Lake Wanaka, and the Cinema Paradiso!

After viewing the SteamPunk exhibit and sculptures around Oamaru, we left for Wanaka in the early afternoon. We were ready for some personal time and a day "off", so we weren't terribly concerned about the details.

So I guess it was a good day to get lost! Oh, we didn't get very lost, but we took our own unique path. The easy availability of free tourist maps in New Zealand is fantastic. Really. There's a tourism site at every turn in New Zealand, with all kinds of helpful information. But every once in a while we had reason to miss our detailed maps and our trusty Tom-Tom. So our actual route may have been a little longer than we'd planned, but it may have been an easier path. I think we accidentally chose a straighter path. Score 1 for Stephanie, 0 for car-sickness!!!

After numerous stops to take photos of sheep and old shacks (which all look irresistibly quaint to us) we arrived in Wanaka in the late afternoon. I'd read in a guidebook that taking in a movie at the Cinema Paradiso wasn't to be missed, so we'd tentatively planned to watch a movie.

We checked in at a hostel, took a walk on the lakefront, and spent some time sitting in the sun reading. (We both got addicted to the Millennium series during the trip, and read all three books. Two thumbs' up!). It was nice to just take some time to unwind, and I was this ' ' close to just settling into my lazy funk and not doing anything else. But ... the theatre was less than a block away, and ... well, Lonely Planet said it was a must-do! I do love a good theatre experience.

So late in the evening we walked the half-block from the Mountain View Backpackers to the theatre. The guy at the hostel had indicated that there might be a few pizzas on the menu. He was really underselling the place! Although we did end up ordering a pizza, and a pretty good salad, to share.

The theatre was mostly set up with couches, and with the body of an old car for more adventurous theatre-goers. We decided to be less adventurous, and selected a nice couch, front-ish and center. As you'd expect, it's a small, one-movie-at-a-time, kind of theatre, and Animal Kingdom was the evening movie. I'm not going to give a movie review, but I will say that I liked it. Overall, maybe a 4/5.

At intermission I indulged in a hot chocolate with shots of Frangelico & Kahluah. Quite a bit sweeter than my normal pics, but it was a nice luxury after a couple of weeks of flying and hiking and biking and adventuring. A nice, slow, easy, cool spring night in the mountains.

As a side note about alcohol in New Zealand -
When you order a cocktail; the New Zealand standard shot is smaller than the U.S. shot. It never occurred to me that there was a difference in shot size, but a few unrelated locals explained to us that the single shot needs to be smaller because Kiwi's are such alcoholics. Interesting. Maybe we should be marketing the Utah 3.2% beer!

Another interesting note; RTD's are quite popular in New Zealand. I'm not sure I'd ever seen one before, but RTD = Ready to Drink, and refers to popular pre-mixed drinks like the Bourbon & Coke and the Gin & Tonic. They're not the best versions of the cocktails, and the alcohol level is lower (due to the standard shot size), but they're sure convenient.

North to Oamaru

From Dunedin we drove north to Oamaru, headed for more penguin sightings and an overnight in a small coastal town.

Our first stop was at Evansdale Cheese; a small artisan cheese-making company located in an old psychiatric hospital. A very friendly and energetic gentleman instantly started handing us samples of cheese, and kept handing them to us, only

slowing to tell us to eat faster. He had visited Oregon several times on cheese business, and specifically mentioned both Grants Pass (where I grew up), and Crescent City (where I was born!).

He was kind an adorable eccentric old guy, who thought were nuts for our non-traditional south island itinerary: “Hokitika? You’re FLYING out of Hokitika? Does is even have an Airport?”

I only realized later that this was the same friendly old gent who'd been giving me cheese at the cheese stand in the Dunedin Farmers' Market the previous morning.

The next stop was to see the Moeraki Boulders. They look like giant marbles, and are formed over 4-5 million years, through a process called ‘septarian concretions’ (like the way an oyster makes a pearl). The exact way these boulders are created is not fully understood. Now that they're exposed, they are being slowly eroded by the ocean. But there are more stones being exposed due to erosion, and it's anybody's guess how many are still completely buried in the dunes waiting to surface.

We were really happy that we'd been able to see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins at Sandfly Beach, but we still really wanted to see the Blue Penguins come in for the evening. So the only thing that

we really, really wanted to do in Oamaru was see the Blue Penguins. We'd made reservations and didn't have to arrive for the “penguin parade” until about 8 pm. So we went to our hosts' home for introductions and a little insight into the town. Megan works with the local tourism district, and had previously worked with the penguin colony, and was able to give us some really valuable insight into the town. AND a place to stay! :)

After having dinner with Megan and her family, and playing with the dog, Roxy, we dashed over to the Blue Penguin colony.

The seating is a small set of wooden bleachers right at the top of a rocky shoreline. There's a small section that appears to be paved, and “ramp-like”, which seemed like the natural place for the penguins to come in. There was a bit of introduction – “some of these penguins have started to bulk up, so you'll notice some wee little fat ones...” … our speaker was simply adorable – and some waiting – and then we saw the first raft of penguins come in.

It looked like a seriously harsh landing for the tiny birds, and we were amazed that they weren't getting crushed into the sharp rocks by the crashing waves. Apparently they have a lot of feather and fat that protects them. Once they get feet on land they start making their way up the hill. Slowly. Occasionally taking “wee little naps” along the way. And once they get to the top

of the hill they dash across the open space on top, dart through little openings in the fence, and head for their home for the night.

A little later in the evening we were allowed to get right up to the fence that separates the bleachers from the rocks leading down to the ocean. And there were a bunch of penguins trying to make their way up the rocks! Jumping from one rock to another, sliding down, looking for another rock to jump to … it's slow going for animals that aren't well designed for climbing and walking. But they're determined little things. From our vantage point, several walked within about a foot of our feet! It was fantastic to watch.

When we first arrived in Oamaru we'd taken a crazy round-about way to get into the old town area of Oamaru, and to our hosts' home, and somehow completely bypassed all of the downtown area. Megan had advised us that there's a SteamPunk exhibit right in the middle of town.

It sounded absolutely crazy, and just the random kind of thing that we love. So the next morning we went downtown to check out the exhibit at the museum, and the sculptures located around town.

It was clearly a collective effort by all kinds of artists in this small town. They had created movie shorts, all sizes and kinds of sculptures, costumes – really remarkable! Unfortunately we couldn't take photos of the exhibits in the museum, which was where a lot of the cool stuff was located, but we did take a bunch of photos of the larger sculptures around town.

Our arrival on the South Island - Dunedin

After a quick stop to drop off our bikes (Thanks Marcello and Cyclezone) we headed to Rotorua Airport. Getting through the airport was a breeze, especially since nobody checks ID’s and there was absolutely no security screening. The ride was a bit noisy since we were sitting right next to the propeller (yes I said propeller), but the service was excellent and the flight attendants were wonderful.

We arrived in Dunedin with a wet Scotland-like welcome. Our new rental car was a manual transmission. As if driving on the other side of the road was not bad enough, now I have to SHIFT with my left hand?

We drove straight to our new couch surfing hosts home, right downtown. Matt and Tash were great hosts, and made us feel welcome right away.

Sightseeing in Dunedin really started with the Botanic Gardens.

Although it was too early in the season to enjoy the flowers in full bloom (like their sprawling rose garden) we had a lovely time wandering the many garden paths.

One of these paths took us uphill to the aviary. Examples of many native birds entertained us with their colorful plumage and many different calls. One of the cockatoos was said to have a good English vocabulary, but he must not have liked my funny accent, as I could not get him to utter a word.

A tourist “must do” in Dunedin is visit Baldwin Street the steepest street in the world. Why anyone would ever build a street this steep is beyond me, and why anyone would ever LIVE on it, boggles the mind.

A walk up it took us nearly 12 minutes, and winners of the annual foot race up finish in two. Turns out Dunedin has quite a few steep streets, but Baldwin St tops them all.

Another day was spent on the Otago Peninsula.

A steep, twisty, uphill drive took us to the Larnach Castle. While small compared to the giants of Europe, the castle is still quite impressive. Built from 1873 to 1887, it was a huge project and cost the equivalent of millions in todays money. The ceiling in one room alone took 3 craftsmen 6yrs to complete.

The castle is being restored after being abandoned and falling to ruins. The family who owns it is finding and buying back as many of the unique custom built pieces of furniture as they can find, to return them to their original and rightful place in the castle. Almost as impressive as the castle itself is the gardens that surround it. The amount of work that goes into the renovations and maintenance of this place is staggering.

After the castle, a short drive brought us to Sandfly Beach (there are not actually any Sandflies there thank goodness). A walk down to the beach eventually led us to a viewing blind. We climbed over a wall to give space to the dozing Sea Lion blocking our path to the Hide, and sat down to wait for the very rare Yellow Eyed Penguin.

We ended up with quite a bit of company; human company that is, but the penguins were proving to be quite elusive. After several hours of waiting we had not seen even one.

Finally a lone penguin emerged from the ocean, and the whole blind of people spent 45 minutes watching this one penguin climb up the huge hill to his little cave somewhere way up top. After waiting so long, it was a bit of a let-down, but we saw a probably soon to be extinct animal in the wild.

We did see a few more come in. And one walked up the beach right in front of us as we were walking back to the car. I was so fixated on the little guy I totally did not see the large sea lion laying right in my path, if Stephanie had not said something I would have stepped on him like the log I thought him to be. That would be a wildlife encounter of the wrong kind.

Thanks to a tip from our hosts, Steph and I headed down to the Dunedin Saturday market, located right next to the Dunedin Railway Station (the most photographed bluilding in the country), where we rubbed shoulders with the locals and got some great cheese and coffee.

Dunedin is really a wonderful city. Settled by Scots looking for religious freedoms, the city is like a distant European cousin. Old historic buildings live side by side with Dunedin’s new economy. The locals have a different accent from northern NZ, with rolling R’s and phrases like “wee bit of ’”, “just a wee little one” thrown in now and then.

On our final night our Couch Surfing hosts took us to the nearby beach, and treated us to dinner at their favorite Japanese place (!) Have I mentioned lately how much we just love couch surfing and the opportunity to meet so many great people?!

Taupo

A 1.5 hour drive south from Rotorua brought us to Taupo, another city built next to a giant lake. Fishing is very big here, the lakes are stocked with lots of trout. It's illegal to sell trout in NZ restaurants, but most will cook your fish for you. In Taupo we couch-surfed with a great guy; Terence is friendly, generous and has a very positive attitude. I am also impressed by his physical ability; Terence is an Ultra-runner.

Many Taupo visitors come to take on the Tongariro Crossing, a 20 km alpine hike across rocky and snowy terrain. Shuttles are usually necessary to return you to your car (or town) and guide services are available for those wanting a bit more information or assistance. Terence needs neither. One day he took two young Danish couch-surfers up to do the Crossing. They all started at the same point, but instead of hiking with them, Terence ran. He ran the 20 km to the other end (where he had stashed a snack and some water). He then turned around and ran back to his car, passing the young Danes along the way. Upon reaching his car, he hops in and drives to the other end to pick them up. An alpine off-road marathon in six hours fifty minutes is just another training day for him, and he dismisses any compliments. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Terence is a proud grandpa.

While we did nothing as rigorous as the Tongariro Crossing, we had some good fun in Taupo. One day, Loren Yvette, Stephanie and I explored some trials near Huka Falls on our mountain bikes.

Stephanie and Yvette then went to a local café while Loren and I checked out the Craters of the Moon bike trails. Unlike the Craters of the Moon walking trails, the bike only trails go through a very nice forest. The trail surface is covered in pine needles and reminded me of trails in Oakridge or Bend.

After the ride we all stopped by Huka Falls to see the power of nature. The Waikato River is the only outlet for Lake Taupo, and releases 220 thousand liters of water every second. Its water passes through 8 hydroelectric plants on the way to the ocean, producing 15%of NZ' total power.

Our next day in Taupo was spent ON the river; a different river. The Tongariro River feeds INTO the lake from the opposite end of Huka Falls.

Our Kiwi River Safaris guide "M.P", picked us up in the company van and raced us along the lakeside to their base in Turangi.

At 13 km, this was one of the longer commercial raft trips available in NZ, and while none of the rapids were very large, they were plentiful. Every other minute we were splashing our way through another batch of white water, 55 rapids in total. To compensate for the smaller size of some of these rapids, I believe M.P. would sometimes increase our fun by intentionally bumping into boulders or bouncing off cliff walls. Or maybe he was just not very good (kidding - he was good). A short drive back to their base for warm showers and lunch completed our experience.

Our easiest day in Taupo was not actually in Taupo. We drove 45 minutes to Orekai Kuroko, a

well run privately-owned geothermal park. Nestled in a beautiful valley, we took the short boat ride over to the park.

The smells were like Rotorua, but the sights were much more amazing. The colors of the rocks and pools must be seen to be believed. The wooden walkways were well maintained, and my legs burned from the many steps we climbed (I thought this was supposed to be our easy day). Silica terraces and evidence of major volcanic activity were everywhere. One set of stairs descended into one of only two geothermal pools INSIDE a cave, in the world. The cave was a nice break from the heat outside.

After returning to shore, we enjoyed their patio while sipping our complimentary cappuccinos.

SSWC2010

What a sight! 950-ish (they didn't know for sure) single speed mountain bikes all slowly, slowly circling, waiting to be released. We had to keep moving in our paddock for two minutes before they would open the gate to let us out. And riding slow is not as easy as it sounds; there was much bumping and wobbling.

Finally we're off. A quick loop around the field and we enter the Whakarera forest, home to some of the best mountain biking trails in the world (really). But given that today we are sharing the trails with 950-ish of our new friends, things start out a bit cramped. Very cramped, as in we hit the first steep hill and were instantly walking. And walking...It was actually a nice easy way to start the day, good laughs and the mood was light as we pushed our bikes up the main climb.

Eventually things opened up and I was able to wake up the legs. Due to the random nature of the start, Stephanie was actually ahead of me, imagine my surprise after passing 50 or so riders when I came upon her back wheel. Her bike needed a few bolts tightened, so we pulled over for a pit stop. My mini tool was not able to squeeze into the tight space, but a spectator had a wrench that fit and we were back on our way. The quick stop gave us a chance to see some of the crazy costumes that were being worn, and while we wished we could have worn something fun, we were just happy to be here.

We had ridden the course a few days prior, so there were no real surprises...except the beer shortcuts. Mid way on the course was a choice, drink a Speight’s beer and take a bit of gravel road, or don't drink the beer and stay on the trail for a longer detour before meeting back up with the course. Not liking the taste of beer, my choice was an easy one (plus, who wants to ride gravel road over singletrack?) Stephanie opted for the free beer, but took so long to drink it, that even riding the gravel road "shortcut" its doubtful she saved any time.

The trails were in great shape, hardly any signs of the rain just days before. The crowds gathered in the expected spots (those with high chances of crashing) and were not disappointed. The best spot for viewing crashes was the stream crossing; I think it was the best, because the chance of injury was low. The stream was fairly deep, and with all the previous riding, it was impossible to see bottom. Even from other parts of the course I could hear the roar of the crowd when a rider splashed down. And even louder were the jeers if a rider tried to walk across the flimsy, rudimentary bridge that was off to one side.

The course was harder than I expected, the short ups and downs never allowing much rest. Half way round the second lap, the effort began to catch up with me. I had ridden many climbs others were walking on the first lap, and all off the big climbs on the second. Now I wished I had walked a few more of the steeper bits…this last climb had me cramping and barely able to walk my bike. I was not alone...ahead and behind I could see riders walking, and only a few tough souls were able to pedal at all.

Another trip through the stream and the finish line was almost in sight, but the (very) short descent was slick due to all the wet bikes and riders, and my brain functions were a bit slower than they should have been…so when my front tire slid sideways in the muck, I did something wrong and ended up flying over the bars and rolling judo-style to my feet. No blood no foul. I remounted and rode my crooked handlebars to the finish line.

Stephanie and Yvette were already waiting at the finish. Like many others, they chose not to do the two full laps (not a bad idea in retrospect). Loren came in shortly after, having properly paced himself to enjoy the ride (and not cramp up like I did).

The final act of the day was determining where this crazy event would be held next year. It was down to Ireland or South Africa. Members from each team had to walk across a field, stretching a bungee, then place a Speight’s beer can at the farthest spot possible. To make it harder, water was dumped on the ground making the surface slick. If the beer can fell over, only half the distance was counted.

And to no-one’s surprise, the Irish were best at carrying beer in difficult circumstances and will be hosting the 2011 Single Speed Mountainbike Worldchampionships. Guinness anyone?

Follow this link to Cyclingnews for more photos of race shenanigans.

More on Caving with the Glowworms!!

Our experience with the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company (we did the Black Abyss trip!) was so amazing that I thought I’d post a couple more pictures and tell some more stories.

As Gregg mentioned previously, there really are a lot of guides in this area. And we assume that they explore different caves. The network of caves in this area is vast! So we also assume that the caving experiences in this area could be really varied. But the online information is … let’s say more concise than descriptive. We could probably have picked any of the companies and had a fantastic time, but in the end we went with the company that seemed to have the most overwhelming number of online (positive, naturally) reviews.

Apparently we’d arrived just prior to their active season. Lucky planning on our part! And when we gathered with the guide we realized we were going to be a very small group; the two of us, and a recently married couple from Los Angeles.

Brydie & Monkey were our guides, and I think Marcel was doing a sort of intern/guide-in-training thing, and helping out. Monkey was super friendly, and very good at the rappelling training. I think he was really quite busy, but we didn’t see much of him after the descent; most of what he did was “behind-the-scenes”. So most of our time on this trip was spent with Brydie, and I can’t possibly say enough about her! Brydie has an amazing energy and excitement about what she’s doing, and made even the gearing up in ridiculous wetsuits and caving gear into an adventure!

We started with a very, very quick rappelling lesson. Gregg & I have very little experience rappelling – the Empress Falls Canyoning trip in the Blue Mountains of Australia is the only prior experience we’ve had – and the equipment was different this time. We were both surprised at how little time was spent on the “rappelling training” portion of the trip. But just as last time, they make you believe in their ability to “catch” you if needed. And, just as last time, we both found that it’s harder to descend than you’d think. Maybe with more experience you could freefall, but I found myself again feeding rope to try to descend faster. It’s really quite easy, and I can see why – as Monkey said – climbers don’t find it to be the exciting part … it’s just a way to get back down after the climb. Of course we’re not climbers. We still find it a bit exciting!

The descent seemed shorter than I’d thought. Maybe 35 m (about 100 ft) just seems a lot shorter when you can’t see the bottom! We descended into an “hourglass” shaped hole in the ground. Just as you go in it gets really narrow, and then when it opens up again there’s very little light. Gregg went down first, so as I was descending I could hear Gregg talking to Brydie at the bottom. With the echo, and my eyes not yet adjusted to the dark, it was impossible to tell how far away the bottom was. And since my ever so slight fear of heights is apparently triggered by my ability to see the distance below, I had virtually no fear on this descent!

From the bottom of the descent, once your eyes have adjusted to the dark, you can see the glowworms! It’s an amazing sight. Tiny green spots that glow all over the top surfaces of the caves; they look like tiny stars.
When we’d all gotten to the bottom of the descent, we walked a short distance to the zip line (the “flying fox”, here). They’ve decided that the flying fox is “more fun” in the dark. We’re not really sure why, and Gregg thought it would be more exciting if he could see where he was going, but I loved it! It was over too quickly, but so much fun!

The flying fox deposited us on an underground cliff about 15’ above the river. We sat at the edge and had a hot cocoa and “cave cookies” break. They do this a couple of times during the trip to keep you warm and keep your energy up.

From the cliff there are a couple of ways down. One is to walk gingerly down the slippery slope, with some assistance, to the river below. The other is to leap off the cliff while holding an inner tube, and land in the river on the inner tube. We all took the leap. What a big splash! And the water is initially FREEZING! But it warms up quickly and, as with many decisions in life, it’s better to take the leap than to tiptoe in from the side!

Once we were all in the river we got a quick lesson on glow worms. They don't sound nearly as pretty as they look, but if you want more information on what they actually are, here's a link!

Big sections of our trip were spent either floating down the river in inner tubes, or walking (and occasionally stumbling) where the river level was too low to float. There were definitely a few tight spots. At one point as we were floating down the river the cave ceiling got so low that we had to push ourselves away from the ceiling and “walk” our way through! Yikes! That was a little freaky. But this is a network of caves, after all, so there were bound to be a few “tight’ moments.

We also climbed up a couple of underground waterfalls; it’s challenging to find good footholds while the water is rushing down on you. But Brydie was standing at the bottom, pointing and shouting and clearly directing us, and with all the guesswork taken out it’s a much easier prospect. I have to admit though … I had a moment right at the beginning. I think I may have actually said out loud “We’re going where? Up there? Seriously?”.

And the top of the waterfalls were a bit tighter, so we found ourselves crawling on hands and knees to get over the peak of a waterfall and into the next area. I did discover in a couple of the tighter spaces that I needed the lights on when I’m hanging out in those spots. Why yes, I AM ever so slightly claustrophobic as well as being the tiniest bit terrified of heights! But what’s a life without facing up to a few challenges?!

We spent about 5 hours on this trip, most of it under the ground. It was exciting, and surreal. And it was definitely one of a few major highlights on this trip!

NZ - Day 2 -Glowworms

** Written by Guest Blogger - my man Gregg! **




For our second day in NZ we were off to Waitomo to see their world famous glow-worms. Even with turn-by-turn directions by Google we managed to get a bit off course. Luckily we had given ourselves plenty of extra time, and decided to stop in a small town for coffee. Stepping out of the car we were immediately greeted by the smell of roasting coffee. The smell led us to the Otorohanga Railway Station. Well, it used to be a railway station...now its home the Origin Coffee Company. We drank some very good coffee while the sounds and smells of coffee roasting filled the room.

There are several guide services in the Waitomo area; we chose The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. Our guides, "Monkey" and Brydie, equipped us with thick wetsuits and helmets, and gave us a quick lesson on how to our use our gear to descend into the caves.

We Rappelled ("abseiled" over here) 35 meters into a small dark hole, our headlamps trying to illuminate as our eyes adjusted to the abyss. We explored an amazing new world, saw incredible limestone formations, stalactites and stalagmites, took a "Flying Fox" (zip-line) ride in the dark, met "Cecil" a fresh water eel who lives in one of the many water holes and has become quite accustomed to the many tours that wade through his little home.

We climbed up tubes in the rocks with water rushing down, squeezed through tight passageways and jumped, up to 15 ft in one case, into pools of dark, cold water. And sometimes we just floated on our backs, in silence, with helmet-lights off looking up at the roof of the cave watching what look like green stars in the night sky.

When the adventure was over we took a different route back to Rotorua. It was longer, but easier to navigate. and made for a very scenic drive back. And no big surprise, we saw LOTS of sheep.

A quick stop in town for some take-away Thai and we were back at our hosts home. We wrapped up the evening by sharing stories about our caving adventure, and the mountain bike ride they had just returned from.

NZ - Day 1 - We've arrived in Rotorua!

Apologies first .... we've forgotten the USB cord for the camera. So pictures will follow, but possibly not until we get back!

We arrived in Rotorua a few minutes early, at 8:30 am on Monday. If you're trying to figure out the time conversion, NZ is 20 hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast. Here's how I think about - in practical terms, that means that NZ is 4 hours earlier in the day, but a day ahead. So as I write this it's 9 am here, which means it's 1 pm for most of you. But since it's my Wednesday, it's your Tuesday. See? Pretty, easy, right?

Marcello VERY generously offered to pick us up at the airport to help us transfer bike boxes to his home, where he'll store them for the duration of our trip. What a tremendous relief! It's absolutely fantastic that we've been able to get her with our own bikes, but dealing with the bikes and those big boxes for three weeks was going to be kind of a nightmare.

So Gregg reassembled bikes at Marcello & Heide's place. We had a moment of worry when my headset wouldn't work properly. Apparently a seal had cracked (oh no!!), but Gregg was able to put it together without the seal (yay!!!). It's not a permanent solution, but it'll be fine for the amount of riding we'll be doing here. Good enough!!

So we drove a few blocks to meet our Couchsurfing hosts in Rotorua. We spent a bit of time with Ben, and the house dog Flo, and then took off on our bikes to find some lunch, and more generally to find our bearings. Rotorua is a pretty small town, and both Marcello and our CS hosts live very near to both the forest and the center of town.

Once downtown we went straight to Zippy's Cafe. The food was good, the coffee was pretty good, and there were a LOT of Single Speeders there. After all the hype over this place I'll admit that I was expecting more, but I can see why it's a popular place. Among the SSers hanging out in front of the Cafe is Jacquie Phelan! I still owe her $3 for a patch she gave me at the Single Speed World Championships (SSWC) in Durango last year! She says she'll take a beer at the Pig & Whistle. Sounds good to me.

We exchanged some cash (FYI, no fee if you do this at the Bank/Post), picked up a phone, got some groceries, and then took the scenic tour back to our temporary home. There is a lot of thermal activity around Rotorua, and our scenic route back took us through several bubbling mud pools. Have you ever seen the old David Bowie movie "Labyrinth"? Remember the Bog of Eternal Stench?

And to cap off our first day in Rotorua, we spent a fantastic night with ALL of our hosts. Tracy & Ben are officially our hosts, but Ron & Jason have also been great company! And I can't forget to mention Flo & Nick - the dog & cat ... also pretty good company! We probably won't see everybody in the same room again while we're here, and we missed the opportunity to capture the moment on film. But we're really enjoying their company, and we're so glad to be able to spend this time with them rather than in a Hotel!!

And that's a wrap on Day 1!

Big plans for 2010!

In years where we don't have big travel plans we get to do a lot of little things. Last year we took several long weekends of mountain biking. Even thought we didn't have a single long or tremendous vacation, we had a lot of really cool moments.

I mentioned in the "Christmas Letter" that we're going to New Zealand this year. Yay!! But the trouble with the big travel year is that it eats up absolutely every moment of vacation time, and in this case every dollar we can get our hands on. Which leaves me feeling a little deprived for the rest of the year, and might explain why I'm so very obsessed with something that's still ... what ... eight months away?!

But since I'm obsessing I thought I'd throw out some of the want-to-do's and must-do's that I've come across.

In and around Rotorua:

• The SSWC of course!


• And for almost a week prior to the SSWC, the Rotorua Bike Festival


• Mountain bike in the Whakarewarewa Forest! Since the SSWC is here, that's kind of a done deal. But I think it goes without saying; after all the effort getting the bikes there, we'll be going for several more rides in the local Redwoods forest.


• I want to Zorb! There's absolutely no skill involved. It's over in a matter of minutes, like a carnival ride. It's completely ridiculous...but thinking about rolling down a hill in a giant beach ball makes me giggle like a little girl. And since Zorbing was invented in New Zealand, it seems the best place to give it a go.


• See the glowworms in the Waitomo Caves! There are a LOT of guided tours to do this. How to choose? But it looks like there are at least two companies (Rap, Raft 'n' Rock and the Black Water Rafting Company) that offer the full deal: "descending like a spider" to the bottom of a canyon, followed by blackwater rafting (cave tubing), and then climbing back out.

Possibilities if we make a side-trip to Auckland:

• Here's an activity that's appealing in part because of the "zero skill requirement". Have I mentioned I'm afraid of heights? And claustrophobic? So in the event I'm so terrified I'm incapable of exhibiting any kind of skill, "Sky Jumping" is...well as safe as it ever was!


• And here's one that's high on Gregg's list ... Rap Jumping! I have yet to find a link to a company that offers this particular brand of fun, so if you have a contact for me (with an email address or website), let me know. I've found a less impressive rap jump in Queenstown that may have to do if we can't find a higher-rise opportunity. (BTW, six stories is plenty for me).


• And if we do get to Auckland, I'd enjoy a kayak trip and maybe a Maori dinner hosted by TIME

And finally, on the South Island:

• Fox Glacier! A hike on the glacier, a night in an alpine hut, and a hike and helicopter ride back. This adventure would cost us quite a few pennies, but I so badly want to do it!


• Hike or Sea Kayak in Fiordland! After all the adventuring we'll be doing in the previous two weeks, my arms may be too noodly to paddle a kayak, but it would be so beautiful!


• Top the south island off with visits to Queenstown and maybe Dunedin (we've heard good things about Dunedin) for food, drink, shopping, sightseeing...slowing down the pace before flying home.

Whew! Am I over-planning? Seriously, it's crossed my mind to move to NZ for a year or two! There's just so much to see and do. But if you have an idea of something that isn't already on the list that I just shouldn't miss, let me know! I can't do it all, but I'll sure try.

Where did 2009 go?!

Happy Holidays!

We've done a very poor job of the holidays this year. We haven't sent a single card! Let alone any pictures, or news of what we've been up to this year.

So instead, I thought I'd offer up our year in cliff-notes, and an e-card that I hope you'll enjoy. (Warning: the e-card is a video. I'm not sure how you'll fare with dial up speeds, but you've been forewarned.)

This year's holiday letter is going to be pretty short, because for the first five months of the year I studied and worked, and worked and studied. Bo-ring. But in the end I passed my last Enrolled Actuary exam. So, Yay!

However, even though studying for that exam did take up nearly half the year, we still managed to fit in some pretty nice adventures.

• In January we spent a long weekend at the coast with family. Sort of a late holiday celebration, but also nicely timed to celebrate my mom's birthday!



• Gregg spent a lot of those 5 months trying to stay busy and out of my hair. In February he raced in the Echo Red to Red with Team Dirt, our mountain bike team. Talk about early season racing!





• And he is still as passionate about bicycle polo as he was last year. So he's played as much as possible this year, including taking a trip to Portland for the Championships. He claims to be a pretty non-competitive guy, but I'm betting that the people who play polo with him would disagree. He's good. And he's competitive.



• I did squeeze in an adventure of my own prior to the exam: in April I traveled to New York (via Atlanta and Philadelphia) for an exam seminar.
  
  I had a fantastic time visiting friends and co-workers in all three cities, but I have to admit that New York was the highlight. Most of my time in New York was dedicated to seminar and study, but I did get out to see a little of the city. I'd love to go back, and next time I want to have Gregg with me. What a fantastic city to explore!

• One glorious weekend in August was spent in Oakridge, Oregon, participating in Mountain Bike Oregon. What an amazing time! We have such fantastic MTB friends, and it was great to see so many of them in the same place, at the same time. Good friends; good trails; good beer. If there had been shower facilities on-site it would have been absolutely perfect. We've got large goals for the coming year and may not be able to swing this in 2010, but if we can, I'd love to do this every year! Be sure to tell Gregg that next year he should volunteer to guide MTBO. He's a natural! He sweeps and offers mechanical assistance anyway, so he might as well do it "officially".






• We managed to get out of the state in September! It was a pretty short trip really, but it was great getting away for a while, and we finally had a chance to catch up with several old friends.
  
  We flew into Albuquerque first, and stayed there for a few days to visit friends and ride bikes. Yes, we brought our own bikes out with us. It is a bit more of a hassle to find a vehicle big enough to haul them around. But since we were traveling in New Mexico and Colorado, it was a natural choice to bring them.
  
  Albuquerque was great. Very, very relaxing. Good coffee, finally some time with good friends, and the mountain biking wasn't bad either. Not super exciting, but surprisingly accessible. I could have totally done without getting stuck by the cactus! But I can see why a cyclist would want to live there. Especially during the winter.
  
  After a few days in Albuquerque we rented an SUV, stuffed our bikes in the back, and drove up to Santa Fe for a couple of days. What a beautiful town. We stayed with a couch surfer outside of town, who tipped us off to a fine and quirky establishment. I'm pretty sure the best meal we had on this trip was at the Pojoaque Supermarket. A quirky little restaurant with a nice patio and fantastic food, at reasonable prices. I didn't get any riding in near Santa Fe, but Gregg did. And I got in some quality chillin' at the coffee shop and reading time while he was riding. What a luxury.
  
  From Santa Fe we drove up to Durango, Colorado to meet up with Sesh. What a great town! After staying for a few days, it's high on my list of places I'd love to live. It's a little isolated, but the town has so much to offer I think I could live with that.
  
  By a crazy lucky accident of timing we were in Durango during the Single Speed World Championships. There were events going on all weekend surrounding the SSWC. People came from all over the place for the event, so we saw quite a few familiar faces out there. It was fantastic.
  
  The day before the race we went for a ride on the Colorado Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the most fun I had on vacation. I could have ridden that trail all day. I think I was finally getting my second wind at elevation. The trails are just technical enough to be fun without killin' me. And the aspen were just gorgeous. I could have ridden all day, and I'd go back to Durango just to ride this trail again. What a blast.
  
  
  The SSWC race was fun to watch, but it also looked like a lot of fun to race! People were riding every fashion of one-geared bike. Most of the riders were in costume. Many of them were eating and drinking all manner of hand-ups, from the more traditional beer to jell-o shots and, as I hear it, fried Twinkies! These people were riding single speed bikes on challenging technical single track at 10,000 feet in elevation, and acting like it's a big party. Tough as nails, but if they're at all focused on training you wouldn't know it. I want to *be* these people. It was seriously motivating.
  
  
  And then there was the after party. The icing on the cake. Without going into too much detail about the weekend and the SSWC, the final competition to decide the next location of the race was a pick-up basketball game. And the two finalists were Italy and New Zealand. I've been wanting to go to New Zealand for *years*. Every time New Zealand scored a point I got more excited. And when New Zealand won, I was ecstatic! So guess what we're doing next year?!?! Yeah, that's right! Rotorua New Zealand, October 2010.



• After getting back to Oregon we managed to squeeze in one more amazing weekend of mountain biking. Bend's Big Fat Tour (in Bend, Oregon) was the Team Dirt team event this year. The team had a pretty good showing, and those of us who were able to make it had a lot of fun. Painful, dirty fun. This is another event I'd love to participate in every year...there's really no chance we'll be able to make it in 2010, but we'll make it whenever we can. And maybe next time I'll do some training before the weekend. Some year soon I want to earn that No Whiners patch!



• And finally, no surprise, we raced cyclocross again this year! Neither one of us did any training. And we didn't make it a point to race every weekend. But I was able to make it to Southern Oregon for one race down there. Southern Oregon has a seriously sweet mountain bike-y course, and my nieces, so I was excited to get down there to race for the first time this year.

And that's our year in review! Wow. Writing all this out makes me realize that we had more adventure than I remembered. There's never enough time or money for all the fun, adventures, and accomplishments that we'd like to have. But all things considered, we had a pretty good year.

Thanks for all the Christmas love. We hope you're enjoying the holidays, and we hope to see you soon.

Stephanie & Gregg

My first cyclocross race report!

And not my last. It was even more fun racing than it’s been cheering for racers these last couple of seasons.

I was a little nervous about my first ‘cross race. I made the butterflies smaller by keeping my expectations low; don’t come in DFL, and try not to break any bones. The miniaturized butterflies didn’t keep me up too late, and I managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep.

Gregg’s race was a full two hours before mine. But I was pretty anxious, so I started warming up during his race. We were parked near the course, so we set up the trainer next to the car, and while I warmed up I was ringing the cowbell and cheering for him and some other friends as they raced by the car. In past years I’ve hiked all over the course taking pictures. Also fun. But I’ll have to do a couple of races before I’m comfortable wandering around being a spectator a couple of hours before my race. I’d burned myself out so badly at Kruger’s a couple of weeks ago that I was kind of freaking out about the warm up. I was determined to get my heart rate up during warm up this time. I have trouble doing that on the trainer, but I did manage to get a couple of pretty good intervals in.

But since I’d started warming up so early on the trainer I had almost an hour until my lineup. So I rode around Alpenrose trying to stay loose and warm, and chatting up other friends who were out for the race. It’s really cool to finally be seeing people I know; some of them from Portland I’ve met at other races, and actually a growing number from Corvallis. It’s good to be around friends when you’re putting yourself out there.

Finally I got around to lining up, and discovered that I was about 20th back in the beginners. Not the start I’d been hoping for. And then they had all the beginners move to the other side of the rope. Somehow I lost some positions there. And then they had us move back?! By the time we started, I was probably in 35th – 40th position in the lineup. It was an impressive lineup … 75 beginner women?! Amazing, and wonderful. And because my expectations were low, I didn’t actually mind being so far back in the pack. Those roadies always kick my butt, and there are a LOT of roadies into ‘cross racing.

From 2008 Cross Crusade #1 - Alpenrose

It was looking pretty rainy when we arrived, but during Gregg’s race it was actually starting to dry out a little. Perfect conditions in my mind … muddy, but not actually raining. By the time the women’s race started the mud had actually dried out a little. So it wasn’t actively raining on us, and the mud was pretty tacky. I couldn’t have hoped for better conditions!

It took a few minutes to get through the initial clump of women who were slower than me. We were pretty tightly packed. But as soon as I had an opportunity to pass I hammered! We had a little mud about two minutes into the race, and I found my first opportunity to pass. A nice section of double-track; most of the women in front of me took the nice packed path to the left, which left a less traveled path to the right totally open. I hadn’t had a chance to pre-ride, or even walk the course. So everything was a surprise to me. Including the off-camber uphill right turn at the end of that section. Quick shift-down, and pass another rider on the inside.

On to the one and only tiny section of single-track on the course, and naturally there were about 5 women in front of me; some of them actually stopping on the hill! Noooo! What are you doing to me?! Another section of downhill double-track, and the roadies are slowing down again. Pass some riders on the left, and get around the U-turn at the end.

Another nice long straight section; oh my god, this is steeper than it looks, and rough, damn, it’s harder than it looked when I was watching the men’s field race by. Another twist, and a turn, and … wow, avoid the riders going down in front of me on that sharp left. I hop off the bike in the corner and run to the barrier … and … I’m not doing that again! For a non-runner, this is too far to run; the roadies might not be willing, but I could have made that corner and ridden there instead! Make a note for the next lap.

From 2008 Cross Crusade #1 - Alpenrose

The bike that I didn’t think I could shoulder flies onto my shoulder, and I run up the hill. Re-mount? Are you kidding? Even on a good day this is ugly, and it’s not looking good in race conditions. But now into the Velodrome. Cool. Over a couple of barriers. Another embarrassing re-mount (I really need to work on that), and then onto the track. The women in front of me don’t seem to realize they can use the side of the Velodrome and make the corner unnecessarily sharp (and slow), so I sweep around the outside and up on the side of the Velodrome (following the path of mud left by the men before us), passing another couple of women.

I’m thankful all this time that I decided to keep my heart rate monitor in front of me. I know it’s totally un-cool, but I have such a hard time managing my heart rate. At Kruger’s I let it get out of control, and burned myself out in the first 15 minutes of the race. Not cool. So this time I managed my warm-up better, and kept a closer eye on my heart rate during the race. It seems like the magic numbers are … don’t let it get above 200, and when it does get around 200 follow with a quick “recovery” by letting it drop below 190. Crazy, huh? But I was able to maintain this for the duration of the race, and didn’t actually get the light-headed, seeing stars, think I’m going to vomit thing until the end of the race. Perfect timing, right?

From 2008 Cross Crusade #1 - Alpenrose

Oh yeah, I came in 15th! Not bad for starting in about 35th out of 75 riders.

This was really a good race for me, and I don’t know if I’ll get this lucky again. It was technical enough to slow down the beginners who are coming from a roadie background, but not so slick that it slowed me down at all. And minimal barriers … god I’m awful at getting over those things. But this year’s Crusade season is all about fun for me. I’ll practice a little now and again, and I’ll absolutely give 100% on the course. But the riding I’m doing during the week is all about having a good time with my friends, and is not focused on training for any specific goal.

But next year, after the next big exam … well, I think I could really get hooked on this and want to train for more. Time will tell, eh?

Next installment … maybe I’ll finally get around to chatting about our mountain bike vacation back in July!

San Juan Island for Christy's birthday

As always, I'm a "little" tardy writing about my life. So, a little over a month ago, on July 3rd ...

Gregg and I hopped in the car to drive up to Seattle. What on earth were we thinking, driving to Seattle on the 4th of July weekend! Traffic sucked! Bad, messy, horrible traffic. But Christy's birthday on the 5th was a persuasive reason to put up with it. And it was worth all of the traffic headaches to be able to enjoy an adventure with her on her birthday.

We started by meeting up with Christy and Hathan in Bellevue. We loaded everybody in our car and made our way to Mukilteo to catch the ferry to Whidbey Island. Carol & Bill have a new place now, a little further south on the island ... as I hear it, they're "livin’ in the free-land" now :)

Since we got there the evening of the 3rd we had a full day on the 4th to just hang out on the island with the parents, go for a walk, lounge on the deck, drink, watch fireworks ... an AWESOME way to start a vacation.

We got up early on the 5th to head up to Anacortes, and took the ferry from there to San Juan Island. Not surprisingly, random misadventures and poor timing left us running for the ferry. Again. This is beginning to feel really familiar. No matter how well we plan to arrive on time, we seem to be doomed to be the poor saps running for the ferry.

When we got to the island we grabbed a bit of breakfast, and then wandered around looking for the moped rental place. More misadventures. But we finally made our way to the mopeds!

We got quick lessons on riding a moped, a brief overview of the driving tour of the island, and we were sent on our way. These women have their routine perfected, right down to the drawing of the identical whale that they draw on each of the maps. It took less time to get through this process than it had for us to find their shop in the first place, and it's located about two blocks from the Ferry!

I was under the impression that since San Juan Island was so small, we'd burn through all the tourist opportunities quickly and end up with time to kill at the end of the day. I was surprised at how much there was to see. It would be easy to spend a couple of days there. More if you added a sea kayaking adventure.



We stopped at the Pelindaba Lavender Farm first. There were some really cool sculptures in the middle of the lavender. My favorite was a giant Pi! I love random math. And I've never seen as wide a variety of lavender products as they had in their gift shop. I was pretty curious about the lavender ice cream cookie sandwiches, but wasn't hungry at the time, and ice cream doesn't travel well. So I'm still curious.

The next stop was the Lime Kiln Point State Park. We watched the sea kayakers and the sea lions, and hiked out to the lighthouse. And for a while we lost curious Christy.

Having never operated a moped I at first assumed they all ran as badly as mine. They are under 50 cc, after all, so I wasn't expecting much. But judging by how difficult it was for me to keep up with the rest of the crew I was getting increasingly suspicious that I had a lemon. So my amazing guy swapped machines with me as we left the park. We pretty quickly proved that it was in fact the bike, so Gregg heroically decided to put up with my finicky steed for the rest of the day.

We went a little further down the road to the Alpaca Farm, and stopped for a picnic. There were some new alpaca babies in one of the enclosures ... completely adorable.

While we watching them the most interesting thing happened. All of a sudden all of the Alpacas started clumping together into a mob, and rushing toward the fence. We turned around and noticed that the alpacas in the other two enclosures behind us were doing exactly the same thing. All the alpacas in each of the fenced in areas was clumped together, and rushing the fence nearest the parking lot. They didn't make any noise, but they acted like they were all on the same page about something.

Apparently someone had brought a dog on the premises. We were told that the alpaca's are very frightened of dogs, and from what we saw they seem to react in an aggressive, violent, "we're gonna kill you to protect ourselves" kind of way.

There wasn't enough time left in the day for us to visit Roche Harbor, but we did want to visit the sculpture park just outside of town. We were expecting something pretty small, and were pretty surprised when we saw how big it is. I'm not sure how much of it is populated with the sculptures but apparently it's a 19-acre park. The walking tour of the sculpture garden probably covered a couple of acres, and we could have spent quite a bit of time there if we'd had any time left.

But it was starting to get late and we needed to get the mopeds back. We made a quick stop to on the way back to see Mona, the Camel. Apparently she's often near enough that you can feed her; a tourist tradition I'm sure she loves. But when we got there she was fenced in away from the road. We'd forgotten to get anything she could eat, but it would have been kind of cool to pet her.

This is the second trip I've made to San Juan Island. And again, the ferry ride from Friday Harbor to Anacortes was awesome! Somehow it's better on the return trip than it is on the way out; it's a relaxing 45 minute cruise after a long day ... made more relaxing, because we didn't have to start the return trip by running for the ferry!

Check out the giant wheel on that mountain bike!

The Oregon Velo guys got a few good pictures of Gregg racing the Test of Endurance last weekend, but I really like this one. What a cutie, huh?

I finished the TOE!!!

********************************************************
Warning for the boys ... there's a tiny bit of girl talk ahead.
But if I can live it, I'm confident you'll live through reading it :)
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I slept a little better than I had Friday night, but I still tossed and turned all night. Mostly nerves I'm sure, but I wasn't as rested as I was hoping to be on the morning of the race. My knee is aching, and I'm already getting cramps (mm hmmm ... perfect timing ... I couldn't have planned this better). All of this just makes me a little more nervous about tackling the challenge ahead.

But this is my one big goal for the year, and I'm ready to suck up the aches and tiredness and "kill it, kill it, kill it" as advised by my hero Heidi.

Gregg made us some very tasty whole grain french toast, with strawberries from mary's garden. Tasty, and a perfect breakfast for today's ride. We pack up the car, and drive out to Blodgett. And as I get out of the car I hit my head on the roof rack hard enough to give myself a lump on the head. Awesome. I'm so smooth. And apparently determined to add a concusion to the situation.

I pop some ibuprofen and sport legs before we unpack the car. We're early enough that there aren't many people there yet, but we see a few familiar faces and spend a little time socializing before I head off for an easy warm-up ride.

The TOE has a rolling start from the school. Similar to the Mudslinger, except that in the Mudslinger we stop to re-group at the bottom, and then get sent off according to our racing category. This time we're really racing from the beginning, so the pace is a bit quicker. But it's a 50 mile race, so nobody's sprinting either. Still some jokes and conversation along the way, which makes it feel more friendly and social than the shorter races.

But as soon as we hit the singletrack, I can't seem to pace myself. I'm looking at my Garmin, and I can see I'm working too hard. I just can't seem to make myself slow down! Melissa is right there with me, and we chat the whole way. The pace feels manageable for a 2 - 3 hour race, but I know even in the moment that I can't maintain this for the duration. And yet I just ... can't ... slow ... down. I do this for about an hour and a half before I'm finally able to get control over that adrenalin and start managing my efforts again. I manage to do pretty well for about the next three hours, and after that my legs were lead (like they each weighed 100 pounds!) and I don't think I could have done much to increase my heart rate if I'd wanted to.

I wreck a couple of times too in the first couple of hours. Nothing significant ... a new bruise where I fell into a tree going about a mile per hour, and another scrape and bruise where I toppled over at about two mph. And while it's fun to push myself when I'm riding recreationally, I decide I'd better start riding a bit more cautiously for the race.

So finally, about two hours into the race, I'm pacing myself to last for the duration. And I'm also trying to ride within my technical limits and avoid injury.

In the first half hour of the race my knee starts screaming. I'm getting shooting pains whenever the elevation takes a steep climb. I've figured out pretty early that will-power alone may not take me through to the finish, so I take the Rx provided by doc for the swelling knee. I take more ibuprofen at the mid-point too, and try to stay about as doped up as I can without causing myself to vomit. I still end up getting shooting pain in my knee on every climb (and there was a lot of climbing), and on the bumpier descents. And for about the last 15 - 20 miles I wasn't able to keep my left leg bent while supporting body weight. It kept shuddering and collapsing. I had to totally over-compensate by making my right leg do a lion's share of the work. Now a smarter person might have been convinced to give up ... "know when to say when", as they say. But I'm not a smarter person. This is the ONE THING I'm absolutely going to accomplish this year, and if I can move I'm going to accomplish this. So instead of being a smarter person, I'm being a goal oriented, focused, committed person. "It's a blessing ... and a curse".

The cramps also kick in within about the first half hour, and continue to pop up every hour or two throughout the race. It's aggravating, uncomfortable, a little painful ... but nothing compared to the knee pain, and surprisingly also nothing compared to my body's usual behavior. I'm halfway to being a believer in the crazy new diet I've undertaken to manage my "girl" issues. In past rides, this alone would have had me on the ground unable to move. So despite the little extra aches and tummy issues, I'm feeling pretty lucky! Seriously, you should see me on a bad day!

And this really was a great day. The weather couldn't have been better. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the wild irises were in bloom all over the place, the forest smelled wonderfully "forest-ey", and there were beautiful meadow and mountain views all around. There were so many times I wished I could just snap my fingers and get a photo of what I was seeing. I wish I could share with you all just how amazing it was. And it had been dry for days, so the trail conditions were the best I've ridden out there. There was some fantastic new singletrack, and since I was riding near the back, all the new singletrack had been "established" by the first 145 or so riders before me. Some of it was brand new and pretty rough before they came through, so they really did me a huge favor.

The guys at the Peak Sports aid station did a great job of cheering me on. It felt really great to see some friendly faces out there cheering for me during the race. And after Gregg finished his race (at about 6 hours) and changed clothes, he got back on his bike and rode back to the aid station to cheer for me and take photos, at about mile 40 for me. What a guy, huh?! He also showed up later on the course, and then rode in with me to the finish. My biggest fan :)

By the end of this race I had been so exhausted for so long, and in pretty much constant pain in those last couple of hours, that i just about broke down crying a couple of times. Not the shedding tears kind of crying. More like the "I'm having a breakdown" hyperventilating crazy laughing/crying thing. First trying to talk to Gregg on the way to the finish (Oh no ... no pictures of this please), and then trying to respond to the woman pulling my number at the finish. I'm a girl, and I'm also old enough to not care so much what other people think, so I guess it's probably okay to admit that I just about lost it! And and I managed to mostly hold back the sobbing and hysterical laughing when there were people around, so I think I might have pulled off acting like a normal person ... and I don't believe there's any photographic evidence that I was being a freak.

I was one of the last riders to roll in to the finish line, and most of the rest of the riders were seated on the grass waiting for the awards to start ... and facing the finish line. So I got a bunch of cheers when I came in. I felt like a bit of a dork, but loved the comeraderie, and gave a big wave to the crowd.

Everyone was amazingly supportive. Gregg knows "everybody" (a very small exageration) in the local mountain biking community, and I've met and spoken with a number of them. So several guys came up to me to shake my hand, congratulate me, and talk for a few minutes. It felt awesome to hang in there, do my best, and finish! And even though I was really just doing it for myself, it felt really great that they recognized and respected the effort they knew I put in to get there.

I really enjoy the 50 mile race distance, and if there were more of them around I might specialize in that kind of race. There's a unique feeling of comeraderie. Racers have the time to talk to you for a minute or two, because most of them are in a position where they know they need to pace themselves for a long day. It's not like the little two hour races where it's every man for himself. For the most part, I prefer to ride for the love of it. And I don't see myself every really "being" a racer. But I do enjoy the mountain bike race scene too, and committing to racing is also committing to improving my fitness and technical skills. The Test of Endurance combines a little of both ... a long ride out in the woods, just (wo)man and machine, but with the adrenalin and motivation that helps you to push yourself a little harder and stretch your limits.

I LOVED IT! It's a great event, and if I can't race it, I'd love to at least help to put it on. I'd love to race the TOE every year. But next year is already setting up to be unlikely, as I'll be back to studying for an actuarial exam and unable to put in the training time necessary to prepare to race the distance. But I want to try to stay at least fit enough to volunteer to ride the sweep.

'twas the night before the TOE ...

... and I'm freaking out!

My knee (the "good" one) has started bothering me recently. It started getting achey a couple of weeks, but it wasn't really bad. Before one of my training rides I was concerned about it, so I tried to tape it the way my PT had shown me. I'm pretty sure I made it worse. So I started icing, elevating, and taking Ibuprofen.

And yet, despite all that TLC, it persists in being a problem. Now I'm getting shooting pains when cycling or clutching the car. Bad news. So, three days before the race, I show up on the doctor's doorstep in an urgent state, and say "I need a miracle!" Well, there are no miracles. I got a prescription, and some worried looks, and he tells me to come back if it continues to be a problem. I'm pretty sure he knows I'm going to be getting myself into trouble with this knee.

But I take it easy. I skip the Thursday training ride.

On Friday morning I take the Rx, which makes me jittery, messes with my stomach, and seems to contribute to a sleepless night Friday night. Just what I need, to be sleep-deprived, jittery, and unable to eat before my biggest ever endurance event. But it does seem to be helping with the swelling in the knee, so I'm giving it a serious shot.

But because of the side-effects, on Saturday I decide to skip the meds and just stick with icing and elevating. I also pick up the neoprene knee brace recommended by the doc. I take it easy in the morning; going down to the Farmer's Market, picking up coffee and a home-made danish at the local coffee shop, stopping in at the bike shop for some quick conversation. And then I get ready to head out for a nice easy spin on the road.

I slap on the knee brace, get geared up, and head out the door. Within 12 minutes of riding my HR monitor completely quits! Damn. I've been relying on that thing for training, so this kind of sucks. But I've got all my other data (mileage and time), and I need to finish my ride, so I keep going.

I'm still a little twitchy, now just from a sleep deficit rather than the meds. So when the little creeps in the station wagon lean out the window and yell (or rather, bark) in my face as they pass by I just about end up going off the road. Nasty little buggers.

About halfway through my ride the knee brace starts sliding down, and the "doughnut" starts pushing my kneecap down and out of position. That's the opposite of better!

And shortly after that I start getting cramps. Yeah, that's right. Looks like I'm going to be starting some unpleasantness tomorrow. Perfect timing.

Okay, this all sounds like a bad "start" to the race, and it certainly isn't the stress-releasing easy pre-race spin I was looking for. But I'm determined to do my best with this race ... so we're all about silver linings here:

• I replaced the battery in my chest strap which, if it hadn't died today, might have failed during the race tomorrow.
• I'm going to bed early, and without the side-effects of the Rx hoping to get some good my sleep tonight!!
• I know the brace is out of the question for the race, and better to find that out now than during the race.
• The cramps? Well I'm having a harder time spinning that, but with my normal weight fluctuations, this is my "lightest" point ... so I'm carrying a pound or two less up the hill. That's good news, right?

Now, I'm off to brush myself off and get busy looking forward to the task ahead of me. Time to start packing for tomorrow morning!

Two last TOE "pre-rides"

It must be old news by now that the Test of Endurance 50 was my only personal goal for this year. My one, giant, monumental achievement for 2008. So I've been doing a ton of training to get ready. And since this is also a local race I wanted to take advantage of having the home-court advantage. I'm a terribly slow climber, so I need to try to make up a little time on the descents. And since I'm not a super fast descender either, I need to get to know the trails ... as well as I can, anyway.

Naturally though, the course is dynamic until the last minute ... always in a state of change. Winds blow down trees. The logging company comes through some areas. New trails appear (with a lot of hard work by the promoter and some friends). So really, the only way to do an honest pre-ride of the course is to be involved in trail work up to the last minute. But Gregg was able guide us on a route that had similar distance, elevation gains, and some of the singletrack I'd be riding in the race. So it was enough to give me a good sense of where I stood, and gain some level of "comfort" with the challenge ahead.

In mid-may we invited a couple of friends from Portland to come down and ride with us. Heidi and Sal grabbed a Portland Velo teammate of theirs, Javad, and we grabbed another friend, Melissa, and the six of us went out for a pre-ride.

And after all that training I've been doing, this is how the ride started out ...
(Heidi) "Hey, where'd Stephanie and Melissa go?"

(Gregg's voice, echoing down to us from the top of the mountain) "There they are."


Naturally, all that work and I'm still getting dropped in the first mile. And poor Melissa had just done a race the day before, and was really feeling the fatigue from that. Bummer for her, but good for me ... I had myself a riding buddy :)

The conditions were about perfect; mostly dry with a few muddy spots, and a little overcast and cool but not raining.

The ride had a little of everything. Several of the trails are now well established and hard-packed. Some of them are barely recognizeable as trails, and a little tougher for us less-skilled riders to navigate. There was some hiking over down trees, Heidi's favorite part. And lots and lots of climbing. (Heidi's second-favorite part, I think).

We had some getting separated in the woods shenanigans, preceded by a little trailside bike maintenance.

So the day had practically everything you'd expect from a day of mountain biking. Including a well-earned post-ride feast at the local McMenamins. Yumm! Cajun-ized tater tots!

I really wanted to get out one more time though, without all the stops, so that I could get a better idea of what it would feel to ride constantly for the 25 miles. Can't really be taking so many breaks on race day. So I invited Carrie to come out with me again in June.

Originally Gregg was going to come along as well, and possibly bring another guy from work. But Gregg ended up having to work. so it was up to me and the Garmin to navigate. That was challenge number one.

Challenge number two was the spring weather. It had also been raining since may, so things were a little wet. It's surprising how much more work it is to ride in the mud, even when it's just a little bit of mud. It's like running in sand ... it just absorbs your energy. Not so noticeable if you're doing a ride that's well within your limits, but if you're riding at the edge of your physical limits it can make a significant difference. And even now, a week before my 50 mile race, a 25 mile mountain bike ride with about 3,700 feet of climbing is a challenging ride. So there were some fairly muddy spots, which should have slowed us down.

The logging company has also been in there, and it looks like they're getting ready to do some work. Some of the stuff that was part of the course is now torn up from a CAT, and there are more down branches on the trails. Navigating the now horribly muddy CAT tracks, and removing down branches should have slowed us down a bit too. Check out the wall-o-mud on the rear tire, and the remains of the pine tree in my chainring.


But the third, and most significant challenge for me, is pacing myself! I find it difficult enough when I'm staring at my heart rate monitor. And when I'm staring at the course on the GPS unit and can't see my HR, I really tend to let work too hard. So although this was a much more difficult ride, we finished in almost exactly the same time. Seriously, fractions of a second different than the much more casual May pre-ride. My average HR was 10 bpm higher today, and at the end of the first lap I was not feeling like I could have turned around and done it again. No way.

Good news ... Mike changed the course to avoid the newly torn up stuff, add some singletrack, and take out a couple of road out-and-back sections ... it sounds like a great course, and the weather report is looking promising. It should be fun!

I've just gotta remember to pace myself!

(pictures from both rides)