These are my ferry's

Just got this photo of the ferry's we use to get off the Island. I have a few more photos but I had to get this on the blog. I'll try to get them all on. The photos are from the wind storm last week! Man I'm staying home if it gets like this. They were running 3 ferry's with very few cars on board to keep the SCHEDULE. Duh, no one up front or back. It looks like the second story ramp is empty to. Wow that some scary weather. The deck hands must have been peeing in their pants. The Captain was way up high. Bad job mind you, but the deck hands are right in it. And they work hard to!

Making new friends

The kind of friends an old Xracer makes. The hills in my new Island home are fun. Steep, hard, covered in dark of the forest, some out in the open. Non of the climbs are long by mountain standards, nothing over 2.5 miles +- to the top. I find that a few of the climbs are so much fun I do them twice on a training day. Well everyday I ride is a training day. Just the habits of an Xracer. Who knows though I may do a race or 2 next season. This years has been such a great year of growing and training.I'm so much stronger than I once was. It feels very good to hang out with the young guy on all carbon and Campy. He tried to drop me, but saw that was not going to happen. Little victories. I saw that guy training when Mary Anne and I were in the van doing some shopping. There are a lot of riders on the south part of this Island. Quiet roads, good climbs and just the right amount of mileage. Not that I look at mileage so much. It's more hours anymore. 3 to 4 hours at a time. With these hills the mileage is not so important. It's the work that counts. Mary Anne is gone on an adventure for a few days so I'm going to get out everyday and test the legs a bit. My new winter tights got here today from Competitive Cyclist in Little Rock Ar. Super warm tenax windfront Roubaix bib tights from Giordana. I hope they last as well as my 25 year old tights! Also I got a new wheel today. It's the match to my rear wheel for the #2 winter bike. Can't go out unmatched. So it was kind of a party of bike stuff today. Plus I got out for a 2 hour ride and found some new hills. Hard one's to. I got a flat half way up the longest climb of the ride. Oh, it was raining. Always fun to get that all over you. It's like your hands wear the dirt from the bike. Ya, it was the rear wheel. So, an adventure of sorts. Got home in time to clean up hang out with Mary Anne then boom she was out the door to the airport. Man I miss her already. So I got the new wheel all ready with tire and tube. Fixed the flat tube, wash the riding gear and here I am. Ready to go at it again. Looking forward to the ride. Looking forward to the other riders I know I will be seeing. It's a small Island.
The map is the new training camp. I have done almost all the roads. The goal is to stay off hwy 525, it's got a big shoulder, but is busy and loud. So the idea is to cross back and forth on the good roads and stay off hwy 525. I'm learning that more every day.

Training Camp

No, it's not a training camp with lots of others and great trainers. It's Whidbey Island on the South part. The South part of the Island has hills. Lots of hills. It's all hills. Some of my new friends are steep to. Just one hill after the last and then get ready, here's another hill. Wow, I was worried about getting a good work out here. My legs are trashed. I like it! My own personal training camp on Whidbey Island.

First storm of the season

The storm came in on the wheels of the pro's in time trial. Head down doing the speed. Slow to rev up and them the speed is there. 60 MPH for an hour. Wind so strong that the trees were glad to give in to the force. Waves on the bay just pushed over foam. You could see the power of the force in the wind. Pop, the electricity was gone. Just for 2 hours. What a storm and it was. Just one of many for the winter storm season.
I went out the next day for a ride. First ride in 5 days. The last of the loads in our move. We are homeless. Writer wife and me the bike rider. The roads were a mess here and there. The down hills were slow with all the branches, fir cones, and needles from the fir and pine trees. Some areas just thick. Go slow. Work crews out on many of my roads. Fixing power lines, moving tree junk, doing the jobs of cleaning up after a big blow. There I was making my way through it all. Getting the miles I was so far behind on. Still, getting the miles. In the sun it was dry and fast. In the shade of the trees, slow and careful. Doing the hills and feeling the back wheel slip all the way up the long climbs. Hearing the brakes on the way down the the other sides. I stay up right for the fear of not.
This was just the first of more to come. I need to get back on the road and keep the prayer alive. Wet is not so bad. Cold is OK to ride in. It's the wind that holds me back. I need to get over the wind. Here the wind is everyday. Next ride tomorrow.

New Roads

I have been a little off the bike. Not to much but not as many miles as I like this time of year. There has been a lot to do on this now Island Home. So the day brought it's moment to go out and just point my finger and go that way. It's an Island and as long as the roads lead to water I should know where I am. I have a good GPS inside my head. Heading out to roads I have no idea where I will end up. I knew I was heading to the hilly area of the Island. Nice climbs, and a bit steep at that. Not very long, nothing over 1 1/2 miles max. Lots of go up and go down, steeper, longer, than rollers. Forested, then moments on the shore. A great mix. The down side is the mileage is a bit short on these off beat roads. I can do all the roads on the south side of the Island and not get 35 miles. Well, maybe a few more if I do some good planning. Today was not a day of planning but a day of exploration. It was fun! Well, till I found the road that lead to Glendale. A dark timber shroud road. It was always with out sun and the pavement looked to be never dry. A long descent, old houses right next to the road. Fences that are meant to keep eyes from looking in and had been doing their jobs for 50 years. The few homes and farms, old. Broken trucks with bumper sticker like "King of the Chainsaw". Places that never heated with anything but wood. Ate the food from the forest, deer and anything else that gets in the way. Families had owned these places for generations. Generations that never sold a car, but, just hauled it back from the road when it stopped running. Did I say it was a bit spooky. Wet slippery road going down at a steep angle. So steep that there were rumble strips to slow you down. No room to go around them on a bike to. I knew I could go back up that hill if I needed to. Slowly up that wet and mossy road. Then a sign came up for a stop ahead. From out of this dank wet forest came a old 2 story rooming house on my left at the stop. No right turn, it was all private and OLD just like this 1900s rooming house. Looked like a cat house to me for the loggers from the past. Seemed like there must have been bar or dinner room down stairs. So there I was at the bottom of this hill at the waters edge in a place that was still in the 1900s. Left turn to keep going and it was the steepest hill I have ever seen! I mean I was think of calling Mary Anne to come save me. It was just a monster. I'm sure a signal would not have got in there for the cel phone anyway. I just stood there at the stop sign looking at my way out of this time warped funnel zone. I put the bike in the smallest gear I had, a 34X25. An easy gear by my thinking. Well, till I looked at this wet, mossy, tree covered, and covered with broken tree branches from a recent storm. Sigh, I'm not sure I could walk up this hill! The good news was it was broken down in two parts. The first part from sea level to a small flat piece and then on to the next bit of hell. I started up the hill that might be the last hill I ever climbed. I was a little unsure about the heart rate. At my age it's best to not go to high. 172+- is getting over the top. I was past that in what seemed seconds. Over the bars to keep from falling on my back steep this hill was. I made it to the first flat relief. It was not that far! I stopped to let my heart rate come back down. What if I get to the top and it goes down to another place like I was trying to get out of and had another hill like this to do. I was thinking I only had one of these hills in my legs. I had no idea what was ahead of me. I still had to finish this monster to. Next leg of the climb was longer and just as steep. It looked so long for a short hill. My heart rate was maxed and I was trying to go easy and slow. I think I was seeing colored spots towards the end of the hill. The end was coming, the end of the hill. I had made it to the top and from there on was a modest flat to very short rollers. I mean I said a pray over that one. I'm not to sure my Van will get up this hill very easy, first gear maybe. New roads and new stories. I never would have thought this Island had a monster living on it. What will the next ride bring? I know where I'm not going to go!

Living on the Bay

Living is the key word. Not dead. Alive to take it all in. My eye's are open to the new day. That's the feeling I wake with each day. New adventure each moment. The players are all on the field. The coaches to the side. It's just you and the world before you. Jump in or just stand there, I jumped. Though, this time it's quiet nice. The view of the Olympic Mountain range in the near distance. Port Townsend across Puget Sound. Useless Bay below our palace. Nothing between. Large and small ships and boats go by all day and night. The Bald Eagle say's good morning at 8AM. The now migrating birds from the Arctic are passing through. Some will even stay the winter with Mary Anne and I. It's about as close as one gets to Paradise. Our benefactor's half way across the world, and will then stay in their warmer home for the Winter. My payment just do some work on the home I now stay in. Stay in and wake to the sunrise over all I have noted. Eat, rest, work, dream, ride the roads, meet the neighbors and take in all this Island has to offer. Island Time is now the time of things. The feeling is so large. I am taken by the vast and deep beauty, soulful embrace. My weak attempt at a photo just not enough. It's just the day. Just another day. Like the day before but not. It's a day I wish you were here. A time to share with those that are close. My luck just tearful. The lottery won, the ticket cashed in.