Woke up to this today-

The dogs get excited when it snows, but they don't know that it's April and it's supposed to be sunny and warm right now. Anyway, the sun will come out today (it's clear) so most of this should be gone by this afternoon. We just put the patio chairs out yesterday, and today they were covered in 5 inches of snow. On April 17th. The forecast calls for 67 on Wednesday. Hopefully that means it will be at least a little dry in Eugene this weekend.

that's all.

Happy Easter!

1 week to willamette

One week until my oregon stage racing debut. I am pretty excited but relaxed about the whole thing, I do think the last day will be tough. The first 2 days will probably be too, but they are shorter. There are some pretty good climbs on the last day that will put some of us into difficulty. (Course profile below) Hopefully I will be able to stay in the mix until the last climb. There will be at least 3 of my teammates in the cat 4/5 race, so it will be fun to pretend we're using team tactics. Stay tuned for my race reports next week, they should be good.


Today is a pretty rainy day by central oregon standards. There's snow happening in the higher elevations though, kinda funny, because it just won't quit this year. This weekend is the last weekend of full operation for the nordic center, and with the crappy weather there's probably not that many people up there. They still groom the trail for PPP until May 20th, so we'll still be able to train on groomed snow.

Went out for breakfast this morning at the Breakfast club. They have the best 'out to eat' value in Bend I think. 3 of us ate for under 11 dollars. Pretty crazy.

Happy easter!

RUMBLE

Yesterday was the Peterson Ridge Rumble. 32 kilometers trail running. 28 were pretty real smooth. 4 were pretty darn tough. They turned out to be the last 4k, and it was not because it was the hardest section of the course. The Rumble would be my furthest run this spring by about 8 miles, so it was a bit of uncharted territory. I was feeling good though until about 2 miles to go. My legs were real sore, so I was just going to survive to the finish line. I'm stoked about a good result (3rd overall). I jumped over a big log in the first 1/2 mile (that most runners were going around, I might add), and whadya know the guy from the local newspaper was taking photos, and I ended up on the front page of the sports section! Pretty sweet! Sorry for the quick report, I'll try to find more pictures and post later.

late-

Klister?

The John Craig ski race was fun. It was essentially 10k uphill, then 10k back down hill. There's quite a bit of elevation, so snow conditions are much different up high, than they are down low, so wax is in play. I used my ski's with start grip tape, and it worked pretty good down low, but up high, it was not so good. Klister was the ticket I think. Last week, I demoed these Madshus no wax ski's that had a hairy type grip zone (not like scales). They were the bomb. I wonder how they would have been. I was 4th in the race. The nordic center is open for 2 more weekends, so I will definatly take advantage of that. (sorry, I'm not putting the boards away yet!)

I did get out the road bike out last night. It was about 44 degrees, a little chilly but it was a ride. It's amazing how quick it is compared to my commuter / mountain bike. That bike would be a single speed (34 -16) gary fisher rig 29er. It's one of the coolest and most fun bikes I've ever owned. peace out.

Trail running.

I went for a nice trail run tonight. The weather was a cool 45-50, with clouds. It was just right for shorts, not too cold; great evening for a trail run. I did the 'shevlin loop' which from our house, is probably between 6 and 7 miles. The first and last .8 miles are on the pavement, and then you hit the trails and continue on to this ridge (that I think used to be forest, but it burnt down), before trail drops into a valley with huge pondorosa pines and Tumalo creek flowing through it. The sound of the water would have been really neat, if the iPod wasn't blaring in my ears. The creek is really cranking right now, because of the 130% snowpack up in the cascades. Last year at this time of year I guess there was less than 40% average snowpack.

So it startes sprinkling on my way home, and by the time I got to our block it was a COLD rain. When I got in the house I noticed what looked like big wet snoflakes mixing in the rain. I was pretty drenched and cold, but it was one of those runs, that I'll think back on in August when the trails are a dust bowl and it's been hot and sunny for a couple months.

Got the new issue of Trail Runner magazine yesterday. There's a pretty big article on the trails around Bend. My friend Sean has a few sweet photos in there, so check it out!

I'm doing a 3 day road bike stage race in Eugene, 3 weeks from today. I'm ready for that, like a fart in church. I need to ride like this guy, in order to be a fast biker. Oh well, I can ride w/ the Cat 5s right? I've got the fitness, I guess well see. I might need to get the road bike out this week. Days are longer, eh!

But one more ski race to knock down before that happens.

It's still ski season!

Well, I added one more ski race to the calendar. It's the John Craig memorial. It's named after a guy who used to carry the mail over the Mckenzie pass in the winter. One winter he didn't make it, froze to death. Here's to hoping I make it!!

We had the last official footzone noon run today. Next week it switches to the 'Tuesday night run.' I think we'll still do the wed. noon run out of the footzone though. I have no more interesting info for today.

out.

It's a wrap

The morning of the 30k started with fairly cool (20F) temps and cloudy skies, with a little icy precip falling intermittently. Also I'm betting about 6 inches of snow fell the night before, because the stadium had a bunch of new snow. I got in a decent warmup, and considered adding a layer underneath my suit. I've done ski races for years, and the question of how much to wear in certian conditions is not easy. You do NOT want to be too warm (almost as bad as being too cold). I figured since the clouds seemed to be lifting a bit, it wasn't going to get colder so I went w/ one layer.

The race started FAST, as all of the races have this weekend. I caught on to the lead pack just after the start. It was super fun skiing up there, and I was telling myself to RELAX, because when the hills came, the pace was sure to change. I managed to hang on until the significant climbs were starting. I think at that time Patrick (former olympian - and Subaru Factory team skier) took the lead and then the pack started to get blown apart. I was one of the victims of that attack. The new snow caused a soft track, and the 2nd lap was TOUGH.


Photo of caped skier from west yellowstone rendevous

I was passed by a guy wearing a cape. (Yea a freakin cape) and later learned he bumped me off the podium in the M1 class!! One of the crazier things happened right after the caped skier passed me. There was a group of 4 women cheering and as we went by, they lifted their jackets to their bare breasts. There was writing on their chests, but I couldn't make it out, as I was suffering on this very difficult part of the course, I had to do a double take, and by the time I did the double take it was over. Here's to hoping that group is cheering at more central oregon nordic events in the future!! Idahoe Joe (my rival from the previous 2 races) had a great race, he was smoking today that's for sure. I skied as hard as I could to the line, and am ready for one more ski race next weekend (John Craig 20k classic in sisters), and then hopefully some bike racing. We'll see how the next couple weeks go. I have all kinds of motivation to train all summer to improve my skiing for next winter. (I found a photo of the caped skier at the west yellowstone rendevous)

C Ya.