Come back, Vacation, come back!

Soooo, last week was spring break. Made it really hard to get back in the swing of things on Monday. Really. Hard. But it's crunch week so there was really no time to dick around and be lazy. This coming weekend is the UNR collegiate race and I seem to have found myself the race coordinator. Good experience to know how to put on a race, but definitely taking up a significant amount of my time. That anatomy and physiology exam tomorrow night is just gonna have to take a back seat. Ouch.

So last week Cody's bro and a couple of their friends (also bros) came out to visit us. Flew allll the way from NH. We took them down to Auburn for some camping, biking, and drinking. It was totally awesome. And I'll tell ya what, these boys know how to cook. I don't think I touched the kitchen the whole time they were here. It was great. And good food too, much better cooks than myself. The last of them left this morning. Kinda sad, but at the same time my sleep has definitely suffered for it. But here's some photo highlights:

Boys.

Riley shredding sweet singletrack.

Requisite self protrait.

Craziness.

More craziness. Surprisingly, the flavor of rum was quite easy to get out of my bottle.

So then I went down to Sacramento on Saturday to race the Land Park Crit. Teammate Katie was there, totally kicking ass. I had a surprisingly good race. Much better than Menlo. I felt fit and confident and comfortable. Nice. Lousy to nonexistent sprint at the end, but one thing at a time.

Okay, off to do more race prep. God damn this race promotion is a lot of work. Wish my personal chefs were still here . . .

Racings, ridings, no reportings.

I know I said I was going to write a good Menlo Park report, but I think that ship has sailed. I raced the UCSC collegiate race this weekend, and rather than write a clever and interesting report I'm just going to copy and paste the one I sent to my coach. Here's ya go.

Ouch, this race was hard! The RR was the same course as the University road race they do down there, brutal! There weren't too may of us (10 I think) and rode together at a decent pace for the first couple of laps. Then there was a KOM sprint at the top of the hill - one girl took off and I was able to follow as the others responded and I didn't feel like I was too totally pinned. Then followed the descent, but as we started climbing again I was in trouble. My HR wasn't too high, but I just couldn't put out any power at all. I struggled and was dropped. I was kinda bummed for a lap, then started thinking about it and realized I was just tired from a hard week - hard hard day last Sunday, kinda sick, then hard hard intervals on Wednesday. I think I probably didn't recover very well from Wednesday since I was a touch under the weather. So I stopped feeling bummed and just figured I'd get a good training ride out of it. I ended up getting lapped so I only did 14 laps (5600 feet of climbing!) and finished happy and with a good attitude. Did everything I could to help my recovery - lots of good food and a great nights sleep. Next day was the hill climb TT - up Bonny Doon! So that was exciting. It was even raining like it was for the TOC guys. So - 4.7 mile climb, I think 1600 feet of elevation gain. I rode what I felt was a good race and finished in a little over 31 mins. Didn't stick around to see the results since it was raining and cold, but they were emailed out this morning. I ended up 6th - beating the 2 girls who beat me on Saturday who I know I should be stronger than, and only a little ways from 5th place. So I feel that if I had tapered for this weekend I would have been really happy with my fitness, and as I it is I know a couple of these weekends like this will pay off in the end. I'm feeling right now like I do very well with the sustained harder efforts (like in the TT) but I struggle to respond to surges, like in the crit last weekend. I guess that's something that will improve as the racing continues and the season wears on. So I'm happy, and looking forward to some warmer temps in the coming week and some races a little closer to home. :)



Cody's brother, and two of their friends (also brothers) are visiting for the next few days. We're heading down to Auburn for some mountain biking and camping, then I'm racing Land Park and Zamora (Bariani? whatever) this weekend. I had the gnarliest day of hill intervals of my life today, and I know I'll be spending long days in the saddle the next two. Not what is on my training schedule, but I can't say no to some singletrack. I'll probably be totally thrashed for my races, but next week is a rest week, so lots of time to recover. Hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful sunshine as much as I am!!!

Observations

Well, I'm feeling a little foggy today. Like the hour and a half yesterday with copious amounts of lactic acid in coursing through my veins kinda short circuited my brain. So I'm going to hold off on writing a proper race report until I can be witty and coherent and stuff. But here are some observations from this weekend.

1. Brooke Miller, I believe, is actually Wonder Woman, only with bigger quads than are generally portrayed by pop culture. Except instead of a lasso of truth she has the ability to outsprint anyone, except maybe Ina Teutenberg, who must therefore be Cat Woman.
2. Me and crits? Yeah, we don't get along so well. I'm working on a list of excuses: more slow twitch than fast on me, no health insurance (don't want to crash, too expensive), etc, etc. But I'm gonna try to suck less next time.
3. Teammates are cool, and I have some tough ones, too.
4. To be a good crit racer you have to: a. be fast, b. love crits, and c. be fearless. I'm pretty sure those were actually Sue's observations after the 1/2/3 race, and I'm just plagiarizing her.
5. If I'm going to be a road race, hill climber person, I need to lean up a bit. Sheesh.

Like I said, I'll follow with a race report, but maybe not for a day or two. Let it all sink in.

Last of the winter weather (hopefully!)

Perfect bluebird day!

Well, a little cold for my tastes, but whaddya gonna do?

Wearing a headband, hat, and scarf, baselayer, LS jersey and jacket, shorts, leg warmers, and windproof tights. And neoprene booties. And ski gloves. I was comfortable.

Someone decided to take my picture on the trainer last night. Hot. And sweaty, too.

Not much going on, I'm just trying to be regular with the blog updates. Oh yes, and I have much to procrastinate, too. Thinking about daylight savings starting, fun races this weekend, and spring break (just 2 weeks away!). Hoping all the training has paid off and I'll have some good races. Oh yeah, racing every weekend for the next, er, 2 months at least. Okay, no more procrastinating, I'm gonna be productive!

Are there any chiropractors who would like to sponsor me?

No matter how cold it is outside you can't keep him out of the water.
If I look less than thrilled in my self portrait here it's because I just messed up my back throwing a stick for the dog.

The Truckee River.

He's getting in too good of shape from all the 3 hour MTB rides he's been going on. Can't wear this dog out.

Had a good weekend. I was planning on heading down to Chico on Sunday for the Tour of the Unknown Valley century. It's something I try to do every year, since it's so beautiful down there in March and I can usually drag my dad along. Well, weather forecast was for torrential downpours and gale force winds on Sunday, so I went down on Saturday instead. Did a nice long, hard ride with my pops and friends from Bend and Chico. Went out for food - ate an enormous burrito and a great margarita. Mmmm . . . salt. Drove home that night, then got up early (ish) to beat the rain yesterday. Got in a coupla hours in the wind, and the first rain drops just started to fall as I rolled up to my house. Overall a good weekend.

I took the doggy for a walk by the river this morning. It rained overnight and everything just smelled so good out. There's something so distinctive about the smell of rain in the desert. Or, high desert I guess. It's the sandy soil, sage brush, rabbit brush, and the sweet smell of the willows that grow next to the river. Add to that the birds chatting up above and I feel like moving out into the boondocks and living in a tent. I have a friend who lived in a teepee in Bozeman, MT for 2 years, even during the winter! He's a little . . . different, but seriously, how perfect is it to wake up and hear the river and the birds? I need to go camping.

I managed to totally mess up my back this morning. I'm not sure if it was throwing a stick for Riley or what, but right now it hurts to take deep breaths and I can't turn my head without wimpering like a wus. Ow. I'm working on getting some health insurance, then I'm going to the chiropractor.

Well, that's about all I've got. Excited to go race Menlo Park next weekend! Figure I'll be stuck on my trainer all week, what with the predicted snow and all, but springtime is growning nearer and it's hard to be too upset about a last little burst of winter weather.