10 hours

I did a couple of rides this weekend that totaled 10 hours exactly with no pain! Well, actually no pain from my injured hamstring, but as I write this I’m very sore and tired!

The first ride on Saturday was a long road ride with the Rock Lobster team. We started a Toro Park across from Laguna Seca on Hwy 68 and then rode down the Salinas Valley on River Rd, rolled up and down on Arroyo Seco Rd., had a pit stop in the middle of nowhere at a tiny country store, up and over the first climb of the day (2400’), down the Carmel Valley into a head wind, stopped in Carmel Valley Village for another pit stop, up the dreaded Laureles Grade and finally down Hwy 68 back to El Toro Park. It was 87 miles long and almost 5000’ of climbing (almost the exact same numbers as a Flamingo ride). This was absolutely a fantastic ride with great bunch of people. I cramped pretty hard going Laureles Grade and had to get off of my bike to unlock, but other than that it was amazingly beautiful ride and roads that I had never ridden on.

The second ride on Sunday was a moto up to and around and down Ursula Mnt, up to the U and then down Mailboxes with Careyluks, X-Terra Matt, Margarita Dave, Gerry-Gerry and Gerry and Shauna P. I was super tired at the beginning of this ride, but about half of the way through, I started feeling much better. In fact, after 3 hours of fun I almost went for another lap with Careyluk and X-Terra Matt as I was in a large state of euphoria from the descent, but knew I had to get home to see Nancy. This was the smartest decision I made all weekend because by the time I got home and showered and feed myself it suddenly felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and I realized just how tired and cranky I was!!

Here are some pictures of the fun:

Everybody was very chipper in the morning including young Max.

Our little peloton.

It was great to see David Gill back on the bike after a lengthy back injury

Herr Swiggboss in front of the little country store that saved our butts.

California in the spring time and top of the first climb.

The last pit stop around mile 70. Max is about to devour a whole bag of Goldfish crackers!

OTB

OFF THE BACK

For the last month and a half i haven't blogged, so here's a random collection of events and thoughts

Last December while on a mountain bike ride with Team Careyluk, other friends and teammates I crashed going over a log that I have rode over 100 times before. It was near the end of the ride and I was fatigued. The split second while I was in the air, after going over the bars, my hamstring cramped and I landed awkwardly. It felt like I slightly pulled my hamstring, but it was nothing serious and I dusted myself off and keep riding; no worries. A week later while on a night moto, I felt a weird tinge where my hamstring connects to my ass. This "tinge" steadily became worse and after 4 more cross races, a Big Basin cross bike ride and the first Flamingo of the year I came to the realization that this constant pain was not going away and I decided to pull the plug; I would take the rest of the month off. It was a combination of this injury and complete burnout from the long cross season that made this decision easy to follow. It certainly wasn't because I suddenly learned to listen to my body! I went and got some stim, massage and manipulation. I made love to the dreaded ice bag and tried to hatch the heating pad. March rolled around and I started riding in earnest again. The pain was almost gone while riding, which is a huge improvement, but there is still something there. I promised myself that I wouldn't sprint or do all out efforts uphill while standing as this seems to agitate the injury. This has been particularly difficult during group road rides! It's very difficult not to join in the "reindeer games" that happen before the city limit and other sprint signs!! This business of growing older and taking forever for things to heal or recuperate is wearing thin on me because it makes me feel like a whiny baby!

One of my best friends became very sick. Bosco P. Manx, my faithful cat for the last 15 years became very ill. Bosco was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Besides having it come out of both ends (much to the chagrin of my dress shoes!), Bosco dammed near withered away to nothing. It got to the point that I had to hand feed him turkey from the butcher as he would touch anything else, not even his beloved tuna! Bosco is on drugs now and is doing better, but I fear that he is on borrowed time.

My girlfriend Nancy bought a house and moved from a mega termite infested mansion next to the beach to a tiny little house in the Seabright area. I never knew one person could have so much stuff! I'm not much of a plant person so I never noticed that all of the outdoor plants at the termite mansion were in pots. Nancy knew she would eventually move and never put anything into the ground. After filling the tiny new house to the rafters, it was time to move the plants, lots of plants! Here's a picture of Nancy arranging the last of many loads. After the moving was done, then came the task of putting everything in it's place. Nancy soon realized how small her new house is as it became apparent that not everything would fit, but with typical Teutonic efficiency she arrange everything by there importance: used a lot, used sometimes and garage sale. Judging by the ever growing pile in the garage, there's going to be one hell of a garage sale this spring!

What in the world has this guy done to the media for them to completely ignore him during the Tour of California? Didn't Priority Health or Bissel buy enough air time? Ben has had a great run for the last couple of months. It proves that clean hard work can take you to the top!

















For the last couple of months work has been very hectic. This picture sums it well, but unfortunately I'm the chicken!

I'm actually a much better sailor than I am a bike racer. I have been fortunate to sail with some of the best teams around and have won some very big regattas, long distant races, set course records and have won a couple of national championships along the way, but I must admit that my stoke for the local sailing scene had dwindled to the point that I hadn't step foot on a boat in several months. Along with daylight savings change came Wednesday night sailing (race) in Santa Cruz. The Wednesday night race is not officially sanctioned and it’s commonly referred to as a “beer can race” There is no race committee keeping track of the starts and finishes and certainly there are no results posted. It kind of like your local Saturday ride in that it's usually contested pretty hard and there certainly are rivalries that develop with your peers and maybe mentally you may keep track of who won the sprint and who dropped who. It’s the same deal with sailing in Santa Cruz on Wednesdays. I went sailing for the first two Wednesdays nights of the year and had a blast! For the last couple of months some friends have been trying to convince me to race in the Melges 24 World Championships in Santa Cruz in May. I kept telling them I didn’t want to sail, but they were very persistent. In light of the last couple of Wednesday night races the next time they asked me to race I agreed. I came to a couple conclusions before agreeing to go: 1. There’s a world championship happening in my backyard and I should stop being so grumpy and go. 2. We don’t have a snowball chance in hell to win and in fact a top 20 placing would be great and a top 10 placing would be a miracle! In sailing I’m hypercompetitive, so instead going out with super high expectations, I’m going to go racing with a bunch of good, old (avg. age on the boat is around 48) friends and enjoy the ride! The picture above is the boat I'll be racing on. If you say the name real fast you'll understand!