Update 1-

As promised here is some overdue blogging. Summer is flying by and once again I know what time of year it is based upon my travel to various races around the country. After the Nature Valley Stage Race (Minnesota), I had a some time in Milwaukee to get some bike riding in of my own and feel normal again before heading west.

Heading west meant 4 days of driving to reach Bend, Oregon. Driving out west is always exciting for me but it has become a little old over the years. I've seen most of what there is to see from all the major Interstates. Would love to take a new route now and then but the Interstates are the quickest way to travel most of the time. I brought my mountain bike on this trip to experience the riding in Bend but it was also fun to ride around various towns that I spent the night in along the way. One of those 10pm rides was to find something to eat for dinner on the 4th of July. The only place open in "somewhere" North Dakota was a chinese restaurant. The Americanized teenage daughter of the parents was a little fidgety because she was concerned about missing the fireworks with her friends. (Note to self: Chinese restaurants are open late on 4th of July as well as Christmas Eve.)

I mentioned that I bought a new camera. I made the purchase (no sales tax) as we left Bend, OR so I have no actual pictures from Bend. All I can say is that I have to go back there someday. Our host families were incredibly nice people. Us mechanics had nothing to worry about other than bike stuff. Great meals, great hugs in the morning, great conversations, great coffee...

I was fortunate to take my mountain bike on some fantastic rides. Someone once said it takes a lot to impress me. I've been feeling like that has been the case as of late. Riding my bike out there was some of the greatest trail riding I've done in awhile. For anyone familiar with Bend, I mainly stuck around the Phil's Trail area. I loved the flow of the trails, the smell of the pines, the dryness of the dirt sticking to my teeth. It was just what this guy needed. A little bit of adventure to psych me up and appreciate things around me. IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!! My last day there, Eric rented a mountain bike and we saddled up with Matt and Cheryl (his host family) for a day long trail ride. Probably my ideal day come true. Riding with a group of friends all day and ending it up with a well earned dinner at the local watering hole. Thanks Matt and Cheryl!

Had a few "small world" run-ins while in Bend too. Bill Warbuton from Lake Placid is a all grown up and living there. He is the only person I've ever sold one of my bikes too. I'm a tall guy which seems to make it hard to sell my bikes for some reason. Anyways, we had a good laugh about that one. He works for the ski foundation in Bend and has started a kids road biking program this summer. He said he tries to remember how he felt as a kid, hanging out in the shop I worked at in Lake Placid, and Kenny and I would talk to him which fostered his interest in biking. That Cannondale 2.8 series bike I sold him is still being ridden by his brother now and then.

At a coffee shop in Bend I ran into Amanda Balding and Luke McKenzie who are some pro triathletes I met while in Kona last year. Amanda is on the Timex team this year but was not at our team camp and Luke is a top pro in the world. What makes them interesting to me is they choose to spend a lot of their time living an adventurous athletic lifestyle together using a van as their home. (I too am attracted to such living. I even owned a conversion van very similar to theirs. For those who know of this van I'm sorry to say it finally is no longer. I've been storing it for awhile but had to face the reality that it was not worth it to fix it. The van has moved on to the scrap yard.)

Now I'm back in Milwaukee getting things arranged for some more trips ahead.

Now let's move on the picture portion of this update.


Coffee from Liquid Planet in Missoula, MT - Comes with a choco covered espresso bean - The names reminds me of Placid Planet Bike Shop


Eric wanted to buy some local Jerky at this gift shop. The lady said she was all out because "The kids going to Japan bought most of it." I don't know what she meant either. It's probably a way to get people into her nick nack store. Eric was considering a rooster lamp for his girlfriend. You would have loved it McKenzie!


Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'


Testing the self portrait capabilities of the new camera in North Dakota.


Out west the bike doesn't get muddy just a thick layer of dust.

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I like when I get to buy a new trail map.


I wasn't able to attend Lake Placid Ironman this year and see all my good friends such as Shane and Athena. Here we see Athena in the boat that Shane made on a beautiful Adirondack lake.


Erin Kummer's sweet set-up deserves a mention on my blog. Bike on Bike!


This is Gwen. Candice and Dave's baby. She is not available to rent yet as a "chick magnet".


I was pleasantly surprised to see that some trail work had been done while i was gone. The flooding along the river caused quite a mess. I'm not sure who does the trail work but a huge thanks to you. I don't own a chainsaw big enough for such work.


That's it for now from good ol' Wauwatosa, WI!