Monday, February 21

An actual holiday, don't get comfortable!

At times, things don't go as planned. Last weekend was the second race ever I didn't cross the finish line, and once again because my friends crashed. This one was bad, multiple broken ribs, a collarbone, one collapsed lung, one punctured lung. Glad Everyone is on the mend!

This weekend was the first time since I started racing in 2005 that i registered for a race and didn't show up. But it was probably for the best because this was Brian's race report: "My face and head were so cold I thought I was going to throw up. My brakes were frozen and the 20 mph tailwind made the descent about 48 mph, and the frost was frozen on my glasses." Super! His team however went 1, 2, 5, and he was 7th in the Pro 1/2 field. So proud of all of them!! More on his team to come, but you will be so pumped on them. :) You can join their fan club too if you want.

But for me, the plug was pulled about 8pm Friday night with sweet relief as I resigned myself to, well, taking care of myself. I ate, a lot. Slept, a lot. Took care of, well, not much. Saturday found me riding 2.5 hours on the trainer and just about going crazy by 4pm because I was NOT at the races...that is not going to happen very often!

Other things I have done:
I think of myself as quite the coffee, um, drinker. You can tell I have the shakes because of it so I can't take a proper photo. I'm still sold on Stell coffee but Handlebar is coming in super close!

DVD's. These were all super lame. I wanted to go back and get Easy A and Despicable me again, but then I would have to actually get to a Red Box (Brian thinks they are the most inconvenient conveniences EVER) or Blockbuster.

Once Brian got defrosted we did what any bike racer and down-time-taker would do: Go to our most favorite Mexican food place! Brian always orders the chicken fajitas without ever looking at the menu, with a double order of hand-made corn tortillas!
And they now have mariachi on Saturday nights too? SCORE!!


Sunday I did a lot of the same but I had an itch. I have been on the road bike SOLID for months and when I start feeling a bit out of balancing my immediate knee-jerk reaction is to ride my mountain bike. So I did. And thank goodness for clear weather, snow dotted single track, and tons of motivation! It was an amazing ride!
Looking back over Yucaipa from the base of Crafton. Poor mountain bike, chains getting rusty, headset squeaky but thankfully, my switchback skills were intact!

Top of Zanja Peak, looking out to Morton Peak and Big Bear!

So although there was a slight hitch in my weekend, it ended up being super positive. I have a STACKED spring of racing and nothing more important than getting myself dialed and re-grouping before things are too late! More to come on what the racing season will bring!

3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Great post, Joy! Sometimes you gotta just pull the plug, as you said. You'll be better off for it. Where was this crazy race at with such bad conditions?

veezeman said...

nice to see you post on your blog. mine turned into pictures and sometimes i write something. last race i pre paid for and didn't start was the 12 hrs @ rim nordic. i haven't raced since. anyway i was out there sunday over on the single track in the wash. it was an awesome day

Running Bums said...

I need to test out these coffees when I go home! Yummm!