2012 IN PHOTOS (Part 1)

As 2012 draws to a close, I thought I'd share some pics from throughout the year. Lotsa, mostly, pretty much all bike-related. Here's January through June. Enjoy! 

JANUARY 

Saw about three dozen Snowy Owls just north of the border at Boundary Bay. Here's one on the wing.

Orcas Island 25K. We're heading over there in about a month for the 2013 edition. 

(We'll skip FEBRUARY AND MARCH. Everything I shot then was gray 'n' rainy.)

APRIL

I met governor-elect Jay Inslee at the top of Badger Mountain above Wenatchee.

Some CX-ploring at Sage Hills on the other side of the Columbia River above Wenatchee. Much of this area would be scorched by fires in the fall.

MAY

My latest book, "75 Classic Rides: Washington," came out!

Riding across the Skagit Flats with the Titanium Cowboys in the Skagit Spring Classic. 

Here I am as featured guest author person on the Chuckanut Radio Hour.

JUNE

Met with Seattle's Tom Meloy (seen here) to rip it up down at Duthie Hill Bike Park.

The Manson Loop of the amazing Chelan Century Challenge.

Titanium Cowboys at the top of McNeil Canyon during the Chelan Century Challenge. 

MORE 2012 CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE PHOTOS

Just a reminder that Thursday I'll be doing a slideshow for "75 Classic Rides: Washington: at REI Issaquah. The event is free, but registration is required. Click here to register. Hope to see you there!
Now, more Chelan Century Challenge pics:

The sun comes out near the end of Loop 1. Sorta. Tried to.

Johnny Boy Clark on the crazy-fun Winesap Avenue descent.

The final rest stop at about mile 94. Pretty much nothing tastes good by this point.

John looks a tad ill at ease ease posing with Miss Lake Chelan and her two runners up. Mark Clausen, on the other hand, appears quite comfortable.

One of several gulch climbs on Loop 1 ...

... one of which--Ivan Morse Road--just sorta petered out into dirt ...

... joined now by another Scott from Bellingham, we broke out the map and tried to figure out where we'd gone wrong. No biggie; it all worked out fine.

Mr. Pungent, a painting that caught my eye at Chelan's very cool Local Myth Pizza.

The last aid station. (Again.)

Somewhere on Loop 1.

Titanium Cowboys let loose on the streets of Chelan. (Sidewalk, actually.)

2012 CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE PHOTOS

All week, the Chelan forecast called for 70-percent chance of rain as well as thunderstorms, but luckily they held off. (Or actually, got it out of its system the night before.) The closest we got during this 107-mile, 8,600-foot climb- and pedalfest were the dark clouds seen in the above photo during Loop 1. (That's the lovely Manson orchard-vineyard-canyon loop.) Things got downright sunny later in the day as seen in some of the below phots.

Following the Titanium Cowboys back into Chelan along the stunning lake of the same name.

The Ivan Morse Road climb that snuck its way in between the Boyd Road and Upper Joe Creek climbs. Somehow a bunch of us--I mean, A BUNCH--ended up climbing this minor(ish) hillock though it wasn't on the course.

The Titanium Cowboys (Mike McQuaide, John Clark, Scott Young) after the 5-mile, 2,200-foot pointy-stick-in-the-eye called McNeil Canyon. Which comes at mile 58. This is the fourth time I've climbed it and I still can't get over how relentlessly tough it is. I love it.

Johnny Boy Clark on one of Loop 1's many fun descents.

Cary Westerbeck, a real nice guy, whom I chatted with during the Manson Loop. He told me he recently bought my book, "75 Classic Rides: Washington," which I thought rocked groovily! (I met and/or remet a lot of folks yesterday but given my hypoxic state for much of the day, I retained few to no names. Cary contacted me, reminding me of his name.)

Miss Lake Chelan and her two runner-ups. Lovely gals, all.

Johnny Boy getting extreme at the skatepark.

Our cozy lodgings at the Riverwalk Inn.

John and Seattle's Mark Clausen, with whom I rode part of last August's Shasta Summit Century, at the last aid station, about mile 90. By then, it was sunny and close to hot.

One of the many bounteous aid stations staffed by super friendly and supportive volunteers.

Titanium Cancellara using one of Chelan's unique pedestrian traffic-stopping flags whilst he crosses the street.

Some fast dude on one Loop 1's descents.

Ti Cowboys at the start. This is my second year doing the Chelan Century Challenge and I'd have to say it's without a doubt my favorite ride in the state. The terrain and scenery are incredible and the road surfaces are for the most part excellent. Traffic, especially during Loop 1, and most of Loop 2 for that matter, is pretty minimal really.

The community really supports it too. Lester Cooper and the Chelan Rotary do an excellent job. Thanks, folks, for putting on this ride!

BIG WEEK AHEAD: SLIDESHOW, CHELAN CENTURY

Looking forward to Friday when the Titanium Cowboys and I head to Chelan (don't call it Chelanatchee!) for Saturday's Chelan Century Challenge, a day of gettin' our climb on. With 8,600 feet of climbing in its 103 miles, I vow personally to turn no pedals in anger until I am within sight of the finish line at Morse Park. Should I see a speedy paceline, I make like a third-base coach and wave it on past me, for the McNeil Canyon climb awaits--2,200 feet in 5 miles--but not 'til mile 53 or so. Until then, it's take-'er-easy time.

Also looking forward to Wednesday's Bellingham REI slideshow. Thanks to everyone who registered for the free event--it filled up! (I so wish I had charged a nickel so that I could honestly say it sold out; mentioning that the slideshow "freed out" doesn't sound that impressive.) If you haven't registered but still want to go, be aware that lots of folks sign up for stuff but never show up the night of the event, so get on the wait list by clicking here. 

And then there's always REI Issaquah on Thursday, June 28. I'll be doing a slideshow-signing there as well. Go here.

CHELAN-WENATCHEE CYCLING

Just got back from six days of riding on the dry side of the state. Specifically, the Chelan-Wenatchee swath. All I've got to say is that there's a mind-boggling amount of riding to be done over there--mega-climbs such as Badger Mountain and McNeil Canyon (not to mention, the Orondo grade, which I didn't get to), terrific mountain biking (I 'cross rode on Sage Hills and Echo Ridge) and even cool mellow tooling-around type riding (Wenatchee's paved Apple Capital Loop Trail is quite nice). Here're some pics: 

Here's politician Jay Inslee and I at the top of Badger Mountain, above Wenatchee. (This is day 5; I'm jumping around a bit.) Badger is a true beast (2,400 feet in 7 miles) with a final mile that's so steep it makes you want to chuck your bike in the Columbia River. After making it to the top, I was just about to head down when Inslee showed up. He introduced himself as "Washington's next governor". Seemed like a nice enough guy.

On day 2, I revisted the beast they call McNeil Canyon (2,200 feet in 5 miles), star of the Chelan Century Challenge at the end of June. Like Badger, the pavement is way smooth with a wide shoulder and, whenever I've ridden it, traffic has been just about non-existent. Quite nice.   

Day 6 I took the 'cross bike and rode about 10 miles up to the Echo Ridge trail system above Manson. There, I rode for another 2 hours or so, climbing dirt roads and mellow trails up to about 3,800 feet, from which the views were just out-of-this-worldville! Highly, highly recommended.  

Through the spokes from Echo Ridge--views of Lake Chelan, the Columbia River, Enchantment Peaks (and countless others) and way, way into Eastern WA.

Day 4, I did one of my most varied rides ever. Weather was iffy so whilst waiting for the Sage Hills trails to dry out I rode the 'cross bike on the Apple Loop Trail, then headed up a little on Badger Mtn. (that was my intention anyway, I ended up riding 6 of its 7 miles before some windy rain blew in and chased me down the hill) and finished off with about 90 minutes up and down the Sage Hill singletrack. It's quite nice on a CX bike.  

Day 3, I didn't ride but took the Lady of the Lake ferry to Stehekin. Absolutely incredible! Reminded me of the ferry ride up the Inside Passage. 

Day 2, just over the top of McNeil Canyon where all of Eastern Washington is lain out before you and you swear you can see the curvature of the earth. Mucho windy up there too. 

Purty sunflowers up in Sage Hills. 

Me with some Westerny dude at Echo Ridge Ski Area.

Jay Inslee and his buddy making the final turn just below the Badger Mountain summit. That's Wenatchee on the Columbia River, as well as Sage Hills and the Central Cascades beyond.

Day 1, I rode the Tarmac up and down some of the hills above Manson on many of the same roads as the first loop of the Chelan Century Challenge.

Me at the top of Badger.

CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE 2012

B'ham and most of Western Washington are stuck in a hellatious period of snow and ice and frigid temps and so of course I'm looking ahead to next summer already. And just a couple days after the soltice I know how I'll be welcoming in the summer: by schlepping the Tarmac Pro up the 8,600-plus feet of climbing that is the Chelan Century Challenge. One of my favorite rides ever! I just signed up for the 2012 event a couple days ago. Looks likely to be a Titanium Cowboy team assault too so I'm very much looking forward to it!

Click here for my report on last year's amazing ride.

MONTHLY BIKE PHOTOS FROM 2011

Here's January through June 2011. (Might be more than one photo per month.) Enjoy!

January. The Ridge Trail on Galby with Titanium Cancellara and John Clark in the background. So much snow. Heavy wet snow. Every week, it seemed, through about March.

February. T-Cancellara gots himself a single-speed 29er. The frequency of our visits to the pain cave increased significantly.

March. Sights like these started becoming more and more common up at Galby. This is just off Cedar Dust.

April showers during the Saturday morning Donut Ride.

May. Stottlemeyer 30-mile Mountain Bike race on Whidbey Island. Scott won the single-speed, John took 3rd Masters. (I was 4th single-speed finisher and ended up in the bushes when I overshot the finish.)

May (part 2). Couple of clowns we saw on the ferry ride over to Whidbey.

June. David Longdon climbing killer McNeil Canyon on the amazingly beautiful Chelan Century Ride. I'm going back in 2012 fer sure!