ABSOLUTELY THE LAST VIDEO OF 2008

Right here. Yup, last one of the year. Take a look. Mostly the boy and the wife. In fact, that's all it is. Bikes, skateboards, guitars, various and sundry tomfoolery and shenanigans. Please enjoy.

2008 CHUCKANUT 50K VIDEO

This vid follows buddies John Clark and Scott Young in the 2008 Chuckanut 50K.

AREA DUDE'S WIFE SHOWS HIM WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER; DUDE SURE TO ANNOY FRIENDS WITH NUMEROUS VIDEO POSTS

As the headline states, Jen turned me on to Movie Maker. Lots fun. Here's a video containing some of this year's rides, albeit just a mere fraction.

Happy New Year, by the way! Hope we have about a million or two million more of 'em.

SNOW WAY

For a place that doesn't get a lot of snow, Bellingham gets a lot of snow. In fact, here are past blog posts of snows that we don't receive a lot of: http://mcqview.blogspot.com/2006/11/snow-day.html and here: http://mcqview.blogspot.com/2006/11/snow-daze.html and here: http://mcqview.blogspot.com/2006/11/memories-of-school.html.

Kids, whose winter break started two days early because of the snow, were of course bummed, but made the best of it by partaking in experiments involving sliding bodies, gravity and slope angles.

Another six inches of snow, which we don't often get, is expected on Sunday.

SNOW RIDE, ... TAKE IT EASY

We're at the start of what's supposed to be the longest cold stretch of weather (or coldest long stretch, or stretchiest long cold or something) that we've had in these parts in almost 20 years. Since 1990. Woke to 20 degrees, three inches of snow and wind chill of minus three. So we went ridin', 'of course. John (Boy) Clark, Glenn (not Rickey) Gervais, and me, Mike (not Rowe) McQuaide.

Probably six inches up on Galbraith which, when it got gummed up in your pedals and cleats (see below) made riding just about impossible. Still, it was beautiful and quite a nice morning to take the bikes out for a walk. I had about three inches of hard-packed snow on the bottoms of my feet; I looked like I was wearing Herman Munster shoes.
Cedar Dust was in great shape and I was even able to clip into my pedals. Rock 'n' Roll though, was pretty nuts but we were breaking trail in the fresh pow, as the snowboarders like to say.

Then across and down to Padden, then Fairhaven, into a brutal headwind on Taylor Dock and home. About three hours in all. Great fun. Forecast says this is supposed to stick around 'til at least Sunday the 21st, so we may be doing this again.

LOOK--WE'RE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SEATTLE TIMES!

Check out today's Seattle Times for my story about our mountain-bike session with Simon Lawton of Fluid Ride: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2008491879_nwwcoaching110.html

GETTIN' FLUID

Had an epic ride today through the clouds stuck in the Chuckanuts with one Steve Noble, who put the hurt on my big time. Climbed Fragrance Lake and Cleator roads to the top, Double Black Diamond down, back up to Lower Ridge, Hush-Hush and back. Video is from near the top of Cleator.

Check out tomorrow's Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com/) for the story of Bake's and my session with Fluid Ruid (www.fluidride.com/) mountain bike guru Simon Lawton of Seattle. Really a cool guy, and I'd highly recommend his instructional DVD: "Fluid Ride: Like a Pro".

GALBRAITH VIEW FROM THE EAST

Click to enlarge, as it were. (Thanks to Baker for dem arrows.)

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN EPIC

For a while now, prolly ever since I got the 29er, I've been itchin' to get to the top of Lookout Mountain, the higher hill to the south that you see from the top of Galbraith. Today, the Clark Man and I got there. Here's how we did it. Time was somewhat a factor, so instead of heading up Galbraith then down road 4000 to where it comes out across from Sudden Valley Gate 13, we rode from our homes in the Columbia neighborhood out to Sudden Valley. That took about 50 minutes.

We followed Lake Louise Road for a couple miles (I guess; I have an altimeter but no odometer), past Stimpson Family Reserve, past Gate 13, and just across from Gate 9, we took a right at the gated road painted with the words, "Lookout Mountain Preserve". From there we headed up. And up. And up. (See above. That's John. Heading up.)

We went straight (or left according to the topo map) at a junction lower down and then just followed the gravel road to a fork at about 2,100 feet el. Here's where we didn't know where to go. The map shows two seperate tower areas--one to the left (south) at 2,676 feet and one to the right (north) at 2,677 feet. Our friend Steve Noble had e-mailed me that from the lower tower, you could bushwack for about seven or eight minutes then find a road that descends all the way to the Plantation Rifle Range just above Lake Samish.

Lower tower must mean the south one, right? Don't you think of south as lower than north? And 2,676 feet is lower than 2,677, innit? So we headed left and climbed another 600 feet to the south tower. Which, guess what ... anyone? ... wasn't the tower we wanted. Still, though there weren't any views, it was cool to be up there. (Here're some stats: from Lake Louise Road we climbed 2,200 feet in about an hour and 10. BTW, these towers are about 900 feet higher than Galbraith Mountain's towers.)
So, we headed over to the north and, apparently, lower tower, dropping 600 feet awfully darn quickly, only to have to immediately start climbing right back up again. (In general, we don't climb as fast as we descend.) On the way back up, we kept ours eyes open for any semblance of a trail. Just above, John bushwacks following something that petered out to nothing but at least we were getting views here--south toward Lake Samish. We were above the clouds and the cloudbank over the lake was stunning.
Just before reaching the north towers, the road splits, go left and make for the near tower a couple hundred yards to the south; that's where you'll find the trail. (Did anyone else notice a change in the authors' point of view?) In fact, just above, John is standing right where you'll find it. The trail goes south for a few hundred yards across a clear cut, then just before entering some trees, turns left and drops steeply across and down the hillside. (There was some pink flagging in the trees, but I wouldn't depend on it being there forever.) Our bikes on our shoulders, we hike-a-biked for about 10 minutes until we found ourselves on a gravel road overlooking Lake Samish. We were now on the south side of the mountain.

(Backtracking a bit, below is the view of Galbraith Mountain from the north tower. The clear-cut to the left is Woopsie-Woodle, the clear-cut to the right is Wonderland. The towers are in the wooded section in the middle. Tomorrow I'll put this up so you can click on it and see it bigger and better.)

Now back on road, we followed logging roads and the like all the way down. (NOTE: As soon as you get on your bike go right, then left at the first switchback. Don't go straight and down here; the road dead-ends just ahead.) Eventually we ended up at the Plantation Rifle Range which, despite giving us heart attack after heart attack from the sound of exploding firearms, was a most welcome sight. From there we headed home and ... I got a flat tire near the Sehome Haggen. A minor inconvenience. ('specially since I went to Starbucks and had coffee whilst waiting for Jen and Bake to come pick me up).

A truly extraordinary ride! I've no idea how we'll top it. But we look forward to trying.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Clark family and friends Thanksgiving Day ride took off for Galbraith this moring. Great time--John, Darren and Tom (I think) Clark, Doug Hyldahl, Steve Vanderstaay, Roger Leischner, and some others including Baker and I. Bake's first ride with the big boys, as it were. He did super! Up Miranda/Ridge to Cedar Dust, the Wall (on which Bake earned huge King of the Mountain points), 187, after which we parted--Bake and I to SST way and the others to the Three Pigs side of the world. Above, Bake catches a little air near the end of SST.
Photography fun:

Yesterday, I rode the Hemlock Trail up to Pine Lake of Pine and Cedar Lakes fame. Beautiful; the lake was glass.

Finally, pick up the latest copy of Adventures NW (http://www.adventuresnw.com/) which hit stores earlier this week. I've got a story in there which features photos of Team Unattacked members John C. and Scott Y.

IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RAIN

Forecast said clearing was on the way so John, Vanderstaay and I headed down the Interurban to the Burnout Road and all the way to the top. Lots of climbing on the Burnout with three crazy-steep pitches. Rained harder the higher we got and the descent wet, cold, and slippery. Especially cold. Fast and muddy too, as shown by the above photo of John Clark who, with his mud mustache, resembles Charlton Heston in "Touch of Evil."

A really fun ride. Below, John and Steve make to the top of the second crazy-steep pitch enveloped in a rain cloud.

We shall do more rides like this!

PITCHERS O' STUFF

I'm taking a photography class from Tore Ofteness (www.toreofteness.com), long-time B'ham photog, so I put the boy through the ringer trying to come up with some action shots. Sehr fun.

Earlier, I rode the Salal/Hush-Hush trail, one I've run numerous times but never ridden all the way. Pretty twisty and windy and kind of unridable near the top but glad I did it. Whilst I was riding Steve Noble was on his own epic--out the Burnout Road and various unnamed trails and gravel roads to Blanchard Mountain. Seven hours he was out. Clark and I will have to try that one soon.

PEAK 2 PEAK

Check out my story in today's Seattle Times about Whistler-Blackcomb's new gondola which takes passengers from high on Whistler to high on Blackcomb without first having to descend to the village. Here it is: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snowsports/2008411316_nwwwhistler201.html

MORE MTB

Chris Behee's Galbraith map shows 70 different named trails and Bake's and my goal is to ride them all. Saturday we added eight--Dan's, The Sh*t, Pick Up Sticks (Purple Heart), B.S., Reflux, Meat Grinder, Art's Trail and Old Issues--bringing our total to 54, most of which we've done in the past month. Overall, our Galbraith favorites so far are Mullet, SST, 911, Cheech and Chong's Wild Ride, Wonderland, and Upper and Lower Bob's. Sunday, John Clark and I went on a semi-epic. Out the Interurban, up Cleator, down the Chinscraper, up and down to Lost Lake, then back to town through Arroyo Park. Above, what's with Clark's rock star sneer? Who does he think he is--Kurt Cobain?

MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAINING CAMP

After today's Galbraith Mountain ride, Bake and I took out the Galbraith map and counted up how many different trails we've ridden up there. The answer? Forty-six. We couldn't believe it. If someone had asked me I'd have said, "I don't know, 10 or 12." But 46? Crazy. All of them in the past two months, and probably 30 in the last three days in which we've ridden to the Towers twice, done Mullet three times, as well as Evo, Cheech and Chong, 911, Not Shawn's and a bunch of others. Bake had four days off from school and though the forecast called for rain and clouds, much of it didn't materialize so we turned it into a mountain bike training camp, as it were. Super fun.

Backing up, on Saturday, the day before Bake and I started our camp, I rode to the Towers with Glenn Gervais and Brian Wheeler, whom I met for the first time. (Real nice guy.) We rode to the Towers pedaling up trails I've previously only ridden down--Keystone, Naughty Nellie, Wonderland, etc. That was a super ride too, the last hour of which we enjoyed in pouring rain.

Kinda funny: somewhere on Wonderland, I heard Brian just behind me say, "Wo! Did you see that?" No, I didn't. Apparently, as I was riding a small bird landed on the trail just behind my front wheel but in front of my back wheel. (A moving space of about 18 inches.) I rode over its tail feathers just before the bird safely darted away, it leaving a few of its feathers on the trail. Both bird and rider are now resting comfortably.

MORE GALBRAITH PHOTOS, VIDEO

NUTTIN' SPECIAL REALLY

I'm taking a photography class so's I went out for a ride looking for stuff to photo. Up at Galbraith, I came across Upper Bob's and thought I'd photo the trailhead sign. (I don't think I noticed the Bob the Builder doll 'til I'd been up there a couple hundred times.) Below, please note and appreciate the genius behind the cloud-sculpture photo.
Came across Sean Hackney who was up there enjoying his first-ever mountain bike ride. He was going about it the right way too: getting muddy and having the time of his life.

He was riding with Daryl Smith (below) who I'm likely to employ starting in a couple months as my triathlon coach. Ironman Canada '09 will be my third IM and I'm itching to approach in a different way. If nothing else, to shake things up.

Speaking of shaking things up, what a Tuesday night, huh?

YES WE CAN!

HALLOWEEKEND

Friday, the boy Baker and friend Kyler took a gamble and went trick-and/or-treating as a pair of dice. We all had a great time. B'ham gets into Halloween, that's for sure, and the weather surprised all by being quite swell. (Forecast was for rain and wind, but 'twas a starry night.) That's Carrie (Kyler's ma), Jen, and Ed (Kyler's da) yucking it up over the boys in the boxes. (That's an Alice in Chains song, innit?)

Saturday was an epic mountain ride on Galbraith with John Clark and the venerable Steve Vanderstaay, he of the two a's in the row thing. To the Towers, Woopsie Woodle, through Padden and home. Three hours, lotta miles, lotta climbing. Above, the view of the Lake Samish basin from Woopsie Woodle. Below, Steve appears dismayed when John's narcolepsy kicks in.

BELLY CROSS CORNWALL PARK

Great morning at Cornwall Park: the return of Belly Cross, a Mark Peterson produced cyclocross race through the forests of open fields of Bellingham's oldest park. Above, the start of Class C race, wherein we took off LeMans style--run around the crazed maniac in the skull mask and yellow wig, then hop on our bikes and get going. I was in the Master C category but more on that later.

More interestingly, Baker jumped into the Youth race and won it! Below is the podium, as it were, from left to right, first, third and second. The second-place kid is named Liam, but I've no idea what the middle kid's name is. (Sorry.) Kind of funny, right before his race, Mark asked me if I would ride ahead of the kids to show them the course. I really wanted to watch Bake race so I almost said no, but since he was in first or second the whole time, I got to watch his whole race unfold. Below, that's me in orange vest with Bake just behind. I really had to push it to stay ahead of these guys. Bake and the two others broke away from everyone pretty quick, with Bake and Liam going back and forth for the lead. It was thrilling. At one point, Liam bounced off a rock and hit one of them big, hard, green things that are real tall--a tree, I think they're called--and Bake got ahead to stay. (Liam was OK.) Below, Bake crosses the finish. That's gotta feel good. As I said, I did the C race, Masters C for dudes in their 40s and above. Right off the bat, I got tangled in the tape and one of the gates. Konked on the head too as riders zoomed by. Kind of set me back quite a bit. I made back some ground but for much of the race I was in no man's land by myself. Still had a great fun.

Check out my spiffy shirt and socks.

Finally met Dessa of Dessa's Days, a Seattle cyclist's blog I check often. Nice guy. I think he finished fourth.