Day One.

Auspicious?

Seems to fit.

First day of the bike to work challenge, and of course, "challenge" became the operative word.

Rain. Off and on. But rain. Seems early for rain. But it was full on.

Headwind. I mean serious headwind. Rare does the morning have an up valley wind like this.

Combine the two? Plus a 4:20 AM departure, so completely in the heart of darkness.

But why complain. I love biking to Salem, so this is part of the challenge.

Because I am bushed, I won't go on. But suffice it to say my bike light also died on me. Here is my plug for light redundancy. Anyhow, I managed to find a bus heading south so was at work by 6:40. And then biked home (which is ~ 58 miles).

So a long first day, but not quite as long as usual (78 miles vs. 108). Maybe even an easy day, if you think of it that way.

I also realize that when you start the month with such nasty conditions, every other day after will probably be a joy by comparison.

Did see a major car crash just before returning home. Vehicle took out a power pole. Power pole won. And I had a bit of road construction (pipe, actually) just south of Woodburn.

The stop/slow fellow asked me, "can you move at the speed of traffic?" I smiled, and said, "depends, but I can if you need me to." So he gave me a head start. Nearly burned up all my leg strength Mark Cavendish-style just to see if I could keep them at bay. Turns out he let them off a lot after me, so I was well past the danger when they came by. Still, had a feeling of pride as I crossed the invisible finish line, no cars in sight.

Well, so it begins.

Another day in paradise.

New Year's Nightmare

If you are a Duck fan. This was just how you didn't want to start the new year. But alas, we find ourselves realizing that despite the brilliance of Chip Kelly, you cannot always triumph against someone who likes to sit on the ball. One of the more memorable comments my college lacrosse said to me, is no opposing team in the history of lacrosse has scored when you have the ball. In other words, the best defense, is a good offense.

All told, today was a riot. Beginning with a long overdue visit with some friends from home who live in town. Besaw's, one of Portland's great breakfast haunts, in Northwest PDX. Why is that despite being in the same town, you can let months upon months pass before actually seeing them? Is it a function of desire, timing, or simply the nature of life? I'll leave that to our NYR to actually formulate some closer connections to friends in town to resolve.

On to the Mission, where the setting was out of a college frat scene. Drunk fans. Loud and lovely. A fellow sat next to us who actually played in the Rose Bowl as a kid, 70 years ago. In high school. Pretty amazing. We basically ate the usual same-old food at McM. If they could only improve, or at least rotate, their menu, I'd be more in favor of a regular visitation. No matter, we enjoyed the incredibly closely fought match with The OSU. Being a Michigan man, I had no trouble doing that, plus UO is an alma mater for graduate school. Tough ending, but OSU was a big, talented team and TP played incredibly well.

Upon return from those doldrums, we have begun preparing for our first ski trip. Timberline Lodge, with a gift certificate from two close friends from our wedding. It will be great to be back there. Meanwhile, we are taking turns this eve waxing our skis with another wedding gift, wax, iron, ski holders and a great devilish Swix smock.

This is my first post in an effort to track the year as it passes, possibly capture some of the spice of life. As my professor from the UO reminded us, in his holiday card, life is not measure by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.

Here's to a year full of breath-taking moments, be it a best friend's newborn face on card, immensely beautiful views atop mountains near and far, or long-winded brunches with friends.