Dog Ramp

I made a ramp for the dogs to get to the window in the basement. It's 95% done as I just have some railings to put on the the ramp itself for the pooches. I overbuilt it as it supports my weight and the dogs weigh like nothing. And we had a visitor in the house.

Beginning of ramp

Barlow Cyclocross

Today's race was at Barlow High school. It was a lot warmer than last year so that made it hard. If it was wet I would say the mud made it hard.

Warming up (yelling at Dan)

PRG Ice Festival

We went to the PRG Ice Festival to watch Keevin compete. He came in 2nd in the first round, tied in the 2nd and was the only one to finish the route in the 3rd. So he's the champion. Check out the video of the finish of the 2nd round.

Keevin

Hood River Cyclocross

This weeks cyclocross was over in Hood River. I have decided not to race this year as my back is still giving me issues. So I rode up from Government Camp to Timberline Lodge to see if I've improved. My time was actually 30 seconds slower. I blame the weather (it was 30 deg colder and raining). Matt DNFed as his knee was not feeling the runups. Ingrid did a sweet jump.

Matt at start

Backyard Gate

I put a gate inbetween the garage and the house to block out the back yard for the dogs to roam free. Unfortunately the possums are in the side yard sometimes, and Rocky thinks it's cool to roll around in their scat. It's beyond shag nasty.

Dirty hottub

Beach

We went over to the beach with Ingrid's dad Tom and the dogs. We showed him the important places like Camp 18 and the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Pictures

Panoramics from beach

Swifts

We went over to the Chapman schoolyard to watch the swifts. Mom made a kickass picnic and we hung out until the birds went to sleep.

Here is video of the birds in action.

Ingrid and her dad

Cheat To Win

We have been meaning to make a jersey for Team Kermantle, but have been lazy. So we finally went out and took some pictures we could use for the jersey. Keevin was a good sport about hanging from a thin harness from a tree on the side of Mt. Tabor (the dangerous South face of course.)

As a dry run, Ingrid and I put together a T-shirt until we get the jersey design completed.

Practice

Ingrid's Birthday

For Ingrid's birthday, Matt had the idea of bringing her dad up as a surprise. So we packaged him and flew him up from Arizona to escape their crappy rainy weather. We took him to Krugers to watch us get our asses whupped and then out to sushi to celebrate. We had honey cake and it was really fricking good. Now she's like 28.

Ingrid and her dad

Krugers Cyclocross II

We did the 2nd race at Krugers, this time the course was reversed. This was Karen's first time and she now shall be hooked.

On the first lap of the mens race some dude got clipped and went down on his head. Jeremy went over his bars and crashed as well. The guy was unconsious and breathing funny with a pool of blood by his head. He rolled himself over and we tried to hold him down and keep his head from moving until the medics could get there. After the medics got him boarded and going we all went back to the start line for a 2nd start. Jeremy was out as his bike was hosed.

The second start was much better and no one got taken out. Well, Keevin's rear tire flatted so he had to bail around the 4th lap. It was harder today as it was so hot and dry. My times were about 20-30 seconds faster than the previous week.

Pre race

Jetboat tour

For work on Friday our group went out on the jetboat downtown. It was uber fun and everyone had a good time getting soaked with our spinouts.

Karen and John

New Panoramics

Here are some new panoramic photos:

Portland

Oregon

Idaho

City of Rocks

For the long weekend we (Ingrid, me, Ron, Angel, Dan Little, Cyndi and her dude) went over to City of Rocks in Idaho. The weather was perfect with low 80s and light winds. Everyone had a great time (except Cyndi who got heat exhaustion - she's ok now.)

We got in good climbs on all days (though never enough). I had my first fall outside on a thin climb Castle Keep (5.8). We all agreed that the ratings were a bit stiff, maybe 1 or 2 grades. It seemed like none of them were sustained but the hardest move was at least a grade harder than listed. Or we are wimps.

The van did pretty well on the way there and back. While there the left rear wheel was making bad noises so Ingrid spent an hour repacking the bearings. Noise begone. I helped by not touching the van and eating Ritz.

On our last full day we hiked out to Site 18 and decided to ignore (which is close to ignorance?) the incoming thunderstorm. After 2 climbs and the sight of lightning above the chains we decided to hightail it back to the van. Ingrid saw a rattlesnake on the path back. We were going to use it for food like Bear but it was too wet to start a fire.

Day 1

Day 2