Chasing Loren

It's all about Performance!

2009-08-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Learning to surf in Santa Catalina and meeting cool folks

2009-08-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos from Santa Catalina. After my Bolivian travel companion left for Costa Rica, I spent five days surfing and getting to know my really friendly hostal-mates at Cabanas Rolos from Norway, England, Switzerland and Germany. By the end of the week I was able to pretty consistently stand up on waves and was starting to be able to get a few of the bigger ones and turn a little. Surfing is pretty addictive as I found myself constantly saying to myself after riding a good wave, "Ok, two more waves and then I'm going to call it a day." Two hours later I was still saying the same thing. Speaking of surfing, if you haven't seen the film Step into Liquid you should...and then you should find a surf board and some waves and give it a try!

I might just live here forever!

2009-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

My first travel destination is Santa Catalina which is becoming known as one of the best surf destinations in Central America. "Destination" might be a stretch of a descriptive word as Santa Catalina is pretty far from anything (it's about 7 hours from Panama City) and really is just a few restaurants, a handful of hostals and a bunch of places to rent surf boards. In other words, it's just about perfect. No destination resorts or fancy cars or night clubs, just a really quiet town with extremely nice people, and incredibly beautiful beaches with hardly anyone on them...and some great surfing to boot. There are a lot of people who come here and either end up coming back again and again, or sometimes just stay for a very long while. We'll see how long Santa Catalina keeps it hold over me! Here are a few pics from my first day (when a friend of a friend from Bolivia, Josefina, was traveling with me) and my first attempts at surfing. I managed to stand up a couple of times and get a sweet sunburn. Today (my second day) was a little more successful (on both fronts, especially the standing up on the board front).

PS. I'm at an internet cafe that is a 3km walk out of town or so. There also is no cell phone reception and everything is quiet by 10pm. This isn't a place for partiers, but it's a perfect place relax and learn to surf!

Final Days in Panama City

2009-07-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

I finished up at the language school last Friday and am off to travel around Panama for 3 weeks. I'm on the clock at an internet cafe, so the short version of the final week included a fantastic 46th wedding anniversary celebration for my host parents where the whole family came to the house, some more memorable experiences at the clinic with prostitutes where I've been observing (more on that in a later post), and a close encounter with an owl (I took it as a sign and went and saw the Harry Potter movie the very next day). Here are a few pics:

Happy Birthday Amelia!

2009-07-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last year Scott and I put together a happy birthday surprise from Colorado for Amelia. Scott is in Georgia (like eastern Europe Georgia) this summer and I'm in Panama, but we decided not to let that stop us from sending Amelia some happy birthday love:

Challenge: what the heck is this man saying? (part 2)

2009-07-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I asked for your help in figuring out what the heck the man who walks past my house every night is saying. I got some good ideas, including galletas from Viajera4eva and pollo from Abbie in Bolivia. I thought I heard helado...turns out we were all wrong. Abby T gets the shoutout for fishing caliente out of that sea of mushed together words. Abby, I owe you a beer next time you're in Seattle. Here's the answer:

Hello from Parque Metropolitano!

2009-07-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

From what I've read, I gather that Panama City is the only city in the world that has a rainforest within the city limits. People call Parque Metropolitano (which I always seem to mispronounce) the "pulmón de la ciudad de Panama" or the lungs of Panama City. The park has a wide diversity of birds, insects, plants and other wildlife which can be seen by hiking one of the several trails that crisscross the park. Also, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has a rainforest canopy crane that you can pay to go up in, allowing you to see the wildlife that lives in the canopy. While walking around the park, I learned that the park's canopy is home to a species of frogs that lives its entire life in the canopy without ever touching the ground!

This video was taken at the Mirador, or viewpoint at the top of the park with views of Panama City and the Pacific.

Isla Taboga

2009-07-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I joined three of my language school mates, Bess, Courtney and Laura on a trip to Isla Taboga which is a favorite getaway spot for people in Panama City. The island is a short 20k boat ride from the city, but feels a lot further away as the town itself is very quiet. The island has kind of a rough history as it's inhabitants have been massacred a handful of times, though in the last few hundred years I think it say more use as a place for the Spanish and US to set up big gun turrets. After a nice lunch we hung out on the beach for the afternoon, watching a boisterous fishing competition that was going on just off the beach. When I last asked, the winning fish was somewhere in the neighborhood of 78 pounds or so! After hanging out at the beach for a bit, I went for a run up a nearby hill where I was rewarded with some incredible views of the island and other islands nearby. I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway, minus the volleyball and being stranded parts.

Gerber for the Gringo...and canals and beaches too!

2009-07-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

In the first days that I arrived in Panama, I mentioned to my family that I often ate oatmeal and apple sauce in the morning for breakfast. After a confusing conversation where I tried to explain what the heck apple sauce is, I finally realized that they say pureed apples instead of apple sauce (puré de manzana)...which they don't normally eat in Panama.
As part of my program my host parents, Toni who is a very friendly retired accountant and his wife, Emilsa who drives a school bus, serve me breakfast and dinner every day. I arrived at the table this morning to find a bowl containing an unknown substance. With a bit of a grin my host father told me to give it a try without telling me what it was. I tried a spoonful and excitedly said "puré de manzana!" Only then did he explain to me that it was Gerber brand baby food, which is the only way that Panamanians eat pureed apples. I think Toni thought it was pretty funny that he was serving me baby food. So don't worry Mom, I'm eating well, brand name baby food in fact! This isn't quite as bad as one of my classmates who mistakenly ate the dog food last week instead of the meal prepared by her host parents (in her defense, who gives cooks and shreds chicken for their dog, I mean seriously?).

I'm trying to keep things short here, but I'll share a slideshow from my visit to the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal last Thursday and of my first swim in the Pacific at the Santa Clara beach last Saturday. I'll probably write more about the Panama Canal later, but in short the US gave control of the canal back to Panama in 1999, which means that the canal zone is a lot more open to the public now. It was pretty amazing seeing how little space is left between the large boats and the walls of the lock when the big boats pass through (Panama is currently constructing larger locks to stay competitive with the new generation of ever larger ships). On Saturday Courtney and I took a bus to Santa Clara (here's a video of what some of the houses/music that we encountered along the way). The bus driver rocked some nice salsa tunes during the 2 hour trip to the beach. We ended up having a bit of a cloudy day, which actually was pretty nice as both Courtney and I are not the tannest people in Panama.

Challenge: what the heck is this man saying?

2009-07-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

I need your help! Every night a man walks past my house yelling out the things that he's selling. I can make out the first few words which sound a bit like "helado, yogur..." maybe something about chocolate. Can you make out the rest? Leave a comment or send me an email if you understand what he's saying. If we can't figure out what he's saying, I'll stop him one night and ask him to say it more slowly, but it's more fun to put this out to you for some help!

A new president for Panama!

2009-07-02T20:10:00.001-07:00

On July 1st all of Panama stopped for the inauguration of the country's new president, Ricardo Martinelli. Since I missed Obama's inauguration, I was pretty psyched to be able to catch a bit of the festivities in Panama City, or at least to see how Panamanian celebrate the arrival of a new president. After the official ceremonies, the Martinelli government threw two parties, a private one for his 5,000 closest friends and public party for the gente de Panamá. After finishing up my language classes, I headed out with two women from my language school to check out the public party. We knew where the event was happening and that there was some sort of stadium involved, but that's about all we knew.

When we arrived at the Estadio Roberto Durán, named after the famous Panamanian boxer, we began walking around the well guarded stadium trying to figure out what the heck was going on. There were a lot of vendors but hardly any people (see pictures below). After asking around, we gathered that a concert was happening inside the stadium and that we should wait in line. It was pretty fun arriving with no idea what was happening or where we needed to go and just figuring it out as we went. After a bit more confusion involving the police running out of wrist bands which stopped them from letting any more people in, we finally entered stadium where we were definitely were the only gringos in a sea of 7,000 Panamanians, which felt a little weird but everyone was friendly. My Panamanian host mother explained to me that this event was little like taking a bath in the people of Panama because there were people from every social class, but especially from the lower social classes. I think this is a Panamanian saying and I'm not 100% sure how it makes sense, but I liked the image nonetheless. We found a spot in the back of the stadium and spent the next 5.5 hours from 2pm until 7:30pm waiting for the president to arrive, while we watched 12 well-known Panamanian groups perform. Macano was the only group that I had heard of before, but I liked the first two groups the best, Alfredo Escudero and Sandra Sandoval (playing cumbia) were my favorites. Both of these groups played traditional Panamanian music which is all about the accordian, which automatically makes it cool in my book.

Martinelli and his large group of ministers and governors finally arrived to say a few words. I was hoping for a speech but the DJ ended up talking about 10 times as much as the president who only spoke for a minute before others took away the microphone to talk about how great he was and about the generacion de cambio (the generation of change). I guess this was basically the equivalent of one of the many balls that Obama attended briefly after his inauguration to wave, say a few words and take a turn on the dance floor with Michelle. All around it was a very memorable day. It was fun seeing a lot of young Panamanians and seeing how they dressed (lots of tight clothing!).

Here are a few photos:

And a video from the show:

MJ's reach is truly global: the first days in Panama

2009-06-30T17:04:00.001-07:00

Hello from Panama! I arrived on Saturday after a pretty normal flight. I spent a long night in the Houston airport and was surprised when a steward on one of the flights randomly kissed a woman's hand as he walked by (a good way to get fired I figure), but otherwise, it was a pretty decent trip down here.

On my first day in Panama I met up with a girl from Chicago whose Spanish is about at the same level as my own. After settling in with our families, we headed out to explore the touristy area known as Casco Viajo. I won't go on about the history of the neighborhood, but in short it's basically a very old neighborhood with a lot of history and character that has a bit of a Havana-y feel to it they say. Taj, if you're reading, I followed your instructions and took the Diablo Rojo down to Casco Viejo. If you've ever wondered what happens to US school buses when they retire from service in the US, the answer is that they go to Panama, get rebuilt, jazzed up with music or lights, and then get driven really fast through the city. Rides only cost .25 cents so it's a pretty sweet way to get around.

Alright, I'm trying to keep this short so I'll close with this fun video that I took in Casco Viejo. While Laura was at Mass, I explored around on my own and ran into three kids outside of the church who were throwing around a baseball made out of tape. After talking baseball for a while, we switched over to talking about the passing of Michael Jackson. One of the kids said that when he heard that MJ had died, he started crying. This struck me as noteworthy given that these kids are seven or eight years old. I asked it they knew any dance moves, which got them really excited. They broke out their best paso de la luna (moon walk) and other hip-thrusting MJ moves for the next 30 minutes while I videotaped. Check out the video:

Sailing with Kat and Lauren

2008-08-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Kat and Lauren came up from Portland for the weekend to visit and so we gathered up a group of friends to go for a sail in Lake Union and Lake Washington on the Midnight Sun, a really nice 28-ish foot wooden boat. We brought along brunch food and cooked up a great meal as we sailed to Bellevue where some of us took a dip before heading back to Lake Union. Here are some pics from the great day on the water:

Hiking near the Snoqualmie River and Duck Dodging

2008-08-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

I joined Chris, Jill and two San Francisco friends on a trip to resupply a trail crew working in the mountains above the Snoqualmie River. The highlight of the trip was definitely stopping at the Goldmyer Hot Springs on the way back. I've been to a bunch of hot springs but this one blew all the others away by far. A series of cascading pools emerge from a 15 foot cave (the dark area in the picture below). The pools themselves are nestled near the edge of a waterfall and a steep, moss covered slop dotted with old-growth trees. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, so I nabbed this picture from another website. I'm definitely planning to go back to the hot springs in the winter which has the potential to be a pretty epic trip involving a 5-10 mile by skis or snow shoes!Here are a few pictures from the hike:

After the hike, we all got back together on Tuesday for the Duck Dodge sailing race that happens weekly in Lake Union. It's called the Duck Dodge because you have to dodge the Duck Boats (and ducks) while you're sailing which only adds to the fun of the racing. There's nothing like a near collision or two to let you know that you're having a good time. The wind was blowing really hard, so it was a pretty exciting race, even if we did come in last place!

Making it to the Pacific

2008-08-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

After leaving arid Bend I headed up and over the Pacific Coast Range toward Portland. As I neared the top of the pass by Mt. Hood, the trees got bigger and the air wetter. After days of being in super hot Colorado and Utah, it was really nice to be in a wet, green, mossy climate!

I met up with Kat in Portland where she moved just a week earlier. We spent the weekend exploring around Portland by bike (what an awesome city to bike in!), eating dinner with friends, and exploring the beaches on the western Oregon Coast. I could definitely see why people move to Portland. The biking is great, the city is a manageable size and Kat and I were even given a free cookie in a coffee shop when we said that we had both moved to the area. That would definitely never happen in DC! Here are some pics from our weekend of exploring the area:

Visiting Rico in Bend

2008-08-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

Just after I left Moab, my stereo decided to die...which made for a really long, long drive through Utah and Idaho. Where route 128 to Moab was my favorite road on the trip, my least favorite road was the 400 or so mile stretch in eastern Oregon to get to Bend. Man was that boring. But I made it to Bend and made up with my high school friend Micah who is living there for the summer before heading to Jackson for the winter. Bend seems like a pretty cool town. Rico and I sampled some good local beers and went for a great hike up the Tumalo Mountain Trail. After hiking we went for a swim at a great swimming hole north of Bend called Steelhead Falls which is definitely a must-stop spot if you're traveling between Portland and Bend (good luck finding it though...it's kind of hidden...and yep, that's just a random video I found on youtube of some guys swimming at Steelhead Falls). Here are some photos of my hike with Rico:

Sweatin' it out in Arches and Moab

2008-07-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

After a great couple of days biking in Fruita, I drove down to Moab to check out the legendary slick rock. Everyone told me that late July is just about the worst time to ride in southern Utah...and everyone was right. It was a frickin' oven in Moab. I had to stop and go swimming three times in the Colorado on my drive to Moab to cool off. Once I arrived, I did a little exploring around Arches National Park, which is amazing but best seen in the fall or winter, and then scoped out a camp site. It was still 98 degrees at 9pm, so sleeping was a little tough but it cooled off by 11pm or so.

I did a quick ride on the slick rock trail before I ran out of water and it got too hot. I didn't make it around the whole Slick Rock loop, still had a fun time riding with a dude from England who I chatted with about the riding scene over there while zooming up and down the perfectly smooth rock faces. If you're ever driving to Moab or Arches, you should definitely take route 128 off of I-70. This was my favorite stretch of road of the whole trip by far (see picture below). Here are some pics:

Biking in Fruita, CO

2008-07-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I spent two days riding in Fruita, CO which I've decided is one of my favorite places to ride in the country. My first day I rode the 18 Road Trails which had smooth, flowing lines and grippy surface that allowed you to really fly through turns. I also found a free campsite right by the 18 Road trailhead, so that was a bonus. The next day I rode the more technical Kokopelli's Trails which offered some incredible views and challenged my ability to stay upright. Someday I would really like to ride the Kokopelli Trail from Fruita, CO to Moab, UT...but riding 142 miles in the July heat would be sure suicide so I'll have to save that for another trip. I rode until about 1pm each day before retreating from the heat to cool off in Fruita's public pool and the sandy Colorado River. Here are a few pictures from the 18 Road Trails and the Kokopelli Trails:

Long's Peak

2008-07-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

A week after doing the race up Mt. Evans, I joined three of my cousins, Jim, Marc and Justin to hike up the 14,259 foot Long's Peak. Every afternoon at around 2pm thunderstorms roll through the mountains of Colorado. To get off the mountain early enough, we started hiking at 1am. We chatted the hours away as we trudged up the mountain, headlamps lighting the way. Once we got above the treeline we were able to look behind us and see 15 or so sets of headlights from groups that were behind us. We watched a beautiful sunrise from the boulder field as we climbed up before getting into the really tricky steep, exposed sections. The final part of the climb was super steep, exposed and down right scary. My cousin Jim who is a rock climber said that it was about as steep a slope as he would want to climb without ropes. Aside from a Nalgene that slipped out of Marc's backpack and shattered on the rocks below us, we made it to the top safely at around 9AM and were rewarded with some great views. We took our time hiking down and just as we got below treeline, the rain started so our timing was good. We got back down to to our car around 2pm for a total of 13 hours of hiking. All around it was a really fun mountain to hike and a great end to my trip with my cousins. Check out a slideshow of the trip here (if you want to see larger versions, click on the slideshow twice):

If African Americans were a nation....

2008-07-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

From the NYTimes.com:

"If black America were a country, it would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with the AIDS virus, the Black AIDS Institute, an advocacy group, reported Tuesday...

Nearly 600,000 African-Americans are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, and up to 30,000 are becoming infected each year. When adjusted for age, their death rate is two and a half times that of infected whites, the report said. Partly as a result, the hypothetical nation of black America would rank below 104 other countries in life expectancy.

...the United Nations said that for every two people who received treatment (in the world), five people became newly infected."

Wow. That is scary. How come we don't hear more about this I want to know?

Read the full article here.

Even 12 year olds in Boulder are FAST!

2008-07-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

After hiking up to Loch Lake on Wednesday, I got in the car and headed into Boulder for another shot at the weekly short track race. A couple of weeks ago when I did the first short track race, I did the B category and though it felt like I finished last, I ended up 34th out of 51 starters. Since I was still recovering from Mt. Evans and had gone on a 4 hour hike earlier in the day, I decided to do the C category instead and see how fast they were.

I lined up with the 32 other starters with a light sprinkle coming down, which was nice as it kept both the heat and the dust under control. I started a bit slow in around 10th position but worked my way up the field until I was in third position behind a TIAA-CREF/5280 rider who looked like a junior. I rode behind him until the last lap when we caught two lapped riders and I was able to jump in front of the group, forcing the TIAAF-CREF to wait behind lapped riders on a downhill section as I rode away. I was pretty certain the TIAAF-CREF guy was going to beat me in the sprint, so my sneaky last lap move allowed me to get second. After the race I stopped to talk to the TIAA-CREF guy and congratulate him on a good race. The guy who I beat it turns out is only 12!! Watch out for Michael Dessau's name in 10 years or so! The guy who won the race, Zane Godby, is also only 12! Man, those kids in Boulder are fast. Both Michael and Zane ride for TIAA-CREF/5280, which is one of the best road development teams in the country. The program seems to be working as Michael is the national time trial champion for the 10-12 age category (the video below is of Michael winning TT nationals).

Hiking with the cousins

2008-07-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I met up with my cousins Jim and Mark to do some hiking for a week. This is the first mini-reunion of sorts that we've organized with just the cousins of our generation (Justin and Steve planned to join us later in the week). We're all into outdoor pursuits, so doing a hiking trip seemed like a good way to catch up and spend time together. The plan was to do small hikes during the week in preparation for doing Long's Peak on Saturday. To get our hiking legs under us, we did a short hike up to Loch Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park. We took the 6 mile hike easy and enjoyed the views along the way.
We got up to Loch Lake just as the usual afternoon storm rolled in, which happens at around 1 or 2pm most days in the mountains. We shot a few pictures, had a snack and quickly hiked down as the thunder started rolling in.

Riding with Brandy and Chris at Centennial Cone

2008-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

On Monday I met up with Chris and Brandy to go for an after-work ride at Centennial Cone in Idaho Springs. When I visited Brandy and Chris a week before we weren't able to go for a ride together, so it was really fun to get out riding with good friends and also see one of the local spots that they like. The Centennial Cone trails are really fun with lots of fast, smooth single track and some really tricky switchbacks and rocky uphills. Thanks Chris and Brandy for a great ride!

The trail included a lot of exposed sections with a steep slope on one side, something you definitely don't see riding in New England of the mid-Atlantic.

Chris is really good on the technical sections and almost cleared this tricky uphill.
Brandy enjoying the ride on her new bike.

A great day climbing Mt. Evans!

2008-07-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Scott and I got up good and early to head to Idaho Springs for the Mt. Evans Hill Climb. I heard from friends who had done this race before that the climb up Mt. Evans was tough and from biking part way up and driving the other half I was expecting a long day of grinding up the long climb. Mt. Evans has the highest paved road in the country, with the race starting at 7,540 feet in the town of Idaho Springs and rising steadily over the course of 28 miles to top out at 14,135 feet. Since I like climbing, I figured this was a good race to target as the goal of the summer, and it would be a fun end to my mountain bike adventure with Scott.

We lined up at 8:30AM with the 72-person cat. 4 field. My goal was to stay with the pack for the initial 7-mile section that was a little flatter before the real climbing began with the first switchback. After a short neutral start people started getting shelled out the back as the pack started to pick up the pace. Near the first switchback I let the pack drift away as I settled into my own pace, but I was soon passing people who had also been dropped by the quickly disintegrating pack. Between mile 7 and mile 13, I passed a handful of people before settling onto the wheel of a guy who I learned later was named Bryce. Bryce set a really good pace for the next couple of miles as we passed the ranger station and rode above treeline, continuing to pass lots of citizen racers along the way. Since we lucked out with the weather and had perfect blue-bird skies and very little wind, sitting on Bryce's wheel probably helped psychologically more than anything else.
On a climb as long as Mt. Evans, it is interesting to see how you have moments where you are stronger and weaker. Right after Bryce caught me by the ranger station, I almost wasn't able to stay with him. After taking a few pulls above treeline, I decided I was going to blow up if I did more work and settled in to sit on his wheel (thanks Bryce for the pull!). A few miles later, I felt Bryce slowing and I picked up the pace and starting pulling away from him. A mile or two later, Bryce came flying by me sitting on the back of a three-person group that I joined and struggled to stay with over the next couple of miles. The last four miles of Mt. Evans from Summit Lake to the summit parking lot are definitely the hardest, both in terms of exposure, elevation and grade. As the road got steeper, I caught back up to the group of four and passed all but one of them as the summit neared. I was starting to feel a slight cramp coming on, but was able to ride through it with the help of a borrowed bottle of energy drink from one of the guys in the four person group.

As I neared the top I looked back and saw the lead car of the Pro womens field coming up behind me. A few moments later Jeannie Longo came FLYING past me, standing out of the saddle, absolutely crushing the hill. For those that don't know, Jeannie Longo is 49 years old and just qualified for the French olympic cycling team. This will be her EIGHTH (!) appearance at the Olympics. Jeannie Longo finished with a time of 2:10:10, 11 minutes shy of her course record set in 1998, but still nearly 7 minutes ahead of the next female pro finisher! The eternally fast Ned Overand also raced in the pro men's field and finished 5th, beating a bunch of riders who weren't even born when Ned started racing!

As the summit neared, I was able to catch and pass a few more people from the cat. 4 category and was actually feeling pretty good. Despite the altitude, it was the lack of power in my legs that held me back, not the lack of oxygen in my lungs. Nearing the top, I passed the 1 kilometer sign and thought for sure I had only a switchback or two left. That was the longest kilometer I have ever ridden; turn after turn, the finish line just never came into view. Finally, I caught sight of the finish line and kept a good pace across the line to finish with a time of 2:28:20, just under my goal of 2:30:00. With that time I finished 27th out of the 72 starters in cat. 4. Considering I had never been over 8,000 before this month and never done a climb this long, I really didn't know what to expect, but I was really happy with how the race went. It felt incredibly good to push hard for hours and finish on top of such an incredible mountain. I really felt like I was racing the whole way, which ma Here are a few pictures from the top. This one is of Bryce (left) and the dude from the group of four who lent me a bottle near the top:
The summit parking lot was covered by bikes, bodies and equipment as people recovered from their effort:
While I waited for Scott to finish, I took some pictures from the summit.
Sitting above the parking lot, just casually taking in the scene , was a furry mountain goat chomping away!!!
A bit later Scott came across the finish line and we took some photos on the top. Scott had a good ride on his rented bike, finishing in 3:32:14. This was only Scott's second race of the year, so he did a really solid effort considering the toughness of the climb. He's got a great base for kicking ass at the mountain bike races around DC this summer.
While hanging out at the top, I ran into a woman wearing a Putney Westhill jersey, which is a shop team I used to ride for in high school. I started talking to the woman, who is friends with the owners of the Westhill shop and realized that we had a really random connection. Two weeks earlier I was was in a shop in Boulder and started talking to a girl who mentioned that her parents had met while doing the Mt. Evans Hill Climb. Her mother threw up after the race and her dad stopped to help her and they apparently hit it off and eventually got married. This girl also mentioned that she was racing at mountain bike nationals at Mt. Snow near where I grew up instead of doing Mt. Evans.
Back to the woman in the Westhill jersey, when I started talking to her she mentioned that her daughter was racing at Mt. Snow that weekend. The details of her story started to line up, so I said to her: "this may seem like a strange question, but did you happen to meet your husband on Mt. Evans while you were throwing up. Also, does your daughter work at the North Face store in Boulder?" She looked surprised and said that yep, she was in fact the mother of the girl I had met earlier in Boulder and that she met her husband on Evans. It's a crazy small world!
The view from the top was pretty incredible:
Scott and I bundled up for the ride down. Scott seems to be a natural descender and flew down the road, with me taking it slow behind. We stopped to take a few photos along the way.
Scott with Sumit Lake in the background:Overall this was one of the most fun races I have ever done. Everyone was really friendly, the climb was epic, the views were breathtaking and to top it off, there was a mountain goat on top. Any race where there is a mountain goat in attendance is a cool race in my book. I definitely would like to do this race again in the future and try to break 2:20!

A special message for some good friends

2008-07-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

For Amelia the birthday girl:For Kat and her move to Portland:
Because one day we'll perfect the jumping for the self-timer:

Biking in Durango and Crested Butte

2008-07-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

After two days in Gunnison, Scott and I headed south to Durango where we heard the biking was epic. Compared to some other places we've been, the people in Durango were really laid back and friendly...and the biking on the Horse Gulch trail and in the mountains above Durango was great. It seems like there is an endless number of trails and great road rides around Durango to explore, but after a few days we had to start heading north to get back for the Mt. Evans race on Saturday. On the way to Idaho Springs, we stopped in Crested Butte to do the famous 401 Trail.
We stopped to take some photos as we went over the many passes between Durango and Crested Butte.

Here is a video from our week of biking in Durango and Crested Butte:

Cars of Durango

2008-07-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Like many of the outdoor destinations that we visited in Colorado, Durango is definitely a place where people have a lot of money...but how they choose to spend it isn't always what I would expect. We were talking out of a coffee shop one afternoon in Durango and spotted this 4-wheel drive Porsche with bike racks. Now that is something you wouldn't see in DC.Durango also has a lot of trucks and SUVs, so my little car looked a little out of place sometimes.

Hartman Rocks Part 2

2008-07-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

After Scott got his bike fixed up we decided to hit Hartman Rocks for a real ride before heading down to Durango. Here is small video from our 2.5 hour ride. This is definitely some of the best riding I have ever done. Rob, thanks for suggesting that we check out Gunnison! Josie's Trail was especially fun with lots of twists and swooping drop sections and just enough rocks to keep things interesting.

Hartman Rocks (and Gunnison too)!

2008-07-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Scott flew in from DC to Denver yesterday morning to join me for a week of biking in Durango before doing the race up Mt. Evans. We got on the road early enough to get to Gunnison with day light to spare for a short evening ride at Hartman Rocks, the sage filled network of trails just outside of Gunnison. The "rocks" part of the name is both appropriate for the many rocks that scatter the trails and also how fun the riding is on the twisty, loose terrain.
We ended up trying to ride up several sections of trail that were probably best ridden downhill. The ground is either loose sand or small ball-bearing like rocks that make walking over rocks a little treacherous. Here's a shot of Scott on a hike-a-bike section.
Ten minutes into our ride, Scott took a bad step off a rock and ended up tumbling down onto a boulder, bike first. Scott got away with just a scrapes (thankfully!), but his bike emerged with one less brake as the bolt on his rear brake was sheered off by the impact of the fall.
Scott got up, scrapped himself off and continued riding with just his front brake which meant we had to stick to some of the smoother trails which were still a complete blast. We rode up and down Becks Trail a few times as it's banked, sandy corners were not too bad for a bike with only a front brake. The Hartman Rocks trail system is huge though and we only barely scratched the surface of the available trails. We'll probably do another ride or two here before heading to Mt. Evans.
We packed up our bikes and drove off to find a campsite just as the sun was setting over Hartman Rocks.

Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret

2008-07-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Oooh, I can't wait to find a kitchen to try out this recipe. If you like chocolate chip cookies, read this article. I'm not a big cookie guy, but for the right cookie I'll make an exception...a cookie like the one described in this NYTimes article.

Getting smoked in Boulder

2008-07-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I stopped by the CU Short Track race that happens every Wednesday night throughout the summer in Boulder (which is known by locals as the Wednesday Night World Cup races). The race is a fundraiser for the CU Boulder Cycling Team and breaks down into three categories for men: A, B & C. Seeing as folks like Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger race in the A's on occasion, I figured the B's were probably a better spot for me since I should be moving up to Expert in the next race or two that I do. Oh how I was wrong...

I lined up a little over 6pm with the 40 or so other guys in the B category. The race takes place every week on the same small strip of land located right inside of Boulder. The area of the course can't be any bigger than 2 football fields or so, but there are a lot of different trails packed into that small space, with lots of banked corners, short, steep uphills and small jumps (here's a news video about the race series). Every week the course is changed up to keep things interesting. The race started off with a mass sprint for the single track, creating a huge dust cloud that didn't really settle until the last race crossed the line. Speaking of the last racer, I think it might have been me (results aren't online yet). The race was only 25 minutes long and with laps taking 3 minutes or so, I held onto 10th or 15th position for 3 laps or so, before I started imploding and moving backward in the field quickly. I was so happy that I got lapped by the winner because it meant that I had one fewer lap to do. I'm not sure if it was the huge amounts of dust, the extreme heat, the elevation or the wicked pace that kicked my ass, probably some combination of the four. That and the fact that I've favored long slow workouts over intensity stuff in preparation for Mt. Evans. Regardless, It was a really fun race with fast turns that required good steering (which I was able to appreciate only after pulling myself together and finding a sprinkler to stick my head under)! Maybe I'll do another short track race next week after Mt. Evans...only this time I'm racing the C's! The photo on the right is of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski crushing everyone on the Mens A race.

Mt. Evans Hillclimb Reconnaissance Trip

2008-07-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

On July 19th I'm going to race the Mt. Evans Hillclimb with my friends Evan and Scott. For those unfamiliar with Mt. Evans, it has the highest paved road in the US, topping out at 14,135 feet. The race starts in Idaho Springs, CO and winds its way up from 7,500 feet to the summit over 28 miles with a pretty constant grade of around 5 or 6 percent.

It's one thing to look at a course profile or a course description and imagine what riding a 14'er peak would be like, but it's another thing to actually do it. On Friday on my way to Silverthorne I stopped in Idaho Springs to ride up to the summit. I got started a little bit late and the thundershowers that usually roll in by afternoon convinced me to turn around after 15 miles at around 11,000 feet, just below treeline. From riding the first part, I can say that this is a completely unrelenting climb. It just keeps going up and up and up without letting up at all. The elevation didn't seem to bother me, but once it started raining, the ride down was miserable. I ended up hitching a ride down with a really nice couple from Denver. They earned a few good karma points for picking me up, thanks!On Sunday I returned to Mt. Evans to ride the top sections, but it was raining in the morning, so I decided to drive instead. It started snowing at about 12,000 feet and by the summit, the snow wasn't even sticking to my windshield! There were three people riding up to the summit in the harsh weather, including this guy who turned down the ride that I offered to continue towards the summit (I was trying to earn back some of those karma points!).

On the way down, I stopped at Summit Lake which sits on a spur of the mountain at 12,000 or so. I met two really nice guys from Minnesota who I joined for a short hike that turned into a longer hike as the views drew me onward. Here are a few pics from the hike below. I was really tempted to break out my skis and take a few turns on the slushy snow, but decided against it since I don't have any poles and the pitches were pretty steep.
Finally, I took a few videos while driving down Mt. Evans to give people a sense of what the terrain and views are like. This is my first experiment with video editing, so bear with the amateur editing. The video is a bit long (8 minutes), so Mom and Dad, this might be of more interest to you than everyone else.

An epic ride in Silverthorne

2008-07-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went up to Silverthorne with Adam and Alison to stay at friend's mountain house for a few days. The views from the house were stunning.
On Sunday morning Adam and Alison headed out for a run/hike and I went up to Ute Pass to explore a mountain bike/hiking trail that I found on the map. The trail started at 8,500 feet or so and ended on top of a mountain (Ute Mountain?) at about 12,000 feet. The trail immediately started climbing up and aside from occasional dips, pretty much went straight up until I got to the top. Here is a view about a mile into the trail:
The pitch of the trail was better for hiking, but still rideable in the small gears with some effort. The trail was all beautiful single track.
As I approached the top, the trail got steeper and snowier and I eventually had to ditch my bike and start hiking. I probably hiked the last mile or so of the 10 mile trail but was rewarded with some great views on top:
Riding up took about 2.5 hours. The 4,000 or so foot descent took 40 minutes, the majority of which was off-the-saddle, steep descending. From looking at the map, it seems like there are countless trails like this one to explore in the Silverthorne, Frisco, Breckenridge area.

Celebrating the 4th right with family and mechanical bulls!

2008-07-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday I caught up with my cousin Justin and his girlfriend Alexis who also live in Boulder. I hadn't seen Justin in years, so it was great to catch up after so much time. After getting dinner on Pearl St. we hiked up a hill in Chautaqua Park which has a great view of Boulder and Denver.
Sitting several hundred feet above Boulder on a hilltop we were able to see the fireworks display in Boulder and several others in the distance around Denver. Here's a shot of a spider that we saw on the walk down. I wouldn't want to wake up with :
On the walk back down to Boulder, we walked by a bar that had a big crowd outside. Through the window we could see a girl riding a mechanical bull and we all quickly decided that we had to go check it out. Bull rides were only $1 so we all took a few rides. Justin's co-worker Babs and I took a ride together which I think meant that the cowboy hat-wearing, tobacco chewing mechanical bull operator took it a little easier on us. Turns out mechanical bull riding is both a great way to celebrate the independence of our nation and bond with your cousin!

What's up with creationism anyway?

2008-07-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

I heard this great piece on NPR a few weeks ago about the evolving debate about the teaching of creationism versus evolution in public schools. Joe Palca and his guests lay out the current state of the debate, explaining how opponents of teaching evolution have retreated from trying to get creationism taught alongside evolution, to instead push to get public schools to teach about the "weaknesses" of evolution, indirectly injecting the teaching of creationism into the curriculum. Palca's guests discuss how the objections to teaching evolution in public school are pretty weak. Check out the hour long program if you've got some time.

Bolder Boulder

2008-07-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Boulder on Wednesday and it took me about 10 seconds to decide that it is an amazing place to live. After hours of driving through heavy rain and shoot-me-in-the-head straight roads in eastern Wyoming, I drove into Boulder as the sun was setting behind the mountains and the rain stopped. I stayed with my friends Adam and Alison who fit in well in the active sports-oriented community of Boulder. Adam is training for the Leadville 50 mile trail running race which is held above 10,000 feet at the end of July and Alison is planning to do some off-road triathlons later this year, so they are a pretty fit couple. Adam also works at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and does coaching, so its part of his job to ski, run and bike! Not a bad way to live if you ask me. On Thursday showed me some of the fun trails in Boulder (Marshall Mesa I think) but I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures. That night George and Amanda, who are also on a road trip from NH stopped in for a visit, which was a lot of fun.The next day Adam and I went up to Walker Ranch to do the 8 mile loop, me on my bike and and Adam running.
After a few wrong turns, Adam and I got headed the right direction on the dry, rocky trail. All of the riding I have done on my trip until now has been a variation of the same type of rooty, rocky trails with hard-packed moist soil, but this type of riding was totally different. Between the views and the rolling, technical single track with no roots but lots of rocks, I hoped that the trail wouldn't stop.
Adam caught up to me on the huge, switchback riddled climb up to the parking lot and we headed back down to Boulder.

The Black Hills are pretty sweet

2008-07-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

On my way to Colorado, I swung through Rapid City, South Dakota to visit my friend Claire. While talking about the troubling state of Native American rights in South Dakota and careening around narrow mountain roads, Claire took me on a short tour of the Black Hills along with her boyfriend Gabe. Here's a photo of us at Sylvan Lake.
And another photo of the lake which is incredibly beautiful.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I would swing by Mt. Rushmore, establishing once and for all that I am a huge tourist, and proud of it.

Salami + Bike Racing = Bad Idea

2008-06-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

I had originally planned to race in Iowa but with the race postponed because of flooding, I headed down to Mankato, MN instead to do the Bluff Rider Charge at Mt. Kato. Mt. Kato has some really fun trails that are mostly smooth and fast with lots of high speed corners, along with several really sketchy, rooty, off-camber technical descents to keep you honest as well. So the course was great--one of the most fun courses so far this year--and the weather was perfect...but for some reason, I decided it was a good idea to eat a salami sandwich an hour before my race. Salami and bike racing do not compliment each other well I quickly found out...who would have thought?

My day was pretty much over before the racing began, so I just enjoyed the fun trails and tried to stay out of people's way after my fast start quickly faded into salami induced mellow pace. Here are a few pics from the race:

A brilliant idea!

2008-06-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

The slip and slide that Chris and Katie put together at Kristin's wedding got me thinking this video that I saw a while back of a group of guys who construct a slip and slide off their roof. This is such a brilliant idea (though the guy wearing the sling might not agree)!

Kristin's Wedding

2008-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

I flew back to DC last week to join the celebration of Nick and Kristin getting married. Overall this was definitely one of the most fun, most laid back weddings I have ever been to. You can tell a lot about a couple and a family from how they choose to approach their wedding, like what they value and how they handle big projects and stress. From watching the wedding come together, it was pretty easy to see what a great couple Kristin and Nick make. Here are some photos from the wedding:

Here's a video of Dave showing everyone his inpeccable form on the slip and slide:

Johan Bruyneel is a swell guy

2008-06-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night I saw Johan Bruyneel give a talk at Politics & Prose about his new book that just came out, "We Might as Well Win" about his years of working as team director of Lance Armstrong and the Postal/Discovery Cycling Teams. I was impressed by both the casualness of the event and how accessible Johan seemed. Given his huge success over the last decade (8 Tour de France victories as team director in 9 years!) I thought he might come off as a little cocky, but that was not the case at all. The title of Johan's book refers to the moment when he proposed to Armstrong that if the team was going to do the Tour de France, then they might as well win it. No one thought that Armstrong could contend for the overall because he supposedly wasn't a climber...but Johan believed in him and said that once he got Armstrong to that he could be grand-tour winner (the hardest part of the whole process Johan said), the rest just putting the pieces together. The bike critics give Johan's book a decent review, though he does generalize things for non-cyclists. I especially liked hearing Johan talk about Armstrong and his potential as an athlete. A cyclists strength to power ratio basically is the key number that tells you how fast someone can go, but Johan said that Armstrong did not always have the highest ratio on his team. He also said that he thought Jan Ullrich had greater athletic talent than Armstrong but that Armstrong had better strategy and focus. It was pretty cool hearing the opinion on cycling issues from one of the best team directors out there.

Milwaukee is pretty rockin'

2008-06-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

I swung by Milwaukee to visit my friend Josh and his parents before flying back to DC for a wedding. I didn't know much about Milwaukee before arriving, but I left impressed by the city. Josh took me to a spy-themed bar called the Safe House that you should definitely check out if you're ever in Milwaukee. I was also was impressed by the Milwaukee Art Museum. It's definitely worth a visit if you haven't been there. The entry way to the Quadracci Pavilion feels like a combination between a futuristic movie set and the entry way to heaven. A big thanks to Josh's parents for graciously taking care of my car! Thanks Judy and Howard! See you in Seattle!

Wisconsin Stage Racing

2008-06-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot over the years about the good bike culture Wisconsin, especially around Madison, but the Subaru Cup would be my first mountain bike race in the state as well as my first stage race ever. The flooding that hit Iowa hard mostly left Mt. Morris, located an hour north of Madison untouched. I arrived on Friday night to grab a camping site and get ready for the cross country race the next day. That night I met a number of really friendly folks, including Jan, Ross and his daughter Anna who I tossed a frisbee around with for a while. Jan helped me out a ton the next day by letting me hang out in the shade of his pop-up tent instead of getting fried under the hot sun.

Cross Country
The Subaru Cup is a national calendar race and looked to have big fields, so I was excited to see where I would finish. Once I arrived at the start and saw the 48 people in the Sport 19-34 category, I realized I should have arrived at the start line earlier. After the top 10 in the series were called up, I ended up lining up on the 4th row with probably 30 guys in front of me. The race started out with an immediate climb up the base of Nordic Mountain that allowed me to catch up to the front guys within the first mile. After some initial shuffling, I caught up to the race leader whose name was Jesse and we rode together for the rest of the race. The course consisted of lots of rolling single track with several spots with tight corners and technical rocky sections but no long descents where you could rest. Whoever designed this course did a really good job of laying out the turns and picking the terrain. Jesse and I took turns leading, briefly chatting about strategy and the need to keep things smooth to ensure that we didn't get caught by someone from behind. On the final lap of three laps, I pulled away by a few hundred feet on one of the climbs, which Jesse closed coming into the finishing singletrack section. I exited the single track first and started my sprint as I heard Jesse swing to my right to start his sprint in the longer grass. We both threw our bikes across the line and I ended up getting first by an inch or two. That was definitely the closest finish I've ever had in a bike race! Our close finish meant that I had a .2 lead over Jesse going into Sunday's Super D and Short Track races and 3:30 on the guy who finished in third place.

Super D
Though Nordic Mountain has only 265 feet of vertical, it feels like at least 3 times that tall for some reason. For the Super D we would take the chair lift to the top of the mountain and ride down sections of the xc course in reverse to make for about a 10 minute race that was about 75% downhill. I managed to miss the start of my category, but the race officials were cool and let me start with the citizens group, which meant that I was basically on my own with no idea how I was doing in comparison to Jesse and the rest of the people in my category. The course was really fun with some great fast, flowing downhill switchback sections. I ended up finishing 17 seconds behind Jesse which moved me into second in the overall standings. I continued my Super D problems by missing the award ceremony for the race...looks like I have some work to do on my Super D skills...like just getting to the start line to start with.
Short Track
Like the Super D, this was my first Short Track race ever. The race would be really short, only 10 minutes plus 1 lap on a course that took about 3 minutes per lap. We lined up with all the age categories of the sport class, but this time I squeezed into a spot on the front line. I had a great start and rode in the front of race for a couple of laps before a junior rider passed me. I kept looking back and seeing the gap between me and Jesse opening, so I was just hoping that I would end up with more than a 17 second advantage. Every time I came through the start/finish area, the announcer would shouted out my name, place and that I was from Washington, DC, which I think confused people. On the second to last lap he blew up on the one steep hill on the course and I kept the pressure on to the end to finish 51 seconds up on Jesse.

Overall
When all the dust settled, I ended up finishing first in the Sport 19-34 stage race, 34 seconds up on Jesse. Overall this is one of the best put together races that I have been to. Everyone was super friendly, the trails were great, and the venue was perfect with good camping and access to the lodge. Even the weather was perfect with sunny skies and hot temps. I ended up the weekend with some sweet tan lines on my forehead from my helmet vents! A huge thanks again to Jan for lending me some much needed shade and a place to sit in between races!

Now those are some big wheels

2008-06-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

I took this photo on a ride between Northfield and Faribault, MN. It's nice being back under the big sky of Minnesota. On this ride, I swung by Mill Town Cycles to say Ben Witt who owns the place. I know Ben from college back when he worked at the local shop in Northfield before he decided to strike out on his own and open his own shop. I was especially impressed by Ben's bike, which has 36 inch wheels! Forget the debate about 26 inch wheels vs. 29 inch wheels, Ben says it's all about the 36 inch wheeled bike, of which there are only about 6 in the country.

Ben worked with Mike Pofahl to design this bike, which he says has a wheel base that is only 2 inches longer than his normal bike. All of the measurements between his seat, handlebars, bottom bracket, etc. are exactly the same as on his regular 26 inch wheel bike. I didn't get a chance to ride the bike or find out where he gets the wheels/tires, but this sure looks like one fun bike to ride.

How do we handle high gas prices? Manpower!

2008-06-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Miller High life gets it right on this one (from StreetsBlog):

Also, I came across this comic on the same website:

A Bike Racing Birthday in Minnesota

2008-06-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

After a great couple of days visiting in Cleveland, South Bend and Chicago, I was pretty psyched up to race on my birthday in Minnesota at Afton Alps. With only 351 feet of vertical, I think someone had a sense of humor when they added Alps to the name of the ski area. Adding the the irony, the race was called the "Afton Avalanche" which conjured up images of...well, alps filled with snow, not 351 feet ski areas in June. But having gone to college in Minnesota and experienced some sound ass kickings on tough courses in the area, I knew better than to start getting uppity about the course. That and after a night torrential rain, it looked like a mudfest was possible.

Rolling up to the race not knowing anyone was a bit strange after having raced alongside so many friends in New England during the previous two weeks , but everyone was really friendly and it seemed like a good scene. After a good warm-up I lined up alongside the 14 other guys in my Sport 19-29 category. I came off the start in third position but quickly passed the two guys ahead of me before diving into the single track. Afton has done a great job with trail design and has some really nice, fast single track with tight corners and good flow as well as decently technical rocks sections (but no roots...which was OK by me). The trail alternated between uphill switchbacks on the ski slopes and tight, twisty single track in the woods. Dipping in and out of the woods, I slowly zig-zagged my way up the mountain.

After building up a pretty big lead in the first half of the first lap, I eased up the pace a little bit. As I finished the first lap, I looked back to see a guy in white closing in on me so I picked the pace up again. He was gaining time on the climbs and ended up catching up to me a third of the way through the first lap. I was suffering on the longest climb of the course when he caught me, so I considered appealing to his sense of charity to let me win since it was my birthday after all. Instead, I decided that I'd really make him work to pass me and I raised the pace going into the singletrack descent. I found that I was able to open a good gap on the twisty, greasy descents and switchbacks, which he slowly reeled in on the climbs. We yo-yo'ed back and forth like this for a while until we came to the final climb. I knew that if I was able to get to the top before him, I probably could outkick him on the long ski-slope descent into the finish. I crested the top of the hill with a 10 foot lead which I padded a bit more in the long, swooping descent to the finish.

Coming into the finish, I was all set to contest the sprint when at the last second I noticed a sign marking the finishing chute to the left. I tried to correct my path but ended up running directly into the sign and getting all tangled up in it. I ended up knocking the sign over and rolling over the line 1 second in front of the other guy--so much for my smooth raised-arm victory salute! All around though, it was about the best birthday present I was able to give myself. The next guy in our category finished 8 minutes behind us...so I think racing in New England and the DC area is a bit faster...but hey, I'll take the birthday win nonetheless, especially since I haven't won a bike race in 10 years! Actually, the terrain of the Afton Alps course felt pretty similar to a the race courses around DC, though just with fewer riders.

Ray's Indoor MTB Park, Cleveland

2008-06-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

bOn my way west I stopped in Cleveland to check out Ray's MTB Indoor Park, a 70,000 square foot indoor bike park located in an old industrial park. Unfortunately the park is closed in the summer, so I wasn't sure I'd even be able to get in to check it out, let alone ride, but luckily Ray (with me in the picture to the left) and his crew were inside making improvements for next year and Ray was nice enough to show me around and chat about how the park works.

I've got to say, this park is pretty much the raddest thing I have ever seen. If you're into bikes, this place is heaven. There is something for every type of rider, including a cross country course around the perimeter with lots of techical offshoot options, a ball pit for practicing aerials, a pump course, a urban park, and even sections with rocks and logs laid down as terrain. It's hard to explain how cool this place is without pictures/video (and I didn't even get to ride) so hopefully this will give you a better sense:

Pat's Peak MTB Festival (NH)

2008-06-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited for the second race of my road trip at Pat's Peak because my uncle Dan and friend Amelia were coming along to cheer and take photos, and given that it was held a ski area there was sure to be a lot of climbing. The course consisted of three five-mile laps that included a mix of single track, logging roads, and lots and lots of uphill. From the starting line, you basically went uphill for 20 minutes and then descended for 10 minutes, gaining about 850 feet per lap.

Lining up with the 10 other starters, I was feeling pretty good about my changes given how I was riding up hill the week before. As the race started I fell in behind a dude wearing red booty covers who set a good pace for about 10 minutes but then started to slow up. As the race dropped out of the technical, rocky and rooty single track onto the open, sunbaked ski slopes, I picked up the pace a bit and moved into the lead of the race. By the top of the long, open climb that had me struggling in my easiest gear, I could see one guy behind me was catching up. I recognized him as Toby, a guy who I know is fast and who I used to play soccer with back in junior high and high school. As the grinding climb turned into a swoopy, rutted descent, Toby quickly caught up to me and rode a few feet behind for the remainder of that lap before dropped me at the top of the climb on the second lap.

In the third lap, I was caught by a two guys from 30-39 age category, but was able to hold onto second place until the finish line. Coming into the finish I thought I was going to get caught by a guy who was gaining on me (see picture at left). I burried myself to not get passed by him only to find out that he also was in the 30-39 age group. Ah well, it made the racing more fun.

It is interesting to see how at both this race and at the Coyote Hill race, there were some very tough technical rock crossings or sketchy high speed waterbar crossings, but unlike in the mid-Atlantic, there seems to just be the assumption that everyone will be fine riding this stuff. Dangerous sections in both of these races were not marked with "XXX" signs as in many mid-Atlantic races. Here are some pictures from the race (thanks to my uncle Dan for shooting some great shots!):

Budweiser and Bullet Shells: A Visit in NH

2008-05-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

I spent two great weeks hanging out with friends and family in New Hampshire, including spending some quality time with my brother and his family, biking around southern NH, hanging out with my uncle at his house on a lake. Amelia biked up from Fitchberg, MA to hang out for a few days, just in time to join me at the Acworth Music Festival which was held on May 31st. Pretty much the whole town turned out to see all the local musicians rock the afternoon and evening away, despite the rainy weather. While there are definitely some great musicians in Acworth, my favorite group of the festival was by far the Ac-Tones, a collection of Acworth's finest singers, including my fourth grade teacher and several mothers of friends. Here's a beautiful self-written song that they put together as a tribute to all the hunters in Acworth (careful, it's pretty catchy and is likely to get stuck in your head):

Here are a few more photos from my visit in NH and from the Acworth Music Festival:

Baking with Noah at Orchard Hill Breadworks

2008-05-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last night Amelia, who was visiting from Boston, and I took a trip up to East Alstead to visit Noah and check out out his new snazzy bread oven in action. For the last ten years Noah has been slowly building his bakery, Orchard Hill Breadworks. Last year Noah installed a giant, new oven built by a Spanish company. The oven is heated by wood from below and has a central cooking surface that rotates, allowing Noah to load the oven in fourths. By the time that he loads the final quarter, the bread in the first quarter to be loaded has rotated all the way around the oven and is, meaning that Noah is constantly unloading quarters of cooked bread to replace them with uncooked dough without having to sit around and wait for a batch to be done.

Amelia and I arrived around 9pm, just as the oven was getting hot enough and Noah was readying himself to load the first batch of the 1,200 lbs. worth of dough to be baked that night. With so much to do, Noah was in constant motion while we visited. Moving with practiced efficiency, Noah told us story of the construction of the new oven while he continued loading and unloading loaves. The oven was built by two Spaniards who arrived with the oven speaking no English. In a little over a week, the giant oven was built and then the rest of the wall and roof where built around the new oven.

Amelia and I hung out with Noah until the first batch came out of the oven. Noah gave us a warm loaf to take home (I think it was sunny flax wheat bread). Warm, just out-of-the oven bread is just about as good as it gets. Here are a few photos from the evening:

Coyote Hill Classic (VT)

2008-05-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Back in the late 90s when I first started biking I did a couple of mountain bike camps at Coyote Hill and rode on the Coyote Hill Team for a year, so racing at Coyote Hill was a bit of a homecoming experience for me. That and this was my first race in New England in almost 8 years, so I was looking forward to some classic rocky and rooty New England riding and the Coyote Hill Classic didn't disappoint.

After pre-riding the course the day before and camping out overnight (while getting well acquainted with the loads of black flies and going to sleep to the sound of trucks muddin' off-road nearby), I was ready to race the tough course, but unsure what to expect in the competition. I've been finishes around 10th place in Sport races in DC, but with fields in the 35-40 people range...so when 10 guys lined up at the start, I figured my chances of breaking the top ten were pretty good.

Coyote Hill sits on a steadily sloping hillside nestled amongst rolling, verdantly green mountains of central Vermont. The rugged hills, which are matched by an abundant supply of tire-hungry rocks and roots, mean that flat sections are few and far between. The race started off with a steep half-mile gravel climb where one other rider and I were able to pull away from the main group. The other rider (I'll call him Tall Socks because he was sporting knee-high wool socks) and I ducked into the single track with a good gap on the riders behind and rattled our way over the undulating rocky and rooty terrain for about a half a lap until I made a few mistakes and Tall Socks got by me along with one other guy who was descending like a maniac and quickly took off with Tall Socks in tow. I rode alone for the rest of the first lap but was able to catch up to Tall Socks and the Downhiller guy by the top of the gravel road, only to be dropped again on the single track.

I was feeling like my technical riding skills had grown soft living in the mid-Atlantic when I got caught and passed by one more rider from my class. After he rode out of sight, I pulled things together and redoubled my efforts in the hopes of catching up. Riding through the grassy, open uphill switchbacks coming into the finish I spotted the crazy Downhiller guy up ahead and was able to close the gap between us to about ten feet by the finish, but I wasn't able to pass him.

So I missed out on the money (or the t-shirts and waterbottles more accurately) by 4 seconds! Shoot! Regardless, I had a great time on the tough terrain, didn't land on my head, got a chance to catch up with Tom Masterson who runs Coyote Hill and had a great time riding and cheering with the friendly folks from the Monadnock Cycling Club, Jacob and Dave.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

DC to NH with lots of visiting

2008-05-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I took the drive from DC to NH really slow, stopping to visit friends and family along the way. I drove just a few hours each day in order to stop and catch up with a lot of people who I hadn't seen in a good while. Some random highlights include:

Seeing all of my uncles and aunts between DC and NH and having a chance to hang out with them not during a rushed holiday where you only get a minute or two of catching up before getting distracted.
Watching a game of six-year olds playing t-ball in Hingham, MA and seeing them end up in a big pigpile fighting for the ball instead of throwing the runner out.
Taking the ferry into Boston with my uncle. He's the ferry captain so I was able to ride up front in the cabin (yep, I pretty much get excited about the same things as a six year old kid!).
Arriving in NH to peels of "UNCLE LOREN" from my now-six year old niece, followed by lots of "Uncle Loren, I want to show you something..."
Getting lost while biking on the snowmobile trails around my brothers house in NH and doing some good exploring to find my way back.

Here are a few pictures from the DC to NH drive. I didn't take pictures of everyone I visited, but this gives a bit of an idea of the trip to NH:

A good-bye brunch and scavenger hunt

2008-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

The Sunday before I left DC I invited a bunch of people over for a going-away brunch. Just before people were supposed to arrive, my friend Lauren asked me to help her pick something up at a nearby house. Something in her tone made me suspect that something fishy was up, but I agreed to help her. We rode over to a house in Mt. Pleasant and Lauren disappeared into the house, exiting a few minutes later with two large boxes that I soon learned were filled with vegan and gluten-free muffins. I was so touched that Lauren would get something special like that for me! When we looked inside the box to admire the beautifully decorated peanut-banana and chocolate-mint muffins, Lauren noticed an envelope and said “huh, what’s that, you should open it, maybe it’s the invoice?” Scratching my head, I opened the letter to find the first clue of a scavenger hunt! The clue informed me that I was to go to a place where I could get burritos, mojitos and libros all in the same place and that all of my friends knew I would be scavenge hunting and were planning to show up later in the day.

I love scavenger hunts but I’ve never had one planned just for me, so I was pretty excited and blown away at the same time. With a little clue help from Lauren, I headed off to Kramer Books, a 24-hour book store/café, to look for my next clue and Peter and Heather waiting for me. I found my next clue inside a Spanish dictionary in the bookstore, which said: "Go north and seek shelter on the street of brunch food and bars. Find what refugees are seeking when they flee abroad.” It had to be Asylum. I found Scott, Laura and Becca waiting for me at Asylum with my next clue which included directions to a nearby building and vague references to toasting. I arrived only to be stopped by the security guard who was doing a really good job of policing the building. After 20 minutes of arguing, making pleas, joking and phone calling, I finally got up to the roof top where Chris was waiting for me with mimosas. Chris put together this video of his champagne opening mishap as well as some photos from the day.

Chris then gave me my next clue which said “Before you head west we think it would be best if you let a good fiend know that you're on your way, nice and slow. Call your sailboat friend...” When I called my sailboat friend Chris who lives in Seattle, I got a message on his voicemail to go to a place where I could see a bridge over Rock Creek Park from another trail or bridge." It was a bit vague, but I thought I knew where to go. I pedaled to the Calvert Bridge and looked across the expanse below to see in the distance a giant sign hanging from the Connecticut bridge with the words “LOREN: GO HOME” written in large letters.

So home I went to find all of my closest DC friends waiting for me with brunch ready. All around it was one of the nicest things my friends have ever done for me.

Good-bye DC Camping Trip

2008-05-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've finally got around to putting a blog together...so some catching up is in order: The weekend before I left DC, I went camping with a group of my close DC friends at Cunningham Falls State Park. After finishing my last day of work, I zoomed home to pack and head out, only to find that Amelia had come down from Boston as a surprise to join us for the camping trip. We packed up my new car for its first trip drove out of DC. Lauren put her cooking skills to work and set up a wicked feast of meat and veges that we cooked in aluminum foil wraps. After dinner Chris broke out his glowing juggling balls and put on a good show for everyone. We probably kept our neighbors in the other camp sites up with our laughter (ahem, Amelia) but we had a great time into the wee hours.

The next day hiked up to Cunningham Falls, with some stops for vine swinging, riving exploring and cold-lake swimming (only Kat and Chris were brave enough!). It’s easy to forget how much fun you can have just randomly exploring through the woods. You don’t need mountaintops and breathtaking views to have a kick-ass time hiking. My dear friends helped remind me that adventures really are just out your door and that all you need to do is put your shoes on, start exploring and you’re sure to find something extraordinary.

Thanks for the great going-away hiking extravaganza Kat, Chris, Lauren, Heather, Amelia and Scott!