Bavarian Bike & Brew 2011

We rose at 4am to depart our Fidalgo island home by sunrise

and head East over the Cascade mountains to our favorite lil' Bavarian town of Leavenworth for Jim's second year in a row of participating in a grueling, 24 mile mountain bike race...

To give it all on an incredible race course that starts off with 1800 feet of elevation gain in the first 4 miles, grinding racers up to the top of a high alpine ridge

with rewarding spectacular craggy-peaked views, before bombing it back down into the forest through creeks and over rollers to the finish line far below.

At last years race just months after having back-to-back spinal surgeries for a rough water paddling injury, it was difficult and painful for me to even walk up the hill to where the start line was to watch Jim's race...

So this year at the last minute I decided to also compete in the 14th annual Bavarian Bike & Brew ,  in the 8 mile (1 lap) beginner class race simply for my own personal, huge sense of feel goooood accomplishment of  being able to cross the finish line on my bike instead of in a back brace and a cane...

(Who knows what next year's race will bring:)

Jim loves this course because it reminds him of the kind of terrain he grew up riding back on his home alpine slopes of Mount Rainier.

With temperatures in the 80's, it just kept getting better ane better when we went exploring for a place to set up camp and found more than we hoped for down Icicle Creek Road...

*Not pictured are the 4 foot long snake and young bear that I saw close up, but fumbled with my camera in excitement and missed taking pics of either!

All in all another great weekend playing with friends in our adventure sport paradise home o' the Pacific Northwest. 

The road to recovery....

Exactly one year ago today I was laying in a Seattle area hospital, recovering from the first of what would unknowingly turn into two back-to-back spinal surgeries.

Waking this morning one year later,  I was beyond excited to be able to celebrate the rebirth of reclaimed mobility through a very long and painful healing journey by joining a group of my energetic & encouraging co-workers

along with a few hundred eager others on a chilly November morning in beautiful 
Skagit Valley for Skagit Runners 
2 mile & 10 km 32nd annual  Fowl Fun Run 

Words can't describe the feeling of excitement as I lined up for my first road race in nearly two years.  Ever since sustaining a debilitating, paddling-related, back injury and being diagnosed with progressive degenerative disk disease, I've been forced to completely change my adreline junkie ways and give up many of my favorite athletic pastimes, including running...but not today!  
While my finish times might not be stealing blue ribbons anymore, the fulfillment in the simple act of doing  to me is now the greatest prize of all.  And thanks to random drawings, I still went home a winner....of a turkey!!

Jim having also been forced to take the past year off of running to heal a training-related injury of his own today was equally eager to 'go for it'  it in the 10 km race, finishing strongly with an impressive time of just over 44 minutes!

While neither of us on Team Gimp plan to reincorporate running regularly again into our training routines anytime soon,  it's simply food for the soul to be able to get out there and have fun laughing with friends, testing our fitness levels like the good ol' days on flat racing courses along the sometimes bumpy road of sports injury recovery...

Expedition planning: Johnstone Straits

 T minus two days to go until we take off to disappear 'into the bush' of the most remote Canadian wilderness
with just our cameras, kayak,
and paddling companion,
Sound Rower's President Steve Bennett... 

 To help ensure our comfort and survival we have been busy
with many trip preparations:

~Making lists,

charting maps,

shopping,

dehydrating fruit,

packing/ piling gear and re-checking those lists and marine forecasts!

Pulling out our paddling trip journal,

I look back and reflect on the incredible memories

 from our last journey to Johnstone...

and linger on this WHALE sightings page!

As an ultra marathon paddling, racing & nature photography team, we spend most of our free time sea kayaking thousands of miles a year around the San Juan islands-

Which like the Broughton Archipelago is also home to resident Orca whale pods, but Man's impact in our islands has been taking a much more silencing, Endangering toll...

And so we must journey far northward to be amongst wildlife still abundant as our yesteryear....

From the sounds of near constant whale blows to

 beach rocks rolling around under bear feet,

 ~You just never know what will be waiting for you
around the next corner
when paddling Johnstone Straits...

 but you better be ready!!

 ~        ~        ~

*Additional strategic planning has been necessary
on this years paddling expedition due
 to my rehabilitating a recent, paddling-induced, spinal injury.

In the past six months I've required two spinal surgeries
to remove pieces of bulging L5 disk which blew out
while we were on a big training paddle last year -

In gnarly, messy 3~5 foot waves,
fighting a brutal 20mph+ headwind,
I didn't notice my foot pedals become uneven
as Mother Nature continued to beat us up
for the last 30 miles of (what unexpectedly turned into)
an ultra-storm paddle...

The damaged lumbar disk severely pinched nerves
and  increasingly compromised my sanity
until surgery became the only option. 

In order to be able to return to the water
this year while still in healing mode
yet without causing re-injury-
many modifications have been required...

I've replaced my paddle to a smaller wing size, switched out
my plastic seat to a more foregiving back band,
added layers of gel & foam
padding in my cockpit,
and made bombproof adjustments to my foot braces.

While I am still unable to bear much weight-
cannot yet dream of paddling a single kayak,
or even rotate my body enough to
make a 'proper' forward stroke...

~I remain eternally grateful for Jim's endless 'sherpa boy'
support which allows us to continue
living, laughing and loving
an adventurous lifestyle
in spite of Gimpy restrictions...

And to Steve as well- for helping make this trip possible for me
through carrying my boat & gear with Jim! :)

Neah Bay Getaway

For Valentine's Day weekend, we spent 4 blissful nights

in the tiny seaside village of Seiku, WA

out on the very most NW point of the Olympic Peninsula.

...Just 2 months after requiring 2 back-to-back spinal surgeries from a paddling injury,

I was super-stoked to reach my first recovery goal-

of being able to hike (slowly & carefully but still:)

our favorite remote Olympic coastal trails~
*Which Backpacker Magazine rates among some of the top 10 trails of the United States!~On our 3rd annual Winter Neah Bay Getaway, ... we go out there to escape onto the trails

and enjoy all of the remote coastal vantage points like the Cape Flattery trail ( 1 mile r/t),
the Shi Shi Beach trail (6 mi's r/t)
and the Ozette-Cape Alava-
to Sand Point- and return to Lake Ozette (10 miles r/t)

...While Jim was super-stoked to play a bit

in the giant surf at Hoback Beach!~