Saturday I checked another big ride off the list. I rode the “Tour de Blast” up Mt St Helens. It’s 82 miles with 8,000 ft of climbing. The weather was gorgeous, a little hot, but better than the snow and sleet of earlier years. This was my 7th or 8th time and I had my fastest time: 5 1/2 hours. I stayed out of the “granny-gear” for the first time. There were fantastic views of the mountain along the way. The ride summits at the Johnston Ridge Observatory where there is a great view of the side of the mountian that blew off. There was a thin column of steam rising out of the dome all day. The ridge was closed up until last month because the mountain was too active.

My next big ride was supposed to be the RAMROD, but the lottery for tickets was back in March and I didn’t get one. Talking to a guy in the locker room after the ride he said he just goes the day of the ride, follows the route and stops at stores along the way for food: Bandit style. I think I will do that instead of the STP, but go a few days later since I have to work the day of the ride. LOTOJA is looking like it might be within reach this year afterall.

Top 10 Motivational Songs for Cycling
1. Rearviewmirror/ Pearl Jam
2. Spin the Black Circle/ Pearl Jam
3. Only/ NIN
4. Steady as She Goes/ The Raconteurs
5. What You Waiting For?/ Gwen Stefani
6. Warning Shots/ Thievery Corporation
7. Go With The Flow/ Queens of the New Stone Age
8. Lights & Sound/ Yellowcard
9. No Sleep Tonight/ The Faders
10. Generator/ The Foo Fighters

I got my $50 Apple Store credit for owning a 2nd generation iPod (settlement for battery issues). I can still get 6-8 hours on a charge, but if they want to give me fifty bucks I’ll take it. Got an iPod shuffle for $69 and used it on the ride. It is weightless and works great.

Saturday night we went to the huge LDS youth regional dance festival. The kids (12-18) have been working on it for ~6 months. It was cool: 3200 kids doing everything from the “Napoleon Dynamite Dance” to Viennese Waltz.

The Tour de France starts Saturday…

Go Beavs!!! Final game of the college baseball world series is ON!!

The weather is heating back up here, so its time to get back on the boat. Our new pharmacist won’t be ready to work independently until September, so until then I’ll be working the early shift every other week. The upside is getting off work at ~10 AM. More on the downside later. Yesterday we took the boat to Hagg Lake, in a nearby county park. Not many people there, so the water was nice and calm. Love the new wakeboard tower: makes it easier to get up and makes manuevering easier once you are up. Dylan got up on my giant board on his second try. We told him if he gets good on his cousin’s board at Lake Shasta next month we’d get him one for his birthday. Gavin water skiied. Grace got up, but I was going too fast, so Shannon couldn’t hold the rope for her. We brought Gracie’s friend Erin and my summer intern Clinton.

We are in mourning over Shannon’s parent’s news that they are moving from their lovely waterfront home at the end of the summer. I have 14 years (and one more summer!) of great memories from there to cherish. Grace probably won’t even remember all her trips there…at least we have lots of photos and videos. They are moving to White Rock, BC, which is just across the Canadian border from Bellingham, WA. They found a townhouse they love near several long-time friends.

Tomorrow is my second big ride of the summer: Tour de Blast. It’s an 87 mile ride up Mt St Helen’s with 8,000 ft of climbing. I’m feeling pretty ready. I set a PR on the Appalachia loop Tuesday: 1 hr 42 min. I found out I missed the registration lottery for the RAMROD (Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day), so I might do the STP (Seattle to Portland) instead. All of this is preparation for the LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson Hole) in September. It is considered the hardest one day USCF sanctioned race in the US: 200 miles over 3 huge passes.

I’ve heard from several sources that yoga is great for cyclists since lots of riding means lots of tension on leg and back muscles. This week I went to a couple of classes at the gym. It works…a little too well. On Wednesday I was so relaxed, that near the end we were in the corpse pose and I fell asleep. I’m pretty sure I was snoring, too. I woke up and everyone was sitting up facing the other way and giving me weird looks.

My brother-in-law, Jim Ferrin, is up for re-election as a state legislator in Utah for his fourth term. The first three were easy. This one: not so much. The Orem district he represents is ~90% republican, so once the republican wins the primary they can coast through the November election. Jim didn’t win enough delegate votes at the party meeting, so he has to win the primary election next Tuesday. The guy he’s running against sounds like a real dirt bag. He withheld federal taxes from employees, but didn’t pay the money to the IRS. He has a $130k lien against his property that is still unresolved as a result. Jim knew about this months ago, but didn’t bring it up as an election issue. The guy sent Jim (and the Salt Lake Tribune) a letter asking him not to discuss the matter. Some of Jim’s supporters independently got the word out about his opponents tax problems. He blames other people even though he was ultimately responsible. The guy also got drunk and smashed his boat into a canyon wall at Lake Powell.

The opponent is falsely accusing Jim of using his position in the legislature for personal gain by passing laws that help charter schools. Jim has helped start several charter schools, but it is not big money making venture for him. It has made him a big target for the UEA. A rumor was floating around the blogosphere that he made $1 million/ month on his charter schools. Not even close, but Jim said if it was true we could have the proceeds of one month since we are family. His kids are getting mileage out of that one, too. “Dad, can I go to lacrosse camp at Syracuse? You can afford it, you make $1 million/ month”. When we were in UT at the begining of the month it was interesting to hear Jim talk about the election, politics in general and the press.

So if you live in Utah district 58, please vote for Jim!

It seemed like we were the last district in the country still in session, but Thursday the school year finally ended. I took the kids to see “Cars” to celebrate. Fun flick. Amazing animation, OK story. Gavin went to the coast with some family friends Friday morning for the weekend and Dylan got back in “working artist” mode. He started this last summer: gets out posterboard, paint and markers and creates art to sell on the street. He was pretty stoked when a neighbor kid paid him a buck for four book marks. Last year, to our horror, we found out they were going door-to-door peddling their wares. Not allowed this year. Last year our 3 kids and a neighbors 2 kids formed a garage band: “the Screechers”. The art sale project grew out of that as a way to raise money for the band.

The climbing wall at the gym was closed all week for routine maintenance. After Gracie’s swim team practice we were the first ones to break in the new holds. Check out Grace’s new climbing shoes. How could I pass those up?

This afternoon was Gracie’s long awaited ballet recital. It was fun. There were 7 or 8 different groups from the same dance studio doing ballet, jazz, tap, etc. Grace had her moves down and sang along. She loved her gown and was excited to get flowers after her performance.

It was on the front page of the WSJ yesterday and in the NYT today. Google secretly bought 30 acres of land in The Dalles, OR and has built two buildings the size of football fields to house their secret weapon for global domination. The Dalles is a tiny town an hour and 1/2 east of us. The draw is cheap hydro electricity: 3 cents/ kilowatt hr. They have a 1/2 million servers around the world. As usual, Microsoft is aping their moves and playing catch-up.

Here’s a link to the NYT article on the Googleplex

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Dylan played a mini lacrosse tournament Saturday to end the season. They all played well. Dylan scored a goal and had some close shots that almost made it.

Gavin’s last machine-pitched game was Saturday. He got a triple, double and a single. Next year is kid-pitched and I’ve heard it’s painfully slow and drags on for 2 1/2 hours. Can’t wait.

Grace has one more week of gymnastics and a ballet recital next Saturday. Then Gavin and Grace start swim team a week from Monday.

Got the boat in the water for a couple hours on Wednesday. Runs great, now if it would just warm up a bit…

Shannon and I went to UT for mom’s and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary. We tried to talk them into letting us kids throw them a party, but they just wanted a low key, family celebration. We (kids, spouses, mom & dad) went to La Caille Saturday night. It was a lovely evening at SLC’s finest restaurant. Sunday we went to church together then had dinner at the house.

Friday night we went to JT’s graduation from Timp High. He started a cycling club there, was a lacrosse star and makes girls hearts pitter patter everywhere he goes. He is planning on attending a quarter at Utah State before leaving on a mission at the end of the year. Good Luck, JT!!

Back home, Dylan scored a goal in his lacrosse championship game. They tied the last game, but the other team scored first, so they won. The “Milkmen” ended up in 2nd place of the 8 teams.

Gavin ran the 5k Starlight Run that kicks off the annual Portland Rose Festival.