End of 2008 Coming Fast...Welcome 2009!

It's the end of another year and time for a short period of reflection. This has been one insane (read: busy in too many ways) year. I can't say that last year at this time I could have predicted much of what happened this year. Fortunately, that's fine and all definitely for the best, even the parts that were, on the surface, not as obviously good.

I took a break from road racing, but it helped me appreciate what it's all about and the break probably kept me from burning out.

I started my own very small business, it took a lot of time away from time I should have been out playing and having fun, but I learned so much from it. And that was a dream of mine for (almost) ever.

I definitely didn't spend enough time with friends, but I made a few and reconnected with old friends. (Don't you love the feeling of time standing still when you see an old friend? That's one way of seeing the strength of a friendship.)

Oh yeah, this year I was in Toast Masters so I did a lot of public speaking. I think that's the area of greatest improvement this year. I'll continue to work on that a lot next year as well.

The time that I spent working and unable to hang out with people made it oh-so-obvious that the only thing that really matters are time with family and friends (next to food, shelter and sleep). The rest is so insignificant. Time is so precious, I am focusing a great deal more now on my priorities and where things fall so as to properly choose how to spend time. (I don't pretend to be good at it yet.)

What's up for 2009? Once again, I can't foresee the future and that's okay. I'm comfortable not knowing what surprises are in store. If this year is anything like the last four, it will be anything but boring...I hope to race a lot more, help the company I work thrive, have many adventures in Colorado and abroad with my friends, (finally) travel to Europe, squander time less and make every moment matter more, stay positive and optimistic and have fun every day.

Happy 2009 to everyone!!!

Merry Christmas, Take 2

Here are some pics from the day. Collage, above, is a compilation of photos I took today in Denver that were somehow related to Christmas. (Click on it to see it bigger.)

Then there were those pics that weren't appropriate for a Christmas collage:

This was a scrolling news ticker on the side of a building. Saw a couple of interesting news stories today. Here's the other one. Huh? Lance has a Colorado girlfriend? I've officially been living under a rock. I hope she's super athletic. I want to see a freak-of-nature Lance Jr.

I love the concept of these cow statues as canvases for art, but this one is not cool.

This one is my all-time favorite cow. I took this photo in a NY museum in spring of 2002. 

Starbucks sells a recovery shake! There was a grand total of 1 Starbucks open in Denver today (yes, I ran past all of them). It's been so long since going to Starbucks, I knew not that they had gotten into the smoothie biz. 

I needed this after 3 hours of working out without adequate food. The Egg Nog latte almost got me, but I didn't want to have to ask them to add protein to it.

Merry Christmas!

Yeah, yeah, it's 5 days before most people celebrate Christmas, but this year we're having two Christmases. Our first one was today. We played Cranium and had a few rounds of ping pong. Bro kicked my butt as usual, but I put up a decent fight. We enjoyed the day, but of course, there are loved ones out of town and home sick...always better when we're all together.

Christmas shopping was simple this year: I ended up procrastinating due to a lot of work and multiple priorities hitting at the same time so in an hour and a half, all of Christmas was bought last night. Easy. Now it's smooth sailing for the next week going into Christmas. Yea!

My apologies for the lack of pics, my digital camera walked off in the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, I have an older backup one that I was able to resurrect. So, pics will be back soon. Hopefully some of today will be here when I get them downloaded.

Neighbors

This week has been nearly all-consumed with an issue I'm working on with my neighbors. The issue is something I can't blog about, but the point of the post is to say that it's the coolest thing to have neighbors that are friends. We've gotten together some for movie nights in the past which is always enjoyable.

There's something very cool in a different way about working on a cause together...it's quite the adrenaline rush! The other night we were hanging out and talking until quite late. It took me right back to living in the dorm in college and staying up late working on a project with my friends. Yeah, it's work, but it is turning into a lot of fun that would otherwise be drudgery doing alone.

There's nothing like having a real community.

Morning Tea

Drinking tea in the morning is refreshing and a great way to start the day. There's also a side benefit: the tea I drink comes with quotes on the tag attached to the tea bag.

Let each man exercise the art he knows. --Aristophanes 450

4 Days Off

Wow, four days off without any travel in there anywhere? What am I doing? Sleeping in, for one. I like sleep, but haven't had much of it prior to this weekend. So the alarm is not being set and I'm making up for lost time. Of course, it's nearing 2 am and here I am blogging. I was tossing and turning, someone must have slipped some caffeine in my evening tea. 

Every evening before going to sleep, I like to read. This weekend, however, I've had hours to read before shutting off the light. And so, tonight, I said goodbye to a new friend, the book I've been reading since the San Francisco trip. This happens to me every single time I read a book, when I finish the last page, I begin to miss the characters (and often the writer if it's a memoir like this one); I think that hinders me somewhat from starting new books. When I begin a new book, I know I have to be emotionally available for a relationship with it. 

This book spoke to me in many ways. I didn't always agree with the author or completely understand her, but so many of the themes are ones that have been part of my life. And it gave me a chance to think about how I feel about things when she is faced with challenges in her journey. 

I don't know if this book has much to do with my current thinking or not, but everything plays a role, doesn't it? In so many conversations (even many mundane ones), there are some takeaways that I feel thankful for...as thoughts that can be built upon each other to gain further understanding, insight...or simply finding out about some activity that, when I attend, I meet someone else who has something else to add to this ever-growing thought-pool. 

I believe now more than ever in the importance of everyone in my life and I see how their presence continually serves in helping me go in a particular direction. As I hope I am a similar player in the lives of my friends, family, and people I bump into on the street. 

I know exactly where I want to be (not physically, metaphorically) and what I want--these thoughts are never far from my mind. However, I have developed a much more laid-back approach in attaining those people, things and goals. I firmly believe that if I keep my focus and make choices to support my values, that all things fall into place naturally. Patience, patience.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is late, but better late than never, eh? I hope everyone out in blog land had a happy Thanksgiving. I had a very nice Thanksgiving with my family and nice Thanksgiving-eve dinner with the family of one of my friends. It was like having two Thanksgivings and two families. Very cool. 

After two days of feasting, the scale told me that I weighed less afterwards. Let's hear it for veggies, people! This year, I believe we had more color on our Thanksgiving plates than ever. I also did not have a food coma as in years past (yes, I skipped the tryptophan-loaded turkey, but I haven't had turkey for many years, either).

I took movies and haven't uploaded my pics, yet. There weren't any shots worth posting, though. I think my annual quota of picture taking was satisfied in California. 

Last Weekend--How it was Okay After All

Just a few quick notes about last weekend that must be mentioned: 

I went into last weekend dreading it. My expectations were extremely low since I knew I had a lot of work to get done and it wasn't the kind of work that could be done in one day. Yuck. But, somehow the weekend worked out to be really nice. 

The beauty of it was this: There were times that I could not work because my co-worker needed the code to himself. Therefore, there were specific times when I had to put it down and not concern myself with any of it. During these times, I squeezed in working out, running, riding the trainer, dining with church friends, going to a crazy nightclub, celebrating my dad's birthday over breakfast, attending an especially lengthy (although particularly beautiful) mass and finishing the project to be demo'd to the company first thing Monday morning. 

When does all of this stuff ever all get done in such a short period of time? NEVER.  EVER.

Lesson learned here is that we shouldn't worry that which we are not currently working on. If everything is properly scheduled, though it may seem to add stress to schedule things, it actually alleviates it completely, if there is trust in the schedule. I will be trying this new method in the future...

Getting Things Done

I'm letting you in on a little secret...this is how to be efficient in any computer endeavor. Even though Circuit City is in a world of hurt right now, I tried very hard to buy a monitor from them, but they didn't have anything in stock. Nor was I allowed to take a floor model. And they had about 5 employees per shopper (two of them are very new hires). Think maybe they should think about how they're running their business? Best Buy came through for me, though. As a bonus, I picked up a tiny wireless keyboard for the MacBook. It's amazing! So tiny, light, the pleasure of a non-bulky keyboard. Life changing.

Winter's On Its Way

Yesterday morning the strangest thing happened. I got all ready for work and was walking out the door when I glanced outside. The scene was confusing...what is this? Ahhh, that's snow! (I had no idea it was going to snow.) It was a whiteout, too. Fortunately it didn't last very long but that is a sign that it's late enough in the year that such conditions can be expected. I'm happy it's almost time for skate ski season but I do miss the warmth and beauty of the fall.

Today was a nice ride from Boulder. It started off cold. Brrrr. It wasn't bad, though, helps to be properly dressed. By the time we got back to Boulder (noon), it was fairly warm and pleasant. And oh, the sun was bright and intense. It was fun to then watch the cross race next to the Louisville rec center. Yeah, it was nice to spectate and not race today, though it looked like an enjoyable course.

Since I neglected to post any pictures from the last few days of vacation, here's one taken on the last morning I was there (Wednesday, 11/5). I went on a ride prior to any of the conference activities starting.

Thank you, Veterans!

Every single day we should think about our veterans, as they are responsible for us having the freedoms that we tend to take for granted. If it weren't for these brave, dedicated, hard-working men and women, we would be living in a much, much different world. We also owe a debt of gratitude to all of the families of the veterans who empowered these people to do their work. It's awesome to see what people are capable of when they are faced with such challenges. And, through teamwork and love for each other, it's possible to overcome every kind of impossible obstacle. How can any of us possibly express our thanks adequately? Thank you.

Quick Update

Obviously, there's always more time to blog when out of town. I've been very busy at work (hey, look, I have so much more energy now!) and have gotten caught up on sleep, unpacking, cleaning... yeah, it feels great. I'm still on a high from the super fun vacation and I think the training-camp portion of the trip worked wonders.

I raced CX Sunday and, granted, my technical skills need a lot of work, but I can tell that my strength is returning. (Sorry, I was rushing around to get to the race so I didn't have my camera.) It was so fun and I had awesome support out there, too. That made a big difference.

Now with gas prices a bit lower and I'm getting into a rhythm at work, it is going to be possible to train this winter and I can't wait to race on the road again. Dirt is getting cooler, too, but I still have this built-in mechanism to slow down on it for no good reason at all.

Tonight is the maiden voyage of my new-to-me Cyclops fluid trainer. My old one is so loud I can't make the television loud enough to hear dialogue.

End of Conference Day 2 & Day 3

I write this from sunny (but a bit chillier, Aurora, CO). The conference wrapped up yesterday, my flight landed at 11:30 last night and I just woke up (it's 9 am!) The end of Day 2 saw the election of Barack Obama to be our next president. In keeping with the style of this blog, I will not express my political feelings (as they are much too involved to put in a blog entry; a new blog might be appropriate just to capture them) about this major event. The excitement in the streets (at my hotel) was intense. I always love to see lots of happy, cheering people, but I don't love it when I feel that it could turn into a crushing crowd at any moment. My hotel (the Westin St. Francis) was the site of the No on 8 proposition party. The police had good control so the happy people stayed happy and I was able to come and go from my hotel without too much trouble.

Malcolm Gladwell was a keynote speaker and was, by far, the best speaker of the conference. He spoke on human capitalization and it appears to be the topic of his next book that's coming out in a couple of weeks. I think it's a must-read for our society. What a funny guy, but he does informed research and it gives one a lot to think about how we approach things that are so second nature to us in how we operate.

Yesterday morning I started with a beautiful road ride over the Golden Gate bridge. It had to be a quick ride due to packing and needing to be back for the first session at 9 am, but I couldn't leave town without one more adventure and some fresh air away from the too many people and confines of the conference.

Day 3 of the conference was fairly uneventful. A few speakers, a few more technical sessions and it was time to pack and get to the airport. Packing was tricky, I acquired a few things on this trip and with the bike, it was tough to make everything fit right. Worse yet, when I got to the airport, they weighed the bike and it has always passed, no matter how much I've loaded it down. Guess what? It was much too heavy so I had to unpack all of the clothes from the bag and put it in my already-full duffel bag. Somehow everything fit, but it was a very stressful situation.

Getting to the airport much too early & being unable to get on a wireless network, I had a chance to make some phone calls (I'm still far behind on them). But good chance to sit down and take a deep breath and think about coming back to real life.

San Francisco was such a treat. This was the best possible vacation, I wouldn't have changed any of it. I'm refreshed and ready to get back to life in Denver, but I also didn't get to the point of being sick of traveling. Perfect.

Conference Day 2

This morning I was determined to enjoy the morning (a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the 8 am requirement of yesterday morning). The sun was shining, too, which has been a bit unusual (it was rainy and cloudy all day yesterday).

It was possible to get an hour run in prior to needing to meet up with my co-workers (at 9 am) and it's possible to cover quite a bit of ground in that period of time. I probably should have run west so as to see a completely new area than what I've seen thus far, but the water/bay was calling. Most of the run involved some kind of hill, straight up or down, but out by the water it was flat and I wouldn't have needed much more time to get close to the Golden Gate bridge. Alas, I did have to turn around and head back to not risk being late. But it was a marvelous way to begin the day and so far I've been much more awake today (and there's that fresh-after-a-shower-after-a-workout feeling).

The keynote speaker was a slew of Dell execs and Michael Dell. I didn't find it too riveting so stayed for part of it, then spent some time on the showroom floor talking with vendors and picking up swag.

Just a shout out to all you wonderful blog-reading people (and those of you who have called/emailed/commented). This is my substitute for writing post cards and it's great to feel the connection to everyone back home. Next session is beginning, bye for now.

Conference Day 1

Yesterday, the DreamForce conference got started early, I had to be at breakfast at 8. Ouch. Thank goodness for the time change. What was more painful than waking up early was finding only sweet pastries and boring oatmeal at breakfast. I opted for the oatmeal and, fortunately, had flattened bananas on me (purchased from Trader Joe's a few days back, in flattened form). But that was not too satisfying.

The keynote speech was good, Salesforce.com made a couple of exciting announcements about their product and Neil Young spoke about his Lincoln that he converted to a battery/cng (compressed natural gas) car. I sat right up front (due to my company's relationship with Salesforce.com). I have lots of great pics, but don't have time to upload anything. There's been almost no time to get on the internet since I've been in the city. The hotel doesn't have free wireless (seriously?!) And the conference hall has lots of dead spots.

After that, there were technical sessions all afternoon and by 6 pm, my co-workers and I were toast. There was a Foo Fighters concert last night for all of the attendees of this conference, but I passed. I went to the venue, but left fairly quickly. It had been a long day.

Back-blogging, last day of Official Vacation

Sunday was the last day of vacation and work realities began to set in, all at once. Sunday Lana and Rachel came down from SF so we could go on a super relaxing, totally chill two-hour ride. It was sunny, finally, after on-and-off raining during the morning (which was quite disconcerting since it was high-time for some riding time). The fog was low so it was a good reason not to climb. After the ride we packed it up and squeezed three of us, our bikes and the bike bag in a small car. Don't ask how we did it, but we did and we made our way back to SF. It was time for all of us to go back to our regular lives, sort of.

I checked into the hotel to find out that they didn't have a reservation for me so they generously offered the $400/night room. Thank goodness there was a room! With all of my stuff and bike, etc, it would have been a nightmare trying to find somewhere else to stay in SF. They said they'd honor the rate of the room if I could find proof that I had made the reservation. Fortunately, I did, so I have a super nice room with a chandelier as an over-head light, king-size bed with a poofy white comforter and a non-rectangular very pretty bathroom.

Immediately after checking in, it was time to visit the welcome reception, meet the 10,000 other attendees at this conference (ha, I was not in that much of a social mood). I caught up with my Denver friends and hung out there only until I was invited to a nice dinner at the Franciscan (great seafood, all good food) hosted by a company that Donovan, one of my friends, works for.

After that, he had to have an In-And-Out burger...he started talking about In-And-Out many months ago when we all first scheduled this trip. And when I say started talking about it, he can't stop. So we ventured over to In-And-Out and I took a bite of everything (and more than a sip of the milk shake). Yeah, I ate American cow. The burger was very, very different from a McDonald's burger, it was quite tasty. I guess I see the appeal, but it's not likely to make me take a second bite (more because if I did, then I'd have to miss it sort of how I miss Dark Horse burgers).

Halloween and rain in CA?

Oh dear, I'm back at the computer so soon. Halloween was such fun! I don't think I've done anything significant (like even think about dressing up) for Halloween in a long time.

The workout at the gym was great yesterday. The steam shower had echinacea in it and that was just the best way to conclude a good workout. (The gym was in San Mateo, not too far away.) I was a bit glad that it was drizzly since it's been awhile since I lifted and I wanted to be on track starting in November. Besides, no better place to build muscle than somewhere with more oxygen than Colorado.

Lana and I then headed to SF for the Halloween party. It was next to where the steepest/curviest road is. Fabulous location. Parking was really challenging, but we figured it out.My costume, I guess it's appropriate since Wonder Woman was my childhood idol (yeah, I'm finally admitting it out loud after all these years).
One of the hostesses, this is Christmas Tree, aka Rachael, Lana's cycling friend from college (Santa Barbara).Here is Flav O Flav, aka Lana. She was very entertaining throughout the evening.Of course there were many political costumes. These two don't need explanation.And a Superman showed up.

The cute couple of the evening (all the way from Ohio), per my vote, the SNL cheerleaders. There were quite a few people from out of state. Since I haven't been to a good Halloween party in Colorado since, uh, hum, ??? freshman year in college? Maybe it's worth traveling to Halloween again in the future, but I definitely want to participate again.

Thanks to rain that began late last night, Lana and I scrapped our plans to visit wine country. She and I stayed over in SF (where the party was) and slept in. The house needed some serious cleaning first thing this morning and then she, Rachel (Christmas Tree) and I went for a run. It was raining such that we were completely soaked not long after starting, but it wasn't cold out and it was so gorgeous to see the Golden Gate bridge with clouds sitting on the tops of the pillars and be next to sand and water, amongst other really cool parts of San Fran.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out, reading, watching stupid MTV shows, eating breakfast out, it was truly relaxing and enjoyable.

Tonight, I decided to come back to where I've been staying instead of going out (how can these crazy girls want to go out again after partying last night?) Unfortunately, the roof is leaking so now I've seen a bit more rain than I care to in a single day. What's up with this rain? It actually stopped this evening, but it's begun again and the dripping has started again, too.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all have a candy-filled, scary Halloween. It's rainy here today so I'm hitting a gym, then celebrating Halloween...tomorrow will find me in wine country *somewhere* (no, I don't know where yet). There may not be a new blog entry for a few days, but I am accessible via email (thank you iPhone). Btw, the GPS on the iPhone has been a lifesaver here.

Day 6 - Rest Day

Today was the bike's vacation. For a rest day, today didn't involve a lot of rest. I slept in a little, finished blogging from yesterday, then went to town to search for a Halloween costume and run a few errands.

There's a party store very close so that offered the obvious choices. And there was one obvious choice that will suit me fine: Wonder Woman. Typically in years past, I've enjoyed the self-made, more creative options. Nah, this year it's okay to be standard. I won't have to change my hair much, though I should work on the make-up. This costume is a little cuter/far more comfortable than the real Wonder Woman's: it has a skirt. And I'd love to use this costume as an excuse to get another pair of knee-high boots, but it comes with boot covers that are too tight the way it is (are my calves just that big? In my dreams.) So a cheap pair of dress shoes should suffice.Funky plant. A rhubarb plant on steroids? The leaves were very hard.

I headed into San Fran for some touristy activities. The first stop was the Exploratorium. I could just hear Mom and Dad tell me how disappointed they were in me for being in SF for so many days and not going. So I went to be able to tell the tale. And I'm glad I did! The Exploratorium is packed with interesting exhibits--all hands-on. Kids, of course, must love it, but big kids (like me) can almost enjoy and appreciate it more. There were very few people there today (oooh, it was raining: everyone, stay inside and dry YOU MIGHT MELT). Though it was raining, it was surprisingly warm. I only wore a sweatshirt and I found being rained on was pleasing to my senses which are so much more alive since I can pay attention to them (note: stress levels are at an all-time low).

Back to the point, the Exploratorium was well-worth the visit. Next time I go, I'll plan to spend the day. Another side note, there was a part of me that didn't want to go to this place where I expected to see hoards of kids. Typically, I try to avoid any kid-like thing not because I don't enjoy kids and not because they annoy me (they don't) but because I'm afraid that I'll start to want one of my own. I'm afraid of that thing (whatever it is) that will make my biological clock start to tick. I fully expect it to someday, but it isn't allowed to start now. I am happy to report that I made it safely through the Exploratorium, learning a lot and the only thing it left me wanting was someone to play in the magnetic sand with me and to discuss the science behind some of the more obscure exhibits. It would be a good date place. I digress.
This was a dancing chain that had quite the personality, for a chain.
Demo of how a steam engine works. And they even had an engine from a Toyota Land Cruiser! Cool stuff.
And this was just too weird. You're looking at a mirror reflecting the bottom of a clear tank of water. My hand is in the water & there's an air pocket in the palm of my hand. But see how it looks like my hand is dry & I'm holding water?

Yesterday evening I broke one of my self-imposed rules and that is to not buy a book until I'm done with my current book. In this case, I am currently reading two books and, therefore, I should not have been allowed to go in the bookstore. So I went in with the intention to only look but not touch. But then I saw a book that has had me curious, I've heard good things in the general way, but nothing about the "plot." The book is entitled "Eat, Pray, Love." I bought it out of compulsion, maybe, and since I was looking & not touching, I didn't read the cover, just picked it up to purchase it.

Turns out the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, has become my travel companion. Only she is in Italy and taking the reader with her through her life's woe's as well as on this 4-month trip to Rome. But I can relate to her in many ways and I'm finding that it's helping me vacation effectively--since it makes me slow down and find a place to hang out where I can relax and read. And do nothing else. Funny, though, all of the fun books I've read in the past couple of years have all been armchair travel books to Italy. At least she'll also visit India and Bali, so my world "travels" can start to include more countries than just Italy.Lucky find: an organic restaurant, this was the most wonderful beet, goat cheese, walnut & fennel salad. Just what I was craving. Hopefully this is where I can eat next week during the conference. (It's a bus ride, though.)

And here's the steepest/twisty-iest street (Lombard & Hyde).

After all of this touristy stuff, it was time to hunt down a bathroom, which was eventually found in Macy's. I would have gotten home an hour earlier if I could have been patient.

Yesterday - Part 2

I fell fast asleep last night when working on part 2. The day was the equivalent to two.

After the massage, I caught the train, transferred to Bart and ended up in SF. There wasn't anything on my agenda for yesterday aside from getting comfortable with the trains so the evening definitely didn't disappoint.
On the walk there, the sun was setting and the fog was lazily perched atop many of the buildings. A long walk from the Montgomery station took me uphill to Coit Tower (Telegraph hill).


From the base of Coit Tower (which just had its 75th anniversary), the view was breathtaking. And one of my passions is cities at night. Without fail, I get weak in the knees when I've gotten to experience cities (namely NY, Seattle and Denver) at night...I'm adding San Francisco to the list. It was tugging on my heart strings last night.

Looking waaay up at the tower.

From the top of the tower looking out at the city. What a view! This was reminiscent of being at the top of the Washington Memorial late at night years ago. That was the best way to see Washington DC and there was no one around. Same deal last night.
Stair scene from "Vertigo?"


I was trying to be tactful in capturing the scene from dinner without making it obvious I was taking pictures. The iPhone is sly. I stopped at this restaurant because of their very large sign that advertised gnocchi. I had been dreaming of a gnocchi meal for a couple of bike rides, it was time to have some. But the gnocchi on the menu came with sausage and in a cream sauce. So I very nicely asked for mushrooms, no sausage and tomato-based sauce. Viola! A few moments later the most melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi was served up. It was the perfect consistency and was obviously made fresh on premises. I understand this place is close to where my conference will be next week...but I'm not sure if I should go back. Along with the check came the waiter's phone number. Also from the table where I was sitting was a view of the church where Joe DiMaggio and Dorothy Arnold were married. His funeral was also held here. It's called the Italian church of the west...I hope to be able to make it to mass here this weekend.

Training Camp Day 5 - Part 1

The theme of today's ride was intensity: leg-burning time-trialesque efforts uphill. This was the first group ride since I've been here. The group is led by a former coach of one of my friends out here and they do a crazy climbing ride on Wednesdays (but I didn't know anyone on the ride). The fog was thick this morning and with a very early start to the ride, it made it tricky to figure out how to dress.

After having issues meeting up with the group since I didn't know where to park and the light that I got stuck at (for 10 minutes) made me miss the start, it was possible to drive ahead and then ride fast to meet up with them (~6 others) at the bottom of the Old La Honda climb. It's a 5k, 1200 ft climb. Little did I know that it was the appetizer. A very fast and fun descent followed the climb and then came the searing West Alpine, 5 mile climb that was quite steep and seemed to be never-ending. Afterwards was a steep, twisty (read: slower) descent and the ride was over. 3700 feet of climbing, 2 1/2 hours.

I returned to home base to take a shower and read prior to getting an hour massage. I was so tired, even though I was sitting straight up and reading interesting material, I fell into a deep sleep for a few minutes. The massage was another chance to rest (though it was intense enough, per my instructions to the massage therapist, so a nap wasn't going to happen).

Training Camp Day 4

Vacation will henceforth be referred to as "Training Camp." Camp manager is a drill sergeant. Seemed to make sense to have today be a shorter, flatter ride considering yesterday. 3,900 feet of climbing and 4 hours later, the short/flat ride was over. It was pretty hard to get my heart rate up to where I wanted it to be (low zone 2--that's pretty low), so I tried not to fight for it too much and went off of perceived exertion. Just because HR isn't responding doesn't mean the pace isn't decent.

The ride today involved a large loop that goes near Stanford, it's pretty popular amongst bike riders. I stopped an hour and a half into the ride for an ice cream bar (yeah, it was warm enough and the liquid sugar was needed for the ol' legs). That's when a group ride rolled past that I would have liked to have joined in on. Alas, the ice cream was only half eaten. Everyone else I've seen out on the roads are either individuals or a small group where it's obvious everyone on the ride are friends (vs a bone fide group ride).

At the end of the loop, there was a nice climb called Old La Honda road. I rode this climb with Lana last summer. Fortunately, I didn't remember most of it (possibly due to the fact that I was doing very hard intervals all the way up it last summer) so every twist and turn was a pleasant surprise. Here's the vista from the top, yes, those are clouds below at the top of the picture.After the climb and descending back down to the loop, it was time to be a tourist for awhile. I tooled around an outdoor mall area (Stanford mall?) and then ended up over in Palo Alto. This is a view of the entrace of the Borders bookstore! Cool or what?!

And here's a really big egg made up of stripped circuit boards. See the close-up below the egg. As much as I think circuit boards are cool, I'm not sure this piece spoke to me...at least not like these fish do!

If there's one place I've wanted to visit for years and years, it's IDEO, the company that I consider to be the absolutely coolest one in existence. They are a design firm, and the best of the best. These guys have helped design many of the things in our lives that we may take for granted. Check out their website for a list, it's wild some of the things that are explictly designed not just engineered.

A few IDEO employees visited Denver for a design project a few years ago for some firm that was going to be buiding lofts somewhere (we weren't entitled to the details). It was such an experience to get to talk with them and see how they asked questions to extract info from me and the group of interviewees. (They were already my heros years prior to that interaction.) Anyway, it was pretty darn exciting to be able to stand outside of their door today.

Dinner (a small garlic, basil pizza and a huge salad) was fetched from Trader Joe's (yes, they have lots of them out here!) Hopefully my legs are ready for a group ride tomorrow. I'm ready to log some non-solo miles.

Vacation Day 3

This was an intense climbing day. It involved five hours of pedaling with 5,ooo feet of climbing in two installments: the first 1/2 of those were gained in the first 1.5 hrs of the ride. The second 2,500' were between hours three and four. The natural beauty of the ride, again, is impossible to describe. The picture above doesn't quite do much of the climbing justice as the foliage was so dense in spots, few rays of light met the pavement.
At the top of the climb, the fog could be clearly seen. Moments after this was taken, the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees in a split second. After a fast descent (past many pumpkin patches that were packed with happy people) and getting back to sea level, there was the ocean, the sand, the crashing waves...a warm, lovely scene that I rode next to for quite a few minutes before getting back on a road that tipped upwards. It was just as steep as the first road, 8-10% grades much of the distance.

And on this kind of ride, typically half-way through, I'll start thinking about food and the perfect end to an epic day. Sushi was the cuisine of choice so after the necessary shower and recovery shake, I ambled to town to devour a bowl of chirasi (sushi on top of a bed of rice) at a local Japanese restaurant. The night was topped off with kicking back and watching a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean). It's time to get some zzzz's now since my appetite is coming back in a big way and I don't feel like eating anything more today.

Vacation Day 2

Russ & I got a later start, but it didn't matter since the only time constraint was at 6:30 tonight. Total saddle time was ~5 hrs, total mileage was reasonable, though. Still good to get my body warmed up for the miles coming this week. Today involved a good tour of the area so I'll know where to ride tomorrow and during the week. (Below pictures in reverse order of the ride.) Water skiiers with kite/parachute things. Just prior to this was lunch in San Mateo in a yuppy grocery store (their salad bar was beautiful, but I can't eat salad in the middle of a ride).
Upper crystal Springs reservoir.


Is this Italy? Isn't this sort of what it looks like?

Tonight I visited the local Blockbuster & grocery store. Watched a stupid chick-flick (with Patrick Dempsey), but yes, it was fun. This is vacation!

Question to readers: what should I be for Halloween this year?

Vacation Day 1

Today was loooong. But it was outstanding from beginning to end. The day began by taking an early train to San Francisco...nooo, it started with me putting my bike together at 6 am. Fortunately, it traveled fine and was easy to get together. Once in San Franciso, Russ (my host) and I rode around the eastern portion of SF next to the water, he pointed out all of the cool things to see and it was a nice, leisurely ride.



This is Russ with a dirigible (helium-filled) in the background. It made news, we were lucky to see this vessel flying overhead. The ride took us past the fine arts place (get name) and over the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a great climb on the other side with a vista at the top. The descent down the other side was quite steep--I could smell my brakes burning. We ended up in Sasalito, but not a lot of time to enjoy it.

I really liked the vibe there, and the fruit smoothie from the local ice cream store. The ferry boat ride back to SF was fun, I *heart* ferry boat rides. We got back with time to spare before catching the train home. I had 15 minutes to shower up before Lana picked me up to go to an outdoor concert that was held as a benefit for the Bridge School (Neil Young has connections to it). Lana, Aaron and their random assortment of friends (from college, work, friends of friends), it was a fun group.
Lana is a good friend from CA, but she lived in CO for a couple of years, during which we logged thousands of miles together (sitting next to me in the above pic).

The lineup of bands was wonderful. The first few were ho-hum, but then Death Cab for Cutie came on and the night air was alive with awesome sound.
Everyone agreed that Sarah McLachlan was the performance of the evening.

This was a first for me, being on a lawn during a concert. It was a good thing we were on grass, too. I was so tired from the day (still somewhat tired from the trip out), I laid down, shut my eyes and was in that happy place that involved hearing the music vividly, but being so relaxed there was only a tiny line between being awake and asleep. It felt like summer. A light jacket was almost sufficient for staying warm. Amazing. Got home at 11:45 and had the most restful sleep that I've had in a long, long time.

Things that you don't want to hear...

I should be 1/2 way to San Francisco right now. However, I'm amongst hundreds of people hanging out in the A concourse at DIA. The PA system just said that we're delayed for at least another 1/2 hour because "they're fixing the plane." Terrific. Fortunately, I have 2 days of Wall Street Journals to read, two books and a journal to write in. Oops, and I forgot the booklet explaining all of the Amendments & Referendums (referendi? how is that plural?) so I can cast my ballot from San Fran.

Now that it's officially vacation time, I don't want to use the computer much...except to do such things as blog. The packing process was exhausting, I'm tired and would be very happy to catch some shut eye.

Fortunately Ed (the fish) has a place to stay (with a neighbor...I just started knocking on doors and one neighbor that I don't know was walking through the hall). Is this what it means when they say it takes a village? And, let me remind you, we're talking about the simplest being ever to take care of (with the exception of a sea monkey, maybe).

Back to reading and waiting in style. More updates soon from the land of very steep hills and cool bridges!

Enjoy the sunset...

Isn't this a beautiful sunset? And it was much more beautiful in person. Thought it would be nice to share.