Riding the Summer Away... Part 2

Even though it took me over a week to even want to get back on my bike and ride.. I eventually did recover from the Crater Lake ride. It was an incredible experience and I was thrilled to have accomplished it. I was definitely looking forward to the next scheduled ride, the Harvest Ride, in Oct. I was looking forward to this ride for a couple of reasons... 1. It was a local event. I was excited to ride on familiar terrain... and 2. This was going to be the first century ride for my mom and dad. I was thrilled to accompany them on their first "big ride".

Although anyone who knows my dad, knows that he never does anything half way. So about 6 weeks before the Harvest Ride and in celebration of my parents anniversary they purchased new road bikes for the both of them. My dad was sooooo cute and he sat down and made a spreadsheet for his training log and had it all mapped out on how he was going to build his riding stamina up to a century. Dad was so pumped up for this ride that he started searching around for other organized rides that he could participate in as a 'training' ride... As you can imagine... I got roped into this 'training' ride and again bit off more than I could chew.

I had been training for the Harvest ride but since school had started I had not been able to be as consistent as I had hoped. On the other hand my dad was killing it! He was riding 20+ miles a day and was in TOP physical condition. So he found another Harvest Ride to participate in. This ride was located in Hood River about 1 1/2 hours away from Portland. This Harvest Ride, I assumed, was going to be similar in terrain and was only going to be 60-75 miles depending on the "loops" we chose to ride. We left my house about 4:30 am and went to breakfast. After eating a larger breakfast than one would normally consume... we made our way out to Hood River and found the fairgrounds where the ride began. We got our route maps and headed on our way. Little did I know that we... (and by we, I mean my Dad) had picked the two MOST challenging loops to ride back to back that day. The first loop was the Lost Lake loop, a short but steep climb... and the second loop, Cooper Spur... which turned out to be the longest, tedious, grind of a climb to the peak. AWESOME. I got my butt handed to me... I am sure on more than one occasion I begged my Dad to go on without me and I would eventually meet him at the finish line. No way would he let me get off that easy... he was a total trooper and stuck it out with me the whole time. "We ride as a team... Hanna:" He would give me little reminders all along the way... "It could be worse... we could be on our way to a chemo treatment"... or "Just think of all the disease and health problems we are fighting off with all this exercise!"... or "I can just feel my cholesterol levels dropping by the mile"... to which my response to all of these optimistic little thoughts were... "Well, at least I WOULDN'T BE PEDDLING!!!" Seriously Dad... You should get an award for dealing with me on that day. So by the end of the day we had climbed just about 7,000 ft in just about 75 miles. It turned out to be just as difficult and challenging as the Crater Lake ride. Whew! Good "training" ride Dad!

Starting Line Photo

Pit Stop... Somewhere between Climb 1 and Climb 2

Lost Lake... Peak of Climb 1

Finish Line Photo... I made it... Barely.

You would think that at this point the riding couldn't get anymore difficult or miserable. WRONG! So here it is the first week of October and we are experiencing stellar weather. Beautiful sunny days with mild temperatures... but of course it wouldn't hold out for our last and final ride of the year. A few days before the ride I emailed my parents and just updated them on the weather forecast. My dad promptly replied to my email (not in his EXACT words) but come hell or high water he and Mom had trained way to hard to let weather prevent them from participating. Well... If you're in I'm in... So Saturday morning comes and as we make our way to the starting point it is a brisk morning with a mist of moisture in the air but we are optimistic that the rain will hold off until later in the day. We suit up in our gear and head off with the mist in our faces. Mile 14 our first pit stop... and here comes the rain. It started as a sprinkle and just continued until it became a outright downpour. The rain makes it hard to draft off of each other because of the cascading rooster tail flying off the wheel in front of you. By lunch about 35ish miles into the ride and all 3 of us are soaked to the bone. I'm sure at least one if not all of us wanted to just quit but no one was willing to. So we continued on in the pouring rain. At mile 50 Mom looks over to me and says, "I just thought of the perfect facebook status... Bragging rights is a STUPID reason to do anything!" True. We prevailed regardless of the soaking misery. At about mile 75 the rain lightened and we were able to dry out to a comfortable level of wetness and by the end of the ride we were riding on mostly dry roads. What a difference a dry road makes!

So I would like to give a shout out to my Mom and Dad for finishing their first century in true Oregonian style... In the rain! If they can ride 100 miles in those conditions they could ride any century out there! Way to go!

Unfortunately due to the rain... No pictures were taken to document our misery... so you will just have to take my word for it! :0)

Edy Ridge Fun Run... Run Chloe... Run!

Chloe with her 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Birch

Here are some pictures from this years Edy Ridge Fun Run. Chloe did a fabulous job and was so anxious to participate. Last year in first grade she ran 6 laps. This year her goal was to run 7... not only did she reach her goal but she surpassed it by 2 additional laps! She was incredible and such a fast little runner! 4 laps around the track is equal to one mile. I was amazed and so proud that she ran OVER TWO MILES! Way to go Chloe! It also helped that Mimi and Daddy were cheering from the sidelines and I joined in the run as well and joined her in running the last 5 laps of her run. Mimi and Papa were the most generous donors this year by sponsoring Chloe for $10 a lap! What a fun day and the best part was the popsicle waiting at the finish line!

Chloe with her friends Sophia (above) and Madison (below)

Riding the Summer Away... Part 1

Well it's obvious that I have been slacking in my duties to keep the blog updated. It usually takes me a review of the pictures on my phone to even remember what we have been up to for the last 6 months. So I finally have a few minutes to sit down and reflect on the activities over the summer and give a brief run down of the happenings of the Hales.

I have been cycling... Since March (my birthday) when I got my first legit road bike, I have now racked up over 1500 miles. I have participated in 3 century rides and one 75 mile ride. My first organized ride was June 5th in Logan UT it was the Little Red Riding Hood Century. It was an all women ride that included 3000 riders from all over! The best part was that I was able to ride with my bestest friend in the world Alyssa. It was a stellar ride and a great way to start the cycling season!

Finish Line Photo with Super Red (Event Mascot)

On the course... somewhere between mile 1 and 100.

Pit Stop!

The only injury sustained on the ride... One wicked sunburn! OUCH!

I was so totally pumped up after accomplishing that first 100 mile ride that I promptly came back to Oregon and started looking for other organized rides. I found a ride around Crater Lake in Southern Oregon and promptly signed up. I tried to convince other biking family members to sign up with me but apparently, they knew something that I should have paid more attention to. Crater Lake is a BEAUTIFUL place to visit with spectacular views from the rim of the lake. What I failed to make note of was the GAIN in elevation. This particular ride has in increase in elevation of 7500ft. At this point... a little late I must admit, I started to pay attention to the details of this ride. This is what was staring me back in the face.

STARS DIFFICULTY VERTICAL GAIN (feet) DISTANCE MILES
****** Extremely difficult 3,000-3,500+ 100+
***** Difficult 2,000-3,000+ 60-80
**** Moderate 1,000-2,000+ 40-60
*** Easy to moderate 500-1,000 20-40
** Easy 250-500 10-20
* Children's ride 0-250 Under 10

Awesome... This was no children's ride. What in the hell had I signed myself up for? I'm not going to make it. But it was too late. June 30 was the last day for a REFUND... so like it or not, I'm in for it. I'm riding. Then comes the phone call...

"Hey Hanna, It's Dad. Um, so I was thinking I might join you at the last minute, that we could ride the tandem together, so I looked at the ride profile... (long SILENT pause) Hanna? Do you realize what you have signed up for? Do you realize how much climbing is involved in this ride? I'm concerned... I don't think you are going to make it. "

My heart drops into my stomach... My arms and legs start to quiver with the rush of fear and adrenaline. I don't know whether to cry or to be angry... so I do neither. I just quietly reply, "Well Dad, I know now! I should have paid more attention but I was excited and I just signed up. It's too late. I'm riding. I might not finish but I just might die trying. I don't have to "kill it" (referring to the climb portion) It's not a race. I'll take my time. The goal at this point isn't to get a personal record... it's just to finish."

So needless to say on the morning of August 21, 2010... I was terrified. I was about to embark on the most difficult ride of my life and I was riding it ALONE. I pull into Fort Kalamath at 6:30 that morning. It was a chilly morning somewhere around 40 degrees. They were allowing riders to depart every 5-10 minutes. So I gear up. I have my personal support team, Colin, Chloe, Kate and Jade. I head off and my plan was to take it easy and try to find someone that has a similar cadence and pace and stick with them. Within the first 5 miles I find a gal riding solo. She looks totally fit. One of those ladies that eat, breathe, live for exercise... She looks like my best option... so I ride up to her. Yep, she is one of those ladies... total triathlete. As a matter of fact she had participated in a triathlon just the weekend before. GREAT... AWESOME... STELLAR!!! I picked the most physically fit person in the group and she is going pick me up, chew me to pieces and spit me right back onto the road. I should have quit before I started. There is no shame in pulling off the road slashing my own tires and throwing my repair kit off a cliff and just say I forgot it... Right? Well luckily she turned out to be a totally awesome lady and she was riding solo because a bunch of her friends bailed on her at the last minute. She was a little angel sent down to ride me all the way to the finish line... and that's what she did. After I ended up doing what I said I wouldn't do... I totally killed the first 1000 ft climb. I had to prove to the mountain that I had the legs to make it. I got to the first pit stop and my legs were already jello, and I wanted to puke my guts out... I decided that my triathlete friend may have more experience and knowledge in pacing the ride. I waited for her to get to the stop refreshed our water bottles, scarfed down a few cookies and a handful of fritos (calorie counting doesn't apply to ride days) to get me to the next stop and permanently attached myself to her back wheel and drafted her the rest of the ride. I made it... BARELY... but I finished. With out Katie Swank I would have never made it up those last few ascents... Now I understand why people ride up canyons, it's to go downhill... Let's be honest, that's how I made it to the finish. The last 8 miles of the route was straight down hill. I really have to give a shout out to the best SAG team ever. Colin was a brilliant SAG vehicle. They parked sporadically along the route to cheer me on... How can you quit when you have your girls cheering on the side of the road, "Go Mom! Go!" You can't. Thanks for your cheering. Thank you to my Dad, it may have been out of spite that I even finished the ride. There were more times than not that I wanted to quit but I heard your voice in my head saying, "I don't think you will make it." I would fight back... from a place deep down inside... cause there was no way that I was going to let you be right. Come hell or high water and excruciating pain, I was going to finish. I did.

Chloe the Ice Skater

Chloe has recently taken up an interest in ice skating... Most likely for two reasons:
1) We live about 5 minutes away from one of the only ice rinks in Portland.
2) Her Daddy plays hockey and she wants to do anything and everything like her daddy.

Needless to say she is not half bad on the ice. She has picked it up fairly quickly and has really enjoyed her lessons. So for her seventh birthday she asked for her own pair of ice skates. As you can expect her Daddy couldn't disappoint... He was actually just as excited to buy them as she was to receive them. So we headed to the pro shop conveniently located next door to the rink, and bought the cutest pair of little white ice skates. Chloe was very specific in requesting the white ones with the brown heel!



So... It only makes sense that for her birthday we finished the day with a family ice skating adventure. Chloe invited her friend that she has lessons with and Mimi and Papa. Everyone was such a great sport! We even had our favorite babysitter, Natasha, stop by and show Chloe some of her tricks! It was a lot of fun. We topped it off with some hot chocolate and a Hannah Montana ice cream cake! Happy 7th Birthday Chloe... Time has flown by!

Cookies... Cookies... and more Cookies....

So some of you may or may not know this about me but when I am down and out... aka depressed... I bake. It started with Christmas cookies... then snowflake cookies for January, Valentines Day, then St. Patrick's Day, and finished with Easter...
Honestly... I should be 400 lbs by now. I have no problem whatsoever with having sugar cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love sugar cookies. It's all about the ratio too... you must have the right amount of frosting to a thinner crispier cookie, no cake-y dry need a glass of milk with your cookie here... So here are some results of the last 5 cookie baking episodes.





So there you have it... At least one cookie baking session per raining month... It has been an unusually rainy May and June and it has taken every fiber of my willpower to not breakout the KitchenAid and get mixing. On the flip side... I do earn points with my kids for allowing them to decorate cookies! It looks like a hurricane of sprinkles made a direct path through my kitchen every time too!

Kate's 3rd Birthday... 5 months later...

So here it is the first week of June and I was kindly reminded by my Mom reading my blog that it was time for an 'update'.... Needless to say that is like the understatement of the last 6 months... So instead of rambling on like and incessant fool, I will do little blog entries and post some pics from the last six months to see if we can get up to speed. We will start with Jan 4, 2010...

Happy Birthday Baby Kate!

So at a certain point in every kid-hood there comes a point in time when you look at your child and think how insanely fast they are growing... At some point in this last year of being two my baby Kate has become just Kate... she is growing up so quickly and wants to be such an independent little person. At this point I am so ready for her to be in preschool and to share the obligation of teaching her something of value with someone else, but preschool here in Sherwood costs a small fortune every month $150 for two days a week for 3 hours per visit... I thought $85 was a lot when I put Chloe in preschool! YIKES! So for now she is stuck with me teaching her colors, shapes, letters and sounds... At this point we have learned up to K... I figured this one would be cake... K-K-Kate... Um... NO... She says, "Mom... It's K-K-Tate!" Awesome! Obviously... I am a phenomenal teacher! It's been a couple months of discussing Kate... and when you ask her what her name is she still is Tate... Oh how I love my baby Tate!

As far as the birthday party went... we kept it pretty small and affordable... She loved that she finally got her own guitar so she can rock out to Hannah Montana with her sister and be the "rock stars" that they really are. She was also given a baby doll that giggles, cries, and says, "Momma" when you squeeze it's tummy... She wasn't quite sure about it at first but now she is loving that she is finally the Mommy for someone...





Happy Birthday Baby Kate... I love you... Even on the tough days... Oh... and I meant no harm by putting you up for sale on Facebook the other day... It was a rough one, but I love you just the same.

My First Oregonian Winter

So it has been a while since posting anything and all for good reason... Well not really. It has been a whirlwind of the last few months as I am sure it has been for everyone else. First we celebrated Colin's big 30th birthday, unfortunately without much fan fare and hype. I bought him some Wii games that he requested and Rockband which has turned out to be more of a purchase for me than for him... (snicker... snicker). Although I did take him to go the the comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Duham. It was a brilliant performance with all the favorite characters and lines from the usual acts. Je-ff-a was hysterical. I just wish that we would have had better seats because we spent most of the time watching the jumbo screen so we could actually see the show. Not to mention the OBNOXIOUS fan sitting next to me that would not quit racing through the lines to yell out the punch lines before Jeff could finish his joke. Honestly... I paid the outrageous price for the ticket to the show to hear the man on the stage... not some redneck, white trash, over cologned man sitting next to me... (I'm not bitter at all can you tell?) With that aside we did have a fabulous night out and enjoyed the rare occasion of being without the kids for the night!

Moving on... Then we followed Colin's birthday with the annual holiday of Thanksgiving which we celebrated by fixing a fabulous meal for 16, chaotic and stressful would not be colorful enough to describe that day. We had the opportunity of having Colin's sister and her family as well as his parents come to town for the holiday. I was a little overwhelmed with getting the house in order to sleep an extra 6 bodies and also planning meals not only for the "big" dinner but for all the other meals as well. Alyssa gave me the "hot" tip on brining (aka marinating) the turkey a day before Thanksgiving to have the best fall off the bone and melt in your mouth moist turkey. It was a lot of work but in the end I think it was worth the effort! I was glad to have the company and it was the first Thanksgiving in 7 years that I got to spend with my (the Hansen side) of the family. It was fantastic and fabulous... next year I am off duty for the cookin'... I'm just sayin'. It took me a few weeks to recover from Thanksgiving... Exhaustion is not an understatement!

After Thanksgiving we moved on to Christmas. Oh! To remember the days of naïvety... to believe again in Santa and all things fairy tale again. This will probably be the last Christmas that Chloe will "truly" believe in Santa. In the years to come we will have to threaten her with her life to keep the secret for the sake of her little sister. Regardless... We pulled off Christmas. We ended up going to Crystal Mountain, WA for a few nights to a ski in - ski out condo. It was so nice to be back up in the mountains! To see snow again! It just doesn't feel like Christmas without the white stuff! It was beautiful weather... like spring skiing in December. The snow was fabulous.. the sun was out and the girls held their own. Chloe is doing a phenomenal job of skiing without a wedgie... (a clip to hold the tips of her skies together) and Kate was more than content chillin' in the backpack on my back. I will post some pics as soon as I download them from my phone and the camera.

Christmas day went off without a hitch. Chloe got her EasyBake oven she had been begging for and Kate got the ice cream shoppe for Play-doh. It was a small Christmas, but pleasant. Colin and I don't usually exchange gifts but this year I decided to make him a rag quilt with his initials embroidered on it. I had made one earlier in the year for myself and at one point he had mentioned that he wanted a quilt of his own... so he got it! We drove home the day after Christmas and it was nice to be home again.

As far as New Year's eve goes we kept it pretty low key. We went to a friend of my mom's house and played a stellar game of Pictionary, girls vs. boys, girls totally rocked it! Whoot Whoot! Then before midnight we headed to go visit my youngest brother Seth at his new apartment and rang in the new year with him. Chloe even stayed up until midnight... impressive for a 6 year old! I got the opportunity to explain to her what all the fuss was about the "New" year... She is such a sponge... she just soaks it all in!

Now since the holidays have come and gone we are back to the daily grind. We are just battening down the hatches for the next couple of months as Colin will be traveling a bunch with the demo cat and the Vancouver Olympics are just around the corner... Here we go! I will be a snowcat widow for the next couple of months, but it pays the bills so I can't complain.

So there you have it! That's what we have been up to... and for what it is worth... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you! We send you our love!