not according to plan...

 friday was rad.  tom was heading out from AZ to race the Pro XCT race at Bonelli and I finished all the prep work for my saturday day cutover.  so i was able to get out of work to hit the trails at hodges with him for a bit before the sun went down.  after the ride we cruised back to my house hung out and had a couple good beers.

tom cruising.

one of the best

then the weekend didn't start off exactly as planned... i have spent the past couple of weeks preparing for a HUGE datacenter network upgrade at work and Saturday morning it was GO time.  we started at 8am and i was hoping to be out of work around noon if all went as planned.  thankfully the the upgrade was a smooth as could be (NAILED IT!).... but then we had to sit around... for hours waiting for people performing another upgrade/cutover and then to verify services.   people were lagging and i was getting antsy.  with the race on sunday i really wanted to get out loosen the legs up.

work fuel

I didn't get home until after 4 and was just mentally and physically fried.  i jumped immediately on my bike, hammered out some stress relieving miles racing the sunset, and my head was all over the place with what to do on sunday.

the thought of racing the next day seemed like such a hassle.  the race at bonelli started at 830am, it takes at least 1.5 hours to get there from my house, i needed to register onsite, so that would mean a 4am wake up call... and with the time change that would have felt like 3am. so with Bonelli being a B race on my schedule and with my focus on the Vision Quest i decided to pull the plug on racing.

the other option was to drive up to the Santa Ana's and get in one last ride on the Vision Quest before next satruday's race.  this started to seem like a hassle too... just packing up the car, driving up, and then climbing my face off seemed like more than I wanted to tackle.  after the week i had i really wanted to relax.

so... i chose option 3. beth had a weekend of back to back big rides and when i called her on her way home on saturday from climbing Mt Laguna she still didn't have anybody to ride with on sunday... so decided to just take sunday and ride 100 miles with my wife. 

so sunday morning we rolled out about 8 and headed north up the coast to knock out a route we have been talking about for the last 2 years.  we always talked about riding up to Revo, having a coffee, and then heading home.  so that's what we did and we were stoked to be joined by the Fletchers.  Slater and Monique met up with us in oceanside and we knocked out the ride.  the weather rad... the nicest day in months (70's and sunny).  the ride was perfect and just what i needed.  the pace was mellow and i felt great the whole day and better the longer we went... and we just had fun.

good combo

ride fuel - double esspresso

leading the crew back through o'side

after the week i had this was perfect for my body and mind.  as much as i do like racing it doesn't get any better than spending a long day on the bike with beth and friends in awesome weather.  i didn't regret not racing for one second... the thought never crossed my mind.

food & beer.

this is second time I've had New Belgiums new Ranger IPA.  It's REALLY good.  a light, hoppy IPA with a lot of citrus.  this is going to be a favorite over the summer.

did not like this.  Karl Strauss to the 9's.  this was a seasonal IPA and was brewed in 2009.  i don't know if it was just old or what, but i didn't even finish it.

prepping for another awesome salad.

yep... another big mahi mahi salad.

busy. photos.

busy week all around.  work. training. life.  not stoked about having to work tomorrow, but looking forward to racing on sunday at Bonelli.  too busy to write anything else.  so here are some photos from the week (so far).

working

present for the wife

mahi mahi, brocolini, & roasted root veggies

Ska Brewing Decadent Imerial IPA

dessert

Peanut Free Nuttzo with chia and flax seeds

cooking kale

salmon burger, acorn squah, & kale/veggie mix

good morning

typical = good

week day morning on the trails

a pretty typical week of life around here... which means a lot of GOOD.  good times hanging out with my soon-to-be IM destroyer wife, good times on the bike both road and trail, good food, and good times and beers with friends.  that's basically what i want out of every week... simple... and i can usually make it happen.

booyah.  training is going well!

heading down double peak with sean

the highlight of the week for me was sunday.  i already had a solid week of training behind me and was just to going see what happened with the weather before i made any plans.  beth was up early and headed down to the gran fondo century.  after a bunch phone calls, text's, g-chatting we had a plan.  beth bagged the gran fondo due to heavy rain and ryan, sean, slater, and monique were all down for a 11am roll out up in the Santa Ana's.

crew getting ready.  slater teaching everybody how to stretch.

destination

beth and i cruised up to meet the crew and got in a great ride.  i was stoked to get her up there... finally!  I kept it mellow climbing HTT and the turned around and descneded down to beth and climbed back up.  She was killing the climb.  by far the longest climb she has ever done on the mtb (9.08 miles, 3,328 ft of climbing).  then we descneded down maple springs a bit and were getting pretty cold.  beth turned around 2 miles down and went another mile before heading back up.  once back to the top we headed back down HTT to the truck.

glad to be done climbing... but cold.

beth getting ready to blast down HTT

view from the 4 corners

 it was cold and i was under dressed.  good reminder for Vision Quest:  being cold on the bike sucks!  need to make sure i wear/bring the right gear.

almost back to the truck. not warm.

 i can't wait to get beth back up there over the spring and summer when it's warm.  awesome riding and good training.

now time for some food and drink.

perfect recovery dinner.  grilled wild Alaskan salmon salad with heaps of veggies

brown rice pasta with veggie (zucchini, eggplant, mushroom, onion, tomatoes) , ground turkey sauce.  beth killed it with this one.  love it.

Now more importantly... BEER.  It was like xmas this week.  i got a beer shipment from my homeboy JP in colorado.  some new colorado DIPA's to try and some hoppy belgians!  so stoked.  his return shipment will be going out this week... some of socal's finest!  i knocked back two of the colorado DIPA's over weekend.  i really liked the first one i tried, Boulder Beer Company's Mojo Risin' Double IPA.  I would definitely have this one again.

The second 22oz was the Hoppy Man DIPA from Twisted Pine. This one was just OK in my book.  Very drinkable, but not as hoppy, and more malty than I like.  not saying i wouldn't drink it again but there are better beers out there.. .even from colo!

KENDA CUP WEST SERIES #1 - SAGE BRUSH

Well the first race of 2010 is over and in all honesty it was a bit harder than expected.  I definitely took my medicine on Sunday... but had fun.  I love racing my mountain bike.

It was my first race on the MTB since 9.20.2009 when I won the Kenda Cup Championship race at Bonelli Park so to say I was a little rusty would be an understatement.  2+ hours of racing is quite different than the 45 minutes cross/hammerfests I raced all fall.  My competitors were tough too... really fast.  It's going to rad knocking heads with them all year.... hopefully I'll on my game next time around.

race data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25809333

rough one!

to get the best idea of what happening in the race I'll just post the entry from my training log:

course change. NO long climb up Mt. Pinos which comes 3/4's through race and is made for me. killed something i thought would work to my advantage. instead two laps from first single track descent. 

race start was mellow. i was 3rd wheel hitting the road and the on the front after the other guys peeled off. i sat up and super EZ waiting for guys to come around but they didn't. so rode on the front some more going super EZ... no effort. 

hit the climb and Marco attacked and i followed and he sat in. a couple of minutes later i put in a move and split the group of 15 and then sat on front not working too hard... but the climb is solid...

near the top, before the single track, i threw down another move and split the group again. me and two guys (eventual 1st & 2nd) got a way. that's where i hit my max HR... 205!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hit the single track in 2nd. rode well but ended up getting passed by 2 guys on long (fun) descent before fireroad... then one more guy passed me.

worked my way back into 3rd after the hike-a-bike and more climbing. hit the super fast, rutted, muddy, fireroad descent in 4th sitting on Marco's wheel and then ate CRAP. super rutted creek crossing going 25 mph! i some how ran out of it and bike flipped a number of time. yardsale! garmin flew off, bottle, chain off. got my crap together and was now in 5th after getting passed. it definitely shook me up a bit it could have been bad.

never really got back on my game after that. i tried but top end seemed to disappear. held on to 5th for a while but was just riding not racing. having fun just railing the singletrack... playing it safe. it's february.

ended up getting passed by one more guy and couldn't respond. i wasn't tired, or bonking, just kind of flat and NO SNAP.

finished in 6th after final shitshow of a descent. tons of mud, knee deep water crossing, and cat 2 & 3 rider traffic (they only did one lap and started after us).

not bummed about the result at all. of course i would have liked to get on the podium but I just came off of the BEST base training i have ever done and just started doing some harder stuff this week. 20 hours of training in the body heading in too... the engine is there and better than ever... just needs to be finely tuned. the races I really want to perform at are still down the road a bit. i am confident that i am on the right track.

just a fun day on the bike... muddy!

so that's it... it's monday morning and i am pretty shelled.  plan on taking today really mellow and getting back after it tomorrow.

pre-race breakie. mesa sunrise waffle (gluten free), Nuttzo, banana, strawberries, agave nectar and cinnamon

First race of 2010!

I just committed (registered) to my first race of 2010. On Sunday I will be racing the Sage Brush Safari. It's the first race in the Kenda Cup West Series. I was going back and forth all week on whether i was going to race or not because last weekend i heard the course was in bad shape from the rain... and we're supposed to get more rain starting tonight and all day on Saturday.

I felt great out on the trails this morning and started to get really stoked about the idea of racing for the first time since mid December, and the last time I raced on a mountain bike was back in September. So I charged and signed up and will race no matter what the conditions are like... and just have fun. I can't wait to race on my 2010 Sworks Stumpjumper. I finally have a race bike that is on the same level as my competitors.

This race was on my schedule but I didn't plan on resting for it as I just started my "race prep" phase this week... and I am kind of shelled. A lot of solid riding has taken place this week including a hard interval session and an anaerobic hammerfest of a group ride on thursday. with the rain coming tomorrow though I probably won't be able to get out for my planned long ride so i may actually get a little rest for the race.

group portion of Thursday's ride. Pain Cave!

that's it. here are some photos from the week that has been a very busy, but very good.

on tuesday night i was up in LA and went do dinner with my sister and nephew at 1739 Public House. 64 beers on tap! this is green flash west coast IPA... never lets me down!

the local trails are still in perfect condition

sun and wide open roads

Finally got into our AWESOME wedding present from Sue. Thank you!

with training beth so much... and killing it... i have been doing most of the cooking. no complaints.

mahi mahi taco salad

race prep...

4 weeks until my first A race of the season. Vison Quest. really looking forward to it.

after the big base block i definitely enjoyed a more mellow week last week. i was still on bike 6 our of 7 days but kept it MELLOW and actually got on the trails more than the roads. that's always a good thing.

I got in 4 days on the mountain bike and loved every minute.  i started the week with a super fun ride with my incredible wife at hodges and that set the tone for the week.

trying to keep up

chasing beth up the climb

after 4.5 hours on the road on saturday i really wanted to keep sunday mellow and my recovery in check.  with the rain i wasn't sure where to ride but i definitely wasn't looking forward to another wet road ride so i decided to hit lake hodges and hope it wasn't to wrecked from the rain.  ryan cruised down and we got in a killer ride.  just about 3 hours and 90% singletrack.  we kept it mellow and just had fun riding our bikes... what it's all about.  we rode some trails i have never ridden before and they were rad.  i can't wait to take beth out there.

new trail (for me at least)

conditions were PERFECT!

ryan descending.


starting this week i will be transitioning into a "race prep" phase, similar to what most people call "build". the volume will be manageable but the intensity will be on the rise... something i am really looking forward too. in this next block i will also have a couple or XC races that are part of the Kenda Cup West and SoCal State series'. with me changing my focus to more of an endurance mtb race focus and Vision Quest coming up i definitely won't be resting for these early season races.

so that's about it... here's some more food photos... it may get old to look at but my favorite meal is grilled fish, or chicken, & grilled veggie salad!

orange roughy, hard boiled egg, avo, mushrooms, cucumber, red onion, mixed greens, & bleu cheese with horse radish mustard dressing.

yeah... random... beth on the trainer.  twittering it up