A holiday update
So, finally some (sort of) free time at work, so I can update my blog.
Two weeks and two days ago I raced my third 24 hour mountain biking race on a 5-man team. The first was a disaster, it was many years ago. I couldn't sit on my bike seat without horrible ass pains for the last lap. The second went much better, and we were fifth in our category (100-150 age group, that is, the sum of our ages falls in that range). And the latest one went even better: we won! I have never ever been on a podium for mountain biking, so it was quite a pleasant surprise. And I have a winner's jersey to prove it! :-)
After the race, I got home and finished packing my bags for my flight to Porland, Oregon, which was leaving at 8 am the next day. The flight went fine, and my cool penpal picked me up at the airport, which was awesome. I was too tired to really do anything that night, so we just hung around at her house and ate some pretty damn good indian food. The next morning we went to the Budget Rental place, where I picked up the nice new clean Ford Fusion...I was supposed to get a smaller crappier car, but I was early so they upgraded my rental to this thing! It was really cool because it had a 6-CD changer. Of course, I didn't have any CDs with me, so for now it was useless.
Anyway, with the radio for company, I took highway 26 all the way down to Smith Rock. This highway goes through Mt. Hood National Forest, and for a first-time driver in such a landscape it was amazing. They have the biggest most beautiful trees I've ever seen. And with views of Oregon's biggest mountain along with it, the drive was quite nice. Oregon also has desert, which to me was pretty interesting as well.
Smith Rock is a big volcanic formation kind of in the centre of Oregon. It is world famous among rock climbers. I was supposed to meet CC there at about noon on the 27th of June, which I did pretty accurately. I got there and she was all by herself sitting at a picnic table under a tree, hiding from the blistering sun...apparently the guy that was supposed to come climbing there with us had decided that it was way too hot to climb at Smith Rock (he was right) so CC was left to camp out in the little camp site there, without a tent!
As you can imagine we were pretty happy to see each other....it was so nice after such a long time. We climbed the rock to see the view (in the worst of the mid-day heat unfortunately), and back at the bottom we went for a dip in the (cow-dirty) creek. The park ranger dude we saw there then advised to go wash up in the camp site shower.
Anyhow, I'm not going to give you a full minute-by-minute replay of what we did. The first 2 days, CC had off, and the rest of the time she was working at her cabin in the middle of Fremont National Forest. The first 2 days, I met several of the other interns and her boss, we went climbing, and hiked up to Proxy Falls (in the rain), and Sahalie falls. Then back in her forest, we went on some nice hikes, to Gearhart mountain, among other things. Her boss was working at their site the whole time I was there, which was good and bad...he was pretty cool, and took us climbing (we did our first multi-pitch climbs!), and also helped us make some 'special' brownies and use some 'special' pipes. But at the same time I think I would have liked to spend more time with CC, alone, to get to know her again a bit better. In the end the boss gave us a day off at the end of my stay, so that we were able to go to Crater Lake (which would have been too far to drive to on a regular work day).
We drove out the night before and camped in the national park that surrounds the mountain/lake. Things were not looking good for our camping options because there was a huge thunder storm and it was hailing pea-sized pellets. Everywhere seemed to be covered in snow as well. Also, the park ranger told us it was going to rain for the next 3 days. We took our chances anyway, and camped there (for 18$ per night you'd expect free hot showers....but no! bastards). I slept better in my tent that night than I ever have before. Fortunately, the weather the next day was fantastic and we were able to climb up the side of the caldera to get better views of the lake. It is the bluest water I have ever seen. I have some photos that I will post once I get them back from the shop. I also recommended to the intern CC's working with that he go to Crater Lake when his girlfriend comes to visit.
Once we were done there, we went back to Klamath Falls and ate at a pretty decent Mexican restaurant, after searching in vain for a laundromat and an internet point. It was July 4th, and everything was closed, and the streets were all empty and dead. Rather a strange experience.
Anyway, that last day turned out to be really magical. It made up for some of the frustration that I had been feeling for a few days before that. I'd been having this feeling of not being good enough for CC compared to the other two guys there, and much less familiar and comfortable with her than they were, and so I'd been rather sullen and not fun, I guess. After spending that extra bit of time with her I realized that everything I'd felt before she left was still there and that I didn't need to worry one bit. When we got back to the camp, it must have been pretty obvious to the other guys that I felt much better, because I was in a way better mood!
The next day, I accompanied them in my car to their next banding site, and after a net run or two I said goodbye to CC and left. Leaving was horrible, knowing that I wouldn't see her for another month and a half. The drive back was much worse than the drive there, since I was driving away from her and not towards her anymore, even though I was seeing some fantastic scenery. I drove in silence the whole way, no radio at all.
When I got back to Portland, my cool penpal (CP) picked me up at the car rental place, and her first comment was that the car was so dirty, and her second comment was that I smelled bad! We quickly went home so that I could shower. The next day we wandered about in Portland, and saw some neat stuff like the Chinese Gardens, and Washington Park, and several closed restaurants (who knew they would all close between 2:30 and 5 pm?), among other things. I wasn't feeling in a very picturesque mood so I didn't take any pictures. You can see some at her blog, linked to on the right as 'not me, another me'. Next morning, I made her pancakes (with her own pancake mix because I didn't think to get any :-S) to show her how real maple syrup is supposed to be eaten (I brought her some when I got there), and then she took me to the airport and I flew away. I slept a lot on the flight home, except for a large part in the flight between Vancouver and Toronto in which an annoying dude behind was talking the ear off his neighbour the entire time....it was like a monologue, I didn't hear her say much the entire time, and I think they'd just met on the plane. I wanted to throw a pillow at him the whole time. Eventually I rolled up a napkin and stuck it in my ears. That helped a bit.
Anyway, that's a summary of my trip to Oregon. It was a good trip, and definitely worth it. Stay tuned for some photos.
ciaofornow
GSM
Two weeks and two days ago I raced my third 24 hour mountain biking race on a 5-man team. The first was a disaster, it was many years ago. I couldn't sit on my bike seat without horrible ass pains for the last lap. The second went much better, and we were fifth in our category (100-150 age group, that is, the sum of our ages falls in that range). And the latest one went even better: we won! I have never ever been on a podium for mountain biking, so it was quite a pleasant surprise. And I have a winner's jersey to prove it! :-)
After the race, I got home and finished packing my bags for my flight to Porland, Oregon, which was leaving at 8 am the next day. The flight went fine, and my cool penpal picked me up at the airport, which was awesome. I was too tired to really do anything that night, so we just hung around at her house and ate some pretty damn good indian food. The next morning we went to the Budget Rental place, where I picked up the nice new clean Ford Fusion...I was supposed to get a smaller crappier car, but I was early so they upgraded my rental to this thing! It was really cool because it had a 6-CD changer. Of course, I didn't have any CDs with me, so for now it was useless.
Anyway, with the radio for company, I took highway 26 all the way down to Smith Rock. This highway goes through Mt. Hood National Forest, and for a first-time driver in such a landscape it was amazing. They have the biggest most beautiful trees I've ever seen. And with views of Oregon's biggest mountain along with it, the drive was quite nice. Oregon also has desert, which to me was pretty interesting as well.
Smith Rock is a big volcanic formation kind of in the centre of Oregon. It is world famous among rock climbers. I was supposed to meet CC there at about noon on the 27th of June, which I did pretty accurately. I got there and she was all by herself sitting at a picnic table under a tree, hiding from the blistering sun...apparently the guy that was supposed to come climbing there with us had decided that it was way too hot to climb at Smith Rock (he was right) so CC was left to camp out in the little camp site there, without a tent!
As you can imagine we were pretty happy to see each other....it was so nice after such a long time. We climbed the rock to see the view (in the worst of the mid-day heat unfortunately), and back at the bottom we went for a dip in the (cow-dirty) creek. The park ranger dude we saw there then advised to go wash up in the camp site shower.
Anyhow, I'm not going to give you a full minute-by-minute replay of what we did. The first 2 days, CC had off, and the rest of the time she was working at her cabin in the middle of Fremont National Forest. The first 2 days, I met several of the other interns and her boss, we went climbing, and hiked up to Proxy Falls (in the rain), and Sahalie falls. Then back in her forest, we went on some nice hikes, to Gearhart mountain, among other things. Her boss was working at their site the whole time I was there, which was good and bad...he was pretty cool, and took us climbing (we did our first multi-pitch climbs!), and also helped us make some 'special' brownies and use some 'special' pipes. But at the same time I think I would have liked to spend more time with CC, alone, to get to know her again a bit better. In the end the boss gave us a day off at the end of my stay, so that we were able to go to Crater Lake (which would have been too far to drive to on a regular work day).
We drove out the night before and camped in the national park that surrounds the mountain/lake. Things were not looking good for our camping options because there was a huge thunder storm and it was hailing pea-sized pellets. Everywhere seemed to be covered in snow as well. Also, the park ranger told us it was going to rain for the next 3 days. We took our chances anyway, and camped there (for 18$ per night you'd expect free hot showers....but no! bastards). I slept better in my tent that night than I ever have before. Fortunately, the weather the next day was fantastic and we were able to climb up the side of the caldera to get better views of the lake. It is the bluest water I have ever seen. I have some photos that I will post once I get them back from the shop. I also recommended to the intern CC's working with that he go to Crater Lake when his girlfriend comes to visit.
Once we were done there, we went back to Klamath Falls and ate at a pretty decent Mexican restaurant, after searching in vain for a laundromat and an internet point. It was July 4th, and everything was closed, and the streets were all empty and dead. Rather a strange experience.
Anyway, that last day turned out to be really magical. It made up for some of the frustration that I had been feeling for a few days before that. I'd been having this feeling of not being good enough for CC compared to the other two guys there, and much less familiar and comfortable with her than they were, and so I'd been rather sullen and not fun, I guess. After spending that extra bit of time with her I realized that everything I'd felt before she left was still there and that I didn't need to worry one bit. When we got back to the camp, it must have been pretty obvious to the other guys that I felt much better, because I was in a way better mood!
The next day, I accompanied them in my car to their next banding site, and after a net run or two I said goodbye to CC and left. Leaving was horrible, knowing that I wouldn't see her for another month and a half. The drive back was much worse than the drive there, since I was driving away from her and not towards her anymore, even though I was seeing some fantastic scenery. I drove in silence the whole way, no radio at all.
When I got back to Portland, my cool penpal (CP) picked me up at the car rental place, and her first comment was that the car was so dirty, and her second comment was that I smelled bad! We quickly went home so that I could shower. The next day we wandered about in Portland, and saw some neat stuff like the Chinese Gardens, and Washington Park, and several closed restaurants (who knew they would all close between 2:30 and 5 pm?), among other things. I wasn't feeling in a very picturesque mood so I didn't take any pictures. You can see some at her blog, linked to on the right as 'not me, another me'. Next morning, I made her pancakes (with her own pancake mix because I didn't think to get any :-S) to show her how real maple syrup is supposed to be eaten (I brought her some when I got there), and then she took me to the airport and I flew away. I slept a lot on the flight home, except for a large part in the flight between Vancouver and Toronto in which an annoying dude behind was talking the ear off his neighbour the entire time....it was like a monologue, I didn't hear her say much the entire time, and I think they'd just met on the plane. I wanted to throw a pillow at him the whole time. Eventually I rolled up a napkin and stuck it in my ears. That helped a bit.
Anyway, that's a summary of my trip to Oregon. It was a good trip, and definitely worth it. Stay tuned for some photos.
ciaofornow
GSM
posted by a bike rider in the big smoke at 3:58 p.m.
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