And on the seventh day...

We rode.

Taking 7 days off the bike sounded like a fairly daunting task, at the time. However, after last weekend's race (that was only eight days ago? Seriously?) I was ready for some down time. We spent the first few days over-eating, and I had some over-drinking in there, and there was a lot of lingering soreness/fatigue in the legs. I don't think I've ever had my legs feel so categorically "bad" before for so long. Not even after the 12 Hours last November. It just wasn't dissipating! Couldn't have been the alcohol and lack of sleep?

Saturday we slept in, then headed south for a hike.

Weird to be going somewhere on a weekend to exercise without bikes!



It's my fault, because I wanted to do a local San Diego hike that we did a few times when we lived down there. It was sort of lame. There were like 300 people out hiking it. Not to mention that it left me really wiped out, and a little sore!



Was cool to see a tiny bit of the air show, I guess.





We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to do some "spring" cleaning. Justin spent a bunch of time in the garage trying to re-organize, and I managed to clean out a kitchen cabinet and drawer, one bookcase, and half of our den mess. It seriously felt like I got nothing done, though.

Sunday we slept in again, partly because we could, partly because we stayed up late, and partly cause it was going to be really cold anyway so what was the hurry?

We headed south to pursue a really tough hour climbing up Palomar. We took off from the taco shop like we were being chased, and despite the pain and burning we kept going from there. I couldn't hit the power numbers I was looking for after the first few miles and up south grade, but my HR was the highest it's been on any training ride all year. Not sure if that's some loss of aerobic fitness or what was going on, but avg HR was ridiculous for an hour fiften. Power #s were up from earlier this summer, which is awesome, especially after a solid 6 days with no cycling.

I was working too hard for pics on the way up, and too cold on the way down. I did get a few, actually, but left them at home, so

Imagine a picture of a Roubaix leaning up against a truck

Imagine a picture of Justin and Allison with half frozen faces

Literally, my face was frozen for half of the descent. Crazy thing, too... first time I've ever got to the top of a hill and literally been choking trying to breathe. I couldn't get any air. Felt like my chest was closing up. I struggled for air for a minute and was really kind of freaked out. Justin suggested exercise-induced asthma?

Lucky for me when I turned around to Justin as we sat cold on the steps outside of the market, "Please tell me we are not going for the double?" he concurred that we would just head back to the car.

Temps were decent down in the valley, and we headed home to get a few more things done around the house. I was super worked, even after just the two hour ride!

Looking forward to getting back on the bike in a somewhat more regular fashion this week, and will be hitting the weights!

Hope to SS the "Uno" Niner after work 1-2x, and hopefully this weekend at least once. Not sure if I am ready to tackle Saturday's planned ride PERIOD, much less with a SS that I've ridden once? Definitely can't with its current gearing of 32x18, but might try out 29x17. Otherwise, not sure what bike I should be riding. I may need my Epic to hold out for another season of racing next year unless we can find a way to afford a new bike!