Crown Camp Rd. Jct. Loop

We headed north, from Crown Camp Rd. Jct. along an older, less used logging access to the "Summit" on this route.

Summit is 1,097 ft. -- From 320 ft. at Crown Camp Rd. Jct. Walking from "Road 14" to "Road 10" (Summit) -- 0.91 miles and steep.

Back tracked at the "summit" along a flat stretch between "Road 10" and "Road 27" -- back and forth four times, to check routes, junctions, road numbers. This is where not having a GPS gets you lost. Altitude here reads 1,147 at "200 - 31/35".

Chased a black-tail deer about a mile along the road. I was moving probably 12 mph, and it was not able to pick a spot to get into the woods. I should have stopped to let it get away (but the chase was interesting). Coyote out on the road coming south on the descent.

Then south, back down from the "Summit" (Road 10) across Loowit Creek and Shweeash Creek, to the Lewis & Clark River, along Crown Camp Rd and return to start.

16.57 miles. 1 hr. 57 min. moving time. 8.5 mph (We don't keep moving.) Max speed 28.3 mph (I believe it on some of the descents!)

We'll ride the northern loop out to Youngs River Falls at some later date. It looks like a lot of descent and climbing. (But I was surprised that the return south down to Crown Camp Rd. was more distance than the Youngs River loop.)

Protein shakes, bananas, frozen fruit . . . 220 lbs. 27%

This was one serious, hard paced ride.

Re: Motivation

The weather is nice, perfect actually . . .

We're having a hard time getting motivated. I just re-read all the post headings here, looked back over the effort/progress.

Let's not get de-railed!

Wednesday -- July 6, 2011

VAMC PDX -- 4 flights up to Sky Bridge. Jog across Sky Bridge (0.13 mi.), and down 6 flights to Marquam Cafe.

Up six flights from Marquam Cafe, across Sky Bridge to appt. -- down 2 flights to main floor, down 2 more flights to parking.

We're feeling burned out, undirected (bored) . . . and it's still raining.

219 lbs, 28%

Walking The Dog --

Walked Brig to "his end" of Peter Johnson Rd. He won't go a step farther, regardless of the encouragement, coaxing. Then he turns around and makes a bee line for the barn, directly, and at a decent clip.

20 - 30 min. walking. 217 lbs, 27%

-----------------------------------------

3:30 -- 5:30 PM Trek 1500. Ride Lewis & Clark Rd. to Seaside. 28.21 miles, 13.5 mph avg. 2 hrs. Heart rate running 140 (85%) on flats, 150+ (91%) on climbs. Using low gears on climbs -- the lowest without reservation. No point in "saving" the lower gears. Climbs seem pretty efficient in the right gearing. Climb out of Seaside, 1.5 miles and steep, seems not too daunting now. (It's because we're in shape!)

Just stepped on the scales: 218 lbs. 25%

I wonder if hydration and heat (sunshine) effects the heart rate here. I had to use sun-screen!

First stage of the Tour de France. Contador gets in a crash, down 1 min. 20 sec. Team time trial tomorrow and he's expected to lose even more time.

Walking Brig --

My neighbor John has gone into town for a couple days. I've been looking after his dog Brig. (Short for Brigadier -- John was a Brig. General.)

Anyways, I've been taking Brig for a walk down Peter Johnson -- same route he does with John. He stays with John. I have him on a lead. We head down as far as Englund's house, about a half mile. I'd go to the end of Peter Johnson, but Brig gets to the end of the fence and insists that it's time to turn around. No amount of coaxing or encouragement will get him to go any further. That's "his walk" -- routine, and he likes it that way.

About a mile, 20 minutes. Gets Brig out to pee, some exercise.

Today is nice and sunny. I'm tempted to ride, but can't quite decide if roadie or MTB.

Tuesday --

We're bored. The weather is marginal. I think about heading to the casino (Grand Ronde, 110 miles one way) just to have something to do. Then, over-eat at the buffet, stand around, be bored some more, get home early in the AM.

12 gallons of gas at $3.77 / gal. -- $45.24.

Buffet . . . Let's call it $20 w/ tip $65.00 rounding off. And "walking around $$$.

Hell, I can do it for $75 easy . . . Or drive to Longview for something to do, get some chocolate and stuff at WinCo.

Let's do one of them . . . Let it be a surprise.

We're stressed out, fatigue and amotivational. The weight is creeping up -- to the extent that I don't want to put a number on it.

But a review of exercise regimen here suggests that I get 3 days a week, or more. Days off rarely extend beyond two, or three.

I need to persevere, maybe re-group, re-assess, re-estimate. I don't need to train for the Tour de France in order to maintain fitness gains.

(Talking to myself here helps. I just wish I were a better listener.)

Exploration!

6.8 miles, walking. 686' ascent. 2 hr. 11 min. 3.1 mph avg. pace --

Walked to the end of Peter Johnson Rd. Then east though across the grass path, up the draw along the creek drainage to the end of the "trail" such as it is. Then follow the bottom drainage and move forward (east) and I could see clearing ahead, maybe 1/4 mile.

The woods break into Gustafson Bros. clearcut and up the ridge to Rd. 490 -- the access along "Lone Ridge" . . . Gravel logging road down to Youngs River Falls 3.74 miles, then Youngs River Rd. return home, at about 10 PM.

Sore feet from walking on the asphalt roadway (Youngs River Rd.), but otherwise we feel fine. I'm wanting to get the MTB up into these roads, explore more of this area.




A -- start of the grass path at Peter Johnson Rd. end.

RD End -- end of grassy path.

B -- end of any path whatever, creek drainage.

Peter J -- previous extent of walking into woods.

CR -- Creek drainage (trickle ditch, step across)

Bound -- Boundary of clearcut.

RD -- Start of logging road to 490.

MTB -- Recovery Ride

Probably an hour, on the road. MTB (Trek 3700), easy pace, smooth at about 60%. Tucker Creek Rd, Ft. Clatsop, Old 101, Youngs River Road. Gaining better momentum and steering control riding up the driveway!

Re: Group

Wednesday, 22 June, 2011

We've been "tired" of late. Rain, weather has been marginal. Motivation has been abysmal. I wonder about riding and intensity/duration/recovery. I wonder about getting back into a moderate walking routine.

I like the riding, but it seems to burn me out for the most part.

Walk --

2.38 miles, 3.1 mph avg. To the end of Peter Johnson Rd. and up the draw, past the "pond" -- looking for the connection to "Rd. 490" and up that hill. Old logging roads in the area are "on the map" but over-grown and abandoned.

Crown Camp Rd. Jct.

This is a new set of routes -- Extension from Youngs River Falls and the river/creek bed, and then a connection out to Crown Camp Road Junction, the intersection with the Gearhart water resevoir, just below the summit on Lewis & Clark Rd.



We're checking distances. It's about 4.33 from the junction out to the "loop" and what's marked here as "Road 9." Then that loop gets some distance in it, and some climbing.

We're exploring at this point . . .

Road 490 -- Lotsa Walkin'

We decided to drive to Youngs River Falls and then navigate the loop on Road 490 up to the crest of the ridge and return on the lower access road. Driving cuts 8 miles of riding on the highway out of the equation.

Trail starts at "001" which is the parking lot at Youngs River Falls -- actually the quarry. Then up to "R490" which is the junction between the "upper" route and the lower route. Ride sequence runs "Road 7" to "Road 1" in descending order. I first navigated on the Google Earth map, and out on the trail from "Road 1" to "Road 7" to figure out the route -- and got lost about "Road 3" where I turned right and descended down to Youngs River instead of taking a left and ascending to the ridge.

Entering at Youngs River Falls ("001"), the route is a long uphill. Between the loose gravel and the incline, it's more pragmatic to walk than ride. The lowest gears on the bike don't provide enough forward speed to balance on the loose gravel. The bike bounces and lurches on the gravel, gets off the line, takes a lot of energy to steer.

Road 411 is a climb up to Road 490 -- Then 490 becomes a long steep climb, very long, very steep. Walking and pushing the bike is a significant workout.

(We opted for budget, "Hi Tech" trail shoes. These are ankle height, with a bit of a "lug" sole. They seem perfect for riding and walking on these roads. More comfortable and secure than the Avocet shoes, which are intended mostly for road touring.)

Navigation entailed a lot of GPS checking. I had intersections marked w/ numbered flagged waypoints, and was able to confirm location, find the route to the next flag/junction.

There are a LOT of side roads which don't appear on the maps. (This is the character of logging areas.)

Coming down the back side of the ridge I was getting entirely disoriented as to direction and where I might be headed. I checked waypoints/flags and kept anticipating which way to turn at the next two junctions. This worked for me.

Finally, coming down the slope, I recognized the road I was on the other day -- when I got "lost" . . .

And we got a clearer view where the roads lead, what the intersections look like. There are plenty of options for getting lost!

8.41 miles, lots of walking. The elevation gain says 1256 ft. 1 hr. 20 min.

Lots of varied pace, intervals in essence. Walking and riding.

We're getting less anxious about "washing out" the front wheel on turns in gravel.

Wednesday --

2.32 miles, walking, 45 min.

Tuesday --

2.24 miles, down the road from home, across the dike at Tucker Creek. 45 min. more or less. I'm bored. 215 lbs these days, more or less. More or less . . . more or less.

Mt. Bike -- Rd. 490

16.6 miles, about two hours on the MTB. We intended to enter on Logan Rd. and ride to Rd. 490 on Gustafson Bros. logging area. We managed, despite having the GPS and having looked at the route, managed to get lost.

Ended up at the Big River Quarry at Youngs River Falls -- coming in from the ridge and Rd. 490 somewhere down to Youngs River. There's old pavement on the road that follows the river. But we somehow missed getting up along the ridge, ended up on the east side rather than the intended west side. Lots of new roads in the area, active logging and routes not on the GPS.

But then rode up 411 and back to Logan Rd. Gravel surface road presents some challenges: traction when climbing, being able to follow a line on gravel. And then loose gravel and stability/safety when riding at moderate speed or descending.

We just take our time, get plenty of varied aerobic work.

Damned Garmin seems not to want to open base camp without the unit being connected online. That's horse-poop! What if we're out somewhere w/ the laptop and GPS and want to look at a 15" screen?

The display on the GPS is more and more obviously inadequate for navigation. Can't see details, and easy to lose current location when searching for a route out of an area. $500 unit and it seems like Garmin would have this figured out. I don't need Hunt/Fish applications and really don't care about moon phases.

We'll check Google Earth tomorrow and figure out where we actually rode. At least we're piecing together the terrain, and it's interesting riding.

I was 215.4 lbs this morning. Floating between 23% and 27%, depending on hydration.

ICK! And It's JUNE.

Marginal weather, threatening to rain, overcast, but not too cool. It's been running just about borderline on the edge of 60F day in, day out.

Can it possibly be that I'm over-booked on options? A couple road bikes, and MTB, hiking, walking options. I haven't used the Nordic poles or walked from 3 Cups Coffee House in a long time. I need to get back into a routine, something regular, although the variation helps with the boredom.

The Wednesday AM appointments in PDX tossed me off my routine. I'm counting the stair work and jog on the Sky Bridge as a workout -- because it is.



Let's plan tomorrow to explore Road 490 and the ridge. Pack a lunch, plan to be out most of the day. Hell! I could dress for rain.

http://www.brevins.com/webcam/
910 AM PDT SAT JUN 11

TODAY
today mostly cloudy. highs 55 to 60. northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

TONIGHT
tonight mostly cloudy. lows around 50. northwest wind 10 to 15 mph...becoming light wind after midnight.

SUNDAY
sunday mostly cloudy. highs 60 to 65. northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.

SUNDAY NIGHT
sunday night mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. lows around 50. west wind 10 mph...becoming light wind after midnight.

The weather page came up with a new description -- "Patchy drizzle"

ICK!

Ohhh yeah, I was 215.4 and 27% this AM.

Practical Application -- Fitness Gains

We had appts. at the VAMC, PDX all day -- more or less. First appt. was 8 AM, which means getting on the road at 5 AM, getting up at 4:30 AM.

First objective was to get the CPAP into the respiratory clinic for a reading and new mask. (Continuous Positive Air Pressure -- CPAP, it's a machine that keeps the airway open in people w/ sleep apnea.) Appt. for that was 12:45. but it's a "drop off" and we did the drop first thing. Six floor, we took the stairs from "Parking 2" -- 8 flights.

Then 4 flights down the stairs and across the Sky Bridge to the OHSU cafeteria for breakfast -- and yesterday's entry on this blog from the iPod 4. Once at OHSU, it's 6 flights of stairs down to the cafeteria.

40 minutes to eat and blog . . . and get back to VAMC for my 8 AM.

Running late and the elevators take forever at OHSU, I ran the stairs -- 6 flights up and then jogged across the Sky Bridge. I'm thinking the bridge might be a half mile.

4 flights down to my appt at VAMC -- the whole point here is that I'm now able to take the stairs and jog the Sky Bridge. That takes some fitness gains.

Some up and down the stairs between Travel Pay, and Dental. My dental appt. was 10:30. I had 90 min. after my 8 AM and so travel pay, pick up the CPAP, run out to the truck, stow the CPAP, grab the dental stuff and back up to the second floor.

No elevators. And I'm able to jog the Sky Bridge!

We found a handlebar bag for the new MTB. Took the day off today to sort of catch up on the sleep cycle.

Phase II . . .

We want to work on some weight training, longer rides, road and MTB, get some hiking, and work on flex/stretching. We're running 218 lbs, and 23% to 26%, depending on hydration. I should be able to get 199 lbs and 19% with some focus (and better weather!)

PHASE II

PHASE II -- Fitness base established, an now we focus on a fine-tuning program for strength, flexibility, and endurance. We should endeavor to shed another 15 or 20 lbs.

New Bike! First Ride!

See below . . . Trek 3700 Disc Brake, SR SunTour XCT V3 suspension fork (SF11-XCT-V3-DS-26-80).

We headed out on the same route as yesterday. Today we started the GPS at the house and checked waypoints. (Also figured out that there is a "notes/comments" feature in the waypoints, and this for logging interim mileage, elevation, etc.)

We'll check elevation as we attack that learning curve. Sometimes I get the data, sometimes not. Today it said 885 feet -- which I presume is total ascent.

Miles:

House to Logan Road entry: 3.76 miles

Logan Road gate to Youngs River Falls gate: 4.62 miles.

Youngs River Falls to home: 4.04 miles.

Total distance: 12.42 miles. 90 minutes, 8 mph pace, faster on road, slower on unpaved.

Some of the typical fine tune stuff --

Rear brake squeaks when released. We'll cleaned it; squeak stopped. Brakes are nice! Two finger grip, sensitive, smooth, lots of control.

Seat post release was set pretty loose. I adjusted seat height several times. I wonder if I just wasn't getting the saddle tall enough in the first place. I don't think it was slipping, no lateral movement, but who knows?

Gear indexes seemed to skip a bit. I think this is break-in stuff for the cogs, chain. They seemed to settle down after a while. Might be my shifting?

Shop filled the tires to 30 lb. We rode that, but I jacked them to 45 lb. This seems about right on roadway. 30 lb. for trails, dirt, soft surface.

Wonderful ride! The fork suspension keeps me from being beat to death on the road. I realize now that with the mt. bike rides the following stiffness is due to being jostled on the road, vibration. The suspension on this bike seems to alleviate a lot of jostle. What is hard to get used to is getting on the bike, getting underway and having the front end compress. Takes some getting used to. (I need to read up on the front fork use/adjust.)

High end gear is about the same as the Nishiki. Low end gears are much lower. Seems to be less prone to lifting the front wheel when climbing steep in lowest gears. (That's frame geometry.) But also, on the driveway here we found that the ultra-low gear doesn't generate enough forward speed to keep the bike on track. It's a balance game.

About 1 1/2 hr moving. The trip data says 26 mph max -- down Tucker Creek Lane or Peter Johnson. I won't go fast down the gravel log roads. Too much chance of sliding and spilling.

Using a lot of low gears, lots of shifting for terrain. More focused on effort than speed. The speed gets down to walking pace on some stretches -- slight inclines w/ gravel surface. This is a mt. bike! It's not a racing bike.

Equipment -- The Zefal Mt. Pump won't fit the frame, and so I taped it compressed short and stow it in the CamelBack M.U.L.E. -- along w/ a tube, hex key tool, tire patch kit. I wonder if I should pack the chain tool?

Pearl Izumi shorts (not the bibs), perfect for riding. Cotton T-shirt -- no need for the jersey pockets, the CamelBak stows the gear.

Water, couple bananas . . .

GPS, cell phone, I should take the compact binoculars.

Ohhhhhhhh yeah, and this the reason for riding in the woods -- Yesterday it was a Red Tail Hawk. Today it was five Roosevelt Elk, standing in the road, grazing. I got probably within 25 yds.

NICE RIDE!

Road 490 looks interesting. I think this is the climb up along the ridge. Some elevation gain. I'm looking to ride it, but need to prepare, pack a lunch and take the day for it. The climb up from Youngs River Falls gate is long, steep, unrelenting. Then 490 would be more climbing.