The bags are packed for our second moto trip of the year. Nick won’t be joining us due to his bike’s state of disrepair. Here’s a preview of where my dad and I will be going.
Day 1: Kirkland, WA to Manzanita, OR
Day 2: Manzanita, OR to Bandon, OR
Day 3: Bandon, OR to Crater Lake
Day 4: Crater Lake to Goldendale, WA
Day 5: Goldendale, WA to Kirkland, WA
We’ve seen some nasty crashes at the Marymore Velodrome, but nothing quite like this one at Alpenrose in Southwest Portland recently. Riders were traveling at 40 mph. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.
In other cycling news, U.S. Olympic racers are making waves as they arrive in Beijing wearing masks to protect themselves against the pollution. Kirkland’s very own Jennie Reed is pictured at the top of the article. The IOC is ignoring the problem, calling the smog humidity, and China is offended. I’m not sure what else an athlete is supposed to do, though. According to the article:
At their Olympic test events last year, the smog even made its way into the velodrome, floating just below the rafters. Lea said he developed a “wicked sore throat” about 30 minutes after flying into Beijing. It turned into a chest infection that lasted a week.
Other athletes are also experiencing coughing fits and other lung problems.
Do you forgo competing in the Olympics because it is a health risk? Do you do your best to protect yourself and risk offending the host country? Tough choices.
Last night, when Nick and I were watching a movie, we caught Bentley chasing a furry, dark creature across the house. Whatever it was disappeared into the baseboard heater, thwarting any immediate capture attempt.
Understandably, the average housewife would probably freak at the sight of wildlife in the house. Considering that we’ve already dealt with five raccoons, three snakes, two rabbits, five rats, countless birds and several mice in our house, you can imagine how unbothered we were. (This is the point where I try to convince you that we really do love our carnivorous cats.) Since we couldn’t catch it, we went back to our movie and decided we do something about it when we saw/heard it again.
It did come out for a visit in the middle of the night (we heard it scurrying around several times). Our cats weren’t very helpful in cornering this creature though, so we didn’t actually find it until morning.
Turns out one of our black death machines brought home a mole. Here he is trying to figure a way out of the heater. I imagine he can’t see very well in the light.
I botched the first capture attempt when the mole finally came out of the baseboard heater. (He ran right back in.) I left the room thinking it would be a while before he came out again. I must have missed the second escape attempt, because the next thing I knew, something was squeaking in our bedroom closet.
I couldn’t locate the sucker until I finally saw one of my shoes moving. Yup! There he was. I put the shoe and him in my homemade trap.
Thinking the cats might like to play with the guy I set the box outside next to the cats. Neither were interested in killing or playing with it. (Perhaps they’d had their fill inside?)
Frustrating, because now I’d have to figure out a way to dispose of the thing…
He’s living in our trash can until Friday, at which point he will have a whole landfill to dig through. Heaven for moles!
Time to celebrate the start of three weeks of vacation! And that means a little dancing, of course. What better inspiration than three full minutes of Christopher Walken dancing? This just plain rocks.
Martha Walsh published a multi-part race report on her blog which includes an incredible picture of us leading the crit on Saturday. Damn, we look good!