Two Wheel Love

Well, I was trying to be creative with my title and cram my last two or three weeks into one title. How'd I do?! (Rhetorical...) :)

Thanks to whoever reminded me that I've not been posting very much. Between STR, finishing my on-line climate change course (woohoo...now I can move over again on the pay scale!), trying to wrap my head around VQ, and work...there hasn't been much time left. Ah, let's see (play the weird flashback thing from the movies now...)

Two weekends ago Dan and I went out with Allison and Justin for our last VQ training ride. I can't believe I made it the whole way! 46 miles...9500 feet of climbing. 11 hours on the trail with 8 hours of pedal time. I was actually reminiscing about VQ the other day....let me explain: about 4 years ago, when I moved to AZ and started to meet some people from SoCal, someone mentioned a ride called Vision Quest to me. I hadn't been riding my bike for very long at that point. I thought "someday, I'm gonna do that ride...". Fast forward 4 years. I have my number plate, have been training, and I think I'm mentally ready. Our rides have brought up practically every emotion I can imagine. I have run the gamut:

"I feel great and could keep going forever!"
"This sucks...why am I doing this?!"
"One more hill...I can do this."
"F#*K this!"
Tears.
Deep introspection.
Pondering the meaning of things that one only has the chance to do when one's ass is glued to a bike saddle for 6-8 hours.
Rocking out to my iPod.

I had a relatively good ride going up SJT and started to fade at the bottom of HJ. Realized my fork was set at 130mm when I was about halfway up the trail. D'oh! Had to deal with a couple riders who didn't yield the trail. Cleaned The Wall...improvement, big time! Down WHT, up Trabuco...painful. I freaking railed down SJ, though. Sooo much fun! Short-ish ride on Sunday at Ladera with the STR crew. Left quad above my knee = pain!

Pics from the rides:


(taken by Allison on the way to Trabuco from Blue Jay)


Dan, goofing around on Main Divide


Last week, my aunt and uncle from Boston came out to San Diego (he is an M.D. and was attending a conference). Skipped spin on Monday to rest the quad. I did a few quick circuits of weights and the elliptical machine. Went out to eat Wed, Thurs, and Friday...way to throw off my eating! Friday I turned 29!! Woohoo! Dan took me out for dinner and was very thoughtful...gift card for the GAP, gorgeous flowers (yellow and purple orchids), and had my Master's diploma and National Board Certification properly framed. What a guy!


My Birthday Flowers

So, this past weekend was the 4th race at Fontucky. I decided to race the Yeti but brought Tani's Chunk Rat (29er SS) out just in case. Loved the 29er part. Not so in love with the SS aspect (and I have a SS of my own...trying to sell it). It was fortunate I didn't race the Chunk because the freaking tube exploded 5 minutes before I went to stage for the XC race. I really wasn't jazzed on racing the Yeti. It's 28.5 lbs or so. I fooled with the lockout during the whole race. My bottle was too low to reach at speed (fine when I'm meandering up a slow climb but not when hammering on the course). I had Allison in my sights for the first 2/3 of the first lap. Then she disappeared and took off. She was really fast this week, BUT I also was faster than 2 weeks ago (by 2 minutes). Managed to hold off Sarah (XTERRA girl) until midway through lap #2. She passed me up the paved climb and then inadvertantly went off-course by the sand. I passed her, she held my wheel up the big climb, but then I gapped her on the downhill. Finished a minute ahead of her. 



The pic above was taken by Mudman...I like it! Makes my legs look strong.

Allison and I skipped DH practice. Dan ended up jacking up his arm and so didn't finish practice or race. We came out Sunday to watch the races, and I took pics the whole time. The day started off soggy but finished with the sun out?


Me from Winter Series #3...okay, so I only did the little drop but that's where I was comfortable at the time :)

On the way home, we went to the Tustin Brewery to celebrate Andy's birthday. $2000 was raised for charity. I won a Crank Bros. multitool and a t-shirt (gave to Roger).

So, I sit here after a week of just light yoga, no spin, no riding. It's been a busy start to the week. I intend to do a light workout tomorrow after work and then start packing for the drive up on Friday night. Can't believe VQ is upon us already. It seems like so long ago that we talked about it, then registered. I was going to do CC, but it was full when I checked. Dan wanted to do VQ. I reluctantly signed up.

Now, I feel like I've made a transformation.

I've accomplished things on my bike I only ever dreamed of.

I've done my longest ride ever (46 miles). I've climbed higher than ever (9500 in one day).

I've learned to like hills and embrace the pain.

I have made some wonderful friends.

I have found the spiritual with only two small rubber contact points on the ground.

Rocks have hurt me and thrilled me.

The sky has shone on and rained on me.

I have found out what grit I am made of.

I have the feather in my hand.

Wow...really hard for me to remember to blog...I have to get better about it :)

Anyway, what to say? The weather here has been pretty psycho lately. Lots of rain. And more rain. Trail riding at LPQ or Rose Canyon is out of the question because of all the water. Been going to spin on Mondays and then doing the stationary bike at our gym one other day. I did a weight circuit Monday and today and also ran for a couple miles (with intervals). Monday's spin class was super tough...I couldn't let up for a minute!

Decided that I'm racing Fontana this weekend but only doing the DH. I need a break from the XC. Yes, I want to challenge myself and see if me bettering my time 2 weeks ago by 11 minutes wasn't just a fluke, but...I was really tired once we got to the DH. So, it's not going to help my VQ training at all, but that's what I've decided.

We did a semi-long ride on Saturday with the Manns (and Leslie, Carol Ann, and Jeff for part of it...damn they are fast).
 
My fave picture from Saturday:








And another...reminded me of MOAB! The solution pockets (swiss cheese) are so cool:



It only ended up being 38 miles and less than 7000 feet of climbing. Bummer. That's not enough, I fear. Truly, I want to do VQ but have very few expectations about the outcome. If I can't make the cutoffs, well, that's okay. At least I tried!! Sometimes I surprise myself though. I remember the marathon in October. I was 18 miles in and just put my head down and kept plodding along. I wasn't super fast, but I fell into a weird out-of-body state where my mind was not there. I was just a machine going along. I'm hoping that I can kind of do the same during VQ. The less mental I get, the better.

Sunday I went up to SJT with the Manns to climb up to Cocktail Rock. We didn't make it. It was really raining and gusting by the time we were 2.5 miles up the trail. I actually felt pretty good and wasn't totally exhausted. Climbing singletrack was so awesome for a change. Fire roads are :(

Went over and helped with Zoe's patterning today. She wasn't really crying, just kind of whining about it, but she's adorable nonetheless. Made dinner but also had some leftovers: stuffed peppers, butternut, sweet potato fries (mmmm...), and salad. Plus a glass of Pinot Noir. Am proud of myself because I came right home and worked out early in the afternoon. I can't do that every day because then I get stressed out in the morning. It's weird...I am super anal about my mornings but my afternoons are chill...I'm just like "whatever...". But in the morning, I need to have structure. I guess I just get more done and that's my productive time.

Gonna do some pm yoga and then wind down for the day!