Getting ready for Portland...

Well the last few days have been nice...ride, work, ride some more! After last week with my "run-in" with a valet, actually he ran-into me, left my cleat mark on the front bumper of the Lexus he was driving....tried to do the right thing and caught up to him, oh no he didn't stop after he flew out of an alley and into me, told him to just slow down, it wasn't worth hurting anyone...he dropped the F bomb, blah blah blah...I think you know how it goes...

After a fun Halloween with the munchkins it was back to business come Monday on the bike in prep for the SS Cyclocross World Championships in Portland...good excuse for a lot of fun on the bike!!! Looks like Saturday we meet at Chris King headquarters at 11a.m. to find out the secret location of the time trial to qualify for Sunday's main CX race.... Hoping Chris and his family make it down from Seattle one of the days, it would be good to see them all and give Sharon sh%#, its been a while, and I need to get my fill.

Feeling under prepared as usual, I road for a few hours Monday on the CX bike on what felt like new trails, so tacky and forgiving, even the sand pits were fast and furious. We really needed the rain.

Monday night saw more rain, a lot, and I looked forward to riding after work. I rode in, played a little on the single track but needed to get to work in order to meet Marja for some coffee heaven at Temple before she had to run off to school. The day, like most lately, dragged on...lots of work going across my office, but mundane details that have to get done, but man it gets old! Hey, I am employed, working to live!!

I headed out at 3pm and noticed my newer SRAM Force carbon crank just won't stay on...maybe she has an aversion to dirt, but I am not impressed with it so far..super stiff and the bearings are heaven (ceramic with stainless cups), but if it won't stay on it poses some problems. So I borrowed a 8mm T at Mike's so I could get some torque and tightened that bad boy down...of course my arm is calibrated and I am certain it was tightened to the proper torque spec...surely. So off I went hoping it would not loosen up again.

After a 30 minute warmup, I started my race-pace ride where the dirt access roads turn to a great mix of dirt road and single track. Start the clock...the south side of the river (same side as Slac State (CSUS)) is twisty single track through trees with short stretches of dirt road along the base of the levy. After about 6 miles I wind out thru a neighborhood and have to get around some private property and cut back into Goethe, River Bend Park, to cross back over the river and head back...

I got a lot of weird looks as I was having a tough day...made it back to Slac State in 59:32 to end my "interval"....at this moment I noticed I had made a big miscalculation, my leisurely spin home turned into a tempo ride as I was pushing daylight and I still had about 13 miles to go on single track and access roads....figures. I actually felt okay after the lactic acid left my legs. I also had to make a detour back to my office to grab some things too...ah more downtown Sac during commute hours...

Got home and grabbed the mutts and threw them in the truck...well of course I didn't throw them...well I guess I could throw Phil, he's 40lbs, NO I wouldn't actually....anyway...we headed to the River so they could get their play time! They went nuts, the coolest part was they had some unexpected friends to play with....for several months now, two sea lions have been hanging out at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers here in Sac. Its odd to be on the river and hear the lions barking at you...seems like you should be at Pier 39, not Discovery Park. So anyway, as Phil and Maddie are pummeling each other along the beach, the sea lions are swimming parallel to the beach barking at the dogs....Maddie and Phil ran up and down the beach barking back at them, neither one getting in the water...I think they were thinking along the lines of Jaws...it was hilarious!

So here we are, another day in paradise (use sarcastic tone), saved by:
...and for those moments when you question your life, you see morons driving around with their kids in their car making statements like this (read the bottom of the license plate holder):
Yes I drove in, need to get up the hill to grab some parts/tools for Portland and see Annika and Cameron at A's gymnastics practice....Missing them this week badly!!

Finally, after last night I have a little bit more faith in the American people...seems more have been paying attention than I thought, good for you...for US...the beauty of this country is the fact that we all have the right to choose between riding on the dirt or riding on the road and we all can have our own opinion and call ourselves democrats or republicans without being persecuted...unless of course you actually choose to ride on the road...then obviously you are just stupid.

Take a joke and smile, you will live longer!