Radio silence

About five weeks ago, I sprained my hip.

I didn't even know that was possible.

It hurt so much it kept me up at night, but worse than that was that everything - absolutely everything - irritated it. Running? Out. Biking? Out. Swimming? Oh, you better believe that was out.

Guess I'm an exercise addict because within a week I became the sourest, angriest, most horrible person you can possibly imagine. I'd try to write a post and it would turn into the rant from that angry jerk that you try to back away from and escape.

So I took a bit of a break.

As of right now, my hip is still sprained, but it's better. I can run for short distances (about 40 minutes), but I still can't bike or swim, which sucks...

Sucks, I tell you. I'm spending a fortune in gas because I can't bike everywhere and I love to swim and not being able to do it makes me super sad.

Next week, the orthopedist is going to shoot it with some sort of steroid, which should help - especially since I'm now having horrible knee pain.

Can't imagine why.

New shoes!

I've had trouble with my feet since, well, since I've had feet. I've got very narrow heels, high arches, and a wide forefoot so it's very, very rare that I get a properly fitting shoe on the first try. I normally have to take shoes back to the running store at least three times - it would be fine if the shoe companies didn't keep changing the damn things, but each time I go into the store, I have to start from scratch ("Oh, they don't make that model anymore? Well, what's similar?"), so I'm not very popular with some of the nice salespeople at the store near me. Apparently I'm high-maintenance, which I guess anyone could have guessed.

So a month or so ago, I took advantage of a combination of a Groupon and a wicked sale at a shoe store to pick up a pair of Sketchers Go Runs.

I initially grabbed them off the shelf because I really liked the deep turquoise color (which, of course, has been discontinued but they did keep that horrible lime green. WTF, Sketchers?), and when I tried them on they were very comfortable in the shoe store so I figured the worst that could happen was I wouldn't really like them and I'd be out a few bucks but could still wear them just to walk around - no returns on sale shoes at those warehouse stores.

I've gotten a few runs on them, and there are things I like about them and things I don't like about them.

I'm a mid-strike runner, so the padding on the center of the foot is perfect for me. They also don't irritate the neuroma in my right foot the way my Newtons do. They've got a slight heel drop, which is much more comfortable for my Achilles tendons (which still have a tendency to stiffen up).

But - for runs of much longer than about three miles, they just don't offer enough support. Saturday, I did my long run (about 10 miles) in them and the balls of my feet and knees hurt for about three days.

I think I'm going to stick with them for the shorter runs, and wear the Newtons for the longer runs. The Newtons have much more support, but they irritate the hell of of that neuroma, and I can't seem to resolve it with lacing. Oh, well.

This weekend is the dreaded "Carmageddon" - the 405 freeway will be closed and in a display of stunningly poor timing, the Los Angeles Triathlon is Sunday. I'm not participating, but have a friend who's doing it, so I may bike down and see them off.

But I'm not driving!

Sleep is for the Weak: Nautica Malibu Classic race report

I do have to confess to having had a 'phone it in' attitude towards the Classic. I'd signed up with a bunch of good friends, and hadn't really been thinking of it as anything other than an opportunity to hang out with some folks I don't get to see very often and have some fun.

So, I hadn't really done any training for it. I've been doing some biking (mainly on the commuter), some running and some swimming (twice a week at Masters swim), but not really with any race focus.

So the night before, a very good friend of mine invited me to a fancy fundraiser dinner party at Beso in Hollywood. Free food at an amazing restaurant? A night on the town with good friends? How was I supposed to say no?

I shot up to the site Saturday to pick up my race packet and say hello to a friend who was working the Cliff Bar booth, and ended up getting a cheap haircut. The Sassoon Academy were giving $15 haircuts to benefit the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which is a wonderful charity and since I needed a haircut anyways, why not?  

I was more afraid of getting busted cheating on my regular hairdresser than I was about getting a cheap haircut. Hair grows back but angry jilted hairdresser lasts forever.

I fought the traffic back home got dressed and then off I went, $15 haircut and all, and I have to say I had a fantastic time. The food was amazing, the company was wonderful and the lack of sleep was completely and utterly worth it.  I got home around 11 pm.

He's tall! And super duper nice.

Except that I kind of overslept and showed up at Zuma beach about five minutes before they closed the transition area, so I couldn't really get set up. I just dumped my crap on a rack and figured that I'd have a slow transition, which isn't really anything new, now is it?

During the pre-race meeting, there were five foot waves coming in and since I've had some issues getting through the surf, I got really mentally rattled. I couldn't shake it and ended up not doing the swim, which is a shame since it's the leg that I'm best at, but I stand by my choice since the lifeguards were dragging people out of the water, and I wasn't the only one who opted to walk the beach instead. 

Exiting the 'swim'.

Of course, T1 was something like 12 minutes as I dug through my bag looking for the stuff I would have had laid out had I gotten up sooner, but probably not that much shorter. Also, I was still in 'don't care' mode. I was chatting with friends, taking my time walking around, etc..

The $15 haircut rears its ugly ducktail

The bike seemed.. short. Super short. Like just getting warmed up short. I guess at 18 miles, it would qualify as a warmup giving the distances I've been biking lately.

18 mile Bike: 1:02

The bike course was nice, but it's always nice, it's PCH. There were a lot of folks out there who didn't have a good idea of bike etiquette - not moving over, zig zagging without warning, stopping suddenly, etc..

I suppose I'm just glad I didn't crash and that I had fun. I saw a lot of friends, said hello, and had a good ride.

T2: 5:24

Again, no surprise there. I took a moment and stretched out my hamstrings before I started the run, and then I saw a friend and we chatted briefly as I was putting on my shoes.

4 mile run: 39:59

Note flat ocean in background, mocking me.

I think, no, I know that this is the single best run I've ever had in a race. EVER. I averaged a 9:59 mile, and according to the tracking program on my phone (which I had in my back pocket) I did mile 1 in 10:16, mile 2 in 10:08, mile 3 in 9:54 and mile 4 in 9:15.

This was the first time I've ever been able to pick a runner and pass them. I kept up a steady pace (although it felt much slower - I'd have guessed I was running a low 11) and felt really good the entire run.

I even had enough gas in the tank to pick it up just as I got to the finish line.

Total time: 2:22:34

Still in the bottom half of my age group, but I'm so pleased with that run I don't care.

After the race, I hung out for a bit, jumped in the ocean (of course, the heavy surf died down right after the swim) to cool off,  got some food from one of the trucks (fish tacos and coffee. What could possibly go wrong?), and then headed home.

After spending an hour in traffic on PCH, I stopped by the gym with the idea of just getting a kickboard and loosening up my legs a bit - lucky for me, the pool heater was malfunctioning and the pool was 95 degrees. It was like a bath. Felt gross, but good for the muscles.

Between the lack of sleep the night before, the being tired and the hot pool, I think I went to bed about 8 pm, and surprisingly, wasn't sore at all the next day.

The squeezy shorts

Besides being slow, the main problem I've had with running is my hamstrings and IT bands tightening. I can foam roll all I want, stop and stretch all I want, and nothing seems to help. Hell, I've even tried that weird-looking tape stuff. No help.

So, I figured that I'd try compression shorts, which a good friend swears are the best thing she's ever worn while running.

A few clicks on the Internet and I became the proud owner of some CW-X 'conditioning shorts'.  The description stated that they were for running, but according to the manufacturer's site, they're for recovery, so I'm confused.

First thing, they're incredibly uncomfortable, which I guess isn't a surprise given that they're compression shorts. As soon as I got them on, I had to pee - but since it took a lot of hilarious gyrating to get into them, I opted to just hold it for the duration of my 40 minute run.

They also gave me horrible camel toe. No, I'm not kidding. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run with 10 yards of Lycra up in my lady business, but the having to pee thing totally took my mind off it.

Note super sexy muffin top and pained expression

Actually, the wedgie wasn't all that bad once I started moving bu what you can't see is that the way the shorts dissipate sweat it looks like I pee'd myself. Or maybe I did - I don't know, everything was kind of jammed up down there.

Also, it was hard to breathe because of the compression over the lower abs - since I breathe out of the bottoms of my lungs, not the top it was very noticeable, especially when I was running up a slight hill and got a bit winded.

I did feel some support from the shorts, but not on the outside of the leg where I really need it. My glutes felt really good, though.

I think I'm going to stick with my lightweight shorts for now, as it's still hot and maybe give these a try again when it's cooler.

Guess that's a hint, then.

This morning, I decided to be industrious, so I hopped on Gary and headed out to do hill repeats. Four blocks from the house, my front tire went flat.

I walked back to the house, figuring I'd use the floor pump instead of a $3 Co2 cartridge.  That's when the tire itself decided to act up. It's not dry rotted, it's not split, there's nothing wrong with it other than it just will NOT come off the rim.

I'm normally really good at changing bike tires. I can whip those suckers off in record time, but this morning I couldn't get the tire over the lip of the rim no matter what I did.

After about , I just gave up and figured I'd try it another time, so instead of some leg-burning hill repeats I ran errands on the commuter instead - which is when I noticed that the commuter needs new brake pads.

It needs a tune-up too, so I guess I'm bike-store bound. Maybe I'll bring Gary's front wheel in and see if the mechanic there has better luck.

Today, the sun works for me!

It's gotten hot again in Los Angeles, as I found out yesterday when I rode from my house to the garden plot in West Hollywood. Coming back around 1 pm, I really felt the heat.

Today was laundry day, so I broke out the clothesline and used the heat to my advantage. Even the jeans were dry in under four hours!

I've recently been using the recipe on this blog to make my own laundry detergent. The commercial stuff's gotten so expensive that I finally snapped and refused to buy it anymore.

The home made stuff works well, and combined with air drying makes the clothes smell really good (but not perfumey), and for some reason they're less stiff when air dried with the home-made stuff.

Finally, I can think again.

It's been hot. Not seasonally hot for Los Angeles, but much too hot and much too humid.

One of the bad things about living near the beach is that none of the apartments have air-conditioning. The reasoning is that it never really gets hot at the beach, so you'll never need it.

Normally, this is true - even if it's hot during the day, it cools off at night, but for the past few weeks it's just been sweltering around the clock, meaning I've just not been able to gather my thoughts enough to do more than moan about the heat and take cold baths.

Thankfully, the heat's finally broken and it's once again beach weather - right now it's cloudy and overcast and I've never been happier!

I've not been doing much bike riding due to the heat (no, really, it's been too hot to ride), but I've got no excuse now!

Also, gas has shot up to over $4 per gallon, so driving doesn't look all that attractive now, even with the car's air conditioner.

I feel so left out!

We've had two smallish (4+) earthquakes here in Los Angeles in the past 24 hours, and I didn't feel either of them.

I don't mind earthquakes (although I prefer them to not destroy the city like the 1994 quake did). I guess I'm just kind of used to them, but this many so quickly makes a bit nervous that we might have a big one - there's some thought that hot weather we're currently having brings on quakes. The 'Shake and Bake' effect, if you will.

I'm going to stock up on my emergency water, just in case, and then I'm taking the bike to the beach and staying there until it cools off! Like many folks who live near the beach, I don't have air conditioning so huddling in my living room watching Netflix isn't an option.

The advantage of riding the bike to the beach, is, of course, that I don't have to pay for parking. The disadvantage is riding home all sandy because I can never really get it all off in those beach showers, but it's better than sitting at home, slowly roasting.

Food, drink, and non-biking stuff

I'm now contributing at the TJays Yay or Nay blog - a place to write about everyone's favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's.

Come on over and watch me wax poetic about paprika! 

Back at it!

After Vineman, I decided to give the working out a bit of a rest. I didn't bike (except to ride the commuter to yoga class), I didn't run and although I still went to swim, I didn't put forth much effort in the pool.

I also ate just about anything I could shove in my face.

It was a lovely vacation, but it must come to an end. I'm racing the Malibu tri in September, the Santa Monica 5000 ( a 10k), in October, and then the Los Angeles Half Marathon in January.

All events are considerably closer to my house than Northern California!

I'm looking forward to seeing how I can do on just the half marathon (with no swim or bike beforehand!), also this gives me a training goal which will see me through the normally fatty-food filled holiday season ("No pie for me, thanks. I've got a race in three weeks").

My run program officially started yesterday, and I'm really shocked at how much fitness I've lost in two weeks. Or maybe I'm not. There's been a lot of butter.

It'll come back - I'm just doing the sprint at Malibu, and the half marathon is five months away. 

Time for a replacement, finally.

After many hundreds of miles, long walks after breaking spokes, and sliding around on Starbucks' floors, it's time to put the old cleats out to pasture.

Here's to shiny new cleats!

Vineman 70.3 Race Report: The Same Old Song and Dance

 Warning - super duper long post!

This was my first attempt at a 70.3 triathlon. The venue (California wine country) is gorgeous, relatively close to home, the course isn't super difficult and about a dozen friends were also doing the race, although in a field of 2500 athletes, I didn't see too much of my friends on course.

The race organizers were very nice and efficient. The race was very well run and the volunteers were spectacular!

My plan had been to leave LA around six am the day before the race, drive up, have time to check in and pick up my race packet, maybe have lunch (a regional specialty in this area is BBQ oysters, and they're amazing), poke around, maybe drive the bike course.

Of course, I got stuck in horrible traffic going through the East Bay (on a Saturday!) and then again on the 101 just south of Petaluma and didn't manage to get to the race expo until about three pm.

I'm so enraged that my vision is blurred. Or maybe it's the phone.

Why is there a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere? These people can't all be going to Vineman.

Once I arrived, found parking and made my way to the expo, I then had to sit through a 20 minute video that consists of the exact information that's on the website. Guess people don't bother to read.  The video featured one of the race officials and a chicken puppet - lucky for me I had read the website, because the voice of the chicken puppet really needed to work on his diction. I couldn't understand anything.

Once the video ended, we had to get a hand stamp before we'd be allowed to pick up our race packets.

So, of course, there was a mad rush for the exit while the presenter was still talking because everyone wanted to beat the crowd, but packet pickup wasn't all that crowded, even with the mad rush.

I got my race packet and my shirt and then checked out the expo - lots of WTC branded stuff, lots of clothing (but no really screaming deals like at the bike race expos), shoes, etc.. Oomph! had some super cute running shorts that were just a little too short for my taste (I don't like the feeling that my butt cheeks are going to fall out of my shorts). My one purchase was a Vineman Headsweats visor, even though I was going to do the run in my 'dork of the desert' hat.

Best branded item? Vineman wine glasses:

No, I didn't get one, but I probably should have.

I then dropped off my run gear in T2 - I got super lucky and found a spot next to a huge Hello Kitty balloon, which I figured would make it a snap to find my gear in the huge transition area:

Hello, Kitty.

I then headed back south to Santa Rosa, where I would be staying. I'd estimate that 80% of the guests at the hotel were racing Vineman. We all had the yellow wristbands they put on us at packet pickup, and there were a lot of bikes in the hallways (since no one wanted to leave the bike in the car).

After an early dinner and a hot shower, I managed to get to bed at about 9 pm and really got a good sleep, which isn't normal for me. Guess the road rage wore me out.

I was in the 7:20 am start wave, so I left super early, as I was (correctly, it turns out) anticipating horrible traffic as 2,500 people descended on the tiny town of Guerneville (population about 1,200). I couldn't find the official parking lot, so I parked in a lot a mile away run by the local high school students who were asking for a $5.00 donation to help their sports program. Since they put out neon yellow signs with big arrows all over the town, I suspect more racers parked in their lot than in the free one next to T1.

After a walk down to T1 (in my jammies. Why wear a swimsuit on the drive over?), I found my age group rack (totally, completely full. I had to beg to squeeze in where there wasn't really room), and suited up. There wasn't a good place to warm up, so when we went into the starting corral (it's an in-water start), I ended up doing a few strokes of butterfly just to get the heart rate up, which got me some bemused stares from my fellow athletes.

Swim: 38:07

This was possibly the easiest race swim I've ever done. The current in the river was negligible, the start waves were small enough that although I had a few moments of getting stuck in traffic, it wasn't an issue for me to find open water to swim. Although the river is shallow enough to walk, I didn't. I just swam (even when the water got about 18 inches deep) and managed, once I got out of traffic to hit a nice groove and just cruise. Of course, the river water was gross, and also of course, after the race I developed a mild ear infection.

I honestly didn't feel like I was going that fast on the swim, and got out of the water feeling really good. A pleasant surprise, and one that reaffirmed my life choice to concentrate on efficiency of stroke over high cadence. The only problem was the wetsuit. I'd brought the TYR Cat1 (aka the boob smasher) and the pressure of the wetsuit neck on my throat, while less distracting than I'd thought it might be, ended up bruising my throat. No, really. I've got a bruise and even a few days later feel like I've got a lump in my throat right were the wetsuit neck pressure was the worst.

It's official - that wetsuit's got to go. I need something more titty (and throat) friendly.

T1: 16 min

Not a surprise. I elected to do complete clothing changes between each leg instead of wearing a tri-suit. The ground in T1 was super muddy and someone stole my towel, so I had to run to the changing tent to avoid flashing everyone while I lubed up with cream and put on my bike shorts. Next time, I'm bringing a sarong. No one will steal it (hopefully) and I can wrap it around me and not have to pick my way over muddy, rocky ground to the tents.  As I was heading out, I chugged a can of iced coffee (I didn't have any caffeine before the swim to help keep my heart rate down), and started biking. 

Bike: 3:12

The race description described the bike course as 'rolling hills', so I was anticipating PCH style hills. These hills were much smaller and the roads were much better than I'd anticipated, so that was the second pleasant surprise of the day. Despite the dire warnings about time penalties for drafting and blocking, I saw an awful lot of both on the ride. One guy was sucking wheel so blatantly that I'm shocked he didn't get caught. How do I know he didn't get caught? He was in front of me the entire way - he'd catch a wheel and pull ahead then lose it and drop back. I managed to average a bit over 17 mph on the ride (I think my three splits were 17.3, 17.4 and 17.5). Had I not slacked off on my bike training I could have squeezed out a bit more speed. The course was incredibly beautiful, albeit littered with launched bottles, cliff bars, gels, sunglasses, etc... (the roads, while not as bad as Solvang, weren't terribly good, either). Since I had the grave misfortune to be riding a carbon frame, I was really afraid of getting a filling shaken out of my head. Just as I was staring to get tired and cranky, I rolled into T2. Well timed.

T2: 12 minutes

Again, not a surprise. Swapped bike shorts for loose comfy run shorts, a lightweight sun resistant shirt and my dork hat. No one stole my T2 towel, so didn't have to run to the changing tent. Someone did, however steal the Hello Kitty balloon so I wasted some time wandering around looking for my stuff. Also, I forgot to spray my legs with sunblock, so now I've got a terrible runner's tan.

Run: 2:59

Of course, the run's where it all fell apart, as it always does. As soon as I started trying to run, my glutes and IT bands started to tighten up, and they never relaxed at all.  I had to keep stopping and and trying to stretch them out, but it didn't help for more than a few hundred feet, and then they'd tighten again.

To add to the misery, my left sock kept bunching up and giving me a sore spot on the bottom of my foot, so I kept having to stop, take my shoe off and fix my sock. They had aid stations every mile, so I just kept counting the stations and telling myself to keep going. I ended up having to walk most of the uphills, but I wasn't the only one - on just about every hill there were long lines of walkers and people who were trying to run but were going the same speed as the walkers. One lady was racewalking, and although she looked odd, she was going pretty fast. Note to self: Learn to  racewalk. It might come in handy some day.

The run had a loop through a vineyard, and although I believe I've mentioned my poisonous hatred for trail running on other occasions, let me just state again that I hate off-road running. Hate it. Dust, bugs, uneven ground. It can all take a long walk off the proverbial short pier.

The rocks on the ground were making the sock-related sore spot even worse, so I walked the entire loop until I got back onto pavement, where I had to stop (again) to sort out my sock and stretch.

I've never wanted wine so badly as I did right then. Or a martini, or performance enhancing drugs, or a car service, or a brick to the head. Anything would have been welcome at that point.

I averaged something like a 14 minute mile, which is really super bad, even for me. The really cruel part of all this is I really thought I had the run handled. On my training runs, I'd been running in the low 10's and feeling good.

I did pretty well with the aid stations - they had drink in small cups, so I never got the sloshy tummy, never felt hungry and never wanted to puke. I did a swallow of Gatorade every third station (too much of that stuff gives me a horrible headache), water at every station, bananas at every other station, and the occasional gel.


Total time: 7: 19

I don't suppose I can complain. I said I'd be happy with anything under 8 hours, and 7:19, last I checked, was under 8 hours, I just wish I'd had a better run.  I'll post race photos when they're up - they've got someone else labelled as me in the bike photos, although there is a pretty hilarious video of my limping to the finish line looking like re-heated death. 

Super tiny thumbnail, but you can still see the pain. And the dork hat. 

 

I earned this one.

Once I finished, I grabbed some food (cold chicken and some pasta salad - I couldn't eat any more fruit), took off those damned shoes and limped over to the shuttle stop to go back to Guerneville and get my car.

The shuttle was a school bus, so there wasn't a lot of leg room, which made the sore legs a lot worse after a 20 minute ride. After getting the car, I headed back to Windsor to get my bike and my T2 stuff (since you can't take bikes on the bus). I picked up the bag of wet soggy swim gear that had come over from T1, threw the whole mess in my car and headed back to the hotel, unloaded my car and then limped down to the pool area where I sat in the hot tub for about 20 minutes until my legs felt better, then ventured back out to a local Italian place and had a delicious dinner of house-made pasta with wild boar and local mushrooms. And wine.

I finally had some wine.

Then, I went back to my room and passed out cold.

Monday, I stopped by the La Crema  (named by someone who didn't speak Spanish) winery tasting room, since Vineman participants got a free tasting. The entire tasting room was full of Vineman folks, and we were all talking and not paying much attention to the wine - although in case you were wondering, we tasted a very good white, a not very good white, a good red and a terrible red, and a flavorless rose. That one hurt the most. I love rose.

I then had a sausage and a beer (at 11 am, because it was that kind of day) and then drove to the Vichy hot springs in Ukiah and soaked in the carbonated mineral water (highly recommended if you're in the area).

These dogs are barkin'

After a stop for an early dinner (and coffee) in the city of Napa, I headed home and got back around midnight. I left the bike in the car (covered, of course, and with the car backed in so even if someone did break a window they weren't going to be able to get the bike out), and managed to not be able to sleep due to over consumption of coffee. 

Aside from the sore throat, ear infection, and sore legs, I feel great, although I never got my BBQ oysters. Dammit.

Guess that's a reason to go back next year.

Vineman - The Short Version

Just got back from Vineman, and of course now I can't sleep, even though I'm completely exhausted.

Short version: Good swim, good bike, bad run, sub-8 hour.

More tomorrow, if I can get my desktop working (cut the power to save energy and now the motherboard battery's dead. Awesome. Let's see if leaving it alone with plenty of juice solves the problem).

Also, wine.

The Race Bag

One of the things I do before a race is to put a bag in the living room, and then just throw in random stuff that I may or may not need as I think of it (or find it, in the case of stuff I don't use very often, like my race belt).

For me, this helps to avoid that 'day before' panic as I scramble around, wondering where the hell I left the Bodyglide.

Gear Bag

Obviously, I probably don't need and won't use everything in the bag, but for some reason just having it makes me feel less panic-y about possibly forgetting something.

Normally, I do my final sort-through the night before the race, when I've got a better idea about conditions (maybe I won't need the toe covers, or the knee warmers), but since Vineman's got a split transition area and I'll have to drop off my T2 stuff on Saturday, I'll have to do a sort through tomorrow and figure it out a bit early.

I'll probably bring more than I need to the gear drop, and then pull what I don't need out - but I'm not wearing a tri suit this time. I'm going to wear bike shorts and then change into my nice, comfy lightweight Brooks running shorts for the run.

So right now I've got a shaker, some Recoverite and coconut water, baby wipes (post bike - get that chamois cream off), toe covers, knee warmers, a rash guard in case the swim's not wetsuit legal (sunburn), hat, socks (I have to wear socks on the bike and the run or I'm miserable and blistery), body glide, suit juice, cliff bars, deodorant, Endurolytes, race belt, goggles (main pair and a spare), sunblock, etc...

Yes, I know I'm overpacking, and I really won't take all this stuff with me to the race, but it makes me feel more prepared to have it stacked in a pile, waiting for me to choose it.

Sometimes the Mountain Wins

When I had my Solvang-related broken spoke fixed, the bike shop guy looked at my wheels, shook his head and said "Your wheels are really old, and you're probably going to need new ones pretty soon."

They then warned me that if a spoke broke again it would be time for new wheels. I hoped and prayed that the old ones would hold.

Saturday was my last long ride before Vineman, and sure enough, on mile 40, the back wheel popped a spoke and the back tire started coming apart - you know, just for good measure.

Of course, I'm also cash poor at the moment. How could this not happen when I'm sort of funds? Thanks, Murphy's Law. Thanks a lot.

So I slunk back into the bike shop, admitted I'd been a fool to not buy wheels when they told me I needed them and the sales guy cheerfully showed me a really sick pair of Reynolds carbon race wheels - such a deal! Normally $1200, now marked down to $850!

Except I don't have $850 right now. Can't beg, borrow or steal it, either.

I asked to see something more within my budget range, and they went in the back and came out with a pair of Shimano A500 wheels that were $200. Still painful, but manageable.

Of course, there goes my plan to have a really nice lunch and wine while in Napa Valley (I'll be on a PBJ that I brought from home diet), but at least I've got new wheels.

I just wish they hadn't shown me the Reynolds wheels first. Makes the ones they sold me look super cheap.

On the bright side, at least it happened here and not on course at Vineman!

It was a beautiful day to ride - enjoy some photos:

Looking inland at Malibu

Ah, ocean. 

Latigo Canyon Road 

View from Latigo, about two miles up the hill. I didn't go all the way to the top. 

Last build weekend!

Yesterday, I rode my race distance on the bike - between the hills on PCH, the fact that I'm way undertrained on the bike, and the winds, I did 53.3 miles in 3:21:24, with a 15.8 mph average speed.

That's a bit slower than I should be able to do it, but I made my choice to concentrate on the run, so I've got to live with what I have. I've gained almost 2 minutes per mile on the run - a sustained low 10 (with a high 8 on the downhills) up from a 12 (although if it's really going to be 95 degrees, I'm going to hand back some of that speed), so hopefully it'll balance out.

Today, I swim my race distance (after having the masters' coach make me do 200 butterfly yesterday!),sit in the sauna (again), and run, then do a long bike again on Saturday, do a long run on Sunday and then it's the final taper week.

The heat, the heat

Historically, the highs during the run at Vineman have been in the low to mid 80s, so that was my heat acclimation target. I've been doing all my runs and most of my bike rides in the mid-afternoon, during what is (for my area) the hottest part of the day.

Since I live near the coast, that's generally in the 78 - 80 degree range, and I've gotten so where low 80s, which usually really bother me, don't make me feel like I want to die. 

So, of course, since nothing can ever go the way I plan, the predicted high for Vineman is 95.

NINETY FIVE freakin' degrees. Holy God.

I'm projecting the better part of an hour for the swim, and probably three and change for the bike, so that's going to put me on the run course right when the oven finishes pre-heating.

Since shaking my fist at the sky and cursing Mother Nature isn't producing the cooling effect I wanted, I'm going to have to make an attempt to acclimate to a hotter temperature by sitting in the sauna every day for the next week and a half.

This probably isn't enough time - normally, the 'sauna method' takes at least a month, but I've got the time I've got and every little bit helps.

I go back to the cardiologist Tuesday for my treadmill test, and then the week after Vineman they're going to get an ultrasound of my heart. I don't understand why they can't do both the same day, but oh well.

I can't have any caffeine for 24 hours before the treadmill test. I'm not sure if I'm going to survive that.

Chest pain ahoy!

This past week, I had my annual physical and mentioned to the doctor that I've been having trouble breathing when running or swimming hard (totally fine on the bike) - I feel like I've got a band around my upper chest and I start to wheeze, and then I have to stop for a few seconds before I can breathe normally again.

Using an informal poll of other runners and swimmers, I managed to diagnose myself with Exercise Induced Asthma, and figured that the doctor would just write me a prescription for an inhaler and then all would be sunshine and rainbows.

Except it didn't work like that. The doctor actually looked alarmed and insisted that I see a cardiologist, which, frankly, I thought was a bit much but I suppose that if one has a middle-aged patient complaining of chest tightness when running, it's probably better to rule out anything really life-threatening.

So, Tuesday I'm off to the Cardiologist to have them check my heart for worms. Or something. I was a bit unclear on what, exactly might be wrong with me.

Hopefully nothing, and I'll get the inhaler* and then I'll be able to breathe normally when running, so I'll win the race at Vineman!

*Inhaler does not produce stated effects.

If only...

This afternoon, I spent a few hours bartending at a wedding which took place at an incredible house high in the hills above Malibu. The wedding and reception were wonderful and filled with very nice, sweet people who I wish nothing but the best.

Near the end of the party, I wandered into the master bath and took this:

That would be a whirlpool tub with a view of the amazing sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

What I really wanted to do tonight was sit in that tub, filled with bubbles and getting a water jet massage while I watched the last of the sunlight fade over the ocean.

However, what I did was drive back to my tiny apartment with a tub I can't actually stretch out in and have a glass of wine.

Someday I'll have the 3.3 mil it would take to buy this view.

If only that damned lottery would come through for me.

Speaking of Bike Shorts

I finally bit the bullet and put the hated pair of DeSoto 400 mile shorts up on Ebay.

The pad's great, I just can't stand that drawstring waist. Waste of a hundred bucks, if you ask me.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110895970645?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

As of right now, they're only at 99 cents! Which is more than I'd pay to wear those bastards again, but hey, swoop in and pick up a deal!

Oh, anxiety, I haven't missed you. Not at all.

The race-related anxiety dreams have started a bit earlier than usual, but Vineman is a longer race than I've done before, so I guess it makes sense.

This round of anxiety dreams are centering around the race's split transition area. T1 and T2 are miles apart. So  if I drive to the start of the race, I have to leave my car there, about 20 miles away from the finish line and T2.

Vineman provides shuttles, of course, but then I have to finish the race, find someplace to lock my bike up (since I doubt they'll babysit it for me and they don't allow bikes on the shuttles), sit on the damned shuttle for 20 minutes, get back to my car (and I'll have to carry my car keys with me for the entire race), then drive my stinky exhausted ass 20 miles back to T2, load up my  bike (if someone hasn't stolen it), then drive another half an hour to my  hotel.

I'm not happy about this. Not at all.

I'll have a large group of friends doing the race so I've got a reasonable expectation of having someone give me a lift to the start line, and failing that I'm sure someone will be more than willing to accompany me from LA and use the free hotel room in Napa in exchange for sherpa duties,  but right now my brain is assuming that I'm going to be on my own the whole time and is, of course, imagining the worst.

Hence the anxiety dreams.  In addition to the standard 'sleeping past my start time' dream, now I'm having 'finishing the race after the shuttles have stopped and not being able to get to my car' dreams, with 'OMG my bike's been stolen while I got my car' dreams.

For good measure, last night my brain threw in a 'guy I don't know well but have a very mild crush on is somehow in my hotel room making out with my best friend' dream.

I don't know where that one came from.

In the interest of some good news - my run's doing very well. I'm still struggling to maintain race pace runs (and I'm aiming for a race pace of a 9 minute mile), but I'm cruising along at a 10 and change without breathing hard, which is a HUGE improvement over last year, when I was struggling to maintain an 11 minute mile.

Also - I have a new bike!  I bought it used,  and it's a TT bike, not a road bike, so I'm not going to retire Gary just yet :)

Complete bike story next post!

Clown pants or the boob-smasher?

I own two wetsuits.

Actually, three. One for SCUBA diving, but you can't swim in those, so I'm not counting it.

The first one is the wetsuit that Team In Training issued me last year when I signed up to do Malibu.

The second one is TYR Hurricane Cat 1 that I bought with a team discount (courtesy of the Pasadena Triathlon), because I'd gotten a decent tax refund and it seemed like a good idea.

I spent most of last year using the TNT wetsuit for the main reason that I have boobs, and the TYR wetsuits aren't really cut for women who have much over an A-cup (and even that's probably pushing it). Imagine trying to swim with two softballs strapped to your chest, so tightly that you can't breathe, and that was my TYR experience.

So, instead of having the chest-mash going on, I used the TNT wetsuit, which, since I was between sizes and ordered one up, was always nice and comfy, if a bit loose.

Which was great, and worked for me quite well.

Until this last week, when the ocean here in Los Angeles just warmed up enough to finally start some of the organized ocean swims.

I pulled out my trusty comfy TNT wetsuit, took it to the shore, and pulled it on,  only to have it be too big - and not a little bit too big, either.

It was like wearing neoprene clown pants. I jumped into the water and felt like I was wearing hip waders. When I exited the surf, the suit was hanging off my shoulders, with the torso and legs loose and full of water, which was sloshing around since the ankles were tight enough to keep it all in.

Passersby were pointing and laughing, as were my swim buddies.

So, yesterday morning I dragged out the boob-masher.

It fits much better, almost everywhere. Legs? Good. Arms? Good. Abdomen? Good? Boobs? Bad. So, so bad. Neck? Gaping open, probably because the suit was straining to contain the girls.

So I dove into the surf, and about 10,000 gallons of water rushed into the loose neck of the suit, thus increasing the 'pressing on the chest' feeling, just when the waves started coming so fast that I couldn't get a breath in between them.

So I started to hyperventilate, and then I started to panic.

Panic + Ocean = super bad.

I got enough of my wits about me to turn around and stagger back to shore. Once I got there, I waved the swim group on, since they were waiting for me.

After some fiddling with the neck, I managed to get to where I could dive under the waves without so much water entering - thus alleviating the 'boulder on the chest' feeling. I never got past the surf because I was too busy trying to get the suit adjusted, but I think I finally got it dialed in.

Friday is the next organized ocean swim, so we'll see how it does. I currently can't afford to buy another wetsuit, so I'm going to have to make this one work.

Two months until Vineman!

As you can see from the widget thingy down there, it's now 60 days until Vineman 70.3. My first half Iron distance.

I'm setting very, very low expectations, as I just want to finish, and preferably not dead last, but I'm actually feeling pretty good about it.

I've not gotten in the long rides that I probably should have, but the hill repeats are going nicely and I feel like the bike's doing fine.

The run is doing well - I'm still not going very fast (at the moment I'm averaging 10 minute miles), but I'm confident that I'll at least be able to finish.

I need to get in some long bikes, so I'll make an extra effort to get those in before the race, but I'm feeling pretty good!

The only thing that's worrying me is the logistics of parking at the race start and finishing 17 miles away. If I can hitch a ride to the start with someone so I don't have to leave my bike in T2 while I shuttle back to get my car, that would be freakin' stellar.  Or maybe I'll live rich and spring for a taxi, if I can find on in Napa at 4 am on a Sunday.

Also, of course, tomorrow is bike to work day and I'm going to have to drive because I'm going out to a site 30 miles from my house.

Oh, well.  I've been biking to work every day for almost three weeks.

I'm so glad I drove my car today

I've hit that mid-training cycle slump where I hurt, I'm tired, nothing's funny any more and I can't sleep. Small slights become worthy of a three generation long blood feud, and even worse, I've stopped caring about puppies and kittens. And rainbows.

Fuck 'em all.

So I used a Groupon for a massage - usually these can be a waste of time at best, but lucky for me, the awesome masseur was a hiker and really knew where to put the pressure to get all the gunk out of my muscles.


I didn't even consider riding my bike the 7 miles to the massage place. Well, okay, I did, but dismissed the idea as silly as I'd be undoing any good of the massage right away.

One has a much different perception of traffic when one hasn't driven for almost three weeks. Sitting in gridlock with the A/C running, listening to music, not having to dodge doors and road debris. Awesome.

I got to the massage place, and met the masseur. We talked for a few minutes about where I hurt, and he got to work. 

He used a lot of pressure and it hurt like hell while he was doing it, but I feel really great now. Even the glute that's been sort of sore for a few weeks feels fine, and the Achilles tendon's finally stopped bothering me, although I don't think I can chalk that up to the massage.

I feel so good right now I'm not even dreading the hill repeats on the bike tomorrow.

I'm so glad I didn't drive my car today

Lately, I've been on the early shift, which means I'm getting off  work around 3 pm.
This is great as I've got swim practice from 5:30 to 6:30, so the plan today was to ride the bike to work, then come home, shove the gym stuff into the panniers and head out.

It's 6 miles to the gym (downhill there, uphill back), and when I left work the wind was blowing so I almost talked myself out of taking the bike.

"Oh, it's windy. I'll be hurting coming back, and I have to run tomorrow morning."

It's close enough to summer that the trip home is in the daylight (not that riding in the dark ever stopped me, but it does make a handy excuse), so eventually I won (or lost, depending on how you look at it) the argument with myself and rode the bike to the gym.

I'm so very glad I didn't chicken out and take the car.

The wind was dying down a bit as I headed out, so it certainly wasn't unmanageable and I had a lovely ride under the blue spring sky (the sky in LA is normally sort of a taupe color - the winds blow all the smog out) down to the gym, where I had a wonderful swim with the new coach.

Then, I sat in the steam room, hit the showers and headed back home.

The ride home was just before sunset, so the sky was turning that nice orange color, and the mockingbirds were starting to sing - I love mockingbirds when they're not imitating car alarms outside my bedroom window at 3 am - and these were singing their hearts out (or warning other birds away from the tree. It's all good), treating me to a car alarm-free tune.

I had enough of a tailwind that I didn't even notice the gentle hill, and got home just as the sun set.

Just think what I would have missed had I driven. 

A very pleasant surprise.

Since the run has been my weak event, well, since forever, this season I've really been focusing on running.

I've been using the Adidas MiCoach App - set to half-marathon - for my run training instead of the standard 70.3 triathlon training plan.  I'm also doing a run-centric weight plan from the same website.

So far, it's been a good choice, as my run has improved greatly, but unfortunately it's come at the expense of the bike. Somethings gotta give, right?

I've not been getting in the bike workouts that I should, so today I went into work early with the idea of leaving early and getting in a bike this afternoon.

Despite leaden afternoon skies, I headed out to do a few hill repeats.

To my utter astonishment, not only have I not lost any bike fitness at all, but I'm actually going faster and stronger on the hills than usual.

I don't know if it's the run or the weights or the break.

I'm fatiguing a bit sooner - I was beat to shit three repeats in instead of four, which is what I can normally handle, but I'll chalk that up to not having been on the bike consistently in six weeks.

I'm very happy right now!

Score!!!

From the sale bin at the Manhattan Beach REI. Sweet. Since one of these tubes will last me 2 - 3 months, this is almost a year's worth of sunblock.

Yay!

The need to feed an addiction

I hate it when I get addicted to a product, and all of a sudden it's gone. It happens more often with bras (I'm hard to fit) and underpants that won't ride up, but this time, it's happened with sunscreen.

I've got very sensitive skin that's prone to burning (curse my Irish ancestors), so many of the sunblocks either don't work well enough or make me break out.

Neither is good, of course.

So when I found Scape, I was happy. They made an SPF 50 which didn't run into my eyes, didn't wear off and didn't make my skin break out.

Except that I'm out and I've had a horrible time finding it.

I checked all the usual places, and no one had it, but at Tri-Lab, they told me that the company  has simply stopped responding to vendors. They've been ignoring re-order requests and aren't returning phone calls.

Supposedly this has been going on for two months, and the assumption is that the company is out of business.

Dammit.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? The other sunblocks on the market either stink like death, don't work, make me break out, or cost so much I can't afford to use them.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Bicycle Christmas!

Twice a year, the city of Los Angeles sponsors CicLAvia, which closes streets downtown to cars and lets the cyclists, runners, roller bladers, etc.. take over the streets.

It was conceived as a way to force Angelenos to interact with each other and think about our streets as a public, shared space, and it's become so wildly popular that it's starting to become a victim of it's own success, but despite the crowds, it was a wonderful way to cruise downtown. This event always leaves me with a huge smile on my face.

Double Dutch in the street.

Pinata district. Yes, this is a real thing.

Fairy wings, and a sweet Xtracycle.

Steel drums. Gave the intersection a Caribbean feel.

Car-Free streets! Yay!

Traffic jam

4th St. Bridge, downtown, closed to car traffic.

The next event is in October, and I wish it was sooner. I always have such a good time!

Road Rage

In general, I find the vast majority of drivers that I meet to be fairly courteous towards cyclists.

Sure, one has the occasional problem, but really, when one considers the traffic volume of Los Angeles, it's amazing that there are any cyclists left alive.

Most of the time, if I'm involved in any sort of incident, it's unintentional and the driver gives me that sheepish smile and small wave, and I smile and wave back because it's all good and no one got hurt.

But every so often, someone behind the wheel of a car is a callous, horrible, soulless asshole who deliberately tries (and succeeds) to seriously injure a cyclist.

Over the weekend, cyclist Susanna Schick, aka Pinkyracer, was hit by a car driven by a horrible excuse for a human being who got angry about an exchange of words that was probably completely trivial, chased down a woman on a bicycle, hit her with his car and then drove off.

Yeah, that's a real man, there. That'll show that cyclist who is the boss. Duders.

The full story is on BikingInLA, along with a link to a fund to help her pay for medical bills, since she has a concussion, broken collarbone, six broken ribs and a shattered pelvis, among other injuries.

Reading this was especially poignant today, after nearly going 'splat' on my morning ride.

A friend, who rode the L'Etape du California (a fancy French phrase for "horrible long uphill grind from hell"), wanted to do a recovery ride today, so we did a few loops of San Vicente Blvd. here in West LA.

It started out nice - the street was full of cyclists and runners, the sun was out and it was a gorgeous morning, even if I was hungry and talking about bacon way more than I should have.

On our third (and final) loop, we were slowing down as we approached a stoplight and a lady driving a giant SUV (of course) cut us off in order to wedge her boat into a parking space.

By slamming on the brakes, we missed hitting her door by about two inches. If she'd chosen to pull that move 100 yards earlier when we were riding faster, we both would have hit her.

Of course, as we rode by, we shouted at her.

Not anything cruel, but more along the lines of "Hey, watch it".

Lucky for us, she just looked sheepish (no smile or wave, though), and we rode past.

How many times have we all done this?

Although I like to solve problems with a smile, I'm certainly not above yelling at someone if they're making a really bone-headed move.

I've never had anyone chase me down and my first instinct is "get on the sidewalk, that way the car can't hit you", but I'm willing to bet that whatever happened to Pinkyracer happened so fast she couldn't do anything about it.

It's inexcusable, horrible and makes me really hope that if the police do find the guy who was driving the car, they throw him in prison with gang members and puppy kickers.

But they probably won't find him, so if anyone can afford any donation to help her, please do so.

And if you're in your car, try to give the cyclists some warning before you pull across the bike lane. That would be awesome. Remember, we're just trying to get where we're going in one piece.

Starting over

Today was my first day back on the road bike since Solvang. I've taken a few trips on the commuter, but nothing resembling actual training - like keeping a minimum cadence or speed or paying attention to form.

Since I'm going to be working long hours for the next few days, I decided to do a brick today - 2 hours of hill repeats on the bike, followed by a slowish run (out of the water, yay!).

Admittedly, the hill I did was a very gentle hill, maybe a 2 % grade, if that, but I've lost enough lung power in the few weeks since Solvang that the first lap really made me wheeze, especially trying to maintain 90 rpm.

Once I warmed up, though, I was fine, and as a bonus today was a beautiful day with temps in the 70s and blue skies.

Also, the coral trees are blooming, and they make me happy. I thought they were poinsettia trees for the longest time until someone with actual knowledge of botany set me straight and kindly didn't mock me.

After my ride (26 miles in two hours. Not great, but good enough for the first day back), I went for a nice easy run. The heel held up very well, which is good, but just to be safe when I got home I sat in a tub of cold water for 10 minutes.

The cold water that comes out of my tap is impressively cold (or maybe that's just because in my old place the cold water was tepid on a good day), so much so that I'll go completely numb after sitting in just cold water for a few minutes.

Which is good, because not only do I not have an ice-maker, I don't have space in my freezer to store half a bag of ice.

The two ice trays I have are full of serving sizes of the raw food diet I feed my cat (whole different story there).

So - tub of cold water for 10 minutes.

Tomorrow, before work, I'll go swim, and that will have to do for the rest of the week. 

A sunny April Fool's Day

After either working insane hours or having it rain buckets (seems to alternate lately), I actually have a day off when it's sunny and gorgeous outside!

Although going for a run is tempting, I'm going to be good and aqua jog at the pool (sigh). Since it dumped rain last night, the roads are still a bit too wet to bike, but hopefully should dry out by afternoon since I'd love to get a ride in, even a slowish one on the commuter bike.

On another note, I love Google Voice.


It came in handy last week. I'd signed up on a job hunting website (just seeing what's out there), and it required a phone number, so I gave the Google Voice number.

24 hours later, I was getting robo-calls from some college sales department (not a good college, one of those internet ones), to the tune of 3 per hour. Crazy.

Thankfully, I was able to block the number through Google because if they'd had my actual cell number I would have been able to do nothing about it (thanks, Verizon).

Yay!

Finally, I have found the most boring thing in the world.

Ever since my bike-cleated uphill trek through the Santa Ynez Valley, my Achilles tendon has been acting up.

I really thought that thing had healed, but I guess I'm not all that surprised given what I did to it.

Any attempt to run, even on the treadmill, has been causing pain (which I'm told is bad), so I've been aqua-jogging.

I put a big, weird belt around my waist and go through the motions of running in the pool. Back and forth, running but not really running, but not swimming, either.  I look longingly at the swimmers, and count the minutes until I can take that damned belt off and get back to freestyle. I suspect watching paint dry would be more mentally stimulating.


 Were the ocean a bit warmer, I'd try to aqua jog there, because then I'd at least have a view (even if the belt would garner some stares!).

What I really need is one of those waterproof MP3 players, but that's not in the budget so I'm still trying to figure out how to keep myself sane while in the pool, pretending to run. Any suggestions?

Solvang: An 80 mile ride followed by an uphill hike in bike cleats

I'd agreed to do Solvang with a friend, as this would be her first century ride and she wanted some company, and the course winds through the Santa Ynez valley which is incredibly gorgeous.


Since this is a big ride and every hotel within 30 miles of Solvang was booked solid, I stayed at an overpriced 'inn' in Santa Barbara - of course, just about everything is overpriced in Santa Barbara, including the gas, the parking and the air.

I drove up to Solvang Friday night to get checked in and check out the bike expo:

This is only the back half of the line. It curves around and goes into the hotel.

 The expo was really cool with some great prices on stuff I don't need. I bought a nice low-profile helmet for $30, and a graphic jersey for $25. I wanted more stuff, but I have to keep the budget in mind.

A few other friends were at the ride as well, doing the metric century, so after we got our packets, we headed to dinner at a local restaurant which was having an all you can eat pasta special.

Mmmm.. Pasta. The place was packed with cyclists carbing up.

I headed back to the hotel, and managed to get about 5 hours of sleep, which is about normal for me.

The next morning, as I pulled into Solvang at 6 am, the temperature readout on my dashboard read 32 degrees. As in freezing 32 degrees. With heavy fog. This presented a dilemma on my part. Bundle up to stay warm on the first part of the ride, and then have to figure out where to stow all the additional clothing as this ride doesn't allow one to drop clothing at SAG stops, or wear a manageable amount of clothing and freeze for the first part of the ride?


Since the weather forecast called for a high of about 78, I opted to freeze early and have less weight later.

Fog, lifting, although it was still so cold I couldn't feel my hands.

Although it was ultimately the correct choice, I regretted it for the first 20 miles. I couldn't feel face, feet or hands, but the hands were the worst. They were so cold I was having trouble pulling the brake levers.

After SAG 1 at 20 miles, it warmed up to 'brisk'. It was still  chilly, but at least I could feel my extremities.

The madness of SAG 1. It was packed.

This was, by far, the biggest ride I've done. There were several thousand participants, and while I'm certainly not stating that everyone who rides a road bike is a douchebag, it did seem like everyone who rides a road bike and happens to be a douchebag decided to do Solvang.

Although the ride organizers had asked riders to please share the road by staying to the right, there were packs of riders blocking traffic, team riders blowing past and cutting off slower riders, passing on the right, etc..

Lucky for me, there were also some very, very nice folks riding with us slowpokes. 

Once the clouds burned off, we entered the beautiful rolling hills. My friend was trying to maintain 16 mph average, which is too fast for me, but I stubbornly tried to keep up with her.

Riding on the shoulder of the 101 freeway

About mile 50 I pulled into SAG 2 and realized I'd gone out too fast and burned my legs. I broke the bad news to said friend that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with her, so she shouldn't feel bad about leaving me.

The riders thinning out after SAG 2. This was about mile 55.

The roads through most of the ride were really, really rough. California's not known for our smooth highways, but some of these roads were just insane. I didn't take very many photos because between the roads and the wind gusts I was afraid to take my hands off the handlebars.

The rough ride made the patches of smooth pavement seem just like heaven, though.

At mile 70, we started a gentle climb (well, it would have been gentle had it not been at mile 70) past some wineries. I was getting tired from the climbing and the wind, so I slowed down and chatted with a very nice lady until about mile 80, when I decided to speed up a bit as I didn't want to be out on course too late.

Blue skies and a decent road.

Right after mile 81, I heard the ominous metallic clank of something going very, very wrong with my bike.

Turns out, it was a broken spoke.

Which is good because eventually it's a simple and inexpensive fix, but bad because with another 20 miles of steep climbing, it meant my ride was pretty much over.

There was no emergency number on the route sheet, so I asked one of the passing cyclists to please inform the folks at SAG 4 that there was a rider on the course with a mechanical problem. Since I had no way to detach the spoke from the wheel (the one thing I don't bring...), I had no choice but to wait. But I'm impatient, so I walked. Up a hill. In bike cleats. Fun.

Also, since I have the plastic Look style cleats, they were pretty much wrecked from what turned out to be about a two mile slog.  

Eventually, my savior appeared - a volunteer in a minivan who very, very kindly drove me back into Solvang.

Since there were no timing chips, it's not like it counted, and I did get to go over the very, very steep hill in a car.

Then, I stowed my bike and consoled myself with french fries and sausage at one of the local Danish-themed restaurants.

I caught up with my friends, all of whom finished their rides, and we poked around the expo a bit more until the insane traffic jam died down.

Solvang, while a quaint and lovely town, really can't handle the traffic of 4,000 cyclists all driving away at once.

When I got back to the hotel, I went for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub, which I know isn't really good for my muscles, but boy did it feel good.

The next day, I got up, went for a Recovery Swim in the pool, had a Recovery Hot Tub, followed by a Recovery Omelet and a Recovery Bloody Mary at a local cafe.

I then packed up the car (tip: always bring a sealable bag for stinky clothes), and headed home, stopping at the outlet mall in Camarillo for some Recovery Shopping.

This will be the last out-of-town event until Vineman in July, so I can start doing some shorter rides, thankfully!