Wednesday eve and we've been back in Sac since Sunday. It's hard coming back here after all the travel and down time. I feel so at ease out on the road like that. It's a strange sense of being relaxed. Portland was totally wonderful and we may just end up trying to move there in the next couple of years. Who knows. We say that every time we go there. We got to stay in basement of my cousin's house for 5 nights and I had a fantastic time with the family. Their house is in a pretty cool neighborhood, just at the edge of Laurelhurst Park and we enjoyed the neighborhood. Add to that the incredible trails of Forest Park and the relative (to the bay area at least) ability to get around and Portland just really has it all. Oh, and houses are cheap, too. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, after that we spent a bit of time riding the MTBs in Bend. I ended up doing a mostly solo ride from Swampy Lakes to Lava Lake along the Cascade Highway. Riding the singlespeed is really methodical and simple and almost meditative. I caught myself daydreaming about getting another bike, maybe a rock lobster like Sean's. There I was in the middle of the forest, totally oblivious to fairly technical trail debating the details of my new bike. Merckx Orange or Sea Foam Green? Aluminum or steel? Who knows, I just know that the riding was a little less meditative a couple days later in Ashland when Terrence and I gained 1200' elevation in 2 miles on a exposed hillside in 95' weather. Oh, and we didn't take any water or food. I rode E's FSR on that ride because she didn't feel like going. Her bike is nice but a little complicated and the fork sucks. It feels totally sloppy at times and completely locked out and stiff other times. It's just a bad combo. It's gotta go.

E's leaving for American Samoa again tomorrow. She'll be gone for 10 days or so. Tonight after our workouts we went Cafe Bernardo, one of our favorite Sactown eateries, and now she's finishing up her packing. I am already looking forward to her return.

Cross country season starts on 8/20 and I think I am pretty ready. Today's workout was a 3-mile tempo run at 5:40 mile pace and it was really pretty controlled and easy, though I wore my new xc shoes and they were stiff and uncomfortable. Still my max HR was just 188 and I felt pretty good immediately after. Actually, everything was okay except for a blister on my right foot and my locked up calves. I have to take those shoes on a long trail run and show them who's boss.

I need a drink (H20) so I'm signing off. If anyone has an extra small (13-14") mtb frame to unload, let me know. I gotta friend who wants to put together a bike for his g-friend.