In My Element

The weather was pretty awesome on Sunday at the Cross Crusade PIR race. The above picture is from Jose Sandoval. I think he caught me doing what I do best: yelling at people racing their bicycles and drinking canned domestic lagers. If you figure out what you are good at, why mess with it?

Cuter By The Minute!

Mount St. Helens

So Proud Of This One Here

Yes folks, that is my wife Jenny. She is getting into all kinds of fun stuff this fall, what with the Cross Racin and Wood Shoppin.
If you see her out there, give her a high five and tell her "Hell Yeah!"

Man In Black

There is cool, and then there is Johnny Cash. Totally different.

10 Years On

Came across this flyer from a race I put on 10 years ago. Where have you gone, Lightning Bolt Man and Brat Man? I miss those days. Reminds me of the Pink Floyd lyric from the song "Time"

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

Small

Ever since the run up to Interbike last month, I feel like I've had my foot on the floor. Yesterday, I finally took a day for myself and headed to the mountains with Elsa. Jen ended up spending the day working on some projects, but found a great hike to Mcneil Point in one of our guide books. I got a bit of a late start, but was on the trail right at noon. The scenery is nothing short of breath taking for about half of the hike. The above shot is from the ridge traverse around Bald Mountain. In it you can see Sandy Glacier in the center and Mississippi Head to the right of it. The hike was somewhere around 9 miles round trip and took me a little under 5 hours. I ate lunch at 6,100 feet overlooking Mount St Helens, Mt Rainier and Mt. Adams with Hood behind me. There was someone camped in the old CCC stone shelter on the point, so I didn't spend too much time hanging around there.
All in all, one of the best hikes I've ever been on. Judging by how much Elsa has slept and eaten since we've gotten back, I'd say she had fun too.

Baggataway

I'll probably always be a history buff. I especially appreciate the history of sport. That being said, before I got really into cycling, my first love was North America's oldest sport: Lacrosse. Just yesterday my old man gave me an issue of Sports Illustrated from earlier this year that had this great article about the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team. The Iroquois team is unique in all of sports, as they remain a sovereign nation in international sports competition. This summer they were held out of the World Lacrosse Championships in the UK due to their passports. Very unfortunate for everyone involved, as I think not having the originators of the sport be there was terrible for the sport.
As an aside, my favorite lacrosse story took place in the state of Michigan. On June 2, 1763, a group of Ojibwe used a game of lacrosse to over run the British garrison of Fort Michilimackinac. The people in the Fort were fond of watching the game, and the natives of the area played several matches near the fort. During this particular match, as several men played, the women that were with them sat on the ground outside the fort. During the game, one of the Ojibwe hurled the ball over the wall of the fort. Not wanting to interrupt the match, one of the guards opened the gates of the fort to allow one of the players to run in and grab the ball, as the Ojibwe hoped would happen. With that the Ojibwe rushed to the women gathered outside the fort where they dropped their sticks, and traded them for weapons the women had hidden in their blankets. They rushed into the fort, and massacred the garrison.