VA goes to the rest home

VA met me at my Mom's apartment yesterday, complete with a batch of home-made oatmeal cookies tucked into her back pocket.  We rode home in the sunshine via 143rd and Old GT.  Perfect day.  Thank you, Vrai Mére!*

Next time we will stage this photo better - Mom with a bike, VA with the walker!

*VA's daughter is livng with a host family in France.

Ride clinic with Team Veloforma

Another perk of being a member of Portland Velo are the special rides and today was the 'women's clinic' led by Tina Brubaker of Team Veloforma accompanied by several other women racers, including Heidi Swift, who also has a weekly column in the Oregonian. Riding out from Longbottom Coffee we practiced pace lines mixed with some sprinting on Dairy Creek Road.  A fun but hard ride.

I have to put in a plug for one of Team Veloforma's coaches, Russell Cree at Upper Echelon Fitness.  Craig had PT at UEF post collarbone break and is now training on the rollers a couple times/week.  I had a bike fitting with Russell Thursday.  UEF has state of the art technology to give you a great fit - he raised my seat 1 cm (I need a new saddle) and tweaked my cleats with a recommendation to go with less float - perhaps Speedplay Zero's.  Cree or RC, as the Veloforma women call him,  has recently become the dealer for Parlee bikes and I have my sights set on the Z1. You can waste a lot of time on this site, playing with colors and finishes.  I like the black on black matte finish with red or maybe even black Chris King headsets and hubs.  Maybe some electronic Dura-Ace or Campagnolo components?  $$$$$$   One can dream.

still riding

I've been preoccupied due to the fact that my elderly mother moved to Portland.  Duty calls, but we are still riding.  In fact, I commented to Craig that I should 'freak out' more often.  Last week I logged in over 200 miles.  Today is the MAC coaches ride.  Clear skies and a cold east wind, but I'll take cold and dry any day over the usual soggy Portland weather.  The crazy Scotsman rode in San Diego Sunday.  While we rode in sun, he suffered on wet roads.  Ha!