Mountain Monkeys http://mountain-monkeys.com Mountain and road biking, trail running, skiing, and whatever else I do, mostly in the mountains (or hills) posterous.com Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:06:39 -0700 Great Eugene sunset http://mountain-monkeys.com/great-eugene-sunset http://mountain-monkeys.com/great-eugene-sunset
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:48:28 -0800 12 Mile Run on North Shore http://mountain-monkeys.com/12-mile-run-on-north-shore http://mountain-monkeys.com/12-mile-run-on-north-shore James and I ran North Shore trail yesterday.  I had actually never done this trail, not even on the bike.  It turned out great.  Initially the weather was looking a bit tougher, like freezing rain or sleet, but it was beautiful!  Sunny, about 34 degrees (felt warmer due to the nice sun), great day.  We got a bit messed up trying to find the trailhead from where we parked, detouring maybe a mile along the water before doing this crazy climb up through the blackberry bushes to get back to the road, then down the road to finally find the trailhead.

We'd originally planned to do 10 miles, but got to the parking lot at the other end (roughly 5 mile point), and were both feeling good, so decided to go a bit longer to see what was beyond.  Finally, at 55 minutes in (and we think right about 6 miles), we turned around, mostly out of time constraint.  While this wound up being 5 miles longer than any run I'd done this year, it felt great, but was likely good we turned when we did.

The trail was in great shape, and was a good one.  It's a lot of little up and down, various quick stream crossings, slightly rocky in some spots.  But, we ran a good pace, in the low 9 minute miles, which is good for both of us at that distance.  We normally run slightly hillier stuff, so it maybe was not too fast, but still felt great.  

It seemed to warm up nicely too, although I think was still in the mid-30's when we got back.  James actually ran the whole day in just a t-shirt, compared to me in a thin Pearli long sleeve base, and an Icebreaker GT180 top (I shed my jacket pretty quickly).  I wasn't sure but used my Mountain Hardware Momentum gloves, and that wound up being perfect.  I really love these gloves, they can handle quite a temperature range, and they breathe SO well!  Was also wearing Pearli knickers, and Inov-8 X-Talon 212 shoes (as usual these days).  

Finally, at about 8 or 9 mile mark, had a gel (Hammer banana), and that was a very smart choice.  I could tell just a short while later as it kicked in.  I finished quite strong, and James was bummin' he hadn't brought a gel (and that was the only one I had).  All in all, a really great day of running.  Total time was 1hr 52 mins, over 12 miles.  With such a big jump in mileage, I'm very excited that I'll be able to ramp up my mileage in time for the Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 miler in early April.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:17:31 -0800 4/5 Days of Trail Running http://mountain-monkeys.com/45-days-of-trail-running http://mountain-monkeys.com/45-days-of-trail-running Yesterday completed three days in a row of trail running for me, something I haven't done this year, and in quite some time.  Even better is I'm left feeling really psyched, energized, and motivated!  And, in fact, I'd run 4 out of the last 5 days:

  • Tuesday I did a nice 5.8 miler, with some good climbs, with exactly a 10 min pace.  
  • Thursday, it was my closest-to-home shorty 3.6 miler on the Blanton section of Ridgeline.  What was cool about this, was that I nearly did a PR, and did it 2 minutes faster than I'd done this year.  At the end, I felt great, not tired.  Of course, later that night I crashed, being ready to go to sleep at 9pm, and I should have, but didn't.
  • Friday was the longest run I've done this year, at 7.4 miles on the Goodman Creek trail, with about 1600' of vert.  James ran this with me, and it was a great social, and quality run.  It was a bit warmer than I expected, as I'd overdressed slightly, but it didn't matter, and was great to run with James, as I rarely get to run with others, plus James and I are quite compatible pace wise.  He can fly on the descents though, wow.  Again I felt great after this, and had felt we should have gone faster, or not walked a few sections.  But, dang, again, later that night, boy I was done: after reading to & putting my daughter to bed, I returned to the couch, where I pretty quickly fell asleep.  I fought it for a few minutes, then realized I just needed it.  Didn't wake up until 2:30am (at which point I went to bed for real).
  • Saturday I expected to not run, but I got a bit antsy near the end of the day, so went out for a short, but solid run at Fox Hollow, doing the descent to Martin St and climb back up, then the regular loop.  3.6 miles again, but good.  A bone in my metatarsals of my right foot had been hurting to just walk around on - I think I bruised it on a previous run, but it didn't hurt to run on; happy about that.
Here it is Sunday, and dang if I don't wish I could be out running.  Probably good to take a day, given this was a bit of a ramp up for me.  But, I'm really psyched, as I feel like I've got my running "back".  I need to go sign up for the Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 miler.  I've been mountain biking on those trails, and they should be really sweet for a run!  It doesn't even seem like that big of a buildup to go from 7 miles up to say nearly 20 prior to then (I've got 7 weeks to do it).  Still, that'll definitely be into the long range territory for me, as I've only done over 15 miles a few times.  It will certainly be a lot harder than the Haulin Aspen half marathon - same altitudes and vert I think, but 7 miles longer, and on I think harder terrain.  Still, really looking forward to that.

As alluded to in my last post, I'm making some dietary changes, to work on some hormone issues I've got going on.  Ramping up essential fatty acids, eating grass-fed lean red meat (I rarely eat red meat), plus more fish than I eat now, and trying to go wheat/gluten free.  I'm excited to see how/if this affects my energy levels.  

James and I talked a lot about diet, as both of us are into food, and really more into food in relation to fitness and health.  He's trying a vegan route.  We'll both be using Udo's Oil too.  I'm a big believer that diet and exercise can solve a lot more health problems than the pharma co's say, or even as most doctors will prescribe, so I'm hoping that's the case for me.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:22:00 -0800 Dinner Feb 10, 2011 http://mountain-monkeys.com/dinner-feb-10-2011 http://mountain-monkeys.com/dinner-feb-10-2011

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Thinking about blogging all my meals to help track it as I start doing some new things to hopefully solve some medical issues. More on that in an upcoming post.

As for the actual meal: two smaller bugers with avocado, tomato, cheese.  Arugula salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Mon, 10 Jan 2011 09:37:05 -0800 Clear Lake snowshoe Jan 2011 http://mountain-monkeys.com/clear-lake-snowshoe-jan-2011 http://mountain-monkeys.com/clear-lake-snowshoe-jan-2011 Some friends and I started out the new year (well, Jan 2nd), by snowshoeing around Clear Lake (off Hwy 126 here in Oregon).  We'd originally planned to summit Red Top, but there was so much snow, that even at 4000' when I went to play at a snow park with my kids, I was sinking in up to my waist in spots!  Mike has a good blog post with photos and some details of our trip.

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I think it was actually as low as 13 when we started, but maybe I'm not recalling correctly (Mike's post says 17).  Either way, it was cold when we started, but of course we warmed up quick, and it did too, hitting I think about 25 an hour in.  Took us about 4 hours.

I'm just logging my own gear here, for my sake:

  • Icebreaker 3/4 length wool long underwear (awesome)
  • Smartwool ski socks
  • REI E1 pants (thin, waterproofish, worked great)
  • Keen hiking boots
  • REI short gaiters - these worked fine for the day, but having a full length, real winter gaiter would have been best
  • Icebreaker 150 top
  • Icebreaker 220 GT top
  • Pearl Izumi fleece/windstop vest (hadn't originally planned to take this, but the cold and such had me add it, and it was an excellent choice - kept it on once I took my shell off after it warmed up).
  • Smartwool hat
  • Showers Pass eVent shell
  • Burton ski gloves - my hands were freezing early on, but warmed up quickly thanks to these, and then swapped to...
  • Outdoor Research Flurry wool gloves which were excellent for the day
  • Atlas 30" snowshoes
  • poles
I used my typical Camelbak pack, but only drank about 25oz (carried about 90).  Oatmeal and bit of cheese for breakfast, one bar, and a sandwich out on the trail.  All around good.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Fri, 15 Oct 2010 09:59:00 -0700 Tough Mudder NorCal 2010 http://mountain-monkeys.com/tough-mudder-norcal-2010 http://mountain-monkeys.com/tough-mudder-norcal-2010

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Last weekend I joined two of my DealBase co-workers (Sam (CEO) and Ross (BizDev)) for the Tough Mudder event at Bear Valley in Northern California.  We arrived on Friday, ran Saturday, and drove/flew back on Sunday.  It was quick, but was a fun weekend.  Ross found us a good rental house, and we had dinners at two of the restaurants at the lodge.  Bear Valley is a small, classic CA ski place, and turned out to be a decent venue for the event.  There were some things that could have been improved, but overall it worked out well, given the 3500+ participants on Saturday.  They did it all over again on Sunday, but with fewer participants.

As for the event itself, it was 7 miles of running, and about 15 obstacles.  Some of the obstacles required crawling through pipes or under wire or netting on the ground, and thrashed your elbows (especially for us 6'+ height folks who really had to drag our bodies through it using hands and elbows - some of the shorter folks were able to crawl more on their knees in some cases).  There were some fun walls to scale too.  I had been pretty worried about these beforehand, thinking they'd be extremely tough, but with the help of teammates or other participants, they wound up being fun.  

(I'm the guy in the greenish top, with super short hair; Ross was sporting the "fauxhawk" for the event :)

The two hardest obstacles both involved water.  The first was running uphill in the halfpipe while they blasted you with quite cold water from the snowmakers.  Initially it didn't look that hard, but with that cold water hosing you down and the steepness of the hill, you got quite winded.  However, that was kind of trivial in comparison to what we wound up nicknaming the "ballshrinker"...

The Ballshrinker, or proper name, "Underwater Tunnels", was brutal.  They'd created this big reservoir of seriously freezing cold water (I'd guess 40 degree range?).  You ran down into the water, which happened to smell like crap, and then you had to swim under some barrels.  That dive and underwater time completely knocked the wind out of you.  All of us were practically hyperventilating upon surfacing.  I felt stunned when I popped up after the first set of barrels, and just sat there for a bit, gathering myself to then have to go under the next set.  We did make it, up the other side, only to then have to slide back down into the water and swim a bit.  Upon emerging from that second dip, my entire body felt like it had been compressed and shrunk.  I was extremely cold.  The next bit involved carrying large tree rounds, and by the end of that, my fingers were numb.

After that we did some more running, climbing of fences, crawling, etc., to finish up running through fire. Now I can say I've run through fire!  It took us about 1 hour 50 minutes, one mouthful of nasty Ballshrinker water (Sam), some Clif Shot Blocks (thanks Ross!), and a few dixie cups of water. I'd have to say, I really did have fun, and especially some of the earlier terrain we were running was truly outstanding - I would LOVE to go back there and just do a bunch of trail running.  It's fairly remote terrain, lots of rock, super scenic, and just THE kind of trail running environment I love.  I will pass on the Ballshrinker though.  And who knows, maybe the DealBase Mutilators will do another one of these.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:47:05 -0700 Great Adventure in Bolivia: Climbing 3 ~20k Peaks http://mountain-monkeys.com/great-adventure-in-bolivia-climbing-3-20k-pea http://mountain-monkeys.com/great-adventure-in-bolivia-climbing-3-20k-pea
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A local Eugene friend, Jared, who is an excellent Adventure Racer, cyclist, and all around athlete, recently spent some time in Bolivia.  He had planned to be doing the Inca Run, but that was cancelled, yet he had non-refundable tickets.  So, he went anyway, by himself, with rusty Spanish, and clearly a sense of adventure.  He wound up doing some pretty epic mountaineering.  Check out the photos and great writeup of his amazing adventure in Bolivia.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:13:00 -0700 Mt. Bailey Hike/Climb http://mountain-monkeys.com/mt-bailey-hikeclimb http://mountain-monkeys.com/mt-bailey-hikeclimb

On Saturday, I hiked up Mt. Bailey with a friend, my brother-in-law, and a friend of bro-in-law's, as well as said friend's son.  It had originally sounded like this might have some climbing element, or at least a few tricky sections, but in reality it was just a pure walk-up, with only one tiny notch that required use of your hands.  About 6 miles round trip (we started from the upper trail-head, which cut out the flat hike in from the lower trailhead), and 2700-2800' of gain.  That is, after we messed up the start...

We'd all agreed to go for starting at the upper trailhead, which cuts out the flat hike in that sounded sort of pointless.  There wasn't very good beta on the upper trailhead, and I thought that I read it was at the end of Road 380.  So, I found that on Google Maps, got the GPS coords, put that in my GPS for our drive.  We knew it was a solid 4x4 road up there too.  We met up with Matt & his son who were in a pretty long Chevy truck, Paul, Ed, and I were in my Jeep.  We drove on that road until 3 larged downed trees blocked us going further.  According to the GPS, we only had half a mile left, so we just parked, and headed out to find the trailhead.  Well, after nearly a mile, and when the road ended, with no trailhead in sight, we knew we messed up.  Looking at a real map, we realized the trailhead was not at the end of the road, but a ways back.  Back to the cars, which we had to drive backwards a ways (nowhere to turn around), then found the trailhead easily, because it was right where a red SUV was parked that we'd seen on the way up, and all thought "sheesh, what'd that dork park here for?!" :-)

Anyway, from there on, it was pretty straight forward.  Steep hike in spots, but overall just a really nice one.  Amazing views of Mt. Thielsen which was across Diamond Lake from where we were, and is on the list of peaks to climb.  I also admit that I was thinking about how runnable this route would be, as a way to get in some serious run-climbing training.  It'd be a bit brutal for some of the lower sections that were quite steep, but the rest might work, aside from having a bit less air up in the 8000' range.  

The weather for the day couldn't have been better.  It started out seeming cold - saw 24 degrees on the car thermo on the way there, but it was about 40 by the time we started, and I think maybe in the mid-50's by the end.  Completely clear, only mild wind at the top, and just so nice.  We had a good lunch at the top, where we met Eric and his sons, who we were all super impressed by, given one was 4 years old!!! and the other was I think 6.  Nice work kids!

This points out how workable this hike would be for a variety of folks.  It's not technical (in the summer/without snow), it's relatively short when parking at the upper trailhead, and while there are definitely some steep spots, it's still all walking/hiking.  There are also no crazy exposed sections where you could have a bad fall, etc.  There is a cat skiing operation in the winter (how they get the cats in there I have no idea), but the slope is mild enough that I'd be able to hike/skin up and then ski it (assuming I was with folks that had avy training and all that - Matt?).  Good peak to know about.

Our hiking time was about 4.5 hours (about 2.5 up, and less than 2 down).  I'd say it was a solid pace, when we were hiking, but we also stopped a lot for photos, etc.  We hung out at the summit for nearly an hour.

For my own notes, I'm cataloging what I ate, wore, gear, etc...

Food

  • At piece of bread with peanut butter for breakfast before leaving house
  • Took moka pot of coffee on the road
  • Ate a Clif Mojo bar about 30 mins before started hiking
  • Consumed 80oz of liquid
  • 1 Gu chomps
  • 1 Gu gel
  • 1 Hammer gel
  • PB&J sandwich
  • some salted almonds
  • espresso beans

Gear

  • Camelbak Transalp
  • down jacket
  • food stuffs
  • mini first aid kit, space blanket, chem hand warmers, SPOT, handkerchiefs
  • iPhone - camera and video worked well, except for lack of zoom
  • wallet
  • poles
  • gaiters (didn't use)

Clothing - which worked perfect for the day

  • Icebreaker wool hat (wore this for only a short bit on first hiking part, then off when we returned to car)
  • Pearli cap (wore this for about 2/3rds of the day
  • REI Schoeller hiking pants
  • Smartwool Adrenaline lighter hiking socks
  • Keen boots
  • Mtn Hardware very Wicked Lite Double t-shirt
  • Icebrearker GT 180 zip long sleeve
  • Pearli vest (wore this off and on during the day)
  • REI shell (only wore this at the top, after lunch when got a bit cold due to wind)
  • sunglasses (Smiths)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:46:00 -0700 Running Brice Creek http://mountain-monkeys.com/running-brice-creek http://mountain-monkeys.com/running-brice-creek

Today I finally got to run at Brice Creek, a place I've wanted to run for a long time.  It is one of my favorite mtb trails, great scenery, and one of the more rocky trails I know of around here (which is still fairly tame compared to somewhere like Tahoe).  I was running by about 8:15am this morning, and in an unusual bit of August weather, it was 48 degrees!  I donned an Icebreaker GT t-shirt, and then some Pearli arm warmers, which turned out to be a perfect combo.  Temp I don't think got any warmer during the run, and I even got a bit cold towards the end.  


As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I did wind up running in the Inov8 shoes.  This was interesting, given how rocky the trail was, and how much more of the trail you feel with these shoes.  However, it was fine, and actually, turned out to be a great choice, given these shoes have excellent toe bumpers, and I needed them a half dozen times today!  Ugh, just nailed my toes into rocks several times, and in fact, on the last time, it tripped me up enough that I wound up having to put my right hand to the ground, but that bounced me back up.  The only other point of note was that these shoes are a bit roomy on me.  In the toe box that's great, but across the top of the foot they're a smidge sloppy at times.  I should probably try lacing up tighter, but so far this hasn't really seemed to be a problem, and I'm trying to work out if the sloppiness is bad, or just different.  Sometimes it seems a bit more forgiving when you get into tricky terrain, allowing you foot to move as needed.

The run was 5.5 miles one way, 11 miles round-trip according to their map.  Too bad my watch wasn't accurate, as it shows a perfect half marathon:

I did a really nice pace.  I was very safe in the rockier sections, really picking my way through, watching the foot work.  It's a bit of an isolated location, although there were A LOT of campers out in the area on this day, so if I had gotten injured, it probably wouldn't have been too big an issue to get help.  Still, I'd rather just take it a bit easier and enjoy the run, and stay injury free!  Took 2 hours to do the run, which is about what I'd been figuring.  I did not make it up to the waterfall, but hope to another time.  That adds a very solid climb and I think about 2+ miles to the total.  But overall, the mileage, conditions, etc. were just about perfect for me today.  I did have some light right knee pain, as I've been having lately, but just sort of kept ignoring it.

Finally, I really love when Matt Hart takes short bits of video during or of runs.  So, I gave it a shot using my iPhone today.  Pretty bad really - it's quite hard to keep your arm real steady while running, trying to keep the camera pointed at the trail, and also watch where you're running yourself!  Here are the two videos.  The second one is a bit less shaky, and also shows some of the rockiness of the trail (well, you can sort of make it out :) and I think I'll make them shorter next time, seems like maybe 15 seconds is better than 30...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:31:00 -0700 A great week http://mountain-monkeys.com/a-great-week http://mountain-monkeys.com/a-great-week

The last week has been great, running wise.  I had been down visiting my family in southern CA, and got my sister out for her first trail run (she's been running a fairly long time, but never on trails).  We did a nice 45 min run at Crystal Cove State Park.  Bit of hills, pretty warm (80?), but fun.  We talked the entire run, and she's in great shape, so I was actually a bit out of breath towards the end.  I headed back to Eugene the next day, and crammed in some overdue work.  Then, ran each day until today.  These local runs totalled 22 miles, and I intend to do about 10+ tomorrow, so it'll be a solid week.  Thursday was a really nice 9 mile effort as well.

I've been doing pretty much all my shorter runs now in the Inov8 Roclite 295 shoes.  I'm very much liking them.  At this moment, I plan to run in them tomorrow, but it'll be a last minute decision I think.  The shoes are different, especially when you just put them on and sit there in them.  The insole reminds me of my Specialized Body Geometry cycling shoes, especially the earlier generations where there was a pronounced bump under your metatarsal area.  But, as soon as you hit the trail, you don't notice it, and in fact, the shoes just seem to fit me really really well.  They are more minimalist compared to the Brooks Cascadia, but so far, all I've been able to notice is that I feel more of the trail under my foot - I haven't noticed any particular muscle pain or other side effects that you sometimes hear about with more minimal shoes.  This is partly why I'm ready to go try them on a longer run (longest in them to date has been 6 miles).  Should be interesting.  I will also be interested to see how my legs fare having done the 9 miler on Thursday.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:57:00 -0700 Bachelor to Bend Ride/Tour with Cogwild http://mountain-monkeys.com/bachelor-to-bend-ridetour-with-cogwild http://mountain-monkeys.com/bachelor-to-bend-ridetour-with-cogwild

This past Sunday, for my second day in Bend, I did Cogwild's "Bachelor to Bend" tour.  I am normally a bit leery (snobby?) about doing paid tours like this, because it seems that often enough you get more rookie riders, so the pace is slow and the guides have to do a lot of work beyond just showing you the cream.  Luckily, that was not the case, and we had a killer day!  I joined 9 other guys, and two guides (Jeremy and Pia).  Seven of those guys were a group down from Washington, and they all rode great.  Two of the 9 were a father-son combo, with the son out for only his second mtb ride every!  Totally epic for a 2nd ride.  It's good he was young, cuz, damn, most people as a second ride wouldn't have survived the 36 miles and 6 hours of riding we did.  We did have a few mechanicals (I managed to tighten a cassette lockring using my Leatherman needle nose pliers, worked quite well, so keep that in mind as a field-lockring tool :)  Nearly all of us ran out of water, but with just a couple miles of dirt road to go (i.e. after the main riding).  So, 125oz of water for me for the day, 1 sandwich (provided by Cog, and they were quite good, from a local bakery), 2 gels, and a bar, and some fruit and such (again provided by Cogwild).

One of the reasons I did the tour was that I wanted to ride Flagline, which opened the same day, and I didn't know the route, etc.  Not to mention, I had heard good things about the whole Bachelor to Bend ride/tour.  We did indeed hit Flagline, and it was great.  At the bottom of Flagline, we did a little side jaunt up to a killer vista, where you could see Bachelor, Tumalo, the Sisters, and more:
Great view of Bachelor on our ride
After that we hit South Fork, which I loved.  Pia led this out, and I jumped on her wheel.  The two of us just railed it, leaving the others behind.  I was truly loving this trail.  It's fast, mildly technical, twisty, and just so much fun.  Now that I've been up to the vista, really, the super choice descent would just be from the top of Flagline all the way down to the bottom of South Fork.  I think that'd be something like 6 miles(?) of top quality descent.  Superb!  I should note, Pia probably doesn't even weight 100lbs (seriously), but the woman can rip (and I'm quite sure she wasn't going all out).  From there we headed to Tumalo Falls for lunch.
Tumalo Falls, gorgeous
I really love Tumalo Falls, the 97 foot waterfall is truly gorgeous.  We stuck our heads in the river/creek, and then it was time to charge on.  Back along Tumalo, to Skyliners.  Somewhere along Skyliners is where Mark's cassette blew up.  Oh, and luckily we noticed his tire bead had started to come off a bit and was filled with a bunch of dirt.  A bit of maintenance, and we were on our way again.  We hit Whoops; if only I could ride it as well as Voreis and friends:
But, even for a crappy jumper like myself, it is still a blast.  I just don't do the doubles :)  The berms are awesome, and the smaller jumps are quite workable.  Finally it was back along Phil's to the Phil's trailhead and then a backroad/trail to Cogwild HQ for water, beers, and bike wash, completing a killer day!  It was time for me to drive back to Eugene, so I stopped for a fish taco and an Ahi burrito at Parilla, and then hit the road.  I had a really great weekend in Bend.  

Here it is on Monday night now, and my eyes have finally recovered from the very dry weather, and all the dust.  That appears to be the only lasting body blow, as my legs amazingly recovered great.  I did a 5k trail run this morning, and all felt good.  I'm pretty stoked on that, and it renews my belief that I do better with a bit more frequent rides & runs (i.e. it proves I shouldn't have gone so easy the week before the half marathon).  Initially on Sunday's ride, maybe at the vista or end of Flagline, my legs were feeling Saturday, but the descent down South Fork and probably then lunch, rejuvenated me, and by the end, I felt even stronger (not that I wasn't pretty knackered at the end of the ride, but felt pretty strong, just thirsty :) 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:15:00 -0700 MTB Ride on Phils, etc. in Bend http://mountain-monkeys.com/sold-mtb-ride-on-phils-etc-in-bend http://mountain-monkeys.com/sold-mtb-ride-on-phils-etc-in-bend

I'm in Bend for the weekend, where it's actually far cooler (86) than Eugene (100!!), to do some riding.  I woke up earlier this morning and got on the road at a good time, and was out riding the trails a little before 11am.  This made the temps very tolerable.  I had planned a general Phils, Storm King, COD, loop, thought it'd be about 20+ miles, and take about 2-ish hours of ride time.  Well, I was a bit off, and I wound up not even doing one section (VooDoo) that I wanted to hit.  But, 3 hours and 30 minutes, 2600' of climbing (pretty mild), and about 25 miles later, I was pretty cooked.  This was supposed to be a pretty easy ride, as I have the Bachelor-to-Bend ride tomorrow.

It was quite a good ride though.  Got to do some trails I hadn't been on before, including lower Whoops (thought I did it all, but realized I didn't get up to the upper section, so bit bummed about that), and Storm King.  The rest I'd done before, and did manage to get to do Dirty Pirate again, which is good, and some more gnarly parallel chunk of COD (that I wound up doing both directions as I was thinking it was ELV).  I rode my Reign, which is a bit of a tank for this kind of ride, but wanted to suss it out for tomorrow, as everyone has said to use it for that, and my last time riding around Bachelor I did in the end wish I'd had suspension.  Still a toss up though, and I still really just need to sell the Reign and get a nice 3-4" travel 29er (think Tallboy or Jet9).

Nice to be on the bike, and on good trails too. Could have used even more rock, and a little less of the more sandy, buff stuff, but still good.  I find I really like coming to Bend.  Very vibrant town, lots of folks out and about, and there is just a vibe of energy.  Eugene just doesn't feel that way to me at all.  Sometimes it really makes me question our choice, and think we should have gone for Bend, but it's unclear.  Family is all in Eugene, and that is really very nice.  Also, I do not particularly like the desert aspect of Bend.  For now, I will just be happy to get over to Bend a bit more, seems like a good destination for riding, running, and vacationing.

I then checked into my hotel, showered, did a half-ass ice-bath (just cold water, no ice), went into town for some new running shoes (another post on that later), and then back to chill.  Made some coffee, had some chips and salsa, relaxed.  Then it was dinner time...

The hotel I'e got has a kitchen (stove, microwave, 'fridge).  I knew this, and had prepped some food, as we had just gotten our CSA box, had lots of food at home, and well eating out solo isn't much fun.  Besides, I probably had a better dinner than I could have most places...  I had artichokes, chicken and brown rice tacos (soft corn tortillas) with salsa, and a bit of cheese and crackers for appetizer :)  Pretty sweet.  I've got some salad and pre-cooked potatoes in the fridge for later if I want, but I'm pretty full right now.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:08:27 -0700 Reflecting on the Haulin Aspen Race http://mountain-monkeys.com/reflecting-on-the-haulin-aspen-race http://mountain-monkeys.com/reflecting-on-the-haulin-aspen-race I've been wondering why I just wasn't that happy with my race at Haulin Aspen, even though my time was pretty solid for me.  I've realized that it really comes down to the fact that I after about 4 miles, I just wasn't enjoying it, and wasn't running strong.  I had really been looking forward to this race, felt I'd done some good training, and just couldn't wait to get to run that distance again!  

The week leading up to the race I'd taken it super easy based on various things I'd read, some slight pain in my right knee, and partly time.  I only ran twice during the week, and they were both 4 mile or less runs, that I took easy.  In hindsight I think that was a mistake.  I should have run one more day, and I should have done at least one or two 6-8 milers.  That may or may not have helped, but I think that I'd simply have liked it better, I missed running this week!  

Probably regardless of the training, I think the key was that unpleasant, sustained road climb.  I haven't done any climbs that have lasted that long where I was also able to run all of it (I did walk a few minutes, but not that much).  Where I run it's either too steep to run the entire climb like that, or the climbs simply aren't that long.  Top that off with the fact that that hill was just plain boring and ugly to run up: a big wide dirt and sometimes gravel or sandy road.  I knew it was coming, but I think it still just wound up taking a real toll.  Pretty much from that point on I never felt strong again.  And that is really where I get bummed.

I'd have been happier if I felt strong running - even if I was just going the same speed I did.  The "strong" is about how I felt mentally and physically in terms of enjoying the run, having a good time, being happy I was out there running, regardless of how fast I was going.  I didn't get that, yet I did both times on my two longest training runs.  Both of those runs ended with me feeling like I could have gone longer, and in fact, on the second one, I had really really wanted to go longer, but felt the blisters and knew I should cut things short.  But, with this race, I got to the point where I was yearning for the finish.  So, all that winds up leaving me a bit bummed out about it as a run.

It has made me wonder - what could I have done differently to have changed that?  Could I?  Without being practiced on longer sustained climbs, I'm not sure.  Although I do suspect I really should have just walked a chunk more of that climb, left more energy in my tank, and that may have then allowed me to run stronger for the rest.  My time probably would have been just as good, who knows.  But, that's tough, when you're in a race, and the climb is quite runnable, you simply don't want to walk when "everyone" else is running (I only remember seeing one guy, maybe one woman, doing any walking).

I try to tell myself, hey, you've only been running about a total of a year, with your longest run being 6 miles until June, and here you are racing a half marathon, that's solid, you can't expect to have a strong run every single time.  In the end, it's disappointing, but I guess motivates me to continue, get stronger, be stronger more often, and to get faster.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:32:00 -0700 Haulin Aspen 2010 Half Marathon http://mountain-monkeys.com/hauling-aspen-2010-half-marathon http://mountain-monkeys.com/hauling-aspen-2010-half-marathon
Earlier today I completed my first half marathon trail race, the Haulin Aspen, in Bend, OR.  It was a well done event, and overall quite a good time.  My official finish time was 2:06:16, but my watch had 2 hours 5 minutes and some seconds.  Close enough :)  I'm pleased with my time, as I was thinking it'd take 2:15.  But oddly, I'm left not as happy as I should have been.

Prep this morning went great, and I was nice and relaxed at the start.  The first mile of the race was a bit harsh, kinda fast for me, big time dry mouth action in the dry air there, and since I rarely race, just harder to start at such speed.  This was mediated by the fact that I saw I'd done about an 8.5 minute first mile though.  For me that's pretty fast, although that first mile was mostly flat.  I kept thinking I should slow down a bit, and I did feel like I did settle in to my own pace, so I was quite stoked when at the 4 mile mark, I saw I was just under 32 minutes, so now averaging 8 minute miles!  Very good for me, and I was pretty pumped.  Also, at that four mile mark, I was finally feeling pretty solid.  I was also happy to see that my watch mileage lined up perfectly with theirs, so that'd be nice for checking my progress.  That didn't last long though...

Soon after you hit the hill.  It's a wide dirt and gravel road, and climbs, with no shade, for I think about 1.5 miles (I think they state it's about a 1300' gain).  I knew this was coming, but it just wound up draining me quite a bit.  That's a lot longer sustained climb than anything I've ever done.  I did walk a few bits, and I probably should have walked more.  But man, in a race, you're just in the spirit of it, and you don't want to be walking!

The hill finally tops out, there's an aid station (the second one I just ran through, since I was carrying water and gels), and you do a quick bit more singletrack climbing.  Then it is mostly rolling.  A bit after this, we saw one the 19 mile mark, so we'd obviously rejoined the marathon course.  What sucked though, was that this would mean I had 7 miles to go, and thus was only 6 miles yet.  Yet my watch said I was something like 7.5 miles in!  Not a small discrepancy.  I had not really been able to pick up the pace any more either, even though we were done climbing.  This was also about the point I finally decided to try to take a leak, and as I figured, not much came out, but hey, at least the sensation was gone :)

This reminds me that, while on the main hill climb, there was a younger girl (18?) just a bit in front of me.  I could see her keep looking back as she'd jump into the bushes, and then back out.  I covered my eyes in an obvious way to say, go for it, I won't look.  Finally the third time she jumped into the bushes she stayed there.  This was pretty early in the climb.  And I swear maybe a mile or so later (after she's caught and passed me, grrr), she pulls over for another one!  She still finished the race ahead of me, although just a little :)

Anyway, the course continued to roll, few bits of more downhill stuff too.  Even a couple real short, slightly technical sections which were fun!  I was getting pretty beat though.  My watch said we'd done 10.5 miles, but I knew that was way ahead.  But, I kept thinking, ok, just roughly 30 minutes more, you can do that.  I was walking more often now too.

Finally, you could star to hear cheers and could tell we were getting to the bottom.  And then, we came into Shevlin park, sort of ran almost into some honey buckets (go team!) and made a 90 degree right onto....  an uphill paved road!  This was NOT a good point in the race for me.  All I could think was, "fuck, they are finishing the race on a paved uphill?!?!"  That section of pavement felt like it took forever.  I already knew I wasn't going to break 2 hours, but if the finish was at the end of the pavement I just might (since I knew this paved section was supposedly 0.7 miles, according to the announcement at the start).  I plodded along, looking for the covered bridge, as I knew that was the reason we were doing the pavement, so we could get to that.

Upon arriving at the covered bridge, the volunteers said you've got "about half a mile to go".  What?!?!  Ya, I wasn't happy.  Luckily it was back on to trail, but I was just beat at this point.  I tell ya, that is the longest half mile I've ever run!  It easily felt like a mile, and it took me almost that long (normal pace wise) to run it!  Oy.  So much for the 2 hour time.  Alas, the finish finally arrived, and I saw my beautiful wife, and things began to get better :)  I wound up 21st in my age group, and I think 124th overall (out of 353 I believe).

Reflecting on the race, while my time was a lot faster than I expected, I think why I'm not as happy as I could be is that that ending really just kind of sucked.  The paved uphill was just a real bummer kind of thing for me to finish with.  Plus, I realized, when you physically can't see, and don't know where the finish is, that makes things hard.  I wouldn't have thought that, but I realize that was one of the tough things.  In the end, my watch read 14.6 miles, so that had messed me up a little.  However, the flip side of all this is that I really want to get under two hours now.  So, maybe that's part of the problem with getting that close to 2 hours.  Maybe if I had gone 2:15, I'd have been like, ya, that's about what I expected, fine.  But, now that the two hours was only those 5 minutes away, and that finish was so brutal (for me), I think I just could taste the 2, and wanted it that much more.  Alas, gives me a goal.  It also showed me that I can run faster, and that I need to practice that a bit too.  It's made me realize that since I can't go run 10+ miles each run, when I do the shorter runs, I do need to ramp up the speed, and hopefully that'll help with upping my speed overall.  So, overall, a pretty good outcome, and I'm pretty excited to have my first half marathon in the bag!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:06:00 -0700 Mountain Hardware/Montrail Tour du Mont Blanc Writups http://mountain-monkeys.com/mountain-hardwaremontrail-tour-du-mont-blanc http://mountain-monkeys.com/mountain-hardwaremontrail-tour-du-mont-blanc

I enjoyed running vicariously through Topher Gaylord (President of Montrail/Mountain Hardware) and friends' trip to train for Tour du Mont Blanc.  

Max King's blog entries:
Promo like video with Gaylord and King:

Max King, soul runner video from the trip:

I recently picked up some Mountain Hardware Refueler shorts, and the Double Wicked Lite shirt.  Both are excellent for running, I really like them, and it doesn't hurt that they also look good.  I suspect I'll stay with the regular Refueler short, vs. the Refueler Advance that King talks about, since I am just now moving fro 9" inseam shorts to 7"...  Not ready to go to 5" yet :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:25:11 -0700 Two Runs, Heat, and No Tape! http://mountain-monkeys.com/two-runs-heat-and-no-tape http://mountain-monkeys.com/two-runs-heat-and-no-tape Got out for runs on Monday (Blanton, 3.6mi) and Tuesday (Willamette, 4mi).  Both were in the afternoon and it was about 80 degrees.  For some folks I realize that's nothing, but for me it's getting on the warmer side.  I consider 80 to be about the threshold where once over that the run takes a noticeable extra toll.  I sweat a lot more, and the run itself just feels heavier and harder.  This is not surprising in terms of "hotter than normal" conditions of course.  Both runs were decent, but the bigger news was that these were also my first runs not taping my ankle!  The ankle did fine - zero pain or anything, and nothing aftewards.  Today, Wednesday, I feel a very very minor bit of ache in my ankle, but this is often what I feel post run even with the tape.  I'm planning a longer run for tomorrow and will likely tape, but we'll see, might just skip it and see.

I'm also excited right now, as I happened to get back in touch with Jared, who is a superstar adventure racer, and also a very fast mountain biker.  Super fit.  We got to talking about running, and now he's going to give me a tour of Pisgah tomorrow, as that's where I had planned to go, but there are no good maps, and so having a tour guide will be great in terms of starting to learn to navigate their maze of trails.  Really looking forward to it.  He will no doubt absolutely kick my ass: he was planning to go try to set a speed record at the Inca Run, a 4 day race in Bolivia, but it looks like the race may not happen.  Regardless, gives you an idea of his skills.  I've never run with anyone other than my wife (unless you count races), so this will be interesting to see.  I've already told him he's free to drop me :)  On the other hand, it'll be good for me to try to keep up, do a bit of race simulation, etc.

Today I also hit REI to see if they had any really light weight and somewhat more trim//shorter shorts.  I like the ones I have, but with the bit of weight loss (also proven by fitting size Medium in both Mountain Hardware and North Face brands - I have no idea the last time I work that size) and the warmer temps, I'm wanting something a bit less bulky and such.  I got these:
Both seem super light, airy, thin, shorter (I think my existing shorts are all of the 9" variety).  I also needed more shorts as I am ramping up to running 4 or 5 times even per week at times, and sometimes the laundry doesn't keep up :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:22:24 -0700 Learning to Go Hard http://mountain-monkeys.com/learning-to-go-hard http://mountain-monkeys.com/learning-to-go-hard Something that's been playing on my mind a lot lately, is how I'm new enough to running that I don't really know my limits and thus understand how hard I can go for how long, and how long it'll take to recover (during the same run).  On the bike, I know this very well.  I know that if I hammer some hill, I know precisely how my legs feel, how long I can do that, when I need to let up, and then when I can do it again.  But with running, I don't.  Partly this is pure lack of experience, having seldom really tried to go hard for some particular distance.

Over the last two days, I've put in two solid road bike rides.  Both were short, only about 1hr 35 minutes.  The first day I did a ride I've done many times, which included the McBeth climb, and total ride vert of about 2400'.  I did this ride maybe 5-10 minutes faster than normal, which I believe was completely due to the fact that about halfway through it, I passed a guy on a TT or tri bike, who then appeared to jump on and start chasing me shortly after.  I turned around to see he was at the base of a short hill, when I was maybe halfway up.  It was game on!  

From that point on, I put in a solid pace, about as hard as I could go, but sustain for at least 30 minutes.  So, clearly not a sprint, and I was sitting the entire time, but a few mph faster than normal.  On the descent of the same hill, I dropped a water bottle (first time ever?), and thought he'd catch me, but he didn't.  Occasionally looking back, I could still see him, but by the junction on Lorane towards home, I'd apparently dropped him.  Was definitely a hammer ride, but felt good.

Yesterday I did a similar distance, similar vert climb, but not quite so hard.  During this I spent a lot of time thinking about doing hard efforts, and how to figure out how to do that during runs, in particular during races.  Usually on the bike, there are parts of a ride that this is easy to do and break into a particular chunk: a climb, or trying to drop someone who's behind you on a flat, or going hard to the next road you'll turn on, etc.  But, while running, about the only time I've really ramped up pace is when I've run downhill a bit, recovered, and am feeling fresh, and just feeling like turning it up a notch.  This doesn't usually last very long though, I'd bet the longest I've pushed a hard pace is maybe 1/3rd of a mile.  Partly I'm just not comfortable doing it, or rather, it feels odd.  It doesn't feel bad, it's just that my legs/body aren't used to it.  So, in part, I think I simply have to start doing it more.  Racing will be a good way to force the issue, but even there, I'm not typically racing a particular person, or care about that, so haven't.

Alas, for the upcoming Haulin Aspen half marathon, I'm currently strategizing that I'll do the first half of the race at my "usual" pace.  This is also the expected hardest half of the race as it has all the vertical gain.  But descents are usually where I can open things up anyway, and I think I'll be able to sustain a faster pace for longer and not run out of gas.  So, we'll see.  My goal will be to really try to put in some speed during the last half, when I can.  I don't expect to blitz the entire last half, but will conciously try to run faster than normal whenever possible.  Hopefully I can do that without bonking.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:45:34 -0700 Another big run today http://mountain-monkeys.com/another-big-run-today http://mountain-monkeys.com/another-big-run-today Today was pretty exciting in that I was able to do a 12 mile run only a couple days after doing my 14.5 mile/longest run to date.  At the 8-9 mile range, I felt awesome, not tired at all, and was starting to dream of doing up to 15 miles.  But, as I did some downhill on Willamette, some toes on my right foot flared up, and I could feel that it must be a couple blisters, as it was tender.  I knew I was also maybe a bit tight on water, so I headed back.  It was a good call in the end.  6 hours later (as I type this), and I'm fairly worked - just feeling like I need a bit of sugar, and still needing to drink a lot of water, but otherwise good.  Two of my toes do indeed have blisters.  I'm now debating whether I drain/pop them or what.  This is new territory for me (first set of blisters).

Today I ran with the Nathan pack again, thing is great.  I also tried orange flavored Hammer gel: excellent!  It's super light on flavor, actually bordering on not really even having flavor.  But, the real bonus was that it seemed far more liquidy than their other gels, so it was that much easier to consume.  This is going to be good stuff.  I also had some Sport Beans, and man, with the high salt in those, they just taste great deeper into a run when you've been sweating a lot and it's warm out.  Not something I can eat a lot of, but in the right moment, they're great.

Did the run in 1 hour and 59 minutes :)  Initially felt a bit of residual heaviness from Wednesday's run and Friday's road bike ride, but by a few miles in all was going well.  Did some decent hill work today.  Started at Spencer Butte parking, up and over to Fox Hollow, one typical lap there, then did a down and back up on the lower section that goes to Martin Street.  This is a solid descent and climb back up.  From there, up and over to Willamette, which is all I planned, but again, was feeling good, and even with the toes, wanted to do a bit more.  So, I did a brief bit on Blanton, to the little mini hill embedded in there, around that, and then back to Spencer parking.  12 miles probably (12.55 on my watch).  Good stuff.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:46:30 -0700 Convincing Myself of Half Marathon: My Longest Run To Date http://mountain-monkeys.com/convincing-myself-of-half-marathon-my-longest http://mountain-monkeys.com/convincing-myself-of-half-marathon-my-longest I am very happy with the outcome of yesterday's run.  I set out to do a long one, to get close to or do a half marathon distance, to see what that's like and prove to myself I can do that at the upcoming Haulin Aspen.  I wound up running even further than I planned, covering about 14 some-odd miles (my watch said 14.89, but it tends to overestimate a bit).  What I bummed about is that I simply can't seem to understand how I'm supposed to know how much ascent/descent I've done from my watch.  The watch tracks this, but I fail to see how to actually see the numbers!  The manual is not helpful.  I am curious because I'd like to know if I was at about the same as the Haulin Aspen will be (1300'), or more, or less.  VERY back of the napkin calculations would put me somewhere between 1000-1500', but with all the little ups and downs, it could be more.  

I felt really good during the run.  I didn't feel I was running a very fast pace, but I also didn't walk too much either.  My time was 2 hours 18 minutes, so that's a high 9 minute/mile pace assuming it was 14 miles.  That works.  Haulin Aspen will be harder for sure, simply due to the heat (my #1 concern), and the wildcard of the altitude (sometimes it affects me, sometimes it doesn't, thus "wildcard" status).  Yesterday I tried out a new hydration pack, the Nathan HPL #008.  This went a lot better than the other pack I tried last week, and this one is going to work really really well.  It fits great, was comfy to run in, and I really like the front pockets on the shoulder straps.  I was able to carry 50oz of water, of which I drank about 40-45 yesterday (was 75 degrees out), and carry some gels, and my iPhone.  The phone did start bouncing around a lot towards the end when I'd consumed the gels that it was sharing the zippered pocket with.  I'll have to think about the best way to alleviate that in the future.  Anyway, I plan to use this pack in the race.

Another thing I've surprised myself a bit with is how much I like Honey Stinger "gold" gels.  I normally don't like super sweet stuff, but damn if these don't taste just awesome on the trail! They are a bit like a somewhat more liquid packet of honey, and I am just loving them right now.  I would say my mainstays are still a variety of gels from Hammer, in particular the Banana, Espresso, and I'm now trying their new Montana Huckleberry.  But the Honey Stingers, especially towards the end, are great.  They're easier to consume as they're more liquidy (than most gels, except maybe those crazy 4x salt versions of the Powergels), and their taste just really hits the spot when you're worked (although so do the Banana Hammer gels).

This morning, I'm feeling good.  Just hanging around, I feel very little residual soreness or what not from the run, which is great.  I know if I were to go run I'd be feeling it for sure, but feel I've recovered pretty well.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:38:30 -0700 Heat and More Heat http://mountain-monkeys.com/heat-and-more-heat http://mountain-monkeys.com/heat-and-more-heat We've had a heat wave here in Eugene this past week.  Nothing like the temps of the last place I lived (Rocklin, CA), where things routinely hit 100, but still, quite hot for Eugene (upper 90's).  On Thursday I went out for a run in the morning, wanting to beat the heat.  I went in the morning, and it was only about 80 degrees.  However, I was definitely feeling it.  I had a bit of residual tiredness from Tuesday's run on top of that.  I had wanted to do a bigger run, around 10 miles, but it became evident early on that that wasn't going to happen.  I wound up doing 8.5 miles, and finishing a water bottle before the end of my run (have never done that before).  I was completely soaked in sweat by the finish.  And, upon arriving home, checked my weight, to find I was 4+ pounds down from the morning!  That includes having had more water in the car on the way home, and when I got home.  Ya, dehydrated for sure.

On Friday, I planned to take the day off, due to the very high temps (was supposed to hit 98), and the dehydration and such from the day before.  But, I was just restless, and had to get out.  So, in the middle of the afternoon, I went for a short road ride.  Temps ranged from 95-99 during the ride, depending on where I was.  I even chose to do the McBeth climb simply because it was tree lined/shaded, as compared to nearly every other road I could do on a shorter ride.  Strangely, this heat didn't bother me nearly as much.  On the bike it helps that you have a 15-20mph "wind" simply due to riding, but I was surprised the heat didn't get me as bad.  Coming back up McLean on the way home was quite hot, but all in all, not bad.  

Saturday I did wind up taking off, had a nice family day.  Weather cooled down a bit into the mid to upper 80's.  Spent some time outside, but just hanging out with my kids and relaxing.

Sunday I got to get on the mountain bike, and went off to do Goodman-Eagles again.  I started the ride at 11am, and it was in the mid-70's.  But man, I don't know if it was more humid in amongst all the trees or what, but it became a serious sweat fest.  It was in the 80's by the end of the ride, but even 20 minutes in I was sweating heavily.  This is a solid ride, with 2500 feet of climbing in the first hour and 15 minutes, getting up to the Eagle's Rest summit.  I hadn't really realized it was that much, and that helps explain why it's a pretty solid ride for a shorter ride (total ride time is 2 hours).  Met Ken and Scott at the base of Eagles, and then led them up to the top.  We hung out and talked for a while, about the relatively unknown, yet somewhat epic surfing on the Oregon coast, Eugene's difficult job market, and so on.  Then it was time to head down.

Somewhere on the first segment down, I had a very hard rock-to-rim hit on my front wheel.  At the base of Eagle's I thought it was fine.  Checked the wheel, tire, etc., all seemed ok, and I've had these before, so wasn't worried.  But, riding a bit more, realized the tire was going flat.  I stopped and assumed I just needed to inflate it a bit, it'd probably burped or lost a bit, and the tubeless sealant just needed a bit of air and a spin, etc., so I told Ken and Scott I was fine.  Of course though, the sealant didn't seem to be doing the job.  This sealant is quite old (more than 7 months), so I figured it'd probably just run dry or what not.  I inflated a bit, gave a spin, and figured I'd ride a bit more and see if I could get it to seal up.  But nope, a short ways later, air as getting low, and I pushed it too far, rolling the tire and sliding out.  At that point it was time to put a tube in.  To continue the good times, the tube I had was a 26" tube, so it took a bit of work to get it stretched around the rim, and then a lot of work, oddly enough, to get the tire back on (I hadn't recalled these tires being so tough to mount - maybe they too were feeling the heat).  Finally, I got it all put back together and headed down again.

By now though, the mojo, the flow, was gone.  I was riding somewhat lamely, and just had to take it down a notch or two.  No way I was going to catch back up to Scott & Ken.  Oh well. Made it back, and it was still a good ride.  I just can't seem to catch a break on Goodman's in terms of unusual mechanicals.  But, this is also a sign that it's time to do some real bike maintenance.  I need to put the new pedal spindles in, new sealant in the tires (and maybe replace that front one), a good cleaning and tune, etc.  Regardless, it's great to be riding my mtb again, and I hope I can continue to get some good rides in.  And now, on Monday, it appears our heat wave has left us for the day.  We'll see if I get out today though, busy day, and I'm a bit tired.  But, given that I see we're supposed to see temps back in the mid-80's again this week, I might have to get out there...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/234629/CRB_Tahoe_2009.jpg http://posterous.com/users/36UK8zyE9KI9 Christopher Bailey Chris Christopher Bailey