BICYCLING
   

A passion for bicycling got re-ignited in July ’05 with a 126-mile adventure from Portland to Astoria. I equipped my heavy 18-year-old mountain bike with panniers from Bike N' Hike (their Beaverton store), and was still able to stay up with my more experienced friends…except in the headwinds. 'Twas because of this trip that I resolved to get a “proper” rode bike. After a dozen test rides, I ended up with a Mountain Cycle Stumptown, which is actually a cyclo-cross bicycle, but it was set up as a super-commuter, complete with fenders and disk brakes.

Ironically, I started dabbling in cyclo-cross a few months later, but with that same old mountain bike (it's a Specialized Rockhopper) that I rode to Astoria. Came in last or close to last in the three races I entered (getting lapped multiple times). For the 3rd race, Erik Tonkin and Steven Landon of Sellwood Cycle Repair set the Rockhopper up with drop bars, new brakes, and shifters. Truly a funky bike with some charm, my boss at work dubbed it “the snowmobile” (after I rode it to work on a rare Portland snow day in December ’05).

In February '06, I enter my first road race, the "Cherry Pie" race a bit north of Eugene. Boy did I not know what I was doing! I lost my peloton at the first right-hander, and then got yelled at by one of the chase vehicles for drafting another peloton that passed me.  I didn't know that was forbidden, nor did know that you're not permitted to cross the center line  (not that I was gonna be involved in any sprint to the finish). I finished 32nd out of 33 in the "Masters Men Category 5" group.

The next week, I entered my first time trial, the "Jack Frost Time Trail" at Vancouver Lake, WA. I placed 43rd out of 46 in the "Masters Men 50+" category, and 310th out of 325 overall. But at least I got a good picture out of it (on the right).

In order to strengthen and smooth out my riding , I bought a used "fixed-gear" bike from Sellwood Cycle in May 2005.. It's an old Italian bike (Ideor Asso is the brand) with the derailers and extra chain rings and cogs removed. I immediately took it out to the "Swan Island Criterium", where they had a fixed-gear category. I came in 20th out of 22. But again, a good photo came out of the experience; it's the one on my HOME page.

[This page is a work in progress, and will either be added to or changed soon.]