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Central Oregon - Sometimes a Great Notion
Published: Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:00 AM MDT  Not going to get much beechnut in the eye while riding in Bend. And that’s a good thing. Bikes in Bend are ubiquitous. A stack of fixed gear rides lead to the Bend Brewing Company’s pub house doors. White walled cruisers line street beside Goodie’s, the corner candy shack. Road bikers wind up Skyliners at all times of day. Tri-geeks work their aerodynamic position while riding up Century Drive, the road to Mt. Bachelor. If a trail flows under the canopy of western pines – ponderosa, fir, cedar – a mountain biker’s nearby. To get to work, to get fit, to the Quik-E Mart for a sixer or the corner seven for a Slurpee, bikes are more than a mode of transportation. Bikes in Bend are a way of life.  Choosing your own line out in a big open meadow in the Deschutes National Forest is what makes the West’s spring skiing scene so special. This year six hundred inches of snowfall, combined with the high desert climate of sub-zero Celsius nights and sunny days make for epic crust cruises. It’s June 15th and rollerskiing’s a choice, not a necessity.  Clear, blue skies. 360 degrees of it, while en route to the volcanic peaks of Broken Top.  Running high on the trail up Cascade Head, above where saltwater and freshwater meet. Nothing defines where one starts and the other ends, but both a part of the other. The view, the beaches and coastal paintbrush sighting had to wait. Intervals and lactate testing loom ahead. "... as the bus - a different bus, rickety and uncomfortable - began the climb from Eugene into the long range of mountains that separates the coast from the Willamette Valley and the rest of the continent, he found himself becoming more alert and excited. He watched the green stand of mountains build before him, the densening of ditch growth, the clear, silver-shrouded clouds moored to the earth by straight and thin strands of autumn smoke, like dirigibles ... " -excerpt from Oregon native Ken Kesey’s Sometimes A Great Notion, about Leland Stamper’s, return to Oregon.  (Photo Credit: Lindsey Dehlin) At Oregon’s coast, old growth forests meet the sandy shoals of the Pacific. After ten days on-snow, a five automobile caravan wound its way over Santiam Pass and the 185 miles westward to Pacific City. Breathing in sea air, getting out in salt water, I was astonished – again - at how intoxicating the coast can be. A morning’s training conclusion would come with the thought, “It’s over? Already?” Motivation for movement was not in short supply. The coast here is a lot like the Newport, Oregon restaurant Freddie and Mo’s all night diner. The place now goes by the name Mo’s. And Mo’s may no longer be a favorite to just the local logger or fishermen in need of spaghetti and steaks. But with its lack of deep water ports to bring in big ships and its requisite big industry, towns here still have a little grit, a little character. They still have an old dory fisherman meets Jack Kerouac feel, a beatnik in lumberjack country quality, that adds to the breakwaters and jetties in a way factory outlets and franchised eating establishments never will.  "I say there was no permanence. Even the town was temporary. I say it. All vanity and vexation of the spirit. One generation passeth away, and another cometh: but the earth abideth forever, or as forever as the rain lets it." - Kesey  Mikey Sinnott: OverSpeeds with OverExposure Two and a half hours into a classic ski I ran into Mikey putting in sets of 15 second double pole accelerations. It got me thinking about what the first American female to win a World Cup asks me every time I see her: “Are you getting any faster?” At times, we forget this, we forget what it’s all about, what we’re after – getting faster. At times, we can become too encumbered with ‘lactate mobilization’ or what have you. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about, moving faster over a set distance than everyone else. That’s it. That’s all. You don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s Alison’s - In endurance sports the bottom line is, ‘How fast are you?’ This is the point. I see this missing today. Skiing’s about balance, quickness, timing, using your strength well, however much you have. It’s not how tough you are. It’s not how strong you are. It’s how dog gone fast you are. Speed is elusive. To get faster is a trick. You can get stronger, you can get in better shape, but the point is to go faster from point to point. Keeping speed as the bottom line cannot be missed. This is what ski training should be after. Too often, we miss this. Only working on the masculine, be-more-aggressive, use-more-power, aspects of skiing are not the answers to skiing your best. I’ve always thought, and felt with my own skiing, that I skied better when really keying into the easier, lighter, softer qualities of speed.  Continental Coach Pat Casey in his best Danny Noonan imitation. First tee, Quail Run Golf Club. Perhaps even in golf there’s something to learn. In golf, you play it where it lies. You play it from there. You hit it there. Miss hits are your doing alone, not your clubs’, not your caddies’, not your boss’. Just because you didn’t count a penalty doesn’t mean you’re ball wasn’t out-of-bounds. Unless, of course, you’re playing scramble, which, if the case, pick your partners carefully.  It’s all where you’re headed…  When it’s all said and done? Relax.  Torin Koos is a member of the National A Team for the United States. A World Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor, Koos brings this experience to the FasterSkier sportscasting arena for the 2007/2008 season. Equipment: Rossignol Skis, Boots and Bindings, Toko gloves and wax, Marwe, Exel poles, Rudy Project Eyewear, Powerbar Home Ski Club: Leavenworth Winter Sports Club (www.skileavenworth.com) Headgear Sponsor: USA Pears (www.usapears.com) Best Western Icicle Inn (www.icicleinn.com) BioSports NorthWest Physical Therapy (www.biosports.net)
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