Different kind of weekend

Well, the past week or so has been pretty interesting for me. I honestly still don't know what was going on with the body, but I'm guessing the combination of riding stress and life stress (long century in a lot of heat, riding the next day in more heat, little rest coupled with work stress, plus two hard days on the bike in the heat - one with a big bonk) led to a bit of lowered immunity and other wacky hormones running amok, and what do you get? THE RASH!

When I first started getting red itchy spots on Wednesday (I'd had a really bad itchy scalp on Tuesday night, but assumed that was sweat related with my Halo headband) I guessed it was heat rash. When I thoroughly broke out on Thursday into a massive splotch of red itchiness right after being outside, I still assumed it was heat rash. Some people thought stress. I took an oatmeal bath Thursday evening, and two Benadryl lessened the redness.

So, Friday I took a sick day thinking that sitting inside, no work, no riding, no heat would cure what ailed me. Well, I went outside around 4:30 to take out the trash and then the breakout started. I got to making dinner around 5:30 and finally around 6 took a Benadryl since the back of my legs was a massive breakout. Got better, and I woke up Saturday guessing that it wasn't the heat but possibly something I was eating that was causing my problems.

No fruit on Saturday, which led to no gel or carb mix on our ride. It was hot out. The lack of available bike food that doesn't contain fruit left me carrying this:



Yup, that was it.

It was really warm, and I was sweating, and physically/mentally stressed, but no breakout. I had a few mental issues and just physically didn't feel good, but Justin kept chalking it up to the hives and meds.

3/4 of the way through the ride we stopped to refuel



We both finished the ride pretty tired and stressed out, but all afternoon I still didn't break out. I had about 1/3 of a small banana as we watched a movie. My right hand got super itchy, but looked fine, and I went to bed happy that I hadn't broken out in hives in over 24 hours.

1:45 a.m. I woke up with my palms SCREAMING and a set of hives starting out around my belly button. Took two Benadryl and went back to bed, and finally was able to get back to sleep. I felt a little groggy the next day, but the hives had subsided. Yay.

Was really just struggling with what was going on. I hadn't eaten any fruit the day before and still broke out, so I had some berries in cereal, we watched the final stage of the Tour, and eventually got out for another hot ride here in the valley. Didn't take much food-wise still I wasn't sure what I could eat and we didn't think it'd be too long of a ride. I did take my gel this time around - it was scorching hot when I finally took a shot of it and I think it literally burned my throat!!

Justin was finally able to take me on a tour of our local Roubaix-like road. It's covered in oil, but not paved. Oddly enough, it was the only stretch of road on the ride where my tires were black instead of dirt brown!





Got home, ran some errands, enjoyed some English Toffee coffee



And set about getting dinner together. We enjoyed some Zynthesis, steaks, and asparagus. SO GOOD.



Yet again I felt a sigh of relief when I didn't break out all day. I wasn't taking Benadryl except when I was getting hives, since it beat them back down. Well, here comes 3:40 am and I'm woken up with flaming palms again, and a hive patch on my stomach again.

Ugh.

Got up super groggy from the Benadryl, was "asleep at the wheel" all morning, and went in for a doctor's appointment around mid-morning. Doc suggested I take 4 Benadryl a day (1 25mg pill 4xday - not too bad) and consider eliminating strawberries "since they irritate a lot of people". Nothing on how to figure out what is really causing my problems. So far I'm on day 3 of Benadryl round the clock, and I must say I'm not breaking out in hives now, but I am tired all day! Not falling asleep tired, just oh I could use a nap tired. Since I'm not sure how long to continue taking 4 Benadryl a day, I'm actually going to scale back to 3 today and probably 2 tomorrow. Will try 1 on Friday and see if I don't break out. Would prefer to not be taking this stuff, since I'm sure it isn't helping my training or recovery, but at least the stress from worrying about hives is mitigated. Though, if I back off the Benadryl and break out again, that will lead to stress!

Good times!

Keeping up with training this week despite the body oddness. Hope I can get through the workout today. Anyone got some motivation to spare? We've got two weeks of big races and travel coming up, so I'd like to be in decent race shape! Should be interesting.

Will get a shot or two later, but thanks to Luke for a killer selection of wines I hope to be trying out soon!

Full Weekend

All in all, it was a good weekend. Lots of fun with friends and family, and a pretty chill Memorial Day with some pool time.

Saturday Stephanie, Dan, Justin and I hit up Daley Ranch for a fast-paced 14-mi loop. The group splintered right away with Justin going on the attack before we had warmed up at all, and shortly after I followed suit. He slowed up a bit, and gapped me a few times, especially on the steeper climbs. He'd wait up, then continue with me. I knew the only climb where I could possibly keep Justin in sight was coming up, so I made it my goal to stick to him once we got there. He put a small gap on me, but I stayed within 2 bike lengths throughout the climb and was stoked! The workout was really short, but solid from an effort perspective.

My recovery wasn't stellar (a banana and half a container of Bloks, followed by about 1.5 hours of easy spinning, standing, and no food), but it was time for the Dust Bunnies beginner women's ride! I went over and met a few of the women as they congregated and a little after 10 we headed out to start a loop.









Ride leader Shalyn (taking a break from tearing up the local endurance scene!) on the right



Regroup



A few of the true beginner women struggled on some of the early hills, so I suggested we head back and climb up the pavement, descend down to the Ranch House, and do a short stint on Jack Creek Meadow. We lost a few once we got back to the parking lot, but a few continued on to the Ranch House and Jack Creek Meadow, and we all wound up regrouping one final time back at the Ranch House.





It seemed like everyone had a good time, and I enjoyed pretty much my first women's only ride! It was cool to ride with others that had a much different scope of experience and I hope to head out to these rides in the future and help lead and teach!

I had to get back to the truck to get some food in me, and once we had a bite to eat we headed north to pack up for our final trek out to the desert! There was a ton of food awaiting us.

Saturday night we had a big bbq with veggies, smoked salmon, and a huge pot of quinoa. I was stoked with plenty of leftovers!

Went to bed a tad late, didn't sleep all that well, and soon enough it was up and at'em on Sunday for a full day at Hurkey Creek! I was shooting for somewhere between 3 and 5 laps. Justin wanted me to do 3 race pace laps, which would've been great. Lap 1 was an endurance paced loop to warm up. I almost think I should've just gone from the gun since the next 2 laps were tough knowing how much more fun an easier lap was ;)





I only got through 2 race pace laps, with #3 being much slower (albeit similar effort) to #2. Time to pack it in. I went back out for #4, and while I finished it out, it wasn't pretty. Got back to the truck and downed my recovery ProCharge with milk, and had my ABJ sandwich and did some hanging out. Dan had been MIA since in between laps 1 and 2, and he pulled in about 20 or so minutes after Justin and Stephanie had gone out for lap #5. Crazies!

Dan and I hung out in the shade and got in some early "recovery". Eventually it was back to the desert for more bbq and a Young's Double Chocolate Stout! Hell ya!



We got to enjoy a good bottle of Wiens, even!



I know there are quite a few racers that enjoy knocking a few back on the weekends (or even during the week), but I've found whenever I have more than half a beer or a glass of wine I wind up being totally unmotivated and generally not feeling all that great the next day. No hangovers for me over the weekend, but I don't think alcohol enjoyment is going to be on my to-do list anymore, unfortunately! Someone remind me of this on a regular basis, though, okay?

Monday we slept in a bit and then had a serious date with some pool time.



After that it was time to pack up and head back to reality! 3 of us had bikes in need of service, so it was off to the bike shops before closing and then home to watch Monday's exciting Giro d'Italia stage!!

Got back to it yesterday and today. So far this week I feel much better about how training is going than I did after Sunday's ride. Going to unwind a bit the next two days and put in some good time this weekend. Should be fun! Hopefully I'll have a few more ride photos after next weekend!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already!

Long Weekend

Not long in the sense that it was more than 2 days, it was just a tough weekend. Justin and I went out hard Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week. No rest for the wicked. Friday I did an easy spin, and Saturday we got up and hit it hard again. Wound up finishing a ride I assumed would take 4+ hours in 3.5. We were moving along, and my legs were tired, and it was kinda warm, and I'm like, "Why is my heart rate so high? Why do I feel like I'm working so hard?" Apparently we were climbing up a 7% grade at 9.5+ MPH. Hmm. That might explain it. Not fast, but fast for me!

This was a ride Justin had been wanting to do for a long time, and I did a similar but shorter route in January when he was sick. Very little traffic once you get out to the rural/NF land, and once we got back to civilization it was…well, civil. For a change.

We'd been cranking for awhile, final climb up to Elsinore Peak





Up above Elsinore







Re-fueling and resting for a few before our big descent







We got home and spent the rest of the day eating (no joke). It was some damn good food, too. Finished the weekend up on weight (again!).

Sunday morning we were up super early, after a horrible night's sleep. Our upstairs neighbors, as I may have mentioned, are the most horrible people I've ever come in contact with. We had 7 or so people living upstairs previously, and while they were BAD (the kids threw all kinds of stuff down on our patio, including at US, and threw nail polish and stuff that left a mess and broken glass), at least they were in bed by 11 every night. The new neighbors, despite having two kids that clearly are not even in elementary school are up making amazing amounts of noise (for 3 people) until well past midnight, and then they get up around 4 am sometimes and do it all over again.

So, I was pretty much teetering on the edge of overtraining, and I haven't been sleeping more than 6.5 hours a night (and it's fitful at best). Needless to say, Sunday wasn't going to be an easy day mentally or physically.

I knew I'd be shelled, and the Tour of California spectating wasn't exactly going to help my Sunday workout(s). We got up early and got ready to hit race pace at Daley for just over an hour with Zippy.

I prepped by deciding maybe I could get some autographs on my 2006 (inaugural year) Tour of CA jersey



Daley was good. LOTS of standing water where there never usually is. It was pretty weird, but trails were okay. Lots of rain ruts and dirt was missing, but they'll fill it all in with sand this summer and it'll be packed down again. Such is the cycle.

Justin shaved some more weight from the bike by replacing the plastic/rubber chain guard with clean Crankskinz





He also added some more green



I dig my bar. It makes me happy inside



In action





It was time to head out to catch the start after that, so Justin and I had something to eat in the car on the way down to RB. It was pretty packed right off, but we rode our bikes over from about a mile away and watched some of the team busses pulling in. I got it in my head that I wanted Boonen to autograph my S-Works, so I hung around the Quickstep RV. No one told me he had abandoned, so I missed out on seeing many other people.



No sign of Cav all day :( I was hoping for a pic or autograph!

The hoards



Ouch









Bjarne



Rock is not dead





Nice bikes!



Tyler





Liquigas riders





I didn't even attempt to get closer



Barredo



Justin hung out around the OUCH RV waiting for Floyd to emerge and sign our 06 jerseys (the year Floyd won). He was victorious, at least!



One of the Quickstep DS-people liked my bike



We rode down a bit as the last guy's lined up and I managed to sneak right in front of the throng and sit down for some front row shots (no barriers, w00t)



















Lots of people turned out



Somewhat disappoints me that a bunch of idiots that don't know anything about cycling muck it up for fans that do care (e.g. I couldn't get auto's or pics cause a bunch of people that don't know jack about road racing, or riding a bike in general are there taking up all the space). I know that cycling is trying to reach out, but over half of the adults there this past week are just going to go back to being @$$hats on the road and not giving cyclists any respect or room to begin with, so why are they there? Two women behind me were chatting at the start, "Do you know what the best thing about this race is? They get to ride on the roads without any cars! Wouldn't that be nice?" And you know that 30 mins later they were pulling out of Starbucks checking their iPhones and honking and yelling at the cyclist trying to commute, exercise, or get out for fresh air.

Next up was Hodges. I ate some food, tried to rehydrate, and we headed out. I could tell just by getting dressed it was going to be pretty much a waste of time. My legs were fried and I had a headache. I had a Gu Roctane hoping for some energy. It lasted about 30 minutes.






We climbed up Bernardo Peak until I had to walk, then I decided it was turn around time!









Portage!





Once we got to the flat section my HR wouldn't go up, my legs were tired, and I generally felt like crap. Justin was still enjoying the day, so I rode behind him with a fake smile plastered on my face hoping it would change my mood. It didn't.

We hit Hernandez Hideaway and turned around. I was pretty disappointed with my lack of effort/intensity and it was going to be a low volume day. Not what we had in mind, especially with Saturday being an hour short also.

I just wasn't into it. My legs hurt, my head hurt, I felt really not into riding my bike what-so-ever.







We caught up with Luke and Charressa in Esco for the finish a bit later. It was packed. Justin offered to hoist me up on his shoulders to catch the action, but my camera settings were not where I had meant to put them, so I didn't get much.

The masses



Right by the bus again (still no sign of Cav)



The break





We had no idea who took the stage until after it was over (too far away from a screen or announcer), the pack comes around



I had meant to have my camera on burst, but it never occurred to me that the settings reverted back to single-shot only. So I got that one, and this one



And, that's all she wrote. Kinda disappointing.

I waited and waited for Mark. Nothing.



Big George was heading back to the bus after his podium finish for the stage



They said Mark had to do some press conferences, and he was probably driven back to the hotel by a car (he never came back to the bus). We wandered around for awhile. Saw Floyd just trying to enjoy his beer without being hassled



I got a pic with Bob Roll (he was much happier than he looks in the photo, but was being mobbed)


We decided to wander through the booths right before leaving

>

And some of the Garmin-Chipotle guys were walking through!



Christian was super cool and said he liked Justin's Division 26 shirt!

Tommy D was being rushed away (no time for pics or autographs, really)



Then it was time to head over to Chipotle for dinner! There had been an email that some of the team would be there signing auto's and eating, and whether they were truly showing up or not, Justin and I were ready for grub.

They did have a small section reserved when we got there, and the place was pretty packed. We hung around and Tyler Farrar, Steven Cozza, Trent Lowe, and stage winner Tom Peterson came in some time after 6. I snuck up to right in front of the table and was one of the first to grab a Chipotle Cycling - Avoid the Bonk tee and 4 autographs. Tyler was really cool. Tom seemed like he didn't want to be bothered (course, who would be after 8 days on the bike like they had?).

Tyler and Steven



Tom and Trent



The signed shirt



It's a large; too big to wear anyway!

While I felt pretty down and disappointed yesterday about missing out on certain things at the start/finish, overall it was a cool day. Wish I had been able to be more focused on riding, but it was a really tough build week.

Right now I have zero desire to ride a bike. Good thing today is a day off, and then I've got 4 days of regen. Just hope I feel like pedaling tomorrow, cause I've got an hour to get in!

Legs hurt today, so it must've been a pretty solid block. Hope that I can rebuild and get stronger and ready to go this week. Next weekend is the season's first "big" race!


Late edit: A few photos from Thursday night in the new WIENS gear!!










I still managed to be the caboose up to the top of Dam climb, but the boys weren't waiting very long!