I did a nice medium tempo group ride this morning with the guys into the Marin Headlands. We were joined by a visitor from Guam in town for the week who wanted to see our local trails. It’s really cool how complete strangers can relate to each other through riding a bike. It’ll be my last ride of the week before Sonomas on Saturday.
If you’ve ever driven down highway 101 I’m sure you’ve come across these two characters. Stop and have a conversation with Paul. Really, he talks to you. This is one of many highlights of our recent road trip.
Today was my first day back on my CycleOps trainer. I haven’t been using it in over a month. Rightly so since I just moved out to one of the best cycling cities in the country. There have been no shortages of good roads and trails to ride. However, there’s nothing quite like the disciplined nature of doing intervals, watching your average wattage go up and down, keeping your heart rate zone in check, and seeing how long I can keep a high cadence. Yep, I’m fully wired to my bike.
Most of the time it’s painful and boring, but the amount of fitness I get in return is worth it to me, especially it being my first Leadville year. I’m also optimizing my week prior to my race this weekend in Sonoma, CA. I want to go in with the best fitness I’ve got as well as being well hydrated and well rested. My goal is to maintain a sense of balance between having fun out on the trails while seeing my fitness improve.
My wife and I drove up to Portland over the Memorial Day weekend to visit my family. It was a lot of fun, especially when all we did was eat a lot of really good food. We maybe had a full day in Portland before we had to drive back. We took highway 101 south all the into San Francisco. The last time I did that must have been 10 years ago. I forgot how beautiful the southern Oregon Coastline was.
We stopped along the way for fish and chips and scored a few pieces of driftwood to decorate our apartment. I drove for 15 straight hours, one of the longest stretches I’ve done in a long time. Our new car did us well.
How is any of this relative to the blog? Well, sometimes it’s nice to take a break, from work, from training and even riding.
I pulled the trigger on signing up for the Sonomas epic in Sonoma, CA. The course profile looks pretty challenging with 7,000 ft of climbing over 34 miles of Northern California trail. I won’t make the same mistake I made at Sea Otter by staying better hydrated before and especially during the race.
The exciting part is that my wife is going to see me race for the first time, well at least for the start and finish. I also have a few riding buddies entered into the race in the same category as me. Both of these things will take the nervous edge off.
No riding for me this weekend. My wife and I drove out on Friday evening after work up to Portland to visit my family for the holiday weekend. It’s our first real venture in our new car. We made it as far as Yreka, CA. Wish I had more time to ride. Watching the sunset over Northern California hills and mountains is enough for me. It’ll be a nice mental break from work and training. Now I’ll settle into my nice food coma.
I was up way too late on Thursday evening, and had to bail on a new riding buddy. We planned on doing a Marin Headlands loop early in the morning, but I didn’t wake up till 7:30am. Instead, pressed for time, I did a shorter loop out to the coastline and through the Presidio. Oddly, the Great Highway was closed off for a good section. Either it’s a regular thing or maybe it was due to the high winds the night before, but there were many sand drifts along the road. (more…)
Here’s an update with where I am in my training for the Leadville Trail 100.
Since moving to San Francisco I feel like I’ve fallen off the strict workout schedule set by my trainer at Carmichael Training Systems. It’s hard to tell if my fitness is improving or declining. I’ve been under a lot more stress with the move and new job, even though I’ve managed to find time to put in some good miles and hours during the week. (more…)
I really love the wallpapers provided by Rapha. They’ve started to rotate their images every season now. To get the rest you have to be a registered customer. I have a large on linked above. Hope they inspire you to ride as much as it does for me.
So I’ve been lagging quite a bit with my daily posts. I’ve been so busy with work the past week it’s been hard finding the time to reflect. However, when I do have time I ride for the hills, even if it’s 6:30am. The photo above is at the top of the Miwok trail in the Marin Headlands. It overlooks Sausalito to one side and the San Francisco Bay on the other. It’s truly one of those moments in my day where I’m completely at peace and clear-headed.