A Year in Review

Its’ been over a year since I left the Forest Grove United Church of Christ and my responsibilities as a minister. I spent a few months recovering from the stress and trauma of that work experience. Then I spent time and money discerning new professional options. In May of 08, I took to bicycling regularly as the one thing I new I thoroughly enjoyed and could do well. I continued to explore professional options in the fields of human resources, Non-profit social programs, and youth services. I soon learned the Portland market demands “HR certification” which I thought to pursue, but was not totally committed to doing. And despite my experience in dealing with people of all ages, and families as they are or aren’t, without a M.SW I wasn’t being considered for the jobs I wanted. My search and efforts weren’t yielding much. So, through out the summer it was more rewarding to focus on sharing life with my children, doing plenty of biking and camping.
When the kids went back to school I returned to job searching in earnest, and again my efforts bore little fruit. By the end of the year jobs were hemorrhaging from the market and I would find maybe 3 positions every week to peruse and by January less than that. Hugh and I finally found a way to adjust our lives to being a one-income family. I seem to only have headaches now when I am sick instead of everyday, and the children are much happier. Hugh works more and rides less, but now his needs are met like a “real” patriarchal man, which he is NOT.

During this year I have consistently cycled, outside when the weather permits or at times through snow, sleet and rain when our cycling team captain calls us out for a team ride in January. I have been working out at the gym 2-3 times a week, not just to be fit, but also to get stronger as a cyclist, and it’s paying off. My favorite gym workout is Pilates, which I now teach 1-2 x a week.
As I was not working or attending meetings at night, I was able to join my family for the short track series at Portland International Raceway, http://www.portlandracing.com/info.html, on Monday nights. That was the beginning of my current competitive efforts. To be committed to placing, be it in the top 20, top 10, or a podium finish, has become a priority and being competitive is all together something new.

Providing support for my husband on numerous ultra marathon cycling races had spurred my interest many times. Now it was time to try a 1- hour time trail race myself. I trained/rode sometimes with some local friends: Dave Burnard, Mike Olson, Amanda Houston and Greg Peak,. through the summer, in preparation for the Ring of Fire http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt. I got 165 miles, 2 saddle sores and two extremely numbed and pained feet.
For the 2008 Portland cyclocross season Hugh and I pulled together some local friends and with the support of Hammer Nutrition, http://www.hammernutrition.com/ and participated in the Cross Crusade Series with matching Hammer kits. You can check out the team and some race reports at http://www.olsonshammer.blogspot.com/. While this was not a registered OBRA team I sure appreciated the support and encouragement we provided and still give one another.

Because of Mike Olson’s support for Hugh’s ultra cycling efforts. I was able to sign up for the UMCA’s Northwest’s Triple Challenge http://www.ultracycling.com/, beginning with the Davis 12/24 Hour TT Challenge in early May. I rode 178.5 miles there. The second race came 3 weeks later, just outside of Vancouver WA. http://www.lacultra.com/. There I logged 181 miles in 12 hours. The series ends with The Ring of Fire on September 13, 09.

At the end of 08, I joined my husband, Hugh, on a newly formed, registered and sponsored team that Jeff Tedder pulled together called Hammer Velo. We do team rides on weekends if we’re not racing and there are opportunities for mid-week workouts, rides, races and socializing. This has been a hoot. Not only does the team push me to ride faster, I am learning so much about how to road race and having an incredible amount of fun and pride doing it with the Hammer ladies who are kicking ass everywhere! As Hugh puts it, “Oh to be a Hammer Velo lady.

So, I’ve committed to developing as a cyclist for a year now. I am told that the kind of strength and skill I’m going for takes about 2 years to achieve so I am well on my way. I am frequently aware of the compromises or change in priorities this new commitment requires. For example I’m spending very little time engaged in social activism, asserting spiritual principles and the like and don’t have to invest in every relationship that presents itself as I felt obliged to as a minister. Best of all because Hugh’s been at this ultra cycling for a number of years we have found a way to keep the whole family involved and everyone takes pride in being apart of the same team no matter who is riding or racing.