The Everyday Athlete

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• The Curse of Villebois

  I should have known better. We’re racing bikes through what is left of a former insane asylum. A few rotting concrete walls and several deadly spikes of rebar growing out of the ground here and there are the only remnants of the building that was Dammasch... Posted Oct 15 2008, 10:22 AM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cross_crusade, racing, cycling, cyclocross, adventure, stories

• Bring it to me Angry, Baby - Cross Warmup Music

  Quote from a friend last week, “I am getting so fucking annoyed that everyone who races ‘cross can’t bring themselves to talk about anything besides fucking ‘cross!” Don’t worry. I cut him off. He’s off the friend... Posted Oct 09 2008, 07:59 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, cyclocross, adventure

• Death to Chihuahuas: Cyclocross Animal Sacrifice Part Two

  I had to kill a bird to get the ‘cross gods to bless me with a remount. Since then my front wheel is a magnet for suicidal vermin. Squirrels dodging underneath my mud tires, looking for an easy way to end the pain of losing the backyard battle to... Posted Oct 09 2008, 03:19 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, cyclocross, adventure, stories

• Bike Fighting: Lady is the Boss

  I’ve wanted a BMX bike for three years. Every year, I ask for one for my birthday. Last year I got a Dutch cruiser instead. This year, I spent all the allotted birthday money throwing a big-assed party. I’ve got a secret crush on BMX culture... Posted Oct 08 2008, 02:57 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: bikes, adventure

• Sunshine Roller, Sunday Macchiato

  Highway 30 on a long Sunday.  Sal is breaking legs in the Master B category out at Sauvie Island and I’m late.  Too late to see him finish but just in time to hear the grand retelling. The after-race part is always better anyway. My kit... Posted Sep 08 2008, 10:12 AM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, life, adventure, stumptown

• Blinding White Joy.

  Summer morning.  Chilly track. "Natalie!  My hands are numb!" "Mine too!" Mittens in August? Heading into the third turn of the second 800 meter interval the sun powers over the top of the building to our east.  Blinding... Posted Aug 27 2008, 06:00 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: fitness, life, adventure

• A Little Baggage Doesn’t Hurt Anyone: On Packing my Suitcase of Courage

  I’m about to bite off a little more than I can chew and, you know what?  I plan to survive. Moreover - I plan to take it by storm. Tomorrow I’ll do the biggest climbing day that I’ve attempted to date.  My "normal"... Posted Jul 18 2008, 06:31 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, motivation, adventure, randonneuring

• From the “What Was I Thinking” Files: 126 Miles into the Wind

  At mile 34.7 Natalie Ramsland takes a monster pull on the front of our four-man group.  There are 91 miles left to ride.We are somewhere near Silverton, battling a never-ending series of rollers that threaten to end my will to live. There is no draft... Posted Jun 15 2008, 12:25 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, bikes, adventure, randonneuring

• Keep Portland Glorious: 9th and Sherrett

  We have a big ride planned for tomorrow so we go out early in the morning for a short spin just to remind the muscles how to make the bike move forward. Sal opens it up on Springwater, per usual, and I suck wheel like a champ. There’s a chill to... Posted Jun 13 2008, 01:59 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, bikes, life, adventure

• Boulder, Colorado: Part Two

  12 hours in a conference chair and I’m at my wits end.   I have been eating Nectar Bars and apples stolen from the hotel lobby display.  Cottage cheese from the grocery store.  Baby carrots. This trip is going down on the cheap. I... Posted Jun 08 2008, 09:42 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: life, adventure, stories

• Boulder, Colorado: Part One

  I fly into the Denver airport over a pancake flat landscape and think: “Wait, did I accidentally get on a plane to Kansas?” The mountains are hiding beyond the windows on the other side of the plane.  I am heading to a Writer’s... Posted Jun 08 2008, 09:15 AM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: life, adventure, stories

• From the Road…

  You’re Not Going to Believe This But… It is raining in Portland. It has been raining in Portland all week. I am as sick of writing that as you are of reading it, believe me. During the winter the rain is a backdrop. As expected and unnoticed... Posted Jun 07 2008, 10:01 AM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, cyclocross, training, life, dealing, adventure, news

• Welcome to New Readers from the Oregonian

  It’s 5:10am and in a little over an hour, I’ll leave for a mountain bike ride with a friend who was stupid enough to let me talk him into getting rolling this early on a Sunday.  Right now, however, I’m sitting in bed with a mug... Posted Jun 01 2008, 07:44 AM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: adventure, announcement, news

• My Left Foot

  At high noon I am off in every direction.  The heart of me shooting skyward, the soles of me pressing down into scarred pavement, the eyes of me dead set on a hazy horizon. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Feverydayathleteblog.com%2F2008%2F01%2F17... Posted Jan 17 2008, 06:11 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: training, running, adventure

• I Heart Forest Park

  I have been locked in the Westin LAX for 5 days straight without rest. Fifteen hours of work every day. Hotel meals. Boring treadmill runs at 5:30 in the morning. When I step into the light outside the front doors of the hotel to catch the airport shuttle... Posted Oct 23 2007, 12:51 PM by The Everyday Athlete Filed under: cycling, cyclocross, motivation, bikes, life, adventure