Special Buddy

Here's some sweet photographic evidence of the joy that my lovely wife experienced on our recent ride-the Napa Valley Century. She was a bit loopy after working real hard to get through her 65 mile (or so) portion.

With no further ado...duh, duh duh duhhhhhhhh-

Puff, Puff...Pass.

So I did my second Tour of Napa Valley Century this past Sunday-what a great ride! This year had some interesting things to note, and given my limited time to post right now, I'll just give a bulleted recap:

• This was my first ride on my new compact cranks and can I say Amen! I suck hard at climbing and any benefit (short of going to the dreaded triple) is greatly appreciated and definitely needed. The Shimano R700's I swapped onto my bike have a nice 50/34 combo, which when mated to my 12-26 in the back, help propel me and my fat ass up hills a little easier and faster. Came in handy as the course had almost 5000' of climbing (Mt. Veeder in the morning and Ink Grade in the afternoon).

• Speaking of asses-so there I was doing what I do best, hyperventilating on the first climb of the morning, Mt. Veeder by way of Redwood road. I'm cruising along, minding my business on a 7% or so climb when here come a racer chick from The Olympic Club in San Fransisco. Now bear in mind, it's like 7:15 in the morning, the birds are singing and all you can really hear are the gasping sounds of me and other similarly shaped riders and the wind. Well Mrs. Enchilada as I will refer to her, decides that my 6.8mph and gasping is too much and goes for the Boonen-break. Standing up about 2 feet from my left shoulder and passing me like the wind, or should I say passing wind. You see, in her effort, she had the common decency to not only swing almost directly in front of me as she passed, but she also ripped a nice, nasty fart about 2.5' frommy face. Best part? She just kept on going! No sorry. No how did that taste. No nuthin! Real nice.

• One other new component that has me smiling is the set of Schwalbe Stelvio Pro tires Grady hooked me up with. I am a devout Michelin ProRace fan, but these babies are the bees knees. Front and rear specific, they hold lines and corners with confidence and keep me upright--even inspired enough confidence to ratchet up my descent down Veeder to the low 40mph zone! I ususally don't listen to Grady or his advice, but this time he was on the G-Money!

• Last but not least was my wife. Oh Cari how could you fool yourself? One ride a year is not preparation. I left about 1.25 hours before her and assumed we would meet at the lunch rest stop (approx 65 miles for me and 30 for her). I was surprised though when I saw the green jersey and pink helmet in front of me about 6 miles from the rest stop. I did what I thought was right, slap her on the butt as I passed her, and she kinda smiled (I think). I slowed to see how she was doing and was informed that she was not going to do Ink Grade. Problem is you basically have to do Ink Grade as we were now in another valley and seperated by some things called mountains. I goaded her into the rest stop and some lunch and together with her friend from work convinced her to do Ink Grade any way she could, walking, riding or (dread)-SAG wagon. I tried to stay with her, but had to get moving to the top where I waited about 15 minutes for her and her friend to arrive. Nice work! She said it was because I had compact cranks and she was running the old 53/39. I had no problem suggesting that she upgrade to the same cranks as me (she's selling her Campy Chorus triple group now). But I also said she needs to get back on the bike more than 2X a year. I'm all for getting her back on the bike, on our trainer, whatever!

I'm looking for another century before the end of the year and will continue to work toward a double century next year!

Siete

The way things look when I start, I love it!

Just a quick update-I have made it seven days now of 5:30AM rides-both road and mountain and have to say hell yeah!

This morning found me on the road bike and out into Carneros. I saw me some sweet animals including the burros and some of the goat/sheep that were making really crazy noises I could hear for like a 1/4 mile.

I am really excited and look forward to my rides every morning (even if it is a bit hard to crack the old eye lids)...

The small uphill in the Carneros area--great finds on the side of the road as this is a dumping point (despite it's beauty) for all things book, computer and Elton John CD...

My new friend El Burro!

3 days and still going...

I have made it 3 days!!
Up at the butt-crack of dawn and riding by at least 5:45 for about an hour!

This morning was incredibly dark and foggy, so I had my niterider all dusted off and charged for a run in the dark. My bowl of cereal and coffee kept me busy longer than expected and as I rolled out it was light grey enough to not need the lights. So I made the long trip down about a 1/2 block to some singletrack and poached ol' Westwood Hills. Funny, we grew up riding here when it was OK. Rigid forks, 7 speed, bikes usually too big and too heavy. The fireroad climb seemed like and eternity and really hard. Funny what 18 years will do! Now on my squishy bike it was a breeze and I explored/remembered most of the left side single track I could grab!

Mountian biking is fun. Biking before work, everyday is becoming funner!

I like the option of a basically car-less hour on the road or a hour on 8-10" wide singletrack across the street from my house...Now if I just had some of my old friends to share it with, that would be the bees knees...

Check it:

Sweet Purple Jacket...

At the bottom of the hill is our house (can't see it, but we're there...). That's Napa in the background-still asleep!

Morning Riding

So my good friend and co-worker Otto sent out an email detailing how he is in really good shape and really strong riding his mountain bike lately. This was in response to his friend, Tom, who has devoted a large portion of his time to becoming a real, race winning machine (he just got second place in expert 35-44 men at downieville, regularly rides every day of the week and so on).

It got us to talking about the "old days", pre-baby(ies), pre-marriage, pre-commutes and how much riding was done. In particular, I was stuck on how much riding I was doing in Redding while working at King. Kirby would drag me out in the morning for a commute to work that was either road or (better) single track for 75% of the way. After work was usually a ride as well. Some days we'd log over 30 miles in commute and after work (not to mention the great after work rides that featured Mickey's Malt liquor and some gymnastic/acrobatic riding by my future wife). All the talk, and Otto's heartfelt email got me fired up to actually do something, I resolved to get up early the next day (5AM) and do a ride for an hour.

Now let me tell you a little something about 5AM: I have heard mention of this time, but did not actually believe it existed. I mean, I am pretty sure I had seen it a few times. When I was little having my dad wake us up to go to his art shows. A few times in college when I cracked open a crusted eye from whatever floor I was passed out on and was momentarily blinded by the bright light. And most recently, when I was doing the Tour De Cure 100 mile ride. But to actually wake up BEFORE work and ride-I had only promised myself it would happen--never actually stating when.

Well I am here to say I successfully did wake up and ride this morning! And, I plan on doing it again tomorrow and the next day (and as often as I can).

Another great find, I can do road or mountain (poaching some sweet singletrack right across the street from my house).

It was a tremendous start to my day and I look forward to more. Maybe I will lose some of the new FUDA I has acquired and actually NOT be the caboose on group rides...

I'll keep everyone posted...