one big blog about bike related things

(Quick snippets from not so interesting thoughts and things i've come across: aka a blog that is not about the passing of recent pop celebrities, but might bore you with the rampant discussion of bike related things. I do talk about drinking here too.... that may be some incentive to keep reading.)

So, you might have heard me mention my squishy knee issue that i've had for the past six/seven weeks or so. Well, I finally listened to friends, family and complete strangers and bit the bullet and went to go see a Doctor about it. And, just as I figured, I had burst a bursa (say that three times fast) sack in my knee which had caused the area to become inflamed and fill with fluid, henceforth the "squishy". Last Wednesday the doctor drained it and removed about four bloody fluid ounces from my knee, shot it up full of cortisone and sent me on my way. Well, a week plus later, I still don't have the greatest range of motion in the knee... but I've been armed with some exercises (thanks Molly) and many an ice pack after activities to keep the swelling at bay. As well, after doing things like playing soccer, CrossFit workouts, climbing or bike riding... I've been rubbing the area down with some icy hot. I've learned on such occasions that I should wash my hands right afterwards and not go do things like use the restroom. Let me just say, there are some places on the body that don't need to be both icy and hot at the same time.

Speaking of bike riding, this week I was most pleased when I placed third in the Women's Division at PIR this past Monday. I'm not going to really dwell on the fact that was not the PIR World Championships, or that it was just after a huge stage race weekend or the same night as the start of the short track series, I'll give myself credit that there were some good quality racers out there (17 of us, across all categories) and I preformed well and will continue to do so (I hope) regardless of who else shows up. I feel like sometimes there are the other really fun popular races that everyone loves to go to and talks about and those are the ones I hardly ever do. For example, PIR was a pretty hot topic back at the beginning of May when that was the only race series going on (and I didn't do it then due to other obligations), but now there's the Tabor Series, and Short Track and well... PIR goes on all summer. It was so last last month. Oh well, I was never worried about being popular. Also, I'm not a climber nor a mountain biker... so, if it's short flat and fast, that's where you'll find me.

that's me in the light blue helmet and orange jersey

And, since I filled you all in on our awesome new bike kits for Bridgetown Velo, I'll also let you know that this week Caroline, over at Little Package, put the finishing stitches on our new caps and I spent several evenings this week screen printing our BTV logo on the side of them. Screen printing so many things by hand over and over can be a little repetitive, but the hats turned out really nice and I can't wait to see everyone wearing them. Caroline did an amazing job responding to everyone's requests for custom sizing, bill and band choices etc. In fact, she told me upon picking them up, that as far as local biking celebrities go, the hats were well blessed since she was assisted by John Howe Team Beer Spokesmodel in cutting them and Luke Scheybeler, co-founder of Rapha, in pressing and prepping them. So, that's pretty cool... especially the Rapha connection. Luke, who apparently is a friend of Caroline's, is the creative director of Rapha. Rapha is basically like the Tom Ford or Ralph Lauren of cycling fashion. Their touring jerseys and other apparel items are sharp looking and not for the thrifty, take for example their $3,500 custom made three piece cycling suit.

new Bridgetown Velo cycling hats

Speaking of biking as well, this past weekend Portland celebrated their first in a series of three Sunday Parkways events. Sunday Parkways is basically the city shutting down roughly seven miles of city roadway to motorized car usage to make it family friendly for other modes of transportation. Despite rain showers and it being on Father's Day, the event was a success bringing in tons of participants on bikes, roller blades, skateboards and their own two feet in North Portland. I greatly look forward to the next one happening in North East Portland in July.

Sunday Parkway riders enjoying the rose garden

And well, this is turning into one big blog about bikes isn't it?

Coming up next week is the first (in what I hope to be an annual occurrence) called the Portland Tour De Franzia!!! To celebrate the start of the Tour De France I decided to get my friends together for a traveling bike party in which we will dig out our best spandex, dust off our bikes and ride from house to house drinking the lifeblood of France... wine! However, this is a depression folks and half of my friends are unemployed, so instead of a bottle of 1963 bordeaux, we'll be drinking a 2009 Chanti out of our bike bottles. Courtesy of Franzia, the low budget max capacity lifeblood of budget conscious champions everywhere! Seriously, is this a great idea for a party or what? Wine, bikes, and exercise! Wowee! Feel free to have a tour of your own... I mean, the real Tour starts on the 4th of July and goes to the 26th, that's 21 stages of drinking you can do. Don't delay, start training today!

And, while we're at it... can I talk about something that bugs me? Asshole cyclists. Asshole cyclists bug me. As if the roads weren't dangerous enough for us two wheelers as it is... some riders just make it worse. Take for example, the ass hole cyclist who comes up from behind you and doesn't announce it. That's the unwritten rule with commuting, if you're gonna pass someone, do it to the left, and ring a bell or shout out a warning. One morning this week I was on my way to work when some "dude" whips out to the side of me and doesn't/didn't say any thing. Honestly, he scared me a little. I naturally assume that when "dude" rides, his goal is "beating everyone on the road" (which, I'm not going to lie, is my goal too). Sure, you can say that maybe I'm a little bitter that this guy passed me - but when I pass people, I "announce it", I want them to know they're getting passed (but not in an ass hole kinda way, more like a friendly competitive bike commuter way).

So, when this guy passes me, I decide to be a friendly ass hole right back and make him feel not so good about himself and his slyness. As a result, I match his quick pace and stick to his wheel the whole remainder of my ride. It didn't take long for him to notice I was there, he could see my shadow and he glanced back once or twice. Normally when you're "commuter racing" it's a mutual good sportsmanship thing to share some friendly glances, smiles or banter at lights. But no... not this "dude". He was pissed that he passed me and didn't lose me. At the light he didn't even look back. Basically, I tail gated "dude" till I peeled off to make my turn to my office... and when I passed people that he had passed, I shouted out "on your left!" to them. Granted, they'd already been startled by the "dude" enough as it was, but I tried to at least let them know they were getting passed again.

I've been called squishy recently waaaay too many times.

Just a quick little blog to let you know what's going on in the world of jenn levo!

So, recently several nights a week have been taken up with bike racing at Portland International Raceway. I love racing here as I love the flat and the fast, but recently in the open women's division we've been plagued with an alarming amount of crashes. Two Mondays ago, June 1st, I was in the final sprint to the finish when out to my left, one girl lost control of her bike and crashed it into the back end of another rider... taking three women overall out of the race. Crashes happen in fast sprints like this, it comes with the territory; but in this case, it took this rider at least 15 minutes to regain conciseness. Normally the injuries are road rashes and cuts and scrapes and broken bikes, but Kmac from Team Ironclad went down and went down hard. The ambulance came, she came to, and ended up at the hospital with brain and collarbone injury and a tube down her throat. As we speak, she's making a really strong recovery and it's been great how people in the Portland bike racing community have pooled together so many well wishes and raised money for her.

Anyways, so if all of us women racers were not already shaken up about that event as it was (I know it kept replaying in many of our minds and caused us to question why it was we do what we do), everyone who braved their fears enough to make it out to PIR the following monday night, got to witness the joys of yet.... another crash in the women's field. This time, in the second lap three riders went down in a botched effort to move to one side of the track to let the mens pack through. In a classy move, the remainder of us all stopped, got off our bikes and assist in helping the girls off the track and regained ourselves. The remainder of us, that was, except for two women who after the crash happened - turned around, looked at everyone stopping, and kept on riding.... doing the remainder of the race by themselves. That's ten laps folks. That's winning all the prize laps and the top two spots. That's not cool in my book. It'd be one thing if they didn't notice we were not following them, but 12 other girls on your tail are kinda hard to miss. Also, what's the point of racing if you've got no one to race against?

Regardless, on both nights of racing at PIR I was pleased with my performance. True, some of the girls who were in crashes probably would have placed ahead of me, but an 8th place finish on 6.1 and then a 3rd in our final sprint this past week (which because of the two other riders finishing early meant I got 5th) I'm not too upset about AND, I can look at myself in the morning. I really want to finish out the month of June and have a strong standing in the series standings, but currently, I'm also facing some knee issues (see below) which may hinder that from happening.

Speaking of bikes, for the past several weeks, downtown Portland was awash in seediness as our annual Rose Festival took to the waterfront. I hate festivals like this with a fiery passion (I also hate parades, fireworks, amusement parks, you get the picture - I'm pretty much not an American) I will have to say that I am most pleased with how our Mayor, Sam Adams, chose to ride in our parade. Unlike other cities where the Mayors sit back all comfortable in a large convertible, this is Portland.... our Mayor rode his bike!

Also in bike friendly related news, today in Portland kicks off our two week celebration of bikes and bike related things... Pedalpalooza! With over 203 events with more being added to the master schedule everyday, there is bike related fun to be had all over town... and most of it free. The highlight of each years Pedalpalooza, in my own humble opinion, is Portland's time to shine with the epic World Naked Bike Ride! Last year I took place in this event and it was seriously some of the most fun I've had on or off a bike all year. Everywhere you looked, naked naked naked people! You couldn't help yourself but to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And, to give you an idea of how many naked people we're talking about here... think in the upwards of 2000 riding at midnight through the streets of downtown Portland! Thats more naked people riding a bike than you can shake a.... um..... stick at! So, if your a PDXer or in town for the weekend, the ride is SATURDAY night! And, if you have any questions you should check out this little link here.

Personally, I'd love to ride in this years ride... but I'll be off in Seattle treating myself to this show at the Triple Door. What? You've never heard of Brandi and the Silver Traveling Ghost Show? Hmm... well maybe you've seen them when they play under this more familiar name.... Which reminds me, I've got fifteen minutes to finish this up and run across the river to see her play at the Aladdin Theater tonight.

Also, for the past six weeks or so I've been suffering from a slight knee issue which I refer to in the technical medical term, as "squishy". Yes, my knee is squishy. It started out as a direct impact between my knee and the hard ground when I got taken out by two players in a soccer match. It hurt like a mo'fo then... I iced it, it wasn't 100%, but in true jennlevo fashion, I kept playing. Then a few weeks later I went and I climbed a mountain. Shortly afterwards I heard a pop and the next thing I know my knee is filling up with fluid, thereby making it squishy. I've been to my doctor whom has referred me to another ortho doctor, but at this present time other than my theory that I ruptured my bursa sack, I know nothing other than I can't feel a bone and it's squishy. In fact, because it's doesn't "hurt" persay... I've still been biking, climbing, lifting, playing soccer, and pretty much everything else I normally do on it. However, at last night's indoor soccer game, I learned this strategy probably wasn't the best idea as today I'm a hobbily ice pakin pain med takin mess. I know that by Monday's PIR races the knee won't be "better", but I just don't want it to hurt like it does now. I'm fine playing dumb, racing, and then icing... which is not a good idea, but I can also be stubborn like that. One thing jennlevo does not do well is "take it easy" or take time off. I'm hoping that a weekend away in Seattle doing nothing but hanging out may be the best medicine for me. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyways, amuse yourself with this... I've been called squishy recently waaaay too many times.

Okay, off to see Brandi. Ya'll have a good one.