Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Series - Race #2

Had a bad start. Picked the wrong gear and slipped a pedal which had me mid-pack before the first turn. I was able to make up about 10 spots before the single track. This time they added alot of single-track which I liked. Unfortunately about 1/2 through the race I did an endo over the log after having cleared it on the 4 previous laps no problem. So lose about 4-5 spots getting up and putting my chain back on the front ring. I was pretty gassed after that and could hear the announcer saying something about the race leader. I looked back and could see him only a few turns behind me so I was about to get lapped. It was the last lap so I rode abit harder so he couldn't. Not sure if that guy is always that fast or what. Results - 17th out of 47. Stayed awhile to watch the Pro / Elite field. These guys are fast. One guy Shannon Skerritt, seemed to run away with it. I hear he's the guy that does the Cyclocross training classes. Anyway. We'll see how I do tonight after having the race down in Oakridge.

I guess Hawthorne Street is this well known area in Portland for being well... very Portland. Hippies. Gay / Lesbians. Local shops. There was supposed to be this event called 2^nd Thursday going on last week. We went but even the businesses had no idea what the hell we were talking about. Had a couple beers at the Bridgeport Ale House. Good wheat summer special beer. Heidi invited Craig along. Nice guy. He's on crutches, well not the hospital kind, those kind that people use for when they are permanently disabled. Which he is. Something with his hip. Anyway I had fun teasing her later that she invited someone along to a Boulevard / sidewalk with tons of walking and the guy can't really go but more than 2 blocks... /sigh. He knows alot about the area. I guess Hawthorne was originally a pretty seedy area and then lesbian couples moved into the area and since then it's been an all hippie, free thinking zone. Craig wasn't up for the walking so Heidi and I walked for abit then decided to head over to this Italian Jazz joint, of which the name escapes me, for some meatballs and pasta. The best meatballs in Portland I guess. They weren't bad. The jazz was downstairs but we didn't go because we were belly up to the bar and Justin and his girlfriend met up with us. I switched to some Hoegaarden and then finished Heidi's wine for her. I guess I had some higher expectations for this street. Going to have to check it out again some other time.

Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Series - Race #1

Here's a couple shots I snagged from the Portland MTB Short Track Series site.

1st book in as far back as I can remember that I didn't finish. It wasn't that the reading was difficult or that the subject wasn't interesting it was that there were 400+ pages of really small font in a hardcover and he was going into amazing detail of every race. And he raced all over the world from like the late 1890s to the 1920s. While I thought the first 100 pages were great and he's a really impressive man I felt like it was taking a long time to read and I was neglecting the National Geographics' and other books piling up. Also I think the pressure from the library to return the book in 3 weeks was a little much. Yep. I couldn't find the book in print. Had to go to the library.

"It is my thought that clean living and a strict observance of the golden rule of true sportsmanship are foundation stones without which a championship structure cannot be built."

Marshall Taylor in The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World

Random Stuff

• Heidi is donating blood today. I think this is the second time since we've been together (7 months now /raise_eyebrows). Pretty impressive. I don't think most people have given blood since High School where it was a good excuse to get out of class and show off with your smiley face sticker or cause a big drama scene and act all light-headed.
• Results got posted from the race monday night. Looks like I took 13th out of 48 riders. A co-worker just told me that the rider that took 3rd in the Men's Pro, Molly Cameron, is now a girl. Well a guy that has gone through a transformation to be a girl and is being forced to ride amongst the men. Interesting.
• Anybody watch any soccer over the weekend? Ok I'm not a huge fan but I jumped on the bandwagon. Saturday I watched Germany win the 3rd place match and then on Sunday Heidi and I headed downtown to watch the World Cup Final between Italy and France.
     

  Check out the crowd at Pioneer Place in downtown Portland
     

  Showing the match on the big screen provided by Comcast
  And what about the headbutt administered by Zidane? Check it out!
     

  Zidane headbutt