Just Another Snow-Filled Weekday Blog

This blog is a bit long, so bear with me. I did not put in an audio element since the cap for free text-to-speech is limited to 10,000 characters.

Welcome back to the blog! As I've gotten into the habit of posting these more regularly, it feels like a lifetime between words once I hit day 5 or 6 without posting.

Of course, one can argue that I'd be producing higher-level content and more enjoyable reading if I'd simply spend time between blogs and let ideas percolate until they're ready to be unleashed on a captive audience. But alas, it's a snowy morning, and I must bow to the content gods and faint ideas rolling about my mind. Crystal is experiencing a snow day today, however, since she's in school, her day still consists of studying at the kitchen table. I am also at the whims of work, as one of the drawbacks of being remote is that a weather event is not an excuse to prevent my commute up the stairs.

As Bellingham is a "tropical" city, it does not employ massive mounds of salt and a fleet of plows to take care of its roads. The town mostly shuts down whenever it snows and becomes a magical little snow paradise. I went for a ride, comically, and found the neighborhood streets were the easiest to pedal through, with cars staying parked under a foot of snow and kids & adults playing in the streets, turning their driveways and roadways into temporary sledding hills. It wasn't the kind of ride that provided much fitness benefit, but I spent the better part of an hour smiling, bumbling through snow fields and city streets. I'd probably have more fun on skis, but I'll save that for when or if Crystal and I ever live in a colder climate.

Frustrations & Jubilations

As noted in my last blog, this past weekend was momentous for the local cyclocross scene. It was the final race of Bellingham's Cascade Cross season, the last of Kip's career running the series, and the event that would decide the overall champions. The team I'm on, Homegrown Racing, regularly helps and hosts one of the Cascade Cross races, and this year we headed up the Cornwall Park event. Through no direct fault of our own, the race was under intensified scrutiny due to park damage that riders caused the previous year. With this weekend's far-below-freezing temperatures, you can't tell a single rider went through the marked course.

I pedaled over on a Friday afternoon, meeting friends and setting up what looked to be a fun course that takes advantage of Cornwall Park's many natural features, big trees, laid-down logs, and fast racing lines. Though mingling in 8-degree weather isn't an ideal way to spend a Friday afternoon, it is more tolerable when surrounded by friends and like-minded crazies. The following day started with a similar story, as we showed up at 8am to finalize course marking and send off a surprisingly large group of riders for their 9:30am race in balmy 12-degree weather.

At the same time, Crystal was starting the first race of her big weekend and made her way up Galbraith (Bellingham's most local mountain) to the start of the 3rd Aspire running race. Due to the conditions, the race started a little later than usual, and organizers forced all runners to race the short course, a 7.5-mile trot up and down slick and icy singletrack. From all reports, the race went off without a hitch, warm fires were made at the start/finish, and runners were treated to a well-marked course and competent organization (finally). Crystal has some rather comical photos of her hair and face full of large chunks of ice, as her still-wet hair quickly froze in the conditions. After the race, she made her way home as I quickly packed the van full of our cyclocross stuff and bikes to get ready to spend the better part of an afternoon racing and freezing with more like-minded individuals.

Crystal has been racing single-speed with the zip-tie method employed to prevent her from shifting up or down while she rides. After cruising to a top 15-finish in the morning running race (out of 70+ male/female competitors!), she quickly picked up where she left off and won(!) the single-speed event! The single-speed and geared women's fields start together, and Crystal finished third overall when counting the geared riders! I've always been impressed by her fitness and resolve, but hearing friends ask if she was a college athlete and remark on her speed and skills within her first-year racing speaks highly to her ability.

Crystal on her way to a big dub! Photo cred. Matt Curtis.

The men's single-speed event was immediately after, and I had recently committed to a complete single-speed set-up and purchased an objectively expensive idler kit from Origin 8, along with some adjustable brake levers from Tektro. I had done a few hours of riding on the set-up without issue and came into the weekend full of confidence and excitement due to the conditions and high-stakes environment. A few of the Men's A geared riders decided to join us dingle-speeders, spicing up the competition and making sure it wouldn't turn into a two-horse race between Brent and I. The Cornwall Race employs a LeMan's start, where riders set their bikes up in the start corral, back up ~30 yards, and sprint to their bikes once the director says 'go.' I carefully placed my bike in what I thought was a good spot and lined up with the now 30+ rider field.

On the starting run and mount, I found myself the 6th rider back. The start was tight and twisty, with no room for passing in the first few hundred yards, but I was able to get by a handful of riders to catch the front and slot behind Brent within the first couple of minutes. I felt good enough to stay with the lead on the pedal sections, but I lost some time in the running areas. I try to stay on my bike however possible, but this course lent itself to at least two off-bike sections per lap, with the first being a long run over 6 downed logs. Those with better skills could reduce the off-bike instances to once per lap.

Cool shot of the men's LeMans start.

However, my troubles began shortly after a fun rock-roll section and dip back into the singletrack. My chain had hopped off the idler pulley, grinding to a near halt while stuck between the jockey wheel and chain-retention cage. This forced me to get off the bike while cursing the mechanical, and delicately putting the chain back on. This first instance only cost me 5-10 seconds, and I could still see the lead of the race while entering the backstretch. I went through the rest of that 6-minute lap without issue, but in the same section, on lap 2, the exact same thing happened. and it kept happening. Again, and again and again... 2-3 times per lap, every lap. Sometimes, the chain would fall off the single-speed cog; sometimes, it would fall off the chainring. Every time it happened, I would swear, curse the day, fumble around in the cold, and get back to riding. I had ditched my gloves at this point, as I needed finger dexterity to get the chain back on the bike. By the time the last lap had rolled around, the jockey wheel had utterly failed, and every time I tried to pedal, the chain would jump off. I ended up 'scootering' my way to the finish and was thankful to be lapped shortly before the end.

Only CX course you'll find with a rock roll.

I had a lot of time to be frustrated while on course. I'm not the kind of person who throws their bike down and storms off, but with the pressure of the day and unpredictable failure of my equipment, there was nothing I could do but aggressively throw the bike in the woods, yell a little bit, and allow myself to cool off. Luckily, the temps were still well below freezing, so it didn't take too long for my heat to dissipate. After a quick pity party in the woods, I picked my bike up, told friends I would "forget about" this race soon enough, and couldn't wait for next year. I've learned a lot this season, mostly what parts are shit (anything from Origin 8), what are good (anything from Easton), and how much I love cyclocross and single-speed racing.

You've read a lot about frustrations. But what about jubilations?

Thankfully, I didn't suffer through the most frustrating hour of my life for nothing. My stubbornness to finish cemented my second-place result in the overall series, as I staved off a charging and consistent Calvin and kept ahead of him by a narrow two-points in the overall. Brent took a well-deserved overall win, as his consistency at the pointy end of the races and staying relatively mechanical-free put him far enough ahead to easily take it. The after-party and awards were held at a local brewery as once-cold bike nerds, racers, and supporters packed the small area and celebrated a successful and fun season on two wheels. A toast and celebratory gift were made to Kip and co., new friends were met, old friends were ribbed, and the promise to continue the series planted the seed of competition on the horizon.

Congrats, Brent!

Cascade Cross is a lot of fun. It's the most fun you can have on two wheels and the best community in the sport I've met. It's too short, the season goes on too long, and some racecourses are dumb, but that's what makes it special. My friend Julia wrote a cute piece on the night's events and a salute to Kip. It's worth a read.

Recommendations & Rentals

Crystal and I are in the market for a new rental, and ho-boy, does the market suck. It's less aggressive than when we moved here in the Spring of 2022, but it's not much better. I could write a book on the shameless prices people in this area want for shit-tier 2-bedroom rentals. Much of the frustration is put on ourselves as we look for a very specific situation with two beds, a small yard, outside storage, in a walkable part of town, and within our budget. Not only are the landlords of these two-bedroom places charging exorbitant amounts, but many are immensely haphazard and lacking in amenities. 750sq feet, no outside storage, and a shared lot for $2000 is not an uncommon listing in this area. Zillow shows that many of these units priced between $1700 and $2000 today went for $1200 to $1500 as recently as 2019. Sure, Bellingham has grown, and COVID changed many things, but the population hasn't grown much compared to the exponential growth the town experienced in the 40s-70s. Charging nearly $3/sqft anywhere is a stretch, but to charge it for shared lots with 3-4 living units lacking privacy, amenities, and storage is downright insulting.

We will probably end up overpaying for a 3-bedroom duplex, one that includes a garage, a more expensive heating bill, and will leave us rent-poor. I've gone on a fun game of messaging what I deem are overpriced units and asking them if they'd consider renting the space for market rate (usually 15-20% lower than list). I'm not contacting any properties we would seriously consider living in, but it's worthwhile to manipulate the over-inflated market Bellingham is subject to. I'm not sure if you've heard, but there is legislation on removing the rent cabal in the works, finally. I'm crossing my fingers that it will pass soon, as the normalcy of throwing 40% of people's paychecks at rent is not sustainable. People are not rent pigs to be sent to slaughter and live off the gruel we find heavily discounted at the local grocery store.

Anyways. Renting is shit. Property management firms are shit. Support your local tenants union.

Now for something more light-hearted.

One of my old professors reached out to me to write her a letter of recommendation for a teaching award she's nominated for! I relished the opportunity but wouldn't have had it if she wasn't such an impactful teacher. She's thoughtful enough to have remembered an old paper I wrote way back when, and I've included a screenshot below of the final (ungraded) section where I reflected on her class and teachings. I won't be sharing the letter but will post an update to the blog if she gets the award. Thanks, Anne!

2016-ish words.

Job Satisfaction

I wrote much of this blog during work hours, but not all. That's an improvement for me and speaks to the relative enjoyment I've been getting from my day job.

I struggle with being just a copywriter at work. The person tasked with engaging work and coming up with thoughtful words but is not asked for ideas or injecting new initiatives. Just the copywriter. It's not a bad place to be, but it leaves a person wanting more. I often mention this to friends and loved ones, and I've stated many times that writing in this blog helps stave off the frustrations I get from my day job. There are still parts of my job that suck, and it feels like squeezing a rock to get the slightest bit of content out of some topics, but it's less so lately.

Anyway, I appreciate that my team and higher-ups are listening to my ideas and creating campaigns and initiatives based on them. I then get to create the words and rough layout before handing off the copy to our design team and going back and forth to dial in the tone, design, and messaging we send to our customers. The content is still very niche, I'm still very green to the industry, but the job has improved. We'll see how it goes from here, and I'm still on high alert for any layoffs or internal shake ups, but it's been better since the New Year.

Moving On

That was a bit of a long blog, so thank you for bearing with me. You won't be getting any hot takes from me this time, but I've got some brewing that I'll be spewing out soon.

I'm done with this cold, though. Bellingham's long two weeks of proper winter weather can get to a person.

Other Media

It might surprise you, but I'm not that prolific of a physical book reader. I end up digesting ~5-10 books per year, though I do try to enjoy all the pages and allow the content to soak into my brain. I recently tried to start The Kite Runner via Spotify's new-ish audiobook feature, but it's not something I've been able to take to. Kudos if you can listen to and get information from an audiobook, as that's not a medium that speaks to me. It's hard to try to make words and listen to words at the same time.

In true hipster fashion, Crystal and I recently spent a bunch of money on a record player and speaker set, so I'll quickly have a vinyl recommendation section. I'm getting excited about diving into a record or ten per week and browsing through the dollar bin at one of our local record stores. I'm about 10 years too late to the trend, so maybe that makes me the anti-hipster. Either way, get yourself ready.

Cascade Cross Media

As mentioned earlier, read this article to get insight into the fun and tight-knit community Bellingham-based bike racers enjoy. 'Outgoing cyclocross race director leaves legacy of fun, inclusivity' – Julia Tellman.

Photos from the frigid day.

I'm going to end the blog here. More to come, as always. Much love, Casey.