SEPTEMBER SUMMER RIDE

Summer came late to the Northwest this year but when it finally got here, it put it's feet up, made itself comfortable and decided to stay awhile. Another incredible day weather-wise so we headed up Fragrance Lake Road, Lost Lake Trail and to the logged area above the old Dictionary Trail where the views on days like this are out of this world. Beyond the Titanium Cowboys (above) are Bellingham Bay, Lummi and Orcas islands, Western Whatcom County and Canada.

Area Man (me) is proud to announce that for the first time ever, he was able to ride the psycho-steep and usually muddy-slippery-as-hell Lost Lake climb clean on my single-speed. (Please hold your applause 'til the end of the post.) The almost-no-rain-in-the-past-six-weeks was a big help. Still, a first-ever after turning 50 is nice. ('Course, Titanium Cancellara has always been able to ride it clean ...)

Along with the water- and island-side views, with a few pedal strokes to the east, you've got terrific views of Mount Baker, local hills and faves such as Lookout Mountain, Lake Samish, Galbraith, Blanchard, Lost and Mud lakes, Raptor Ridge, etc. and all that. Pretty much everywhere we've mountain biked and run over the past 10-plus years.

Here's John on a stump. Unfortunately, I ran out of film before his dismount. Which was a three-quarter triple half-gainer with a 900 Fakie McTwist Cork thing. Pretty amazing, really.



Whilst we were up there, the Titanium Cowboys posed for this year's holiday card. (Not really; sorta looks like it though.) Return ride was an usually dry and way-fast Lost Lake Trail to Arroyo Park and the outdoor fireplace table at Boulevard Park's Woods Coffee. Terrific super happy fun.

DICTIONARY TRAIL UPDATE; MORE TALES OF STUPID FUN

Right. Well, first off I'd like to update something that's of import to the handful of people who are interested in this sort of thing. Those being folks such as myself and my fellow Titanium Cowboys who like to connect the Chuckanut end of the world with the Blanchard and/or Pine 'n' Cedar lakes areas. As Titanium Cancellara (Scott Young) and I found out last weekend (see post below), the Dictionary Trail--or Overlander, as it's called on Square One's Chuckanut Recreation Area map--is kaputski for right now because of logging. But since we'd approached it from the Burnout Road (south) side, I wasn't sure where the trail stops on the Dictionary (north) side. Today I pedaled up via the Fragrance Lake Road-Lost Lake Trail, took a right at the Dictionary and in about 300 yards, had my answer. (See above pic.)

The trail is blocked by a pile of logs and beyond that's it's all new logging roads, a new clear-cut (great views of the Sound though), and lots of scary machinery making lots of scary sounds. So, we'll have to come up with a new way to get our Blanchard-Pine 'n' Cedars lakes on.


Sign warning folks to stay from the logging.

In other news, I wanted to share some e-mails I received in my response to my story in last week's Seattle Times about Stupid Fun. (The story was basically about crazy workouts/races/informal competitions that people come up with on their own.) Brock Gavery of Seattle (who, by the way was featured in Outside magazine a couple years ago for being one of the Fittest Real Men in America) wrote that in August he and two friends biked 120 miles from Ballard to Paradise on the south side of Mount Rainier. The next day, they climbed to Rainier's 14,411-foot summit and the day after that, ran the 93-mile Wonderland Trail which circles the mountain. (I've got a feeling they did it over four days but I'm not exactly sure.)

Dustin Wallace of Ellensburg included a bunch of crazy stuff that he's done. Among them, he and a friend challenged each other to run the Yakima Marathon and then bench press 300 pounds within 20 minutes of finishing. (Their marathon time was 3:59:46; they were able to press 275 pounds.)

Bruce MacLean of North Seattle wrote that he recently rode his bike 50 miles to Mount Si, which he then climbed including the Haystack scramble to the top.

Cool. Love to hear about folks doing stuff like that!