MORE PENINSULA PICS; KILLER ROAD RIDE

First up, here're more legitimate (as it were) phots from last week's Olympic Peninsula foray. Above, Port Townsend. Below, mountains, the North Cascades to be exact, shortly after sunrise. Taken from the Coupeville-PT ferry. Below that, Mount Baker from about 65 miles away. That be some big mountain!

Now to the matter at hand. The weekend riding excursion. All week, the weather reports forecast nothing but rain, wind, etc. I thought for sure we wouldn't be riding. So I went out Friday and ran hard (for me). About 45 minutes in all with a 20-minute stretch where my heartrate was consistently 170-plus. No biggie, I'd for sure be taking it easy the next day. 

Imagine my surprise and delight (sorta) when I woke to blue skies and no wind. A text, a phone call and a couple hours later, and I'm chasing the Titanium Cowboys across the windswept chipsealy landscape of the Skagit Flats, turning far more pedals in anger than I should've been. I was hanging on for dear life, in one spot of bother after another, until finally I fell into the pain cave and couldn't get up. That's how it felt anyway. But it was great fun. We did 60 miles, threw in Chuckanut Drive, Bow Hill (14 percent, that one), Lake Samish--all the goodies. And oh yeah, the single-speed mtb has made Titanium Cancellara even stronger and more impossible to keep up with. So there's that.

Great weekend for sports watching too--Fabian Cancellara wins E3 Prijs; Tom Boonen wins Gent-Wevelgem; and in the NCAAs, both Butler and VCU advance to the Final Four!