Miller Hallow Challenge

Yesterday, I wanted to try out a pair of the shoes that I am wear testing. I went with the lightweight racing flats because they performed very well the previous day on a short trail run on Nature and Hemlock trail in Forest Park. My goal was to run some good hills and try out Forest Height’s residential trail network. I think they call the whole network of trails, Miller Hallow Trail. I have driven by them many times, but never actually been on them. I also wanted to try out some new GPS apps for my iPhone to see which ones work the best. The previous day I went with MapMyFitness App, but yesterday I tried out Everytrail. Here is a profile of the run. The last climb up to the top of Miller Hallow trail was brutal, basically a giant staircase. This will be a good training run close to home where I can get some serious hills.

Miller Hallow challenge

I got free tickets to the ski and snowboard expo tonight so Adam and I will be heading over there tonight. We will do our best to resist the urge to buy new skis, but gotta bring the check book just in case J. Also, heading to Eugene on Saturday for the UO vs UW football game. Go Ducks! Trying to convince my father to come mountain biking with me Sunday morning after the game so we can hit up the end of the McKenzie River Trail. If not, I’ll bring my trail shoes and do a run up Ridge trail on the outskirts of Eugene.

UNT

Bryan

A Little Update

Havent posted anything in the last fews days bc I havent really done anything athletic in the last few days. I need some sort of project that I can do even when the where is bad. I have found a few for when the weather clears up. One goal is the 40 mile trail around the Portland Metropolitan area. It would be a road biking mission, but I would need to increase my road biking fitness a little before attempting that. With the weather bad for the foreseeable future, training for this, on a trainer, does not seem that appealing. My other mission is to find the perfect rain wear attire. I have more jacket than one person will ever need, but somehow I cant find a rain jacket that will keep me dry from the rain, will breath well enough so my perspiration doesnt soak me, and is lightweight enough to actually be comfortable to run in. There has to be something out there, but before buying another coat, I am going to try some of the jackets that I do have and comment on how each one performs in hopes of finding a suitable jacket that I already own. Even looking out into the market place for a potential jacket, I havent been very impressed with the options. Many companies advertise or market their jackets as waterproof, breathable but in my experience, most fall short.

In other news, I have been very pleased with my new wet, muddy weather trail running solutions for the lower half of my body. I recently purchased a pair of Montrail's Mountain Masochist's GTX shoes and paired them with MHW's Seta Trail gaitor. This combination has proved to be extremely waterproof and comfortable. Yes, I get very muddy and wet but my feet stay perfectly dry. I'll try and post a picture of this set up soon. Also, I recently purchased a pair of MHW 3/4 Power Tights for running, mtbing and skiing. I wore them recently on a cold, wet trail run and they kept me nice and dry, without overheating. These will be nice for days when my full tights are too warm, but shorts are too cold. While the tights are not the most flattering addition to my wardrobe, many comments from family and gf questioning my manlyhood, I find them to be quite comfortable so you all can shove it lol.

In other other news, I am wear testing a few pairs of trail runners from Columbia and Montrail, and while I cannot tell you the name or what kind of shoe it is, I will be able to comment on some things that I like and dislike about them. Unfortunately, no photos will be posted, but they look and feel pretty sweet so far.

That's all I got and here is a photo Joel man took while in Sun Valley,

UNT

Bryan

Stretching the Legs Out

LifeCycles Movie Trailer

Life Cycles OFFICIAL Trailer from Life Cycles on Vimeo.

Fall Family Weekend 2010 - Spokane, WA

Bowl and Pitcher Bridge, Riverside State Park, Spokane, WA

 

 

This past weekend the fam and I headed up to Spokane, WA to visit my sister for fall family weekend. We headed out in two waves, with my mom heading up earlier with some friends and the rest of us leaving later. After the beautiful drive up the Columbia River Gorge, we hit the desolation of eastern Oregon and Southern Washington. We pulled into Spokane around 11:30pm and I promptly headed down to C.I. Shenanigan’s in hopes of finding their seasonal Dunkel on tap. Unfortunately, the dunkel isn’t released until Nov 1^st. Damn! Ive had some good times with that dunkel as my liquid partner. I was hoping to take a growler home with me to Portland as growler fills are only $5 on Wed and Sundays. From there, I met my parents at Steelhead Bar and Grill and after only one beer we were prompted to join friends at Jack and Dan’s, a favorite Gonzaga bar and owned by John Stockton’s family, located right off of campus.  My college roommates spent many nights there during our time at GU. After closing down the bar at 2am, we headed back to the hotel for some well deserved rest.

I awoke the following morning to the sound of driving rain and wind. My father and I were planning to head to Riverside State Park and do some of my favorite mtb trails. We decided to wait until the weather let up a bit before heading out. Once we got to the Wilbur Road Trailhead, we saddled up and headed out. We brought our pup Rylee along for his first formal mountain bike adventure. After sitting in the car the previous day and all morning, he was raring to go. After about 15 minutes, my dad’s rear tire went flat. Thanks P Moran! Rather than taking the time to patch the tube or risk popping another tire (the rim is a little chipped), he decided to bail and go for a trail run instead. Rylee and I continued on. While the weather was cool, but wet, the trail was nice and tacky with the occasional puddle. Throughout the ride, Rylee never let up. He was bombing down the trails and climbing just as well. Clearly, there is a future for him in mountain biking, just have to get his endurance up.  The ride took around 2hrs, but when I got back to the car, my dad graciously informed me that somehow the keys locked themselves in the car. Luckily, I had thrown my phone in my pack before I left so I called my mother to arrange a rescue. It was a cold 20mins waiting for her arrival.

The rest of the day was spend at Green Bluff, which has now become a family tradition, and I hope to continue it into the future. We ate fresh pickles, homemade huckleberry ice cream, apple pie, fresh apple cider, and pumpkin cheesecake. After picking out our pumpkins and watching the pumpkin chunking, we headed back to the Steamplant Grill for Lauren’s birthday dinner. I had been looking forward to this as the steamplant has a very good pumpkin ale! While not as good as I remembered, the Wasatch pumpkin may take the cake, I brought home two growlers.

The following morning we ate breky at Frank’s Diner after a 1.5hr wait. Yes, it is very popular and delicious. I was planning to do a trail run with my sister, Megan on the Goat Trails on the South Hill, but time constraints prohibited that. There is always next time. Overall, I had a great weekend with my family. It was really nice to see Lauren and her collegiate living conditions. Brings back good memories. Hoping to get a gang together in Portland for Halloween and maybe and finally get Andrew out on the Wildwood trail….

UNT

Bryan

Sun Valley Weekend 2010 Day 3

I was the first one up on Sunday morning as I wanted to get one more ride in before I headed back to ptown. My original plan was to head back to greenhorn gulch trailhead and try the lodgepole/Mahoney loop but that one was supposed to have a good deal of climbing and would take around 3hrs. I wasn’t sure if my legs were up to that long of an adventure. As the boys surfaced from the barracks below the kitchen, I became distracted as kettle began to boil and other potential plans were presented. I was the only one who wanted to go for another ride as the boys opted to go fly fishing instead. I would have loved to have gone as I have never really fly fished, but I was in the mountain bike mecca of Ketchum and had to get my fix of singletrack before I left. I also brought all my trail running stuff and wanted to do a trail run, but I always have a hard time convincing myself to trail run when mountain biking the same trail in an option.  So after finding a suitable trail, I headed out to Adam Gulch trailhead to do the Shadyside/Sunnyside Loop. I think it was around 7 miles… The climb up through the lodgepole pines was cold and sufficiently shady. There were many stream crossings but I elected to take the logs over instead, but eventually the stream crossing became too numerous, and I grew tired of mismounting. It was time to get a little wet. At the fork in the trail which continues the Adam’s Gulch trail, I debated trying to take a longer loop, but a elderly trail runner suggested continuing my original trail as it had a great downhill section. I had to think that she knew what she was talking about and of course, she was correct. Amazing downhill through sagebrush fields and aspen groves with views into the valley below. I stopped too many times to take pictures and tried to soak all of it in. At the end of the trail, I ran into a lot of traffic as it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the residents of SV began to hit one of the most popular and closest trailhead. I returned to the car, snapped a few pics and headed back to the condo.

After the boys returned from fishing, I learned that Captain Lange, with his infinite knowledge of coastal fishing, was able to apply some of those skills to the inland fishing world. Lange landed a small rainbow and caught his first fish on a fly. (Not sure if that is the correct way to say that?). I packed up the fire truck, ate a good lunch, said goodbye to the lads and headed out for my 10hr drive home. Yay!

The drive went very smoothly. It was nice to have light for half the drive which made it much more entertaining. The fire truck is a real champ, and is much more capable of long distance travel than the green machine. On the way home, I reconfirmed that I am in fact an excellent singer.

UNT

Bryan

Sun Valley Weekend 2010 Day 2

Oregon Gulch

We woke up the next morning and ate some eggs and bagels for breakfast. We/I wanted to do a big ride today and honestly anything in the SV area would normally be a big ride due to the length and elevation of most of the trails. After suiting up and loading the bikes, we headed into Ketchum to get some tubes and ask the local bike guys what ride we should do. The guy at Sturtos suggested Oregon Gulch, which was the ride we had been eyeing. Perfect. At the trailhead, we finished packing and fitting the bikes. I was riding my 09 stumpjumper comp, the boys were on my fleet of hardtail ironhorses (thanks adam and greg) and Joel was on his Rocky Mountain hardtail. (sorry joel i cant remember what it is. Slayer...?) We set off on rolling terrain for a few miles before beginning the 1st of 3 uphill slogs. Once Joel met us at the top, (he was riding a downhill bike) we proceeded to bomb down the hill. And I proceeded to clip a stump and go barreling into the bushes. At the bottom, we opened into a meadowy gulch (note that a gulch is something in between a ravine and a canyon or was it a gorge and a valley).

After a steady uphill climb for maybe 2 miles, we began the longest slog to the top of Oregon Gulch. Lets just say that we were all exhausted at the top and facing serious caloric deficit. I passed around some fruit leathers and a little powerbar. We each put on our shells and awaited Joel's arrival. Not long after Joel crested the final switchback and we all collapsed onto the ground to rest, eat and hydrate. Andrew, Lange and Patrick had only carried 20oz bottles and were quickly running out. Time to get back to the car we thought. We each picked our way down the rocky trail and regrouped every few miles to make sure we hadn’t lost anyone. At the bottom of Oregon Gulch, we all noticed a loud hissing coming from Patrick’s wheel. Yes, another flat tire for P-Moran. After fixing that, with a tube that was too small. My bad! We headed up Fox Creek trail for a “short” 200 ft climb, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Once we were all together at the top, we were all starving and thirsty. My hydration bladder was nearly empty and the rest of the boys had run out of water shortly before. We each high tailed it down the final section of single track with was the best of the whole day. Open Flowy Fast. At the car, we pillaged Andrew’s car for food, devouring a multitude of oranges and a bag jerky. The beers we had stashed in the car were left untouched as Andrew and Patrick attempted to raid the Sun Valley Ski Team’s training gym in search of water. In the end, they were foiled by some deceptive green hurdles that posed as a garden hose. Once loaded and partially refueled, one party headed to the store for chocolate milk, while Joel and I tried to navigate back to the condo.

Top of Oregon Gulch

After finally being refueled, rehydrated and re-rested, we headed out to poach some tub. The condo’s hot tub was temporarily closed till the winter season so we thought it far to borrow the neighboring condo’s outdoor tub. Once all the leaves were removed, we submerged our bike-worn bodies into the liquid goodness. The rest of the night was followed with Wasatch Beer, steak and football. We slept like rocks. Well I cant speak for Lange and Patrick….

(side note: I am in constant pursuit to find the world’s greatest pumpkin ale and Wasatch Brewery in now in fierce contention with Coeur d’Alene’s brew. If you have a potential winner, please let me know).

UNT

Bryan