Boarding

Went out boarding Saturday with Nahoko and Jessica (my sister). We (meaning I) had planned to leave around 4:30 AM, but I couldn't locate the stupid free pass I had from my Tahoe card purchase. I was quite pissed about that, but not much I could do about it. I had checked where I had placed it on my desk here at home, but it wasn't there. Looked under the pen holder and desk clock I had there (they are a bit big so it could be under them), but couldn't find it. I gave up after about 30 minutes and went to bed. When 4 AM came around, I just said f**k it and kept hitting snooze for 3 hours. When I got up, I looked around some more and checked the same spot under the clock; wouldn't you know it, there it was! I must have been so tired Friday night, that I simply overlooked it.

Anyway, everything was ready to go, so grabbed the ticket, woke Jessica up and we packed the truck and left. Got a really good half day out of it. It was Jessica's first day ever on the snow (snowboard or skiing) and although she has a long way to go before getting on the lift she made great strides. Thank god for the magic carpet lift ;).

Not much sun to speak of, but at least it was clear while we were at the resort (oh yeah, we went to Sugar Bowl). It was raining on the way up so I was a bit worried. I had some fun in the terrain park while on my last few runs of the season. Planning to pack all the equipment away and just focus on riding now that April is almost here.

Fingers are crossed for a great season next year... :)

Great weekend

I love having Good Friday off when most others do not :). Although at times it would be more fun to have some friends off so that we could all go do something for the weekend, but it does allow me to just go have some fun on my own. This time I went out for a ride and ended up with 73 miles logged for the day (though my avg speed sucked as usual; we won't mention what or how long it all took ;), but at least it was somewhat normal for me).

Rather than drive somewhere close to where I would be riding, I just left from home (save gas) and road over and up Montebello. This meant passing by the accident site for those two poor cyclists from a few weeks ago. There's a small memorial setup for them and definitely makes you think about what can happen.

Made it up Montebello with only seeing a couple of cyclists pass me on their way back down. I made it up pretty quickly compared to passed rides then turned around at the top for a rather chilly ride back down. I decided I wasn't done climbing so I decided to head for Portola and ride Old La Honda Rd too. As I got there I was having second thoughts (my legs were a bit tired), but road it anyway. Took a bit longer than normal, but that's ok. It was wonderful weather so even inside the trees in the shade it still was comfortable.

Made my way to Woodside and out a few miles on to Canada Rd before turning around at 52 miles out and headed home (course home was still 21 miles away ;)). Aside from my rather sore ass and exhausted legs, I still felt pretty good (definitely a positive feeling knowing what's coming).

Saturday was other activities including an attempt at basketball and bowling (clearly I suck and basketball and bowling, well, I USED to be good ;)). Sunday my legs have really been hurting so I've been taking it easy...

There's always the story of Nahoko's fish and frogs, but I'll discuss that later.

Death Ride 2008

Well it's official, my name was selected from the big hat of names to ride in the Death Ride for 2008. The sad part is no one else (or so I thought) was selected that I know. As it turns out one of my coworkers who signed up (someone who did it last year and finished was selected, but originally he said he wasn't going to sign up so I hadn't looked for his name). That coworker is still deciding what he wants to do because his wife said after last year's completion...

"I finished! Never again!"

...or something to that effect ;).

I'm definitely excited knowing that I get another chance to redeem myself and complete that hellish ride, but at the same time thinking to myself, "WTF did I get myself into once again!?" With 4 months left to go and knowing that I haven't even really begun to start training I now have no more excuses...I have to get riding!

The benefit over last year, is that this time last year I was about 25 lbs heavier and so had lost 20 of that to get to the ride weight for last year. This time I plan to do the same, but only about half of that 25 is necessary this time. So with that it'll put me about 15 lbs under last year's ride weight...hopefully that'll benefit my legs, lungs, heart, etc enough to keep me moving through the mountains. While my weight last year wasn't really a problem, I really needed to be lighter; for me personally I just needed the additional stress lifted off my heart and of course the less weight on my legs definitely would help. Currently around 190, the goal is around 175 lbs by July 12th. It's doable...

...now I just need to find some people capable and willing to spend hours on a bike training (riding by myself is so boring and unmotivating ;)).

Feeling better

After a really miserable week and not being able to do anything over the weekend I'm finally feeling better. I was really itching to get out on Sunday when I was feeling a lot better, but common sense forced me to stay in and take it easy for one more day. Must have been a 3 day flu.

Tuesday now and though I'm feeling quite better I'm still feeling that stuffy head and tightening in the chest that came on strong with my cold, but it's not bad. Was really hoping to get out and ride to work this morning, but as it turns out it was good that I overslept and wasn't really feeling well enough to ride as I didn't leave work till around 10:30 PM.

On a sad note from this last weekend, two local cyclists (local to the bay area at least) were killed when a sheriff deputy crossed the lane divider and impacted the cyclists (I believe there were 3, but 1 survived). I know the area quite well up there around Steven's Canyon Reservoir as it's one of the places I like to go riding and have never felt unsafe (though a few drivers really could stand to SLOW DOWN just a bit and give MORE ROOM there is generally enough room for cyclists and cars). Kinda scary since that is the area I was considering to go riding on Sunday around the time that the accident took place.

Till next time...

bad week, but it's friday

This has not been a great week. From stress at work to getting rather sick this week and thus not being active I'm feeling really bad right now. On top of it all, I once again have poison oak! Though I keep being told it's NOT poison oak, I'm almost certain it is. Regardless of what it is, I itch like hell! I so want to be able to go out and ride, go to the gym, hike, something, so that I can get on some sort of a consistent path to July.

Unfortunately the weight has crept up a bit and so I've got to get back out there and get working on it. Not really concerned considering last year's progress from really April to July in which I dropped some 30 lbs before riding the in the DR. This year I expect to drop about 15 though I'm already below where was at last year's ride so regardless it'll be MUCH easier to achieve the results I want...at least I think it will ;).

Right now I just need to stop being sick!!!

My New Head Protector

Finally have a helmet that fits! It's not that my other helmet doesn't fit, it's just that it didn't fit quite the way I would like (personally I didn't like the look all that much). My other helmet is a Trek which I bought almost 5 years ago (I think, but can't remember for sure). It doesn't get enough airflow and feels huge on my head. Though it does still provide enough protection so I'll be using it for mtn biking instead.

As for the road bike, I was hoping to get a Giro Atmos because I liked the design and colors, but though I thought medium was an ok fit, it just didn't leave enough room for my head. The large was huge and I practically had to tighten it all the way and still it wouldn't stay put. The guy at Sports Basement suggested I try Bell. I checked out the Speed R and it fit quite nice. I was a bit bummed about the color selection, but I had a 20% off coupon and intended to get a helmet so I decided on the yellow/white pattern.


Now all I need to do is stop feeling bad so I can get out and ride. I've been fighting a cold for a few days (ever since the hike on Sunday). Feels like a chest cold, but so far it hasn't gotten all that bad though it is keeping me from doing much else (getting up to go to work each day takes a bit of pushing too ;)).

Lazy February

Ok so the Tour is over (Levi retains his title), the weather is a bit flaky at times, work stressful, and I was incredibly lazy in February ;). I had expected to be doing a lot of riding and of course the gym, but it just didn't happen. Partly due to my bike wheel damage, some due to it being quite cold still, and part just because there were other things I'd rather be doing.

Well with all that, March 1st is here and so I decided to head out to go ride Old La Honda and Alpine rd (the west side of Alpine). Not a long ride by any means, but still a nice bit of climbing. 35 miles and around 3700 feet for the day. The wind was picking up so as I passed my truck on the way to ride Canada Rd (my truck was parked at the Woodside town center) I just couldn't bring myself to keep going ;).

That was Saturday, on Sunday I was thinking about riding up Mt Hamilton or Montebello, but Nahoko wanted to go hiking instead. The weather was great for either, so I decided her idea would be more fun for the day. Heading over to Pescadero Creek County Park (which really is comprised of several parks linked together) we started at Heritage Grove and made our way towards Hiker's Hut (which we never saw, but I did find it in a picture online somewhere today.

Once reaching the ridge line from Heritage Grove, we kept going and took Brook Loop trail for a nice long walk through sun, trees, down the hill, across a creek (with visible waterfall), and back up through switchbacks that seemed neverending, and eventually back to the ridge line to make our way back to the truck.

There are several small waterfalls in the parks from what I found online, but this was the only one we saw for the day.


Anyone want a banana...........slug?


An absolute gorgeous day!


It was a wonderful day with plenty of great pictures to show for it. Next up, Mt Tam (for hiking and mtn biking).