Bend Up To No Good
Spring and summer is the time for new growth. I had the opportunity to go back to Alaska this May where spring is really kicking off. For a while there, my body and brain were exhausted, so I needed this time to recoup and be able to grow, myself.
My sister, Meredith, lives in Alaska so I had the opportunity to meet her baby who was born in late November. I am the youngest of four, so babies are a foreign concept to me, but little fry and I had quality time together going on runs, well, me running, him asleep in the stroller. And thanks to ear plugs, I slept great every night! And in the mornings I would wake up and make myself and my sister maple lattes. It was a pretty good routine.
Anchorage is also where the company I work for, Learn Grant Writing, is based out of so I got valuable in-person, in-office hours. I am normally fully remote so it was a fun shift of scenery to get dressed up and see other people in 3D. I know that sounds ridiculous and I love being remote, but a change of pace every now and then is enjoyable.
There was still plenty of snow, too, so I borrowed my sisters back country ski set up and did a lap up Peak Three with friends. Her boots gave me the worsssssst blisters! But that doesn’t even matter because it was so much fun. Then, an hours drive out of town, there was groomed nordic skiing at Hatcher’s Pass and what a treat that was.
Of course, I also had to bike the full Moose Loop which is an amazing long ride that snakes through the city and along the coast where the strava map resembles a moose head. The only downer of my two weeks in Anchorage, is it was mostly overcast. Some more sun would have been nice!
But it didn’t take long for me to find said sun. I flew to Bend, Oregon (hence the title pun) and it was full on summer. I got sunburned in the car driving from the airport! I definitely struggled with adjusting to the new heat and altitude, so a daily Lemon Splash Nuun was an absolute necessity.
My Learn Grant Writing co-worker, Alex, lives in Bend, and had a wedding in Germany to attend, so I gladly jumped at the opportunity to house sit and dog sit for her so I could visit the infamous Bend for the first time. Bend is a hot spot for early season training as Mt. Bachelor has groomed trails well into May, and the trails in town are amazing early season gravel/mountain biking. Bend is also the city of roundabouts. I swear, there are so many it is impossible to drive on a street that does not have one. I am not being critical of this, though, as they are a very effective way of moving traffic.
The ski trails at Mt Bachelor flow so smoothly and were a very enjoyable way to start my mornings. Like I said, this is a hub for nordic skiers, so I saw several familiar faces including my old team, the Jackson Hole Ski Club. The trails closed on Memorial Day so I finally made the switch to rollerskis. I do enjoy rollersking, but I was seriously spoiled with all this snow in Anchorage and Bend the last few weeks. Do we call this early season snow or late season snow? Hmm.
As mentioned, the gravel biking is really amazing. One of my very good friends I skied with in Jackson back in the day, Masha, lives in Bend now, so we had the opportunity to reconnect and went on some epic rides. We rode to Big Red, which is the largest ponderosa pine in the world (!), rode to the neighboring towns and got some delicious gluten free treats, and went deep into the national forest on an epic 4 hour ride that took us really close to the North and South Sister mountains. A lot of the gravel was this vibrant red color which was crushed up lava rock as the area has a lot of volcanoes. I only packed my white road bike shoes so they are sadly a shade a of lava-dust-red now. Nothing a little elbow grease and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser won’t fix. Masha and I then celebrated our birthdays as they are only a week apart!
The Big Red!
I also had the best interactions with the Bend locals. I stopped by a gear shop called the Gear Fix and they gave me a free hat! The baristas at the coffee shop were so kind and the other dogs and dog parents we met on the trails all offered a bright smile and friendly conversation. I was worried about being lonely for 3 weeks, but the community welcomed me with warmth.
Information I did not know before this trip was Masha’s mother, Nancy, was on the National Guard Biathlon team, same as me, just a generation before. In fact, she competed at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France for biathlon. (Read more about her here!) This felt like one of those butterfly effect full circle moments. I am grateful for her contribution to the team because she inadvertently helped me be a part of it. It is no surprise that there are more men than women in the military and our team reflects this same ratio. We have 5 male coaching staff, and, athlete wise, 8 males to only 3 females. The female biathletes that came before me laid the path for the opportunities I get on this team (please note that the military uses the terms male and female).
And now, I write this on the plane from Denver to Burlington where I am headed back for a summer of training with the biathlon team. I am feeling anxious and excited to return as I really enjoyed training in Vermont last summer. The mountains have extensive trail systems, the rollerski track is less than half a mile away from where I live, and the friends I have made will take me on some epic bike rides I am sure. The locals always know the best stuff.
