10.5 Hours of Temecula

Let me preface this by saying that I agreed (I like to use the phrase "somehow got wrangled into") to do the 12 Hours of Temecula about 11 days before the event. I love riding my bike. I even love riding my bike for long periods of time, and I like to try to ride fast. Sometimes I like to attempt to put the two together.

My XC race season ended on 9/27. I took a week off and then basically did some regen, did a big ride, did a massive ride, and then did almost nothing. The week of my birthday I literally had about 2.5 hours of bike time. I hadn't been on a mountain bike since Noble. I hadn't ridden my Epic since CA State.

So, on top of all that, Justin got a call Friday around 6 as we were sitting down to dinner from a manager at work, who I would be racing Co-Ed Duo with the next morning. Justin and his group had been uprooted from their building at work on Wednesday or Thursday due to some structural issues. The plan had been that it'd be inaccessible for a few weeks, and then everyone would be back in there. Well, Friday something happened. So, then it was well by Monday morning everything needs to be cleared out. They talked about the race, and determined I'd go first in the race so I could try for Queen of the Mountain, and then it was time for dinner. About 30 minutes later it was no longer - it's okay by Monday; it was Everything needs to be out of here by tomorrow at noon. So, Justin headed back to work. Meanwhile, we had guests on their way, and my race bike hadn't been touched in over a month, and nothing was packed. I got my food, clothes, bottles, etc. together and tried to pack a few things for Justin and then hung out with Steph and Dan.

I tried to sleep. Around 11 Justin called and was about to head home for the night. Luckily we got a few hours of sleep, and were up and at'em the next morning before 6 to pack up and head to the venue.

We got a primo pit spot just past the timing booth. I wasn't sure how I'd like not being down by the pool, but it was aight.



It got WAY more crowded in the 2 hours before the race started.

My partner, Bruce, and I registered and got to work on the finishing touches of the bikes and pits and hanging out.



I realized I had to get dressed and do some kind of warm-up. I tried to get in some last minute training the week before the race (it's always a good idea to go from totally untrained and riding 2 hours a week to riding 3.5 hours in 4 days with as many hills as you can find, and doing threshold efforts), but I still wanted to make sure that the legs were ready to clear some lactic acid once the parade lap tapered off and it was go time for the hill climb.

I'd never even been near the front of an event like this before, much less tried to go for a prime, so I was kind of nervous. Jason mentioned that the King and Queen of the Mountain would get jerseys, so I was stoked cause I love the SoCal Endurance lime green jersey. I was pumped and ready to go. Had no idea who I was racing against, but I was going to go full bore up the climb!

Meanwhile, back in the pits…



And from the other angle…



Stephanie changed jerseys about 8 times (kidding!) and then as I was about to go hit up the restroom one last time I realized everyone was lining up for the start! I snuck up as close to the front as I could and hoped I didn't get taken out on the neutral roll-out! It was only hectic in a few spots, luckily.

Roll-out



Hitting the dirt.



I passed Natasha from Amgen and one of the Hungarian? girls just after hitting the dirt and just tried to stay out of trouble and pushing the pace. Bruce had been yelling, "Draft! Draft!" as I went by the pits, so I tried where I could. I was up pretty far to the front, but even as I came up off the first turn I could see guys already a football field or two up on the climb. Crazy! I passed a few guys, and were passed by a few, but didn't see any women. I felt like dying, but when I hit the top I asked the lone kid on a quad if I was the first woman. He said no. What! I was shocked. I then had moments of paranoia where I questioned if it was fastest lap and not climb? I didn't let off the pace once, just in case.

I stayed in the mix where I could, and pulled over for others where I couldn't. I came off ridgeline feeling good and ready to hit Ambulance. Once I hit the singletrack on the way up the fire road I felt my tire getting squishy. Then it kept rolling around the corners. Ugh. Not again.

We'd just seen Race Across the Sky on Thursday, so I had this flash of Lance standing there, leading Leadville, looking around trying to figure out what to do with his flat tire! I figured it worked for him, so I'd try it… left the bike rubber side down, pulled out my Big Air and filled the tire to where it felt pretty full. Meanwhile Natasha had ridden by, along with a lot of other riders! I re-tightened the valve and heard air hissing out. What? I saw a sidewall puncture. Had no idea if there was any liquid Stans left in the tire, but I gave it a few good spins, shook it a bit and said a quick prayer as I pocketed the Big Air and hopped back on the bike in chase. I caught back up to Natasha, who was also racing Co-Ed Duo, and she and I swapped positions for the last 1/4 or so of the lap.





We came through the start/finish literally together, but unfortunately since Bruce and I were tagging off down by our pit I got a little held up, but then continued on, and off Bruce went chasing down Natasha's partner.

She confirmed my thoughts that there were no women in front of us at all!

Justin had me put my feet up, and I hydrated and ate a snack. I had NO idea what to do. Racing solo it's easy. You ride your bike, you grab some stuff, you ride your bike, for hours, and hours. This duo thing? You get just cold enough to be stiff and ready to hang out for the rest of the day and then it's time to go again, and not just go slow and steady, but go really fast.

Am I doing it right?



I cruised around and wound up talking to Heidi about what she does when racing with Mario. We chatted about training, racing next year, etc. Then all of a sudden Justin was yelling my name. It had been about 45 mins since Bruce had gone out, and I was just about to head over and take a gel shot and line up to go. Well, Bruce's lap was a LOT faster than expected, and I had to shed the jacket and GO!

Oops.

My lap 2 felt pretty good, and I was still cranking along. I tried to be more social and cheer on the solo's this lap, while still going as fast as I could manage. This lap was a few minutes slower than lap 1, but not by much. Still felt good, but I knew I couldn't keep cranking out 55 minute laps.

My off lap was a little easier. I'd had Accelerade on lap 2, so wasn't as hungry. Had a few snacks and then was ready to go about 12 minutes before Bruce came in for the hand-off. Went out for lap 3 and tried to keep a good pace, but also spin a little more than the last 2 laps. I was cleaning stuff pretty good still and felt okay. Natasha and her partner had opened up a big enough gap that I couldn't see her on the laps at all, but I tried to keep my "time checks" close. I wound up with a 57 I think. I believe it was at this point Justin relayed that Bruce was looking forward to me slowing down so he could rest more. What!! I was barely getting 50-52 minute breaks! Haha! I put my feet up, and had the situation somewhat dialed in. It isn't like solo where you're a zombie. You kind of are totally amped up when you come in, but it's important to sit down, hydrate, get some food in early and then head out for easy spinning.

Luckily for us, I think, the fire road out to Dam Climb is about a mile or so, undulating, but very little elevation gain/loss, so it's a great warm-up in and of itself.

All I really remember after that is Heidi and the BMX Mulisha trying to talk me into drinking Guinness in between laps, and then I got slower, then I got a lot slower. Then it got dark. I went out for lap 6 I think around 6:15 or so. My 6th was really slow and I was out of energy. I'd asked a lot of my untrained and unridden body and it was pretty much over it at that point. I was grannying stuff, walking stuff, and my mind would wander and I'd be sitting in Zone 1 cruising. I'd try to speed up and then just forget again. So, I just cruised it out.

Got back around 7:30. Bruce was still kitted up, but he was definitely not into doing a 6th lap. We had a few laps up on 3rd place, and were a solid 15 minutes behind 1st, which he couldn't make up in one lap, so we called it.

It was really cold once I finished up, but put on some layers and got to drinking a home brewed Kolsch from Luke and then we sat by the fire and snacked on pretzels until awards.

I got my Queen of the Mountain jersey (a non-SoCal Endurance men's large that won't fit Justin or I, so much for being excited about the jersey) and wound up nearly tied with Karen for fastest female lap of the day (I wasn't even thinking about that!). Stoked.



Bruce and I on the "podium" with Natasha and her partner



We hung out and were totally stoked that Steph won the Pro/Expert Women's series overall!! So awesome.

All in all, a great day on the bike and with friends.

Droid - My Impressively Non-Pro Review

So, like some of you out there, I have long been lusting after the iPhone, but unable to attain one. I have been on a month-to-month contract with Verizon for over a year now, since I had no real reason to re-up. They'd bombarded me with "New Every 2" fliers, emails, and text's for months, but to no avail.

When I did some research in the late summer it became pretty clear that the iPhone wasn't going to be available on Verizon's plans any time soon. And, it didn't really matter as Justin was holding steady against either of us getting an iPhone and the ensuing $30/mo data plan like the warriors of Rohan defending Minas Tirith.

I'd been rocking the Motorola Razr since like January of 07 maybe? Phone is still in great condition and works great, but it wasn't a smart phone (or an app phone, or an android phone, or whatever you want to call it).

Somehow, in late October (like many other people) I first heard about the upcoming Motorola DROID. Naturally, I coveted. An iPhone killer on Verizon? How could a girl not be interested? I read the news, rumors, and updates on the phone on about a daily basis, and somehow talked Justin into letting me get one Friday, November 6, the first day of release.

I will admit, I was somewhat nervous they'd run out by lunch time, especially at our local Best Buy. Why Best Buy? The $100 rebate was instant instead of mail-in. Score!

Since I'd ridden over to Best Buy to get in a workout, I had literally no time to play around with it, especially after the hour + it took to get my account re-upped and the data plan added. The phones weren't flying off shelves, but the Verizon network was crawling!

By Saturday afternoon I'd mostly figured out the stuff that I needed to know. I still haven't used most of the phones capabilities, nor will I, I'm sure. I haven't downloaded more than about 6 app's, and they were all free. I pretty much just like checking my email and Facebook, and taking/posting pics online instantaneously. Eventually I'll probably check in to a "grocery list" type app, and wouldn't mind finding something for traffic (the Google Maps traffic layer was vastly incorrect on Friday showing green when we were dead stopped, or it was grayed out where it would've been nice to see it). I'm sure at some point the Where app will be cool (thinking this is similar to Yelp?). I've only downloaded 3 ringtones (how are they giving these away now? They used to be like $2.50 for a midi tone), and sent one text message.

I do really like the phone. So far I haven't had any issues calling or receiving calls (though admittedly my experience here is as limited as with anything else to do with the phone - I've made about 4 phone calls and received probably less).

Let's see if I can break it down:

Phone itself: the contacts became somewhat cumbersome when the phone sync'd Gmail, Facebook, and my old phone contacts. It's nice that you can star/favorite contacts which is a somewhat poor exchange for speed dial, but I've read you can add a contact to the home screen, and honestly, it's not that difficult to click the Phone icon, then select from the recent list or hit favorites. I have yet to try voice dialing, but honestly, I never used it with my old phone either unless I was using my bluetooth (which I've yet to even try to sync with this phone - noticing a pattern?). The call quality has been good. I'll just say I haven't noticed anything bad when on the phone, except as some have noted.. if you're using the Google Maps navigation, the chick does talk really loud in the earpiece whether you're on the phone or not! No, I wasn't driving.

App store: since I have zero experience with the iPhone app store, I have no idea what I'm missing. I'd probably download more app's if I thought they'd be useful, but so far I haven't really needed anything, and anything that I have looked for I've downloaded. I haven't even logged in to Pandora yet. I did get a free NFL scores program that isn't great, but it worked last Sunday. The Twidroid Lite has worked well, and I like that I can exit the app so my phone doesn't go off all night as everyone Twits! OK, back to the blog... I just downloaded as many app's in about 30 minutes as I had in 4 days. Not sure I will use any of them??

OK, also, I am dim... when I visit websites that have the app's all listed out there's like this little 2D barcode box. What does that do?

Camera: It's functional, and better than what I had. I've read quite a few complaints about the lag-time (it is slow, but that's coming from my Canon SD950 IS) and lack of focus. I have gotten the "green" focus tabs a few times, but most of the time I get the red ones (assuming this means it hasn't focused). I was able to take a picture of some birthday confetti this morning up close indoors.



And indoors at a bike shop over the weekend



Takes decent pics outside at night with the flash. I actually found a work-around to silence the camera from making the focus/shutter sounds! Turn all media sounds off entirely ;)

I'd probably say my biggest complaint is the size, but coming from an older flip phone what do you expect? I knew it'd be too big to fit in my jeans pockets; I've just yet to find anywhere else to stow it while I'm walking around aside from carrying it, and that's dangerous.

The other day I was leaving my desk walking down the hallway. I knew I needed to turn left around a corner, started playing with my sounds menu and WHAM!!! Slammed my head right into the wall. Turned too soon, I guess. D'oh. Good thing the paint didn't leave a lasting scratch on my glasses.

Anyway, all in all I'm pleased with the phone so far. I think a more thorough review once I've actually utilized more of its capabilities would be necessary. I'd totally recommend it to anyone on Verizon that wants an iPhone like phone. Battery life has been fine for my usage (1-2 calls a day, random lite web-surfing, etc.). I sit at a computer all day, so I don't really need to play on the phone too much. I have noticed a nasty crik in my neck that I didn't have previously ;)

Fairy Tale: The Walker, The Mailman and the Squirrel

Once upon a time there was a princess that wanted (ok, make that "needed" - Bruce will be a slave driver on 11/14) to go ride her bike at lunch. Her prince preferred her to ride a different route than the one she chose, but she liked it for the terrain.

She suited up in her kit, clipped her shoes into her pedals and off she flew, feeling fast and free as she glided into the breezy pre-noon air. Traffic was light in some spots, and heavy in others; seemingly the opposite of most days. Without incident, she made it to the hill and out to where she wouldn't hit a stop light for another 45 minutes.

The headwind was demoralizing, her legs burning and sore from a hard gym workout the day before. She saw another princess descending the hill and waved as they continued in opposite directions. As she crested the hill, there was another princess. What? Not even 30 minutes in to her ride and already she'd seen 2 other princesses out riding and no princes. What a day!

The next few miles ticked by without incident, the headwind like a battering ram, but the sky was as blue as the ocean and the clouds floating quietly like marshmallows up above.

She noticed a few hundred yards ahead a man walking with traffic in the bike lane where it narrowed to 2 or so feet. She looked back to see if she could safely take the lane to pass, but naturally there was a truck barreling down the road. The driver clearly saw the princess, as well as the walker, so he safely passed over the yellow line, allowing her to safely pass in the lane of traffic.

Disaster averted.

As the princess came back around to finish up her loop she passed a mailman stopped delivering the mail. Soon he passed her back, and again as he was stopped to drop mail she passed him once more. He pulled to stop a third time, and was unfortunately forced to stick out halfway into the narrow lane of traffic as there was no shoulder there. She looked back to see if it was safe to pass, but unfortunately there was a box truck heading right for them. If there was no traffic coming the other way this would have been fine, but sadly there was a car heading the opposite direction taking the other lane.

With only a split second to decide her course of action the princess hit the brakes and slowed to a stop, waiting for the box truck to pass the mailman, so she could pass the mailman and continue on her merry way.

Disaster averted once again.

Now it was time to descend! While there had been a nasty headwind climbing up the hill, the wind seemed to continue to buffet her attempts to gain speed, and a car kept close behind her, not passing for some reason. She decided not to relinquish the bottom of the hill sprint just because of the car, so once down at the "line" she took off out of the saddle gaining momentum and speed.

Just as she sat up to recover, still near max speed, out into the road bounded a bushy-tailed squirrel. OH NO! The eyes on both the squirrel and the princess bugged out in cartoon fashion as they only had a split second to determine a course of action. The squirrel had run right at the princess on her bike.

She grabbed a handful of brake and fishtailed as the squirrel passed safely inches from her front tire. Both continued, their hearts pounding with adrenaline.

Luckily the rest of the ride was simple enough and the princess arrived back at work and lived happily ever after.

Weekend Update and Food Stuff(s)

Friday night Justin and I drove south after work, and after he had his first PT appointment for his irritated knee. With traffic we got down there just before 7, but Steph had already headed back to school to help out with the evening's football festivities.

That left Justin, Dan and I to fend for ourselves (after Steph made quite an amazing dinner for us to enjoy, if I may say so).





See the Carolan's in the background? That was the beginning of the end! Dan poured just a tad in his almond milk with dinner. Then Justin poured himself a small serving. It was amazing. So smooth and tasty. There wasn't much left in the bottle, so we ran out quite quickly. Naturally, one thing led to another and we wound up at Vons buying Bailey's, Kahlua, and two cartons of Haagen-Dazs Five ice cream.



Stephanie got home just in time to partake of some vino and for the four of us to sit down to a nice game of Monopoly Surfing!





Somehow I managed to be able to get out of bed on Saturday, and we prepped for a long day out at Noble Canyon. Unfortunately due to Justin's non-compliant knee he had to sit this one out. Made me really sad, but he went to hang with his mom before an easy road spin.

I didn't have such a great day on the bike. But, take the good with the bad. Here's a few pics:





DFL!



Darryl



Dan











Steph



Halloween dessert



As for the food stuffs... I haven't been posting much on my food blog, but that's going to change soon. Justin and I are going to try the paleo diet for athlete's here pretty soon. I'm trying to finish up the book, and have one event to do before training starts up in earnest. Soo, we'll be trying out the new "diet" (i.e. way of eating on a regular basis, not a way to lose weight) in a few weeks.

I'll be posting up about it on my more food-ish blog. Check it out there if you are interested in info, recipes (hopefully), and the journey.

"What'd you bring a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

This quote from Stand by Me was going through my head Saturday morning as I waited for the black goodness to brew and wake me up. I haven't been able to fall asleep lately at all, so I think I was running on maybe 4.5 hours of sleep, with a LONG day ahead of me.

At 4:30 am on the dot Justin, Stephanie, Dan and I all piled into the packed up truck and took off into the darkness up the mountain to Idyllwild in search of 40~ other enduronuts for a really long day on the bike. It has occurred to me recently that many of the people we train with didn't get into mountain biking for recreation, fun, and general exercise. They started riding for competition, fun, training, etc. Long days in the saddle are what I truly enjoy. Sure, 2 hour hammerfest sessions serve their purpose, but I'll take 40 backcountry miles any day over anaerobic sprints!

That's why when the San Jacinto Enduro non-management first started posting up ride info I had the itch. No one even questioned my sanity, so the four of us all signed up for the ride.

It was about mid-60s driving up highway 74. Turning off to the yellow post site the rearview mirror screamed "ICE". 37*F. It was pretty downright cold getting dressed, and I knew the neutral roll-out, even behind spun out singlespeeders, was going to be bone-chillingly frigid. The road descent to Little Thomas Mountain did not disappoint.

Staging!





On the road during the neutral roll-out I looked east and saw the hints of light peeping over the distant peaks; I knew it was going to be a great day. There's nothing quite like riding your bike at dawn with like-minded souls knowing what you've got ahead of you and just feeling giddy at the sight of sunrise and the hint of what's to come.

Cruising up Little T in the dark



It begins





I remember paying more attention to the sky than the road in front of me as we cruised up the climb with Brendan, David, and a few others.



Pink sunrise kissed the rocky peaks as we traversed





I remember screaming, "I love riding my bike!" as I descended the Ridge.



It's a hilly descent, with a few good climbs interspersed with the fast fire road descending. Just over 2 hours in and we had over 20 miles covered, and a solid ascent in front of us.





Yup; we're climbing (back) up there.



Starting our ascent







The climb was surprisingly good, for me. It was fairly steep early on, but in good condition, very little traffic. Justin dropped back once as he was having chain suck issues, and he caught up as the grade eased up, and I felt like we were moving at a good clip. We got up to Idyllwild where we picked up a few "stragglers" and navigated our way back to May Valley where Mary had an aid station laid out. The brownies were heavenly.



We'd finally hit some singletrack, but sadly my technical skills had been left at home for the day, and I was getting close to bonking.

I did manage to clear the Roman Highway





Probably the highlight of my tech skills on the day

A quick break and some food later, and the four of us (Justin, Ed, and Kurt) were back in business heading toward some of the more familiar parts of the course.





Despite our breaks, a few mechanicals, and some slow riding on my part, we got back to the yellow post site to sign in around 11:23 am. Time to refill and refuel.





Then it was back at it for a few traverses of the powerline trail and the new to us Fobes riding.





We started our rocky doubletrack descent down to 74 and Justin commented as we gazed at the peaks of Thomas Mountain, "One last mountain to climb."

I had started to feel the fatigue monster creeping in pretty good as we climbed up Fobes. It was difficult to put one foot in front of the other on the short hike-a-bike, and I paused longer than normal to remount the bike anytime I got off.

We hit the highway and cruised to the turn off.



The early slopes are benign



I hadn't climbed Thomas Mountain proper in probably 3-4 years, so I had forgotten that it's not really as steep as Little T, for the most part. It felt like we were moving out pretty good, but eventually the climb in earnest set in. I asked when we were stopped for Justin's 3rd and final chain suck what the next way point was on the map. 18.6 miles - turn off to Ramona Trail.

I shouldn't have asked. We were at 15.3. My how those tenths of a mile ticked off slowly.



FINALLY we made it…



Though, at that point, I didn't even enjoy the descent. I could barely hold onto the handlebar anymore, and couldn't mentally concentrate on anything. Justin spent a lot of time waiting for me at that point. Since we entered the trail a good way down from our typical start, it went by pretty fast, and before I knew it we had made it down to the powerline trail again and were speeding back to the finish line.







9.5 hours later - all done!



Time for some refreshments, some chilling, and some pizza and brownies







Was stoked to watch the light change as the temperature slowly dropped, and we anxiously awaited Steph and Dan's return.



The evening light in the mountains…







We did a ton of grocery shopping yesterday as recovery from Saturday, and literally sat around and ate some good food!

Picked up some Spaten Oktoberfest to go with breakfast burritos




And then got another 4-pack of Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter to have with pork chops and veggies for dinner



Justin has been the mad-pomegrantate de-seeder lately. It's the only decent substitute for blueberries that I can find.





I also had to get a shot of this...last week we got all the colors of the rainbow!

Back to Basics

This weekend was somewhat different than normal. Started out Friday as Justin and I left work, and I was gussied up for Luke and Charressa's wedding rehearsal dinner!



Just a very small portion of the barrels in the tasting room



Tiny cakes



Serve yourself!



Dinner was killer (I ate way, way, way too much)



We were out kinda late, and Justin got a bit tipsy, so we slept in a little longer than planned on Saturday morning before heading out for a quick and easy road ride. I took my camera, but didn't even pull it out. Wasn't super into the ride at all, and had trouble focusing on "not" training. Weird.

We got home, sat around, then rushed to get ready for the main event!! Luke's wedding!

We got there around 2 for pre-show pictures. I wasn't sure where to go, but said hello to Charressa and the ladies, then went to chill with the boys.





All dressed up!



Vows



The happy new couple!!



Justin and Charressa's sister Tiffany



It was cool to hang with some of the race crew, especially out of the race element. For a bunch of "dirty" people we clean up all right, eh?



Beth, James, Eric, Holly, Justin, me, Monique, and Slater

Slater I think ate about 95% of the tiny breadsticks. They were delish



I took a self-portrait since I was flying "solo" with Justin up at the head table!







First dance



I got the beer placement spot-on



Justin and I made sure I "behaved" with the wine (the Tempranillo is amazing), and we tried to get to bed at a decent hour. I knew it'd be pretty warm on Sunday, and a looong day. We finally got pedaling just after 9:30.

Hello, old friend





My HR was sky high, while RPE didn't feel too bad. Not sure what is my physical issue with that lately. Trying some different things this week to see if I can get it back within reason.

Climb was good.

Set-up...







The sky was absolutely amazing



Fall colors





The climb up to Santiago Peak was somewhat rough. It was endless. We "bagged" it from the bottom of ITT in just over 2 hours, which isn't too bad considering my pedestrian pace. I think I saw a turtle and a sloth saunter up the hill next to me, laughing.







I was somewhat worried about how the climb back up Holy Jim would go at that point, especially since I had literally been hemorraging sweat for an hour already. I've never sweated like that before, and it didn't even feel hot, really.

We descended down from the peak (it's almost as bad going down that as it is climbing up it) and were at the Joplin trailhead in no time.

*deep breath*

The last time I rode Joplin was in probably Sept/Oct 2006? I had ridden it the first time in March 2006, and walked the entirety of it. Probably took me at least an hour to hike out. It was a much shorter "ride" this time! Made it down with one minor crash, a near cliffside slide off, and a few hike-a-bikes. Not too shabby! Parts of it were downright FUN.







Parts of it were downright gorgeous





We caught up to a few guys halfway down and cruised it out with them. Once at Old Camp we had to book, though. Chasing daylight!

Looking back from STT...





Luge, as always, was a blast





Here we go again...



Holy Jim I slowed down considerably... fatigue was catching up to me for sure. I think I made almost all of the switchbacks, though! Was stoked, especially considering I was on big wheels...









I also did my fair share of hiking...





Still hiking...



Until next time!





We've met and ride with a lot of people that got into mountain biking through or for competition. Justin and I got into mountain biking as a fun way of exercising. From that we got a little better (to where we didn't need a week off after an hour long ride!) and got really into doing long days in the mountains on our bikes. Fill up the 3L bladder, a bottle of mix, a PBJ (or PBHoney), banana, and an odd assortment of "bike food" and go ride... for hours. Then once you are tired, sore, hungry, and near bonking... finish it off with some more pedaling to end the day.

For us, it's all about the ride. I'm not about to give up XC racing, but I still love my long days in the saddle with Justin. Those I hope to never give up.

Rock N' Road's Diva Night, and a jog

Last night I had the honor of speaking at the Rock N' Road Diva Night event in Mission Viejo in front of a lot of amazing women! I really enjoyed seeing such a great group of ladies getting together for some food, drink, and conversation and totally excited about cycling!

Justin was nice enough to shuttle me over after work and help me by working the computer during the presentation.

Thanks to all the divas (and devo's) that came out!

I don't have any shots "during", but here's what he was able to get during the festivities!







Here's my current dream bike :drool:



Really hope I'm able to make it west for the next one since it was so much fun!

Also, haven't done much riding this week (weather, gym, life, etc.), but I talked myself into a JOG...



Stoked I wasn't too sore, either.

Looking forward to this weekend since we've got a big Sunday ride on tap and Luke's wedding to attend tomorrow!!

Happy Friday!