Mar
31
Santa Monica - Day 1
Category: enjoy the blog, four-leggeds | 5 Comments
So far I am pretty stoked on vacation Santa Monica Training Camp. Lots of play time with my best little buddy, and lots of play time with my best big buddy, too. This morning we rode along the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu to Latigo Canyon Road, where we both did a nice long climbing interval.During this time I realized I am exactly like my mom. I made Greg stop for photos several times, even though he's all serious about his training (and so am I)(totally)(all the time), but here we are in this beautiful place and with a cool ...
Mar
30
So I earned an A+ for effort in my attempt to debate my way into starting today's crit. Unfortunately I got an F for efficacy? Because I didn't start. Ah well, there will be other races... and of all types of bike racing, criteriums can be the hairiest. Unfortunately, our team was harshly reminded of this fact today when an inexperienced rider slammed into poor Sharon (a.k.a. Shaz), took her and 2 other riders out, and broke Sharon's wrist. She didn't even apologize.So awful how hours and months of work can get wiped away in a second. This has happened to too many friends recently, it's really sad and I feel depressed and speechless about it. What do ...
Mar
29
Today's road stage was great and crappy. Great because I helped my teammates more than I thought I was capable of, saw the front and the wind and more front and wind, climbed hills at a trillion watts, and even felt like my descending skills improved from mediocre to mildly o.k. during the course of the race. Woohoo!Crappy because I got dropped right when the proverbial crap hit the proverbial fan, my legs gave out when I and We needed them most... As I was chasing into a fierce headwind, a good 20 seconds off the back of a strung-out peleton, I saw the field round a corner and sure enough, it was my other 5 VAC teammates ...
Mar
28
There are several differences between us actually. She's tall and I'm short. I have good style sense and she is learning. I have a cat and she has dogs. Um, whatelse... she has skinny long arms and I have tyrannosaurus rex arms (i.e. the short stubby kind).The biggest difference though is that she is annally neat and I am refreshingly relaxed about the organization of my stuff. See, look how accessible my half of the sink is, you don't have to unzip a specific compartment of your hi-i'm-a-total-pocket-protector-wearing-nerd toiletry case in order to find ...
Mar
28
San Dimas Pt. 1
Category: enjoy the blog, four-leggeds | 3 Comments
Greg and I made it safely and happily down to San Dimas yesterday! All 450 (mostly) beautiful miles... Not a lick of traffic, either, which was totally nice. And we basically pretty much sort of left "first thing", as intended - 9:30 a.m. is pretty good for us actually.But Kitty didn't want me to leave! He was holding my bike shorts hostage (Huntress I know these are last year's shorts, I only use them on the trainer I swear!)I am sharing a room with my favourite roommate ever, Shaz, who is getting over a cold and her voice sounds like something out of the ...
Mar
26
Tomorrow
Category: enjoy the blog | 5 Comments
Tomorrow, Greg and I and a car full of STUFF will be driving from Incline Village all the way down to San Dimas, CA. I have adamantly repeated multiple times that we are leaving first thing, no doodling around with "oh let's go do a swim first" and "let's make a big breakfast" and "i have to finish packing" and next thing you know we hit the road at noon sharp and arrive at 10 pm after multiple pit stops.Poor Greg, I keep repeating myself and he keeps repeating "O.K., I agree with you!" himself. Poor Greg!Also poor Greg because the original plan was for him to stay in San Dimas with me and the rest ...
Mar
25
For those of you who enjoy the Adventures of Sal (my mom)
Category: enjoy the blog, ma says... | 4 Comments
I talked to my mom this morning. She sounded somewhat hurried and mildly harried. I asked why.Well, Charles Tasker decided to show up to work today even though I didn't ask him to so now I am standing here getting ready to take him his lunch I made him and trying to figure out what I am going to ask him to do, because there is tons to do around here but I can't for the life of me remember what's the most urgent, and I better go because he's just standing out there and I'm paying him to do it. I guess I'll tell him to go till space in the garden for a new ...
Mar
25
Rode the Peaks
Category: enjoy the blog | 5 Comments
I did my outdoor Incline Peaks ride yesterday - it was fantastic! Hardly any cars! Several friendly fellow-citizens out walking their friendly well-behaved cute doggies! I even saw another cyclist! (And, I have a new appreciation for how many pricey houses are tucked away on the mountainside, all in this one little town...) The weather was decent but super windy. On future windy days I will avoid Tyner, the biggie that goes up to 7,600', because it's quite exposed, and while it averages a 6% gradient there are many stretches that are 8-10%. So, combine these factors with the many curves in the road and the lack of those metal bumper/fence-like thingies that prevent cars (and ...
Mar
24
Research Breakthroughs
Category: enjoy the blog | 6 Comments
At 5 months and 2 weeks shy of my 30th birthday, I feel like I have finally crossed over into adulthood in one major way. Somewhat relatedly, my birthday is September 7, and rest assured I have not crossed over into adulthood with regards to my birthday and telling everyone about it for months beforehand and expecting birthday acknowledgements from everyone and anyone for the whole month of September.Anyhow, the milestone is that I have actually started researching stuff prior to purchasing and dumping money down the drain. I have never done this. Impulse buys were my M.O. for ages - and part of the reason I got into bike racing I think. I just HAD to have ...
Mar
22
So I only saw about 2 minutes of yesterday's swim meet, thanks to my afternoon procrastinations and my adherence to the "self centered triathlete" stereotype (i.e. finishing my workouts for the day was more important than supporting and encouraging young athletes). But I did get enough of a glimpse to deduce that cool high school swim team boys do NOT use swim hats, even in races.Another reason I missed the meet was that Greg and I went to a real live friend's house for dinner last night! It was great fun for a lot of reasons. For one thing, Eric (the friend!) is a fantastic cook, and he provided a tasty and, for me, much-needed respite from Greg's ...
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