Well, Surf City kept me from doing just about anything else lately, including blogging. I am going to cheat and post a post I posted on the Surf City site, and then, after I catch my breath and stuff, its back to pictures and blogging.
But man, it was so worth it. What a great time.
Thanks everyone for just about the most fun ever! We had an unbelievable 100 people in our costume cross this year and about 50 kids in kiddy kross. I’m still not done laughing…
A big thank you goes out to all the amazing volunteers who make this race happen:
The Women of Velo Bella
The Fellas of VOS Racing
Beth Welliver - Clinic
Clinic Instructors: Ben Jacques-Maynes, Shauna Potocky, Kathleen Bortolussi, Mark Abele, Clark Natwick, Sheila Moon, Barb Howe, Stella Carey, Steven Gile
Linda Locke/Erika Donald - Kiddie Kross
Amy Hall - Registration
Steve Litvin - Results
Natasha Perry - Sponsorships
Tim Watson - Decorations
Jeff Clark - Legacy
Our amazing sponsors (check them out over there <---- ) and everyone who pounded a stake, wrapped course tape, picked up trash, raced their hearts out and wore a silly outfit. Check out the results and all the amazing pictures!
I tried mountain biking twice before this trip. Except that wasn’t mountain biking.
The ride we did on Sunday in Chico was mountain biking.
If someone asked to recommend a good trail for someone just recovering from an accient involving a broken collarbone or rib, B Trail at Bidwell Park is not the trail anyone would recommend.
If someone asked for a trail that made you swear on the climb, concentrate over rocks, give a yippy skippy yeehaw on the descent and genuinely fall in love with mountain biking again, then B Trail at Bidwell Park was just the ticket.
I was dying on the climb. Frightened that I could no longer continue and maybe real mountain biking was too much for me right now. I was ready to turn around and give up….Luckily my ride buddies are patient and the descent was just around the corner.
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We made it safely to Idaho. The Sprinter van is mostly still in one piece.
The scenery here is stunning. We did a little ride by the house yesterday that was so scrumptious, I would be happy doing loops of that all week. But we have new territory to explore and new trails to conquer
I was gonna get all politicky in today’s blog. I’ve had a post brewing and stewing in my head for a few days now.
But daydreams of Idaho keep interrupting my thoughts.
We leave for Ketchum next Saturday. My first non racing related vacation since my trip to Canmore in 2004. And that trip is one of my fondest memories. Epic country to be explored with great friends. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Plus, Heather’s obsession with Rye whiskey is sure to keep us entertained.
Ketchum if you can.
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I will leave with this one sorta politicky message. I hope that the seriousness of today’s anniversary causes our country and media to pause and reflect on the substantive issues, rather than on attention garnering , time clock wasting, bullshit tactics like getting all hypocritically pouncy over lipsticked pigs.
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Did you know that the Vuelta is going on right now?
Its been on for a week, and I just realized it yesterday. Levi is in yellow. And I haven’t been paying a lick of attention.
It might be because I am too busy riding and swimming and picking backsplash tile. Or it might be because I am sort of over it right now.
I hope not, because I love the sport of cycling….but I am a little weary of it. Not just weary of the euro stuff and all the drugs and bad hair. But of cycling in general. The myopic training hard and talking about heart rates and carbon nanograms and calories and watts and I would have won if only type of cycling.
As I seek to regain fitness, its not racing I am thinking about as the epitome of fitness. Its the effortless gliding speed of a tailwind, the power in the last two strokes at the crest of a climb, the body language to scuttle over a tricky rock garden, the glow of a smile at the end of an awesome singletrack.
Cyclocross season is coming up and its colorful wackiness and plentiful beer might be just the ticket to reignite my love for the racing…until then, I’ll be honored to enjoy the ride.
And, this weekend, as I got ready to swim and I watched a few of the other swimmers…I had a moment of clear self awareness.
In the water, I am a fred.
I am not going to toot my own horn or anything, but its been at least 10 years since I was a cycling fred. I’ve come a long way if I dont say so myself.
But in the water, I am a fred.
I dont use those fancy speedo eye socket goggles, I use these things that are almost as big as a scuba mask. Now, I’m no expert or anything, but I am guessing thats pretty fredly.
But I love my scuba googles. They dont feel like my eyeballs are gonna pop out of the other side of my head and I can see everything….(which is actually not a good thing at one of the pools I go to, but I will spare you the details on all the strange floaty bits). Don’t tell me you can see anything with those little eye socket googles, cuz you can’t.
And then I bought my swimsuit at Big 5. The Big 5 right next to the Salvation Army store in Watsonville. Thats gotta totally be fredly. Its also reversible and I am guessing thats gotta be the fredly equivalent of leaving your reflectors on your bike.
Dont even get me started on the swim cap issue. I think that might be a whole blog post on to its self.
And toys….I notice that swimmers have a lot of pool toys. But not the cool ones like Log Flume Water Joust or anything. These are things like kicky boards and hand paddles. I used to wonder why everyone had all these toys. I mean, just swim and be done with it.
But after a few weeks of swimming I realized why.
Because swimming is freaking BORING
and you need something to break the monotony.
splash, splash, splash, push off the wall, splash, splash, splash, push off the wall, splash, splash, oh no please dont get in my lane…..whew, splash, push off the same damn wall, splash, splash, oh look that lane line is a little crooked someone should fix that, splash, push off the wall, splash, ewwww is that a pubi…
BORING. No dowhills, no rock gardens, no oh shit moments (lets hope)…the same damn scenery over and over again…and no chit chat. If I can’t chit chat in a sport, it loses a lot of luster for me.
So I bought some pool toys. I bought a bright yellow old school kicky board that I splash around on and pretend I know what I am doing while I stare at the warning to not use it as a lifesaving device and wonder why not because its holding me up pretty good and if I were drowning I wouldn’t be very picky.
And also a bouy that you stick near your hoo haw and try to hang on to it while you swim. So thats always good for a little fun. But I also bought my toys at Big Fred so I am guessing they are not chi chi. These folks are just lucky I dont plop in the pool during lane swim in one of those big floaty loungers with a giant inflatable palm tree and a margarita holder and start playing Marco Polo.
I confessed my fredliness to Michael (who has the inate ability to not be a fred in any sport he tries…well, except maybe like football or hockey or something). And Michael tried to reassure me. He told me that the people we see at our little funky gym pool aren’t really real swimmers anyway. Was this supposed to make me feel better…knowing that I was not only a fred, but a fred’s fred?
So far within the last few days Michael and I have:
learned how to dance Salsa Rueda
swam a gajillion laps in the pool
had a massage
got acupuncture
lifted weights
stretched
picked blackberries
listened to podcasts
watched Tropic Thunder
watched olympics
mailed out bella stuff
played the guitar
read books by a fire while eating kobe burgers
kicked the kitchen remodel back into gear
bubbled away hours in the hot tub
and all while operating on half the usual brain and energy levels.
How is all of this possible?
Well, neither one of us is riding.
Its utterly amazing how much of your life bike riding takes up. Not that I am complaining because my main goal in getting healthy is so that I can get on the bike again….but man….that bike can lead to such a myopic and unbalanced life.
Since I am one to look on the bright side, I am embracing this period of recovery as a time to undo some of that imbalance. Michael and I are having a blast being gym/spa rats and having weekends where we can sleep in and drive nowhere.
I am sure we will tire of it eventually. And I know I will be back on the bike soon….but racing? I dunno….
we’ll see.
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I love watching these Olympics. I have like 7 different blogs about them that I wish I had time for. But for now… I love the Track and Field sprinter cam. Beautiful.
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