Too much good stuff!

Yesterday's road ride was awesome...


View Big Loop Around Diamond Valley And Skinner in a larger map

The wind coming back through wine country was killing me though. I didn't have much go juice left. Funny how energizing it is though when you finally get back on familiar roads and you know that the 3+ hr ride is close to ending! :)

I am trying to get back into the swing of training. So far so good! I feel totally fresh today which seems strange after a ride like that (and how tired I was last night at 10 o'clock when I finally took a breather). I suspect that our eating habits are playing a significant role in that. Hopefully after the next week or so I will be able to look up while on the bike and not have to fight to get back into Allison's slipstream! :) (what little of it there is!)

Things are super hectic, but quite good. Kinda screwed up I think, Allison and I cooked way too much food last night and now have filled our entire refrigerator with leftovers. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but right now it means we need to pack them all up and take them with us on our little "Year End Adventure."

Tomorrow we will be heading out on the road for the next week or so. I will make sure to snap a photo of the rack setup fully loaded. The Black Max is going to look like a freight train with the moto and 4 bikes behind it! I am stoked though, it is really gratifying when I get to design and fabricate stuff again. Never get enough of that at work...

So nice to be back!

Saturday we headed over to OC to support the Hunger Ride put on by Rock N' Road. We brought some cans and boxed dry goods to donate to the cause then rolled out with a huge group of roadies.



Since Allison didn't like the idea of riding the MTB's I figured it would be best to stay with the lead group. There were some seriously big motors on tap like Brandon who won State Champs (MTB) by a significant margin.



I did my best to keep my nose out of the wind and conserve energy, but wound up popping off the back of the group. I was stoked for Allison as she managed to stay on for the whole ride. Not an easy task and she was the only female to stay with the leaders, so proud!

After the ride we ran a bunch of errands and I finished wiring up the lights on my new moto rack. I have yet to load it all up with bikes and moto, I'll post a picture of it when we head to the desert in a few days. I am stoked though that I can now load all our camping gear into the truck with the moto and 4 bikes on back! SWEET!

Saturday we put in some hours on the MTBs. We met Steph and Dan and did a bunch of loops in Daley Ranch. It was great to see them!



Unfortunately my time away from riding has not only hurt my ability to hang with a pack of roadies, it has also really hurt my ability to power through obstacles and technical climbing. Allison and I both did some repeats on some steep/technical climbing. Hopefully it comes back quick with some work.



Droning out silly Z2 work or doing "Wish I could just die now" intervals are so much less fun than this! :)



On a much brighter note, I don't think my descending has suffered too much with the time off. :)



Maybe it was just the jersey that was helping me out... :)



I have a long ways to come back to where I was at this past season but I look forward to the challenge. Keeping up with the wife is a tall order, but I am going to do my best to Mann up!

It is going to be a long few days before we start year end shut-down. This place is a ghost town!

Back in the saddle...

Well after a seven week break I am finally back to riding. It is great to get back outside, pedaling. I missed riding. Hopefully my fitness comes back as I would like to join the wife on her long training rides. At this point I have hopes of maybe getting back to where I was at last year fitness wise.



Moving up one age group isn't going to make racing any easier! I will still be racing with Gary (definitely one of the strongest athletes racing Cat1) and I know that several of the racers in 35-39 were putting significant time gaps on me in races in 2009. I also won't be able to resist comparing my times to semi-pro racers that I raced against in '09 like James, talk about depressing (maybe I can talk him into doing a SuperD at Bootleg or something so I can lay some smack down on him).

I had hoped to build on my fitness from '09 and go into '10 as a top contender for my AG. I now feel that it will be a stretch goal and I will most likely be further back in the pack. That is okay though, I am going to use the racing/training stuff to stay motivated so I can try to keep up with Allison.



I have taken it upon myself to try to free her up to chase being a high(er) level Pro racer. That means that instead of sitting with my feet up, I am hustling 100% of the time to get things done. Cooking, wrenching, running errands, (fixing flats!) I am now the core of the team (still not going to take on cleaning, as far as I am concerned the house can be a mess!). I like the feeling I get though watching her grow as an athlete, pushing to new highs.



I am also enjoying the moto very much! My little KLX250S is a blast and I hope to continue to get out on it occasionally to get my BRAAAP on in the dirt. I use it a ton to run around town and do errands. The other day I did some grocery shopping. My backpack was LOADED, but it saves on fuel costs and I can get across town MUCH faster! Pulling wheelies from stop lights is so much fun! :)



I am working on a rack for the truck so that I can have our bike rack and the Moto for trips. Hoping to weld it all up this weekend some time and will post pics of the finished product.

It's been a while...

I will get the bad news out of the way up front, I am sad to report that I am still on the injured reserve list. I have made efforts. Photographic evidence of pedal FAIL...



Lots of stuff has happened though since my last post. Thanksgiving was awesome! I cooked a nice bird for my mom, sister, Allison and I.





It was super tasty!



On the bright side I have a new toy...



...and am enjoying myself a great deal!





I still have hope that I can get back on the bike before too much longer and maybe still do some races next year. Gonna try to hit it up next week.