Another good weekend

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

Solid Weekend!

I know it's a little late, but work (life!) has been BUSY this week and it's only Tuesday!

Early last week Justin and I had a plan to hit up Noble Canyon with some friends, but by mid-week that plan was cancelled and our weekend was open. We wanted to get out to ride Jason's latest So Cal Fat Tire Epic course for his marathon race in early October, but what to do on Saturday? We thought, due to the extreme heat being forecast, that a coastal road ride was in order.

Late in the week Luke emailed to say that he was hitting up the Celo Pacific ride with Slater and James. Since the ride was essentially what I had been planning, but would include some fun roadie attacks off the front on the hills, we decided we'd make the trip down to Carlsbad and join the group! It was listed as a low to moderate intensity ride, but we were assured there would be some attacks, so to go get 'em.

We got down there a little early, got prepped, and as I headed over to use the Deli's facilities saw James and BETH roll in! Was stoked to finally meet her.



Shortly after the group rolled out through town, through the harbor, and onto the base.







After a short regroup on base I knew the pace would be lifted, so tried to position myself in the front half of the group so I could hang on and not be shot off the back. True to form, the pace went way up, and as soon as I saw the first rise coming up, I pushed to get as close to the front as possible. I hadn't done this route in awhile, but I knew there were 2-3 decent short hills, and positioned myself pretty good to stay in the pack. My HR was skyrocketing, so it was all good. I figure these road rides are better if you race road because there are attacks, and then it'll calm down for awhile, and then attacks, then it calms down. Generally through Pendleton we were flying, and the pace slowed and swelled and lifted and slowed on the way up to San Onofre state beach. I sort of was late to the sprint finish game, but had a blast pushing up through the ranks anyway, and turned it around with Slater and we chatted about our sprint numbers (his are way better than mine! - duh!).

Everyone regrouped a little and we cruised it back through San Onofre, getting yelled at by the lifeguard/ranger? the whole back through.







The pace was sure to lift again once back on the base, and sure enough it did. I put in an effort to stay with the group on one of the hills, and totally sprinted like crazy up to the top. Felt great, even with fatigued legs. I missed the split up to Luke and one of the younger kids, and was ahead of the rest of the crew…not a good place to be! I put in efforts, but was getting tired, and eventually the pack went by. I caught on to the tailend just a tad, but hanging by a thread. Eventually Luke and I were spit off the back and put in some solid TT efforts. The lights thwarted us from catching back on, but we had fun anyway.

The three of us (Justin, Luke, and I) cruised it south with Beth and James who were heading home. Justin and I even stopped at Pannikins!! Always a good time.







We did NOT get food :)

After the ride we grabbed some grub (Justin and I had our PB&J sandwiches), and headed back north with Slater and Luke for an afternoon at the beach. I don't go to the beach very often, but was quite surprised when we had to wait in line…for over an hour…and pay $15…to go to the beach. Only in California :)



Since we had an early wake-up call (Luke had mentioned riding at 6:30 am!) for the next day at Vail, we decided to head out just before sunset.



Luke was out for Sunday, but we hooked up with Zippy for a marathon loop around 7:30 am. I'll be honest… I was COLD where we parked. As soon as we got moving, though, temps were rapidly rising!

Early morning light









From the top of Dam climb



West side!





More pics…









Hiking



And then…



All in all, great weekend. Feeling really good on the bike and the efforts were solid. I was totally fatigued at the end of the both days! So tired I didn't even take any photos of food :)