4th OF JULY MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

True summer finally arrived on the 4th and so we hit the trails--out to Chuckanut (2-Dollar above) and up to Lake Padden where we took one run at the Expert Mountain Bike course. (Next Saturday, by the way, is the 20th annual Padden MTN Pedal.) 

He we are finishing up on Taylor Dock. I rode the single-speed and thus today, I hurt appropriately. Here's our route:

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN REVISIT

Titanium Cowboy steeds atop Lookout Mountain overlooking Galby and Bellingham Bay.

Ran into Val Thompson at Haggens the other day and we got to talking about Lookout Mountain. Which got me a-thinkin' how I've not been there in years. So the following day, which be yesterday, the Titanium Cowboys and I loaded up the steeds and headed for the top of the 2,600-foot bump that from Bellingham looks like Galby's big brother.
Below are some pics and directions for how we got there. First, we headed up Galbraith from the Birch St. side (click here for info on the latest Galbraith Rd. access closure), and made our way via Cedar Dust, the Wall, etc. to the Tower Rd. We turned left, headed up and then left onto Rd. 4000 (the one that passes the Mullet) which we'd eventually follow all the way down to Lake Louise Rd. and Sudden Valley. Along the way we passed the Naughty Nelly-Keystone intersection; just keep following signs for Rd. 4000. See pics below.

Rd. 4000 by intersection of Naughty Nelly and Keystone. The small bump in the upper left is the top of Lookout Mtn, which is about 800 feet higher than Galbraith Mtn.

On the way down to Sudden Valley, we came across a porcupine (really, that's a porcupine running like heck for that black drainage pipe ), ...

... I got a flat tire, and after fixing that, we found ourselves at Lake Louise Rd. where we turned right. A half-mile farther ahead on the right, we found the gated access road ("Lookout Mountain Preserve" was painted on it) and we headed up. It's a pretty epic climb--2,100 feet in 5.3 miles--and given that there are several flat and even downhill stretches along the way, it boasts some crazy-steep pitches. For whatever reason I wasn't quite able to access my big boy climbing legs (perhaps I was still feeling the effects of the City Steeps ride just three days earlier), so it seemed harder than I remembered. The other cowboys climbed like angels though, dancing on the pedals the whole way.

Even though it wasn't a super clear day, at the summit we were treated to terrific island-, lake- and city views.

View from Lookout Mountain: that's Lake Samish in the foreground with Blanchard Mountain just beyond.

Beyond Titanium Cancellara is Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands, Lake Padden and a little bit of the Whoopsie Woodle side of Galbraith Mtn.

Heading back down requires 5 or 10 minutes of bushwacking. Just make for the stand of trees in the pic below, trending toward the left side. There're remnants of a trail (ish) so keep your eyes open.  

Eventually you reach a logging road. Go right and almost immediatlely, left (not straight). From here, there're myriad logging road intersections, but just stay on the main road that keeps descending; it's fairly obvious. After a 6-mile descent, you'll reach the rifle range (no doubt hearing it long before you see it), where you squeeze around a gate and follow the paved road down to Samish Way. You come out near the I-5 exit 246.

Turning right we headed up to Lake Padden and rode through the horse trails-slash-Indie Series expert loop (or whatever they call it) with an eye toward's next month's Padden Mountain Pedal. Click here for info on that race.)

Another great ride!

INDIE SERIES 2011

Some info, including a tentative schedule, just came out regarding this year's Indie Series. Find it here. Looking forward of course to the Bellingham race July 24th, and very intrigued by the Methow race (Methow Cycle and Sport Challenge--June 25th) which takes place at Loup Loup Ski Area. Gots to get my climb on. Of course Leavenworth is always da' bomb (June 4) and man oh man, I can't wait for summer.

TWO MONTHS POST COLLARBONE SURGERY

For a few weeks now absolutely no one has been clamoring for an update on my collarbone recovery so here it is.

I'm at nine weeks, today, since surgery and not that I sometimes forget about it, but sometimes I forget about it and reach for something (or try to catch something) a little quicker than I probably should. And not that the collarbone itself hurts but the muscles all around there--biceps, triceps, upper chest and back, etc.--just aren't used to quick motions yet. (I've lost at least eight miles-per-hour on my fastball and my split finger doesn't have quite the same movement, he wrote jokingly.) I've been lifting weights for those muscles, up to 10-12 pounds with a dumbbell, and my range of motion is probably 80 percent. I feel like I can do pretty much everything, just more slowly.

Riding and running have really been coming along well. Been doing a bunch of road riding, up to three hours at a time, with the sleek carbon Tarmac Pro soaking up a lot of the road chatter. (Meanwhile Thor Hushovd, who broke his collarbone and had surgery at about the same time I did, won yesterday's cobbled stage of the Tour de France and is leading in the green jersey competition.)

Tomorrow, the Titanium Cowboy and I are planning a four-plus hour ride, out to Samish Island and thereabouts. Actually, now that I think about it, last week I got in four hours on the mountain bike, but it wasn't mountain biking per se. Mostly dirt roads just to get in time on the bike and a bunch of climbs. My lovely new Garmin Edge 500, which I'm digging to death, told me I climbed 4,300 feet! To the top of Cleator, to Burnout Road viewpoint, Cleator to Two-Dollar intersection, California Street, Sehome Arboretum, etc. I haven't done much MTB-ing on the trails yet; I climbed up through Arroyo Park but descending those switchbacks still seems too dicey right now. So I'll wait for that kind of stuff 'til at least my three-month check-in at the end of the month. (Really bummed that I'll miss this year's Padden Mountain Pedal but thems are the collarbone breaks, I suppose.)

Running-wise, in the past three weeks, I've gotten in a few runs in the 30- to 40- minute range and truthfully, the first few left my collarbone area a little sore. But again, I think it was just the muscles getting used to the repetitive motion. Yesterday, I was even able to blaze a run wherein I averaged less than nine minutes per mile (!), according to my Garmin 500 which I stick in my backpocket when I run.

Saturday, I'm likely to head down to Redmond for something called the Super Torture Century. The long ride is 125 miles with some 13,000 feet of climbing; I'll go for the (sorta) metric century though: 58 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing. Along with being a lot of fun and great way to meet other riders, I figure it'll be a bit of research for my road rides of Washington State book.

By the way, I'm always looking for cool new and/or popular road-riding routes, so if y'all have suggestions and/or want to get together for a ride sometimes, please contact me. Along with getting mentioned in the acknowledgements, you might even get your picture in a book. Not just a newspaper, but a book! A book that lasts forever. Even on those newfangled Kindle-iPad thingees.