Tis me

Stand back, Ali is here. It has been so long since I've blogged that I'm not sure how to do anything anymore. I have no idea how to add links or photos and am worried that you will all find my posts too dull. After spending 2 car rides and 3 races with Beth last night, I'm inspired to be mildly humerous, as that's what impresses me most about Beth. Well, it's also her quads.

As she mentioned earlier in her blog, (ooh...figured out the link) Beth's bike fell off our roof rack last night. The story is only funny NOW, as we know the happy ending...bike=fine; beth=fine; beth's quads=better than fine. The only thing which kept it attached to our car was the clippy thing which goes through the back wheel. We were having a lovely chat about the bling bling Oakland Raiders office on Bay Farm Island and the fact that the whole damn island will wash into the bay during the next earthquake when...BAM!...Beth's bike comes swinging by my window, dangling before me like a worm on a fishing rod. "No worries, it's steel," was Beth's comment. Luckily all was well and Beth even trusted us to leave the bike on the rack for the rest of the ride. And her bike was clearly fine as she beat me in both races :) I guess like Beth said, good thing it was steel.

Track racing was super fun last night as we had enough women for a women's race. Yea. It might not be quite as fun on Sunday as Saturday night the Mints are having a bachlorette party for Ms. Panda and me. Yea for the party. Not so sure how the next day of racing will be, but I'll come with crazy stories from the party, for sure. Stay tuned.

Last night = lots of attacking = throbbing quads
late last night=pint of ice cream + american idol + throbbing quads
today = many big gear climbing intervals...up big hill in big ring...le ouch = throbbing quads.
only one solution...MEASURE QUADS.

over and out as I'm off to find the tape measure.

Leave it to (the) Madison

When I stated my warm-up Saturday at the track, I realized I was in trouble. See, I had two flats...one in my right leg and one in my left (buh-dum-bum crash!). It was the end of a rest week so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. I had nothin. My Kerin was a joke. In the scratch race my legs had about as much pop as a bowl of Rice Crispies and the Win-n-out should have been a 'Go-sit-out' for me. But then came the Madison. I partnered with Rob M of Webcor (I warned him about the flats). Man was that fun!!!! Not too many teams on the track but enough to feel like a race. My legs came to life a little but I couldn't quite hold on at the end of the last lap and we finished second.

For those of you who don't know track racing, here's what a Madison looks like when the professionals do it. Our race bore only the most remote similarities ;).

Sometimes...

When you've got your head down and you're driving hard....

you can miss some things in your own back yard.

So sometimes it's good to look away from your goal

to rest the legs...

and replenish the soul.

Tiger by the tail...

I decided to try the Open M35+ race in Martinez this weekend. Wasn't sure I would be able to hang on, especially after racing with the E4 men earlier that morning. Ended up tail-gunning most of the race, trying my best to mind the gaps opening in front of me. A few of us were gapped by a mid-race crash but we managed to reconnect. I was happy to stay connected through the end of the race. Fun racing and smooth as olive oil through the turns but three crashes in the last three laps seems a bit excessive. I hope everyone heals up quickly.

Dear Floyd,

Dear Floyd,

I have been a bike racer for the past several years and have always admired you from afar. In the back of my mind, I have always wanted to come visit your hometown, ride the routes which built your power, and get a sense of the sites you saw at the top of each climb. Luckily, my fiance, Mike, has similar desires. So, after finishing the San Dimas stage race, we packed up the car and headed south to spend a few days riding in Temecula.

This morning was very exciting...we found your 'favorite' route (according to bicycling.com), packed our pockets with bars, and headed out for a 75 mile loop up 6000ft. Mt Palomar. Never, in my many years of biking, have I choked fumes, been sworn at, or sideswiped as many times as I was today. How can you ride here?? It's a land of housing complexes, strip malls, and roads in beautiful places which have 1 lane, 60 mile speed limits, and no shoulders. 17.5 miles into the route, we turned around and headed home as we'd had one too many crazy-ass driver piss us off. I now see why you are driven to drink whiskey after a hard ride. I could have used a shot myself earlier this morning. The ultimate highlight was watching a cop pull 2 guys over. As he was handcuffing them, he found a gun. We overhead him asking what it was for. "Shooting squirrels," was the man's reply. Hah!

We ended up doing our intervals on an empty hill within a new housing development and rode home through the strip malls to avoid the shoulder-less roads. Lovely. If you'd like open roads where a post-ride drink entail a glass of wine on our deck overlooking the San Francisco Bay, you have an open invitation to come ride with us in Berkeley. Our days of riding in San Diego county have come to an end.

Fondly,

Ali