Fix-ated

Started working in Palo Alto, CA baby! It's been about 2.5 months and I've been seriously considering getting a fixed gear. Well...because...I want one. And there's so many cyclists here it's crazy. So I haven't been as fiercely looking as when I was searching for a roadie. I mean for fixies, there's just not that many models to look at. Well in my searches I wanted to keep it cheap and reasonable. But that was totally blown out of the water when I met the Cinelli Bootleg. BAH. IT'S SO PRETTY. I wants it and now I know I won't be happy with anything else. Only problem is that it's 1k. Gr. My expensive taste is hurting my wallet...

Let's see how long it takes for me to really break down and buy the damn thing.

Atlas Ride

This past weekend friends Pattie, Kevin, Alex, Peter, Regina and I drove up to Austin for the annual Atlas ride. This year we made it on time and got to roll out with the crowd. It was a great 70 mile ride with hills and tons of sun. I was so hot at times that it was really a challenge to not decide to SAG. Anyway I'm glad I did it after it was done. =D

Update on Life

So this month has been crazy with having to go to St. Charles for work and then Seattle for fun. I haven't had too many weekends for riding, so this weekend I tried to cram in a lot of miles.

Yesterday was Head for the Hills in Chappel Hill. I forgot how hard this route was. 63 miles and tons of hills and 90 degree weather was crazy. The morning felt great with a little bit of tail wind and fresh legs, but the last 20 miles were horrible. Thanks to Arnel for sticking close by and not moving too fast to chase. It was good motivation to try and stick with him. Plus it was less boring to have someone to talk to. Finished in like 4 hrs and 35 mins.

Today was just a free Bike World ride. Very little signs and mostly on our own for directions. We had a map and a group of about 9 so it was fun. I didn't really stick around too many of the others close enough to talk with. Today was a fast day. Weather stuck below 70 all day and we stayed under cloud cover, so we went 15-20 the whole day. Finished 61 miles in just under 4 hours. Fastest 60 I've ever done. Felt great. I'm glad I went today. It saved my weekend.

Oh yea, Cycling is better than Partying

This weekend served as a good reminder as to why I stopped going out and why I love cycling.

Friday night was just an all day happy hour extravaganza ending up at some club on Washington. It had been a while since I had more than 1 drink consecutively and they were not that great. For a gastro lounge I was disappointed. It was actually fun during the fact. I had a good time listening to music and chatting with old acquaintances. There was plenty of wild and it reminded me that I like it wild.

But when I woke up at 1pm the next day I was like. Shit. No I didn't have a hang over. I had just slept the whole day away. I wanted to wake up early to go cycling. Instead I pressed snooze one too many times and then my whole day was gone. To put it simply. I was pissed. Mad at myself for letting it happen. Mad at myself for giving into peer pressure. Horrible.

Today though. Today was a cycling day. I registered last minute for the Continental Cycling Classic and got up at 515am for the ride. 67 miles of beautiful weather, rolling hills through Sam Houston National Park and good friends. They keep our pace above 15 and made riding all the more fun. That was the best ride I've had in a long time. Got home at a late 4pm and fell into an exhausted sleep. This is the kind of day you want to have. At the end you feel so accomplished, healthy and hungry. Everything is twice as good after a long ride. Showers are warmer. The bed is more comfortable. Food is more tasty. Why would I give up something like this?

Not to knock down partying. But that I will be doing only on special occasions. I still like it, just...I would rather wake up ridiculously early and ride. This weekend reminded why I chose cycling over clubs.

Cycling Friends

This next month is leading into more training for this year's MS150. I get to lead my company's team this year so in turn I am making some more cycling friends. Always good to have. I think I've maxed out my number of solo rides for the rest of my life. I always think I will have a good time, but it doesn't really end up that way. I mean I don't end up miserable, but it's always more fun with someone to talk to and help you keep an eye out.

Also I've all of a sudden joined a big group of people that like to ride every weekend! So awesome. I am glad and looking forward to the new group of friends.

Devil's Peak

Yes I said I would limit my solo boarding, but c’mon. I’m from Texas and when else am I gonna be in close proximity to slopes without the cost of a flight? I had some time, so I decided to give it one more go. This day I hopped in the car for an hr drive to Devil’s Peak. This was a 500 ft mountain, so the slopes were way better for practicing carving. I wasn’t down within 10 seconds like Tyrol Basin. They had a small park though, so I really should have switched around my carving day vs my park day. Oh well. I hit some blacks and blues, didn’t get any better and stopped for some food.

After that I was back on the board, looking at the map to decide which run to take and a little depressed like the day before from being alone. Then someone walks up to me and asks “deciding where to go?” He explains to me the idea of the mountain layout and asks what I wanted to do. Turns out he’s a snowboard instructor there. His name was David and he didn’t have any lessons, so he was just looking to go up and play around. He asked if I was there by myself. I said yes and he said well then let’s go board. Yay new friend! We hit the park and he gave me some pointers on how to hit the boxes. Fell. Then we tried a small jump. Hit it, but fell on my ass. Then we did half pipe. Was wobbly, but turning on the walls is pretty easy. The height and jumps are a whole other ball game. Then he took me to the bunny hill where they teach kids to jump off a 2 ft peak. I hit it about 6 times. Ate it every freakin time. Bah! He was really nice for giving me pointers and teaching me new things like the Ollie and the duck walk. He also explained to me the correct way to carve. Apparently I was doing it in an unstable fashion and after I tried his advice I was feeling much better and in more control. It wasn’t like a lesson where he was paying close attention and telling me what to do, but like a buddy who was helping me get better. While I was practicing down the slopes he would do goofy stuff like circles and Ollie all over the place. 18 years of snowboarding makes you really good apparently.

I got to meet more of the other instructors and we slid down the slopes together a few times before I had to go. David invited me back and even offered a free pass, but the 1 hr drive was kind of far and the rest of the week was busy. If I had more time and there was less snow on the roads I would have driven up. I love when you get to meet fun and interesting people. It really gives you more hope in life when you meet someone kind.

Tyrol Basin

In the midst of work travel I got to go to the land of cheese for a week. Luckily there was a ski park about 30 mins away, so after work I got to play. This little 300 ft mountain had only about 12 runs open but a massive park with a big tall half pipe and plenty of rails, boxes and huge jumps. I spent most of my time on the blacks workin’ on my carving. I tried to tell myself faster, faster, but that courage would only last a few feet before I got scared and slowed down. I need to pass the mental barrier that is “fear of getting hurt”. I had just bought some knee and wrist guards too, but those did not really build my confidence. After a couple of hours I decided to change it up and give the park a try because going up and down was just getting monotonous and I wasn’t really improving.

Fortunately they had a kiddie park where little kids on skis were just flying through with no poles. I was like. Damn. I can’t let them show me up! So I headed for a box, got scared, slowed too much and stopped in the middle…then fell over. Two more tries and two more falls. Damn you box.

I have to say; I don’t mind being alone. I travel alone for work. I usually workout by myself. I could sit in my room for a whole day without talking to anyone. But being out on the slopes alone was kind of depressing. Maybe cause I was doing a fun/challenging thing and there was no one there to laugh at me or comment on my success points. By the end of that day I was ready to leave early and decided to minimize my solo boarding as much as possible.