Tiger Mtn. attempt

A group of us tried to ride Tiger Mountain tonight. We encountered quite a bit of snow at the beginning of the Preston trail so we turned around...only to be pummeled by a torrent of pea-sized hail. This weather is getting old. Spring has definitely not sprung yet.

Eric and his new bike:

Color coordination at it's best:

Time for a beer!

Start the car! I'm freezing!

Sea Otter Classic

Last weekend was the Sea Otter Classic, a 4-day cycling festival in California. I raced this 7 years ago (yikes) back when we lived in Bako- we had just moved from Michigan and I had never ridden a real hill. I had no clue what I was in for...but I still managed to finish 20th out of 40. I've been wanting to do this race again for years but never got around to it.

Eric and I arrived in San Fran on Thursday night and spent all of Friday at the event. We checked out the vendor booths and tried to win some free stuff (with only marginal success). I had to get in a ride so I thought I'd check out the course. Well, after asking literally 20 people I still couldn't figure out where it started so I just rode the bike demo trail instead. The terrain was completely different than what we have in Seattle- it was all hardpack and sand. Where's the mud? And the roots? What's with the hot sun and all this dust? After the ride my confidence plummeted...I was not really prepared for these conditions. Ugh. Later that evening we attended a bike industry VIP dinner (oooohh) and went to bed relatively early. .

On Saturday we woke up to clouds and cool temps. Yea! A lot of the racers were complaining but this was the kind of weather I'm used to. I put in quick warmup and then we headed over to the start line. A lot of the girls had their winter gear on- someone was even wearing a fleece balaclava! I peeled off 3 layers and stood freezing in my shorts, knowing I'd warm up as soon as I started riding. The race began with an unceremonious "Go!" from the MC and we took off down the racetrack. I stayed near the front and drafted off a couple girls until we hit the fire roads, then tried to pass as many as possible to avoid a bottleneck at the singletrack. Looking back I was in the top five the nearly the whole race, but didn't know it since I've never seen these girls before and didn't recognize their jerseys. I was in 3rd but then I skidded out on a loose corner and was passed by a couple girls who were right behind me. I regained my balance but they had already pressed ahead and put a few of the slower men in between us. Several times during the race I got stuck behind slow guys and yelled at them to let me pass. This is hard to do when you're already out of breath! It was very frustrating.

The last three miles were brutal partly due to the strong crosswinds but mostly due to the elevation gain. At the top I could see the racetrack and knew I was almost finished. Thank GOD. But wait, out of nowhere comes this girl who flies past me like I'm standing still. Damn! I tried to catch her but I had absolutely nothing left. After 19 miles and over 2000' in elevation gain I rolled across the finish line in 6th (out of 24). I'm pretty pleased with my finish, but also bummed because I was only one spot away from podium. There's always next year!

After the race we headed to the coast for some mcuh-needed sun and beautiful scenery.




More photos can be found here!

Awesome weather

Last Saturday's weather was the best in...oh, I don't know...8 months. Jerry, Eric and I went on a 60-mile road ride around Lake Washington. This was taken over my shoulder on Lake WA Blvd:


We stopped at Red Hook for lunch but skipped the beer as we still had another 20 miles to go:



Eric and I also puttered around the "yard" and put in some new plants:

Indie Series #1- Seatac Shuffle

Today was the first Indie Series mountain bike race of 2008- the Seatac Shuffle. We got a late start this morning (thank god my races are at 11am)but I still had to time pre-ride part of the course. Seatac is one of my favorite venues because the trails are mostly smooth with big, swoopy curves to fly through. The beginners has a fast race so management decided to bump up the sport class to four mind-numbing laps. I couldn't keep my laps straight...was I on lap 3? No, I just started the second one. Damn! I only saw the leader for about 15 minutes and then she was gone. I managed to keep the other sport ladies at bay but on the last 1/2 mile of the last lap- BAM- I get a charlie horse in my left calf. It totally stopped me in the tracks. There was nothing I could do about it so I just hopped back on and rode it out. I totally lost focus after that but I still managed to finish in second. This was a really long race but good preparation for the Sea Otter, which is coming up in two weeks.

What happened to Spring??

We've woken up to a winter wonderland the past couple mornings. I think last night yielded nearly four inches of fresh snow.

Little B

Our cockatiel (Little B) has a shoe fetish. Yeah, I know, it's weird. He'll chirp at any shoe waved in his direction- sandals, high heels, trail runners, whatever. He even sleeps on my old running shoes that are tied in up his cage.

Whistler!

We just got back from Whistler- what an awesome place! Here's a link to some photos.

Chilly Hilly

Today was the Chilly Hilly, a 33-mile ride around Bainbridge Island. Bicycling Magazine named it "one of four classic rides" in the country and it's a rite of passage for Seattle cyclists. I've been wanting to do this for years but the "chilly" (and rainy) component of the ride really turned me off. I think we've become a bit more acclimated to the weather here and decided this would be the year to give it a try. We met Robin at the ferry terminal and departed on the 7:55 boat. It was amazing to see so many cyclists in one spot- we took up most of the ferry and that was only the first of four boats. The ride was fun and definitely lived up to it's name. Bainbridge Island is an awesome place to ride and I think we'll head back once it's a bit warmer :)

Robin whining because he's cold:

Saturday

Today was just awesome- probably the nicest day of the year so far. It was supposed to rain all week but it's actually been sunny and "mild". We started off the day with a singletrack ride with at Soaring Eagle park. After lunch we headed over to Cougar for some orienteering practice. Jerry and I just tagged along while Eric and Robin nav'd the course.

The three amigos:


Calling Robin to figure out where he is:


Some mossy stuff:

Mountain bike season has begun

Yeah, I know. February is waaayy too early for mountain bike racing. But that's how the season goes in Seattle-most of the races occur during the rainy season, then taper off when it's nice and sunny. I don't get it.

Anyway, my first race of the season was today at Black Diamond. This probably wasn't the best race to start with since I haven't ridden singletrack in months. Within the first 3 minutes I was like "ugh"- it was super technical and I ended up pulling off the trail to let few people pass. Double "ugh". My 2nd and 3rd laps were much improved but I still couldn't catch the leader. I came in 2nd...out of 2. 1st place had 4 minutes on me. I still had a decent race though- I didn't crash, bonk (sort of), or have any technical mishaps. Even though I've been mountain biking for years, today I felt like a total beginner. I guess I need to get off the trainer and back on the trail again!

Bono in 3D???

If you're a U2 fan you should check this out. In Seattle it's playing at the Pacific Science Center but I'm not sure about other cities. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first. Would this be another cheesy "musical journey" like Rattle and Hum? Thankfully no, this was all about the music and it was awesome. U2 is still be best band (ever) in my book. This movie totally sparked some nostaligia for me- back in high school I was obsessed with all things U2. Sarah and I used to spend hours pondering over important matters- was Larry really hotter than Bono? And what was up with Adam Clayton's modular digi sunglasses? Sarah I know you're laughing over this right now...

Happy Paczki Day!

I hope all my Detroit playas enjoyed a paczek today :) I took a dozen to work this morning (Krispy Kremes mind you) to the delight of my coworkers from Michigan. For those not in the loop I printed off this article from Wikipedia and placed it next to the box.

Guess where we are...

We spent last weekend in Utah and it was awesome! I tagged along with Eric on this trip to the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in SLC. OR was unlike the medical equipment shows I normally attend- awesome companies, fun stuff to look at and some booths even served beer. I walked out with some serious swag. First up-a couple pairs of GoLite shoes. Next, I won a helmet-mounted video camera (Helmet Hero by Go Pro) from a random business card drawing. And best of all- a Suunto X9i (yeah, the one with GPS). I won this because I can read. My trivia question was to name all the women's models of Lumi watches- and somehow on the table in front of me was a brochure opened up to that exact page. So I just read out of the brochure and won a $500 gadget. Sweet. Unfortunately it's way too big for my wrist so now it's Eric's toy. If we ever get lost again I'm gonna be mad!

On Saturday we decided to pass on skiing and go to Moab. It was great- the scenery was spectacular and we had the whole area to ourselves. We hiked around Arches National park and Castleton tower. Next time we'll bring the bikes...

Click here for more photos. Did you know that clicking on each photo in our gallery brings up a larger and more detailed one?

Random photos

This was taken a couple weeks ago at Snoqualmie pass...I thought it was kind of funny:

Warming up with hot pot...

Workin' bird

Last Friday I took Daisy to work. Believe it or not my office allows dogs (well-behaved ones) and more recently, birds. Well, I should say "bird" as I'm sure Daisy's the first one to grace the halls of CDI. The first time I brought her to work was out of necessity (vet appt.) but everyone loved her and they always ask when she's coming back.

Tile update

Apparently our website comes up when people search for tile countertops on Yahoo. So, I thought I should post a pic of our recently updated bathroom and give them something to look at. It's been done for weeks but I never got around to posting it. Eric did a great job!

Quick Holiday Recap

We finally have time to post something! The past 2 weeks have been absolutely crazy (but in a good way).

Eric's parents flew out on the 12th and spent nearly a week with us. Eric learned the secret family baking techniques from his mom and then whooped his dad at a marathon game of gin :) We also went out for dim sum, checked out the Tacoma glass museum and celebrated Christmas early with some great gifts.

My parents just left this morning. We headed over to Leavenworth on Saturday- what a great place at Christmastime. It only took us four hours to get there! Darn snow. We also had Scrabble and Ms. Pacman tournaments and some great meals cooked by mom.

**Photos from both visits can be found here.**

It's the holiday season...

Christmas is in the air. You know, time to stress about everything! Ugh. This year won't quite as stressful because our parents are coming out here for the holidays. They get to experience the joys of a packed airport, crowded flights, and best of all, travelling with gifts.

Last weekend was full o' holiday cheer. Thursday night took us to Acme Bowl for my company holiday party. I just have one thing to say: I may not be able to cook a turkey but I sure can bowl one. It was totally on accident of course- I'm the world's worst bowler.

We hosted a cookie-baking night on Friday and are now up to our ears in gingerbread and sugary treats.

Saturday night was the 3rd annual Cortez Christmas party complete with great company, great food (the chowder!) and karaoke. No L.L. Cool J for Eric- he teamed up with Robin to sing (or yell) some Rage Against the Machine.

Sunday was my last race of the year. It was about 30 degrees at Kelly Creek and it even started snowing on the last lap. The course was very tough but I was able to stay in 2nd place the entire time. I think I ended the season on a good note :)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Weekend in pictures

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...until the rain and winds came, that is.

Eric put up the xmas lights on Friday:

It snowed on Saturday morning...then melted by nightfall.

We rode the Iron Horse trail but eventually the snow became too deep for my skinny tires.

Self portrait:

We always post pics of Daisy but never little B:

Thanksgiving weekend

It sure was nice having a 5-day weekend. In the morning I went on a Tiger hike with Misha. It was freezing out but sunny as could be. What a gorgeous day.



We had the "usuals" over for Thanksgving dinner. The turkey didn't turn out so well- thankfully we had a back up pot roast courtesy of Carol. After dinner we watched the Glutton Bowl, billed as "the World's Greatest Eating Competition". We thought the butter eating challenge was bad enough, but it actually got worse with competitors eating mayo, tongues and brains. You wanted to look away but you couldn't.

Eric worked a half day on Friday and I slept in :) We headed downtown later that afternoon to shop and watch the Macy's tree lighting and fireworks. Surprisingly the weather was nice- clear, cold and dry.

Saturday Eric went on a hike and I slept in again. I could get used to this. The rest of the day was spent loafing around and baking holiday cookies.



Today I raced at Seatac park. The course seemed like it was designed just for me- tons of smooth singletrack and several good run-ups. I started mid-pack but moved up to the front within a few minutes. As we transitioned from the pavement to singletrack I realized that I was in 3rd place and pushed hard to distance myself from the pack. One of the girls fell behind and I sprinted past the leader on the last lap. See the video here! I knew she was right behind on the last run-up but she couldn't catch me. I put the pedal to the metal and sprinted to 1st place! Woo Hoo! No medals at this race-my prize was 2 six packs of Fat Tire beer. I don't like beer but I was just happy to win something. Photos are here.

Click here to see a couple more videos. Note- I'm trying to fix the sideways one. In the meantime, just tilt your head :)