The Big Meltdown

Otherwise Known As Happy New Year 2009.

Icicles are dangerously melting and falling off buildings. True horror movie material. 

The streets so slushy it's impossible not to get soaked. Soon, it will all be a magical dream... just like 2008. 

Next year I plan to have more stuff to Blogger about. 

Arctic Holiday Blast

What a crazy snowstorm we had. The whole city shutdown for what seemed like two weeks. 

A beautiful winter wonderland blew into town right in time for the holidays. 

Also, I found out that living close to my work has disadvantages too. I had to cover shifts and work on my days off everyday before Christmas. It's a good thing we weren't planning on any big events. 

I didn't get to shoot very many pictures because by the time I got off from work it was already dark.

One night we went out snow cycling for three hours. The cars had compacted the snow pretty good on the main roads so it felt safe enough to ride on. We rode downtown to Pioneer Square to check out the Christmas Tree. It was neat seeing everything heaping with snow.

Grianstad an Gheimhridh

It's here... Winter solstice! 

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (stand still). The interpretation varies from culture to culture but all involve celebrations.

In Ireland the Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC. The passage and chamber are illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise. A shaft of light shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. The dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn. Pretty cool.

Humuhumu-Nukunuku-Apua'a

That's a mouthful. I'm convinced I now have the phattest tires in town. 

And those bars, extremely wide, I can't even maneuver it in and out of the elevator. But who's gonna complain about a $3 singlespeed bike? Not me. I won a Kona raffle and now am the proud owner of this aggressive urban bike! Thank you 21st Avenue Bicycles for putting "it" back together for me!

The idea was to have it take over Sprinty's place as our outside bike, but it's so shinny and new, seems like it would get into trouble left outside in in the bike thievery streets of Northwest. For now it'll have to be an inside bike until further notice.

Hope You Like Hills

What an absolutely gorgeous December day!

I got up early went on a 50 mile ride with some lovely ladies today out to Willamette Falls.

It's the first time I've cycled farther south than Oregon City. 

Some bonus hill climbs made for some beautiful blue sky views of the area including the mountains.  

Coming down those big hills at 40 mph with my brakes on was a total blast!

We saw a lot people out riding, I don't think anyone could resist the amazing weather.

By the time I got home I had I logged in 4 hours of riding time.

My legs feel the burn.

PIR Single Speed World Championships

This week the races were behind our old familiar stomping grounds...PIR. 

To add to the fun, if you bought a Cross Crusade pint glass you could receive free PBR toppers all day long. That is until the beer ran out. But this is Portland and of course they had plenty on hand.

Martin rode out early to make it to the Beginner category race. Previously he has raced the Masters C group and wanted to see if there were any differences between the two.

Byz met me at our place and we rode out a couple hours later. It was her first time and it was fun introducing her to all the madness.

When we got there the festivities were in full effect to say the least. Martin had a good race and told me all the tips and spots to look out for. I signed in and finally had a much anticipated delicious waffle! 

Soon the women's race started and we were off. Because it started raining this week the ground was soaked, this was my first true mud maneuvering and my first ride through a huge puddle. In the last stretch when we hit the pavement I was actually racing another girl to the finish line. That was pretty intense.

On the sidelines there was an all ladies twister match and The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers supplying some wicked beats. 

For the championship race the riders started in a wide group line and Team Yakima built a revolving windmill and an awesome wall of bubbles machine for some extra barriers. So much to see and a whole lot of fun to watch!

Amazing Astoria Costume Cross

It was unbelievably warm at the coast for this racing weekend.

Lots of folks did both days but we know our limits and went for Sundays race.

Did I say, absolutely amazingly perfect weather. It was so nice. So many great costumes everywhere, my team had Sorella At The Spa towels, turbans and cucumber masque on. 

Martin rode in an Elvis costume Brian lent us and had a lot of hecklers mouthing off funny comments! The best thing is he made it into a photo on pdxcross!

A fun coarse through stables, down hills and then back up hills. The ladies represented well, very fun to ride around with all the turtles, bugs, witches, tronettes, sarah palins and of course cowgirls.

Afterwards we stuck around and helped pick up all the cones off the course. The glitz behind the glamour!