Thanksgiving

It has been a busy yet fun couple of days.

It all started on Wednesday. All week I had read about how bad the weather was going to be for the Thanksgiving break which translated to me into staying indoors. Getting up on Wednesday morning, the weather prognosticators were all wrong. The skies were clear. In talking with Christine, she wanted to do a bit of shopping. I left work early, got in a 75 minute ride, got cleaned up, and took Christine to do a bit of shopping and to get a bite. We got home in time to meet my parents.

Thursday morning started early with some cooking. Then, Cassie, Craig, Pa, the "C", and myself headed over to the elementary school for the Turkey Bowl. We had 60 people show up to play some football. We played for two hours with four teams. We had good sportsmanship and no injuries. Although there were some collisions, all players got done with all their teeth and with no broken bones. After getting home, Craig and I put up the house Christmas lights. Playing football and putting up the lights, we were quite hungry. The "C" and my mom put together a feast! We all ate and ate, had some good conversations at the dinner table, and walked away quite fed. The evening ended with some football and some TV. Craig and I even got a game of Madden in. It was a very relaxing Thanksgiving day.

Friday morning was a more typical weekend day for us. OB12OLD and I got on the bike for a two hour tour to Laurel and back. The body was sore from the Turkey Bowl so it felt good to get out and just recover and spin. We got back, ate some turkey, cleaned up, and ran some errands. Then we drove out to Beaverton, caught the Max to downtown, and hung out at Pioneer Square to watch the tree lighting with about 25,000 of our closest friends. It was quite the festive place. They played music, we sang some Christmas carols, and then they turned on the lights of the 100 foot tree with 2.5 miles of lights on it. On the way home, we hit Juan Colorado's for some Mexican food. Pretty cool stuff - the best part was being together and enjoying each other.

Saturday, we had to say good-bye to my parents in the morning. I then hit the road for 30 miles. After warming up the first ten miles, the legs felt strong so I pushed it back home, averaging 20.2 MPH the final 20 miles. It is time to start preparing for Solvang. I spoke to JD last week about his TdT ride and Solvang. Looks like the plan is to hit the SoCal ride in March. It will be like our Spring training camp in preparation for the 12 hour STP. I look forward to the ride in March.

The rest of Saturday was getting Craig some good church clothes in preparation of him turning 12 and then running some additional errands - bassoon reeds, groceries. When we got home, we sat down and took a breath. It was a busy, fun couple of day. We really appreciated my parents coming and hanging out with us - the more the merrier. The "C" took pictures of all the fun on our family website, so check it out.

Time to get back to watching my Steelers against the Patriots....

Sympathy

Just a quick shout out to JD - way to go!! on the TdT, getting in at 6 hours 10 minutes. I missed being out in the 70 degree weather and 8,000+ of our closest friends. Although I wasn't there in Tucson, I hit the road this week for a total of 110 miles. The goal was to ride more on Saturday but the schedule and the weather was not cooperating. It was cold, damp, and foggy. It is unnverving riding in the dense fog, no shoulder, going down the back side of Chehalem mountain. It was good to get out and ride. I am 11 miles from 5K. Sometime tomorrow night on a short, unceremonious ride, I will go over 5K miles for the year - definitely more miles than 2007.

I started to coach Craig's basketball team this week. I have found it enjoyable to teach, reinforce, and then see it put into action. It is going to be a fun season, watching these young men learn the game.

It is a short week - nice!

To all, wishing you a happy and joyous Thanksgiving.

Tucson

Just wanted to send a shout out to JD.

Good luck with the TdT tomorrow. I will be there with you in biking spirit, wishing I could be taking up some of your slipstream!

May the road rise up to meet you...

Clear

The week started gray, cold, and wet. Not a lot of hope for better weather as the week started. I rode in the garage Monday and Wednesday only to wake up on Thursday with clear blue skies. It was incredible to have such weather in November in Oregon. When I woke up on Saturday morning and it still was clear, although it was cold, it warmed my heart to see a cloud free sky and dry roads. Cassie had to be at swim team practice by 7 AM so I rode with her over to the pool at 6:45 AM. From the pool, I headed up Chehalem mountaing. Going up was warm and cozy. I didn't work that hard since I didn't want to sweat that much as it was only 40 degrees. The 4 miles down the back side were cold. The payoff was the view from the top. The sun was just peaking over the ridge line, casting shadows in the valley. There was a light fog in the crevaces of the valleys. The tall pines would pierce the upper layer of fog as if trying to escape to greet the morning sun.

I rode out to the start line of the Reach the Beach ride and back over Krueger road, by the green house, and Gibb cemetary. I felt good, like I could ride all day. If I didn't have more to do, I would have continued to ride. All told, I rode over 2 hours for 36 miles.

After the ride, I took Craig to basketball placements and allowed others to talk me into coaching a team. I know a little about basketball and am excited about the opportunity to help 5th and 6th grade boys learn a little about the game as well. We start this next week.

After basketball, we headed to Monmouth to watch the C's high school team play in the state football playoffs. It was fun to watch her get excited, cheer, yell, and show some school spirit. There is passion there for her alma mater. Ontario kept the game close but couldn't close the deal, just too many turnovers. Without the turnovers, regulation ends either in a tie or they win but they ended up losing 28-14. Ontario had only 8 seniors on the team with a lot of juniors. They should be good next year. Hopefully we can see them play again.

Saturday night was Cassie's first church dance. I was so excited for her to go. She danced all night and had a great time. Has it really been 14 years? It goes by so fast.

Sushi

The week started and ended strong but the middle was light - I got lazy and I payed for it.

It was Kaizen week so I ate too much and exercised too little. On Monday night, the indoor riding finally started again. For the next four months, my weekly riding will be on the trainer, in the garage. Not all that bad, with Chris in my ears or on the tube, I get a good work out and maintain fitness. Saturday was a ride in the rain for 30 miles. By the end of last winter, I was mentally prepared to ride in the rain each Saturday. I am not there yet. It will take me a few times to get back into riding in the rain. You'd think that riding is riding. There is something depressing about sitting in the rain on your bike, pedaling. Maybe it is remembering all the great rides when there was no rain. Also, I have a hard time riding hills when it is wet out and for me, that takes some of the fun out of the riding. After all of the suffering to get to the top of the hill, there is the satisfaction of bombing down the back side. No suicide bombing the back side on wet roads. Saturday's 30 was flat and average speed.

The middle of the week, I headed to Tacoma for business. I thought I'd at least get on a spin bike for a few hours but I was lazy and didn't go when I had the chance. The meeting went well but I didn't exercise. I payed for it with a pound or maybe two. Ooh well, I get it back this week. No plans for travel at least not right now.

Friday night, the C and I went out to a Sushi Bar. It was interesting but good food. I am sure we will go back. The California rolls, house rolls, sushi, etc was tasty. I appreciate the C being willing to try new and different foods. Now if Colin would only do the same.

Data

The cycling season is slowly coming to a close. At the same time, I am closing in on 5K miles for the year. I thought I'd share some data and graphs about my riding this year.

All data current as of today.

Number of rides: 156

Total time on the bike: 285 hours 21 minutes

Total miles: 4,757.49

Shortest ride: 5.5 miles

Longest ride: 204 miles

Average miles per ride: 30.5

Average time per ride: 1 hour 51 minutes

Median miles per ride: 21.85

Median time per ride: 1 hour 21 minutes

Average MPH: 16.67

Although I am not a professional, I still like to track what I have been doing and how far I have ridden for the year. The mileage graph shows how I built up to ride the STP and since then, I have dropped off the total weekly mileage.

I did get out to run twice this week. I did a pyramid on Monday night, running 200, 200, 400, 400, 800, 800, 400, 400, 200, 200. The C ran with me and I got to chase here around the track. On Wednesday night, I rode and then ran. The running was much harder after riding. The legs were tired and the body worn. I did fight for two miles.

All else was a quiet. No $5 foot long, no Mashitas, no pass "go" and collect $200.