Cassandra: This past weekend I was lucky enough to ride in Mazama, Washington. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mazama, it is on the east side of the pass, about 15 miles before you get to Winthrop on Highway 20. My Aunt Cheryl had invited me over for the weekend. Last year I was also over there for Memorial Day and we ran the Mazama 5k together, but this year nobody was running. I knew that meant I had to bring my bike, both for exercise and training purposes. Because it was a nice, relaxing cabin weekend I didn't do anything too crazy intense. I decided to enjoy my bike and do some pleasure rides along with a good training ride. So, on Saturday I rode 5 miles with my cousin, Malloree. We rode to the general store, sat and read books, and then rode back. On Sunday I explored the road that goes past the cabin in the other direction. Aunt Cheryl came along for part of it. I rode 8.25 miles. The thing that was surprising to me was that it was significantly harder going away from the cabin than coming back home. This was due to not only hills but a strong head-wind. I had to put my bike in hill-gears to power through the head-wind at times, even on flat ground. It felt nice to not worry about speed, though, and to focus on the beautiful sights and smells around me. On Sunday I did a training ride of almost 24 miles. I rode east from the cabin towards Goat Greek Road and where it intersects with Highway 20. The first part of the ride was generally flat, but then once I passed the general store it started to get very hilly. It was up and down, and up and down, and then up and down. The hills were pretty intense and I just relaxed into the bike and let it take me as long as it needed to take me. As steep as the hills were going up, though, they were equally steep going down and I would whoosh along the road at 25 miles per hour or so on my way down. In a car that isn't fast, but on a bike it is. Luckily, the road was pretty well maintained and I didn't hit any pot holes. That was especially good because my eyes weren't always on the road. There were too many other things to look at like trees and campsites and birds and horses. It was a nice morning, which made for a great ride. After getting to the intersection of Goat Creek Road and Highway 20 I turned around and headed back towards the cabin, then continued on to where the road pretty much dead-ended. At that point I turned around again to head back to the cabin. It took me 2 hours with stops (an hour and 39 minutes of riding time) to do my almost 24 miles, and all in all, I really enjoyed it. The new scenery made things fun, and it was nice to be able to ride in my shorts and jersey since it was so warm. But also, I drank 2 water bottles of water and fueled somewhat often. That will do a lot to make a good ride! I can't wait to ride in Mazama again!