Road Riding in LA

My quick little training trip to LA... Sunday I get into town just in time to jump on the bike and catch this view down by the ocean.

Not too bad!

Monday was a long track session, Tuesday was another peaceful road ride/weights/track, and Wednesday... oh, Wednesday is when it all went crazy.

I set out on my 4 hour road ride from Huntington Beach thinking I would head north and do some laps of Palos Verdes to get some climbing in the legs. That's 45-60 minutes up the beach to Long Beach, get around/over Long Beach Port, climb around beautiful Palos Verdes, and reverse my ride to get back home. Sounds easy?

For the record, there is no easy way to ride a bike around that major port. Trains, 18-wheelers, huge highways, interstates, and no bike lanes. My mama would not have been happy with this decision. So, after a couple honks from 18-wheelers, a flat tire, a dirt trail (after the flat tire- read: no spare left), some new grey hair, a couple peaceful Dave Matthews albums, and 4.5+ hours in the saddle, I made it back to the beautiful Huntington Beach. My adrenalin pumped until 11:00 pm that night.

I will not be riding anywhere near Long Beach Port... or any port for that matter. I am thankful I made it out of that situation safely. Now, back to the track where there are no cars or trucks... only bikes with no brakes!

Cheers!

And, the flip side

The flip side to my last blog is that I have actually been having a ton of fun being at home. There really is no place like home.

In no particular order, here are some of the things I have been enjoying the last handful of weeks.

Yes, it is winter in Boulder. Despite a couple huge snow storms, we have had some super warm days. Elke and I did some hiking up above Boulder.

Mountain biking! My first love. This photo was taken at Valmont Bike Park. Super cool, city owned/built bike park in Boulder. Not such a bad view of the Flatirons from here!

Debating the jump.

For the record, Greg wouldn't let me take any pictures of him. Would have made a great Holiday card to get one of us both. Lame!

This only documents one of the great nights we spent with good friends. Although we ended this night at the all famous Boulderado Hotel, we started this night having dinner at Frasca with a guest chef from Eleven Park Madison in NY, a three-star Michelin restaurant. Kind of fancy but oh-what-a-treat!

Greg and I spent a weekend in Vail with our close friends, Nick and Megan. One day we snuck away to Beaver Creek to watch the Birds of Prey World Cup... skiing on steroids. Wow! That was my first time to see skiing of that caliber up close and personal. I am convinced that Greg and I, genetically speaking, would produce the perfect physical downhill skier. Legs. Butts. Huge.

Although I didn't ski this weekend, it was fun to escape and feel like I was on vacation for a couple days. Thanks Nick and Megan!

What else? Home cooked meals. Baking experiments. Riding and training with friends. Sleeping in my own bed. Big, wet kisses from the dog. Quality time with the man. It was a good couple weeks.

Debbie Downer

I avoid negative people like the plague. Don't bring your sad story, your shitty attitude, or your poor-me pouty face in my direction. Now, it doesn't mean I am not a friend to those who need someone to talk to. I have bitch sessions like the rest of you. But, once it becomes your modus operandi, I don't want to be around.

Well, excuse the absenteeism but I was having a poor me moment. It's been 2 months and, no, I haven't been curled up in a ball in a dark room the whole time. There was no need to write when you don't have much nice to say. Then, once I got out of the habit of updating the blog, it was easy to act like it didn't exist.

Here is the quick and dirty of where I have been...

LA Camp for 2 weeks- extension of "can't get out of my own way Nationals." As many elite athletes so, I ignored so many red flags.

Home for 2 or so weeks- My thinking was... well, you need to train harder. So, I did. And, this is when I curled up in a small ball in the dark room. 2 days prior to leaving for another camp in LA, I couldn't ride my bike more then 20 minutes without crazy bad knee pain. Nice timing.

LA Camp for 2 weeks- I found a miracle doctor who diagnosed exactly what was going one. Thank you Charles Whitney! I wish he had a website I could refer everyone in SoCal to because he is genius. I went from not being able to ride my bike, literally, to being about 80% functional in 2-3 weeks.

Apparently, it wasn't the knee that was/is the problem. It is an old undiagnosed injury from back in March. Did I ever write about my left leg problems from Worlds this past year? Probably not because I don't really like talking negative on this blog or in person. But, ya. This little issue has been lingering around for quite sometime and I always thought my left leg was just weaker or I needed massage or .... 2,000 excuses that any elite athlete uses besides the word INJURY.

Anyway, about 6 doctor visits (in both Boulder and SoCal), 2 PT visits, 2 dry needling visits, way too many massages, and lots of at-home rehab... and I see the light. Thank you Dr. Charles and Boulder Center for Sports Medicine!

Now I have been home again for a couple weeks and it is time to head back to the 60 degree weather of SoCal tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there have been lots of fun happenings at home and lots to catch everyone up on...