b+ radsport: North West

My friend and teammate, Mike Roecklein, stepped outside his warm and sunny comfort zone of Southern California for some business in our fair city of Seattle. During his stay we made sure to include a couple training rides, one in particular included the classic 55 mile Lake Washington loop (counter clockwise). I've completed this ride a dozen times before and not once have I encountered a mechanical mishap (lucky I know). Wednesday just wasn't our day. My water bottle popped out of the holder on a decent and was ran over by a Benz, then Mikes seat post mounted holder failed and dropped both of his bottles...one of which was ran over. I then was confronted with glass penetration for rear flat #1, changed the tube hand pumped it and delt with it until Bellevue where we found Gregg's Cycles. Largest bike shop ever. We re-upped on supplies and off we went. As we started our climb out of downtown Kirkland, Mike managed to find a nail to puncture his rear tire. Luckily we were prepared due to my initial flat, because 48mm valves don't fit in 70mm carbon rims. All interesting fails aside. I had a lot of fun on this ride. It truly makes a difference when you're not going it alone. Thanks for the good company and words of wisdom Mike.

Learning To Have More Fun With This Thing

After recently being introduced to a (now inactive) blog whose mission statement primarily invokes creativity among its readers, Jessica and I have been sucked in. I would assume that most (new/ish) "bloggers" struggle with getting creative and consistent posts up for readers, and with this new find the motivation is here! The said blog is called "Learning To Love You More". And thanks to Ms. Lindsay Hall for introducing us to this, Jess and I have begun to embark on our own creative journey to get the juices flowing.

Monday's Mission: Photograph an Animal


Spotted @ 89th and Aurora during training ride.

You can see Jessica's finds here: www.youandthewine.blogspot.com
More photo challenges to come.

Monday Miles: North Seattle

Woke up at the crack of 6:30 this morning and somehow managed to take an hour and a half to drink my 20oz. french-press, eat my oatmeal and get in the saddle. Its my day off so it doesnt really matter, but ideally I'd like to be rolling by 7 at the latest. The weather was perfect, 58 and partly cloudy, if I remember correctly... naturally the coastline became the destination. Road north to Zoka Coffee in Greenlake to say whats up to Brad and grab a shot before getting into it.

Turns out theres a lot of hills out that way, perfect for optimal views. This one is from High St. in Edmonds.

Time- 2:40.33
Avg HR- 141bpm
Max HR- 177bpm
KiloCalories Burned- 2,082
Distance- 42.3miles
Avg Speed- 15.8mph
Max Speed- 39.6mph

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(Mid-Season?) Base Training

Since my mental downfall at the Ballard Twilight and heavy drinking this past week, it only seem appropriate to regain maximum strength via "easy spinning" with of course the constant hill climb and occasional 15 minute interval session. I say "downfall" because I failed to preregister for my A-Priority race of the season and got left on the sidelines with at least 30 other people (unfortunate racers) to watch the 75 lucky (smart) ones race. Total buzz-kill.

Regardless, this was enough to make me want to whip into shape as effectively as possible if only to get a road racing clinic (worth 5 races toward my CAT4 upgrade via Cycle University), a couple track races, and a few intense Team Becher+ training rides in with a teammate/friend (Mike Roecklien)coming up from Southern California. There's no way in hell I'm about to accept the fact that I won't have the opportunity to race in anything over 30 miles for the rest of the season...even though, it's a fact... I won't.

I need to put the miles in my legs regardless of my emotional cycling crisis, so I've made sure to keep my phone and/or a real life camera with me for the excursions ahead. Consider the following (cycling related) entries part of the "Scenic Route" impromptu series I've just started.

Golden Gardens



Magnolia



Elliot Bay Bike Trail




Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

PDX: Food Heaven

Last week Jessica and I took the train down to Portland to celebrate for her 27th birthday. Although it would have been nice to spend more than 8 hours there, it was still a success.

Veganopolis was our priority food stop until we discovered they were moving cities. We did however find ourselves at an equally mind-blowing vegan friendly spot: Vita Cafe.

The food went down too quickly to snap any photos, but I did have a couple of their delicious Bloody Marys.

I will say this though, best biscuits and gravy in the country. Some of you may be semi familiar with my U.S. Tour de Vegan Biscuits and Gravy that began a couple years ago when I was invited to tour with Embrace the End for their album release, Ley Lines. During our month and a half long trip around the country, I made it a point to order, consume, and reflect on vegan biscuits and gravy at any stop possible. At the time, Salt Lake City's Vertical Diner was holding strong at 1st place...but alas! Vita Cafe is now our country's leader. Portland peeps, get at it.

Think you've found the best? Please, do tell.

Until the next breakfast, thanks for reading.

This Never Gets Old