Biking San Diego

Sometimes getting an "early start" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Saturday morning Ernesto wanted to leave early on our long bike ride so we could get back early.   We would ride a loop that goes from his parents house in Paradise Hills to the Silver Stand to Coronado.  There we would take the ferry from Coronado to downtown San Diego and back to the house.  About 30 miles in total.   3 hours tops with a few stops to take in the views.
Like a lot of things in life, you have to "roll with it."  If things don't go as planned, take a minute to breathe and decide what you can do to get around the problem.  This is what we did when we got our first flat tire.  Neto pulled out the patch kit and pumped his tire back up.  Good as new!

NOT!  A few miles after the "fix" we heard a little pop........flat again.  This time we called Ernesto's dad for a ride to a bike shop to buy a new tube.  OK, now we were on our way. 

We rode by the mountains of salt at the South Bay Salt Works Factory, the second oldest business in San Diego.   Right there is the entrance to the Silver Strand along the bay.  It is an 8 mile paved path to Coronado and such an enjoyable ride. 

Until.....flat tire number 3.  This time it was my tire.  WTH!?

With about 2 more miles on the trail to reach Coronado, we pulled over and Ernesto took rode ahead to buy a new tube while I walked with my flat tire.  I didn't even care.  I turned on my ipod and enjoyed my walk.  What is there really to be upset about?

Ernesto got back to me within 30 minutes or so and we continued on.    I snapped a few pics of some houses that I would not mind living in.  Someday I need to walk in this neighborhood and take more pics.  Coronado living is the "American dream" type of place. 

All that and just a few steps away from the water.  We made our way to the ferry along the trail. 

The tickets are $3.75 for the 15 minute ride to downtown. 

We debated hopping on the trolley to cut some of the miles home, but instead decided we needed a break at BASIC , a converted warehouse that specializes in thin crust pizza y beer.  We parked the bikes inside and ordered a pizza with bacon and basil and a couple IPA's. 

 I must say after all the pizza, salad and beer my tummy was full.  The thought of another 15 miles on the bike seemed like too much, but it was beautiful out and wanted to finish it.  I felt really good afterward. What could have been a 3 hour trip turned into 8! haha.  Roll with it baby!

Weekend Wrap Up

I was really excited when Lucy, my new Census friend, told me that she and her husband are avid bikers, campers, surfers, etc. (I love active friends) As a bonus,  her husband is a single speed bike rider.  Immediately I thought about the east coast chapter of  Back of the Pack Racing that Judd has been encouraging me, Brrrian and Neto to start.

Luckily our new friends are equip with all the gear (ie: bikes, bike rack) since we are still on the hunt to purchase our own bikes.  Ernesto borrowed one of theirs and I borrowed Smita's, which was a a bit small for me.

Yesterday was our first bike ride together.  We met early and drove north to Big Creek Park in Alpharetta (25 miles North).

The trail was great.  It is a 12 foot wide concrete path with wood bridges meandering through the woods.  The disappointing part was that it is only 6 miles long, so it was a short ride.

This was also the first time Ernesto and Sean met.  Lucy and I were relieved that they got along well!  We joked about it because we were making all these plans and we said "Boy, I hope our husbands like each other." ha!

There minds think alike.  Oh, short bike ride?  How about some beer?  They insisted we reward ourselves for the strenuous ride with drinks [and food] at 5 Seasons Brewery, which was quite tasty.




Here is what else went on this weekend:
1.  Worked on Census stuff until 11pm Friday night
2.  Walked around Virginia Higlands Summerfest
3.  Enjoyed oysters and beer at Fontaine's
4.  Grilled a whole chicken [twice]
5.  Attended the weekly neighborhood pool party
6.  Made a new necklace...pic coming soon
7.  Drank Sweetwater IPA's (my favorite lately)

What about you guys, did you do anything exciting this weekend?

24 Hour Race Wrap Up

Well kids, if you missed all of the updates over the last few days, the 24 hour bike race in AZ was a success! The Back of the Pack team broke their personal records, and Ernesto and I earned major props for being a terrific support crew to the team. We kept the fire going all night, had the burritos hot when they pulled into camp, made coffee and had tunes blasting (much to other campers dismay) at 6am. More updates and a few more interviews will be posted soon on Judd's blog. I was able to capture some great photos during the race.

{Racers line up at the start for the 500 meter run to their bikes}

{Back of the Pack team with the awesome work shirt jerseys}

{This one is the best, and may be used as the banner on Back of the Pack Racing blog.

They are coming around the 1st lap}

{After the race, Back of the Packers relax with a beer}

Overall, I enjoyed this experience immensely. I vowed to the team that I can be there anytime, any race for just a small fee [to cover the minimal airline costs]. I got some great exposure with my all of my interviews with the members, so hopefully my schedule will allow me to travel with them to upcoming races.

Ernesto and I are very inspired by these amazing racers and would like to pass this probationary status we have now as members of Back of the Pack. We will start saving for the single speed Black Sheep bikes today and promise to never wear spandex alone while biking. (2 of the criteria for becoming a member)

While I wasn't nearly as tired as the bikers after the race, I was pretty darn tired. With only a short nap from 430am-545am, I needed every minute of the 12 hours sleep we all got the next night. I leave you with a couple shots from a beautiful desert sunset and a few ristras from our drive through Hatch, NM, the chile capital of the world.

If you are interested in seeing the rest of the photos from race weekend, here they are:

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo Race

Live with Back of the Pack Racing in AZ

Today at noon the "24 hours in Old Pueblo" endurance bike race begins at noon. My brother Tim and his buddies Judd and Ted are founding members of Back of the Pack Racing, and they stoked to start this grueling race. Just as the name suggests, the race is 24 hours long and the goal is to do as many laps on the trail as possible. (each lap 16.4 miles) No sleeping!

It is not only these 3 dudes that are crazy enough to try this, the camp ground is filled with around 1000 people, 1/4 of them being supporters of the racers. Here I am sitting on top of the mountain overlooking the campsite. (in the middle of nowhere)

I have been assigned to blog, tweet and photograph this race from start to finish. All coverage will be on Judd's blog, Back of the Pack Racing so please check there for interviews, updates and tweets. Judd introduces me as guest blogger right here.

Ernesto's assignment is to keep the fire going all night, warm up the chile burritos and have good music blasting when they come into the camp between laps. The challenge for us is far less.

Pre-race videos are now up on Back of the Pack Racing. Check them out here.

VIVA MEXICO 8 - BIKERIDE FROM DURANGO TO MAZATLAN

200 miles! Do you realize how far that is? I didn't! When we committed to riding our bikes from Durango to Mazatlan I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into. Yes, they said it was a "beautiful ride through the mountains" but I guess I chose to only hear the "beautiful" part. Our group left for this grueling 2 day ride at 730am September 11. There were reporters there interviewing people and Ernesto and I were even featured on the front page of the local newspaper, Contexto de Durango. {Neto, me and the guy who got us into this mess, Jordi! haha}

Funny enough, they interviewed me, and I was misquoted [in Spanish mind you] saying that we have been training for a long time for this ride! ha! This pic was taken at the start: excited....fresh....full of energy....all smiles...in other words: CLUELESS!

Jordi and Yasmin said we had to dress the part. Being the professionals that they are, they dressed us in all the cool gear: gloves, leg warmers, jackets, padded shorts and shirts with the cool pockets in the back. 30 minutes into the ride I was thinking "Oh my God, Im going to die...but I look good!" (On a side note, I was the only cyclist I saw in two days that was not wearing biking shoes that clip on to the pedals. the. only. one)

The following is a picture I took in the morning on the first day. I was sweating and had my camera in the back pocket of my shirt so it got damp and didn't open all the way. I like how it turned out. This is when we were still traveling in a tight group....like I said, at the beginning.

The ride was unbelievably gorgeous. Landscape like I had never seen in Mexico. I always knew it was there, and I was in awe finally seeing it. I tried to focus on that instead of the fact that the mountains were never ending.

It was a bit discouraging because you didn't get to climb a hill and feel like "Yeah! I did it!" because after that hill there was another and another and another.

bottom line: the first day was totally climbing except for one downhill in the 2nd hour. It did not help when we passed signs like this along the way.

230 MILES? No, it was kilometers, but I couldn't make myself think in kilometers. No importa, it was still a HUGE number. Can you get encouragement by telling yourself, "come on, only

230k to go, you can do it!" That's ridiculous, no?

Everyone kept saying "no es carrera, es paseo" ("this isn't a race, its just for fun" ) But let me ask you something. Would you ever do a strenuous bike ride for 8 hours straight and only take TWO breaks??? Im not kidding! This is an example of one tired biker on a break.

There were about 18 people in our group (and a lot of different groups that go. The biggest being VEGABUNDOS) Each group has a car in front of the group and a car in back of the last cyclist, which happened to be me 99.9% of the time. Memo was driving our truck in back and lets just say we got to know each other.

There were many times that day when I thought I was going to have to stop. Only 2 breaks in 8 hours? I would be so tired, starting to slow and then all of a sudden I would feel a strong hand on my lower back, pushing just enough to give me a short break. I may have also held onto the truck several times for some help up a mountain or two, ha! I am not too proud to take help when it is offered. Never have been. Only when we finished that first day after riding 8 hours and 30 minutes did we feel a sense of accomplishment. We arrived to Mexiquillo, a small town at the top of the mountains at 415pm.

The cabins were very cute and cozy. Since the "professionals" arrived about one hour before us, they already had a fire going in our cabin.

After taking a hot shower and eating a big pasta dinner, we followed the others walking on a trail (not that we weren't tired enough) but they told us there was a cool rock garden and a waterfall not too far from the cabins. It was really a beautiful area.

El Jardin des las Piedras was so cool! Huge boulders stacked on top of each other. I had never seen anything like it. It reminds me of pictures I have seen of Stonehenge in England. (0nly with rounder rocks)

The waterfall was a beauty too.

I wanted to get a good night sleep, but didn't get to bed until 1030p. We woke up at 5am to start the 2nd day and were out on the road by 6a. Surprisingly my legs were not sore, but when we started up the first hill, they felt so TIRED. 2 Hours into the ride we arrived at the Espinazo del Diablo, o "devils backbone". It had the most amazing view. It was also break number one, 2 hours into the ride.

All of the bikers stop here. Its in the middle of nowhere, but someone was smart enough to set up a big taco stand. (this was the only time that I can remember that I was not in the mood for tacos) Someone was handing out fruit & nut bars, so I opted for that instead. We also had Power Bars, bags of dried fruits, and lunch consisted of tuna salad sandwiches. Eating all day, but small amounts as to not weigh us down. (I had my ass for that!)

Like I said earlier, day 1 only had one down hill, the rest was all climbing. Everyone told us that day 2 is EASY (coming from the "professionals" I didn't really believe that) Day 2 had shorter climbs with longer downhills. Many downhills. One mountain at the halfway point of the day took us 45 minutes to go down. Now that was a break! It happened to be the most fun I have ever had on a bike too. We were careful, but I let off my brakes a few times and was speeding around those curves, it was so exhilarating! We were cruising fast the whole way down. That was the only time on the ride that I was glad I had a mountain bike instead of a road bike [with the skinny tires]. It would've been way more dangerous with the bumps and random gravel on the road. My hands were really sore when we got to the bottom from holding the brakes for so long.

As soon as we reached the bottom of this mountain we hit a wall of humidity and the group planned a break just so everyone could peel off layers of clothing. What a change! I was hot before,but after we descended the mountains I was dripping with sweat. I probably lost 10 pounds of water. We were drinking a lot [of Gatorade], and I only peed 2x. TMI?

OK, break time again. We actually had 4 that day. Here we are with only 15k left to reach Mazatlan. We were passed all the mountains and had a relatively flat route to the finish. The group decided that we should all ride into Mazatlan together. That meant we had to keep up with the "professionals" for the last 10 or so miles. They were the hardest yet!

I have never been so exhausted in my entire life and now I have to "push it" to the finish?[located on the beach at some fish statue called El Pescador].
I was so ready for it to be over. I was really excited that Ernesto's family was going to be there waiting for us. I think this is the ONLY reason I was able to make it. Once we reach the city of Mazatlan, we had to ride through it to the GDF fish. I was so emotional. I was getting so frustrated that I started to cry. "Donde esta este pinche pescador???" Which means: Where is this damn fish statue?) When I told my mother-in-law this story, she laughed a lot. I don't really curse to her in Spanish. She thought it was really funny and kept repeating it to everyone all the aunts and uncles. 11 family members were there waiting for us at the pinche pescador- all cheering us on, it made us feel so good!

I have never been so happy to finish something, and I have never felt pain in my crotch like I did that day [or for the 6 days after that]. One word for you: RAW.

Thanks again to Jordi and his wife Yazmin for inviting us to "paseo" with them, taking care of all the arrangements that were needed for this 2 day trip and most of all for encouraging us the whole way. That last part goes for everyone on the team. The amateurs thank you!

Only now, one month later can I say that I would do it again [with much training], and I think its because of my selective memory. I only choose to remember the good stuff. I do this often.

BIKING SAN DIEGO TO JAMUL

This has to be one of the best rides I have ever done.  You would never guess that you arrive here after only 40 minute of bike riding  outside of the San Diego.  San Diego and Jamul are connected via a 10 mile stretch of a bumpy dirt road through the mountains. It starts in Chula Vista.  
The views were amazing and the day was perfect.  Sunny and hot as hell!  Yet I wasn't sweating too bad.  You know what Im going to say next right?  It was a "dry heat".   We stopped a couple times for a photo op...or was it too take a break? Just before we reached Jamul (2 hours into the bike ride) we started to see houses and ranches.  These beautiful horses were so friendly coming right up to the fence to be pet.  Yes, we are definitely going to have a couple of horses one day. When we reached Jamul, we rewarded ourselves with a tall beer .  Chin Chin.  We rested about 30 minutes and made the trek back home, which took us about half the time, since it was mostly uphill getting there.  An awesome ride!  The harder the better.  In September there is a 200 mile ride in Mexico from Durango to Mazatlan and we are hoping to do it along with some family that live in Durango.  More to come on that.......