was pouring rain). They finally found my hotel at about 7:30. The only plus was that I was able to finish "Under the Banner of Heaven" which I had started on the plane coming over here. 

After they picked me up we drove up one of the gorges to Villard-de-Lans. We got to the hotel around 20:30, and they were nice enough to stay open and serve us dinner. It was great. 

Tomorrow, Gary is going to take us on a ride that sounds like "La Machine". I haven't researched it yet. More tomorrow.

A demain!

Ride stats: 45km/26 miles or so

673m/2200ft of climbing

 

After finally getting my bike at 11AM, I quickly took it up to my room to put it together. It was my first time assembling the S&S bike, and it took about 45 minutes. That should get quicker after a couple more tries. 

Bonjour!

I finally took off yesterday around 3PM. My flights were pretty uneventful, which is good. My flight from Seattle to Heathrow was awesome. I spent a buttload of airmiles because the only ticket available was Premium Business Class, and let me tell you, it was worth it! I have never been so comfortable on a plane before. I had my own little compartment thingy that had its own tv w/remote control, foot rest and fully reclining chair, etc. Even at 6'2", I could completely stretch out. And the food was pretty decadent as well. I started with some smoked Marlin and Salmon Caviar, then had a little fillet, and finished off with some lemon cheese cake and some chocolate. I ate after I watched a little TV and a movie or two, and then I fell asleep watching a movie dubbed into french. When I awoke, I got another hot towel and a nice little breakfast & orange juice. It was by far the best flight I ever took, and I am excited that I get to end my trip the same way (I'm not excited about ending my trip...but I do understand that it has to come to an end sometime...unless someone wants to buy WebCyclery from me, and I can just bike in the Alps for a year or three...).

When I arrived in Lyon, I found that my luggage hadn't made the connection in London. Shit! My BIKE! and my STUFF! They said it was coming in at 11PM, and they could deliver it this morning to my hotel in Grenoble. If this is actually true, and it arrive this morning, that will be great because it saves me from hauling my bike ad my big bag around. I've got my fingers crossed. 

After dealing with my luggage, I hopped a bus to Grenoble (1 hour) and then a cab to my hotel. My friend and one of the guys I'm joining here recommended that I stay at a chain called Formule1. These are cool little hotels with self-check-in kiosks outside. I just punch in my confirmation code and viola! I have a room. Very simple room for 3 people. It has a sink and a TV. The bathroom and showers are down the hall. The room is clean and quiet, and only 33 Euros a night - which is pretty cheap. 

I haven't yet been outside, but as I eat my french bread and hot chocolate, I can see some big ass mountains right outside my window. Looks like the base is just a mile away, and it shoots straight up to the sky. I will go take a picture, and hopefully my luggage will show up so I can transfer the pictures to my computer!

A Plus Tard!

I have been a little frazzled trying to tie up some loose ends here at work. My flight to France leaves at 3PM. Yeehaw!

I am hoping to keep writing to the blog during my trip - hopefully I will be taking some pictures and adding that as well.

My riding definitely suffered this last week or so. I was able to get out on a couple of rides with my girlfriend , including the 9th annual Firecracker - which was great! The weather was awesome and we raised a couple thousand dollars for Central Oregon Home Health & Hospice (they helped a lot too).

I gotta run and pack.

Au Revoir!

While last Saturdays ride up Three Creeks is probably the hardest, longest, sustained climb in the area, it is too far away to be doing all the time (and the rough road keeps me from doing it more than once or twice a year anyway). So, I have been trying to get as much climbing as I can and have figured that if I don't have time to get up to Bachelor (and around), then I need to be hitting the steepest streets around town, which I think are on Awbry Butte. This morning I went out to check a few of the climbs. Most of them are about a mile long. My favorites includes going up Summit drive from the west side of Mt Washington, which is pretty steep - 7-12% in spots, and then the real fun one, which is starting at College Way, taking a right on Saginaw, and then an immediate left on ????? The climb is awesome. It is just under a mile from the roundabout, and once you turn off of Saginaw the climb kicks up into the double digits for the rest of the way. I started to to 15, 16, and 17%, then it kicked up even more and maxed out at 20%. Damn! That was slow going. I will be excited to have my 29t cog on the back next week to see how much easier that makes it than the 25t. Yes, I am going to be a big wuss and opt for a 13-29t cassette. I figure I'd rather feel better so I can keep climbing the next day...instead of kicking my own ass and not having any strength for the next day.

Saturday was a good day for climbing. I drove out to Sisters with 3 of the guys with whom I am going to France, and we rode up McKenzie Pass (to within a mile of the observatory), then back down to Sisters, and up 3 Creeks. McKenzie is still closed to traffic, which made it quite nice. There was still a lot of snow at the top, which made it quite cold in a few spots even though it was about 70 degrees out. Playing with my new toy, I figured that we climbed about 1800 ft on that climb, which was about 13 miles from where we parked. Most of the climb was in the 5-6% range.

Three Creeks is one of my favorite climbs around. The unfortunate thing is that the road to the climb really sucks. The cracks are every 20 ft for the first 5-8 miles, which really are a pain in the ass (literally). After the first long flat, there is a steep start to the climb which kicks up to about 8-9% for a few hundred feet. Then it flattens out to 3% for a couple of miles - with more of those damn cracks! But then the fun begins. The real climb begins and from then on it just keeps on coming. I don't think there is a section of more than a few feet that drops below 5%, but there is a lot of the climb that is over 7%, and then it just keeps on getting harder, with sections of 10, 11, and even 12% for some sections.

I was about halfway up and my bike was starting to shift very poorly. I had just adjusted it that morning, so thought is was sort of strange. I also heard a lot of "thunks" which I assumed was the headset (which was also puzzling). I couldn't use my 25 or 23, and even my 21t cog was giving me issues. I finally stopped - on one of the steepest sections of the climb of course - and started to feel around the bike to see what the issue was. After a minute or two, I finally figured out that the "thunk" and the shifting were related. My S&S coupler on my downtube had come loose and I could see a few threads. I tightened it as much as I could with my hand, and then got going again. It was a lot more pleasant using the 23 and 25t. The climb topped out around 6200 ft. We flew back to the car before the rain started. We ended up with close to 5000ft of climbing in 55miles of riding. A good day. I got home and was quite tired. If I had Coke in the fridge, I would have broken down and drank it (I've been off Coke for almost 6 months). I even went next door and asked MeanTodd if he had any Coke - but he was out too. Whew! I might have to break down once i get over to France.

Well...after writing it off, I finally changed my mind and broke down and bought the Garmin 705. It came in yesterday and I started to play with it last night. I'm not a super tech geek, but I do like numbers and statistics. My mind likes to know distances, times, grades, elevations, etc. The mapping is cool, and I think it will come in handy on the BMW as well. I went on a short ride this morning just to play with it. The steepest climb I hit maxed out at 9%, and that was for about just for a second. I can't wait until we ride some of the climbs that average 12% or more...yikes! When I got home, I plugged my garmin into my MacBook Pro and started to play with all the graphs and crap. I really don't know what I am doing yet, but I will learn. I figure I'll have a lot of time in France after each days ride.

I'm taking tomorrow off the bike, and hoping to ride McKenzie and 3 Creeks on Saturday. Yippee!

Today I got to take the morning off, so Kevin & Gary (2 of my traveling partners) and I went for a nice leisurely ride down to Terrebonne (Lower Bridge Rd). We left around 7:30, and it was already 50 degrees and sunny. Il fait beau! It was my first longer ride in almost 2 weeks, and it felt good. 73 miles or so. Tomorrow I hope to get another 60+, and 75 or so on Sunday on the fixed gear. SO I should have about 300 miles for the week. My biggest week yet this season. I am hoping that I'll be getting 300-375 each week in France, so this is a good base, especially if I can repeat it the next 2 weeks. HAGO!

I finally broke down and threw my bike in a stand (I hate working on my own bikes - unless they are brand new). The last few weeks my creak has been getting worse and worse. It only really makes noise when I stand up, so I figured the BB needed some grease and tightening. I've ridden a few times in the rain, which is a lot for me, and when I took the crank off, a whole lotta water poured out of my frame. I cleaned out the shell, and then drilled a hole through the little bolt that holds the cable guide in place (using a drill bit that is just a little bit smaller than the allen head). Then I used the dremel inside the shell, to make sure that there wasn't a lip around the hole. Water problem solved! Then I greased up the the cups and tightened them back into the frame. It seems the FSA cranks have a tendency to loosen up a little bit, so you definitely need to torque them down to the higher torque settings. I think it was supposed to be 30-37ft-lbs, so I kept it right around 36-37ft-lbs. I rode it this morning, and the creak was gone - woohoo!

I also got to try out some new shoes today. Our new Shimano Tech rep (Tommy) came in today. He brought in the Shimano custom fitting machine (like an easy bake oven with a vacuum attached). Both MeanTodd and I got some of the heat moldable shoes. Todd got the M300, and I got both the Road and the Mountain. My 2 pair of Carnacs are getting pretty played out, and I figured it would be good to go on my trip with decent shoes. I was a little worried when the shoes arrived. The 48 seemed a little tight, but it is the biggest size they make. After Tommy took us through the custom fit process, the shoes did actually stretch just a hair, and they feel great. I rode the this morning and they were great. By "great" I mean that I didn't even think about them - no hot spots, tight spots, pinching, rubbing, etc. Sweet!

Now I'm still contemplating that Garmin...

I had a pretty lame week of riding. I got to race the Tuesday night race, which was fine. It was super windy again, and I got shelled cruising down Innes Market, but it was yet again a good work out. This is the most consistent riding I've done in 8 or 9 years. I think I've been riding for 12 weeks now (I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but for me it is). I took Wednesday off, then woke up for another 40 on Thursday morning. Unfortunately Friday didn't happen, and Saturday was the Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA) Work Party. We were helping out with the work party, which meant that I had to be at work at 7, and didn't get done cleaning up until 5:30PM. The work party was great, but I was too tired to go riding afterwards. Sunday morning, I had to wake up and go help our friend SuperDave put on the Dirty Half Marathon. MeanTodd and I always help Daver out with parking. So again, I was up at 5:30, but not on the bike. After the cars were all parked, I did get to hop on the Ellsworth and check out all the great work done on the Whoops trail. Wow! That trail is a lot of fun, and the dirt right now is about as good as it gets. Some of the "whoops" (read:all of the whoops) are a little too scary for me to hit, so I roll just about everything. Maybe when I get back from France I will let my tires come off the ground, but I can't risk screwing up my back with only 4 weeks to go.

So I only got about 100 miles in last week. Pretty pathetic. But I still have 4 weeks, and I am feeling great after every ride, so I think things are going well. I am hoping to ride tonight if the weather cooperates, and again tomorrow morning, and of course Tuesday night. We'll see how I feel.

I am thinking about getting myself a Garmin 705 for my trip to France (I am trying to justify it). I figure it would come in pretty handy and give me a ton of info, which is fun to look at. I also think it would come in handy on the motorcycle, and I am starting to think that I need to take another bike trip next year....so if anyone has any experience with the Garmin, please email me and let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

The trails have been soooooooooo nice this week. It was raining on Tuesday night, so I didn't get to do the Tuesday Night race from Sunnyside. I took the night off, but got to ride on Wednesday morning and again on Wed. evening. Both rides in the dirt. Both rides super fun. I think I've already ridden my MTB more than I rode the dirt last year. My back has been feeling good, so I'll keep taking it easy.

Thursday brought more rain. I took a quick spin in the evening on the motorcycle because my legs were feeling a little tired from Wednesday. Friday morning, Angela and I took a nice easy ride up to Mt Bachelor. An easy 45 miles. The weather was awesome.

Today, I got up at 6 and decided that I wanted to go EASY. It was a PTS ride - picture taking slow. I was trying to keep my heart rate under 100. That's easier said than done. I headed out East and kept it below 120 on almost every hill, until the last hill near the hospital, which took me to 140! Dammit! Big ride tomorrow - I hope it isn't raining.

I'm glad that MeanTodd and I no longer do the Memorial Day Triple Threat (3 centuries in 3 days) as the weather this Memorial Day weekend SUCKED! It rained every day. Luckily, the rain stopped each night just in time for the concerts down at the Amphitheater. Saturday night I sat out with some friends and listened to Death Cab, and last night I had tickets to Modest Mouse & the Breeders. The weather was super nice. The rain definitely helped the trails though. Had it not been for my need to get more time on the road bike, I definitely would have been riding the dirt yesterday. I am hoping that I can get out this evening for an hour or two.

Yesterday, I put about 5 hours on the road bike. I went out for a 1 hour spin, and then met up with my traveling partners for some climbing. We headed up towards Mt Bachelor around 9AM. We hit some mist, and then some rain, about 11-13miles up the road. But it stopped, and the sun was breaking through by the time we got to the Sunriver cut-off. We dropped down for 10 miles or so, and then turned around and came back up. When we got to the top, we put out rain jackets back on for the descent to Bend, and sure enough, the rain started coming down. Luckily it was the last half hour, and I was already drenched with sweat, and I was dressed appropriately, so the rain didn't really bother me, other than reducing my vision. I don't think I really went very far, maybe 65-70 miles altogether, but it was fun and my legs felt good.

When I got home, I turned on the TV and watched the Giro stage. Holy Crap! That stage looked horrendously hard. Makes me want to go to Italy and ride in the Dolomites! Hopefully I can do that next year.

So I skipped my Friday morning ride yesterday since it was pouring rain. I was a little disappointed, but that's life. It was still raining at 6PM when Angela (my girlfriend) arrived, ready to go to the Michael Franti/Spearhead & Built to Spill concert. I was a sort of dreading it, as the sky was dark gray and we were walking down to the show in a light drizzle. I also haven't really listened to Spearhead at all. I was expecting it to be a little more reggae, but it wasn't (I'm not a huge reggae fan). After we got into the show and got a bite to eat and a beer, the rain stopped and we didn't feel another drop all night long. The show was really good, and I even recognized a couple of songs.

With all the rain that fell, the trails have to be in awesome shape. I woke up at 6AM. I ran out to the living room like a kid on Christmas day. I peeked out the window and saw dry spots all over my driveway. Yippee! It wasn't pouring! I quickly got dressed and hopped on the Evolve. I had to be here at work at 9, so I didn't have a whole lot of time. I cruised around Phil's from the trail head. Not a car at the trail head. How could I be the only one seizing the opportunity to ride? Who knew how long the window of clear skies would last (it is supposed to rain for the next few days)? I didn't see a soul until the very end of the ride when I came up on WebCyclery rider Steph U. She was just heading out, but told me that Rob (her husband and our WebCyclery Team Manager) had already been out and forced her to get out on the trails. Wow. He mist have been out REAL EARLY!

Tonight is the Death Cab for Cutie/Decemberists concert. I'm not really into Death Cab for Cutie. I think I can tolerate about 1 or 2 of their songs. Maybe the concert will change my mind. Hopefully it won't be raining. And maybe I can get another MTB ride in after work and before the show.

Well, I guess we need the rain. But it doesn't help my scheduled long morning road ride. I was able to get out for a few hours yesterday. It was great! I went soooooo slow. Picture Taking Slow as Amron Yang used to say. I plugged in my iPod and listened to French PodCasts the whole ride. I rode up towards Mt B at 5:30 AM. The sun was out, there was no tra