Saturday, November 24, 2007

Friday Night Points Race at the Track

I was so excited to get back on the track after being away since August. The trip out there seems to get shorter as I get more familiar with the drive to San Jose. We got there a little after 3:00 and set up the mother of all chairs (seriously, it's like a portable couch). We had two hours to warm up and mess around as old friends filtered in.

It was a fund raiser for locals Dave McCook and Shelley Olds get to four UCI World Cup Track races. Shelley's mom and dad had free barbeque and a keg of Boont Amber Ale. The DJ played lots of classic funk mixed in with other great tunes. I brought about four dozen oatmeal cookies.

Almost nobody signed up for the B's race, so most of them moved up or down. The start of the C's race was really fast. I tried to follow the attack from the start and got dropped. Luckily, after the first sprint, things regrouped-- after all it was a 50 lap race. The second sprint proved fatal to me. The D.J. played AC/DC's "Shot Down in Flames" (how appropriate). I waited up for them to lap me so I could latch back on thanks to the relaxed format of the race. By then the race had blown apart. After that I settled into a pace I could hold. It was great to have some Bellas out cheering me on. I kept hearing the announcer saying Dino's name-- he was a lone wolf chasing down the leaders-- One of the few who didn't get lapped. I think he ended up second in points even with the little gear he put on to make it fair racing with us C's.

After that, we watched McCook, Shelley and Mike Hernandez toy with the A's for 100 laps while we chowed down on BBQ and hung out. It was a great night.

Annual Sac Thanksgiving Day Ride

I thought I was a little crazy for waking up at 6:30 on a holiday to venture out into the freezing cold (35 degrees). But apparently, I wasn't the only one with a screw loose. I had been warned about this ride-- raging testosterone, brutal attacks on the dirt section, and flats galore.

When we arrived at Bella Bru I saw a lot of familiar faces; river riders, the coffee republic crowd and some old friends. After a photo and warning from Vince about "not wanting to race", we rolled out with about 100 riders. It had to be a sight to see!

Somehow, most of the group stayed together through the rolling hills south east of sac. One of the things I LOVE about road riding is being whisked along in a big pack. I love the sounds, the colors, the speed and seeing the herd flow along the road like a school of fish.There were no Gwavel Twucks on White Wock Woad fortunately. Not that many people could do anything about our critical mass display. It stayed social and nicely paced, although I was dying towards the end. D-know did point out to me that I should have eaten another cliff bar.

I discovered a new favorite! Christmas flavored Gu (mint-chocolate). Yummy! For every box you buy, 10% is donated to the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Pictures to come!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Recovery Day






















After yesterday it was a nice day for a sloowww pedal on the parkway. 15 miles in an hour and a half listening to music. I did run into Kyle and ride a little faster than I should have, but it's not often that I get to ride with him. Recovery rides really help the muscles.





















Thanksgiving for:

a week off
divorce paperwork completed
keeping the house
keeping my car
my health
cycling
family
friends
love

Test 1... uh...Is this thing on?

Another great weekend in happy cycling land.

Saturday...
was Powertap testing on the canal free of cars. It's kind of like a video game where you are trying to beat your best score: Go as hard as you can for five minutes, 1 minute, add some sprints. The weather was unbelievably warm. I can feel the benefit of the killer interval workouts on the trainer. I like having the feedback of a great coach and numbers. Otherwise, it's so subjective. Why is it that you can feel horrible and crank out the numbers some days?

Sunday...
Pioneer trail on the mountain bike (part duex). My fears subsided after finally getting the pedals dialed in so that I could be confident in clicking out. I still managed a slow speed fall complete with sound effects (umph). So beautiful and fun. We managed to make it to the horse campground, about 32 miles round-trip. We'll get to the end eventually.

On another topic... Can you relate? (and there's more in the cupboard)





Thursday, November 1, 2007

More Death Valley Pics...

It's been five days, and I'm feeling like my old self again. I got back on the bike for the first time today and my legs felt really strong. The energy wasn't bad either. I appreciated the parkway knowing that I won't be seeing it in the daylight during the week for a while.

The Start












































My Little Friend at Scotty's Castle





















Tim
(Raising Mucho $$$$$ for The Lance Armstrong Foundation & a strong cyclist)




















D-Train at Ubehebe (say it again)




















Race Results and More Event Pictures