Tough Life

Living in Southern California is really hard sometimes. Especially living here and having an active outdoor lifestyle. There are so many obstacles that are put in our way. This week all the difficulties have been glaringly obvious to me as I have slogged through workout after workout. In case any of you are considering packing up and moving here, I want to warn you, it can be torturous and only the toughest will survive. (only the really hard core can even think of thriving). Don't believe me? Just look at what I had to endure on my tempo run the other day.

not only did I have to listen to the sound of surf...

but I was forced to look at purple flowers on an empty trail.

Excuse me while I decompress from these traumatic experiences by going for a bike ride on busy traffic congested roads through the slums of Rancho Santa Fe.

Printed Word

It is said that the printed word is becoming obsolete in today's digital age. I admit, I find that I prefer to read my newspaper online, mostly on my phone. The greatest thing about it is that I always have my preferred papers at hand. This comes in handy when waiting at appointments as I no longer have to read 6 month old magazines or last weeks newspaper. Mostly though, I appreciate it when I can read my news in bed without having to get it from the front door. Yesterday it was brought to my attention the importance and usefulness of the printed word. I am now an advocate for printed news. It has many uses, beyond lining a bird cage. The printed word has and continues to be a saviour for many a cyclist when the temperatures drop and a bone chilling wind whips up. Stuff a bit of newsprint down the front of your jersey and you have a thermal layer, it also helps the lower back area. Wonderful, this contemporary way of getting the news, and I normally can't read the news while in the shower because my phone is not water proof but after my ride I could read all about Don's markets special on strawberries as I scrubbed the words off of my front side!

In case anyone is heading to Santa Ysabel, strawberries are $1.99/pd! (local and fresh)

I hope that the printed word does not cease to exist. If is does become extinct there are going to be some really cold cyclists, and some birds wondering why there is a laptop at the bottom of their cage!

Doomed

One week as in seven days as in 168 hours. That is all it took for the resident athlete to overtake me. On his second real ride on his new road bike (because we aren't counting the 15 minute ride around the neighbourhood) he managed to drop me going up the very first hill. Oh, and he started up said hill behind me! In his attempt to take the sting out of this he told me that I was a slow starter. I think he meant I am slow at starting out on each ride, not that I have been at it for 17 years compared to his one week! I hope that is what he meant. I now have a huge incentive to work on my slow starts, I'll cough up a lung and be passed out on the side of the road before I let that sneak attack occur again! My 17 years of a head start are going to be quickly erased but the upside of this is I will get to spend hours staring at me hearties lycra clad butt. Yup, I like to see the glass full, full of sweat cause I won't quit trying.

Note: he is no longer riding in his golf shoes!

'You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are be doomed if you don't try'

Dear John

I have been struggling with this decision for a long time now and this is very difficult for me to write but we are no longer right for one another. It is not you, it is me. You have been a wonderful partner for our entire 11 year relationship, unfortunately, over the last year my eyes have been roaming and that is not fair to you. I have developed stronger feelings for another and I can't continue to do this to you. You deserve to be happy and be with someone who will appreciate your handsome, sleek appearance and be proud to be seen out with you. I am just not the right girl for you anymore as I find myself unable to remain faithful. I am sorry that I can't tell you this in person but I am afraid that if I look at you all those old feelings will come rushing back and I won't have the courage to make the clean break that we both need. Thank you for the fast times and the unwavering reliability you provided. I appreciate that not once did you let me down or leave me stranded. When you get some time to reflect you will realize that we have grown apart and are both headed in different directions in life. If you think about it, I haven't taken you out since May and I am sure you are starting to daydream of another. I wish you all the best and know you have a fantastic future with someone who will be thrilled everyday to be with you. I understand that we won't be able to remain friends and I don't expect us to acknowledge each other in public if we run into each other with our new partners. May you have a wonderful, full filling and fast time on the road of life. Goodbye.



Injured Diva?

My running partner is currently suffering a minor injury. Nothing that needs any treatment other than rest but she is unable to run with me. Too bad her injury isn't from actually running. No, she doesn't get running injuries cause she is built to run, this is a wrestling injury.  For some reason she thinks it is a good idea to wrestle way above her weight class, actually she only wrestles opponents who are double her weight or more. Therefore, she took a hit and now has a minor limp, which seems to get worse when I tell her not to do something or don't let her stop and smell every blade of grass. (it also miraculously disappears whenever she spots a potential wrestling partner approaching). When she thinks I am not looking the limp turns into more of a hitch in her step. I guess I will be running without her for a few more days mostly because I don't want to be known as the mean lady who makes her dog run with a limp. If only the people in the hood could see how it doesn't prevent her from ripping around and vaulting over the furniture. Nope, no limp then, wonder if I told her we were going to run to see the horses what would happen to the limp? Did I ever mention that my running partner is a DIVA who will use any tactic to get her way!

PS- Hills are so much easier to run up when you don't have to pull a 40lb (oh, excuse me, 39.6 lb) princess up them all. Sorry little Diva, you missed out, it was a beautiful morning to run. How's that injury?



Resident Athlete

Readers, you may not be aware but a professional athlete resides in my house. Don't worry, you didn't miss the announcement of me entering the pro ranks of cyclocross (pretty confident that I should be able to do a moving mount prior to getting my pro card, oh, and I think they have some other standards like you can't place last in your old lady division), no the pro athlete has been here for awhile. That's right, me Hearty is a professional athlete, and he likes to remind me of this on occasion. Such as when he is whooping my butt at bowling and I whine a little (you would whine too if your high score started in a 6 and was double digit). That is when he says 'well, I am a professional athlete afterall'. Like that is meant to make me feel better, he is not a professional bowler, although some argue that his sport isn't anymore of a sport than bowling, or say - gasp, curling. I am not going to get into the semantics of what makes a sport a sport and an athlete an athlete but I am going to say only one person in this house has ever made money doing their sport and it isn't me!

Mr. Pro athlete and I often take vacations where we ride our mountain bikes and he usually only rides when we are on such vacations. Therefore, there have been a few occasions when I have actually been better at him at something. Which to be fair, the only reason I have been better at him is my conditioning. He still has more technical skill than I do, and he is riding a clunker with crappy brakes and gearing and really no shocks at all, so even when I do get over something he doesn't it is because of the bike, not my skill. You have to understand that this is BIG to me. He has always been better or even at everything we have done, even if he is new to it. Oh, except for curling, I am a WAY better curler than him! (he still won't admit that the time we won a bonspeil was because of my great skip ability and thinks it was his rocks as 3rd, whatever!). Anyways, up until now I have had him on the bike. Yesterday Mr. Pro athlete decided he wanted to try road riding and he borrowed a bike and set out. Of course, nothing but a pro team bike for his first road ride. I am doomed, my time of dominance is coming to an end. I see a future of watching my husband become a small speck on the horizon or disappearing over the crest of a hill because the resident athlete becomes very good at whatever he chooses to do. At least I'll always have curling;)

PS; Mom, he may need a jersey of his own for his birthday, he can't raid his wife's closet forever, plus, I am not sure he is looking too pro with his jersey 2 inches too short!

Flying Kites

Believe it or not it there is usually wind blowing where they build windmill farms. For some reason they have figured out where to place the windmills to catch the wind no matter what direction it blows. This should have been a clue to us that perhaps the wind does change direction. We of course decided that since we had ridden into a head wind going one direction on a road that if we reversed the direction another day we would have a tail wind the whole way. Someone forgot to mention this to the wind! Maybe, he just wanted to prove to us how strong or wrong we were and he kicked it up a notch for our final day. If we were flying a kite it would have gone very high, might have snapped the string even! Instead sails were set to harness the power of the wind and destinations were arrived at, both internal and external.

Windmills

Two days ago the wind had the bushes pushed the other way!

Soaring

'Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it' - Winston Churchill

Gravitational Pull

Gravity is a wonderful thing when you are going downhill, not so much when you are fighting it to get up that same hill. Last week I headed out with some clients to a training camp and we spent some time learning physics, in particular Newtons Law of Gravity and how our masses were affected by the force of gravity and how much potential energy was required to overcome the gravitational constant to get to the top of a mountain. I never enjoyed my physics classes but if they had been taught on a bicycle I may have paid a little more attention, okay who am I kidding, I zone out just as much on the bike. For the two hours that it took to move my (m)ass up the hill, it took less than 30 minutes to roll down. Sometimes, I wish that apple had just stayed on the tree;)

Stop to admire the view on the way back down, no stopping allowed going up!

I climb so that I can descend!

'Gravity is a trick of the body devised to conceal deficiencies of the mind.'