Bryan Brosious: Keep On with Keeping On

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Keep On with Keeping On

Well, more of the same from me. I am enjoying my transition back to less muscle and more hustle. I have been slowly adding training to my muscles, and my second Hammer Nutrition article just came out. A big thank you to Hammer! You can read the article on page 18 of Endurance News.

This year I have been doing a lot of different things, and one of those is riding my mountain bike a lot more. My mountain bike allows me to ride anywhere, I go exploring, dirt, pavement, hard pack, anything really, the bike does it all. I was lucky enough to make it over to the western coast and I found the Olympic Trail which is a bike path of beyond-epic-ridability. Riding that trail would alone be worth the trip.

*The most comfortable and comforting thing on two wheels is when I ride my Felt Carbon mountain bike with about 45psi in the tires in weather that requires arm and knee warmers. It is pure bliss.

*Getting out of town via farm land trail portion.

*Dense rainforest tunnel at 20 mph.

I am amazed at how much I have missed. Riding a road bike limits you to the pavement, a triathlon bike is worse because you can't even move your head around to look at the scenery. You ride for hours and all you see is pavement. This year I have spent far more time on my mountain bike and I have been enjoying the scenery of bike paths and other exploration routes.

*This quarter-mile elevated bridge was breath-taking.

The route I rode was a 40 mile route. That is pretty far on my mountain bike. When I rode it in the evening it had the perfect amount of people on it to make you feel you had it mostly to yourself, but still not lonely.

*Riding next to the Strait of Juan De Fuca, which is where the Pacific Ocean cuts inland in western Washington.

*My knobby tires would howl down the bridge planks, it was awesome.

I really enjoyed the foreign climate of the coast. The flora and fauna were exotic. The humidity and moistness of the air was cooling, yet warming at the same time, my skin and lungs felt great in the moist air. The scenery was absolutely amazing. Every morning at 5:30 I swam at the rec center, I couldn't tell if most of the grandmas doing water aerobics took displeasure or delight in the new guy in town with the flashy speedos. ;) After I finished my work obligations I would ride my mountain bike on the trail for hours into the evening, and finish the day with a transition run before being delightfully tired.

*Scary...

I have always been fascinated by the vastness of the ocean, and what lies beneath it. At times I honestly couldn't even believe that this was "just another evening ride after work." The people who live there are so lucky.

*This passenger ship was actually HUGE, the picture doesn't do it justice.

*I scaled the viewing deck in my bike shoes and kit. You can see my bike wayyyy down there.

*It is not, but this ship reminded me of the Northwestern from Deadliest Catch.

And finally... Happy 4th of July everyone! For the first time, in a long time, I didn't race on the holiday weekend. It was kind of nice to enjoy a weekend of training and relaxing where I didn't have to travel or plan for a race. It was nice to spend the 4th with the extended family, especially the two little turkeys.

*When I was babysitting I told Uriah to stop kicking Paisley's toys. He obeyed...after proceeding to "accidentally" bump into and knock over her baby-boll bed, block stack, play piano, and scooter on his way out of the room, while wimpering. "Allllright." It reminded me of when I would do the same thing, shockingly similar to me.

It was also very nice to have Stephanie with us. We had some great workouts riding and running in the hot sun, running/hiking the "M", and wakeboarding. We also went on a family bike ride, which I don't think I have done for 20 years. The last time I went on a family bike ride I was probably buzzing my sisters tire causing her to crash, complaining, and being a general annoyance. :)