Riding

I'm riding almost every day now. Fitness, while elusive, is at least within sight.

I did a great ride with Bernie today. A little over 2.5 hours with a monster climb in the middle. What do I mean by monster? 3.5 miles, something like 1500 feet. My HR was just under and just over LT the entire time. We both about puked our guts out by the time we got to the top.

The ride was about 43 miles with a total of around 3800 feet of climbing. Not bad for a Saturday morning.

Riding with the Yakima boys tomorrow. About the same kind of ride, I suspect. Same general area as well. As long as the weather holds (45f, sunny) I'll keep riding the road bike. The rain is bound to come back, and then it's Quiring time again.

On that note, I did a great ride on Tuesday with Bernie and Jeff Palma. It was dark. It was wet. There was some wicked fog. However, I spent most of the ride composing love letters to Scott Quiring; the ti 29er he built for me is just about the best thing since sliced bread met peanut butter. The bike is solid, confidence-inspiring, light, impervious to rain, and most importantly makes me feel like a superstar! I can't say enough good things about this bike; I fall in love with it every time I get a chance to push it a little.

Rumor has it that Syncline is clear of snow. I also hear that some maintenance was done out at Scappose last week and it is read to be ridden. (Those are MTB trails for those of you reading in the midwest. How are the trails out there? Pretty good I guess, if you like to xc ski...suckers!) If it stays dry just a little longer, I might have to get the full-sus out for a ride.

Have I mentioned that I love Portland?