Pink Trout on Wheels

For those of you who have continued to check in on Wayward Princess, despite the relative lack of excitement following India, I have again embarked upon adventures. Not quite as exotic as India, but adventurous never-the-less.

Wednesday morning I found myself in a rental car heading North to green Oregon for a few weeks of visiting family, visiting the cabin and bicycling my brains out.

Today was quite lovely. We (self, father figure, and step-mother figure) depart for the cabin in Central Oregon tomorrow so spent today up in the Columbia Gorge doing a 40ish mile training ride between Hood River and the Dalles (for those of you familiar with these parts.) Lovely mountains, trees, water, and so on - with a sizable dash of wind thrown in for aggrivation - made for a great ride. For the most part we were on an old highway that is generally not used, which was a nice change from the heavily trafficked roads I've been riding (all alone) recently.

Following that we had a bit to eat and then headed back to Portland to visit the bike shop, the fruit stand and REI (an outdoorsy store that is having a mamouth sale.) I have to say that I feel victorious, triumphant and terribly successful when I consider all these stops.

Lucy (bicicletta mia) had a massive tune-up right before I left but something still wasn't quite right with the front derailer. Super-nice Patty connected me with super-nice Tom who fixed Lucy up just about as good as a 20+ year-old bike like her is gonna get. And mind you, we walked into the store on a busy busy Saturday evening and they fixed up right then and there despite piles of other bikes already on the racks. And THEN, the ultra-highlight, Tom helped me instal streamers in the handlebars. Oh yeah! They didn't have pink, but they did have white which goes with Lucy's paint-job quite well. I am currently searching for a good receipe for blueberry cookies with which to give Tom as a token of my appreciation. He's also done some wonders with adjustments to Marsha's (previously noted step-mother unit) breaks.

The fruit stand had alllll sorts of lovely fruits and vegetables and they helped us pick out all sorts of lovely things to take with us to central oregon that would also last us through the week. This was also a deal where we arrived minutes before closing.

The most impressive feats of the day occured at REI. I had been feeling almost sick because of all the gear stuff I need to get in preperation for Cycle Oregon. Cycling shoes, new pedals for said shoes (so I can clip in and pedal much more efficiently), a larger duffle bag, long biking pants, several pairs of biking socks, a flashlight, ear warmer/headband thingy (for 30 degree mornings) a camping towl (that folds up real small and dries out real quick) and so on. This all could easily come up to $400-$500 as biking stuff is so friggin' expensive. Easily $400 - $500. However, thanks to the fabulous sale, I procured just about everything (minus the pedals) for the bargain rate of $190. And this includes a pair of undies I bought that were rather frivolous, what with being rather unnecessary (though a bit of a luxury) and costing $22. So really I got all the stuff I needed for just about $170. Most impressive, I believe, were the shoes that are normally more than $120 and which I got for $37 and the socks that normally go at around $15-$20 that I picked up for $1.92. Much of my success is due to having small feetsies (and other parts) and so those sizes being the ones left after the more normal sized people come through.

So yes, the Pink Trout on Wheels (my name for Cycle Oregon - think Brooke Trout, then my recent affinity for pink and the fact that I shall be on wheels) was very successful.

Return of the Lame Princess

Some people may remember the original "Lame Princess" story. I took a number of fairy tale classes in college (one of the benefits of being a Creative Writing major) and in one such course we had to write a fairy tale of our own using some of the common tropes and such. At the time I was the victim of a sprained ankle and I used an evening's adventures - made more difficult by the sprained ankle - to inspire my fairy tale "the Lame Princess."

I have been rendered lame again. I was out riding and my bicycle wasn't working properly so I pulled over to the side of the road to assess the situation. I'm not sure why I was trying to assess the situation, I know very little about the functioning of bicycles and much much much less about repairs of bicycles and then even less about how to actually carry out such repairs. To top it off I also had no tools whatsoever with me. So my examination was really just going to be vague investigating. The real idiot bit though was that I flipped my bike over - a move that has vast possibilities for back strain - and was focusing on my lame bike, not my soon-to-be-lame-back. Well, stupid story made short - I whacked out my back. And then continued to ride. I sorta thought that riding a bit would loosen things up, but no. I ended up turning around and going home and my the time I reached my home was thoroughly lame. Made the last week of school a bit of a challenge as I couldn't sit, stand, lay down or really do much of anything (hence the absence of mindless prattle on Wayward Princess the Blog) except sit in one particular chair at home. I was going to sleep at 8:30 all week because I was so exhausted and in pain.

So here we are, 20 days out from Cycle Oregon and I've not riden in almost 10 days. Lucy (my bicycle) spent some quality time in the shop with Kurt who took some very good care of her. Its actually rather good that she got beat up because in the process of correcting the thingy making the gears work funny we discovered that my tires were about to disintegrate, the inner tubes were about to pop in any one of a couple dozen spotes, that the front brake was out of alignment and about a half a dozen other mild things.

Just remember, 'tis better to undertrain than overtrain.

'Tis also better to peel out than stall. I learned that in learning to drive a manual transmission car that I may purchase. But that's another story.

I think I'll be better tomorrow and able to ride.... I'm gonna give it a go at least.

County Fair

This morning we put on our cowboy hats and mosey-ed on down to the Nevada County Fair. We saw the cows and the pigs and the goats and the horses and the rides and the food and ever so many other wonders. I really enjoy the county fair, but I must admit it is a tad bit hokey. This year's theme was "Barn Yard Mardi Gras" so there were Mardi Gras masks and beads all around. Livestock shit and shiny plastic beads... yeah. Not exactly Venezia. Although, come to think of it, Venice rather smells like waste product much of the year (tepid water full of... well... yucky-ness... and all of it festering) so maybe it was more appropriate than many realize.

Some highlights -
We took in a spot of pigmy goat judging and I was able to glean a few minimal points on what one looks for in a good pygmy goat. Having a traditional pygmy goat shape to one's goat's head is considered a good point, as are strong legs, strong development between the shoulders and even development all over.

We also talked to a nice young man who was lounging upon his pig as if it were an easy chair (a lot of the pig owners were cuddling with their pigs in this way.) As we were observing this pig and that pig he called out to us, "Wanna see my pig?" "Sure," said we and proceeded to examine his pig in a very amature fashion. We learned that his pig was about 6 months old, that he had raised two this year but you can only enter one (the less worthy of prize contending will be eaten by his family.) He also told us stuff about where he bought the pigling, what he fed it, how much he fed it (6 pds a day), how much the food costs and what he can expect to get for his pig. He's hoping for $5/pound (last year his pig got $5.50/lb) and at 271 pounds that's a good deal of money. He does have to pay back his mom for some of the feed and he put a good deal of money into the endeavor (not to mention a whole ton of work for the last six months) but he'll clear enough to add to both his car and college funds. Overall he seemed like a nice kid and I hope he gets a good price for his pig. I almost want to go to the pig auction tomorrow to see how he does.

We also saw some lovely little horsies - Haflingers they were called - and some big-daddy Shire horsies that weigh about 2,000 pounds each. There seems to be a distinct Hobbit theme running through the selection of horses we took in (Hobbits being called "Haflings" and living in the "Shire.")

Unfortunately we couldn't seem to find the Bunny Hurdles. It was at noon and we planned our time at the fair around it but we couldn't seem to find the arena where the bunny hurdles were taking place. Luckily I was consoled on our way out when I looked toward the petting zoo and saw a ZEBRA! YES, A ZEBRA! What a zebra is doing in the Nevada County Fair petting zoo is beyond me, but I don't like to question unexplained gifts from the gods. I happen to have a slight (okay fairly dominating) infatuation with zebras and immediately darted off like a wayward toddler without letting anyone know where I was going or checking to see where my party might be. It worked out okay though and I ended up leaving the fair a VERY happy camper because of my zebra encounter.

Perils of the Road

I always rather thought of myself as someone "at home" in the "country." I've spent a great deal of time in the cities and metropolisis of our fair nation but always kept in mind my first twelve years when I lived in Oregon, had chickens, did lots of camping, fishing, hiking sorts o' things and so on.

Now that I'm a grown-ed up and am living in another rural area I am discovering that I'm not quite so used to living in the rural areas as I thought. The perils of the road, specifically, out here are numerous and I'm low on experience in dealing with these perils. Deer and other animals were expected, but even more hazardous for the ill-experienced are things I never considered.

Last night, for instance, I was driving back from dinner up in the happenin' Nevada City (population something like 2 or 3 thousand) and realized I didn't know how to deal with high lights. I'd always used dimmers 'cause there were always street lamps and other cars around. Picture me driving down a winding highway and alternating between flashing bright lights at cars passing and then managing to turn the lights off completely from time to time. By the time I got home (roughly 20 miles later) I had it down, but it was a bit trecherous at the start.

Then consider the stars. They are so bright and plentiful here that I find them terribly distracting.

And then on the bicycle, the roads are fairly poor - no shoulders at all, pot holes abound and overall the roads are narrow and winding with cars going by rather quickly.

What scares me the most though are the poochies. There are dogs all over the place that aren't tied up (why should they be, it's the friggin' country?) and many of them take exception to the intrusion of someone riding by on a bicycle. About half the time I go out I have an encounter with a doggie. Often I can get by them and peddle away quick enough that they feel they've done their duty in scaring me off. The one close call (when I was slogging up a hill at the blistering pace of about 3 or 4 mph) was averted by an alert fellow rider who used a deep voice and managed to make it go away. Today I encountered a doggie just hanging out in the middle of the road. Luckily it was a relaxed creature and just smiled in its doggie way at me as I carefully rode around it.

So yes, the roads here are frought with dangers I never understood.

Thank goodness I'm so strong and powerful.

Global Conquerors

Unlike his wayward sister, in his global adventures my brother has specific goals which he wants to accomplish - conquest being primary among his goals. As for me, I'm still trying to get the upper hand on a parasite I encountered in India. Here he is, however, basking in the Italian sun near the Adriatic with his Italian amico. I believe they are attempting to impersonate Rosevelt and Mussolini, but I'm wondering if the peroxide job on my brother's head takes something from the effort (I'm thinking more "euro-trash" than "rough rider.") You be the judge. If you would like to know more of his debauched adventures, please feel free to explore the link to the right - Global Conquest '05.