Feeling ALLLLLLright

Had a good weekend of training/ fun in the sun

Saturday was the annual Solvang Ride. My goal was to head out there for a good solid 100 mile training ride and hopefully see a pretty good fitness gain heading into San Dimas SR. I can say that I am definitely feeling better after that ride. More on the ride here from the world famous Marco. Probably the highlight of the ride for me would have been when I got dropped a couple miles before the hill on Foxen Canyon. I happened to get dropped with a former Gerolsteiner Pro... Once I got him to eek out that he was big time I asked him all kinds of questions with which he seemed more then happy to answer. The thing that will probably carry with me for a long time was when he described climbing a hill on the verge of tears the pain was so great... "I feel the pain Everywhere", he said. "Pain in my toes, in my lips, in my teeth, I almost crying". Sounds fun right?

I think every time I ride I become a bigger fan of cycling every time I head out and ride. And when I say cycling I don't just mean pro cycling or road racing, I mean cycling in general. It is a very good marriage of man and machine. I love seeing people commuting for work via bicycle I love seeing people scooting around down town of fixies instead of mopeds, I love the whole nine yards.

Saturday was a lot of fun and I am constantly humbled by the strength of guys like Marco... Man If I am in half as good of shape as he is when I am his age I will be doing alright.

I also got a good ride in on Sunday. Did the worlds loop + Torro and 192. I put in some decent efforts and it felt good but the real pay dirt came around 3:00 when the wife and I headed up the tunnel for what turned out to be ~ a 9 mile hike... Not really in the training plan but probably the best time I had all month and we have had some GOOOD times this month.

In other news the boat is having some work done to it this week: A new bottom/ transmission fix. When all that is done, the plan will be to start doing the wet Wednesday sailing races.

I feel generally good about going into San Dimas. I don't have expectations really and am feeling better and better about signing up. Especially since now my Sister & Parents will be heading up to catch part of it. It always is nice seeing them at the races. My Dad is really the whole reason why I got into cycling to begin with. When we were younger he would drag us (operative word being drag) on these weekend family rides. At the time I hated them, because I was only allowed to watch TV on Saturday morning and that was just the time when he would plan his family bicycle outings. Him and my mom were very avid recreational cyclist when I was younger and bicycles were always around the house. My dad even toyed around with opening a bicycle shop in the Dessert when I was in middle school that would rent bicycles. I remember going to look at retail space and meeting with developers etc. It never worked out (which was probably a good thing seeing as how bicycle shops have opened and closed in Palm Springs). I also have memories of when my Mom and Sister and I sagged for him while he did a bicycle tour of New Mexico. It ended up being one of the best vacations ever, second only to road trips across the country with my Mom and sailing trips.

My Dad has recently started to ride again which is fantastic. He stopped for about a decade and has just decided to hop back on the saddle and has been riding 90 minutes a day for the past few months. Although he has been riding mostly on a stationary bicycle, he picked up a retro steel framed bicycle called "the old school." In any case I am incredibly proud of him for taking responsibility for his health and 'getting back in the saddle' and sticking with it. Lord knows how hard it is those first few month and I can't wait until we can ride together.

There was even talk once upon a time of a father son bicycle trip across the country... Who knows what the future may bring. I never cease to be amazed at what progress can be made in our lives when we just start one day, one hour, one moment at a time trudging through life. (Trudge: walk with purpose)