On Sunday morning, I kept my continuous streak of bike races alive for 2008. I rolled out of bed at 4:30 and fired up the internet for some live Paris-Roubaix watching. This was to be my first race at home for a long time. I’ve done 9 races this season already, and spring is just now starting in La Grande. Since Cherry Pie I’ve been away every single weekend, driving for hours and hours. Throw in a 20 hour trip to SoCal and you end up with one fatigued me. All last week I was in a foggy state of delirium that started when I got back from Willamette. So today’s race was kind of refreshing.
It’s amazing what you can get done in a single day when you’re not away racing. I watched Paris-Roubaix live, rode my bike for 3 hours, washed and vacuumed my truck, fixed a toilet, went to Wal-mart, and ordered a few parts for my new bike build project. That now takes care of all the second priority items on my list, so now I can get back to racing again next weekend at Tour de Waitsburg Waitsburg. Read more
Muscles screaming, tendons aching, agony, pain. I’m describing the feeling in my arms as I tried to “clean” the steepest climb I’ve ever been on with a road bike. My arms ended up being the weakest link as I clutched the hoods more to stay upright, rather than leverage. The road is called Los Gatos (pronounced with a deep smokers voice and drums in the background). It is the equivalent to our Morgan Lake Rd., except less than half the distance, paved, and equal the pain.
I ended up on Los Gatos by accident last week. Every time I had visited the Murrieta, CA area I was astounded at the number of very steep paved climbs that avail themselves on just about every ride; yet, I kept hearing about a road that was VERY steep. Locals talked about it with a Shagri-la type of reverence. My brother said he thought he had discovered it one day when he started riding down a climb and dismounted on the descent because it was too steep. He turned around because he feared having to go back up. I was told this is the climb Floyd broke his hip on while descending. Read more
