Summer 2010: An Oregon Coast bike trip,Team Bike ART and the landscape rolling exactly we are

The spring and summer have come and progressed quickly this year, perhaps more quickly than I've noticed in the past. I've been working hard in graduate school--thankfully, I feel like I am more or less where I should be in my studies as far as my scheduled graduation date for next spring goes. I'm sorry I haven't had more time to keep up with blogging my adventures. I've been lucky to have had a few. And training and racing in a couple of triathlons this spring seems to have kept my head in the game at times at least. Spring break to summer was packed with reading, writing, and working of various kinds, and I'm just getting to the blogging now that full-on summer has rolled around.

In May, the Corvallis Mountain Club organized a "Beginner Smith Rock Climbing Trip." Those in attendance were mostly the Mountain Club crew from around here that I've climbed with there in the past (plus a few beginners or "gumbies"). We had a great time on the rock all the same.

My friend Katie and I took a walk to enjoy the beautiful desert colors. It was still pretty chilly in the shade in May--but the sun was warm and golden and provided a gently-satisfying heat.

At one of the triathlons I ran, the Heart of the Valley here in Corvallis, I had a glass blowout flat and it ripped my tire. I'd just left the biking gate a few blocks back and I didn't have a spare. But an incredibly nice neighbor-spectator lent me his mountain bike--and shoes--to finish the 15 miles! What a nice guy! And what a rush...

There have also been some fun day trips in the area, like visiting Alsea Falls at top flow capacity. Check out those eddies!

Bike Trip Time! Amy and her friend Terry and I met up in Eugene at another friend's home to begin our journey down the Oregon Coast! We had to split up the gear to make sure we weren't carrying an ounce more than was necessary. For the sake of our collective knees.

We drove from Eugene to Florence to camp the first night at the Oregon Dunes, where I camped on my first bike trip, to San Fransisco, in 2005.

This is a picture of me after accidentally riding 20 miles up and over the "Seven Devils" on the way to Bandon, Oregon with my brakes engaged. I wasn't really drinking whiskey and olnly pretended for this picture--but it felt like it. I noticed that the flag on the back of my bike was pressing the brake cable once we got into town and the wheel was dragging as I attempted to walk with it. Extra training, I suppose?

The weather was sunny for a total of about two days. The state park at Cape Blanco just north of Port Orford was a highlight.

The fog followed us into California. But we were proud to have made it! We were calling ourselves Team Bike Art (Amy-Rachael-Terry) and it felt like we really were a team by the time we got there. The rewards of help and teamwork--along with a new friend--I already felt a strong connection with Terry--were another highlight for me!

Terry demonstrates our collective affinity for maps and mapped planning as we sit in a cafe in Crescent City and contemplate riding to Arcata through the Redwoods or going all the way to San Fransisco. In the end we found a shuttle that carries bicycles (and riders) inland to Grants Pass, OR. Having ridden almost 250 miles, ready for a rest day and itching for some warm weather and sunshine, we hopped on the bus--but not before enjoying some clam chowder on the beach first.

In Rogue River (where we got off the bus) we met up with some of Amy's family and re-grouped. The decision was made to base ourselves at a state park right on the Rogue River and tour wine country for a couple of days!

After a 50-mile wine tour ride we treated ourselves to a picnic and swimming!

Caprice Winery just outside of Jefferson was especially beautiful--and there were alpacas.

Then we got a ride with another friend headed back to the beach and were able to pack in one more day of beautiful (but chilly) beach weather just before picking up the car in Florence.

Team Bike ART in action!

Now that this July's here, I can't help being reminded of other ones, the summers past. Last year I flew back from a year in South America to drive across the country with my brother and start school. The year before that I was preparing for the trip and climbing in Washington State and salsa dancing in Portland....before that the memories provoke an ebb and flow of clarity and blurriness of snap-shot images from bicycling and climbing trips to California, Washington State, Montanta, and British Columbia...
At times these memories can trigger emotions of nostalgia, wishing that they weren't already past and that I could somehow return to the parts of the memories or the stories of them that I really cherish. Sometimes I wander down a path that leads me to think I'm better off now in some way, and that because things have changed since then, that there must have been something missing before that's here now. At times like this, I often gravitate to going back to the things I feel sure about. There's one thing that I know. It is what it is. I can't go back, even if I wanted to, and probably later I'll feel like the things I'm doing right now were incomplete in some way compared to what I'll know and do later. But "now" is what it is. It's what I am, my community, and our adventures. It's a treasure and I'm grateful to have it. This summer doesn't have to be exactly like the other summers (it's right that it couldn't ever be) or completely different either. They just keep moving on, and I keep moving right along with them. I don't know what the rest of July holds in store for me and my friends, but I'm about as excited to find out as I am uncertain. I love to ride my bicycle, though, and the feeling of rolling along.