Gettin' around!

With training, of course!

This past weekend Justin and I did a bit of jet-settin' (locally, at least). Friday started out early since I was given the heave-ho at work. Instead of sitting on the trainer doing drills I enjoyed some 70*F weather and went for a long ride instead!

Tons of crazy drivers out, but it was stellar anyway.







We ran to Henry's afterwards and picked up some surf & turf for dinner!



Saturday morning we got up early and cruised it over to Irvine for Rock N' Road's Hunger Ride. Huge crowd! It was awesome. Piles of canned goods.









Matt tried to keep everyone in check by giving his "This is a fun/social/charity ride, let's keep it together." It lasted, for about a mile!



Cruising out









Front group regroups before heading through the super windy streets back to the shop



Gnoshing on Chik-Fil-A post-ride





After we hung out for a bit and picked up some needed goodies from the shop we headed north west toward Laguna to hit up the Crankbrothers sale. Saw some good people and hung for a bit. I picked up a zip hoodie (sweet!) and then it was time to head NE to Santa Ana to hit up REI for some waterproof cell phone packs. Then it was sit in bumper-to-bumper on the 91 for awhile, house cleaning for me, then a drills session.

My legs were torqued from the effort on the road ride, and from me nearing the end of this cycle... Got the workout done, and that was one of my weekly goals (finish all scheduled workouts, no shortcuts).

Legs were still feeling fatigued and heavy Sunday morning when we cruised south to meet up with Steph and Dan for some loops at Daley. Also sold an old Reba and Dos frame to Zippy so he could build it up for Holly! Can't wait to see her out tearing it up on the trails.

Steph and Justin led us out





Fail at trying to take a self-portrait over-the-shoulder-rider-photo




Heading up Tank Trail before the techy stuff



Everyone but me cleaned both switchbacks! I dabbed on the first, re-clipped and got the second one.









Unfortunately Dan wound up being stronger than he imagined and not only busted his derailleur, but also broke his chain, and had a flat tire. My goodness, man!!



He cruised it back to the lot chainless while we finished up a loop (or 2).

Trying to rail it





Steph needed to get back and pack for airline fails, so Justin and I cruised out to finish up my workout. I wanted another go at the switchbacks!



Got the first one, but not the second one. Put all the tries together and I had one successful go!



On the drive home I realized my camera was nowhere in sight. Hmm. The only place I could have left it was on the bumper. I am notorious for leaving stuff on the bumper. New Rule: Allison is not to ever set anything on the bumper. Ever. For any reason.

So we're debating whether or not to drive back down to Esco to see if the camera fell off the bumper when we get home. I took a load of stuff in the house, walk back out and what do I see?

My camera. Sitting motionless. On the bumper. After a 40 minute drive home.

OMG. Sooo lucky. The pictures turned out pretty stellar, so I think the fresh air did it good.

Great weekend. Stoked to be taking it easy this week and partaking in a much deserved day off today!

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!