Last year I was invited to watch my brother’s team compete in the Bend Pole Pedal Paddle competition, they finished 4th in their devision. This year their x-country skier MIA because he was getting married soon. Enter Mike. Now these guys were in the 30-34 age bracket last year, and would’ve been into the 35-44 bracket this year (stiffer competition). Enter Me! Team Spudmen 2005: Pete, Butch, Mark, Dan, Mike and myself (Male Team 30-34).
Dan & I headed out Friday morning and had lunch with a buddy of his in Lapine, then tooled around Bend until the rest of the team arrived. Picked up the race packet, checked out a boat shop or two. The rest of our team arrived from Boise between 6-7pm, unloaded the boat, and we were off in search of dinner. We got some huge pizzas and a couple pitchers of beer. Mark ate too much, then proceeded to talk us into stopping at Safeway for desert. After hanging out there for a while, we drove off to find a spot to camp.
After sleep, and waking up, we headed back to Safeway for some breakfast and to use their facilities. From the parking lot we split up, Butch, Mike and I headed up to the mountain, and the rest stayed in town for their legs of the race. Now, being the moron that I am, I forgot my ski pass in town, so when we got up there, I had to spend $48 on a freaking pass (but it is good for some runs next year as well). We geared-up and I headed up the mountain for a warm-up run, then got in line for my start. I was the 2nd skier to my skis and went as fast as I could. The snow was typical mush for spring skiing, ruts were literally knee-deep which made things difficult– and I crashed, hustled to get my skis back on and started passing the people that passed me. I hear I was about 5th from my group to finish the leg, and Mike was off for the Cross Country Ski leg. I hurried to find Butch so I could let him know when to get on his bike. Mike made up for my crash and finished second for our group, then Butch was off. Mike and I drove through Sun River and back into town. Mark did the run, Pete & Dan paddled the canoe, and Mark sprinted to the finish!
We finished first in our division (and by 41 seconds), see the results. We hit the beer garden and drank a bit to celebrate. We then took off to the Deschutes Brew Pub for a round of beers, and then to another bar for more beer and some food. All total, I’d say I had 11-12 beers and we were on the way back to the camp site by around 11pm.
This morning Pete, Dan and I headed for the Deschutes River and the rest of the guys went for a mountain bike ride. We kayaked down until Lava Island Falls (I had to portage around one rapid), then hiked back up to the car and drove back to town to meet the other guys for lunch, and everyone went home, winners.
I’ve now skied 5 months this year so far! I am going to attempt to ski (on snow) all 12 months this year 😀 (7 to go).