I did not do much of anything today. Friday is a leg workout day, but the gym is closed for National hangover day.
I can think of 20 better holidays to close for, but whatever enjoy the day off right?
Wednesday night I drove up to Los Angeles and stayed with an old friend Sandra. I had a birthday gift card for Real Food Daily and I didn't want to have to drive straight to Thousand Oaks in the morning from Orange County. Besides picking a fight with 2 drunks guys while I was half asleep, the night was uneventful and delicious. There is a cute dog that lives there, although I'm not sure she likes me.
Thursday morning I drove to Thousand Oaks to meet up with a fellow vegan cyclist I met through twitter. Its still very strange to me how things like this happen, but social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have become immensely helpful to the cycling community. I am unaware of any other communities who use these two forums in the same way cyclists do.
When you receive a pleasant invite from a person who guys by the name @profsmitty you know that the hardest part of the day is going to be getting to the group before the person that invited you gets there. Crisis averted, we arrived at the same time.
The Platinum Performance cycling team guys and gals are all extremely nice. It was a pleasure to ride with completely new people who were excited about cycling and were not assholes (ed. REAL assholes, not the kind I am).
The ride of the day was schedules to be an 80 mile route which passed over two tough climbs and would take about 5 and a half hours. There was support after the first climb, one of the Platinum guys', Bob, wife drove to the middle of nowhere and gave us banana slices water an peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (no I'm still not eating bread).
After the group reached the support destination, many of the riders decided they were not prepared to complete the route for the day and decided to take a flatter, shorter route home. For some reason I kept going with the original plan. Our group of 30 was now 7, myself and @profsmitty (Steve Smith) included.
I have to say that the next 5 miles of road may be the greatest I have ever ridden. My legs were warm from the long slow climb and so I made short work of the short rollers and had an amazing time traversing the smooth switchbacks that presented themselves on the other side. I love when you can beat a car down hill.
I always loved the stretch of PCH that goes south to Malibu, ever since the day Pat and I made our way down the coast and we knew this was the beautiful gateway home. Even with the wind you can really get your speed up and still take in the coast line that is trimming the bike lane. I just wish it was closer to my house. The length of ocean lined road near me is unparalleled, but the beauty is not.
Our group of 7 deviated from the original plan and made our own way through the Santa Monica Mountains spending at least 2 and a half hours climbing during out 5 and half hour long ride time. When we were close to the end, another 10 miles was added on simply for the visual enhancement of the ride. I was told it was for the new guy. I'm not sure if that means that I really needed to see this specific area or if it meant I was being hazed. I wouldn't be suprised if it was both.
90 miles in the legs are a great way to end the year. I put my compression tights to great use, spending the next 15 hours in them. now I feel like a million bucks.
It is legitimately getting close to the race season, in fact there is a track race this month. I don't know if I feel excited or underprepared. Last year I felt confident and fell on my face.
Song for your dreams:
Jimmy Eat World - Kill
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