That's what ever couple says, right? It was the day of our first wedding anniversary and we were about to ride 26 miles, paddle the Deschutes River for 3.5 miles, then run four miles to the finish line. Why, yes, of course this was an XDog event! It was Ride-Row-Run in Maupin, OR and it was quite a race! It was also a great way to spend the day with my lovely wife, Camera Crew.
Maupin is a small town east of Mt. Hood. It sits near the intersection of Highway 216 and Highway 197, on the lower Deschutes River, just a short distance from where the river dumps into the mighty Columbia. There is pretty much one main street where most businesses are located. Check out the town's website at www.maupinoregon.com The entire community comes out for this event. Most of the businesses support the race in one way or another.
The Imperial Hotel was HQ for the race. This is a beautiful place to stay! Highly recommended! There is a great restaurant onsite with really good food, serving a diverse seasonal menu. The bar is small but well stocked and the bartender was quite sassy, a plus in my book. The grounds of the hotel are huge - horse shoe pits, a sand volleyball court, a fire pit on a big patio adjacent to the bar. There are a variety of room sizes, from small to suites, plus a full house you can rent. No TV's or in room phones - also a plus in my book. There is a TV in the bar, though, if you have to check the score. Give the Imperial a look-see at www.deschutesriver.com
Since it was our anniversary, we booked Sherar's Room for two nights, Saturday and Sunday. This room is on the second floor, has a big deck with adirondack chairs and a spectacular view of the river. Beautiful! Of course, we once again screwed up a perfectly good weekend getaway with this event Sunday morning. Meh, that's how we're wired, I suppose.
We drove over Saturday and enjoyed the scenery of Mt. Hood and the forest. We cut off of Highway 26 to the less-traveled 216, eventually broke through the forested terrain and entered the high desert region of Oregon. Lots of ranches and farms. Very pretty country. When we hit the intersection of 197 and 216, we followed the sign to Maupin, and immediately noticed that the road started dropping down. Yep, we knew this was the road we would be riding UP for the bike portion of the race. The road snaked down the hills until we arrived in Maupin. We pulled off to figure out where the Imperial was located. Once we got on track, we rolled through town, dropped down even more, crossed the bridge over the Deschutes and turned off on Bakeoven Road. 'Bakeoven' - I'm guessing it gets toasty here in the summer.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We went for a walk around the grounds and immediately saw the setup for the race. The bike staging area, the transition chutes, piles of kayaks and PFD's, the finish line. Yikes. The pre-race info said there was a packet pickup happening at 'the city park'. We noticed that right next door to the hotel there was a city park, so assumed that was it. After wandering around there, we found it was not. So... to the bar!
Okay, actually the restaurant for a snack and a drink. We asked our server where the city park was located. She asked which one. Ahh, we aren't so dumb after all. Come to find out that there's another one on the main drag through town, up the hill. We finished eating, hopped in the SUV and drove into town. Yep, there it was - we had driven right past it on the way in. We checked in, picked up our race stuff, chatted with XDog mastermind/evil genius Kevin and some other XDog regulars. Thanks to Kevin giving us some props on the XDog page, more people are aware of our 50 event goal, so we get asked 'What number is this one?' a lot. It's really neat. People thought it was pretty cool that we were celebrating our anniversary in this manner, too. That's a good feeling, an affirmation of the crazy.
We went back to the hotel and got some of our race stuff set up. Then it was out to the deck for some chill time. It's very relaxing there, very quiet. We read a bit, talked about our wedding day a whole year ago (!) and recapped our year of insanity - that is, the 50@50 Project. This would be event 46! Still a little surreal to think we've accomplished so much in such a short time. So I will sum it all up with: Wow!
We had dinner downstairs in the restaurant, thought about hitting the bar for a nightcap but decided to retire early because, ya know, we were doing a TRIATHLON the next day. An XDog triathlon, no less.
We were up early Sunday morning, got dressed in our race clothes and hauled the bikes downstairs to get them racked in the transition area. Then we hit the kitchen area off the hotel lobby for the continental breakfast fixin's to fuel up for the big day. We figured we were as ready as we ever would be, so we hung out at the start area watching others get there gear ready. It ranged from the very serious athletes with the latest gadgets and fancy bikes to the weekend warriors who borrowed their brothers' friends' cousin's bike to do the event. Said it before, many times - XDog peoples is good peoples. The best, in fact.
It was finally time for Kevin's pre-race instructions, then a walk over to the kayak transition area for a river safety briefing - how to put on your PFD, how to get in and out of the inflatable kayaks, what to do if you have an 'out of boat experience' - "I want your toes and your nose to the sky". After receiving instructions, it was time to load in the bus. Because, oh yeah, this year the race was starting Grand Prix style, with a mile run to the bikes.
So we were transported up to the city park (the one in town) and dropped off. The bus was... interesting. Painted in a wild pink, Grateful Dead-y fashion. It took a couple of trips to get everyone to the start. For the businesses that were open, the employees were out on the sidewalk to see us off. After the usual last-minute banter, it was conch shell time and the race was afoot! Now, we had sent our running shoes ahead to the kayak-to-run transition area and hadn't really planned for the starting run. So we were in Keen sandals which, when cinched up snug, worked really well. The run was all down hill so went quickly. We heard shouts of 'Happy anniversary' as we switched to bike gear, hopped on and pedaled out.
Of course, the route started with the same steep hill we had just run down. Then it was through town (mostly flat) followed by the climb back up to the highway. I am happy to say that the climbing was mostly done, except for some rollers later on the route. After hitting the top we cruised through the first half without any trouble, although we realized it was a little chilly on the downhills. A vest would have been nice, but I of course forgot it. Meh.
I've written about XDog's unique mid-point torture, will-power tester 'Temptation Station' in the past. It's there way of saying 'I double dog dare you'. This being a triathlon, the diabolical lure of bad things to do during an athletic event was at about the mid-point of the 26 mile bike portion. A smart man would have ridden by, waved at the volunteers and congratulated himself at his resolve.
We stopped.
Of course.
After drinking a 4 ounce beer, linked arms and all to celebrate our anniversary, I took a couple of glugs of really bad rum from a plastic gallon jug. Oy. Then, at the urging of the volunteers staffing this station and of two women from Germany who we REALLY wanted to party with later, I accepted the next challenge: a ride through a slalom course on a 50cc minibike. This 'hawg' was small - so small that I had to hold my legs up behind me because I couldn't lift them high enough to get my feet on the foot pegs up front. I looked silly, but that is something I am not only good at but also willing to do to make memories.
After successfully completing the out and back slalom, it was time to talk Camera Crew into doing this. It took some cajoling and persuasion, but we succeeded! The 'we' being me and the German gals, mostly. She cautiously climbed on and received reassuring instructions, then she nudged the throttle and took off! She squealed with delight (and a little fear) the entire time, too! She arrived at the finish, smiling from ear to ear.
Maybe I'll be allowed to get that Harley some day after all...
We rode away from Temptation Station feeling accomplished and smiling, with shouts of 'Happy anniversary' from our new friends. The course went through this awesome slot canyon along a twisty road. It was lot of fun! The road brought us back down to the river and we headed north to Sherar's Bridge to cross over the Deschutes. It was here we saw some of the Native Americans fishing off platforms that jutted out over the rapids at Sherar's Falls. They stand on the edge holding a long pole with a net on the end and snag the salmon as they come through the rapids. We wanted to stop and watch for a bit but figured we should get rolling again.
The route ran south along the river and brought us all the way back into town, kinda from the opposite direction from which we left it. We did have quite a headwind, though, so even spots where coasting should have worked it didn't. So... head down and grind it out was the motto.
Before I go on, let's talk about this Sherar fella. The room we were staying in is named after him. And the bridge. And a waterfall. He ran a hotel in the area. And so...
Joseph Sherar was a wagon road builder who operated a hotel, saloon, stagecoach station and livery where the wagon trains crossed over on their way west. He and his wife ran the place from 1871 to 1907 or so - when they died. He improved the bridge that was there as well as the roads leading to and from the crossing. Anyhoo, read all about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sherar And remember - everything on Wiki is true.
Back to the race! We rode along the river and into town, and to the Imperial Hotel for the bike/kayak transition. This was perhaps the part we were both most nervous about. We've both kayaked before but never together. And neither of us had done any kayaking recently. Just as we assume a tandem bicycle would NEVER work for us, we had some doubts about how we'd do paddling the river together. I am (relieved) happy to say that it was a blast! Yeah, we kept whacking our oars together and had a few mis-cues keeping the nose pointed downriver, but we did pretty damn well considering it was our first time. And now we want to add this to our repertoire of sports we like. We imagine kayak purchases in our future, for sure.
We even had one stretch where we paddled in sync for, like, 10-12 strokes and it was great! But then we whacked paddles and that was the end of that! There were some ripples and Class II stuff, nothing major. It was super fun and was over way too soon. We made our way to the right side of the river to the pull out at the wayside, pulled our kayak up on the bank and got to our drop bags for the kayak/run transition. There was a case of Coors Light sitting on a picnic table and we were tempted but figured running four miles to wrap up this race was enough of a challenge.
Now, since it was our anniversary, I not only put on my running shoes but I also changed into my extra special tuxedo t-shirt! Oh yeah! We took off for the run back to the finish and, yes, the headwind was still a'blowing. I had to turn my hat around to keep it from blowing off my noggin. The miles went by pretty quick and we saw the hotel. We cruised into the parking lot, into the finish chute and crossed the line arm in arm. Triathlon triumphant!! There were a lot of high fives and congratulations as we settled in, got a beer and a fantastic burger hot off the grill. After eating and chatting with some fellow XDog-ers, it was time for awards. As it turned out, because we rode the minibike at Temptation Station, we were entered in a special prize drawing. And I won... a home brewing kit!! Woohoo! And later in the regular raffle I won a $25 gift card to Next Adventure. But the best award went to Camera Crew for WINNING HER DIVISION!!!
We not only celebrated our anniversary, we were celebrated and we won stuff! Kevin and XDog and the town of Maupin had put on a great event. We couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate our first anniversary. As the crowd went their separate ways, we hauled the bikes and our gear back up to the room and relaxed! After showers and some hanging out time, we had a great dinner downstairs and hung out in the bar watching Sunday Night Football. It was a wonderful weekend and we will always remember how we spent our first anniversary!
Now the question is - how to top it for a second!??
Celebrating in Costa Rica??? That would be a pretty cool 2nd anniversary!
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