Thursday, June 27, 2013

Rumble on the NUT! Pure pain, and Prednisone


So this last weekend I was invited to the first annual Rumble on the NUT! The NUT is the North Umpqua Trail and is a continuous 70 plus mile trail maintained by the USFS and the BLM. It has been on my to ride list for years and this seemed like a perfect occasion to rip down the trail with
 some friends. 

Dave Roth from Portland put together this great event and it included beer, bikes and softball and kickball. About half the participants were from Portland and the other half from Eugene. For Riding we had a bus to shuttle us up river and had two options approximately 25 miles or 50 miles. I choose to ride the shorter ride. I wanted to make sure Julie got to ride also and not be stuck watching Odin all day. This split the group down the middle half for the long, and half for the short ride.


Lewis and Clark Discovery time
Riding with new friends is always fun
Just a little climbing......Not
Deer Leap Fun

Just a little exposure near the trail
At first I was bummed I wasn't doing the longer ride, but it only took a few miles to be happy that I choose the shorter ride. Riding my singlespeed 33x20 was rough with the climbing as in the 28 miles that I covered I climbed 6,500 ft. That a lot for riding down a river. Also this trail is super exposed to big drops so I recommend that you check your brakes before riding as I rode with an almost non functional rear brake the whole way.

The views were out of this world and make me want to go back and ride the other sections. This is a true Oregon GEM. I ran the trail also the other direction and it is a great trail for running just keep your eyes peeled for Poison Oak. I got back and got rashes all over my body, that I don't believe are PO but required me to take a 5 day course of Prednisone and max out on Benedryl to deal with the itching. I looked like twitchy crack head on Monday at work between the itching and steroids.

Camping with a few bikes

Monday, June 17, 2013

Parenting and Riding/Fitness Part Duex




Time to head back home Odin!
In my last write up I was explaining the great ease in which I have maintained my fitness with Odin in tow. I got in some sweet adventures including riding Odin up hwy 242 McKenzie Pass in the Burley trailer in early May. Then I got a reminder that things aren't always so easy.
 

 I was told a hundred times that things change all the time with little babies, but I thought my baby boy is better. Till the middle of May Odin was sleeping 7-8 hours a night without waking us up. This abruptly ended with an ear infection. We were back to getting up every 1-2 hours. After a week of that we thought we were getting back on track when teething started to pick up. Rendering sleeping again to every few hours also and this hasn't ended.

In spite of these normal parenting stresses I did workout some, but the frequency dropped to where I was loosing all my base. Two steps forward and one dirty diaper backwards(I like my saying better).

So nothing to spark regaining your fitness like signing up to ride 117 miles(Oregon Gran Fondo). I thought this would make me get in the training. Unfortunately it didn't, so at the last second I had to change to a 71 mile medio fondo course which whooped my butt. I wouldn't have made it the whole way without Ryan McGinnis there to pull me along most of the way.
Me beating Ryan after he pulled me along. I am evil!

After this ride I was determined to pick up the training hours and had friends invite me to climb and ski Diamond Peak in June. I pushed all things aside at the chance to go ski fresh corn snow in 75 degree weather in shorts and a t-shirt. Round trip it was 4800 ft of climbing and descending with 3000ft of skiable snow and 8.5 hours. Then I put another 4 hours on the road bike that weekend also.


Scambling to the top of Diamond Peak

Who's ready to ski
The long hike home, 12 miles and 4800ft of climbing/descending

I wouldn't recommend such a jump in workload to most patients but it was like throwing nitro into my engine. the week before I had 2 hours of low intensity riding and then I had 16 hours of riding, climbing skiing, and two days of weight lifting.

I backed it back down but have made a point to keep my intensity higher. I want to stay strong, ride with my friends and feel good on the bike but it is subject to the little guy. I thank him for sleeping so well in April and May.

Milk Drunk with Daddy
So friends if I can fit in a ride with you awesome. If I get dropped by you, then be nice and wait up so that you can keep the cheese in front of the hamster wheel. If I am beating you, I will brag but that is because beating a friend on there easy day or when sick is my race these days. We live in the Cascades in Oregon and every adventure big and small is what we live for and soon Odin will be chasing me down and beating me.
Solo Goodman Creek/Eagles Rest. P.S. I set the new strava time for the whole shabang! 1 hr 59min 56 sec!