Back to Basics

This weekend was somewhat different than normal. Started out Friday as Justin and I left work, and I was gussied up for Luke and Charressa's wedding rehearsal dinner!



Just a very small portion of the barrels in the tasting room



Tiny cakes



Serve yourself!



Dinner was killer (I ate way, way, way too much)



We were out kinda late, and Justin got a bit tipsy, so we slept in a little longer than planned on Saturday morning before heading out for a quick and easy road ride. I took my camera, but didn't even pull it out. Wasn't super into the ride at all, and had trouble focusing on "not" training. Weird.

We got home, sat around, then rushed to get ready for the main event!! Luke's wedding!

We got there around 2 for pre-show pictures. I wasn't sure where to go, but said hello to Charressa and the ladies, then went to chill with the boys.





All dressed up!



Vows



The happy new couple!!



Justin and Charressa's sister Tiffany



It was cool to hang with some of the race crew, especially out of the race element. For a bunch of "dirty" people we clean up all right, eh?



Beth, James, Eric, Holly, Justin, me, Monique, and Slater

Slater I think ate about 95% of the tiny breadsticks. They were delish



I took a self-portrait since I was flying "solo" with Justin up at the head table!







First dance



I got the beer placement spot-on



Justin and I made sure I "behaved" with the wine (the Tempranillo is amazing), and we tried to get to bed at a decent hour. I knew it'd be pretty warm on Sunday, and a looong day. We finally got pedaling just after 9:30.

Hello, old friend





My HR was sky high, while RPE didn't feel too bad. Not sure what is my physical issue with that lately. Trying some different things this week to see if I can get it back within reason.

Climb was good.

Set-up...







The sky was absolutely amazing



Fall colors





The climb up to Santiago Peak was somewhat rough. It was endless. We "bagged" it from the bottom of ITT in just over 2 hours, which isn't too bad considering my pedestrian pace. I think I saw a turtle and a sloth saunter up the hill next to me, laughing.







I was somewhat worried about how the climb back up Holy Jim would go at that point, especially since I had literally been hemorraging sweat for an hour already. I've never sweated like that before, and it didn't even feel hot, really.

We descended down from the peak (it's almost as bad going down that as it is climbing up it) and were at the Joplin trailhead in no time.

*deep breath*

The last time I rode Joplin was in probably Sept/Oct 2006? I had ridden it the first time in March 2006, and walked the entirety of it. Probably took me at least an hour to hike out. It was a much shorter "ride" this time! Made it down with one minor crash, a near cliffside slide off, and a few hike-a-bikes. Not too shabby! Parts of it were downright FUN.







Parts of it were downright gorgeous





We caught up to a few guys halfway down and cruised it out with them. Once at Old Camp we had to book, though. Chasing daylight!

Looking back from STT...





Luge, as always, was a blast





Here we go again...



Holy Jim I slowed down considerably... fatigue was catching up to me for sure. I think I made almost all of the switchbacks, though! Was stoked, especially considering I was on big wheels...









I also did my fair share of hiking...





Still hiking...



Until next time!





We've met and ride with a lot of people that got into mountain biking through or for competition. Justin and I got into mountain biking as a fun way of exercising. From that we got a little better (to where we didn't need a week off after an hour long ride!) and got really into doing long days in the mountains on our bikes. Fill up the 3L bladder, a bottle of mix, a PBJ (or PBHoney), banana, and an odd assortment of "bike food" and go ride... for hours. Then once you are tired, sore, hungry, and near bonking... finish it off with some more pedaling to end the day.

For us, it's all about the ride. I'm not about to give up XC racing, but I still love my long days in the saddle with Justin. Those I hope to never give up.

Threshold Tuesday

I think it'd sound better if it was Tempo Tuesday and Threshold Thursday, but so far we've only done a Tempo Thursday and now a Threshold Tuesday.

We put in a crazy effort last Saturday up Clark's at just sub-LT followed up by a short, but tough, ride fail on Sunday. Monday instead of taking the day off I decided we'd hit up the A-team ride at work. Only wound up being the 3 of us, but it was full bore from the get-go with an easy few minutes spin before the screws really got turned up on the rollers. I was off the back FAST, but once we hit the flats on the way back to work I felt great and was hitting it pretty good.

Justin and I were both feeling a little fatigue yesterday, and after doing nothing at lunch and eating hoardes of food all day, I felt pretty lazy. The day was supposed to be a post-work tempo/SST hill climb, but yesterday morning Justin decided to do some anaerobic intervals instead, so we both programmed our Garmin's with workouts. On the way to the hill he informed me he was just going to do an all-out TT (like the effort up Clark's). So, that is what we did. We crossed the street from the strip mall so we had about a 1min warm-up, took a few pics of Justin's new "all mountain" bike



and then we hit our timers and hammered off.



Justin was just a few bike lengths off from me for the lower slopes of the climb. I eventually managed to climb up into the higher reaches of Z4, and it wasn't super painful. I was dripping sweat from the heat and the effort, but kept at it. The climb has been scraped/cleared since the last time we'd been out there. A few sandy spots, but no sand pits at all, so it's in pretty good condition, actually.

I managed to pull up to Justin a few times, but he'd put in a further effort and pull away a little again. He hadn't put a Garmin mount on the new bike, so he had no idea of his effort except for PE. He only asked me where I was at once.

My HR seemed like I was holding threshold a bit more than I had the previous Saturday up Clark's Grade, but it was hot out and it didn't hurt as much. I imagine being at about 3000ft lower elevation didn't hurt either! We got up near the top after the short little descent and I hit it pretty good, passing Justin and putting in a massive effort to hold him off to the gate.

Blood, sweat, and tears...



Minus the blood and tears last night, thankfully.

Worked, which is exactly how we both felt.



He asked if we should go for some bonus climbing and head up "the wall". I said I felt pretty solid with my effort up the climb and that I was good with my workout. He said, "Eff it. Let's do it." So, we did.



The Wall was pretty loose and powdery, rocky... I managed to go about halfway in my middle ring but figured it was way too much of a force workout with the gym coming up today, so changed into granny +3 instead. A little more spinning. I got up to the turnout and finished my drink mix, then went for my water. I actually took the lid off and drained about 12oz of water in no time flat. I've never done that on a ride before. Soo thirsty.

The view north was just awesome (/sarcasm)



Little nicer looking up the hill instead



I enhaled two fruit leathers and then we headed back down the hill.

The descent was uneventful, which was good. I was having vision problems after the sweat stinging my eyes and the dust searing them from Justin pushing the pace! I backed off a tad and then just had issues seeing between the variations of bright evening sunlight and shade and shadows in the trees and in the background of the hill.

Made it down and there is one short like 20 foot hill to climb up pavement... I barely made it! Downed my chocolate milk back at the truck and tried to rehydrate. I need a cook or something, though. We spent about 30 minutes on dinner, and then I spent another 30+ on lunches for today. Justin was kind enough to dice up some strawberries, but we got to bed late and I couldn't get to sleep. Laid awake for probably an hour. I need to sleep!!