Fast Forward

You would think that Shelli and I never see eachother. Quite the contrary. She will literally run by the house and pop in, we talk almost every day at 7:28pm and we drop texts from time to time. And she lives around the corner.

We finally sat still long enough to photo document the progression so we could fast forward the past 6 years...

Have we changed a little?!?!?

I got to work early in order to post something so JT has something to read today

The day before the race in Costa Rica was rad. We met our International Cohorts! Jason from Florida, who is going to bang out La Ruta (Four day MTB stage race in Costa Rica...legends say the hardest in the world. Maybe....next year?!?!) in the fall showed up in the morning. Breakfast found us sitting next to Danny and Tami from Mexico City. These two have traveled the globe! Whether racing bikes, kayaks, or Adevnture races, they are all over the place! Later this year I will be following their progress as they race the BC Bike Race...a team MTB stage race in Canada! (7 days, 7 stages, you gotta stay with your homie...next year?!?! who wants to be my homie? I stop talking after like day 3...)

The 7 of us were the only racers staying at the host hotel. All our food, transportation to and from each race start, and ride logistics were included in our deal. I would have been LOST and probably still riding through random cow pastures had it not been for this set up!!

We had no idea where the stages were and frankly, did not want to climb a volcano the day before the race. We opted to ride around and check out the grade % of the area, the vegetation and local

set-up. Approximately 13 minutes from the hotel, Justin - left, sheered his rear derailleur hanger off. Yes, it takes four to convert the brand new Super Fly to a single speed. We rolled into Santa Barbara and went to the bike shop. Funny thing, they were at lunch, which turned into a Siesta...lucky!! The little green car housed a fellow racer, Costa Rican national Jose...He was AWESOME!! Perfect English, acted as our guide, translator, protector, and friend!! This guy was such a blessing!!!Maureen NO!!! No touchy-touchy of street dogs!!! Especially right before climbing the stairs to the Pizza Parlor!!The Po-Pos!!

This Pie saved our lives!! I don't think i have eaten pizza since...weird

Then the shop opened!! COOLEST Mechanics ever! The one on the right is an amazing racer as well, and made sure to point out the pictures of him in magazines and on the wall racing La Ruta!! They rolled out the red carpet, found a der hanger for Justin, and fixed everyone elses bikes!

The ride "home" fighting Scooter Traffic!

Amy, Justin and Maureen - scoping the sky for rain, and sizing themselves up to the Banana tree!

These kids were WAY amped to have us ride by! You would have thought we were part of the Giro...

At Home Base, prepping for the Unknown..check out my STACK of tupperware "supplies"! I Brought so many snacks and reinforcements! you never know...

It is time, yes?

COSTA RICA!!!!!

Before delving into the wonders of the Ventura County Stage Race...I am going to flip the pages back to Costa Rica! I have had to let the experience simmer for awhile, in order to fully soak it in. And let me tell you, it will remain and career and lifetime highlight for me!!

Henry and the crew from el Reto did an amazing job! They picked us up at the airport, with those placards that say your name on them...super cool! We would have been hosed! Neither Maureen nor I speak Spanish, although she tried much more valiantly than I to master the language. Most of the streets are not marked and it was super dark. The 30 minute drive would have taken me all night!

We are brilliant, so we arrived in town with a day to spare. This gave us just enough time to build the bikes, swim, spin around town, and take in the scenary. Amazing! and So beautiful!! Top picture is view from the hot tub under a "waterfall." Below was the view from the hotel deck looking out onto San Jose, coffee plantations, and volcanoes!

Justin and Amy Mace, from Tennessee, had arrived a few hours before us so were all amped out for breakfast on the porch!!

Classic Costa Rican fare! Rice, beans, toast, quesadilla....and of course AMAZING COFFEE...

24 hours into the trip and ready to spin the legs out...

That's all I got for now. It's time for a snack and some work! Stay tuned, I promise to cough up the good stuff!

Just a few weeks...

And I get to Meet my little niece Gwen!!


And I get to cause a mess of trouble with Griffyn!!!

I pretty much Can't stop Laughing...

This is the best problem to have.

Tuesday began my One 8 oz Cup of Coffee a day campaign. Each day I have succeeded, and had a ton more energy at the end of the day, and had a bit more *spark* weird, and a little bit liberating.

There are other things that make me laugh that are SOOOO blog worthy, yet completely un-bloggable....ah.....

I did this race in Idyllwild, where there are trees and rocks and stuff. Not the normal things we come across on Mountain bikes these days. So it was a bit techy for my newly developed apptitude for the pavement, but what a blast it was! I got to pull the sling shot for Allison and then promptly realize I had burned a few too many matches, or I had only brought the small book with me. The pin-ball effect of me descending rocky terrain is always hilarious especially when I had Shalyn in hot pursuit. I had her almost in stitches talking smack to the land, catching maaaaaad air off of rocks and roots and going all "Gnar Gnar" on the Cat 1 men!

The post race festivities landed smack in the middle of the block-o-sphere! The Mann's, Justin and Allison, were super cool and invited me to an awesome post race dinner with Dan and Stephanie, Luke and Charressa. These folks are pretty crazy and no matter how much we tried to divert the conversation from races, training, food, food for training, places to ride when are not training, we continued to fail miserably!

Carolyn back on the scene, Sarah back from killing it at Whiskey 50, Pua, Allison and myself. I think its rad to pay $45 to ride around in the woods with my friends!

More good times to come!