Exactly one year ago...

Every cyclist gets asked at one point (and another, and another) how they got into the sport. Well, here's my story.

(Reposted from the MMBA thread, "When did you realize that you loved mountain biking?")

I owned a decent (at the time) hardtail throughout highschool, and rode it mostly on dirt roads and twotrack in our woods just for fitness. After a bad breakup about a year and a half ago, I returned to the hobby and took up road cycling. I got seriously bit by the bike bug, and on July 25th (the day before my birthday) I dusted off the old mtb and hit up the Hadley Hills trails near my parents. (Which I learned shortly after were bridle paths only! Oops!) Long story short, I was hooked. I loved it.

I brought the mtb back with me to my apartment at school and hit up Burchfield singletrack five days later. Not being possessed of technical skills at that point (or a bike truly capable of handling technical singletrack), I wiped out on one of the switchbacks, flew off my bike and onto a log, and in doing so tore a muscle in my side. After a few days of being stubborn and in serious pain, I went to the doctor and picked up some meds. After two (very interesting!) weeks of muscle relaxers and painkillers, I was still unable to ride (or walk, or bend, or breathe) without serious discomfort. It took about two whole months to fully recuperate (all of August and September, with only short road and trainer rides!). I realized I needed a better bike to ride the trails I wanted to ride, and I test rode a GF Superfly for a week to see how I liked the 29er geometry and sizing (thanks, ACF Pontiac!). I purchased a Paragon shortly after. The rest is history. :)

Greetings from Oregon

I've been in Oregon for almost a week now with the family, and I've got to say, I love it here! I've been bikeless the whole time, but it hasn't been too bad because I've been getting in a lot of workouts doing day hikes.

The first place we took in was Crater Lake. Despite hearing the accounts of many who have been there, I couldn't believe how pristine and blue the lake truly is.

We attempted to hike up Watchman Peak to get a better view, but it was still rather snowy:

We weren't expecting the trail to have over 6 feet of snow in mid-July, and nobody on the trip was prepared to hike in it so we turned back at that point (since slipping on the snow would mean sliding down the slope into a bunch of unfriendly-looking rocks).

We were able to hike down to the surface of the lake, which was just as blue up close. The hike back up was intense though—over 700 feet of gain in just about a mile.

We spent some time traveling to see the redwoods in California and a kind ranger told us about a little-known trail that wound around the hills south of Crescent City and took you down along the coast in the Redwood National Park. It was pretty isolated and the views were incredible. I've got to admit, I'm falling in love with the mountains here.

One thing, however, did put a bit of a damper on my enjoyment of the outdoors, and that was people breaking rules. Not everyone abides by the Leave No Trace philosophy of "Take only pictures, leave only footprints," but I saw several people blatantly breaking the rules at national parks. People were feeding squirrels and chipmunks at Crater Lake...while I'll admit it's not as dangerous as feeding a bear, it's still bad to do. When squirrels start relying on handouts from people, they don't bury as many seeds and less new pine trees germinate. Even squirrels have important roles!

Feeding squirrels scraps of bread paled in comparison to people taking out large pieces of driftwood from the coast south of Crescent Beach. On the way down, I passed a group of people carrying out four large pieces of driftwood (ranging from two to four feet wide) and a piece of what looked like coral back to their car. Seeing that was infuriating, and it was very hard to bite my tongue and not inform them that they were breaking federal law by removing those from the park...but getting in the middle of an argument about it while being outnumbered didn't seem like a smart idea. It made me even more mad when I got down to the beach, and saw that there was really very little driftwood down there—it would've been appreciated if those folks had left it for others to see.

Well, it's July.

And that means it's time for the Tour de France.

I've been busy. In between celebrating Independence Day with an unholy quantity of unhealthy food and beer, preparing for my upcoming trip to Oregon, and not riding my bicycle (after a serious bout of heat exhaustion last year, I refuse to ride when the heat index reaches above 95°f), I've tried to keep up with the Tour de France. All I really know thus far is that some men in spandex crashed a lot, and that Mark Cavendish has won two stages, which is reason to celebrate!

The news seems concerned about Armstrong vs. Contador, who is and "isn't" doping, and those damn cobblestones. (In fact, it appears cycling has devolved to the point where Alberto Contador eatting a biscuit is now considered a newsworthy event. Is biscuit-eating the new fingerbang?) To me, the more important issue is that of Mark Cavendish vs. Thor Hushovd.

Now, this has been an ongoing debate with my friend Evelyn since last year's tour. If it's not obvious thus far, I'm on Cav's side and she's on Thor's. While it started as a friendly debate about who was the better sprinter, it has since shifted into a sometimes-fiery feud. Since both racers are very fast, we've had to use other criteria to determine who is actually better. Such criteria include country of origin, how boastful the individual is, and how good they look in the color green. (To start with, Mark Cavendish is Manx, and therefore inherently awesome. I know this because I am partially Manx.)

As the tour goes on I'll be paying close attention to who has the green jersey as well as who's racking up the most stage wins. Thus far it stands Cav: 2, Thor: 1.

Clearly Cavendish wins the "who looks better in green" battle.

In domestic news, things are finally beginning to pull together for my family reunion trip to Oregon (which departs on Tuesday). I've acquired adequate rain gear for the day hikes I'll be doing, and trips are planned to Crater Lake, the Oregon Caves, the Rogue River, and the Redwoods in Northern California. Just one area of my trip is yet to be decided: the bicycle aspect. I've been searching for a shop in the area (Canyonville) that rents bikes...so far, the closest shop that rents bikes is in Eugene, which is about 2 hours north of where I'll be. The lack of available bikes in southern Oregon has surprised me and I find myself wondering, why couldn't they have just planned the damn reunion in Portland?