In between my continuous work on the patio cover roof, working at work (imagine that), watching amateur football & watching motorcycle racing on TV, I managed to ride my bike this week – a lot. Most importantly I put together a good Raincross ride from start to finish without crying, “Uncle!” It still hurt (I even missed a pull or two) but not as bad as previous Saturdays & afterward, Turner, Trevor, Padgett & I even tacked on an extra 2 hours by riding up to the Forrest Falls turn-out on Hwy 38. Five hours, 90 miles & another 3 hours on Sunday = 16-plus hours for the week. I think I woulda' hit 20 if it wasn’t for last Monday’s storm. Anyway, riding back & forth to K&N puts the N & K in JUNK MILES. Meanwhile, Loren logged 24 hours in Austin last week. I talked to him today & he reported 80-degree temps in the Lone Star’s capital. I wonder what the temps have been in Bend? Sorry James. Loren made write that.

Back to Saturday
I finally gave the Madone a well-deserved rest & began riding my new Trek 2300. Johnson built it for me so I picked it up on Wednesday morning & began riding it to work on Thursday, but Saturday was a better test & it passed with flying colors. I spent plenty of time in the wind on one occasion after another; on short two-man break with Hoyt, then a longer 5-man break with Turner, Norm, Padgett & CVV Scott. Last, but not least Turner, Norm & I got off with about a mile to go. We had a huge gap so it looked like our break was going to stick, but in the final few meters, the chasing train of 40 or more flat-landers reeled us in. Still a great effort. Did I mention I missed a pull or two?

After the best cranberry bagel I’ve ever had at the Canyon Crest bagel shop, we headed up for an additional 2 hours. Needless to say I was useless the rest of the day & my aspirations of going to Supercross went south. Denise claims I was asleep by 7:30 that evening & that I missed Ryder falling asleep in bed between us – something that I’ve been looking forward to since he was born. I can’t wait until he’s old enough to split the bed between about one night a week. My favorite time of every day recently is his new-found evening energy. From about 7 PM to 9 PM every night, he sits in bed between us, crawling all over me, pulling my hair & using my head as a balance ball so he can stand. Anyway, he finally fell asleep between us on Saturday night, but it was too late. His old man fell asleep before he did.

Ryder photos courtesy of Old Man Crites.


I still haven't addressed the Sunday MTB ride, Supercross & Red Bull's Last Man Standing, but I will in my next post. Stay tuned for tall tales & interesteding observations...