Author: cartwheelsandcake

Cyclist, climber, hiker, trail runner, back country skier, dabbling mountaineer Lover of cake, chocolate, brownies, and sweets. Excellent napper.

“Do you even work anymore”

Apparently that’s a question you get asked when you post a bunch of pictures of skiing, bike rides, and the like onto Instagram.

The answer is yes, in fact, I do work. Typically 40+ hour weeks. I do a lot of remote work and have the option to flex some of my time, which certainly helps.

But typically, I’m working by 6:30 AM. Usually either mid-morning or mid-afternoon I’ll take a break to work out, and then I’m working well into the evening.

Want proof? Here are a couple examples of typical weeks pulled directly from Toggl:

46.5 hours
48.5
… Continue reading

Saturday Bike Ride

Or the one where I fell off my bike…

The sun finally came back to Portland on Saturday, and we saw our first 50 degree since Feb. 2nd. I know, I know, 50 degrees sounds REALLY warm for winter (at least, for anyone who grew up in Central NY like me) but in Portland being below 50 for this long is definitely a cold snap.

So, we took advantage of the glowing ball in the sky to get in a long bike ride. The past several bike rides have been bordering on somewhat miserable – cold, close to town because … Continue reading

On slowing down

Last Friday four us climbed Mount Saint Helens. We all skinned up from the parking lot, topped out just shy of the summit (because, cornice), and then skied back down.

Heading up – cloudy and warm!

One person in the group was brand new to the challenges of skinning. The conditions were generally good, but there were some steep spots and areas of hard snow that made good kick turns and edging a must.

I don’t know about anyone else who’s learned to skin, but when I learned there was a lot of bruises (mainly from falling on my … Continue reading

Just another training ride.

Never really got into the groove for today’s ride. Legs were tired from a weekend of incredible skiing. Backcountry laps on Tumalo Mountain on Saturday in knee high + untouched powder and a day of downhill on Mount Bachelor on Sunday.

Nevertheless, a big push up a nemesis of a hill did earn me this:

Tied for third place for women!

It probably won’t last, and I thought I was definitely going to vomit at the top, but it was a high point on a chilly, damp, tired kinda day.