Allison Mann

It's Been Awhile...

2011-09-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

My blog (which I will not link here) was hacked and despite the detailed and best attempts of two very awesome people to clean it up and fix it, Google is still finding malware links and hijacks a week and a half later. So, no website. Sorry to anyone for issues or inconvenience. I don't have the knowledge or experience to do much of anything myself to it, but am very lucky to have friends that have the knowledge and experience and do their best to get it cleaned out and updated for some point in the future.

I don't know what my last post was, but it was quite some time ago I think. I've been jonesing to write, despite not having a ton of extra time. Justin and I have been pretty busy working, and when we're not at work, we're getting in a lot of good rides. That, and I kept hoping my site would behave, but it isn't. So, here we are, revisiting the past.

To counteract the ghosts of Christmas Past as it were, I'm going to start with yesterday and work backwards I think. Just because. My game, my rules.

Labor Day Monday we were stoked to have Steph and Dan over and we all headed up the hill in the Black Max for a few hours of trail riding up in Idyllwild while the getting around Hurkey was still good. It rained on us, we got a little chilly, and one of the high school kids forgot food. Everything I had left was caffeinated, so we called it a day and headed down Rage through the Sage where said kid got his 2nd flat. He'd used his one tube. Thanks, Dan!

Justin busted out his BBQ skills for awesome grilled veggies, carne asada, and shrimp tacos.

View from May Valley before the drizzle

Justin had some time to build a little stunt log ride

Sunday we'd started a CruX ride down in Carlsbad with Richard. We started and ended at Pizza Port. Awesome way to end a killer ride. 66 miles, 6200ft of climbing, just under 6 hours of riding through 3 parks and lots of pavement.

3 Muskateers. Richard doesn't look very pleased. Knees + cross gearing don't equal happiness!

The ocean again at long last!

We decided to climb San Elijo Rd. 50 miles into the ride. Just because.

Honey Stinger at Hodges.

Justin on THE WAY UP

Chomps at Elfin.

Specialized Cross bikes at the top of Tank Trail at La Costa.

Nice view up here!

Yeah so it was moist from the start

So pumped to have been at Joy and BMc's wedding Saturday night. Here was his special wedding cake - homemade cake pan sized bread with Laura Schudder's Natty PB and some jelly. Delish!

Why Cross bikes are cool. Road bikes - pavement only. Cross bikes - get filthy!

Justin, Heidi, Richard and I on the road for some social spinning after riding the Vail XC course.

Funner Ridgeline testing out the CA State XC Champ course

METAL

I packed Justin's clothes last week. Hey, at least he had a right AND a left. Normally I bring 2 left's.

UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships just were this past weekend. I'm retiring my 2010 kit. Onward and upward.

Thursday evening cross cruise

This is a massive Oakley backpack and I completely max out the capacity. Regularly.

Wednesday we had to ride home from work at lunch to get a saddle bag so we had extra tubes and C02's for any possible flats. Mixed up the weekly ride routine with a route around the lake instead of out into cow country.

Big fire SE of town on Monday.

New favorite dessert. Of course, almost anything would go well with Trader's Joe's 85% dark chocolate.

Honey Stinger up at Cocktail Rock on Sunday over a week ago. It was a bit hot out.

Pre-ride prep with Elete drops in the water bottles AND for recovery.

Few Saturday's ago we FINALLY got to hit up Slater's 50-50 Burger. 50% beef, 50% bacon. The one closest in the photo was actually spicy beef and it was amazing too. #indulgenceftw

Prior to eating amazing burgers we rode from Rock N' Road Anaheim Hills down to Santiago Oaks/Irvine Regional Park and then out to Newport Beach for Kean Coffee.

Pedaling!

KEAN!

View from top of one of the B's or something

Creek crossing

Few Thursday's ago we needed avocado for breakfast and Justin bought a cookie as well. On our way home at dusk from a cross ride up to the local trails. #sofun

Heading up the hill to get some dirt.

Prepping for night blinkie-needing time. TOPEAK ALIEN!

I wore real shoes for a day. And I didn't even regret it. Future post on "the foot"? Mayhap.

In addition to avocados that are always too green and go bad without ever getting ripe, Costco also sells overly green bananas. Luckily they are edible. Usually.

Friend at work celebrated her 29th birthday (I don't think she was actually 29, but maybe). Olive Garden doesn't do birthday desserts. No, seriously.

New trail jogging 'kit'. I dig running shorts. #somuchbetter

And, that's pretty much that. Have had a lot to say and reflect on and want to publish, but I haven't so there you go. Lots of random photos and not much substance. Kind of like the food I've been eating lately. Lots of flashy fun tasting good sugar and color but not necessarily nutritious. Well, we do what we can.

Until next time!

New site

2010-05-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last time, I promise!

Check out my new website: http://www.allisonmann.net

This site will host my blog and other updates. Please visit!

2010 Idyllwild Spring Challenge

2010-05-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

It was apparent the first weekend of Justin's accident that we'd be missing a few races this season, not the least of which were Santa Ynez (the following weekend) and Sea Otter (2 weekends post accident). While I knew that Justin was bummed to miss out on racing the Idyllwild Spring Challenge for a 2nd year in a row, I also felt that I wanted to get back out on the dirt and see what I could do! The time off the bike due to injury and the accident left me with zero fatigue, but not a lot of form either. I really haven't done any speed work since Fontana, but I'm happy to be out on my bike.

The weather for the weekend looked ominous at first, but quickly cleared up to a weekend of sun and high 60s. Perfect racing weather for the mountains!

We were somewhat sad to be missing out on the excitement in St. George, but stoked to be getting out of the house for an entire weekend. I was worried it was a bit much for Justin, but I think the sun, the fresh air, and the camaraderie really helped him out.

It was really the first weekend that felt sort of "normal" in the last 4 weeks. It helped both of us out physically and mentally to be amongst like-minded individuals and get back to something familiar. It was great seeing so many people up at Idyllwild for the race.

The Idyllwild Spring Challenge is hosted up in Idyllwild, CA by Idyllwild Cycling the first weekend of May every year. Justin and I have participated the last 3 years, and in 2006 rode the long course a week or so after the event on our own (which piqued our interest!).

Last year we had I think 5 Pro Women (Pua, Joy, Sarah, Carolyn, and myself). This year there were 3 of us on the line (Kathy, Timari and me). Idyllwild Cycling put up equal pro-payout for men and women, so I was hoping that more pro women would come out. It's been about the best payout (I think?) for a stage race so far this year with $350 up for grabs for the XC win, $350 for the stage race win, and $175 spread out for each "King/Queen of the Mountain" prime.

At the start

We started right on time, and while temps as we entered the venue were 37F just after 7 am, it felt much warmer as we took off toward the singletrack at 9:30. Kathy took off for the hole shot, as we had some dirt before hitting a little pavement section, and then a fire road/double track and a singletrack climb with some hike-a-bike.

I fell in behind her on the pavement in what felt like a really benign pace. I missed not having Joy there to show us what was up on the road (I should've known then she was prime for Cat 1/2!!), but we hit the dirt and Kahty and I traded spots before she pulled in to the lead just as we hit singletrack. I held her wheel and could've stayed on for awhile, but eventually decided to try my hand at a move for the early lead. We hit the hike a bike and I knew she was just behind me, and I asked one of the men if I could pass before we hopped back on and hit a fun traversing section. He obliged and off I went, trying to keep my pace under control.

My body was pushing hard, but just didn't feel up to snuff. I felt like I wasn't going as hard as I know I can go, but I felt like I'd blow up if I had gone any harder, so I just kept at it. My lungs started burning and my legs while they didn't feel heavy, didn't cramp, and weren't specifically "sore" just never felt like they did at earlier races this season. Kind of weird.

I hit the Keen Camp Climb and just kept at it, hoping that my pace was enough. I had gone in to the race just hoping for a clean race and wanted to take the Queen of the Mountain at the top of Southridge (big fire road climb!). I was hoping as I climbed that I could maintain my pace for the next 10-12 miles until I got there! There's a lot of climbing between Keen Camp and the top of Southridge.

I made it to the top of Keen Camp and was feeling pretty weird, but was happy for the recovery trail and just hammered it out. Once up at May Valley I was starting to see some familiar faces from the Cat 1 men, so had fun cheering them on they went by, and soon enough it was singletrack time again! I felt pretty smooth on the singletrack, and had fun in the tight turns. I made a narrow rock section I've never cleaned before, and hit the Roman Highway perfectly, so was pretty stoked. Then it was time for a short traverse and on to the Lower Southridge "cyclocross" climb! I still wasn't feeling very good (lower back is in need of core work, and I was feeling kind of dizzy and out of it).

Nick caught up to me toward the top quarter of the climb and I tried to keep him in sight as I hit the 2nd of Queen of the Mountain check point once we rejoined the May Valley fire road. I was climbing pretty well at that point, and hit Sunset feeling all right, knowing that soon enough I'd get to see Justin out there with my next bottle hand off and cheering me on just after Astrocamp.

I was sticking to my feed schedule of an EFS liquid shot every 45 minutes or so, and sipping on EFS drink when and where I could. It felt super dry (as it usually does at elevation when racing for me), so I maybe wasn't drinking as much as I should have. I think I took in around 45oz for the whole race, and didn't finish any of the 3 bottles (or what would have been around 70oz). My stomach was good, but I was pretty hungry near the end!

I had a small gap on Nick, who I know is a super strong descender, once I got to the Southridge Queen of the Mountain prime/check point. I waited the entire descent for Nick to catch up! He and one other Pro Men racer caught me on some singletrack as we traversed down and back toward Hurkey Creek. I hit the Buena Vista fire road and connected up with the Coffee Pot trail. I had ridden this trail I think once, so wasn't at all familiar with it, and it showed! Lots of on/off the bike, but some fun stuff as well.

Eventually I hit Exfoliator and railed the bermed singletrack having so much fun! A short climb and descent through Rage through the Sage and then it was time for the solo road TT back to the campground, up Demoralizer and down to the finish!

Felt good to be done, but the course is so much fun it's hard to not enjoy this race! I know there were two times that I managed to look up and "enjoy the view" outside of racing, and all I could think of was how beautiful it was, and that I hoped Justin had seen a bit of it as well, despite not being on the race course.

Kathy came around to the finish not long after, and I tried to get in a cool down, but as usual, it didn't really work out for me! Lungs were on FIRE (my throat still hurts - but it wasn't very dusty out) and legs were ready for a break from pedaling.

Justin and I hung out with the finishers and watched as other friends came through.

I was so STOKED on the hand made Queen of the Mountain trophy! It's already mounted on the wall at home.

Pro Women's podium

Katie from Idyllwild Cycling, and the voice of the weekend (and Super D competitor!) Tom

I secretly look forward to the Idyllwild Spring Challenge for the M&M's post-race as much as the amazing trophies.

I had sort of needed a "break" last week, so my nutrition wasn't stellar all weekend, but hey... Sometimes you just gotta go with it :)

Dinner (prep stages)

and dessert

Sunday we were up just as early as Saturday, and left home to head up the hill so I could pre-ride the dirt Time Trial course before the 8 am start. The start was delayed, so I got in an extra warm-up and was able to ride the whole course. It was 3.35mi according to my Garmin, and I'd say about 2.9 of them were singletrack! First time I actually said after the ride/race that it felt like more descending than climbing! So fun!

We hung out for awhile waiting for awards (which were post-poned to after the Super D race) and then headed over to the start of the Super D for a quick pre-ride back down to the venue. The first 3rd of the Super D is mostly down a big wide open fire road with a ton of speed and some killer views of the valley below.

From there you swing on to singletrack that twists, turns, and traverses through manzanita and mountain granite, back on to a short stretch of fire road before swinging down buffed and bermed singletrack to a short climb, wide open double track descent, across a bridge and down the "Demoralizer" before hitting the finish line.

I had caught up to Timari on Exfoliator, but rather than try to force a pass or throw elbows I was patient until the climb. Had fun anyway for the last event of the weekend, and then we chilled for a few hours as the other competitors came down through the finishing shoot.

Final podium

Cool medals!

Thanks to everyone that made the race possible through the promoters, venue, etc. all the way to everyone that helped Justin and I out this last month. Our family and friends have been great. The support from everyone that has enabled us to get back to a weekend that felt almost "normal" has been awesome and is very much appreciated. Justin wasn't taking it as easy I would have liked all weekend chasing me around with bottles and a camera, but I think the friends, fresh air, and freedom did his body good.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support this year, and this past month for Justin and I personally. I just hope that he can get out there soon enough as well!

And on Sunday...

2010-04-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

I hit the road! Solo, but this time it worked out. I saw quite a few cyclists, unlike last weekend, but they all happened to be going the opposite direction. It was a pretty quiet ride overall. Some wind, lots of sun, and the road just disappearing underneath my wheels as I kicked over my comfortable cadence, climbed the hills, and enjoyed the descents.

Always a fan of matching... I picked up some Swiftwick ankle socks at the Rock N' Road sale on Saturday:

I managed to clean up my road bike all by my lonesome (after it got pretty grimy/dirty in the rain the previous week). The chain was pretty dirty (worse than the mountain bike!), but I got it cleaned up and ready to ride, and set out before 11 for a pretty chill, but long, ride.

First little climb. I couldn't make up my mind on which *way* to ride the route. I called Justin just down the road from home telling him I was going to ride our normal direction (clockwise) so that I had a place to stop on the way back and wouldn't run out of fluids. It was here (just a few miles later) that I changed my mind. Again. I was going to ride it opposite and hope for the best.

First stop. I was about an hour in and managed to finish off my first bottle, so filled it up fresh with cold water.

Was hoping this would carry me through about another 2 or so hours in the heat.

Hard to see in the picture, but my impending climb was up next to the freeway. A nice climb with 6-9% grades. I was looking forward to the following descent, but wound up with a good headwind the entire way down, so it was somewhat slower than expected.

Cruisin' somewhere, working up a sweat

Don't tell anyone, but I stopped briefly to snap a shot of my next descent. Love this one so much. No traffic.

Just made it back to civilization as I ran out of liquids and got a little bit of water to tide me over until I got home. Last week I'd done a similar route, only the other direction, and minus one extra descent/climb. I was getting shaky on the way home. I had felt pretty hungry earlier on this ride, but had a Lara Bar and finished off most of my calories, so opted to spend my remaining $1.13 on a Pepsi so I'd be feeling good when I got home.

Drained most of it as quickly as possible, then hit the road to do a nice warm down on my final stretch home. Killer cross wind coming off the hills, as always!

I was feeling decent heading back home on the bike path, and traffic in the business park area of town was really low. I rounded a little bend and saw a little dog, without a collar, chilling in the middle of the path. I kind of got nervous since I wasn't sure if it'd respond by trying to my bite my tires/ankles, or run off into the bushes. It did neither, actually.

Instead it ran this far in front of me for about almost a mile before peeling off. I rode behind it for awhile before I took out my phone/camera to snap the shot. Trust me, with the crazy crosswind and unpredictable dog, I did think it was a pretty stupid move on my part to be getting the picture anyway, but hey.

Weirdest thing I've seen on my bike in awhile: I'm riding in a fairly rural neighborhood area, windy 2-lane road, no shoulder, I see a female walking on the side of the road, going the same direction as me, wearing a very fancy/flowy green dress and nice white half arm gloves. No joke. I have no idea where she was coming from or going to.

In other randomness...

This guy has basically taken up residence on our patio. I see him everyday.

It was 6 months early, but we opened it anyway. Soo tasty.

Up next? More open road, of course...

3 Weeks Later

2010-04-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well, as of yesterday at noon it'd been 3 weeks since Justin's accident. It had been awhile without much news or change, but we saw both the spine and ortho/knee doctor this past week. Justin said the spine guy stopped counting fractures in his neck at 5 or 6 and he's in the brace for at least another 2 weeks, and slowly weening himself off after that.

His knee wound is healing up okay, and he was able to take his first shower in 3 weeks last night! He's in the leg brace full time still as well, but he's able to do a few passive knee bends to help get some mobility back. Nothing active, and no weight bearing. Good news, but everything is basically status quo.

I got out a few times last week to get in some time on the bike. Rode in the rain two days. Making myself tough out there, I guess.

It drizzled on me most of the ride, but the sun did come out during my warm down. Good thing too because my feet were starting to get chilly in the late evening!

Got the bike all "ride ready" for today with some help from Justin!

I got a pretty late start today after hitting up Rock N' Road Anaheim Hills to check out their tent sale and drool (and pick up some necessities) and after sitting in some traffic and getting prepped to ride it was after 3 before I got on the bike!

Pretty good ride, but got kind of sad and lonely riding solo.

Looking out over the park as I climbed up to the big hill in the pic above

Enjoying the day

Up at "top o the world" (Stanley Peak) looking out toward Palomar? Lots of snow dusting up there! Might head out tomorrow? Maybe flat... I do love that climb, though.

Ahh...singletrack.

Was pretty quiet out there today.

As I was getting dressed post-ride a Monster/Specialized van pulled into the lot. No idea who it was!

Looking forward to another sunny day, and hopefully making time to first clean my bike, and third run some errands! Who's up for fro-yo? Just kidding...

No 2010 Sea Otter Classic for me!

2010-04-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, Justin and I wanted to be there duking it out on the race course, but he is still in full-on recuperation mode:

Big thanks to Ken at Sock Guy for the Test Dummy socks. Those are awesome! He'll be sporting them hopefully on a recumbent in the next few weeks.

Friday I got my work from home situation up and running, so I got to put in a few hours after leaving the real office and still play nurse to Justin.

It's working out well so far. Got in some quality time this morning before the real office beckoned!

Since Justin isn't riding, and I'm not back up to my normal hours I've been trying to feed us pretty well. We had kind of an odd assortment of food in the house... fresh pork tenderloin, organic spring mix, left over bbq'd squash and zucchini, fresh limes, quinoa, and left over sliced chicken breast.

Cooking

I cooked the quinoa and set it off to the side to cool. I was trying to duplicate a quinoa salad I'd had at a restaurant on Easter, but didn't have cilantro or cucumber, so just went for a dash of salt and some lime juice along with the leftover yellow squash and zucch. I sauteed some garlic and sweet onion, then added in the spring mix and chicken. The pork we actually saved for leftovers.

Ta-da!

For those of you wondering...he beat Call of Duty only a few hours after I left for my ride, so he's moved on to another roll playing game courtesy of Jefe. Thanks again, man!

Saturday I did eventually make my way out of the house to get in a ride.

I spent a little bit of time Saturday morning setting up my bike to have an extra cage. I didn't really want to carry a pack, but knew I'd be out for maybe 3 hours. Temps were pretty warm, but not hot, most of the day, and I went through most of my fluids, so was happy to have carried 3 bottles all day. My pockets were loaded down, but it worked out!

Getting ready to start the big descent

I neglected to check the course instructions before heading out to ride, so I actually didn't have to ride through this creek at all. That's ok; it was fun (and not nearly as deep as I expected it to be)

Sunday I got up kind of lazy, unsure if I wanted to hit road or dirt. I'd done a decent drive on Saturday getting up to Idyllwild, and Justin suggested I hit the road. I wasn't super into the idea, but I do like the route I'd picked out.

I'd just gotten my first shipment of First Endurance EFS drink and liquid shot, so naturally decided to give them a try! I roughly knew how many kj's I'd burn through, and took two full bottles of mix, 2 shots, a package of bloks, 3 fruit leathers, and a Lara Bar. I didn't grab anything before leaving, and had had breakfast about 2.5 hours before I hit the road. I busted into my bloks and ate half a few miles from home. I had a liquid shot at about 45 minutes in, finished the bloks at 1:30 in, and had my second liquid shot at 2:15 in to the ride. I should've stopped to refill my bottles, but ran out a few miles from home (after limping through the last one), but my energy level and power output/RPE all seemed great. I was definitely getting shakey and in need of food within sight of home, but the fuel kept me going no problem. I was stoked on the flavors (Fruit Punch drink - very mellow; I actually don't mind sugary tasting drinks, but this was slightly more "refreshing". The Liquid Shot is vanilla and tastes sort of like liquid cake frosting, in a good way) and can't wait to try out the drink during intervals this week to see how it goes for hard efforts.

The flowers were out in bloom!

I hadn't gone back here yet...sort of made me feel a little ill as I rode down the street where Justin crashed just over 2 weeks ago.

After a short jaunt I made it up to the teets... Very very little traffic up here. I think I went about an hour, maybe more, and saw 3-4 cars.

Cruising over to Couser

Was visualizing riding with Justin up the climb. It got really warm, no moving air, and I knew just the spot he'd keep pushing and I'd hold back, trying to get in my workout as "prescribed"

I hit the rollers on the way back over to the highway, and as I crossed over the bridge I saw what I thought was a rope spanning the bike lane and out into the lane of traffic. Luckily vehicle traffic was low, because as I was just about riding over it I realized it was a snake, and as I passed I realized IT WASN'T DEAD. Oops.

I flew down the big descent and as I pulled up to the first stoplight I'd seen in hours I realized I had company. He cruised with me a little, and eventually pulled around. A gap opened up and I closed it down with an effort. He was chasing the rabbit, I think.

I felt like I should've worn my Discovery jersey.

Finished up the ride solo, and only had one near collision... a woman was walking her dog up the last descent on a windy narrow 2-lane road. Had there been a car near me, I would've been totaled!

After the ride my fro-yo fail from Saturday actually turned out quite nice, and then we stopped by Trader Joe's for some steel cut oats and eggs. Justin insisted on cookies, carne asada, cheese, and tortillas (they were gluten free at least). I cooked up some tasty tacos, if I may say so.

It's nice to get back into the swing of training, but missing the big events lately has been tough on us both.

Congrats to all who raced at Sea Otter.

Sesamoiditis and Dirt

2010-04-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm writing a blog about my sesamoiditis injury since I haven't found much in the way of sesamoiditis and cycling. To date I've heard from one other person that is a cyclist and had it.

It doesn't appear to be a big cycling injury, and seems fairly rare for cyclists to have. As such, I have no idea what caused this for me, but am stepping up and claiming it as my first over-use injury.

Sesamoiditis is inflammation of the sesamoid bones (a bone embedded within a tendon and found in locations where a tendon passes over a joint - such as the hand, knee, and FOOT). It occurs on the bottom of the foot, behind the large toe. Sesamoids (as I've seen on my xrays) are about the size of jelly beans, or for those of us that are exercise-oriented, Sport Beans. Apparently sesamoiditis is caused by either the sudden bending upwards of the big toe, high heels (ahaha), or a stumble. It seems to be somewhat common in young people engaging in physical activity like running or dancing. Indeed, most of the metartsal pad information I found was on running or dancing sites/forums. Sesamoiditis is essentially just a general description for any irritation of the sesamoid bones. Every time you push off against the toe the sesamoids are involved and can eventually get irritated or fractured.

The onset is really gradual (as I found). The pain starts off as a mild ache and increases slowly as the aggravating activity (or, IMO, just any activity what-so-ever, including walking) is continued. As noted here sesamoiditis can be caused by increased activity, and this can put more pressure on the balls of your feet. Speedwork, hill work, or increased mileage can all contribute, especially if you have a bony foot (not enough fat to protect the fragile sesamoids). This is more in tune with running than cycling, as obviously cycling is a much more low-impact activity overall.

When I saw a second doctor about my sesamoiditis (the first was a general practioner who suggested padding my inflamed sesamoids - which I did, and it got worse - and custom insoles - which I didn't do, and should have - and the second a podiatrist, where I did get custom insoles for both my cycling and my every day shoes) he asked how much time I could take off the bike to let it heal. I said 4 days. He gave me a "look". "Maybe 5." I took 2 days off, did a ride, then took 9 days off. By the time I did my next ride I had metatarsal pads, which definitely helped, but didn't solve the problem, and my foot was hurting pretty bad about an hour in to the ride, and really bad 1.5+ hours in.

It may not look like much, but I assure you, this was a few days ago, and it has off/on felt much worse than it has looked!

I got my custom orthotics back this past Monday, and have been wearing them pretty much full time (whenever I have shoes on) and have done two rides with cycling shoes this week. My foot is generally pain free in every day shoes walking around, which is a nice bonus. The blood blister/bruising that I have from this whole ordeal does not seem to be dissipating. Riding earlier this week in my cycling shoes with orthotics also caused pain just over an hour in, but not as bad as last weekend, so I guess that is a plus.

Here are the stock Specialized S-Works mountain bike shoe insoles:

I noticed that they do include a metatarsal button:

So while there is a small area cut out for similar issues, it isn't quite like the custom bit I've got now.

I'm actually almost surprised that the left insole doesn't have a button cut out as well. I would imagine it's possible for this to also occur with my left foot.

For comparison, here is the weight difference -

Guess I should consider not riding with the custom insole in the left foot. It'd save a few grams! That's for you, Keith B!

Well, enough about sesamoids for now...

I'm back on the training wagon at last, and it feels sort of good. My legs are sore today, but I can still walk up the stairs at work to my desk without the burning "OMG someone kill me now my legs are barely functioning" feeling I had for the last 3 months. I'm not worried; it'll come back soon.

Was just packing up for my training ride off-road yesterday and realized that my bike was still in race-mode from Fontana. That doesn't mean anything other than A) it was in pretty good shape still, and B) I didn't have a power tap on it.

Wanted: training partner that is low maintenance and similar to my speed on climbs, yet challenges me on descents. Doesn't mind waiting for me or occasionally listening to me whine. Must be a detail-oriented bike mechanic and carry more stuff than I do for rides (e.g. one more tube, one more C02, multi-tool, etc.). I make bottles and can cover nutritionals. Call me.

Anyway, so Justin came out to the garage to try to assist me in changing out my rear wheel (which I realized meant I had to change cassette's on the hub, which we then realized meant I had to change brake calipers to fit the 160mm rear brake instead of 140mm).

Yeah, I'm removing my XX cassette!

Now I'm working on the brake caliper

Justin still helped a little, but it felt kind of cool to wrench on my own bike. I just hope no one gets any kind of ideas that this will be a regular activity going forward. I'm like Cole Trickle... or rather, I want to be. I want to get in the car and drive. I don't need to know what I'm talking about!

Nah, actually I think it's a great opportunity to learn to do my own wrenching. I'm long over-due. Unfortunately I don't have time to learn that much since I picked up some extra slack lately.

I did finally get to the trailhead, though.

Solid riding. No snakes today (I guess not too surprising as there wasn't much available sun).

For those of you concerned...we've been eating well lately! "Splurged" on quinoa twice this week.

Yes. I like grilled bell peppers.

Getting back, but not on the wagon just yet...

2010-04-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday I was 29 and single.

But, not solo

Zippy came out to ride with me a bit. Sadly my foot was acting up about an hour or so in, so I turned around early and took it slow on the way back down. It was a good ride, though. I only felt like puking, but never did.

This guy wouldn't get off the trail. I was worried about a back of the leg strike as I hurried by.

Anyone lose something today?

Justin is making progress...he beat "Need for Speed Carbon".

Not sure what tomorrow holds... two appointments with specialists in San Diego. Hopefully everything is shaping up okay and he's on the right path forward.

In addition to Stephanie making us a big care package of paleo-friendly food for the weekend, she also went out and won her first off-road tri!! Animal! WTG to go, Steph! Makin' us proud.

Fractured Easter

2010-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, after our slew of great weekends, our good fortune ran out. Friday morning I finally came to terms with the fact that I had trained myself into my first overuse injury ever - sesamoiditis. I had actually told Justin that at some point in my "down time" I wanted to do some research on athletes, injuries, and getting through setbacks.

About 11:40 Justin was heading out to do a training ride at lunch while I ran a few errands (trying to get stuff together for metatarsal pads for my injured foot, actually). I was in Target when my phone rang just after noon. Justin said he had gone down on his bike and was badly injured and I had to come get him. It was fragmented, but I set down my basket and hobbled out of the store as fast as I could and took off down the road. Of course, I hit every light and was behind every slow person out driving around.

My phone rang again down the street from where Justin was waiting, and he was calling again. A woman came on the line and said he wanted me to make a decision about whether or not to call an ambulance. I arrived a minute later to a landscaping truck and trailer on the side of the road and Justin laying bloody on the ground beside it.

I think he hit the trailer pretty much head on. His Specialized S-Works helmet likely saved his life.

The helmet is severely dented in the front, and the foam completely broke apart; just as it should have done. Planning on taking it to Rock N' Road at some point to send back to Specialized (with a thank you note). His bike frame (2009 Tarmac SL2), sadly, is destroyed.

I called 911 shortly after arriving, and we waited a few minutes for it to show up. I had no idea what to do. I've never been on the scene of an accident, much less been directly involved. I took a few pictures... obviously. Not sure if the EMT's thought I was weird or what.

I headed out to the ER where they thought they'd take him and made a call in to work that I was at the ER and likely out for the rest of the afternoon. I had no idea what was wrong with Justin, but they had put him in a brace and on a backboard before taking him due to the neck pain complaint.

Once there I had to fill out some paper work, and the instant I was by his bedside in the ER I was paying the co-pay. They'd asked Justin for payment, but he left his wallet in his other pants.

I was absolutely starving and feeling faint, so when they took Justin out for x-ray's I ran over to work to get my stuff and grab my lunch. When I came back, some time before 2:30, they were planning to have him transported to the other area hospital for an MRI. He wanted to be off the back board, but everyone kept saying no way, and to not move his head. At all. Kind of scary.

When he left for the MRI I went home for a few, and rushed back, beating him by about 45 minutes. In the meantime, I'd posted up on Facebook the picture of him with his head strapped to the board, covered in red gauze.

My dad came over and kept us company for a little while after dinnertime. We saw the neck x-ray with the tear drop fracture, and some of the techs tried to keep Justin a little cleaner.

Justin was in surprisingly good spirits. That is, until he finally decided he wanted meds, just before the ortho surgeon came in to clean out his knee. They brought the meds about 15 minutes too late. He was in a lot of pain as the doctor prodded, poked, and started to cleanse the wound. It got bandaged up, and Justin started to get drowsy.

Not long after the general surgeon came back to stitch up his face. It had to have been around 11pm.

I was exhausted and frustrated. Justin was hungry and groggy, feeling nauseous. They kept promising us admittance, and then everyone would disappear. They couldn't feed Justin, and everything took forever (IV, pain meds, answers). Due to a few random complications it was 1 am before he got into a room and settled. He was out of his bike kit (the jersey was cut off at the MRI by an upset tech - had zippers and his pockets were full of keys and food), but never really cleaned up. I left to go home as I needed sleep and a clear head.

Once home I did sleep, for 5 or so hours, before getting up and rushing back to the hospital. My dad stopped by again that morning and hung out for awhile as we waited for answers. We thought Justin would be discharged Saturday afternoon. The doctors didn't come around much, didn't say much when they did, and the nurses couldn't tell us anything. We watched TV, and then mostly spent time on the phone or texting to keep in touch with everyone.

Finally Saturday late morning Justin was allowed food. He was ecstatic and his mood immediately improved, even if he was only allowed pudding and jello.

That afternoon a PT showed up to "walk" Justin around.

His knee was fine for weight-bearing, as tolerated. His neck made getting up and down painful, and his left shoulder was bad off as well, we didn't know why. He made a short trek down the hall before heading back to bed and needing more pain meds.

A bit later a second PT arrived to give him his real neck brace. I requested numerous times throughout the day for his neck and head to be cleaned up when his brace was changed out, since no one had ever cleaned his neck or head after the accident. The PT was awesome and really helped to get off some of the dried blood. The nurse? Not so much.

I ran out of food and water, and was getting antsy, so it was nice when my dad came back to take me out for some food. I remembered on my way out that Luke was on his way over, so Justin wasn't going to be left alone. Was very thankful for Luke keeping him company; it really helps to pass the time and take our minds off of the inevitable.

After dinner my dad ran me around looking for blueberry muffins and easter candy (yeah surprisingly hard to find a single Cadbury Egg the night before Easter). Got back to the hospital room and sat around watching TV until a friend from work came in late. I didn't know anything about visiting hours. The nurse came in around 10:30 and asked me if I was going to the stay the night. Justin wanted me there so he didn't have to worry about not being able to breathe as he slept (a side effect of the trauma to his neck). I said I was. She told me I couldn't. So, I left.

I wasn't "tired" when I get home, but eventually went to bed and slept. Until before 2 am when Justin called me, since he couldn't breathe when he fell into a deep sleep. He kept getting woken up by the machine yelling that he didn't have enough oxygen in his blood. The nurses couldn't understand his problem (literally), and weren't any help. I felt helpless, and was really worried.

The next morning he said they finally took him for another CT scan overnight. I spent some time cooking some food that needed to be cooked at home before heading to the hospital. His mom and sister were there. It was Easter morning. Oh. Yeah.

I dressed up and everything.

I was going to wear this Saturday night at the Women of Dirt premiere in Hollywood.

After his mom left my dad came over, and Nancy and Roger weren't far behind. It made the morning go by pretty fast. We decided to sit back and watch "The Blindside" (yeah we're going to catch up on the movies we've missed the past 4 years).

Gettin' used to the new digs

My dad came over again and took me out for dinner. While I was gone a guy from college that we also worked with stopped by and kept Justin company. Such perfect timing!

I decided to sleep there that night (just laid down and once we were sleeping no one asked me to leave) to make Justin feel better and so he could finally get some sleep. And, he did. He got a good solid night's sleep.

Monday we got up kind of late, and I got dressed listening to the rain pour down outside. The general surgeon finally showed up before 9 and said after a few things that Justin could start the process of being discharged. We also were finally told of the two additional fractures in his neck that they had seen 24 hours before and not told us about.

I was pretty happy, and with some of the incompetence around there, I think Justin was also.

Now we're back home, trying to re-adjust to life as "normal". We've got doctor's appointments and follow-ups coming. Not sure how to deal with returning to work or anything just yet. Justin can't drive until his braces come off and we have no idea when he might return to work.

Training is off the books for now (even for me, obviously), and so is racing. It's disappointing to know that we were both on track for a great season, and it's being cut short, but the fact is that I'm happy Justin is alive and able to move and will be fine once this is all over.

I said it almost 7 years ago, and I say it again:

I, Allison, take you, Justin, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

Thank you to everyone that has taken time to stop by and visit! We both appreciate all of the offers to assist as well. Some people that know us might realize that Justin and I are fairly self-sufficient and take care of things just the two of us. If I knew what to ask for, I might take people up on the offers, but I just have no idea!

2010 Pro XCT Fontana National

2010-03-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

My weekend started on Friday, as the big race weekends often do! Justin and I had taken a half day at work on Friday to get out and pre-ride the fully marked course with new Pro only sections.

I was a little nervous, because we had tried out the one descent last year, at my Pro debut, on Friday before the races, and I had resigned myself to having run through the loose dirt and big rocks, but found out Sunday morning before the race that at the Pro Rider / Manager meeting they had taken it out for the women.

This year Justin and I climbed up the elevator/National climb and up top saw the Pro's hung a right down a big rock face. What! This section was killer. I thoroughly enjoyed riding it. Justin took off down the pro descent in front of me, and not knowing what to expect I figured I'd ride what I could and dismount when/if necessary. To my surprise there were 3 good lines burned in from the first big turn and somehow I picked a line that I cleaned without issue my first time through. Stellar! We finished out the lap putting in a few opening efforts.

All told we wound up making 3 trips up the elevator climb and doing the descent 3 times before calling it a day. Still totally loving my Ergon GA1 grips. They have been awesome this season.

Geoff had railed a more central line and was supa fast, but I stuck with my slower safer line!

I felt good on the course overall and was looking forward to Saturday.

The drive home wasn't so stellar, and we were up kinda late, but I got a decent's night sleep and after some Kimo Bean coffee (I need more!) I was dancing full tilt boogie in the kitchen as I did breakfast dishes. Justin told me save it for the race! Tried to reign in the energy expenditure after that!

We got on the road early so we could set up our pit area, and it was about as we hit traffic on the 15 before 60 that we started to worry the Rock N' Road EZ-up tent hadn't stayed staked in the ground. We had locked the ez-up to Tim's VeloSport ez-up, which was not staked down. As we drove by the sports park we were happy to see that the tents were indeed still in place, sort of! Tim's tent had rotated around our tent, but they were safe and secure. Gusts of probably 30-50 MPH were blowing, and there was a big constant wind as well blowing from the NE. Made sitting outside the truck not super pleasant, so I just tried to relax and wait until it was time to head out for a warmup.

I was just getting out of the truck as I noticed a big commotion with the tent's. Two guys were grabbing them and I noticed Justin underneath one trying to hold it down with his weight. The RNR tent was upside down (stakes all pulled up), but miraculously in tact. Tim's VeloSport tent took the brunt, but was salvageable!

We brought in some brute force replacements and tied down our EZ-up with a heavy Park Tools bag, and the back of the truck. I think somehow the wind was picking up!

Bike, race ready!

Warm up was pretty brutal. Either a massive going nowhere headwind or a tailwind. Got in my efforts, though, and due to the dry air determined I'd start with drink mix but would most probably switch to plain water. I learned that bit of lesson from Sea Otter last year. Never come "prepared" without a lot of plain water also. I was somewhat stuck with drink mix and couldn't drink, so wound up pretty dehydrated and underfueled liquid-wise, and had had too much to eat snack-wise waiting for the race.

I had seen earlier (and assumed as much the night before) that my call-up would be way down the list. I think I was 15-16 out of 20 or so. I had actually really expected a bigger turnout at Fontana this past weekend for the Pro Women. Even though the turnouts have been low, the competition has been fierce. Super fast women out there throwing down, and the racing has been really really solid.

I got the last spot on the 2nd row of line up.

Luckily I had cruised around the start/finish before race start, so I saw the start/parade lap loop and got to practice that. Some tight corners where no one had ridden, so the dirt was nice and soft.

The bell sounded and off we went and somehow I found myself sitting in the top 5-6 women going through the chicane's. I was stoked because I know that traffic bottlenecks around the first tight 180 after the feedzone, and then on the short climb by the 4x track. It'd open a little for a short stint before the steep climb leading to the Elevator/National climb, and I knew that would definitely lead to some separation between the first pack and the chase group, and passing isn't easy on the singletrack at Fontana.

I held my position, and I think was in 4th or so on the Elevator. Most were walking the second steep pitch, which had been easier to clean on Friday. We hit the descents and were railing through the breeze, and then hit with a wall of wind on the pavement climb up to the water tower.

It was brutal. No rest at all. I think Lene, Georgia, Willow and Heather were up in front and at some point on lap 1 I saw Pua closing in on me and wanted to try to hold her off as long as possible. She got me I think either right before or right after we started lap 2. Kelli wasn't too far behind, but I managed to stay with her. We were really evenly matched for most of laps 2-4 going back and forth throughout the course. Somewhere I think on lap 2 or 3 in between singletrack sections Ty had called out that she was in 7th. I got 10th at Fontana last year and had been stoked, so sort of thought that it was pretty good. What! This is a race.

I can't remember who at that point was in front of me, but Kelli and I passed Heather at some point I think around lap 3 on the pavement climb maybe.

Lap 4 I remember looking up the Elevator and seeing Georgia. Kelli must've seen her also. We went around the descents and hit the pavement and as we both were gasping for air, being brutalized and tormented by the head wind Kelli said something like, "Georgia's right there." Okay then! I went. Or, I tried to go. The headwind didn't allow me much of an attack, but we did bridge the gap. Georgia hit dirt before we did, but we caught up and went around on a short climb a minute or two later.

The normally fun and flowy singletrack had a crazy headwind also, and around every corner there was another wall of wind to stop me in my tracks.

I was feeling really tired and burnt, but Kelli and I were racing head to head, and we kept putting in efforts. I think she knew I was getting water on the short climb after the cul-de-sac (really seemed like a super tactically astute racer), so put in an attack there. Justin was there last lap cheering me on and I pushed harder than I had been already and wound up gasping for air and feeling like I was hyperventilating. I tried to relax on the next short descent where I had crashed on Friday (in front of NED OVEREND of all people) and catch my breath again for the sprint across the flats.

I did wind up bridging a little of the gap Kelli had opened up, but she finished just ahead of me.

I pulled over at the finish line and saw some of the familiar faces of friends and acquaintices that had spent the last hour forty cheering me on in various parts of the course, ringing cowbells, and dealing with wind and blowing sand just to watch the Pro Women throw down. The cheers were amazing all over the course, from the start/finish line to the feedzone, up on the Elevator climb, down the Pro descent. It was so awesome to have people out calling my name, and cheering on all of the Pro women. Thank you so much to everyone that comes out to spectate. You may the experience more bearable!

Justin ran over and told me I got 5th. I didn't believe it! I was ecstatic.

Nancy, who had been near the pro descent for the whole race ran over and gave me a big hug. Nancy has always been an inspiration to me, and continues to be so to this day. The Denmother is still out killing it on the downhill race course. If you're in town, come show your support for women's cycling in So Cal this weekend at the Women of Dirt event.

I chatted with a few of the other pro women (Emily asked how my lungs/throat felt - burned!) and chatted with Colt for a few minutes before deciding a short spin was probably in order.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Such a cool experience to have my first National podium at Fontana.

Saturday night we had a nice dinenr with my dad to celebrate, and then had to get home so I could prep more race/water bottles and get ready for Sunday's "triple": Justin's XC race bright and early; short track, and then Super D in the afternoon.

I didn't sleep much. The body was wired, I guess. Got up really early for breakfast and headed north. I wasn't feeling great, but figured I'd give it what I had, and Justin wasn't sure if he was ready or not!

He got warmed up and had some stress because I wasn't in the feedzone early, but got himself situated and got a spot on the front line for his wave. His start looked good and I cruised back to the feedzone to wait and get pics on lap 2.

Since he'd taken a full 24oz bottle the plan, I thought, was to pick up a freshy going on lap 3 for the rest of the race. 23 or so minutes later he came through yelling for water. I had the camera in my hand. No water. D'oh!

I'm not such a good feedzone support person!

I felt awful. I cheered on a few others racing, and stewed about ruining his race. I made sure to be prepared this time with bottles at the ready. He called out for water and the handoff went smooth. I wasn't sure, but thought he was in the top 3! Not many Cat 1's in front of him (maybe 3-4 at most), but traffic was building up with the various waves.

I emptied my water bottle to have a fresh bottle for him for lap 4, and lucky I did as he took it before going out. I didn't see anyone but Gary Douville that I reconized from his category, so knew he had to be holding on to 2nd!

I finished up feeding for Ryan H and headed over to the start/finish to cheer on Justin as he came through around 30 seconds behind Gary! Amazing! I was so stoked for him to have such a good race.

Since it was getting later in the day I wanted to head out on the road bike for an hour cruise, but it just didn't work out. I did wind up getting out for about 30 minutes as a pre-warm up, warm-up, then came back to get prepped for short track warm-up. The day had been fairly mellow. I wasn't feeling great, and the hot temperature made it sort of uncomfortable. I struggled a little to really stoke the engine in warm-up despite a few efforts, but felt ready to go when I got back to the venue. It was really warm, even standing in the shade waiting for call-up. It hadn't occurred to me at all, but realized as they called everyone up one by one that I'd be last with no real short track experience other than Bonelli 2 weeks prior.

I wasn't too stoked on my start line position, but took it for what it was worth, and before I knew it we were off and I was one of the stragglers.

As we hit the big 180 I was forced to dismount and the pack was gone leaving a few of us behind. We managed to catch near to the tail end, but lap 2 the same thing happened. I wasn't feeling it at all and was wondering how long it'd take for them to pull me. Justin yelled out as I went by near the start/finish to not stress about it. So, I didn't. Instead I decided to change my mood and instead of making tactical errors and putting in efforts to pass where it was a wasted effort I sat in until I knew I could accelerate away a little. I was way back in the group, but was starting to make some passes. I passed one group, and then pretty much put in a solo effort for about 3 laps before catching on to the tail end of Pua, Emily, and Judy. Judy nearly went down and was off her bike on one sharp turn and I couldn't go around, but passed and had a bunch of cheers/yelling my direction to make the catch to Emily and Pua, so kept soloing. Pua got loose around the same corner on the bell (final) lap and I wanted to hold her wheel. We both shifted into our biggest gears with the finish line in sight and she got me by about 2 bike lengths or so.

Probably should have started out with more oomph for a higher finish, but I was stoked that I was able to come from behind and found out much later in the day that I'd finished 9th overall.

I should've taken some time to spin around, but I just wanted water. My throat and mouth were super dry. There's no time to drink in short track, really. I had one small sip on the final lap after the feedzone just for hoping for an extra oomph!

Oops. I pedaled around here and there watching Pro Men's ST and chatting with Christina of the now infamous Cougar Class (way to go 1st place!) and then cruised around. It was about 4pm when someone said to get up to Super D, so I smashed myself trying to make it up to the start and not miss it! The pavement climb was super hot, and I got up there all sweating and hot, and stood around in the shade chatting with the pro ladies. I think everyone is usually pretty tired this time of day over a race weekend. We were 2 hard races in, hot weekend, lots of wind. We knew the start antics would be "fun".

They had us line up our bikes leaned against the water tank fence, and we had to run from maybe 30-50 yards back up the pavement and then hop on le mans style. I've only ever done one super D previously (Bonelli), so had no idea what to make of the running start. I was either last or close to it after we started, and I think was sitting 4th or 5th on the singletrack as we climbed. Sue led it out with Krista, Kelli and Amanda right there. I think Kelli went around before the second singletrack section, and I managed to get around Amanda, with Sue and Krista ahead. I felt "off" throughout the singletrack section. Just couldn't get a rhythm, and then I dropped my chain entirely off. Luckily I didn't have to stop and fiddle with it. I downshifted on the front and it picked it back up and off I chased.

I saw Sue and Krista on the short climb after the cul-d-sac and knew I had to settle or make a move. I bridged the gap and was on Krista's wheel as she went around Sue, and as I tried to hold her wheel I just kept going around and led into the next singletrack. I hit the flats, put my head down and just motored with everything I had left. I knew I was sapping the tank to make that last little rocky climb, but I needed a gap. I looked under my arm and didn't see anyone immediately on my wheel, so just kept it moving. I knew someone was close behind as I dismounted on the rocks, but got back on it and took 2nd.

Stoked!

I was pretty spent after that, so should've spun down (again), but just sat on the grass in the shade drinking water. Did that for the next hour or so listening to the DH podiums (so stoked for Roger, Nancy, Traci, and everyone! WTG peeps).

Overall, it was an amazing race weekend. I was glad that I signed up for Short Track and Super D since I think it's good practice getting in the hard days back to back. I do need to find a way to get in more spinning time between/before the races, though. Volume was super low for me this weekend.

I'm definitely learning a lot, and fully enjoying each race this season, despite how utterly brutal both short track and super d have been! I'm loving the ride and can't wait to see what's around the corner.

Women of Dirt

2010-03-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Check out the link below to purchase tickets and find out more info about the Hollywood premiere of "Women of Dirt".

In addition to screening this movie about female mountain bikers, they will also be honoring the 5 most influential women in So Cal cycling, and selling paintings to benefit the Bahati Foundation, So Cal Interscholastic Cycling League, LACBC, and the Mark J Reynolds Fund.

Please check out the link and come support women mountain bikers!

Another good weekend

2010-03-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

The weekends around here have been pretty stellar this year. It's great to be able to get away from the desk for a few days and spend time on the bikes or hanging with friends. This weekend was no exception!

We got a late start both days, and got home well after dark, but got in two solid rides in Orange County (change of scenery!) and had a blast riding bikes.

Justin had put a deposit on a 2009 closeout frameset for a Tarmac SL2 a few weeks ago, and the final build was all ready to be picked up Saturday morning. So, we stopped by Rock N' Road to pick it up with some other random goodies (yet another Halo for me, because I always forget to bring one, some nutritionals, and some sweet custom Rock N' Road Sock Guy baselayer sleeveless tees). I'd never used this type before, but used it both Saturday and yesterday and was very pleased!

From there we headed over and got a late start riding Aliso Woods over near the coast. We knew it was going to be a day heavy on the hills side of things, and we came up with some pretty good repeats and had a blast on the descents and just riding around chatting with others.

Cruising out to the bottom of Mathis

Sooo green

Top of the World

Love riding my S-Works Epic

From there we cruised over to the top of Meadows where I enjoyed listening to the bugs buzzing and the breeze blowing

I came around the corner to massively tall flora and it sooo reminded me of Crested Butte... sort of!

Awhile later the fog was rolling in...

Rock-It!

Cruising back up to Mathis for one final push

Fun descending back to the truck

Sunday it was time to break in the new Tarmac in the family!

I was stoked to get some new white shoes (white grip tape is new as of last night - love the S-wrap Roubaix tape).

After Steph and Dan got in their weekend trail run they met us at Pannikins where we demolished Dan's baked goods and all enjoyed some coffee.

Justin and I took it a bit slower on the way back up the coast (head wind, and we were getting pretty tired). His saddle slipped a few times, so we stopped here and there.

I was running low on energy, and out of fluids as we hit the final push in the rapidly cooling evening air...

Wasted.

Looking forward to some more intervals this week! Always a good time.

Stopped at Pannikins

US Cup Triple Crown Bonelli Park

2010-03-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

or… This isn't the same Bonelli.

My first XC race was at Bonelli Park in October 2007. I signed up for Sport Women Open. I knew nothing about training, nutrition, or racing. I was racing my sweet Dos Niner set up as a 1x9 (special Boone 29T ring, since I couldn't handle a 32T up front). There was one other woman at the line, and she took off before I had even shifted down on my cassette. The other passed me about 1/4mi in to the race.

Yup, that was me in October 2007.

I'll be honest, I don't remember much about the race. I think I went back and forth with another female about my age that kept passing me on the climbs, and I'd get her on the descents. I think she crashed 2-3 times and called it a day. There was a massive cacti patch on the hill that we all climbed this past weekend (the switchbacks) and a bunch of people crashed there.

I did the same race in 2008 I believe in Expert… only female out there.

I think Tinker lapped me on lap 2 of 4!

Since there isn't usually a lot of competition in the local Cat 1 ranks, I requested an upgrade to Pro Women XC in late 2008. USAC denied the request, asking for more solid results at bigger events, so I set out to put in some solid and smart training, and realized that Chipotle wasn't "health" food.

My next time racing at Bonelli was a little different. I actually had been training and watching my nutrition a little more closely for about 4 months by the time I got to the race. I was stoked that the Cat 1 women got to start with the Pro's. It was the first race of the season, and I was on my new 2009 S-Works Epic. I was super nervous, but shot out of the gate and found myself riding on the wheel of Melanie McQuaid and going back and forth with Krista Park! It was awesome getting to watch Krista race, and follow her around the course for my 2 laps.

After "bugging" them some more, USAC let me upgrade before the Pro XCT event at Fontana last year, and I was stoked!

Needless to say, I've done a good amount of racing at Bonelli, and have really kind of come full circle from the sport racer that was constantly getting dropped!

Justin and I got to pre-ride most of the Triple Crown Pro course the weekend before the event. We were tired from racing SRC, and the weather wasn't great, so we didn't spend much time out there. We got out of work early Wednesday before the race and set out on a few laps to test the bike setups and the tires, and I was stoked to have the course a little more dialed in.

I felt ok but not great Friday on our ride at lunch, and then spent about 4 hours in the kitchen cooking and prepping for the weekend while Justin finalized the bike stuff in the garage.

Got bottles?

Justin made a few "tactical" errors Friday night. He came in to shower and said that one of my crank bolts had shattered, but it would be okay and we'd get it replaced before Fontana. No worries. I forgot about it.

I was up way before the alarm Saturday morning and felt ready to go! We got up to the venue before noon and I got in the longer than expected registration line. Had hopped to get in a lap or so before the juniors went off.

Justin had the Team Rock N' Road Cyclery pit all dialed in when I got back from registration.

We got kitted up and I went to clip in to my pedal and my foot fell to the ground. I thought (new shoes n all) I had missed the pedal, so tried again. Realized my cranks were parallel (this is no bueno). Justin looked at them and realized it was not going to work. I sort of started to panic. He ran around asking for crank bolts.

He set me up on his hard tail, and was lucky enough to get hooked up with a way to put my crank rings on his drivetrain, since his crank arms were NOT fitting in my frame. So, I went out to get used to a bike I'd ridden once and that was a size too big.

It wasn't my bike, but I'd make it work. I thought about Beth's blog on making lemonade from the week before, and I was just going to make some for myself!

I got back to the pits and Justin told me that Juan (who is a Specialized demo rep that happened to be at the event with some sweet bikes!) had given up his personal crankset for the weekend for me to race on. What a life saver!

So, I hopped back on my bike and did a short loop around the course after the junior races had finished so I could check out my tire set up and finish warm-up.

I felt about as prepared as I was going to get, and lined up as the men were just about to head out on their start/parade lap with the other women. The women's turn out was pretty low (11 starters), but it was also stacked! With Lene Byberg, Heather Irmiger, and Kelli Emmett from the World Cup circuit, Pua Sawicki with multiple 24-hour national titles and a Marathon World Cup Pro, Amber Neben who was a road TT World Champion, Chloe Forsman and Kay Sherwood with strong U23 and collegiate finishes, Krista Park who has competed nationally, Rebecca Tomaszewski who is a top-level SS and endurance mountain biker, and new to the Pro ranks Anna Fortner.

This crew was no joke!

I lined up I think on the far right of the first row and managed to hold on to the 2nd pack coming around by the feedzone (shown in Rick Watts' video below). I think the groups came back together while out on the start loop and we all took off up the first steep climb toward the singletrack on the lake side pretty much in single file.

Pro Women's Start lap (thank you to Rick Watt's!!)

I was on Pua's wheel for the first descent, and made sure to stick like glue to her on the short climb back up. I think I was sitting in about 6th place for most of the lap, and we would all regroup here and there, with small gaps forming. On the flats out to the other part of the course I caught back on to Chloe's wheel, and Pua went around both of us.

Photo: Dave Wrolstad

I think I managed to come around Chloe on the next climb and Pua continued to accelerate. I was with Heather on a short paved section in between the rollers and the small climb before we descend to the swim beach flats and climb up the switchbacks. We yo-yo'd a bit with me in front after that through the feedzone, and then she came around on the steep climb, and I think I passed back before the singletrack climb back up. I knew Heather was back there and we were all suffering, and the gap up to the top 3 (Pua, Kelli and Lene) was staying somewhat consistent for lap 3.

Photo: Dave Wrolstad

Lap 4 my legs started to get pretty packed up, but I continued to push. I wasn't sure of the gap from me back, but I knew that Pua was out of my sights for the most part, and that that gap was starting to get bigger. I didn't panic, just kept my pace as high as I could and tried to keep it moving. I knew coming in to lap 4 it was time to take a bottle, and decided to yank my visor since it was acting like a giant sail on all of the flats.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Thanks to Colt from Cycling Dirt for the killer coverage (as always).

Lap 5 I came around and shifted into my smaller ring on the steep climb at the beginning of the lap. I noticed my thumb shifter didn't seem like it was in the right place, but I down shifted anyway. When I went to shift into the bigger gear at the top of the short climb, what I figured was the case was truly the case… my front shifter was busted. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I'd be doing the entire lap in a 26T ring. Not exactly the best situation, but I hoped I had a big enough gap that it wouldn't matter. I was probably spinning about 120 RPMs on the flats and descents just trying to keep some momentum going, but I lost some time. I knew I was in the home stretch, though, so I made sure to smile for the photographers this time around.

Photo: Tom Shao

I was really stoked to have had such a great race. It was a lot of pain and suffering and pushing myself, but it was great to hang up front with some of the leaders for the early laps, and it was such a fun course. I know we've all got a long season ahead of us, and I don't think anyone went in to this race feeling particularly fresh or on top of their game, but it was still a really solid XC race.

I had no idea what was going to happen for Sunday since I hadn't really conserved what-so-ever. We were some of the last to leave the venue Saturday evening, and set out for some blackened salmon, rice, veggies, and a glass of vino. Yeah, so Justin and I also had dessert…

We checked in to the hotel around 8, and I sat on my butt while Justin fixed himself up with a new rear tire. My body utterly was in a state of disarray and had no desire to sleep. When we finally laid down around 10 pm (with the clock turned forward so it was actually 11 pm sort of) there was a lot of hotel noise. Justin requested nicely that the people outside quiet down, but it didn't really work out. Then it was about 85F in the room, so we turned on the A/C, and then it was about 65F in the room.

Since Justin's race was at 8:30 on Sunday (meaning getting there by 7 to set up and for him to be able to warm up before the race) we got up at 5:45. I think we wound up with about 3 hours of sleep. With coffee Sunday morning we got to the venue and I was HOPPING! Dancing around to music playing on the loud speaker and raring to go. My race, unfortunately, was still 6 hours away!

I supported Justin in the feedzone and by cheering and taking crappy pictures.

When Justin came around to the finish he was sprinting with 2 other guys. I knew that Gary Douville most likely had first (but a smaller gap than normal!), so I thought Justin had sprinted for 4th. When we looked at the results, though, 2nd place finished just ahead of him, and he was 3rd overall! He actually was in the way of a sprint for another age group (AG). Was super stoked for him! I think that was his top finish for that many guys in his AG, which is awesome. The hard work is paying off.

I got a short little warm up massage and felt utterly relaxed. My warm-up for short track wound up being a lot shorter than I would have liked, but my legs were feeling the effects of the day before and very little recovery or sleep. I had no idea how it was going to go, but I figured it only being 10 minutes plus one lap was better than it being 20-30 minutes.

As expected, it was utterly brutal. I had half a bottle of water, but never had a chance to drink any. It was all out with yo-yo's like in a big group road ride hammer fest, and I never knew when the group was going to go or when they were going to sit up, so I pretty much just "went" the whole time.

Bell lap there was a bit of a gap between Lene, Kelli, Heather and Chloe and then Amber, Pua and I. I made the tactical error of trying to pass on the only short rise in the course and wound up in a big rain rut at almost a complete standstill. I spent the rest of the lap to the grass sprinting to catch back on, running out of gears and legs in the process. I caught the tail end of Amber and Pua as we all entered the finishing sprint, and Pua outsprinted Amber with me falling a little ways back.

Super cotton mouth and I don't think there was any way to rehydrate from that! Felt like I'd been in the sahara desert for about a month with no water! I tried to spin around a little, and instead just kind of sat around in a daze. Justin was snacking on some sweet potato chips, and I realized all I wanted at that point was to snack and take a nap.

Instead we headed out in search of the Super D course, and wound up pedaling out there with Chloe and Pua, and catching on to the train of Kelli and her teammate Carl Decker. We had a fun run down the course while the Pro Men were warming up for Short Track.

I kind of sat around for awhile, and quickly it was time to pedal off to the start. I think a few of us women were kind of tired from the weekend and looking forward to finishing up. I sat down in the shade of the weeds near the top with Krista and Chloe as we waited for the Pro Men to go off. A few of the pro women chose not to Super D, so we got through our class pretty quickly.

I felt actually pretty good throughout. The one big climb I felt kind of slow on (in too big of a gear), but got through the rocky descent, crossed the road and felt pretty spent. Justin was standing on the sidelines cheering, and I tried to put in an effort for him, but had nothing left.

Just after I was out of his sight I came to a fork in the fire roads. I'd only done the Super D course one time, so thought I was out to the last descent and started to veer left to go down the hill. Just as I got to the course tape someone yelled "You're going the wrong way!" I scrubbed all speed, stopped, and veered back on course just at the bottom of a steep hill. Totally in the wrong gear I cranked up it really slowly, and hammered my way to the finish line for 4th.

Overall, I was pretty stoked on my 5th place for the weekend.

XC podium:

Super D podium:

I learned a few things in short track and super D, and hope to race a few more of those this season! I made two tactical errors that cost me (who knows how much?), and hope to take the lessons learned to make better choices next time around.

Still feel super beat from my efforts this weekend. I need to sleep!

Thanks again to everyone that was out cheering all weekend. It's great to hear people calling your name and ringing the cowbell when you're deep in the pain cave and suffering!

Not sure I will make it out to Rounds 2 and 3 of the Triple Crown, but I do highly recommend it to anyone that can make it!

Another weekend in the books!

2010-03-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

I was bummed last week seeing rain in the forecast AGAIN, but Justin and I had our plans set either way. Saturday we'd race the 5th and final Southridge USA Winter Series race in the morning, head north to pre-ride the Bonelli course in the afternoon, and try to hit the dirt with Stephanie and her new ERA on Sunday somewhere.

I was pretty sure Krista would be coming out with her new bike to race, but was stoked when there were 4 of us on the line! I introduced myself to Essence Barton, who I've heard of, but had never formally met, and unfortunately didn't get a chance to greet the 4th and final woman.

We staged behind the Pro Men and started in the same wave. Once off, Essence pulled in front of the women's pack, with me right on her wheel. We stayed pretty close to the back of the men's pack, and I made a pass around the 4x track, and tried to catch back on to the men's field. Once I hit the pavement, I was feeling good, so tried to put in some efforts and make some passes. Since I'd had no idea if I'd be racing alone, my goal for the race was to keep within the men's field as much as possible and have a good race, so that's what I what I did!

I'm still getting used to the 2x10 gearing, and made a few gearing selection errors through my 4 laps, causing either tripods or short hike a bikes where normally I've been fine. The 26/36 is just too easy of a gear to get much torque on super steep stuff, so I know I need to be down further on the cassette to really utilize the 26T chainring. The 36/36 is too big if I'm not spun up and accelerating before the steeper stuff, and the recent rains have left some rain ruts where normally they didn't used to be!

Overall the course was in great shape (though Donny didn't send us up the hike a bike in the beginning since it's not groomed) and I had a blast out there going back and forth with the other racers. The weather held out and was pretty perfect for race conditions.

Thanks to Krista's phone and Derek Hermon for the photo!

I saw on the results sheet the 4th woman had DNF'd, but it was Amber Neben! How freaking cool is that!! I hope she's out for some more local races, as that is pretty sweet.

After awards Justin and I headed north west toward Bonelli to try to pre-ride. Rain was threatening, and we really had no idea of what the course(s) were going to be, but we set out to get some time on the course, and just started following course tape until we ran into the man himself - Scott Tedro! Scott was nice enough to show us around for part of the loop, and then we set off to ride a little more. It was getting colder, darker, and later, so we wound up not finishing up a lap and instead stopped by Rock N' Road in Anaheim Hills for some nutritionals and much needed bike parts! Had a great time hanging out until closing!

Justin was the early bird on Sunday morning getting up before 5 am and making banana pancakes before our big "bag the peak" ride we had planned. It was about 7 and no one had called the ride, so we loaded up to hit the OC for a few hours of mountain bike fun.

The clouds were low over the mountains, but it was clear as we drove over. We could see patches of snow up near the peak, and the local foothills had a dusting.

As we got to Irvine we saw more snow up on Santiago and knew we'd be in for a bit of a cold and snowy day!

Got to Cooks around 9:15 and temperatures felt "ok", but it was cloudy with no real sign of clearing into a gorgeous day. Our pack set off up the road toward Harding around 10.

Blue skies ahead!

The peak is hidden by clouds

We hit Harding and had a 9 mile climb ahead of us

Around halfway up Justin managed to SLICE his rear tire. This guy could flat in a padded room.

The higher we climbed the thicker the fog got

Until it cleared up again!

The crew at Four Corners

From there we headed into the mist and up into the colder clouds as we neared the peak

Snooooow

There at last!

The sound of the snow and ice melting off of the towers was scary at first! It was really coming down good as the wind gusted.

Soon we set off for a slight bit lower elevation…

We got down to the bottom of the first singletrack, where it was exposed to the biting wind, so headed down to the top of lower Holy Jim where we all huddled for warmth. It was awesome.

Thanks to Potts for the camera and CHanson for the editing!

Chugga-chugga

Almost there, and the sky darkens

So, the ride wasn't as long as planned, and it wasn't all that intense, but I ate a lot of food anyway

Killer weekend overall. Next up is the US Cup Triple Crown Race at Bonelli!

Night Riding (and more power)

2010-03-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

It's literally been almost a year since Justin, Luke and I gave up our weekly night ride due to poor trail conditions, multiple motos, and paying a grip every month to ride.

Well, it was time to get back out in the dirt mid-week! I'm still pretty shot from a hard race on Sunday and not letting up on myself all week, but it was a fun ride anyway.

I dig mountain biking with CycleOps power! It's great to have the metrics to track stress and for future reference on wattage output for climbs as well.

Ryan hooked Justin up with a XX spider for Specialized cranks and the 42/29 double chainring setup. Justin installed it on his S-Works HT the night before and wanted to test it out for possibly running it at Bonelli. Hope we get in a pre-ride before the race, though!

Since it was so cold in the waning daylight last night we headed over to "warm up" on Dam Climb and I put in a big effort. The legs felt ok, but I felt like I was climbing with an anchor attached!

Once we hit the singletrack the boys proceeded to do their thing and drop me! My legs were sore, so I just hung back and enjoyed it. We hit the good stuff out there, with a few sections repeated for good measure.

Just like old times...

A bit after it was proper dark Luke headed home, and Justin and I went out for "just one more" short loop. Justin followed me down one singletrack, and my line was off. While I pulled out of a big rain rut, Justin somersaulted and crashed pretty hard. He took it easy on the way back to the truck, and home we went.

Look forward to doing this again that's for sure!

Kenda Cup West Sagebrush Safari 2010

2010-03-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

After a few hard weeks of training, last week I was happy to take the week off. I did one ride midweek, and otherwise spent my time resting and chilling out. It was a much needed break both physically and mentally.

Unfortunately, the forecast for Saturday was grim. Pretty much rain and wind and cold temps all day. Justin and I got up around 7 to steady rain. We got together breakfast (devil grains!)

and then while I packed up some things and worked on our tax return, he was out in the garage grinding away at the mess that is 6.5 years of parts and tools. It was around 10:30 or so when I realized there was some blue sky outside. I rushed to get dressed and make bottles, and urged him to do the same.

Once we got started the roads had somewhat dried. 13 minutes in to the ride we started to get dumped on. That continued, then it dried out a little, then we got drizzled on for about an hour or so. Got to a decent climb, and it was feeling warmer. That didn't last too long, though. After the one descent we hit it was really coming down. Crazy cross headwind and just pouring rain for about 20 minutes. Most of the rest of the 3+ hours we spent riding into a headwind.

It was awesome to have my legs and body finally come around and work together. Everything felt like it was re-aligned and ready to go! Overall the ride was pretty stellar. Didn't get cold until the end, and energy levels were solid despite probably not eating or drinking as much as I would have on a non-rainy day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing final prep for the first race of the year, and some house cleaning (finally!).

Sunday we got up bright and early and headed south to Lake Morena for the race: US Kenda Cup Sagebrush Safari.

We didn't know it when we pulled in, but got a prime pit spot!

I hadn't had time to ride my new 2010 bike from Rock N' Road Cyclery at all! Did a parking lot test Friday night and that was it. Was stoked to have the new XX bling, but had no idea how the shifting or gears were gonna work out!

Brand new white shoes and mudfest?

Justin and I got suited up and headed out to do some warming up a little after 10 am.

Since we both raced at 11, no race photos!

I sort of expected a bit higher turn out for Pro Women, but in the end it was Pua Sawicki, Rebecca Tomaszewski (Niner Ergon SS!), Anna Fortner and Dot Won from Team So Cal (CX). At the start, I knew Pua would lead us out on the long flats to the first climb. A small gap opened up right away between Rebecca on her SS and Pua, and I worked hard to close and pull myself back to Pua. Was ok sitting in, but there were a few rollers and I realized I had a really long race, so let off the gas a bit, and the gap continued to grow. I didn't see any women behind me at all, so just kept my pace strong, but steady. Pua disappeared up into the men's class once the climb started, and I set out to catch up to my SS buddy Mark Scheetz! Finally got him at the top of the climb.

I was STOKED to hit dirt on my new bike. I was having so much fun pumping the singletrack. I talked to James post-race, and it's so easy to forget you are racing on this stuff! Just had a blast riding my bike. Unfortunately not too much later I was faced with a massive hike a bike section! It just keeps going! Made it up that, then was sort of trading places here and there with other racers on the rollers up top. Temps were colder for sure.

I got down past the muck pot at the bottom, and just as I hit the fire road to climb back up to four corners Brian Crooks yells, "Grab my wheel!" Well ok then! He did a monster pull for me all the way to the pavement where I finally felt awesome and put in some efforts. Got back to four corners and was stoked to hit dirt again. Legs were definitely starting to feel it by now. I hadn't done much in the way of hard efforts yet period, much less 1.5 hours plus of racing! Tried to keep my pace solid and kept moving. Once back to the hike a bike the other classes were out as well, so I offered encouragement and cheers where I could.

Back to four corners one last time, and I was ready to enjoy the final descent. There was some mud here and there, but it was pretty groomed compared to last year (freshly graded and DUSTY) so I just had a blast railing the descent and pumping the rollers at the bottom.

Was stoked when a Cynergy racer came around me just at the pavement and I sat on his train back to the creek crossings where I slowed up (still got inundated!) and then to the finish line.

Overall, it was an amazing day to race! My bike was flawless, race went about as expected. I was glad that I was able to put in a strong weekend!

Despite not feeling "right" with the trigger positioning on Friday night, and not having any idea how going from a 3x9 to a 2x10 would work out, everything came together worry-free once the race started. Felt like all the "gears" fell into place and I had no issues with a brand new bike or brand new shoes. Out of the box the gear just fit and worked as well as I knew it would!

Thanks to Rock N' Road Cyclery and Ergon for the support this year. Also, big thanks to Tim from Troupe and Crankbrothers for hooking me up with a set of SHOE SHIELDS. If you wear carbon-soled shoes and don't use these - seriously consider getting a set. Talk to your LBS and have them start stocking them. We needed two sets last minute Saturday and out of 4 shops locally only one shop had one set; the other shops didn't even know what they were.

Big thanks to Team Big Bear, Sho-Air, and all the people involved in putting on the race. Course was great and well-marked, results were pretty quick. Can't wait for the rest of the series!

I rinsed my shoes off with a SUN SHOWER (not a high pressure hose or towel) and here's what they look like:

I love Specialized!! Great design not making any of the fabric white. Stellar.

Good Riding!

2010-02-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Justin and I managed to get in two great days of riding in amazing weather. So stoked. Saturday we set out from home and did a big road loop down to the coast and back with Luke.

I broke in the Tarmac right with plenty of mini-creek crossings and some mud!

Pace was mellow for the first half of the ride, but we somehow got caught up with a fast-paced paceline down on the bike path to Oceanside. Not so steady!

Justin's buzzing as Luke sets out for some aero bar time

The beach!

We stopped to fill up before heading back inland

One final stop before the last push home!

Spent the evening cleaning house and watching some Olympics coverage before prepping for our big day on Sunday and then bedtime!

Pre-ride brekkie

I remembered as we were about to pack up and head out that it was Valentine's Day! We had celebrated early (Friday) with surf & turf for dinner.

Heading up Maple Springs to chase Steph (and Chris)

Hittin' dirt

I love the sight of the snow-capped mountains in the distance!

In pursuit

Group up at 4 Corners

Heading out to Joplin

Not today, friend...

Justin Buzzing again

Joplin!

Finally made it!

Nick owns the steep slidey stuff

HAB

Steph and I at Old Camp

Luge!

Roading it up to Modjeska Grade and down to Harding

I think if he'd had more energy he would've flipped me off

4 Corners after the Harding climb

The crew finishing up before our descent down Maple Springs

Justin had offered free burritos, but after the parking lot fail in Irvine it was probably best there were only 3 of us, and a TON of food! We ate.

And ate again...

Powering it up on the dirt

2010-02-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my CycleOps power order came in with my aluminum rollers and my mountain bike disc brake PT hub.

In the meantime we had been waiting for a new Stans Crest rim to come in so Justin could build it up!

The rim arrived in the OC at Rock N' Road on Friday afternoon, but oddly enough, not the shop he was at ;)

Due to the impending storm, and current rainfall, we didn't settle on a weekend riding plan until Friday after dinner. Justin set out to build my PT hub for the mountain bike so I could race on it Saturday morning. It meant for quite a late night for him, but he is the best husband ever, so he got it done.

We got up a little late on Saturday due to the rain, and when we arrived at SRC it was coming down pretty good. We parked, registered, and then hung out with the Denmother and Roger for a bit under Wendy's nice and dry EZ-Up. A few people mentioned the race start was being delayed. D'oh! Resolve was going to be tough to come by after another hour of rain submerging the parking lot.

At about 9 am they decided to start the race on time, which meant it was time for me to get on my bike and make sure the brakes were at least partly broken in. Brand new brake rotor, new brake pads, new hub. I rode around trying to warm up and then alternately slam on my brakes, or ride with them engaged for a few minutes. The course had rivers flowing heavily through some parts early on. Quickly enough it was time to line up.

There were a few other women out there, but no Pro Women except me, and I started in the back of the first wave. The course differed slightly from the first race, and we went through a raging stream, a puddle, and then a 2.5-3ft deep puddle before trying to negotiate a steep section that was rendered fairly unrideable on lap one due to erosion from the torrential rains.

The rain was off and on during lap 1, but as I came around for lap 2 the skies were actually clearing up nicely, the dirt was tacky and worn-in and it was looking like a good day was in order! Just as I got to about 2/3 of the way through the third and final lap I came down this dirt hill, crossed over a concrete section and was hit with torrential downpour and a headwind. Crazy! It rained like this the rest of the last lap, and continued after the race.

I needed some volume, so told Justin if we were riding we needed to head out now before I got cold! So, we grabbed fresh bottles and hit the road for an hour endurance spin post-race with Xterra racer Mike H. Clouds parted a little now and then, and we just made it back in time for awards.

PT data for the mountain bike race was awesome. Will be great to utilize this in the future on training rides and perhaps another race or two now and then.

Sunday we hit the road for a few hours and got it done. Roads were mostly dry by then. Killer Superbowl! Have been a huge Brees fan since he was a Charger. Most accurate QB in the league. Very deserving.

Been busy!

2010-02-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

Work has been about as busy as training lately, so not much blog-love. I know you guys love it when I go on and on and on about what I'm doing and eating.

Not specifically a photo blog, but here goes...

The weekend after Ray's we tried to set up to get back in the swing of big weekends on the bike. Fairly successful as we did a near-century on Saturday from up the highway to the coast and back, and then followed it up with a few hours on the dirt (it had been far too long for me) on Sunday with Steph and Dan.

Got in some solid training in between on the road, then we hit up a desert-style training camp this past weekend near Palm Springs. Did a roadie up near Joshua Tree, and hit up a solid few hours of singletrack yesterday.

Meanwhile, I also got my first order from CycleOps in the mail last week! Aluminum rollers followed by my mountain bike power tap. SAWEET. Waiting on rims and spokes right now so Justin can build it up! Can't wait to have some power metrics from dirt also.

Last Sunday, after the storm(s) we hit the dirt again, and I had a blast on Justin's HT

Stephanie was "fresh" off of her 12 Hours of Temecula Pro/Expert Win!

This past weekend on the road again...

The boys are nice enough to let me pull sometimes so I can obsessively hold all of my zones.

We stopped for a quick break before heading into what we thought was a road closure. So, we didn't fill up our bottles. As we road head first...into the desert...

Long road ahead with some awesome scenery

Ahhh...water at last

Check out this mini banana! Random, I know. Phone is for reference only

Luke brought out some killer wines for the evening. I really dig the Wiens Family Cellars Crowded.

Sunday we got up and headed for the "mountains" to hit some singletrack. Pretty perfect day, if I may say so myself. I was carrying a bit of fatigue monster on my back, but managed to pull out a decent climb near the end before we descended back to the trailhead. Felt pretty good.

STIL

Crouching Justin

Steph muscles it around

Perfect

Riding

Needless to say, didn't want to come back to work! Ah, the life...

"That's a sexy leg" or my trip to Ray's MTB Indoor Park

2010-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

About a week and a half ago I got an email heads up that Ray from Ray's MTB Indoor Park was looking for a few pro women to race the 2nd Annual Tri-Flow XC Indoor Invitational. Justin and I quickly changed up the training plans a bit and booked flights back east to head to Cleveland - in the middle of January!

I didn't really know what to expect. I'd heard of Ray's before, but had never been, and other than a few days at Whistler and Mammoth, had no dirt jump or bike "park" experience to speak of. Since we love riding our bikes, especially in new places, we took an extra day of vacation from work to head out and ride the park.

We were up way before sunrise on Thursday, and on the plane to meet the day. Didn't realize it'd be the last time I'd see the sun for 5 days!

Flying high over the Rockies

We got in to the Dawg Pound around 4, and headed for the hotel to build up my bike for some evening park time!

Seeing as how I am a geek to the max I made sure to strap up and use the Garmin. Didn't realize until day 2 that it actually got some satellite signal, even in the building!

In total Justin fashion, he managed to flat about 5 minutes into our first session!

After some laps on the course and practicing on the skill lines we went out to dinner with the owner and founder: Ray Petro

It's safe to say that the local Mexican joint was pretty close to what we have here in CA!

Since Thursday had been a late night and we had a long weekend, we opted to sleep in a bit and got to Ray's around noon on Friday for a lot more riding. By then US Olympian and World Cup Pro Adam Craig had arrived, along with fellow Pro female racer Lizzy English. Lizzy got her bike built up and we went out to preview the course.

After riding the XC TT loop and some of the skill lines it was time to hit the Red Bull Wall

After I crashed and burned on the wall in front of MBAction photographer John Ker, it was back to the skill lines for me!

I tried to get this table top down for 2 days

I finally cleaned it a few times Saturday morning, but never got close during the race.

I even hit the foam pit. On my Epic. Clipped in. In lycra. What an experience!

The trophies were SWEET

I got to pump the Ergon rollers

The Pro Women post-race (L-R: Lizzy English, me, Lindsey Bishop, Lindsey Prososki)

I got to meet Tyler Morland, which was sweet. Everyone's a comedian, eh!

Podium shots:

(L-R) Kyle Spisak, Adam Craig, Aaron Snyder, Tyler Morland, Justin Mann

A few of us went out post-race party and I can honestly say for the first time in my life I closed down not one bar, but two. I was sober, though! Long night, and we got up fairly early on Sunday to hit up Ray's for a few final rides and pack up for the flight home.

I wound up borrowing a 24" cruiser and Justin and I spent the morning playing on the pump track. It was a different experience riding the smaller hard tail with flat pedals, but I had a blast pumping the course once I figured it out. Then I got really sore and tired! Then it was time to pack up and head to the airport for the trip home.

Everyone agreed they were going to take their "legs" as carry-on luggage so they didn't get beat up. I was kind of nervous walking (ahaha!) this thing through security and the airport. We got some definitely shady looks as the security peeps checked our IDs against our plane tickets, but the actual people in security thought the legs were quite a hoot. No line at all, so they were just chilling. Let us on no problem. I was glad Adam was carrying his leg through at the same time, though. Made me stand out less like a sore foot, y'know?

We got some funny comments and a lot of strange looks, and until the last flight the leg was great in the overhead bins. Last flight, into ONT, the stewardess shoved it in there pretty good and I got a ding/knick on it. Ah well. It's still a sexy leg if you ask me!

I had a terrific weekend and was really happy that I got the chance to go race at Ray's. The vibe was great from the moment we arrived until we left. The local racers are awesome and super helpful and friendly, and people travel from all over the area to hit up Ray's on the weekend for some fun indoor park riding. It's a killer location to ride, so definitely check it out if you're anywhere in the area. They do rent a variety of bikes from little BMX to 26" dirt jumpers.

LATE EDIT: Here's a youtube vid Justin took with the Droid of me riding the pump track. Too bad I was really worn out at this point ;)

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2009 XC Race Results

2010-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Kenda Cup West #1 Bonelli Park - 1st Cat 1 Women 19-29

Pro XCT #1 / Kenda Cup West # 2 Fontana National - 10th Pro Women

US Kenda Cup West #3 Sagebrush Safari - 2nd Pro Women

Pro XCT #2 / Kenda Cup West #4 Sea Otter Classic - 14th Pro Women

Kenda Cup West #5 Santa Ynez - 3rd Pro Women

Idyllwild Spring Challenge - 2nd Pro Women

Big Bear Shoot-out #1 - 2nd Pro Women

Pro XCT #4 CTS Classic - 19th Pro Women

Rim Nordic Series #1 - 1st Pro Women

Downieville Classic All-Mountain - 6th Pro Women

Pro XCT #5 Mount Snow - 14th Pro Women

Pro XCT #6 Windham - 13th Pro Women

Pro XCT Series Overall - 12th Pro Women

US Cup Unification Race Bonelli Park - 1st Pro Women

US Cup Overall - 2nd Pro Women

CA State XC Championship / Fall Classic - 1st Pro Women

2009: Year in Pictures

2010-01-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Holiday Travels Part Two

2010-01-05T13:35:00.000-08:00

I never really got around to writing up a Year-In-Review blog, which I love to do, and also never finished up my holiday travels! We did some awesome riding in the So Cal desert, then went to Phoenix and did some great riding there. I did a little local riding, and before I knew it, it was New Year's Eve!

New Year's Day I was a bit sick (*ahem*), but managed to rally for some decent riding over the weekend. Wound up pretty fatigued, but still pulled out an hour endurance cruise yesterday solo. Weather has been AWESOME!

After seeing some family and friends in Phoenix, we sadly slept in too late and were too afraid of bad weather in Sedona to head up there, so instead we made the much shorter trek to the Black Canyon Trails a bit north of Phoenix. Bitchin' trails, for sure! We had a blast on the singletrack.

Bar-eye view

Attempting to rail

Had a lot of fun. I wore the shirt for Annie, but didn't wind up seeing her :(

Nice sunset driving back home.

It was cool to get home at a somewhat decent hour so we could prep for our huge road ride wanna-be fail that was scheduled for Wednesday. (Side note: how soon we forget! I had completely wiped this ride from memory as I struggled just now to recall what we rode that day.)

Wednesday there are no pictures; just my story. Suffice it to say... forecast was for cold weather and 20-30% chance of rain. Not very high for So Cal. Started out the ride from Lake Henshaw a little after 8 am. Temps were about 35F. I had on a UA summer base layer with a wool s/s over top, my jersey, a Deflect convertible jacket, and my Rock N' Road vest. Wool socks and Cyclone shoe covers. Then I had on Deflect gloves covered with Sub-Zero outer shells. I managed to stay warm except for my shins and face on the flat cruise out to the highways where we'd descend to Borrego Springs.

I actually got HOT a few miles down the road. Sun was poking through a bit, and we were climbing, so off came the Sub Zero's and the jacket. It was really windy when we got down to Borrego and cruised in an insane headwind from the highway to town for our regroup/refill stop. Took forever, but we all got there.

The fast guys took off first (great!) leaving the rest of us in chase. I started the climb with my vest in my jersey pocket and no gloves, and felt great. Skies were definitely cloudy, but the wind wasn't too bad on the lower slopes of the climb. We got a big higher and had a headwind in certain directions. Nothing bad. Temps were great for climbing. I DUG the climb. About 1/3-1/2 way up we got sprinkles misting us with the wind blowing. Not too much, but as we climbed it slowly and steadily got worse. I put on my gloves around one corner, and the next switchback up it was evident I needed to stop to put on my vest. Light mist was constant and the winds were probably between 15-20 MPH.

We got about 3/4 of the way up the climb and it was downright brutal. I remember pulling a Lt. Dan and screaming asking for more. It was unleashed. I rode with Justin and we turned a corner at one point and literally were stopped dead. We both were trackstanding, pushing as hard as possible on the pedals, in the easiest gear, and barely moving. The headwind was the most insane I've ever experienced, and the rain was coming down harder. I could barely feel my hands, and my feet were getting cold.

I asked if we were close to the top, and then didn't know why I'd asked; the weather wasn't going to change once we got there. We did indeed reach the top, with temperatures probably hovering under 40F and a crazy wind blowing straight at us. We had to stop to try to put on our other layers. I took my gloves off to fumble with my jacket and glove shells, and after that had no feeling in my fingers for 2 or so hours.

I spun behind Justin and one other guy for another hour or so until we got back to the start. The rain and wind continued. I couldn't feel my hands enough to shift into the big ring, and after awhile couldn't shift the rear either, so was left spinning about 3 or 4 cogs down on the cassette. Slow and painful. I got sleepy. It didn't help that from the stop in Borrego until we got back to the truck I had about 4oz of liquid and no food.

There was relief (a little) when we got back and hopped in the truck soaking wet and freezing. Took about 15 mins, but finally I was able to get everything off and get dry.

The only good part was finishing up the ride with a Wahoo's burrito and then a cup of frozen yogurt with all the toppings. Stellar!

New Year's Eve I did a solo ride at San Juan to Cocktail and back. The weather and view were amazing, and I had a blast; just wish I could've shared it with someone!

Here's what we brought to the party:

Sunset on the way

Moon was amazing (and full)

Hostess Stephanie and I toasting

Champagne at midnight!

Festivities were so much fun I can't even post most of the photos! I will say it involved some bicycles, lots of alcohol, spilled coffee, and a board game. Went to bed at 3. I'm too old for that!

I did manage to rally for a stellar ride on Saturday with Justin.

My bike turned one on 1/02!

For the first time in maybe ever Justin and I switched "jobs" on a ride. He led out on Trabuco, and crashed into some bushes a way's down. He had me ride in front to slow him down a bit. I was railing so fast that I wound up slicing my sidewall! So here I am changing my flat while he takes photos.

I *finally* cleaned a few sections on Holy Jim I've never made before. Stoked!

It may not look like much, but it kept me HABing for a few years :)

The ocean looked awesome from Main Divide as we traversed back...

Back to paleo for athletes at last!

I had an absolutely incredible holiday break. I was able to get in my biggest volume week of the entire year, and felt great doing it. I spent most of my time on my Epic, and was sad to be back at work. Such is life!

Happy New Year!

Holiday Travels

2009-12-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas Justin and I spent a good amount of time in the evenings cooking up way too much food. Justin made almond milk, and then we made some festive raw nog out of the almond milk, bananas, nutmeg, and spiced rum and Kahlua. It was delish. The Kahlua really makes it!

We also made sure to pick up provisions since we didn’t inherit our beer tastes from our parents!

We got all loaded up to head south for our first stop at Justin’s mom’s house for Christmas Eve hanging out. Justin was able to finish up the rack last week and got some lights on there also.

All green and red on the way down to the desert

Justin graciously cooked a delish Christmas Eve dinner of lobster tails and ahi while mom and I roasted up some veggies.

That was the end of eating paleo for a few days!

Grandma brought her homemade cookies for Christmas. YUM.

Yes, I ate quite a few, and no, I don’t feel guilty.

Justin and I went on a long road ride Saturday to try to burn off Christmas dinner. I didn’t have room for the camera, but we rode on some pretty wide open empty roads, and a few narrow crowded roads, and ended up climbing up Box Canyon toward Joshua Tree. We turned around midway up the canyon to head home. Long day on the road and it felt great to get back and relax!

Sunday we slept in a bit and then got ready for a few hours on some new (to us) singletrack.

Brown Santa had brought me some new grips before we left, so I was stoked to try out the Ergon team green GA1 grips. Previously I’d only used the GP1 and GX1 grips, or the GX2’s with bar ends. At first it was a little weird for me to not have the bigger platform for my palm, but as we climbed up the uber tech singletrack on Art Smith I was totally lovin’ the GA1’s. I got used to them really quick, and even with the tech riding uphill and down my hands felt great the entire ride. I can’t wait to try these out on more and different trails while training and racing this winter.

I really felt like I had a lot of control and grip ability, and full maneuverability to get the front end to do what I wanted it to do. I don’t think my previous GX1’s were holding me back, but I did feel like I was better able to control the handlebar with the GA1’s. They just loved the techy climbing.

Big thanks to Ergon USA and Jeff Kerkove. I’m more than stoked to be getting support as an Ergon Factory Rider for 2010.

Grip-eye view

The trail went on endlessly!

STIL and RTIL (Rockier Than It Looks)

Grip and Go

I was looking and looking for Dunn Road, but at this point we were only halfway there!

Bombing back down the trail

Up a small hill, through a small wash, down a small hill.

Man-reinforced structure

Rocky descending

Gettin' around!

2009-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

With training, of course!

This past weekend Justin and I did a bit of jet-settin' (locally, at least). Friday started out early since I was given the heave-ho at work. Instead of sitting on the trainer doing drills I enjoyed some 70*F weather and went for a long ride instead!

Tons of crazy drivers out, but it was stellar anyway.

We ran to Henry's afterwards and picked up some surf & turf for dinner!

Saturday morning we got up early and cruised it over to Irvine for Rock N' Road's Hunger Ride. Huge crowd! It was awesome. Piles of canned goods.

Matt tried to keep everyone in check by giving his "This is a fun/social/charity ride, let's keep it together." It lasted, for about a mile!

Cruising out

Front group regroups before heading through the super windy streets back to the shop

Gnoshing on Chik-Fil-A post-ride

After we hung out for a bit and picked up some needed goodies from the shop we headed north west toward Laguna to hit up the Crankbrothers sale. Saw some good people and hung for a bit. I picked up a zip hoodie (sweet!) and then it was time to head NE to Santa Ana to hit up REI for some waterproof cell phone packs. Then it was sit in bumper-to-bumper on the 91 for awhile, house cleaning for me, then a drills session.

My legs were torqued from the effort on the road ride, and from me nearing the end of this cycle... Got the workout done, and that was one of my weekly goals (finish all scheduled workouts, no shortcuts).

Legs were still feeling fatigued and heavy Sunday morning when we cruised south to meet up with Steph and Dan for some loops at Daley. Also sold an old Reba and Dos frame to Zippy so he could build it up for Holly! Can't wait to see her out tearing it up on the trails.

Steph and Justin led us out

Fail at trying to take a self-portrait over-the-shoulder-rider-photo

Heading up Tank Trail before the techy stuff

Everyone but me cleaned both switchbacks! I dabbed on the first, re-clipped and got the second one.

Unfortunately Dan wound up being stronger than he imagined and not only busted his derailleur, but also broke his chain, and had a flat tire. My goodness, man!!

He cruised it back to the lot chainless while we finished up a loop (or 2).

Trying to rail it

Steph needed to get back and pack for airline fails, so Justin and I cruised out to finish up my workout. I wanted another go at the switchbacks!

Got the first one, but not the second one. Put all the tries together and I had one successful go!

On the drive home I realized my camera was nowhere in sight. Hmm. The only place I could have left it was on the bumper. I am notorious for leaving stuff on the bumper. New Rule: Allison is not to ever set anything on the bumper. Ever. For any reason.

So we're debating whether or not to drive back down to Esco to see if the camera fell off the bumper when we get home. I took a load of stuff in the house, walk back out and what do I see?

My camera. Sitting motionless. On the bumper. After a 40 minute drive home.

OMG. Sooo lucky. The pictures turned out pretty stellar, so I think the fresh air did it good.

Great weekend. Stoked to be taking it easy this week and partaking in a much deserved day off today!

It's All Good: Rock N' Road Cyclery, and Base Miles with the Mann

2009-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Life is pretty good right now, if I may say so. I started this blog over the weekend, in my head, climbing in the rain on Saturday. It initially started out:

3 weekends of training...3 weekends of rain.

Coincidence?

I hope not! Lucky for me it hasn't been too bad, and it seems like the next 5-7 days should be pretty clear and nice. Just in time for all day training sessions at work with no outdoor riding!

Back to the good life... I was STOKED that Justin finally was able to get out and train with me this past weekend! 5 hours over 2 days. He was working hard all weekend on and off the bike. More on that to come.

All week we all watched the weather to see if the storm(s) would somehow miraculously disappear and allow us to train as we wished, dry and clean. Unfortunately when we woke up Saturday morning it was drizzle, the forecast was for continued rain showers all day. Honestly, I don't think there was a dry spot at all except for about a 1/4mi as we drove across Ortega Highway. Justin and I decided to find some well-draining dirt anyway, and set off for a late morning 2 hour ride.

Justin took off a minute or so before I did and I set off in search of my pace for the day (taking it nice and easy). I caught up to him about 5 or so minutes in and he hung with me for a bit, cheering me on later as he saw me up ahead.

I was pretty good early on. The drizzle continued, and while my helmet dripped water everywhere and I was soaked, I was plenty warm in my clear plastic rain jacket sauna. My feet were good in just plain wool socks. Legs were warm enough.

The rain pounded down in spots and the wind whipped and whistled and scoured the mountainside, and me, with downpour. I had a few low points where I just wanted to stop and wait for Justin and turn around. But, I told myself plenty of people train in this everyday. It was a mental training day. I got up to a break spot pretty slow, and needed around 45-50 minutes more. I knew another loop would take me at least another hour, plus time to get back to the trailhead. So, I opted to head out opposite of what I normally do and ride for 15 minutes, then come back. I wrote Justin a note in the dirt since I had no desire to pull out my DROID in the rain.

I had fun on some slow-speed tech descending, but the rain kept pouring down. I was soaked, and now my hands and feet were getting cold to boot. I made it about 6.5 minutes before turning around. Justin caught up not long after. 7 weeks off the bike and he was only about 1-2 minutes behind me. Ridiculous!

We descended together. He was having a blast. I just wanted to get dry and warm!

Once we finished up and cleaned up a bit we headed north to run some errands. Had to stop by Oakley for a Rx lens warranty for both of us and Ryan hooked us up with a 25% off card, so we were stoked and stocked up on replacements. Looking forward to a new calendar year next year so I can get another set of Rx lenses.

It was getting late, but we headed even further north to stop by Rock N' Road Cyclery in Irvine to meet Mr. Matt Ford! I am utterly excited to be riding for Rock 'N Road next year. They are a great shop full of killer Specialized products and a ton of good nutritionals. I even noticed they have the Vitargo that James and Slater are raving about! If only Luke and I could sell some organs to afford the stuff :D

In addition to new kits and bottles I also picked up a Deflect convertible jacket and Deflect gloves.

Justin decided to try his hand at training again, so joined me on Sunday for a road cruise down the "drag strip".

I was pretty happy to have Justin along all weekend, as training didn't really align for me to ride with Luke, as I have been the past few weekends. Good thing for all of us as I rode right over a huge screw (I need my Rx lenses back!) and got a massive flat. First C02 was empty, and my tube didn't hold any air. I would've been SOL! I did have a 2nd CO2 and a patch kit at least. I don't think Luke would've appreciated being my sherpa all morning, though!

Always a good time riding with my "Mann"

I'd like to throw in that the Deflect gloves worked pretty killer yesterday on the road. I've used PI Cyclone's previously for this kind of weather. My hands never got over-heated in the new gloves, and they were awesome for wind-proofing. The wind was ripping all day yesterday. I also didn't wind up taking them off. I usually do since a) I prefer road riding gloveless, but also b) when I wear cooler weather gloves my hands always are too hot. I've yet to see how waterproof the gloves are, but will definitely be trying that out at some point this winter.

I've also never had a cycling kit vest, so was excited to try that out yesterday as well. Keeps the wind off without being too warm - my favorite! I know there will be colder days where the Deflect convertible will come in handy.

So, all in all, despite the inclement weather, I had a really great weekend.

If you're in Orange County and looking for a great shop with a ton of Specialized products on hand (S-Works bikes and frames down to Comp HT's, winter gear, summer gear, helmets, shoes, gloves, tires/tubes, and a huge nutritional wall), check out one of the four Rock N' Road locations: Irvine, Anaheim Hills, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel.

If you've got any canned goods in the cabinet that you aren't eating and are still good make sure you stop by the Irvine store next Saturday at 8 am for the 3rd Annual Hunger Ride. A few hour easy ride through the Canyon. I'm excited! I've never done a road ride in Orange County before.

I've yet to figure out how the split of the US Cup promoter's and the Pro XCT will affect my race season, but I do know it's pretty much up in the air at the moment. Definitely lots of racing locally and regionally, and who knows what else the future will hold!

Quick update

2009-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been probably a week since I've read any blogs, and it looks like I missed a lot! Skimmed most of my usual's today. Work has been crazy (still is, no sign of stopping), training started up again, and it seems like we are never home!

Good to be busy in all facets of life, I guess.

Closing in on the end of Prep and the beginning of Base starting up this weekend. My work schedule next month is weird, and with the workload I can already feel some problems coming my way with my weekday schedule. Should make for some interesting "flexibility" with the plan!

First things first. Last week Justin got a moto. We are not fiscally responsible people, and generally when we want something eventually we get it. Justin had been wanting a dual-sport for probably as long as I wanted an iPhone. Now, I didn't get an iPhone, but I suppose that is in the details. Also, I got mine with birthday money. teehee.

I took Thanksgiving to sleep in and get a late start, and then Justin and I decided to head to the gym for a quick leg sesh before hightailing it south to cook dinner at his moms'.

I'm pretty surprised with the recent gains I've been making in the gym on leg day. In the past 5 weeks I've about doubled my leg press and squat rack weights. I chalk it up partly to getting used to the exercise, partly to not sandbagging, and partly maybe diet. The last one is highly subjective.

Since we made Thanksgiving dinner it was pretty paleo. Oven baked turkey, paleo butternut squash, and string beans (I know these may or may not be ok on the paleo plan, but it's a wash). I had a glass of wine with dinner (my first in about a week and a half). Amazing how that stuff just goes right to your head when you aren't used to it! It was a pretty quiet day, and we got home at a decent hour.

Friday I got up and hit up some quality trainer time for a drills session while Justin worked like mad to clean up our garage. It looks spiffy now.

Saturday we woke up to some wet ground, as was forecasted. It's days like Saturday that I hate when the weathermen are right! Justin worked on getting me a SS ready to ride (the Dos Uno Niner had been in pieces since mid-October) and after we took what seemed like forever to get packed and ready to go (he was going to head out on the moto to do some recon and riding and meet me at Blue Jay), finally I got on the road around 11:30 or so. Sky was clear and gorgeous, temps were chilly, but it seemed like an opportune afternoon for a ride when I started at San Juan. The climb up was pretty uneventful, with a few groups descending. Only passed 2 climbers on the way up.

I made it to Cocktail in an hour, and cleaned most of what I have previously on the Epic, so was stoked to be climbing pretty strong on the SS. It's so.much.FUN. A few guys pulled up to Cocktail from the loop while I was leaving Justin a voicemail, and after a quick snack I headed up the trail. The skies were looking fairly ominous up by Santiago Peak, but I had already determined it was going to be a beautiful day, so didn't worry too much. Once I got to 4 Corners the temps were cold, and it was getting darker.

I got up to just at the trail intersections before Blue Jay and it started to sprinkle. I stopped a little ways up to put on the vest Justin loaned me (not waterproof). It was drizzling a little as I made it to the campground, and by the time I got to the front bathrooms it was coming down. I set my bike under the oak tree and beelined for the bathroom overhang area (the only dry spot in town!). Justin joined me a minute later (he'd been there for about 30 minutes) and we hunkered down trying to stay dry, and getting colder by the minute.

We kept hoping the skies would clear and we could bust outta there without getting drenched. Luckily for me Justin had brought his cycling rain jacket (just a clear rain coat) and gave it to me for my descent. I only had my normal full finger gloves, and was wearing my BG therma-fleece knicks, and my new SmartWool socks (love 'em).

I wouldn't say we got a break, per se, but the rain went from a torential downpour to an easy drizzle, so I hopped on the bike and hightailed it out of there. No mud to speak of (the DG up top just soaks up the rain), but it was sure wet, and really cold. I got probably half a mile down the trail and my fingers started to go numb.

By the time I got to the intersection above 4 corners I couldn't feel my fingers at all. At 4 corners they were useless stubs of sausage (and felt about that big as well). Justin had suggested I skip out on the loop to finish up sooner, so I did. As I was heading straight back down the way I came a climber popped up around the corner, and in my haste to not get in his way, and also due to be unable to effectively brake, I crashed pretty good on my left knee. Kept moving, and did some hiking, but really couldn't feel the fingers much. Some feeling came back as I descended.

The trail was about 99% dry when I got to Cocktail, despite there being a faint mist still. The trail was perfect and dry the entire way down. I took my time, had a really creepy encounter with a guy climbing (I was worried he'd turn around and chase me down to the trailhead) and when I got down to the truck had never been so happy to see Justin's moto as then. The creepy guy had not followed me, but you never know!

We missed out on being able to head over to Oakley (too late), so drove back home. Justin braved the pretty cold temps on the moto.

Sunday he got out on the road for an easy spin with me! At about 25 minutes in (about twice as long as he should've been riding, period) he turned around and I hit up some bonus time.

Then it was off to the grandparents house for Thanksgiving take 2! I fell off the paleo wagon with sharing 2 beers with Justin, having some delish Old Vine Zin, and then topping it all off with a nice big slice of pumpkin pie.

Amazing what un-paleo food and alcohol will do to you! All good, though. The best way to deal with falling off the wagon is sprinting to hop back on, which is what I'm doing today!

Great weekend overall, though four days was not nearly long enough!

Prep Week One - Done!

2009-11-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Started the prep part of training for 2010 this past week. I started it off similar to last year by racing the 12 Hours of Temecula, only this year I didn't race solo! Rediscovered just a tad little bit of the speed I'd had in the late summer for a lap or so.

Sunday we did an easy spin down to a local market to pick up some local veggies, fruit, and meat. Wednesday I did my first revised schedule at work, and took off in the afternoon for a few hour ride! It was really windy on the way back, got cold, and was almost dark when I got back, but it was cool! Looking forward to more of those, for sure. Thursday was back in the gym for some mega strengthening, and then I had some sweet weekend riding with my 2nd favorite training partner, Luke.

My favorite riding partner was over in OC taking the MSF motorcycle course to get his certification. The knees are still not doing so well. We tried dual-action Cho Pat straps, which do help the pain some, but they haven't solved the issue(s) yet. *le sigh*

I dropped Justin off at school early yesterday morning and then DROID told me how to get up to Cooks Corner. Sweet. Luke and I (it was entirely my fault) had a meet spot fail, so once I realized around 9:10 that he was at the nature center, not at Cooks, I rolled out in chase. He got up into cell range about a mile or so up Harding, got my text messages, and met me near the bottom after I'd climbed Modjeska. We set a pretty good spin pace up the climb and chatted the whole way.

Ran into Ann and Andy on the way, in chase of OMR and Gene, who were in chase of Clinky and Maxwell et al. It was great seeing everyone out there.

I hadn't climbed Harding literally in about 3 years. Justin and I climbed it once on our first half century as we were training for Counting Coup. We'd climbed up ITT, traversed over either Holy Jim or Trabuco, and tried to go through O'Neill (wound up climbing Live Oak) over to Harding and started climbing that around 25 miles in to our day. I could barely pedal for 15 yards without stopping to stretch my lower back, and Justin kept downing Tums tablets to try to break up the cramps in his legs. We got up to Upper Holy Jim just as the sun was setting, and I turned on our only light as we descended. It was a long cold trip back down ITT in the dark, and I'd never been so happy to see the truck as that day!

This trip up was quite a bit different. No running out of daylight, no back pain! The climb does go on for ever (it's around 12 miles or so from the bottom up and over to Joplin), but then you're almost home free with LOTS of descending and grinning!

I was all by myself...

After Luke "found" me we climbed nice and steady

It got COLD up at Main Divide!

Ran into some familiar faces

Droppin' in

Luke was nice enough to play photographer for me!

Don't forget to breathe!

Way off line... I was committed until then, though.

We were cruising pretty good down Joplin when Luke came up with a flat. D'oh! It's ok, we're used to it riding with Justin.

We got down to Old Camp, took a short break, then continued down STT. Luke's front tire was getting low again, so after a quick pump-up we kept going, until he was getting rim strikes!

Weather was better when it was sunny than when it wasn't!

After the ride I hung out a bit with Ann and Andy, and left early to go pick up Justin from moto school.

Sunday we got up early so Justin could head back to OC. I spent the morning cleaning house (yay!) and then met up with Luke for a pretty short road spin on the flats in town before we parted ways to watch the Chargers/Broncos game.

Stoked on my weekend! Short week coming up, so awesome.

10.5 Hours of Temecula

2009-11-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this by saying that I agreed (I like to use the phrase "somehow got wrangled into") to do the 12 Hours of Temecula about 11 days before the event. I love riding my bike. I even love riding my bike for long periods of time, and I like to try to ride fast. Sometimes I like to attempt to put the two together.

My XC race season ended on 9/27. I took a week off and then basically did some regen, did a big ride, did a massive ride, and then did almost nothing. The week of my birthday I literally had about 2.5 hours of bike time. I hadn't been on a mountain bike since Noble. I hadn't ridden my Epic since CA State.

So, on top of all that, Justin got a call Friday around 6 as we were sitting down to dinner from a manager at work, who I would be racing Co-Ed Duo with the next morning. Justin and his group had been uprooted from their building at work on Wednesday or Thursday due to some structural issues. The plan had been that it'd be inaccessible for a few weeks, and then everyone would be back in there. Well, Friday something happened. So, then it was well by Monday morning everything needs to be cleared out. They talked about the race, and determined I'd go first in the race so I could try for Queen of the Mountain, and then it was time for dinner. About 30 minutes later it was no longer - it's okay by Monday; it was Everything needs to be out of here by tomorrow at noon. So, Justin headed back to work. Meanwhile, we had guests on their way, and my race bike hadn't been touched in over a month, and nothing was packed. I got my food, clothes, bottles, etc. together and tried to pack a few things for Justin and then hung out with Steph and Dan.

I tried to sleep. Around 11 Justin called and was about to head home for the night. Luckily we got a few hours of sleep, and were up and at'em the next morning before 6 to pack up and head to the venue.

We got a primo pit spot just past the timing booth. I wasn't sure how I'd like not being down by the pool, but it was aight.

It got WAY more crowded in the 2 hours before the race started.

My partner, Bruce, and I registered and got to work on the finishing touches of the bikes and pits and hanging out.

I realized I had to get dressed and do some kind of warm-up. I tried to get in some last minute training the week before the race (it's always a good idea to go from totally untrained and riding 2 hours a week to riding 3.5 hours in 4 days with as many hills as you can find, and doing threshold efforts), but I still wanted to make sure that the legs were ready to clear some lactic acid once the parade lap tapered off and it was go time for the hill climb.

I'd never even been near the front of an event like this before, much less tried to go for a prime, so I was kind of nervous. Jason mentioned that the King and Queen of the Mountain would get jerseys, so I was stoked cause I love the SoCal Endurance lime green jersey. I was pumped and ready to go. Had no idea who I was racing against, but I was going to go full bore up the climb!

Meanwhile, back in the pits…

And from the other angle…

Stephanie changed jerseys about 8 times (kidding!) and then as I was about to go hit up the restroom one last time I realized everyone was lining up for the start! I snuck up as close to the front as I could and hoped I didn't get taken out on the neutral roll-out! It was only hectic in a few spots, luckily.

Roll-out

Hitting the dirt.

I passed Natasha from Amgen and one of the Hungarian? girls just after hitting the dirt and just tried to stay out of trouble and pushing the pace. Bruce had been yelling, "Draft! Draft!" as I went by the pits, so I tried where I could. I was up pretty far to the front, but even as I came up off the first turn I could see guys already a football field or two up on the climb. Crazy! I passed a few guys, and were passed by a few, but didn't see any women. I felt like dying, but when I hit the top I asked the lone kid on a quad if I was the first woman. He said no. What! I was shocked. I then had moments of paranoia where I questioned if it was fastest lap and not climb? I didn't let off the pace once, just in case.

I stayed in the mix where I could, and pulled over for others where I couldn't. I came off ridgeline feeling good and ready to hit Ambulance. Once I hit the singletrack on the way up the fire road I felt my tire getting squishy. Then it kept rolling around the corners. Ugh. Not again.

We'd just seen Race Across the Sky on Thursday, so I had this flash of Lance standing there, leading Leadville, looking around trying to figure out what to do with his flat tire! I figured it worked for him, so I'd try it… left the bike rubber side down, pulled out my Big Air and filled the tire to where it felt pretty full. Meanwhile Natasha had ridden by, along with a lot of other riders! I re-tightened the valve and heard air hissing out. What? I saw a sidewall puncture. Had no idea if there was any liquid Stans left in the tire, but I gave it a few good spins, shook it a bit and said a quick prayer as I pocketed the Big Air and hopped back on the bike in chase. I caught back up to Natasha, who was also racing Co-Ed Duo, and she and I swapped positions for the last 1/4 or so of the lap.

We came through the start/finish literally together, but unfortunately since Bruce and I were tagging off down by our pit I got a little held up, but then continued on, and off Bruce went chasing down Natasha's partner.

She confirmed my thoughts that there were no women in front of us at all!

Justin had me put my feet up, and I hydrated and ate a snack. I had NO idea what to do. Racing solo it's easy. You ride your bike, you grab some stuff, you ride your bike, for hours, and hours. This duo thing? You get just cold enough to be stiff and ready to hang out for the rest of the day and then it's time to go again, and not just go slow and steady, but go really fast.

Am I doing it right?

I cruised around and wound up talking to Heidi about what she does when racing with Mario. We chatted about training, racing next year, etc. Then all of a sudden Justin was yelling my name. It had been about 45 mins since Bruce had gone out, and I was just about to head over and take a gel shot and line up to go. Well, Bruce's lap was a LOT faster than expected, and I had to shed the jacket and GO!

Oops.

My lap 2 felt pretty good, and I was still cranking along. I tried to be more social and cheer on the solo's this lap, while still going as fast as I could manage. This lap was a few minutes slower than lap 1, but not by much. Still felt good, but I knew I couldn't keep cranking out 55 minute laps.

My off lap was a little easier. I'd had Accelerade on lap 2, so wasn't as hungry. Had a few snacks and then was ready to go about 12 minutes before Bruce came in for the hand-off. Went out for lap 3 and tried to keep a good pace, but also spin a little more than the last 2 laps. I was cleaning stuff pretty good still and felt okay. Natasha and her partner had opened up a big enough gap that I couldn't see her on the laps at all, but I tried to keep my "time checks" close. I wound up with a 57 I think. I believe it was at this point Justin relayed that Bruce was looking forward to me slowing down so he could rest more. What!! I was barely getting 50-52 minute breaks! Haha! I put my feet up, and had the situation somewhat dialed in. It isn't like solo where you're a zombie. You kind of are totally amped up when you come in, but it's important to sit down, hydrate, get some food in early and then head out for easy spinning.

Luckily for us, I think, the fire road out to Dam Climb is about a mile or so, undulating, but very little elevation gain/loss, so it's a great warm-up in and of itself.

All I really remember after that is Heidi and the BMX Mulisha trying to talk me into drinking Guinness in between laps, and then I got slower, then I got a lot slower. Then it got dark. I went out for lap 6 I think around 6:15 or so. My 6th was really slow and I was out of energy. I'd asked a lot of my untrained and unridden body and it was pretty much over it at that point. I was grannying stuff, walking stuff, and my mind would wander and I'd be sitting in Zone 1 cruising. I'd try to speed up and then just forget again. So, I just cruised it out.

Got back around 7:30. Bruce was still kitted up, but he was definitely not into doing a 6th lap. We had a few laps up on 3rd place, and were a solid 15 minutes behind 1st, which he couldn't make up in one lap, so we called it.

It was really cold once I finished up, but put on some layers and got to drinking a home brewed Kolsch from Luke and then we sat by the fire and snacked on pretzels until awards.

I got my Queen of the Mountain jersey (a non-SoCal Endurance men's large that won't fit Justin or I, so much for being excited about the jersey) and wound up nearly tied with Karen for fastest female lap of the day (I wasn't even thinking about that!). Stoked.

Bruce and I on the "podium" with Natasha and her partner

We hung out and were totally stoked that Steph won the Pro/Expert Women's series overall!! So awesome.

All in all, a great day on the bike and with friends.

Droid - My Impressively Non-Pro Review

2009-11-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

So, like some of you out there, I have long been lusting after the iPhone, but unable to attain one. I have been on a month-to-month contract with Verizon for over a year now, since I had no real reason to re-up. They'd bombarded me with "New Every 2" fliers, emails, and text's for months, but to no avail.

When I did some research in the late summer it became pretty clear that the iPhone wasn't going to be available on Verizon's plans any time soon. And, it didn't really matter as Justin was holding steady against either of us getting an iPhone and the ensuing $30/mo data plan like the warriors of Rohan defending Minas Tirith.

I'd been rocking the Motorola Razr since like January of 07 maybe? Phone is still in great condition and works great, but it wasn't a smart phone (or an app phone, or an android phone, or whatever you want to call it).

Somehow, in late October (like many other people) I first heard about the upcoming Motorola DROID. Naturally, I coveted. An iPhone killer on Verizon? How could a girl not be interested? I read the news, rumors, and updates on the phone on about a daily basis, and somehow talked Justin into letting me get one Friday, November 6, the first day of release.

I will admit, I was somewhat nervous they'd run out by lunch time, especially at our local Best Buy. Why Best Buy? The $100 rebate was instant instead of mail-in. Score!

Since I'd ridden over to Best Buy to get in a workout, I had literally no time to play around with it, especially after the hour + it took to get my account re-upped and the data plan added. The phones weren't flying off shelves, but the Verizon network was crawling!

By Saturday afternoon I'd mostly figured out the stuff that I needed to know. I still haven't used most of the phones capabilities, nor will I, I'm sure. I haven't downloaded more than about 6 app's, and they were all free. I pretty much just like checking my email and Facebook, and taking/posting pics online instantaneously. Eventually I'll probably check in to a "grocery list" type app, and wouldn't mind finding something for traffic (the Google Maps traffic layer was vastly incorrect on Friday showing green when we were dead stopped, or it was grayed out where it would've been nice to see it). I'm sure at some point the Where app will be cool (thinking this is similar to Yelp?). I've only downloaded 3 ringtones (how are they giving these away now? They used to be like $2.50 for a midi tone), and sent one text message.

I do really like the phone. So far I haven't had any issues calling or receiving calls (though admittedly my experience here is as limited as with anything else to do with the phone - I've made about 4 phone calls and received probably less).

Let's see if I can break it down:

Phone itself: the contacts became somewhat cumbersome when the phone sync'd Gmail, Facebook, and my old phone contacts. It's nice that you can star/favorite contacts which is a somewhat poor exchange for speed dial, but I've read you can add a contact to the home screen, and honestly, it's not that difficult to click the Phone icon, then select from the recent list or hit favorites. I have yet to try voice dialing, but honestly, I never used it with my old phone either unless I was using my bluetooth (which I've yet to even try to sync with this phone - noticing a pattern?). The call quality has been good. I'll just say I haven't noticed anything bad when on the phone, except as some have noted.. if you're using the Google Maps navigation, the chick does talk really loud in the earpiece whether you're on the phone or not! No, I wasn't driving.

App store: since I have zero experience with the iPhone app store, I have no idea what I'm missing. I'd probably download more app's if I thought they'd be useful, but so far I haven't really needed anything, and anything that I have looked for I've downloaded. I haven't even logged in to Pandora yet. I did get a free NFL scores program that isn't great, but it worked last Sunday. The Twidroid Lite has worked well, and I like that I can exit the app so my phone doesn't go off all night as everyone Twits! OK, back to the blog... I just downloaded as many app's in about 30 minutes as I had in 4 days. Not sure I will use any of them??

OK, also, I am dim... when I visit websites that have the app's all listed out there's like this little 2D barcode box. What does that do?

Camera: It's functional, and better than what I had. I've read quite a few complaints about the lag-time (it is slow, but that's coming from my Canon SD950 IS) and lack of focus. I have gotten the "green" focus tabs a few times, but most of the time I get the red ones (assuming this means it hasn't focused). I was able to take a picture of some birthday confetti this morning up close indoors.

And indoors at a bike shop over the weekend

Takes decent pics outside at night with the flash. I actually found a work-around to silence the camera from making the focus/shutter sounds! Turn all media sounds off entirely ;)

I'd probably say my biggest complaint is the size, but coming from an older flip phone what do you expect? I knew it'd be too big to fit in my jeans pockets; I've just yet to find anywhere else to stow it while I'm walking around aside from carrying it, and that's dangerous.

The other day I was leaving my desk walking down the hallway. I knew I needed to turn left around a corner, started playing with my sounds menu and WHAM!!! Slammed my head right into the wall. Turned too soon, I guess. D'oh. Good thing the paint didn't leave a lasting scratch on my glasses.

Anyway, all in all I'm pleased with the phone so far. I think a more thorough review once I've actually utilized more of its capabilities would be necessary. I'd totally recommend it to anyone on Verizon that wants an iPhone like phone. Battery life has been fine for my usage (1-2 calls a day, random lite web-surfing, etc.). I sit at a computer all day, so I don't really need to play on the phone too much. I have noticed a nasty crik in my neck that I didn't have previously ;)

Fairy Tale: The Walker, The Mailman and the Squirrel

2009-11-04T13:28:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a princess that wanted (ok, make that "needed" - Bruce will be a slave driver on 11/14) to go ride her bike at lunch. Her prince preferred her to ride a different route than the one she chose, but she liked it for the terrain.

She suited up in her kit, clipped her shoes into her pedals and off she flew, feeling fast and free as she glided into the breezy pre-noon air. Traffic was light in some spots, and heavy in others; seemingly the opposite of most days. Without incident, she made it to the hill and out to where she wouldn't hit a stop light for another 45 minutes.

The headwind was demoralizing, her legs burning and sore from a hard gym workout the day before. She saw another princess descending the hill and waved as they continued in opposite directions. As she crested the hill, there was another princess. What? Not even 30 minutes in to her ride and already she'd seen 2 other princesses out riding and no princes. What a day!

The next few miles ticked by without incident, the headwind like a battering ram, but the sky was as blue as the ocean and the clouds floating quietly like marshmallows up above.

She noticed a few hundred yards ahead a man walking with traffic in the bike lane where it narrowed to 2 or so feet. She looked back to see if she could safely take the lane to pass, but naturally there was a truck barreling down the road. The driver clearly saw the princess, as well as the walker, so he safely passed over the yellow line, allowing her to safely pass in the lane of traffic.

Disaster averted.

As the princess came back around to finish up her loop she passed a mailman stopped delivering the mail. Soon he passed her back, and again as he was stopped to drop mail she passed him once more. He pulled to stop a third time, and was unfortunately forced to stick out halfway into the narrow lane of traffic as there was no shoulder there. She looked back to see if it was safe to pass, but unfortunately there was a box truck heading right for them. If there was no traffic coming the other way this would have been fine, but sadly there was a car heading the opposite direction taking the other lane.

With only a split second to decide her course of action the princess hit the brakes and slowed to a stop, waiting for the box truck to pass the mailman, so she could pass the mailman and continue on her merry way.

Disaster averted once again.

Now it was time to descend! While there had been a nasty headwind climbing up the hill, the wind seemed to continue to buffet her attempts to gain speed, and a car kept close behind her, not passing for some reason. She decided not to relinquish the bottom of the hill sprint just because of the car, so once down at the "line" she took off out of the saddle gaining momentum and speed.

Just as she sat up to recover, still near max speed, out into the road bounded a bushy-tailed squirrel. OH NO! The eyes on both the squirrel and the princess bugged out in cartoon fashion as they only had a split second to determine a course of action. The squirrel had run right at the princess on her bike.

She grabbed a handful of brake and fishtailed as the squirrel passed safely inches from her front tire. Both continued, their hearts pounding with adrenaline.

Luckily the rest of the ride was simple enough and the princess arrived back at work and lived happily ever after.

Weekend Update and Food Stuff(s)

2009-11-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

Friday night Justin and I drove south after work, and after he had his first PT appointment for his irritated knee. With traffic we got down there just before 7, but Steph had already headed back to school to help out with the evening's football festivities.

That left Justin, Dan and I to fend for ourselves (after Steph made quite an amazing dinner for us to enjoy, if I may say so).

See the Carolan's in the background? That was the beginning of the end! Dan poured just a tad in his almond milk with dinner. Then Justin poured himself a small serving. It was amazing. So smooth and tasty. There wasn't much left in the bottle, so we ran out quite quickly. Naturally, one thing led to another and we wound up at Vons buying Bailey's, Kahlua, and two cartons of Haagen-Dazs Five ice cream.

Stephanie got home just in time to partake of some vino and for the four of us to sit down to a nice game of Monopoly Surfing!

Somehow I managed to be able to get out of bed on Saturday, and we prepped for a long day out at Noble Canyon. Unfortunately due to Justin's non-compliant knee he had to sit this one out. Made me really sad, but he went to hang with his mom before an easy road spin.

I didn't have such a great day on the bike. But, take the good with the bad. Here's a few pics:

DFL!

Darryl

Dan

Steph

Halloween dessert

As for the food stuffs... I haven't been posting much on my food blog, but that's going to change soon. Justin and I are going to try the paleo diet for athlete's here pretty soon. I'm trying to finish up the book, and have one event to do before training starts up in earnest. Soo, we'll be trying out the new "diet" (i.e. way of eating on a regular basis, not a way to lose weight) in a few weeks.

I'll be posting up about it on my more food-ish blog. Check it out there if you are interested in info, recipes (hopefully), and the journey.

"What'd you bring a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

2009-10-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

This quote from Stand by Me was going through my head Saturday morning as I waited for the black goodness to brew and wake me up. I haven't been able to fall asleep lately at all, so I think I was running on maybe 4.5 hours of sleep, with a LONG day ahead of me.

At 4:30 am on the dot Justin, Stephanie, Dan and I all piled into the packed up truck and took off into the darkness up the mountain to Idyllwild in search of 40~ other enduronuts for a really long day on the bike. It has occurred to me recently that many of the people we train with didn't get into mountain biking for recreation, fun, and general exercise. They started riding for competition, fun, training, etc. Long days in the saddle are what I truly enjoy. Sure, 2 hour hammerfest sessions serve their purpose, but I'll take 40 backcountry miles any day over anaerobic sprints!

That's why when the San Jacinto Enduro non-management first started posting up ride info I had the itch. No one even questioned my sanity, so the four of us all signed up for the ride.

It was about mid-60s driving up highway 74. Turning off to the yellow post site the rearview mirror screamed "ICE". 37*F. It was pretty downright cold getting dressed, and I knew the neutral roll-out, even behind spun out singlespeeders, was going to be bone-chillingly frigid. The road descent to Little Thomas Mountain did not disappoint.

Staging!

On the road during the neutral roll-out I looked east and saw the hints of light peeping over the distant peaks; I knew it was going to be a great day. There's nothing quite like riding your bike at dawn with like-minded souls knowing what you've got ahead of you and just feeling giddy at the sight of sunrise and the hint of what's to come.

Cruising up Little T in the dark

It begins

I remember paying more attention to the sky than the road in front of me as we cruised up the climb with Brendan, David, and a few others.

Pink sunrise kissed the rocky peaks as we traversed

I remember screaming, "I love riding my bike!" as I descended the Ridge.

It's a hilly descent, with a few good climbs interspersed with the fast fire road descending. Just over 2 hours in and we had over 20 miles covered, and a solid ascent in front of us.

Yup; we're climbing (back) up there.

Starting our ascent

The climb was surprisingly good, for me. It was fairly steep early on, but in good condition, very little traffic. Justin dropped back once as he was having chain suck issues, and he caught up as the grade eased up, and I felt like we were moving at a good clip. We got up to Idyllwild where we picked up a few "stragglers" and navigated our way back to May Valley where Mary had an aid station laid out. The brownies were heavenly.

We'd finally hit some singletrack, but sadly my technical skills had been left at home for the day, and I was getting close to bonking.

I did manage to clear the Roman Highway

Probably the highlight of my tech skills on the day

A quick break and some food later, and the four of us (Justin, Ed, and Kurt) were back in business heading toward some of the more familiar parts of the course.

Despite our breaks, a few mechanicals, and some slow riding on my part, we got back to the yellow post site to sign in around 11:23 am. Time to refill and refuel.

Then it was back at it for a few traverses of the powerline trail and the new to us Fobes riding.

We started our rocky doubletrack descent down to 74 and Justin commented as we gazed at the peaks of Thomas Mountain, "One last mountain to climb."

I had started to feel the fatigue monster creeping in pretty good as we climbed up Fobes. It was difficult to put one foot in front of the other on the short hike-a-bike, and I paused longer than normal to remount the bike anytime I got off.

We hit the highway and cruised to the turn off.

The early slopes are benign

I hadn't climbed Thomas Mountain proper in probably 3-4 years, so I had forgotten that it's not really as steep as Little T, for the most part. It felt like we were moving out pretty good, but eventually the climb in earnest set in. I asked when we were stopped for Justin's 3rd and final chain suck what the next way point was on the map. 18.6 miles - turn off to Ramona Trail.

I shouldn't have asked. We were at 15.3. My how those tenths of a mile ticked off slowly.

FINALLY we made it…

Though, at that point, I didn't even enjoy the descent. I could barely hold onto the handlebar anymore, and couldn't mentally concentrate on anything. Justin spent a lot of time waiting for me at that point. Since we entered the trail a good way down from our typical start, it went by pretty fast, and before I knew it we had made it down to the powerline trail again and were speeding back to the finish line.

9.5 hours later - all done!

Time for some refreshments, some chilling, and some pizza and brownies

Was stoked to watch the light change as the temperature slowly dropped, and we anxiously awaited Steph and Dan's return.

The evening light in the mountains…

We did a ton of grocery shopping yesterday as recovery from Saturday, and literally sat around and ate some good food!

Picked up some Spaten Oktoberfest to go with breakfast burritos

And then got another 4-pack of Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter to have with pork chops and veggies for dinner

Justin has been the mad-pomegrantate de-seeder lately. It's the only decent substitute for blueberries that I can find.

I also had to get a shot of this...last week we got all the colors of the rainbow!