Rendezvous

The Kikibear riding shotgun!

We left Seattle after work on Friday in the Tortuga and I knew we needed an ambitious drive so that we could make it to the race in time on Saturday morning in Mazama. I drove most of it, but Annie took a short pull behind the wheel and had to give up her post to me only 20-miles out, collapsing in the back on the couch. Wimp. We pulled into Pateros at midnight and needed to sleep, but I knew that we needed a place to plug-in in order to keep the little family warm -- gone are the days of just bivying alongside the road in my sleeping bag -- I found a string of Christmas lights still up in front of the public library adjacent to the public pub, that I could splice into for power. It was late and we'd be off by 6am, so no one would notice. Needless to say we were very comfy that night.

At 6am I jumped up, fueled up with gas and coffee and a breakfast sandwhich, and hit the road with Kian and Annie still lumbering in the back -- I had a race to git to. It was a beautiful morning, a clear and crisp 12 degrees, and the 30-km race over Rendezvous Pass would be an epic for sure.

I started in the third wave this year instead of 2nd, and my row of 4 racers took off a minute behind the first wave, 30-seconds behind the next. We started off hard, Chad leading my group out the Cub Creek trail towards the first climb of the day, about 30-40 minutes of painful ascending before the first reprieve. Well, the rest of the race report I'll save for my own blog at dougnog, because this is Kian's page, although what he did for the next 2 hours while I was racing will probably always be a mystery to me although I am pretty sure that he slept some, ate some, pooped some, and then he came to the finish line in his chariot to watch me ski.

Out skiing on another glorious day in the Methow!

Warming up at the Wolf Ridge Warming Hut.

New contraptions: gotta keep the boy under wraps or he'll roll away from us: the Bumbo seat and the Kelty pack that doubles as a great portable high chair.

A couple snaps of Kian ringing the bell for daddy -- or was it for dinner?