A weekend in the mountains

Well, with the kitchen still not up and running, Sherry and I did another weekend get-away. This time to the mountains. We have a friend with a cabin near the town of Strawberry, CA (which is about 50 east of Sonora). So 5 of us headed for the mountains for the weekend. We try and go every year but somehow our schedules never lined up in '07.

The drive out on Friday was pretty uneventful. It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there from home. But we had both taken the day off and where in no real hurry. We arrived to some of the most beautiful mountain weather imaginable. The highs were in the upper 70s and the lows in the low 40s. On our arrival, there was not a cloud in the sky. The other 3 were already there when we arrived so we performed the functional duties of unpacking before settling down to relax.

The cabin is very close to the South Fork of the the Stanislaus River. So after a little relaxation I hiked down to the river and spent some time exploring. Is there anything better then a mountain stream to wash your cares away. I found a big rock to sit on and just sat there thinking about nothing and everything. Finally, it was back to the cabin for grilled tri-tip and other assorted goodies for dinner.

Saturday dawned just as beautiful as Friday. For me, the day started with a 55-mile ride to Kennedy Meadows and back. I was feeling strong and considered going to the top of Sonora Pass. I am still not sure if it was the allure of tri-tip sandwiches and beer for lunch or the sign stating 26% grade that changed ultimately my mind. This is my third ride in the mountains this year and they have all been special in their own way. (There may be more about the cycling in a future post.)

Back at the cabin it was time for lunch. After which, I tried to read and relax a little. It ended up being more of nap a little and then nap a little more as I was sitting on the deck. I eventually found enough energy to do more river exploration and spend some time writing in my journal. I am in the slow process of writing a book. (I actually started this blog to practice my writing style.)

That night brought another great dinner and then one of our group wanted to play cards. I have to admit that I am not much of a game player. And I can definitely do without card games. But, I wanted to be a good sport so we played for a couple of hours. I definitely understand the reason people enjoy playing cards as we spent a great deal of time laughing.

Sunday morning brought another ride, only 20-miles, and then it was time to head home. All-in-all, it was the perfect weekend retreat.

To add to our fun here are the wines we drank.
Navorro 2006 Pinot Gris
RWC Le Mesnil Champagne
Valley of the Moon 2004 Cuvee de la Luna
Ferrari Carano 2006 Fiorella Chardonnay

We may try our first winter trip this year which should be spectacular. Until then, we will keep warm with the memories of this recent trip.

Ciao!

The first official ride of Autumn

I love autumn. I always have. There's just something about the crispness of the air, the color of the light, and the cooler temperatures that has always awakened me from my summer heat-induced haze. The only down side - shorter days. Between working until 6:00 p.m., or later, and darkness arriving in Wine Country by 7:20 (as I discovered), that doesn't leave a lot of time for riding.

That's why I was thrilled on Tuesday when I managed to get off work a little early. So I dashed home, changed and off I went for my first official autumn ride of 2009. I am saying "first official ride" because although it has felt like autumn for a few weeks now, autumn did not officially arrive until Monday, September 22nd at 8:44:18 a.m. PST. That's when the Fall Equinox occurred (did you know that autumn had an official start time?).

As I started the ride, it was 85. Of course, that's 85 with a hint of coolness. I headed out of town along the same route as usual for my after work rides. There is a bike path that follows our major creek out of the city and it allows me to avoid traffic and, more importantly, traffic lights. As I ride along the creek, I can just see the beginning of color change in the trees. We have not had any rain since May (our typical pattern) but the creek still has plenty of water. So there are lots of birds. And since I have now decided to simply enjoy the act of riding for the rest of this year I am sitting up on the bike and enjoying the view.

As I head out of town, I begin to ride past the first vineyards. This is where you really see the autumn color of Wine Country. All of the vineyards turn into beautiful palettes of red, orange, and yellow. In fact, you can tell the varietal of grape from the colors of the leaves as they change. I had the whole thing explained to me once by a winemaker but since I was drinking wine at the time I cannot remember the specifics (although I remember the wine was red).

The color and crispness of the setting sun were amazing. As I continued to roll along at a pace that allowed me to enjoy the scenery, I passed a couple of wineries. They are now in full crush mode and you can smell it. If you like wine, it is almost impossible not to be swooned by the bouquet of the crush. Of course now I have to have wine with dinner when I get home.

Along my route I was not alone. I saw many, many cyclists all trying to get in a decent workout in before night fell. There is nothing like racing the sun in terms of lifting your pace, and your heart rate. I also saw many people taking walks with strollers, dogs, and kids on bikes. I passed a couple of equestrians heading home. It seem like we all shared the same felt need to get out and enjoy the evening.

I notice it was getting dark a little earlier then I anticipated so I head for home. I thought I had until around 7:30 but I was off the mark by about 10 minutes. So back towards town, back along the creek and to the house. I can tell the last 15-minutes were interesting (read - scary) as all the cars passing me already had their lights on.

So safely back home, I was reflecting on the ride. It had everything I was looking for in an autumn ride. Great weather, great scenery and a pace slow enough to enjoy it.

I better enjoy it while I can. I also saw a UPS truck with its one lone driver and for some reason it make me think that soon, every UPS truck will have two people as they try to stay on top of holiday deliveries. That means that the holiday season, and rain, can't be far off. Until then, I'll keep riding along and enjoying my favorite season.

Ciao!

A great week

This has been a good week. Work was fine, the kitchen has noticeable progress (cabinets are in and painted), and I even managed to get out and do some workouts. All-in-all, not bad.

Part of my new found motivation involves a group at Fitness Journal. There are a few of us who regularly post items onto the discussion board and then we post comments on each other's posts. So, we now have this informal social network where we talk about workouts, weight loss, our latest event, and so on. Recently, someone in the group suggested we start a six week challenge where we set goals and then report on the progress each week. It sounded like fun so I joined in with a few simple goals. Now I have to stick to them so I can report success. I guess that's kinda the whole point.

I ran again on Tuesday since one of my goals is to run twice a week. This time I upped the distance to 3.5 miles. It was a fine run and I am still taking things nice and slow. I finished at just under a 9:00 minute pace. I am okay with that since speed is not important at this point. And the best part, I could actually walk the next day.

Wednesday I managed to get on the bike after work and I headed straight to Fountain Grove which is a section of substantial hills. I did some hill work and then decided to just cruise around town. It ended up being a sort of tour des maisons à vendre (tour of houses for sale). I can't believe how many houses are on the market in some of Santa Rosa's best neighborhoods. I also rode through downtown. I know a lot of cyclist hate riding in town, and in traffic, but I actually enjoy it. When it was all said and done, I managed to get in 20 miles.

My second run of the week was Friday. It was pretty cool, around 40 degrees, so I was running in tights. I don't know why, but I prefer to run in tights. I think it's because they hide that ridiculous tan line you get from cycling. It was a beautiful morning that announced autumn is arriving fast in the Wine Country. It was the same 3.5 mile route as Tuesday with one difference. I ran at an 8:30 pace and I felt great.

On Saturday, I put together a group ride that went down some of my favorite roads. I love these roads for many, many reasons, but mostly it's the scenery. They go over small hills and drop into gorgeous valleys full of vineyards, redwood trees, running streams, and other such idyllic features that they should be in a painting. And since it is the end of the season, we were not training. We were moving at a good pace, but not so fast we couldn't enjoy the splendor that was around us. I really need to start carrying a camera on some of these rides.

Sunday was another spectacular ride. Nice and easy with a couple of friends. Nothing to really speak about. Well that's not true since we talked the entire ride. Oh yeah, I forgot. We also did a couple of climbs. Actually, about 2000 feet worth of climbs.

So tomorrow starts another week. Hopefully, it will be just like this one.

Ciao!

The fear of crashing

For those of you out there who cycle, raise your hand if you like to crash. Ok, now raise you hand if you are afraid of crashing. That's what I thought. (In my mind, more of you raised your hand the second time.) If you cycle for any length of time you are going to go down at some point. It may me a simple dead bug, a gentle slide or something more serious that ends with a ride in an ambulance. The question is - does the fear of crashing stop you from getting out there and enjoying the ride?

I used to be very concerned about crashing while road riding. And I have virtually quit mountain biking because of crashes (I seem to go down almost every ride and rocks really hurt). My friend Sarah did her first road race last month and she only had 2 goals, 1) get a good workout, 2) not crash.

We have good reason to be concerned. You can get seriously hurt, or worse. We all know Barbara Warren's story too well at this point. We also all know someone who knows someone who went down hard. Don't ask my coach, Tim, about his history of crashes unless you've got a beer in your hand a few hours to kill.

But then you watch the Tour de France and these dudes crash all the time. Sometimes in quite spectacular fashion. And most times, they get up, wipe the dazed look from their face, get back on the bike and ride to the finish. So the new question is - Is it possible to crash and simply get back on the bike and finish the ride?

I went a long time before going down on the road bike but this seems to be my year. Here are two previous descriptions of my crashes this year.

Terrible Two training ride - (I was having good thoughts just before the crash.) All of those thoughts changed when I hit the ground - HARD! I actually got to see the crash unfold in front of me. I knew I was going down and also knew there was no way to stop it. I was descending about 20 mph, keeping things slow because the road was very wet. As I rounded a 90 degree corner I was greeted with a cattle grate in the road. I tapped the brakes and tried to go over the grate perfectly perpendicular knowing I was still at too hard of an angle. As soon as the front tire hit the grate the bike slid and I was bounced of the ground on my right side and then took a decent slide down the road. I ended up completely separated from the bike on my stomach and my first response was (well, you know)! Time to assess the damage. My shoulder and head hit very hard but nothing broken. My hip was starting to swell and I knew it had road rash. My elbow was also bleeding but what the hell - it could have been worse. Get up and get the bike. It seems to be okay. Back on and down the rest of the descent.

Colorado Courage Classic - I touched Brian's back wheel and dead bugged. As I hit the ground, on my right side, I naturally ended up on my back looking behind me. And that's when I knew I might be in trouble. All I could see was a front wheel and the face of panicked rider heading for my head. I immediately curled into a fetal position and braced for impact. Surprisingly, I didn't feel anything at first. But as I collected myself, I was noticed I was sore and there 3 Air Force Academy guys down. We all took stock of bodies and bikes. With no bike damage or major injuries, they head out and we followed just a short time later. As I start to ride, I notice my left thigh is really sore. The full story was I basically dead bugged into the path of these 3 guys as they came flying over the hill, in a congested area, and passing on the right (not a smart move). The first guy was the one who barely missed my head but he still went down. The second guy, to quote Tim, "used my ass as a ramp" and went flying over his handle bars into a ditch of tall grass. The third guy also manage to miss me but still went down as well. So, we ended up with a 3-1 ratio. Once Tim realized I was not hurt, only a little bruised (no biggie) he called it "the best crash ever."

So what's the point? Surprisingly, these crashes are helping me get over the fear of crashing. I now know I can go down and bounce back up with little more then some road rash and bruising. I not saying it's fun, but I have decided not to let concern about crashing stop me from enjoying life (notice the switch in terms).

So get out there and ride! Ride safe! Ride sensibly! Ride within your abilities! But most of all, ride!

Ciao!

3 very long miles, sort of

Let's just get things started by saying I used to run a lot. It was actually my primary form of exercise. Most of my running was on the trails of Annadel State Park, which is simply a great place to run while enjoying nature. I had 2-3 different running buddies but I also enjoyed being out there on my own. Then I turned my ankle quite badly one day (I actually fractured it) and my running was put on hold.

As part of my rehab, I borrowed a friend's mountain bike so I could exercise while still enjoying the trails of Annadel. Well, mountain biking led to short triathlons which led to road cycling. That's where I am today - a roadie! I am such a hard core roadie that when I log other activities in Fitness Journal, I do not include the miles, only the time. Why? Because I want my miles across the US map (see below) to only reflect road riding. (BTW- The constant crashes eventually led to me abandoning the whole mountain bike thing.)

Still, after a year so far dedicated to cycling it was time to bring back some cross training. So on Wednesday I went for a 3 mile run. Now you tri-geeks and marathoners might find this distance pedestrian but I expected it to be a big deal.

So shoes on (but first the whole tie my laces to exercise threw me) and I hit the road. I start out nice and slow. No heart rate monitor today. I just want to ease back into it. I am feeling ok so I just need to settle in to a nice slow rhythm (I have I used the word slow enough?).

Well, my route takes me right past Sarah's house. She just finished third in a local sprint triathlon and she is also mastering the art of talking trash. So, just in case she's making coffee and sees me out the window, I better look good. So one block before her house, I get my form in shape, lengthen my stride and cruise by her very dark and closed up house. Oh well! I still looked good.

Continuing on, I pass the house of a young lady I work with so I repeat the whole process of making sure I look good. This is all based on the philosophy of my cycling coach that if you can't be fast, look fast. The rest of the run was fine and I was over 2 miles into it before I started getting a little tired. Still, I ran smoothly all the way home and felt good.

It ended up being a little shorter then I thought. Only 2.8 miles. I ran at just under a 9-minute pace, which is normal for me when I have not run in while (my last run was in January). I had fully expected to struggle through it but overall I felt pretty good. So now I am thinking "Oh look at me. Mister cycling dude can just go kick out a run whenever he wants. It's no big deal."

Then came Thursday morning. I could hardly friggin' walk. It's now Friday and my legs and back still hurt. I am just grateful I live in a one-story house. All day at work I kept getting the question, "What's wrong? You're walking funny." I simply replied, "I ran yesterday for the first time in while." That answer always seemed to suffice.

So once again, I have a new found respect for those of you who can pound yourselves on the pavement for 10, 15, 20 miles or even more. I don't know how you do it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hug my bike.

Ciao!