things we did this sunday, including the USGP in PDX.

1) Brunch at Jam on Hawthorne. Bloody Maries, veg biscuits n' gravy. Yum.
2) "Cupping" at Stumptown. So schmancy, so odd. (linked to random person's blog to explain so I don't have to type all that.)
3) Trip to makeout point to take photos, see trains, make out.
4) Vintage lamp shopping, successfully. We ended up with two metal and glass lamps and no way to get them home. But it was nearing race time, so we'd worry about them later.
5) Bike racing. Cold, rainy, muddy. Ben's shifting still sucked, but his teammate Matt had an extra derailer hanger that he rescued us with (yay!) and while he was at it, he re-lubed the cable too, which was nice of him. Things were in good shape. The team that yesterday was so nice to me today tried to skip me in the bike wash line in a most uncooth way.
Me: "Hey, there's a line here."
(other guy holds up bike, points to top-10 rider's name sticker on it)
I stopped rolling my eyes long enough to reply to him, "Your guy has a half lap to ride too. My guy will be back sooner, most likely."
Then a teammate of his came to the pit and without having heard this told him, "there's a line there."
I went ahead and they waited. I'll say it again (am I wrong to think this?): If you're so PRO that you think your guy can get back from a half lap faster than our guys who passed by 3 minutes ago, why don't you bring your own washer? I honestly don't think waiting in line for a minute or two will at all effect your guy's race. (What do you guys think?)
It was just a mudfest in general. From time to time I'd pull the seatpost out and turn the frame upside down and watch a few tablespoons of muddy water drip out.
Yet another reminder of why we need to travel with our own pump came when I went to neutral to borrow a pump and theirs was in bars only. Huh? .... huh? Dude told me 1 bar was 15 psi. I probably stood there like 5 minutes trying to do the math, him repeatedly inquiring if I needed help. OK, not 5 minutes, but a good spell either way. So I need... just below 2 bar? Or like 1.5? WTF, we use psi here people, geez.
Anywho, Ben rode as clean a race as you can in a mudhole and it was a good time.
6) Packing and shipping bikes at the Amtrak station while some old couple looked on and asked alot of questions. Ended up buying boxes and shipping the lamps on Amtrak too. Nice.
7) the tastiest pizza ever, where ben claimed half the pizza for himself, then i claimed the other half for China, so Rachel, Ben, and I were all forced to encroach on others' territory, even straying into communist soil. China had secret cave bubbles, though, which was fun.
8) we went to PROM, where there were more people then there are racing in Chicago on any given day, and they actually made the point of saying that more women race in the Cross Crusade than there are total people racing in most series, but which sucked because their awards took forever. when Ben and I started making out in the parking lot, like you're supposed to at prom, someone told us to get a room. Hello? Prom?

The photo above is of the 2008 Illinois State Cyclocross Awesomeness Champion trophy, awarded this weekend to the Chicago Cuttin' Crew for their extreme acts of awesomeness. Like racing a coaster-brake tandem. Or hot dog handups.