Stage 1 of Tour de California: Winery stop

Finally got out for a ride.  Mucinex sufficiently clogged the holes in my dripping sinuses enough that I could get out on the bike.  Heather and Pete and I made it a little bit of a — ahem — recovery day, me from my day of hacking cough, them from the wicked climbe that Jim took them up on Saturday.  We decided on an out and back, that turned into an out-and-bread-and-cheese-and-back ride.  We would have gotten the wine, but $10 for a tasting (it was a big glass) would have left us a few dollars short, so we just devoured some flatbread and goat herb cheese.

Part of our course followed the time trial of the Tour de California and we got to follow in the direction the pros rode on the way back.  I can't believe those guys take some of those downhill curves in their aerobars.  Dude.

The ride was amazing — ly windy!  But so green, and warm, and DRY! Gorgeous.  This is what I came for.  And despite still recovering from being sick, I felt really strong.

 Yesterday's ride:

Day one of the Solvang bike training trip...

in bed.  And this is not the end of a message from a fortune cookie.  The 14 hour workdays and the see-food-eat-food mentality that I had adopted in my build up to vacation (trying to get too much done and avoid having to go to the grocery store) finally caught up with me.

On the drive down, my head was pounding and I faded in and out of being hot, cold, lethargic, or restless.  I knew I was in for a big one... The cold.  Or as it is known in my current neck of the woods:  The Corvallis Plague.  All day Sunday, my nose ran like a faucet: out the front and down the back of my throat.  I was starting to get those really productive sounding coughs... you know which ones I'm talking about.  My legs felt like lead just getting out of the car.  And I had to stand at the top of the stairs to catch my breath (I would not stoop to taking the elevator in a three-story building).

Heather, Jim, and Pete wanted to go for an afternoon ride... and I just let them.  My place was in bed, watching March Madness, and trying heal enough to make the rest of the training week productive.  Just to show how out of it I was:  I was watching the MU-Marquette game and I fell asleep at half-time!

Well, my Tigers are in the Sweet 16 and I am felling much better today... ride details to follow.

Looking back on a delicious Thanksgiving

Sarah #1: On her way to cook her first Thanksgiving (in the mountains at her boyfriend’s house), she picked me up from the airport. We pretty much went straight to my favorite place to eat, Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, for late lunch.

A&E: I hope they were as happy to see me as I was to see them. We sat down to a great dinner, with wine, and a little Kungfu Panda (awesomely hilarious).

Huffing for Stuffing, a.k.a Running to earn our turkey: A and I went for a run that both of us were sad to see end. Taking on the foothills in NoBo with Izzy-dog in tow (occasionally, it was the other way around), we put in 11.48 miles at a good clip, pretty much talking the entire time.

The Feast: The Lovatos cooked up the bird and the fluff and we all brought our specialties. I called my Mom to wish her a happy holiday and to get a MidWest version of sweet potato pie (all you need to know about it are two ingredients: sugar and butter). We managed not to set the house on fire (though we did try to melt a plastic platter in the oven... oops!)

The leftovers are all lined up and ready to go.

Black Friday: No lines and crowds for us. Though I did stop by Fleet Feet (to get a new pair of Zeals... thank GOD!) and REI. The remnants of the sales at REI were still good... got me a new winter coat to replace the one that only zips up 47% of the time (had to have something warm and breathable and water-proof for all that commuting in the Oregon winter).

My favorite sales pitch of the day.

Snow Day: We started with blueberry oatmeal and blueberry cornbread at the Southside Walnut Cafe (ummm blueberry!)

You just have to go there to eat to understand.

Then, we explored a new trail (Boulder has lakes???) and played around in the snow in the morning.

In typical Boulder fashion, the snow melted away into a clear and sunny afternoon.  A and I, couldn't resist going for another walk.  We went for a semi-night hike up Mt. Sanitas to see the Boulder lights.

The night-view from the top of Sanitas... That long white-line on the right is the Boulder turn-pike.  And that black area it goes through... That's Open Space, or the Denver buffer.  Long-live the People's Republic!

“Cross”-this off your list: I rented a cyclocross bike (adequate, but not as awesome as The Felt) and we all headed down to Beaver Creek to race a cyclocross race in the snow. For the record, racing in snow is nothing like racing in mud... that s&*t is SLIPPERY! It ice-balls up your cleats, and your pedals so that you can’t clip in... and it ices under tread so much that parts of the course saw actual pile-ups. I’ve never seen anybody go down as fast as A did on a practice lap. And I (stupidly) decided that if I couldn’t clip in, it would be better to wear running shoes (who thought that would be a good idea?... I believe it would be the professional Xterra triathlete, Sarah, and the professional triathlete, Sunny). I pretty much did the entire race without pedaling. Even got off the bike to run extensive parts of the course!

I-talian Food: A&E and I convened at the Pasta J’s with Kitty and Ivy for a little pre-flight warming-up (let the Merlot flow) and some carbohydration. This was followed by some gelato (I-talian ice cream... yum!).

Bacio, thankfully, did not try to steal our gelato!

We killed some time before going to the airport, by browsing at the Trident.  It was at this combo coffee shop/book stop that E discovered in the Karma Birthday Book that people with my birthday need to take extra special care of their feet and toes (prone to injury). How many times have I broken my foot? Do I still not have feeling on the tops of those three toes? We don’t need to go into it.

Giving thanks for a Thanksgiving to remember.

Homage to Vaca

Thanks to everyone I got to have coffee with, breakfast with, lunch with, dinner with, chat with, drink with, party down with, ride along with, bike with, run with, swim with, get nails done with, get dessert with, happy hour with, and shower with (kidding).  My vaca was epic and it is going to take a long time to recover.  So, Colorado, thank you:

Two "Hotlips" and a "Hawkeye"

 at the CB annual costume party and funky dance fest (a.k.a. Featuring 70's TV show characters and Jane Fonda).

2008 CB 4th of July parade

"What if I don't want to get wet?" - Too bad

"Watch out for the fire house" - Sorry Adam

"Where can I get a water bucket?" - Steal that house's garbage can.

An "easy" 1:30 with the Fleet Feet runners at Switzerland Trail.

Nann and Saag

Day 1 of vacation:
I arrived in Boulder just in time for an afternoon rain shower. But in Boulder, you never get wet when it rains, so it was all good.

Eric met me at the bus and we dropped my stuff off in his car and parked ourselves at Sherpa's. If you ever visit Boulder (or live there and haven't been to this restaurant yet), go for the lunch special. So, good.... Nann is this tasty flat bread that is used for dipping into sauce, soup, or piled high with the Saag, a spinach and mustard leaf curry dish, that accompanied by a little chicken, makes for a tasty, and very green (almost iridescent with all that chlorophyll), lunch.

Then it was off to Sunflower Market for a little grocery shopping for my CB trip and his 4th of July festivities. I stocked up on all the necessities: Cherries, blueberries, PB&J, stevia, eggs, old fashioned oats, and dark chocolate. Yeah, baby.

By the time we were done shopping, the combination of the great food, traveling, the dry heat, and my all-nighter was sending me into a stupor. And so it was that as soon as I got to A&E's house, I was only able to read a 1/2 page of my book before falling into a two-hour refresher nap on the spare bed (so comfortable).

I spent the evening dining with an ex-flame over perfectly marinated and BBQ-ed steaks, broccoli, merlot, and a rasberries-ice cream-and shortcake dessert.

Day two I'll be traveling through the mountains of Colorado to CB!

Saturday in Bend

This is kind of like playing "Where in the world is Sunny". Today I am in Bend, OR. Having braved an Oregon snow storm (don't laugh Coloradoans) over the Mackenzie-Santiam Pass last night with chains on the front tires of my 4-wheel drive vehicle, I ventured out into the chilly mountain morning to snowshoe in the forests around Sun River, OR. Accompany me on this benign adventure was a new friend, Sarah, a life-time Pacific Northwest inhabitant with a taste for tri and the unknown as great as mine.
While Sarah is improving herself as a physical therapist at a conference this afternoon, I napped in a hotel bed more comfortable than mine (sad) and then relocated to a coffee shop that actually brews my new favorite jo - Stumptown. Kids, look 'em up on-line. There is only one-way to describe the mocha in front of me, and that is "ridiculously delicious". I have already mail-ordered and brewed two of their bean/roast offerings since moving to Corvallis, and will be doing so again soon.
Now, Bend....Ahh. It's feels like home, my recently vacated Boulder home. There is a unique coffee shop on every other corner (I am in Thump Coffee, right now), over-priced clothing stores selling weather and sport appropriate clothing for the region (no Forever21 or Limited around here), SUVs and Subarus rule the streets, walkers are always given the right-of-way, and the local running store, while not named after Bend, has a reputation in the region as big as any. I even just saw a guy walking around in Teva flipflops in 40 °C temps. But, those are the things that feel like home. What Bend adds: a Tea shop with >100 varieties of tea and an atmosphere to rival any bookshop, yoga studio, coffee house, or living room; a ski resort less than 15 miles away that is every bit as good as Eldora; miles and miles of forest trails over soft pine needles that I will be exploring as soon as the thaw hits the region.
So, the one thing Bend lacks for me... the friends I left behind in Boulder. So come on down, or up, or over, whichever way you hold your map. I miss you all.