Christmas 2008

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know you are all waiting for my race report. It's in draft. Actually nobody probably really wants to here about my race report so who cares. It's time to get up to snuff and address the here and now.


Tim and I celebrated a wonderful Christmas together. I was blessed with an unplanned Christmas day off. Originally I was scheduled to work but got "called off." I really wanted to be off on Christmas. It was Tim's only day off in long time. I was dreaming of a white Christmas. Well sort of a white Christmas. I wanted for Tim and I to ride the Great Western Loop. I planned to enjoy the view of snow covered mountains in the distance. It rained so we settled for a 9 1/2 mile run. It consisted of Tim starting out at a "zippy" pace (for previously consuming Yorkshire pudding). I was worried about the pace as I don't like to start fast. I might die later. At about mile 6, I had reprieve. We stopped at La Jolla cove. I was left to watch the surf and seals while Tim....umm well Tim wasn't watching the seals like the other tourists. When we started running again I was cold and cramping, I enjoyed lecturing Tim on the benefits of pacing and rationing such things like Yorkshire pudding and Christmas cookies. I had to eat my words when I suggested walking for a bit up Soledad mountain. Crap, now who gets to eat humble pie for dinner?

Lately I haven't had time to blog. I have become a bit obsessed with riding the Great Western Loop and using the new Kitchen Aid Mixer. I received it for Christmas (courtesy of my in-laws). It is very nice and has a splash guard that Tim says was " invented with people like me in mind" Wow... am I special or what an invention with people like me in mind.

Rarely does Tim get to ride the GWL with me. I tend to ride mid week with my friends Julie and Elizabeth. We ride the loop basically as fast as we can. I used to recover on the downhills but now there is no recovery.... the whole ride is an all out hammer fest. After the ride we grab Starbucks and head home. By the time I arrive home I am still fueled with caffeine, fresh air, and adrenaline. I continue to race around cleaning the house, doing laundry, or baking things. (no I am not manic but I do get really tired later). Tim realized how nice it was to come home on these days. We talked about me cutting back my hours at work so I could be at home more. You know ....making things nice. We were both pretty excited. Until Saturday...On Saturday afternoon (after Tim's 30th hour of work) we decided to ride the Great Western Loop. The ride sounded more important than sleep to Tim. I didn't even twist his arm. We picked up Tim's friend Paul and headed to the ride start. The conditions were ideal for me. Yes, the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold or too windy. Even better I had two domestiques. Tim was tired and content to ride my rear wheel for most of the ride. Paul was happy to pull. The boys dropped me on one of the climbs and later on the fire road decent. I was riding my heart out trying to keep up. I fell a bike length back. ...and then another. I was riding so hard and fighting a loosing battle. I could see them switching back and forth in the wind and I was left to push the wind all alone. Just me and my little pink bike. So much for the domestiques. It was time for me to pull on my big girl pants. They eventually slowed down for some recovery and let me catch back up. After that I managed to stay on board through the Lyons Valley decent (a.k.a the road that is really curvy). When we got to Jamual drive the boys were talking like it was story hour or something. I hopped in front and hammered it all the way to the turn on Willow Glen. You would have thought I would have earned some respect but no. Of course not. This is how things played out.

Tim: You didn't used to ride like that

Me: I have been riding with the ladies and it's how we roll
Tim: Remember when your contacts used to pop out of your eyes and I would have to wait for you.

Me: This is how the ladies roll. If you don't ride like this on ladies day you'll get dropped.
Tim: You rode really fast.

Me: Julie and Elizabeth would have dropped me

Paul: You better not let your wife cut back on her work hours. It's a scam. She's just wants to ride her bike more. She's going to try to drop us

Tim: I'm signing you up for extra shifts.

Me: Busted.

So you see how my accused scam plan has back fired. Out of good faith though I did make Tim two pies and a batch of cookies while he napped post ride. Sunday it was back to work for me.

Monday I got to ride the Great Western Loop again. This time with Julie, Elizabeth, and Pat (Elizabeth's husband) These ladies rode so fast I thought my legs might explode and there is no recovery on the decent. I will be pedalling my heart out thinking how could one generate more speed than this. As always, when I look to my left on the first decent there is Julie. She is passing me by with an effortless look on her face and a smile. One day I swear she was putting on a coat of mascara while riding next to me and Elizabeth was reading the newspaper. How do they do it. On the back side is Jamual Drive (the road that is curvy but not that curvy). This is where Elizabeth can drop anybody and I mean anybody. She makes the decent look like a poetic dance. It's awesome. As far as the climbing goes. Let's say I am climbing extremely well in relation to the number of gingerbread men I have consumed. Today's ride was awesome. We did discuss though we may need to start going longer and a smidgen slower or we might kill each other off before the season even starts.

If I have to continue to work full time I am sure glad to get to ride/play as much as I do.

Tim...oh Tim, don't you think it would be nice though to have your clothes folded and put away..... Darn those women's libbers. I could be such a better rider and Martha Stewart wanna be if they didn't make women's jobs so lucrative.

Well on to my next scam. I think if I'm going to continue to work full time I need a treadmill. Sometimes my husband is too tired to run with me and it can be dark, cold and rainy at 8:00 p.m. when I get home. Tim.... you don't want me to get slow do you??