I am not a tree hugging liberal hippy!

A few things about me... I don't really buy into the whole global warming issue, we can't stop the oceans of the world from producing greenhouse gases. Sure land fills suck and over packaged products sort of piss me off. But face it. They will keep future archeologists busy for years and will leave our children with a better understanding of who we were. Besides when it comes down to it, I really only need the environment to last me another 50 years or so. But when my pocket book is taking a major hit, it may be worth a major life style change.

Gas prices are rising everyday. I've decided I just can't take it anymore. We are now over 4$ a gallon. Its starting to cost us 65$ to 70$ a week in gas just to get us to work. That is now my biggest expense next to rent. So enough is enough. I went out and bought a bike. Figure if I can not drive my car 3 days a week we may save 100$ or more dollars a month!

So now fully equipped with a new Gary Fisher Utopia Hybrid bike I set out on my first day of bike commuting from Portland to Beaverton Oregon this Wednesday (5/28/08).

It wasn't the best day. Cold and rainy. The weather just wont give us a break this year. But what the heck, I am a tough guy and can handle a little wet.

The ride down to the Max train to Beaverton only takes about 10 mins. The train ride takes about 20 mins, and then another 15 mins to work. So giving up the car 3 days a week leaves me with a little less personal time. But on the bright side I get to trek around the city and ride through Portland State University. Its always full of life.

There is something great about being out and about downtown. I have an incredible urge to stop and drink coffee at any one of a hundred coffee shops! You get to see a lot more of the city on a bike, something I have missed driving a car. Portland is beautiful and much to my surprise is one of the largest bike friendly cities in the US. You can see they are working on ways to make biking a little safer by painting the bike lanes green and raising awareness. Being on a bike you are much more exposed and while you are supposed to obey all the traffic laws and ride in the street just like a car, people still think of you as a pedestrian. Im still getting used to that idea as well because I feel like half car and half pedestrian.

The Park blocks downtown are great to ride through. Big trees, big sidewalks, and lately they have been having a sort of farmers market. I see great photo opportunities everywhere. There are sometimes odd things going on since Im so close to Portland State University. A bunch of kids were out offering "Free Hugs". They had big signs and everything. One asked me if I wanted a free hug and I just kept riding. I get enough hugs from my girlfriend and don't care to touch strange people I don't know.


Waiting for the train is ok, I just forgot about all the pan handlers and druggies that hang out around downtown. Sort of starts to get to you a little. I really just wanna be left alone. I need to practice my "Crazy Eyes" so people wont talk to me.

BTW the Max train has places to hang your bike, or you can just hold it next to you while you sit. I forgot about that and got on one of the taller trains. No big deal, just had to haul my bike up some steps and had less room to hold my bike. The flatter cars are the ones set up for bikes. They are low to the ground. They also have the bike hanging hooks.

Next time I will be a little more experienced in what train to get on. And I will try a few different routs through town.

So I made my way out to Beaverton. I keep thinking the Police are going to hassle me for something stupid like not walking my bike in the right place or something. But so far no troubles yet.

The ride to work from there was a bit longer than I thought. Things seem a lot closer when your in a car. But it was no big deal. I got to work on time and with my change of clothing was ok. All except I forget to bring an extra t-shirt. So I hope I didn't smell to bad. I had bought what's called a "Bike Commuting Bag" It holds a change of clothing and everything you need to freshen up. Even some emergency tools if you have then.

So on my way home I took advantage of the flatter MAX train and that made to commute home a little more comfortable. Riding home is a little nicer to cause you don't have to worry about getting all messed up and disheveled. You can hit the hills hard and fast and really give yourself a work out.

My total distance was only 7.3 miles. So thats not all that bad. Later I plan one making the trip home without the train. That rout will be a little over 8 miles. Its going to give me one hell of a work out. I am looking forward to that. Working an office job you don't get a lot of exercise in your day to day life.


(Sorry for the blotched layout, still trying to get the hang of formatting this blog)

With summer here. Snowboarding is being cut back and that is making me a little sad. But hopefully the biking will take its place just a little on the weekends.

Marni and I plan on riding some of those bike trails and sitting in the sun drinking coffee on the sidewalks of Portland with nothing else to do but make our way home. I need some time to myself with no obligations and nothing to do. It will be nice not getting up at 5am on my only day off and driving an hour and a half to a cold mountain. I'm thinking even riding home for an hour will give me some time to clear my head so I am not so stressed out. I need to work on that.



One last thing. On the way home I saw a drunk girl fall on the train tracks right in front of the train pulling in. She was able to pull herself off the tracks just in time. I would have helped her, but that would have meant I would have had to drop my bike. That would have been a bummer! ;) -Case...

Closing out Mt. Hood Meadows

Haven't updated in a while. Life has me busy, but still I feel the urge to document my first full season of snowboarding.

Its been a great year with record snowfall. So all of us locals have been spoiled. The first photo here was taken on May 4th 2008. If you take a look back to the beginning of the season you will see the same view but with trees poking through the snow. Sadly that was the last day we got to snowboard at MHM. They closed the season a bit unexpectedly with less than a days notice. So we missed the last day along with a lot of other angry people.

Why? Probably to cut costs since the only people going are the season pass holders and they already got all our money. I think everyone expected them to try to stay open as long as possible, but management did nothing to promote new people to keep coming. They said "the quality of snow would not be good enough to offer an enjoyable experience". My other favorite excuse for not build some good snow parks was that "There was to much snow". Personally they are full of crap. It was a bit sad ending a ski season with 10 to 15 feet of snow. You can see to the left the Shooting Star area of MHM still has a full snow pack. More snow on the ground than most winters. In fact they closed earlier this year than they did last year. Go figure...

I don't wanna spend time complaining about MHM. Marni and I had a great time and we got to experience some incredible snowboarding. I personally got to hit Heather Canyon a number of times. Thats the "Back Country" area connected to MHM. The Terrain was very steep. Double Black Diamond steep. Its hard to describe the feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff thats as high as a city sky scraper and the incline is so steep that you can put your hand back behind you and touch the snow. Then when you drop in you know that one mistake can send you tumbling down 100s of feet if your not careful. It really makes you feel alive in a way you never knew you could.

Photos really don't do Heather Canyon justice. Its something you have to see first hand to really appreciate. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to capture how small it makes you feel looking down. If you look hard you can see people way down at the bottom looking like ants. Looking up from the bottom even looks more impressive. I can't wait for next year to try it all again. Maybe if we are lucky we will get some more record snow fall!
In the meantime I wanted to post some more photos so we can look back and remember what a terrific year we have had so far.

This one is looking up from half way down Heather Canyon. Marni is getting better at her boarding so I'm thinking next year she will be ready to tackle some more extreme terrain. We still have all summer to board at Timberline. So I think she will be able to handle it! Don't tell her yet. I normally get one chance per trip to get her to try new things. Most of the time I have to surprise her. :)


Out of all the times we went to MHM this year we didn't get to bring very many people. Chris Robin and Estera both co-workers from DirectBuy came with us once. We all had a great time. Marni's friend Tina made it once as well. Its hard convincing friends to get up at 5am in the morning to drive an hour and a half so they can fall down and hurt themselves! Its fun while your there, but if your not experienced the next day you are in a lot of pain from falling down so much. Not much of a problem for Marni and I since we don't fall down that much anymore.


Some of the highlights of the year... I broke a rib going over a jump(ouch), got to try the half pipe for the first time (not so good at it yet).

I've learned how to drop of cliffs without crashing. I like that almost more than going over jumps.


I can now put chains on the van in about 10mins. Driving in show is not such a big deal anymore. Marni can fallow me just about anywhere now. Its almost time to get her a new board.

You can click on any of these photos to get the full shot. Our little camera is taking a beating but its done a good job. Next year we will get a mini video camera.

Marni stands at the top of the Cascade express. There is another looking down the half pipe.

Marni and Estera walk off the Butter Cup, and then later stand in the parking lot. At the top is another photo of Marni standing at the top of the Mount Hood Express lift.

I like to take photos from high places. You can see some of the great natural features looking down from the top of Marmot Ridge. Those are so much fun to go flying off of!

On the bottom right you can see Chris Robin stuck in some deep powder! And to the right of that it looks like Marni has mastered that art of riding a snowboard strait on the flats!

I tried to get some photos of me going over jumps but its hard when most of the time I do that sort of thing solo. Marni got some video, but its never been of my best moments. All the shots we have are from video. Maybe I'll get some better ones this summer up at Timberline. Speaking of Timberline we just got back from there and now I have whole mess of photos to post from that!

I'm going to have to focus this blog on some other aspects of our life. With the summer coming and hot weather on the way along with the high gas prices we will probably find some other things to do one the weekend that don't require diver 3 hours round trip. Plus we gotta start saving for next years MHM Ski pass. Maybe when November comes around we can find some more friends to come with us. That should make the drive a little more affordable. We have lots of room in the mini van AKA "The Snow Mobile" ...or if we don't wash it after our boarding trips the "The Dirt Mobile"

For now I will leave you all with clips of video from Marni's birthday weekend.