Intermezzo

For a wrap-up of last weekend's race, hop on over to my team's blog. It's a pretty good summary of how everything went down, and panned out.

As we drove into Walla Walla on the first day of the race, I found myself thinking, Man, wouldn't it be nice to hang out here for a while after the race is over and just ride, drink wine and chill? Then I realized - I was already planning on doing that! Perfect. So on Sunday, instead of heading back to Seattle, my job and real life, I spent 3 extra days in beautiful Walla Walla with my teammate Cheryl, a Walla Walla native, before heading down to the next weekend's stage race, the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic. I kicked off the week by partying Sunday night with the Whitman cycling team, then proceeded to ride every day, enjoy the perfect weather and even watch a sweet documentary about human towers, with live Q & A hosted by an actual participant.

But my favorite memory from the week?

Tasting some local wine with Sam & Cheryl, then meeting up with Timbah for the best sauna experience I've ever had, grabbing Walla Walla sweet onion burritos at La Monarca, and polishing them off sitting on the edge of the quad on Whitman campus, watching intramural ultimate frisbee. I'm not kidding about the sauna, either - there was something almost transcendent about it - is that possible?

The next morning, we headed down to The Dalles, Oregon, after stopping at Andy's for some local, inexpensive asparagus and sweet onions. The amazing drive is mostly spent right along the Columbia River, and we were treated to fantastic views of the valley, green hills, rock formations, Mt. Hood, incredibly long and colorful trains and of course the river itself. We also passed one of those tree farms - the ones that are almost hypnotizing with their rows and rows of trees that if you look down the rows to the end, appear like stop-motion photos that barely seem real. There's also something satisfying about the fact that these farms help alleviate clear-cutting of forests.

Once we made it into town, we joined Lang, Phil and Kennet for a quick recon ride of the Stage 2 circuit race course - a great way to shake off the 3-hour drive and stresses of traveling, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

This is the life. Now to figure out how to live like this all the time...suggestions?