Subaru Forester 2012-12-28 Today we sold our Subaru Forester. We bought this car new five years ago, actually it replaced the previous Subaru (itself only a few months...
5200 miles 2012-12-27 In 2012 I rode my bike(s) 5200 miles, which works out to 100mi/week. In my life, I’ve had plenty of weeks where I rode more...
The Hobbit 2012-12-08 We tried reading The Hobbit a few months ago but got bogged down by all the words. We put it away for awhile, but this...
Lord of the Rings vs. Star Wars 2012-11-20 Lately Orion is all about Lord of the Rings. As a media-lite household we receive most of our pop culture through the Lego catalog. Lego...
Race Report: Kruger’s Crossing, Nov. 17, 2012 2012-11-19 For later: season recap, report on my less-than-spectacular DNS yesterday, and thoughts about Cross Crusade. For now: Saturday’s non-series–but–awesome Kruger’s Crossing. This is my third...
Now that the election’s over: Politics! 2012-11-07 Couple thoughts I’ve been sitting on through this election.First: if ever there were an election where I could’ve been persuaded to vote Republican, this was...
Race Report: Canby Cross-Word CX Challenge (#2), 11/3/2012 2012-11-05 Better late than never. I was hoping for some photos — there were like five people with huge cameras on hand Saturday, and it was...
Drive to work 2012-11-02 Yesterday I drove to work. Actually, before I drove to work I fell down the stairs and hurt my foot. OK, my toe.[1] The toe...
Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #6, 10/24/2012 2012-10-26 Excluding races where I had a medical, a mechanical or just plain DNF, this was my worst race ever. 40 of 61. It was pouring...
Be a dolphin, not a turtle 2012-10-22 The rains have arrived, time for the ritual BikePortland “what do you wear on your winter commute” thread. We’ll get to my “advice” in a...
Race Report: Cross Crusade #3 (PIR Heron Lakes), 10/21/2012 2012-10-22 Photo: Amanda Erickson On the one hand: pretty much your standard-issue cyclocross race. Mud and gravel, running and crying. Days of rain = slippery and...
Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #4, 10/18/2012 2012-10-18 Not much to report. Thom rode SS, I had gears. We staged near the front but I had a sluggish start and lost a lot...
Race Report: Cross Crusade #2 (Rainier HS), 10/14/2012 2012-10-15 A flawless race. 12th of 160. I did some things right but a lot was just plain handed to me.Did right:Condition. Maintenance, no mechanicals. Competent...
Race Report: Cross Crusade #1 (Alpenrose Dairy), 10/7/2012 2012-10-08 This was my best worst race ever. With the Cross Crusade patented “Random callup” I was in the last group of 20 called up —...
DNF: lessons and excuses 2012-10-04 Is it better or worse to DNF or DNS? On Council Crest last night, freezing cold, tired legs, I thought: “I’d rather be home with...
Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #3, 10/3/2012 2012-10-04 I am way way waaaay out of my depth in Cat B. DNF.For later: lessons learned, excuses.
Race Report: Battle at Barlow, 9/30/2012 2012-09-30 I remembered Barlow as one of my favorite races last year, also one of my bloodiest (two bad-ish crashes with lots of bike damage.) My...
Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #2, 9/26/2012 2012-09-27 Pretty much copy-and-paste repeat of last week’s Blind Date, except:Staged back dozen Didn’t crash, not even a little Missed the bell lap by literally seconds...
Race Report: Grand Prix Tina Brubaker #4 (Zaandercross), 9/22/2012 2012-09-23 And I thought Het Meer was bad. Zaandercross was twice as bad. Even where the ground wasn’t sand, it was sand. Under the grass: sand....
Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #1, 9/19/2012 2012-09-20 Overview: Fast, dry, really dusty. I was spitting brown all race. Course mostly like last year with a longer straightaway than I recall, all the...
Race Report: Grand Prix Tina Brubaker #2 (Het Meer), 9/9/2012 2012-09-09 The theme for today is suffering. Even by the generous standards of cyclocross, Het Meer is about suffering. Long runups through deep beach sand, endos...
Six Sprints 2012-09-04 Since mid-July, at least twice a week I ride a thing I call “Six Sprints.” Inasmuch as I “train,” Six Sprints is it. I tried...
Race Report: Grand Prix Tina Brubaker #1 (David Douglas Park), 9/1/2012 2012-09-01 Briefly: a fantastic race, easily one of my strongest ever. Conditions about like last year: dry and dusty. First ’cross race on the Gunnar, which...
Lance 2012-08-29 My pals Thom and Chris have some thoughts about Lance Armstrong. I started to reply via Facebook but it got unwieldy.I am also of two...
You don’t need a fast car… 2012-08-13 A young friend just posted to Facebook: Three friends have gotten engaged in the past week. I'm 30 and single. I need a fast car,...
Race Report: STMTB #8 (7/31/2012) and series recap 2012-07-31 I started the last STMTB race of 2012 exhausted, underslept, and with legs completely tapped. I was sure I’d have one of those “in it...
Sticks and stones 2012-07-27 Last night I realized I was wearing my heart rate monitor during yesterday’s little adventure. Interesting to note the fight-or-flight stuff going on here. The...
Grasping a hot coal 2012-07-26 First: I am fine, the bike is fine. Scrapes and bumps for both of us. I get worse than this almost every week racing.Second: this...
Old bull, young bull (Short Track MTB #5 and #6, July 9 and 16, 2012) 2012-07-17 A young bull and an old bull are sitting on top of a hill above the heifer pasture. Young Bull says: “I got a great...
1988 2012-07-15 Because it’s late and I’m feeling thoughtful, I’m thinking of 1988, which was 24 years ago. 1988 was one of about five or so really...
Cars vs. Phones 2012-07-03 Serious question: if you were forced to give up either 1) driving a car or 2) using an iphone/android/smartphone/cel phone/whatever…which would you choose?I ask because...
Race report: Short Track MTB #3 2012-06-19 Not a lot to report. Pre-reg callups meant I staged near the front (second row). Finished 12th of 63. I didn’t crash. I rode very...
Mat Barton 2012-06-15 I learned this morning through the OBRA mailing list that Monday’s injury at the Short Track Mountain Bike race was far worse than the usual...
Why I Live Here, Part 326 2012-06-14 The arborists who trimmed our Doug Firs measured them at at least 165' apiece. I had guessed 100' and thought that guess a little high.The...
Really Fun or Fun for All Riders? 2012-06-13 I wrote this letter apropos of a discussion on the OBRA mailing list about the kind of scary rate of injury at the PIR Short...
Two regrets about bicycles 2012-06-12 I am a naturally regretful person. I regret almost every decision. Simultaneously I have such gratitude for my life, rich in love if not much...
Race Report: Short Track MTB #1 2012-06-06 Sorry for the delay. Been busy. Can’t waste time with pronouns.First race of the season. First race for the Gunnar.Conditions tacky and dry. Rain early...
It must be summer because everyone’s asking for bike advice 2012-06-01 Addendum 2016-02-23 Here the truest advice I have on this subject: If a bike shop thinks they are too cool to take your money, they’re...
Programming is like an analogy 2012-05-28 I have a one-liner I like to whip out whenever someone tries to explain what programming is “like.”Programming is like an analogy.(This is a joke...
Making web things is like writing term papers 2012-05-25 Did you go to college? Did you write term papers? Did you like it? When was the last time you wrote a term paper?I liked...
Paul’s Lazy Substitutes for What The Pros Do 2012-05-14 I started writing a way-too-long blog about the difference between “saddle sores” (noun) and “saddle sore” (adjective). (Short answer: you want to read about it...
Bodhisattva Vow (For Adam “MCA” Yauch) 2012-05-05 Earlier this week, maybe Wednesday, “Bodhisattva Vow” popped up in my iTunes. I may have listened to it intentionally. Regardless, I hadn’t gone out of...
Takeaways 2012-05-03 At the end of a business meeting in North America, someone will frequently say something like “OK, so what are our key takeaways from this...
People in cars on the Sylvan Overpass 2012-05-01 Every day, on the Sylvan overpass, I pass a line of people in cars waiting to turn right off Scholls Ferry onto US-26. About four...
Ride Report: Strava Classic Challenge 2012-05-01 I closed the Strava Classic Challenge with a total cumulative elevation gain of 108,423' between March 15 and April 30 — about 3000' past the...
Ten years ago, I took a bike ride... 2012-04-28 …down the Oregon Coast. It took six days. I blogged about it and took pictures. Even at the time I knew I was engaged in...
Five minute ride report: de Ronde van Oeste Portlandia 2012-04-23 I’ve ridden this course 2.5 times in the last month, in addition to my usual summitting Council Crest twice a day. The route is (accurately)...
Taxing bikes is like lassoing bumblebees 2012-04-19 Treehugger just published The Terrible Catch-22 That Happens When Cities Choose BikesThe gist of which is: when more people ride bikes, revenues from the gas...
Screens = booze 2012-04-15 Clay Shirky, in an interview about e-books, says: The reading experience is so much more valuable now than it was ten years ago because it’s...
The Gordian Knot of Lifestyle Happiness 2012-04-13 I just finished reading Tom Vanderbilt’s excellent 4-part series “America’s Pedestrian Problem,” and he knocks it out of the park at the end with this:...
“Difficult” and “fun” are non-orthogonal variables 2012-04-06 So on a recent BikePortland thread I came across these two comments: [my car has] A/C[,] … a stereo and cup holders, and still has...
Do you remember life before Starbucks? 2012-04-02 Do you remember life before Starbucks? I do and I never want to go back.When I lived in North Dakota (1993–94) I sometimes got my...
Don’t break the chain 2012-03-30 I’m two weeks into the Strava Classic Challenge (climb a cumulative 100,000' feet from March 15 to April 30). So how am I doing? (Day...
Over the Hill 2012-03-23 After a week of riding I have a pretty respectable start on my latest stupid idea. 13,357' of 105,312'. I’ve ridden 9764' this week and...
Can You See Mt. Hood from Council Crest? 2012-03-21 In my idiotic endeavor to climb 100,000 cumulative vertical feet before April 30, I will be summiting Council Crest park twice daily. Every time I...
One way or another I will regret this 2012-03-19 I just joined the Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized on Strava. Climb 105,312 vertical feet between March 15 and April 30. I’ve already climbed 4156...
I pity anyone who didn’t ride their bike to work today 2012-03-16 Yesterday: pouring rain, 13mi over the hills, soaked to the bone and grinning the whole way. Today: moss and new leaves glowing green in the...
Synchronicity: Three Things 2012-03-13 Three things today that I have to get on paper. Er, electrons. For later.Thing One A healthy product company is, confusingly, one at odds with...
Why I ride 2012-03-09 It’s fun. The first thing my wife ever said to me was “do you know any good bike rides?” It saves money. (My family saves...
Real life vs. college 2012-03-08 I’m trying to scrape up $70 for a copy of The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Jenny and I give ourselves $100 (each) every month for...
Letting Go 2012-03-04 The garage is now three bikes lighter. Just this very afternoon I sold two bikes, including the 2007 Soma Double Cross that was my do-everything...
Ten Years Ago 2012-03-02 I can’t reckon the exact date but it was more-or-less ten years ago this week that my ex-wife and I split for good. Or rather,...
Epithets occasionally hurled at me by people in cars during my commute 2012-03-01 While I’m on my bike, obviously.Idiot, moron: I suppose this is all relative, isn’t it? It’s true: I don’t remember anything at all from high...
The Instructions of Shuruppak 2012-02-27 Well, I’m off to a strong start on The Stupidest Awesome Idea. I just finished The Instructions of Shuruppak, a collection of pithy wisdom from...
The trees are the right height 2012-02-21 Once when flying into Nebraska (from Oregon) I was sitting behind some high school kids who were (kind of surmising here...) visiting a sibling/friend/cousin attending...
The Love Competition 2012-02-19 I just watched this remarkable short film, The Love Competition. The film puts seven “contestants” in an MRI and asks them to meditate on love,...
I have wanted this bike for five years 2012-02-12 Yesterday I took possession of my new bike, a 2012 quetzal green Gunnar Fastlane. It’s intended to replace the 2007 Soma Doublecross which became unrideable...
Addendum re: Dieting and Training 2012-02-10 Ruminating on my previous post I realized I had taken a smug and braggy tone. “Gee I’m skinny without even trying.”The bragging I am totally...
Dieting and Training 2012-02-09 I don’t “diet” and I don’t “train.” Neither do I “work out” or “watch what I eat.” I might be lucky in my genes (more...
Wannabe 2012-02-03 Cyclist Stereotypes, by Bikeyface There are, to generalize, two kinds of people who will describe a cyclist (stereotypically: one in lycra, on a city street,...
Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood 2012-02-01 As a non-profit fundraiser, Komen really gets my dander up. This has nothing to do with their decision to drop support for Planned Parenthood, which...
My Commute Today 2012-01-19 Painting: “Ride to Atlantis” by James Gurney I love riding my bike in warm, wet weather like this. Makes you feel good to be alive....
DeClouding 2012-01-18 I suck at Resolutions (New Year’s or otherwise). I lack follow-through. So instead of resolving to do, I did. I took my life off the...
